21 km from Freyra, Principality of Lior.

  Golden Highway.

  The three operatives zoomed down the Golden Highway, the most crucial route for trade between Azuria and Lior. The highway was pretty busy despite being early in the morning, with the sun barely rising from underneath the horizon. Most of the traffic on the dirt road were still horse-drawn wagons and donkeys, with a few imported Elysian motor vehicles purchased by more wealthy merchants mixed in as well, creating a convoluted mess.

  The scene honestly reminded Kreuger of the many third world shitholes he was deployed to. Poverty, famine and pollution. At least the air here was much better than in his previous deployments, a bit less dusty too.

  Kreuger pulled down his shemagh as they entered a more grassy part of the plain, enjoying the sunrise view and letting the wind cool him with its fresh, early morning air.

  *PFFFFFFFF* “Boss.” *PFFFFFFF* “We got unknown contacts up ahead. Possible checkpoint.” Livna suddenly spoke to him over the radio, paying little attention to the wind splashing her microphone.

  He pressed on the short range radio on his chest. “Come in, Liv.”

  “Just ahead.” She moved her bike next to his, pointing ahead at a group of individuals next to a van and a couple motorbikes, with smoke clearly coming from the truck and the bikes sitting in around the vehicle.

  Livna squinted her eyes, focusing on the group around the vehicles. Four men in bright red armor and one female in a green-colored outfit. The truck also had what seemed like a logo imprinted onto its side, with a bunch of equipment piling on the trunk of the vehicle.

  “They don’t seem hostile.” Sasha said, also observing the group ahead.

  “Let’s investigate.”

  The three braked slowly as they stopped next by, overhearing the heated commotion within the group.

  “You dumbass!” The girl wearing a green-colored dress berated a man sitting on the truck’s driver seat. “The guild needs the equipment and paperwork delivered today! Now the truck is busted because you pushed it too hard!”

  “Hey I didn’t know alright?! It’s not like this thing yells out to me that it's hurt!” The man replied with sass, frustrated at the girl yelling at him..

  “This is bad…” The tallest man in a bright red-colored suit of metallic armor within the group mumbles, clearly worried about the situation they’re in. “If we can’t get the truck going then the guild won’t be able to issue quests and payments for employees for the next week...”

  Kreuger stepped down from his bike, shutting down the vehicle’s engine as he hid the suppressed rifle on his bike. “Greetings.” He called out. “What seems to be the problem?”

  The tall man in a red, knight-like armor turned around. “Who might you be, friend?”

  “Kreuger. C-tier Adventurer.” He greeted the tall knight with an arm clasp, not using handshakes to reveal themselves as Elysians. “You seemed to have some problem with the truck.”

  “Yeah… the truck driver busted the thing. It’s not moving anymore.” The knight answered. “Name’s Owain. C-tier Adventurer.”

  The girl stopped berating the truck driver, slumping down in defeat. “What am I gonna do?... I’m gonna get fired…”

  Owain introduced the small team around him. “This is my crew, the Order of Scarlet. It’s a small clan from Azuria, so you might have not heard of us.” He points at the girl wearing a small dress slumping down next to the truck with another girl trying to console her. “That’s the receptionist for the Adventurers’ Guild’s hub in Freyra and her assistant. We’re here to help them under the contract but…” He looked over at the smoking truck bearing the guild’s logo. “It’s not going well. None of us here knows how to fix the truck.”

  The Adventurers’ Guild, Kreuger recalled from the pre-mission briefings, is a decently-sized guild from Azuria, with hubs around the Eastern Continent and beyond in certain areas. It appears that they usually act as a hub for people to post small job listings, or requests to get rid of something, all for a price they are willing to pay, of course.

  While the concept has been outdated for a long time in Elysia due to the increase in social and economic development, for a place like the Eastern Continent there is definitely a gig job market for more specialized hired muscles or some other professions.

  Livna and Sasha disembarked from their bikes, walking around the truck as they inspected the damage. Sasha approached Kreuger, careful to not let the Azurian adventurer chimed in to their conversation. “We gotta move, boss. Staying back to help them with this will cost us valuable time.”

  “They’re not priorities. Let’s just go, boss.” Livna whispered to him as well, turning her back as she was about to walk back to her motorbike.

  Kreuger thought about the opportunity being presented to him. The Adventurers’ Guild do post quests commissioned by merchants or even Azurian companies, since those organizations sometimes need short term freelancers who take up jobs for a quick pay. An idea flashed through his mind.

