Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Food in hand, no worries in mind; this was the same as having money.

This evening, Crick had the most peaceful sleep since the time travel.

Early in the next morning, accompanied by the bodyguards, he went to the Association of Adventurers of the Void Mask Land to recruit some suitable adventurers.

As soon as he arrived at the Association of Adventurers, he heard people quarreling from outside. After he went in, he saw a slim girl with silver hair and long ears arguing with a fat, middle-aged man.

Crick listened to them curiously. In conclusion, the girl meant that she had grown up, and she had learned many skills. She should be allowed to go out and adventure. However, the middle-aged man said that her teacher had told him that she was good at magic, but her practical fighting experience was still seriously inadequate. If she wanted to strengthen herself, she'd better go to the Knights as a military mage. It was dangerous to go on an adventure without preparing in advance.

This little girl has a story! After listening for a moment, Crick was a little curious. An adventurer was sitting in the corner of the conference hall to rest; Crick asked him about the man and girl arguing inside. As expected, he learned that the little girl was called Miss Nice. Madame Teague, the agricultural officer in Void Mask Land, was her mother. And Ms. Liv, the political official, was her elder sister.

More than that, Miss Nice was also the favorite student of Mage Satan, the head of the mages of the Church of Void Mask. She had been learning from Mage Satan for several years. In the Church of Void Mask, she was the rising star of the new generation and a young talent of the first class.

Crick nodded as he listened. He also bought a bottle of premium wine for the adventurer to help him loosen up.

About half an hour later, Miss Nice left angrily because she couldn't convince the man. Then Crick went into the office to propose his needs after saying goodbye the adventurer he was just talking to.

"You need to recruit a few adventurers who are at mid-level or even higher. For the job, they will be bodyguards, and they may fight dangerous battles. You want a long-term contract with reliable people. In addition to money, the payment will also include knighthood… Is that right?" asked Peter, the chairman of the Association of Adventurers. He was also the middle-aged man who had been arguing with Miss Nice earlier.

Peter hesitated for a moment and then spoke again, "If you don't mind, would you like to talk about your situation in detail?"

Of course Crick didn't mind, so he explained his situation, only leaving out some personal things.

Chairman Peter thought for a long time; then he took out a piece of paper and wrote a few names on it. Thinking about it again, he crossed them out and wrote down new names.

"Depending on your situation, I suggest you recruit a stable adventurer team, and the Underground Warriors team is a good fit," Peter said. "This is a well-known adventurer team. Their captain, D'vor, is a high-level fighter. Although he is the best at underground cave exploration, he can deal with various other tasks as well due to his strong martial arts skills and rich leadership experience. When he was young, he was a soldier, but he also knew how to train other soldiers. That's enough for him to work as an instructor."

Crick nodded slightly, acknowledging that this was a good candidate.

"The other three members of the Underground Warriors are the priest, 'Fire Hammer' Morton, the ranger, 'Three Arrows' Ryder, and the rogue, 'Back Stab' Raffle. They are a high-level adventurer team who have completed difficult tasks more than once and have a very good reputation."

"So, what is the price?"

Chairman Peter said, smiling, "Now they are a bit older, especially Mr. D'vor, who has almost reached the age of retirement. Therefore, as long as there is a long-term stable job with a reliable employer for them to settle down, their demand for treatment is not so high. What they want at present is that the employer must be honest and reliable, and not ruthless."

Crick said, laughing, "Be at ease. My character is quite good. I am a follower of His Majesty, the Distant Song!"

Although he was actually a fake, the identity of a follower of the God of Art and Culture was quite convincing. As was known, because of the exclusion from the Church of the God of Aristocracy, any aristocrat who still believed in the God of Art and Culture was generally good in character.

Chairman Peter also had a good understanding of this. He thought about it and then advised Crick to go to the temple of the God of Art and Culture, the "Great Theatre of Distant Song" of the Void Mask Land. More than 60% of the elites in the Church of the God of Art and Culture gathered there. With Crick's identity, he should be able to successfully recruit one or two reliable priests.

"Can I recruit a mage?" Crick asked.

Although priests were also spellcasters and they were usually better at dealing with curses and evil, the ability of priests came mainly from the inspiration of gods. Compared to mages who relied on wisdom and knowledge to master magical power, priests tended to cast spells simply. Therefore, their ability in the academics was obviously inferior.

Talking about the professions in the system, the professional composition of a priest was usually a warrior/priest, or a warrior/saint knight/priest, or a flamen/priest. Few people had academic levels, but mages were different. Almost every mage had an academic level, and the academic level of many mages was even higher than their mage level. For Crick, the Time Traveler, a powerful academic who worked as an advisor would certainly help him a lot!

