Chapter 223: Chapter 221: Miss Saintess Sets Her Sights on the Royal Mercenary Corps

Sure, here’s the translation of the provided text:

Hilia chose not to continue the adventure.

Because the "initial trial" ahead had already cost them almost ten hours, and outside, it was already late afternoon approaching evening, they both needed rest.

After discussing, the two decided to return.

They didn’t use the Teleportation Scroll to return to the camp, after all, that’s for emergencies, and in safe circumstances, they went the old-fashioned way—

Walking back.

After solving the maze, the path behind them was quite straight, without various three-dimensional roads, and the two smoothly reached the end, which wasn’t a forked road but the state they found when they first came in, a shadowy mist.

Through the mist, the two smoothly arrived outside the stone gate.

Upon exiting, Hilia noticed a significant difference outside.

Numerous mercenaries had gathered there to witness them becoming the first adventurers to enter and return from the ruins.

Of course, they expected this, so it wasn’t a big issue.

The different thing was the stone gate.

Originally, after Hilia opened it with her Magic Staff, as long as she didn’t continually input Magic Power, it would close, but now it remained open.

Among the spectators, mercenaries occasionally came over and entered through the stone gate. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Just when Hilia was wondering why the gate was open, the surrounding mercenaries closed in on them.

Before she could react, an Elf’s magic was cast on her, and then she was promptly dragged along by Elina.

She seemed quite experienced at escaping crowds and quickly led Hilia out from the spectators and ran swiftly towards the camp.

Behind them, numerous mercenaries shouted, "Beautiful lady, please tell us what you found inside the ruins!"

Once back at the camp, Elina finally breathed a sigh of relief, while Hilia curiously asked, "Why did we run?"

"Being surrounded by so many people is terrifying no matter how you think about it!" Elina said with lingering fear.

"What’s so terrifying? Are you afraid they’ll attack you? Or are you afraid someone might take advantage of the chaos?"

"Both. I generally dislike being the center of attention."

"Why... Oh, I get it."

Hilia’s curiosity only lasted two seconds before she remembered what Rose said earlier, that Elina likes to ’borrow’ money from people.

Doing that kind of thing, she certainly wouldn’t want to be noticed.

"Hilia, starting tomorrow, should we disguise ourselves a bit?"

"No need." Hilia waved her hand, "We are preparing to set up an emergency assistance team at the camp to clear curses and earn money. If we disguise ourselves, how will people recognize us?"

Elina hesitated but ultimately thought about how important Gold Coins were, so she let it go.

Hilia laughed, "Those people just want to know what’s inside the secret realm. After understanding, they can explore, so there’s no malice. Just tell them, it’s no big deal."

Elina said, "Exploration knowledge is precious, Hilia. This is experience and knowledge gained at the risk of our lives. If they want to know, they should pay, not get it for free."

"Oh, I didn’t see it that way."

Elina nodded, "Especially with these non-combat types of ruins, telling others means they won’t expend energy at the same traps and can easily pass through, letting them easily obtain treasures while benefiting themselves at our expense."

"For example, the maze referred to by the voice as the ’initial trial’. If we knew beforehand that the maze required finding 11 Magic Crystals and 11 bowls to combine them into a path, then find the 12th bowl and Magic Crystal, and finally offer them to the statue and not defend against nor resist its attacks, we could prevent the 12th bowl from being destroyed. By following this process, we could save more than half of the time. Such precious strategy knowledge, charging for it isn’t a problem, right?"

"Okay, that’s definitely no problem."

"Many initial exploration strategies are costly, especially for using Pure Magic Crystals as bait. People expect treasures inside more, so the charge should be higher."

Hilia remained silent.

She knew Elina was right, but this kind of thing, where a few words can prevent many people from risking their lives, she always felt should be provided for free. Everyone united, helping each other, smoothly getting through... that’s how it should be.

She felt like she and Elina had switched roles.

Elves are generally seen as beautiful and kind in the eyes of humans, while humans might be seen as selfish and self-centered among elves, but now, Elina is showing the ’selfishness’ typical of humans, while she shows the ’kindness’ typical of elves.

The girl decided to seek Rose’s advice.

Rose said calmly, "When you are impoverished, you should protect yourself, and when successful, you can help the world. Whether you provide news of the ruins for free or for a fee depends on your current mindset and whether you have the capability to offer it for free.

"If not, offering it for a price isn’t a bad choice. A small amount of money in exchange for precious information that can save lives is a reasonable deal for mercenaries."

He smiled, "But selling information also has a timeframe; today many went inside to explore, and soon others will know too. If you sell to one person, they might whisper to others or even sell it onward."

"I now..." Hilia considered her funds, feeling no pressure, "should charge for the knowledge!"

So Hilia quickly sought advice from the experienced Elina on how to conduct teachings about the ruins’ trials.

According to Elina, there are two approaches.

One is to cast a wide net, directly gathering a bunch of mercenaries, charging them a relatively small fee, and then collectively sharing the ruins’ information.

The second is to only inform large mercenary corps, heavily extorting them.

Elina stated, "Large mercenary corps have plenty of Gold Coins, like yesterday’s Eternal Night Mercenary Corps; they didn’t even blink at handing us two Gold Coins.

"Rather than letting all mercenaries know, a handful could pool money for one representative to obtain the information and share back, or focus on large corps and leverage their urgency to seize opportunities for a bigger payout!"

Hilia soaked in the knowledge like a student, nodding repeatedly to Elina’s words.

Soon, a simple money-making plan surfaced in her mind.

"This current ancient ruin has attracted two well-known mercenary corps, apart from the tunnel-digging Eternal Night Mercenary Corps, there’s the Royal Mercenary Corps."

The Eternal Night Mercenary Corps relies solely on their efforts; they might not have much Gold Coins. But this Royal Mercenary Corps...

Hilia isn’t sure how much truth is in the mercenaries’ words.

Yet a corps with the name ’Royal’ being unrelated to Ista Royal Family is impossible.

The Holy Court and the Royal Family have always had conflicting interests.

Now as the future Holy Daughter representing the Holy Court...

Taking some Gold Coins from the Royal Family wouldn’t be excessive, right?

The girl immediately decided and called out to Elina, "Let’s go knock...oh no, go sell information about the ancient ruins to the Royal Mercenary Corps."