  “Hold up,” He grabs Livna’s arm, whispering into her ear. “This could be our chance for intelligence. The Adventurers’ Guild no doubt would’ve received more commissions from smaller contractors within White Tassel and Red Dragon. If we could help them out, maybe they’ll give us priority in quests relating to the two guilds. We need to infiltrate the guilds, so it's better to get in legally through commissions rather than sneaking in through the backdoor.”

  Linva responded, doubts creeping into her mind. “You’re not very good at blending in, boss. The last time you tried to do so in Zhihao’s palace, we had to shoot our way out. You stood out like a sore thumb.” She responded.

  “Nah, this time it’ll be different. I promised.”

  Sasha joined in. “You sure about this, boss?”

  “Don’t worry, adventurers like to stand out cosmetically. I’ll blend right in.” Kreuger said.

  Sasha sighs before breaking a small smile. “Alright boss. Let’s help them out. Bailing you out of Zhihao’s palace was pretty fun anyway, watching you emptied your salary buying taps for the fellas in the 177th.”

  After agreeing on their next move. Kreuger stepped up to Owain, pointing his finger at Sasha. “Hey, I think my buddy here can help you out.”

  “Really?” Owain responded with skepticism. Few Azurians understand how the Elysian vehicle worked, much less how to repair them, often having to take them to maintenance shops for any sort of repair work.

  “If you would let him, maybe he can get the truck to start again.”

  Owain shook his head. “My boys were commissioned by the Adventurers’ Guild as escort, I’m afraid only employees of the Guild have the authority to-”

  The defeated girl in the Adventurers’ Guild uniform suddenly looked up, her eyes widened in joy as a smile formed up on her face before leaping herself at Sasha. “PLEASE! HELP ME OUT! I CAN’T LOSE MY JOB AGAIN!!!”

  “W-WOAH!” He pushed back a bit. “Calm down! I’ll get it fixed for you!” Sasha gave the girl several pat on the back. “You can let me go now!”

  “...I guess that solves the authorization problem.” Owain shared a look with Kreuger, who smiled in return.

  She let go of Sasha, bowing continuously. “Thank you, stranger!” The girl then turns to the truck’s driver, making an angry expression. “Get out! You’re of no use!”

  – –

  “So what’s the issue here, Sasha?” Kreuger asked him.

  “Overheating.” He answered, looking into the engine. “Radiator clogged with too much mud, and the cooling fan is jammed as well.”

  “Easy fix then.” Kreuger comments.

  “Yeah boss, give me five minutes. I’ll get this thing running.” Sasha began reaching into the engine deck to begin the repair process.

  “F-five minutes? Is it really that easy?” The receptionist girl asked.

  “Yeah,” Livna walked behind her. “Sasha’s pretty good with stuff like this.”

  “Where did he learn to repair motor vehicles so quickly? We barely got these a week ago. I thought it’s very complex.” Owain asked Kreuger.

  “Uhh…” Kreuger froze as he tried to come up with a reasonable lie. “He’s a quick learner, that’s why I got him in my team.”

  “I see, you are one lucky guy. Adventurers’ with knowledge on how to maintain vehicles have been in high demand recently with the larger clans, ever since the kingdom opened up to the United Federation’s massive investments into the country. There’s a lot of opportunities for work. From your outfits I guess you three are newbies then?” Owain looked at him.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Yeah… how do you know?” Kreuger’s mind raced, his hand moving slowly to his pistol’s holster. Did they just get exposed?

  “Well, first of all, you put your straps on wrong.” Owain pointed his finger at the leather piece of armor on Kreuger’s shoulder. “Second, you forgot to wear a helmet.” he pointed at Kreuger’s messy hair, curled from the wind splashing against it throughout the night.

  Phew.

  “I don’t usually wear helmets. They block my view.” Kreuger gave the knightly man an excuse. While he didn’t dislike wearing a helmet, they made him stand out too much on the many covert missions he had gone on, giving him a habit of not wearing one if possible.

  “Don’t play with your life. Wear one like your fellow Adventurer.” Owain said, referencing Livna.

  “Yeah… thanks for the advice.” Kreuger shifts his eyes to Livna, who’s currently having a conversation with the girl belonging to the Adventurers’ Guild.

  Standard intelligence gathering, no doubt. While not a great choice to have in a potential firefight due to her not having the best marksmanship with a rifle, Livna is more capable than anyone in TF101 (Task Force 101st) in infiltration and playing with people’s emotion. The fact that her face and body also looked like she was recruitment psyop material for the Marines… Well she was just the perfect choice for the job.

