Chapter 12: Do You Want to Be an Adventurer?

After those two sentences, the table fell into a long silence.

Until Sal spoke again, breaking it voluntarily.

“Say it — how much money will it take for you to let her go?”

The moment those words left his mouth, even the elf woman and half-orc who had been preparing to finish their food and leave, suddenly perked up their ears.

Even the dwarf who seemed passed out on the table from drinking raised an eyebrow.

That “her”… probably referred to the silent, unmoving maid standing beside them, right?

Could it be that this maid’s real master wasn’t the man who brought her here?

Interesting.

On Rayne’s side, he finally got what he was waiting for — Sal took the initiative to speak.

He smiled and took a sip of the drink Sal had ordered for him.

Though it wasn’t something he usually liked, as long as Sal ordered it, that was fine.

In truth, the main purpose of his visit was to return this girl, Xiyan.

After all, the experiments were nearly complete, and he’d already collected the necessary blood and scales.

Besides, Rayne had no interest in Xiyan — neither in her personality nor her body.

So rather than keeping her around as a risk and a burden, it was better to do a good deed and send her back the way she came.

Since Sal wanted her, Rayne could easily hand her over.

He didn’t care about Xiyan’s identity as a pure-blooded dragon.

Compared to someone like Xiyan — an old hand who treated every exchange like a transaction — Rayne preferred dealing with an inexperienced young one like Sal.

Who doesn’t want to buy a “first-hand” house or car?

But—

“I can give her to you… and I won’t take a single coin.”

“Then what do you want?”

When Sal heard Rayne wasn’t asking for money, his expression didn’t relax — it grew even more tense.

In his previous life, he had entered society at a young age, and after years of being beaten down by it, he firmly believed in one rule of survival: profit above all.

Nothing comes for free.

When someone tries to give you something valuable for cheap — or for nothing — you’d better assume they have another motive.

The three adventurers sitting nearby, pretending to eat but hardly touching their food, also grew tense.

They’d been eavesdropping for a while now.

Even when Xiyan turned her head toward them two or three times from beneath her hood, they didn’t move a muscle.

It was only because Rayne’s occasional sharp gaze pinned Xiyan down that she hadn’t gone over there and kicked them all out already.

And she knew — if she acted rashly now, she might expose her identity and cause a whole chain of trouble.

Let them eavesdrop.

With their limited brains, there was no way they could guess what the two men were really talking about — how twisted and explosive their conversation truly was beneath the surface.

As for Rayne — he’d thought Sal might be grateful for his “generous” offer.

He hadn’t expected this seemingly naïve young dragon to pick up on the hidden meaning behind his words.

“Looks like your mother raised you well… especially in terms of caution.”

From the care and subtlety Sal showed when recruiting teammates at the tavern — even if, in Rayne’s eyes, the flaws were obvious — it was still impressive that he hadn’t given himself away.

For such a young dragon, that was no small feat.

Out of respect for that, Rayne decided to speak the truth.

“Let me meet your mother — how about that?”

But that seemingly simple request made Sal’s face twist with anger for the first time.

“Impossible!”

That one shout was louder than all their earlier conversation combined.

The tavern fell silent again as heads turned toward Sal, who was now standing, both hands on the table, glaring furiously at Rayne.

Even so, Sal didn’t look away — those golden eyes burned with fury.

“Why not?”

Rayne had already guessed he’d refuse — but he hadn’t expected such a sharp, absolute rejection.

Absolute to the point that Sal didn’t even care about revealing his identity.

It wasn’t that dragonkin or half-dragons were rare in this world.

In fact, compared to other mixed races, they were relatively common.

But the reason both Xiyan and Sal disguised themselves wasn’t just to avoid unwanted trouble — it was because pure-blood dragons looked noticeably different from mixed ones.

Take, for example, the muscular girl sitting in the corner with the other adventurers.

She was a mixed-blood dragon — and you could tell from her jagged, branch-like horns and the uneven, multicolored scales on her shoulders.

The purer the bloodline, the more human their features appeared.

And blood purity also affected physical strength and magical talent.

But that’s a topic for another time.

Right now, what mattered was why Sal reacted so strongly to Rayne’s request.

The answer was simple — just three words:

“I don’t trust you.”

He didn’t believe Rayne just wanted to “meet” his dragon mother.

He must have another, hidden agenda.

Sal had already lost one “main account” to someone who “helped” him before — they’d used up all his rename cards, trial cards, and rank-protection tokens.

Sure, the rank had gone up — but the record?

It was horrifying.

He still couldn’t bear to look at it.

And now this guy says he wants to meet the “mother” of his new character — the one who helped him register this new account and level it up from scratch?

Who’s crazy here, you or me?!

Who knows if you just want to steal my account, take my loot, and leave me — no, leave one sad little dragon — sitting here crying like a fool?

That thought alone made Sal refuse without hesitation.

From the firm look on his face, Rayne could tell there was no room for negotiation.

—But if you think that’s the end, then you’ve underestimated Rayne.

He’d long since grasped Sal’s yearning for adventure — his longing to see the world and its wonders.

Back on their journey to the castle, Rayne had noticed how Sal’s eyes sparkled when looking out the window at the passing scenery.

Unfortunately, they’d been in a hurry — no time to stop and admire it.

Still, that moment gave Rayne an idea — and a way to lure him in.

“Listen to me first,” Rayne said calmly — though a small smirk tugged at his lips.

“Do you want to become an adventurer? Or even… a hero?”