The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 69 - 67: Scam Team? It’s a Sect!

"Captain, we’ve got another fat sheep picking up our commission."

Outside Dawn City, a shifty-eyed fellow sidled up to the burly man roasting meat at the camp and fawned, "That Ferryman trick really works wonders."

"Hmph, those boatmen always take the lion’s share of everything. Sooner or later, I’ll take their place."

"Oh definitely, Captain, you’ll be the Ferryman on the Nether River in no time."

The burly man took a bite of his roast. "So, where’s this sheep? Has he come yet?"

"Already here. I’ll go fetch him over."

"Go on, let’s see just how fat this one is."

The shifty-eyed subordinate scurried out, craning his neck and repeatedly contacting the adventurer via the spell ring who had accepted the commission.

It wasn’t long before he saw a tall figure approaching.

Something about this person felt off and awkward, but he greeted enthusiastically anyway.

"Hello, I’m Fei Qi, the one who posted the commission. Are you the adventurer Lord Miller Deville?"

Hilia, disguised as Miller, nodded and replied in a low voice, "Yes, I am Miller."

In fact, it hardly mattered how deep her voice sounded—it was already altered with magic, no longer her usual woman’s voice.

The real reason for the disguise was Hilia worrying about being recognized as a woman. Without knowing enough about this Dusk Investigation Team, she didn’t want others getting ideas just because she was a girl.

"Please, come inside!"

Fei Qi enthusiastically reached out to grab Hilia, but she dodged him. He didn’t mind, and led Hilia into their camp.

The camp had four tents gathered around a bonfire. Outside the tents, they had placed some caltrop-like barriers to ward off wild animals.

This was just outside Dawn City, several kilometers away—already into wild animal territory.

Hilia entered and saw three people already sitting around the bonfire. One of them was speaking as she approached.

"Thanks, Captain, heh heh, with this money, I can finally marry and settle down to farm."

Hilia looked over and saw the speaker counting gold coins.

After witnessing this, Hilia was almost certain this so-called Dusk Investigation Team was just a scam crew, set up to cheat rookie mercenaries.

Next up, they were probably going to sell her shovels or something, to sample at the Twilight Tomb, weren’t they?

Hilia mused to herself.

At that moment, Fei Qi shouted to the burly man, "Captain, the last teammate has arrived. Let’s set off now!"

The burly man stood up with a chuckle, "No rush. Hello, I’m Beck, the team captain. For the next while, we’re a team—I hope we work well together."

Hilia nodded, playing up her role as the newbie adventurer, and introduced herself, "Hello, I’m Miller Deville, a mighty Tier One Mage with a Magic Puppet. Rest assured, I’ll complete your commission with no problem."

"Magic Puppet?" Beck was startled and peeked behind Hilia. "Where is it?"

"Left it at Dawn City. Didn’t bring it this time. Are we setting off right now?"

"It’s pretty late. We’ll head out tomorrow. Let’s get familiar with each other first," Beck chuckled.

"Captain Beck here is a Tier Two Fist Master. Miller, let me tell you, being in the same team as Captain Beck is a real honor!" Fei Qi chimed in beside him.

Hilia didn’t bother with small talk and said directly, "I booked a room at the Mercenary Guild. It’s late. I’ll go pack my things and meet you all here tomorrow."

Fei Qi was startled and hurriedly said, "How can that be? You’re already here—why head back? Eat something first, let’s all get to know each other’s fighting styles so we can look out for one another."

"All my fighting style is in my Magic Puppet—I’m a pure mage. I’ve got to fetch my Magic Puppet first. What, you won’t let me leave?" Hilia countered.

Beck held back Fei Qi, who wanted to speak, then laughed boisterously, "Go back whenever you want. We’re not some scam crew here. No problem, get some rest—just be here by eight tomorrow morning."

Hilia nodded, swept a glance across everyone, then walked straight out.

As soon as she was gone, the atmosphere in the camp shifted instantly. The person by the bonfire remarked, "This one’s different from our usual fat sheep—pretty cautious."

Beck snorted, "Cautious or not, doesn’t matter. Long as they follow us to Twilight Tomb and board the ferry, that’s the end of it."

Having quietly crept back nearby and overhearing the camp’s conversation, Hilia frowned. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"So it’s not a scam crew—it’s the Dusk Sect recruiting."

The girl’s eyes lit up.

She’d been wracking her brain to find the Dusk Sect’s stronghold.

Delighted, yet a little puzzled, Hilia thought—

"Is the Dusk Sect really this brazen? Posting commissions directly at the Mercenary Guild—aren’t they afraid of Holy Court infiltrators wiping them out?"

Hilia had done her homework. Dusk Town was now the Dusk Sect’s fortress. The Holy Court had organized campaigns to exterminate them multiple times, but never managed to root them out.

Given Dusk Town’s peculiarities, as long as they fled into the polluted, deathly ravines, the Holy Court couldn’t lay a finger on them.

Which is why the Mercenary Guild has that long-standing hefty commission from the Holy Court.

Hilia hadn’t picked up the Holy Court’s commission—she was keeping a low profile. Besides, their parties were unlikely to find the Dusk Sect stronghold. Going solo was better for now.

After eavesdropping on the Dusk Sect heretics for a while, Hilia quietly made her way back to Dawn City.

The next morning, Hilia arrived at the "Dusk Investigation Team" camp right on time, meeting up with Beck and the others.

With such a big reward, anyone would be on guard for scams. They acted accordingly and didn’t ask for money upfront. If Hilia had been your regular mercenary lured by a hundred gold coins, she’d have started to let down her guard by now.

But the opposition were Dusk Sect heretics.

Hardly any scammers at all.

Or rather, maybe they pretended to be a scam team to sift out unstable elements—keeping only the real greedy fools.

"Dawn City is a ways from Twilight Tomb. We’ll probably get there around noon,"

Beck patted his horse and glanced at Hilia, "Mr. Miller, seems you didn’t bring a mount? Want to ride with me?"

Hilia shook her head and pulled out her Flying Broom. "No need. I’ve got my own flying device."

A few sharp intakes of breath rang out nearby—Hilia instantly felt several burning gazes lock onto her Flying Broom.

This wasn’t her school-issued broom. She’d bought it separately. Even with the student discount, it still cost five gold coins—a fortune. Most people wouldn’t dream of buying one.

And flying wasn’t easy to learn either—otherwise, there wouldn’t be special classes just for flight at the academy.

Hilia glanced around and saw that, except for Beck, everyone was staring at her Flying Broom.

A "colleague" walked over and chuckled, "Miller, mind if we ride with you? I’ve never been on a flying device in my life."

"It’s a single-seater—even my Magic Puppet can’t get on," Hilia replied flatly.

"Oh, alright," he muttered, backing off to his own horse in disappointment.

Beck shot a meaningful glance at Hilia’s Magic Puppet trailing after her, then waved to everyone, "Let’s go, move out!"

"Yeah! For the gold coins!"