  “Your helmet is very strange. What’s the bag around it for?” The receptionist girl asked, piqued about Livna’s mitznefet.

  “Ehhhh… it’s my favorite headwear. It helps you blend in with the terrain.” She took off her helmet, showing the two girls the mitznefet.

  “Woah…! You look so pretty!” The receptionist 's eyes brighten at Livna’s silky wolf cut hair, her hand reaching out to inspect her hair.

  Gaining trust. The first step of getting information out of someone - or rather, making them give out information willingly. Kreuger observed Livna continuing to trade pleasantries and chatters with the girl, before switching his sight back to Sasha working on the truck.

  Sasha disconnected the engine before inspecting it. “Who drove this thing so recklessly? This truck is brand new.” He complained, disturbed at the truck’s slightly warped exterior he just now noticed.

  “Sorry…” The driver standing next to him sighs, looking away for a bit from embarrassment.

  “It’s alright. Just don’t drive too fast from now on.” Sasha looked at the vehicle’s trunk. “You’re carrying a lot of stuff by the way. Paved roads don’t exist around here unlike in Anzuri City, so don’t play ball with the suspension.”

  After wiping off some mud that had been clogging the truck’s radiator and cooling fan, rewiring the engine and checking fluids, Sasha closed the engine canopy, giving the metallic canopy some slaps. “Try turning it on again.” He asked the truck driver.

  The driver reached into the driver seat, turning the keys, causing the engine to rumble up again without stalling. “Thank you!” The driver exclaimed.

  “No problem.”

  “What can I repay you for this?”

  Sasha pondered for a moment. “Hm. We only have a couple questions.”

  The driver raised his eyebrow. “What are they?”

  “We haven’t been to Lior before, so it would be nice if you know some place where we can find work. Preferably in-” Sasha shared a look with Kreuger, who secretly gave him some hand signals before retreating his hand back into his cloak. “-White Tassel or Red Dragon Guild. I heard there are some jobs in high demand.”

  “Eh… You’d have to ask Nerysa, maybe she could help. Doubt she’d refuse after what you’ve done for her.”

  “Nerysa?” Sasha tilted his head.

  “Oh yeah, right!” The driver pointed at the girl in Adventurers’ Guild uniform talking to Livna. “That’s her.”

  “Alright then…” Sasha looked over to his boss again, who nodded in return at the knowledge.

  Kreuger walked up next to Livna, his attention focused on the receptionist girl. “My guy got your truck back up. You’re good to go.”

  She turned around, letting out a relieved breath. “Yes! Thank you so kindly!”

  “I’m wondering if you can do us a favor in Freyra.” Livna said, putting the mitznefet back on her head.

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “If you have any quests or commissions related to the White Tassel or Red Dragon guild, could you kindly reserve some for us? We have some business in the guilds so it would be great if we can do some side hustles as well.”

  “Eh… that would be against the Adventurers’ Guild policy to-”

  Livna crouched down, taking Nerysa’s hand and staring into her brown-colored eyes with her own bright blue eyes. “Plweaseeeeee?”

  “B-but…”

  “Just this once! Pleaseeee…” Livna stared at Nerysa even more intensely, causing her to fluster a bit.

  Nerysa looked back at the truck, seeing it running smoothly as new. If not for these people, she would’ve been fired for not delivering the goods on time today. These adventurers didn’t even ask for money or any payment for helping out, and not like she has anything on her right now to pay them.

  Maybe doing them a favor isn’t too much. “F-fine… I’ll help you guys.”

  “Yay!” Livna gave her a warm hug, pressing her chest against Nerysa. “Thank you so much!”

  “Mmhh! Alright let me go!” She tapped Livna’s shoulder. “You can meet me at around nine, since that’s when my shift is supposed to start.”

  The three bid farewell to the small group, waiting for the truck and its escorts to leave out of sight before making their way back to their bikes again.

  While the plan was to first enter Freyra and find their safehouse to operate from before making their way around town, finding ways to infiltrate the guilds, that seemed to be unnecessary.

  “Good call, boss. We don’t need to find backdoors into the guilds, that should cut us some valuable time.” Sasha hopped on his bike, inserting his key into it.

  “You smug little bitch.” Kreuger gave Livna a smile before walking to his bike as well.

  Livna gave Kreuger a devious smile in return, adjusting her mitznefet. “How’s that boss? I did pretty good, didn't I?”

