Just as not every mercenary were bad person, not every adventurer was decent.
"WHAT!? How much for a single night? Is this a scam!?"
This was an adventurer from Pengit Town, the town nearest to Lotus Town.
Unlike most people here, they actually didn’t know about this place. They may have vaguely heard of some rumors about a new place some other adventurer from another town found, but that was it.
They were here because of a mission to gather specific types of plants. They found a camp after a day of continuous fighting, and they came across a damned mob.
They realized they were being gathered on purpose , and that these people were fighting them recklessly!
At the time, they could only curse: What are these idiots doing !?
A third of the monsters were even toughened level, which was well beyond the usual danger of level 1!
Further, they saw the group recklessly using skills against mobs, but without looking panicked at all.
Using successive skills was usually looked down on because it showed desperation, a huge waste of mana, and the lack of a backup plan. They won against overwhelming odds, but at what cost?
The Pengit town adventurers even had the idea to attack and rob them blind. It was very bandit-like behavior, but strength mattered in this world more than honor!
Unexpectedly, before they could make a move, they overheard the happy chatter while they dug around for cores.
"Ahh! I deserve a hot meal after this!" one yelled. "Ah, we should get more meat! The barbecue is on me!"
"YAY!"
"Captain is awesome!"
"Maybe a room is opened up by now. I really want to sleep on a bed."
"The tent isn’t bad."
"Yeah, considering everything, it’s large and comfy!"
"GAAH! I’m so tired. I will sleep so well tonight. Thank goodness for the barrier."
The Pengit adventurers couldn’t help but look at each other in confusion. Hot meal? Bed? Barrier?
They ended up following the group from a distance. They were a large group, so even if they had a small distance between them, they went unnoticed. Even if they were seen, most would think they were part of the group.
This group ended up entering from the Northwest and they saw the lush gardens with large and very healthy nettleflames!
So many of them!
Their mission reward was gold for every gram of this thing!! The nettleflame was difficult to find in bulk. The reason why the reward was rich was that they usually grew alone and hidden among denser and taller shrubs, so it was more likely encounter a few mobs of awakened monsters before finding a few stalks.
It was why looking at this garden made them so high. How much money could this get them?!
It was just that there was a goblin there, and they didn’t want to get into conflict when they hadn’t studied the place thoroughly enough. There’d be time to take what they wanted later on.
Anyway, they walked forward and saw more and more people, realizing that this was a very real place—an actual base—in the middle of the danger zone.
They went to get a room at the inn and found out that a single night costs several gold per room! How could they not react!? A few gold could be someone’s weekly earnings!
They were quite noisy, and there were so many people around. They felt a lot of stares...and sneers.
"Geez, so noisy," one said. "If you’re so poor no need to announce it, right?"
"You—" the Pengit adventurers gritted their teeth, ready to fight. Then they saw who spoke and felt even more annoyed. "Lotus Town adventurers? There are still some of you alive?"
The incident a few months ago, where they had lost dozens and dozens of adventurers in a single mission, was pretty well-known in the area. Some smug bastards would speak of it in a mocking tone, unlike the tragedy that it was.
No one even mentioned that the mission was from a noble from Pengit Town, who had returned on their own, which was suspicious on its own.
They heard that there were a few adventurers and mercenaries from Penggit town who came there, though the vanguard and about three-fourths of the forces were from Lotus Town.
At first, the Lotus town adventurers assumed they died as well, but investigations showed that more than half of them survived.
Every adventurer in Lotus Town had lost at least one friend or a close acquaintance in that damned mission. Their good moods were quickly pulled down, eyes red as they stared at the Pengit adventurers.
They found themselves surrounded and they cursed, raising their weapons to keep the others away.
The Lotus adventurers sneered at them. "HEH. Cowards, like those other members who probably threw our people and caused their deaths!"
"Don’t make excuses for your weakness! Our people escaped because they had the ability; your people were destined to be fodder."
Tension snapped and the first punch was thrown. No one knew who threw it first, because dozens followed and it was chaos.
The rule stated that one should not cause chaos and damage to the inn and its property. However, fighting like this wasn’t exactly punishable until they did some damage to the inn. After all, attacking had to be allowed if they wanted to maximize the barriers.
At some point, they got dangerously close to damaging stuff. They got close to his comfy hammock! If these idiots pushed harder, they could really step on it!
Pang glared at the jerks, but also worried he’d blacklist too many people. These were precious customers, after all!
What to do, what to do.
Pang ’wisely’ lifted his paws and then counted the people fighting. "Eenie, minie, miney, moe—"
It stopped at a random adventurer. Pang was planning on kicking one out as an example when a familiar voice reached his ears.
"What’s going on?"
A new voice sounded at the side and the crowd parted, revealing the innkeeper as well as a few others.
The staff, who were just as confused as Pang, brightened at the sight of him. "BOSS!"