"We can't offer you mages. Our Church of the Void Mask has a bad relationship with the Church of the Master of Mystery, so very few mages take temporary positions here," Chairman Peter said helplessly, shrugging his shoulders. "If you want to recruit a mage, you can only go to the Commonwealth of Mifata. Anyway, you live in Duchy of Thunder, next to the Commonwealth of Mifata…"

"This 'next to' you speak of is more than two thousand miles," Crick responded.

"It's nothing more than just a few transfers. You are very rich," replied the chairman.

Crick was convinced. After making a deal to meet with the Underground Warriors adventurer team tomorrow, he used the transmission array to go to the capital of Commonwealth of Mifata, the Highest Tower.

As arriving at the Highest Tower, he found that the Association of Adventurers here was far worse than that of the Void Mask Land. First, the management of the adventurers was not thorough, and second, the internal atmosphere was not as harmonious. Crick always felt that many people wanted to steal his wallet.

Fortunately, he still recruited a good mage. His name was Damwade, and he was a transformation mage. Transformation mages were rare, as they were good at changing things. They could change external objects, and they also could change their own bodies. Generally speaking, they were similar to alchemists. In fact, Mage Damwade had part-time jobs as an alchemist.

[Damwade, Strength 10, Physique 10, Agility 12, Perception 14, Intelligence 18, Charm 8, Reputation 260. Profession: Academic Level 5, Alchemist Level 2, Mage Level 6, Loyalty Level 60.

When seeing the attributes of Mage Damwade, Crick was worried that the "Mage Level 6" part was fake, but then the mage skillfully cast a mid-level spell that dispelled his doubts.

Perhaps the levels of academic and alchemist could be counted as a part of the mage's level. Crick guessed this.

Mage Damwade was conducting magic research, which required a lot of money and a relatively stable environment. Therefore, he was willing to accept Crick's employment, regardless of the danger. However, Damwade also had his own requirement. He asked for a laboratory which only he could use. He should not be disturbed except for special circumstances. He also needed guards to stand by the entrance.

These requirements were generally reasonable, so the two sides quickly agreed.

Crick transferred back to the Void Mask Land with Mage Damwade, and he found a place for Damwade to live. Then he went to the Great Theatre of Distant Song.

A high-level priest of the Church of the God of Art and Culture received Crick as an aristocratic church member. After learning that Crick was currently in great trouble and needed reliable manpower, the priest arranged two helpers for him.

One was a priest named Thomas, and the other was a bard named Nikola. Interestingly enough, both of them were good at using electric spells, but their relationship was very bad. They quarreled almost every time they met, and many times they even fought with each other. The Church of the God of Art and Culture arranged both of them for Crick because they wanted them out of sight and out of mind.

They had a bad relationship, but they were great. These two followers of the God of Art and Culture had powerful strength, and they were very reliable and loyal as well. Thomas's total level reached 14, while Nikola's was 13, and their loyalty both reached 80, so Crick was relieved.

It was late in the evening, so Crick invited Mr. Damwade and the others to have dinner together. Of course, two of Crick's own bodyguards joined them as well. The six people ate and drank in the grand hotel that was owned by the Church of the God of Joy. In the end, except for Mage Damwade who didn't drink, all the rest got hammered.

The next morning, Crick drank the hangover medicine offered by the hotel to get rid of his headache. After showering, he met with the Underground Warriors adventurer team.

These four adventurers were old. The head leader, D'vor, even had some white hair on his temples. But their temperament was quite stable, and their eyes were still sharp.

Crick asked his bodyguards to fight with them in order to test their strength. The four adventurers were indeed true masters because they firmly suppressed the two bodyguards. Everyone knew that they didn't even use their full strength to defeat the guards. This made Crick satisfied.

Of course, compared to their performance, their character attributes given by the system were even more reassuring for Crick.

In terms of level, D'vor was 15, Morton and Ryder were 14, and Raffle was 13. In terms of attributes, they all had good stats. The two bodyguards had low intelligence, but the four adventures didn't. They didn't have any obvious shortages. In terms of loyalty, D'vor was 70, and the other three were 65, which was satisfactory.

Crick said that when everything ended, as long as he lived through the crisis, he would arrange a title for D'vor. He would even give him a village as his manor. Hearing that, the loyalty of D'vor soared to 90, and the remaining three also increased by 10. After that, they could definitely be used as a reliable team.

With such a group of experts to help out, Crick was finally confident. He might even be able to go through the crisis that he was going to face.