  “No shit. You got the girl to give us a free pass.” Kreuger patted her shoulder. “Good job, Liv. Let’s get going Stalkers.”

  — —

  Freyra, Principality of Lior.

  Kreuger took off his goggles meant to protect his eyes from the dust, observing the lightly built up city upclose. While certainly not comparable to Azuria, and nothing even close to his home city of Zalivohrad, it was certainly something different.

  Before they even entered the city, massive displays of wealth already stood proudly on the small city’s streets. Lines of merchants offered up countless jewelries in pristine condition, freshly mined and processed by White Tassel, while many others sold imported goods from both Azuria and the United Federation alike.

  Towering constructs, or rather - monuments and statues of the Prince and other great guild leaders are placed centrally in the market square, a testament of Lior’s greatness. Despite the fact that they were meant to be symbols of power and wealth, Kreuger could tell from the people’s reaction to the statues here are mixed at best. Some looked up to them with a smile, marveling at the quality while others ignored them, turning their gaze away as they shook their heads in disapproval.

  Even with just a fleeting glance, Kreuger could tell that his two teammates under him shared the same thought at the architecture of this place, glancing between themselves. “Damn. This place almost reminds me of Al-Anwar… just with more grass and water.” Livna comments.

  “Thank god we never have to come back to that shithole again.” Sasha said.

  “Alright. We’re officially tourists now, Stalkers. Sharpen up, we’re heading to the safehouse.” Kreuger revved the bike’s engine, pushing into the busy market as he tried to find ways around the almost maze-like layout of the small city.

  Usually, they’d stand out like a sore thumb due to their bikes, but due to the proliferation of imports from Elysia, motor vehicles are somewhat common in the busy market.

  He passed by a few vehicle dealers, who were advertising trucks as a new workhorse for Liori merchants. Not like they’re wrong, horses aren’t used in Elysia besides for recreation or racing, as trucks and other vehicles have already taken over their role in almost every sector of the economy.

  The price here is something else though. Without abundant and cheap material imports from Lior, combined with poor infrastructure and high demand meant that the vehicles were sold at almost three to four times the old market price before the Transference. This was unsustainable, and Kreuger knew it, hence why they sent him and his team to help resolve this… issue.

  The three eventually arrived at a small inn opened by an Azurian, its exterior clearly reflecting the owner’s origin with its distinctive style compared to other buildings nearby. Kreuger could see a couple guests coming in and out, mostly Azurian adventurers but also Liori exchanging topics with each other, planning what they’re gonna do today and beyond.

  ‘Tranquility’s Abode.’ Kreuger read the sign. “This is it.”

  As the three finished grabbing their stuff from the bikes, securing them in place and paying the security guard some coins to watch over their vehicles, they walked into the inn together.

  DING

  Sasha suddenly jumped back, dodging a flying glass mug, thrown by a couple guys duking it out at the small bar inside the inn.

  “Fuck you, asshole!” An Azurian adventurer blocked some punches, before returning the adventurer who was beating him with an uppercut to the chin.

  The other adventurer recovered, rubbing his chin due to the pain. “Did you steal my fucking quest, jackass?! That quest in Dulbu was mine!” He leaped forward, continuing the brawl.

  Several other adventurers joined in, trying to calm the situation before the doors suddenly burst open behind the three operatives as two burly men in armor walked inside, dragging the two misbehaving adventurers outside.

  “So much for Tranquility’s Abode.” Livna comments with sass.

  “We’re still working on it. The kids nowadays can’t behave themselves.” A middle aged inn owner walked up to them, adjusting his hat. “Welcome to my establishment! Are you looking for a place to stay for a while?”

  Kreuger slipped a paper note from his pocket, handing it over to him. “Read this.”

  The man opened the note, reading through its content before closing it with an eyebrow raised before handing the note back to Kreuger, his face turning dead serious. “Are you three really?...”

  Livna flipped her cloak a bit, revealing to the inn owner her RS-46 PDW slinging on her waist.

  “Room twenty one, second floor.” He pointed at the stairs before giving the operatives the keys. “I’ve left it empty for a while now waiting for you guys. You should find what you need there.”

  “Thanks.” Kreuger smiled. “Did they pay you yet?”

  “Ten times my annual earnings, they have. I think I’m gonna retire early after this and buy a plot of land near Vayur Forest. I heard it's a nice place.”

  “Maybe we’ll visit.” Kreuger gave him an arm clasp and a smile before heading for the stairs with his teammates.

  “Enjoy your stay.” The inn owner paused slightly. “And happy hunting, Stalkers.”