Sun Wu's Mission And Its Consequences, and Misami Shirohime's Careful Observation At Albrecht

This wasn't the first time Azura Xalthor approached the entire group with seething fury. However, it was a rare occurrence so even until now, the Heroes of Relics weren't used to that side of his personality.

As Sun Wu was brought back to reality, he stood up and stole a glance at the other Heroes of Relics who simply didn't want any part in the matter. They all looked away as if to indirectly tell Sun Wu to deal with the guild master by himself.

Although the guild master didn't mention anything regarding his fury, everyone in the Heroes of Relics already knew what it was. After all, the only reason why Azura Xalthor displayed such wrath was because of a decision they made a couple of weeks ago. This decision didn't have Azura's second opinion, hence his fury.

Heaving a deep sigh, Sun Wu walked out of their office with drooping shoulders. To be fair, he wasn't the only one who kicked Albrecht out of the party. The others also had a say in it. In retrospect, it was wrong of them to not inform the guild master about it but back then, Albrecht was a literal dead weight. He was a hero and yet he was weak. They had no choice but to kick him out.

Although Sun Wu thought about the flawless reason as to why they kicked Albrecht out of the party, he knew that the guild master wouldn't accept such lame excuses. Just like everyone else, they had seen firsthand just how powerful Albrecht was during that conquer attempt of the Seventh Outerlayer. He was on par with that Isaias Asclepius guy who was verified as the first Mystic-Rank Adventurer.

At the end of the day, they had lost a peerless treasure, and the members of the Heroes of Relics were ultimately the ones who caused such a mishap to happen.

Slowly, Sun Wu closed the door to their office behind him, cutting off his only escape route which led to his party who were on the other side of the door. At first, he wanted to wait a couple more seconds, just in case some of the members of the Heroes of Relics would join him.

But no, they'd rather stay in their office while Azura chewed out their party leader.

Another sigh left his mouth while the door at the end of the hallway loomed. Right behind that door was Azura Xalthor, probably sitting behind his desk while maintaining complete silence.

That was exactly what Sun Wu saw when he opened the door. Slowly, he went inside and sat opposite the guild master.

"Sun Wu," Azura Xalthor started off by saying his name.

A gulp could be heard as Sun Wu sat quietly still. He had no idea what the guild master was about to say next... and he couldn't understand why he was so calm and collected despite showing off his fury a moment ago.

"You're the party leader of the Heroes of Relics. Time and again, you managed to lead our heroes, fulfilling your role and tapping into their full potential. Well, you did a great job in handling all of them...."

"... except one." Azura let out.

"I'm going to give you an order. You have the right to outright reject or not... but remember that doing so would incur great consequences." Azura said. 

Somehow, hearing the word mission made Sun Wu inwardly sigh in relief. As it turned out, Azura wasn't there to lecture him again about Albrecht. Rather, he was there to give him a mission, probably in preparation for the conquer attempt of the Eighth Outerlayer.

"Yes, sir, what would that mission be?" Sun Wu asked, trying to even out his breathing as he expectantly waited for Azura to speak again.

"Your mission... is to bring back Albrecht into our guild. Use any means necessary... but first, I want you to apologize to him. If you had waited another month before kicking him out, we'd have seen results. But no, you just had to do it, without my permission, even." Azura said in one breath.

"If you can't do it... or if you think you're not inclined to do it... then I'd have to ask you to step down as the party leader of the Heroes of Relics."

"What? But..."

"Yes, I'm perfectly serious. You're dismissed." Azura let out, waving his hand at Sun Wu before he turned his head sideways, implying that he didn't want to hear another word come out of Sun Wu's mouth.

— — —

First Outerlayer,

A lady with white hair was enjoying her okonomiyaki. She couldn't believe that something that looked like commoner's food tasted this good. Then again, she wasn't new to commoner's food. In fact, that's the only food she knew since she grew up as an orphan.

Once she was done eating two servings by herself, she realized that she completely lost her tail. She was supposed to be following someone, but that thought went out the window the moment she took a mouthful of okonomiyaki.

"I almost forgot!" She told herself, putting all the okonomiyaki in her mouth, leaving a gold coin, and rushing out of there. In hindsight, she totally forgot about her mission. It was only when she was about to finish her meal did she realized that she had forgotten something important.

A few seconds later, Misami Shirohime could be seen running around the First Outerlayer, trying to locate Albrecht Stein. She was supposed to tail him as much as she could, and then report to Azura Xalthort about it. She had no idea why, but judging from Albrecht's reputation, this was probably to know more about his peerless strength.

After all, Albrecht was easily one of the strongest adventurers at the moment.

Thanks to her top-notch espionage abilities, she was able to locate Albrecht and his group right when they were about to enter the Rilegarthe Kingdom. She didn't hesitate to follow right behind them, down the meandering pathways which led to a tavern.

"What?! Are they..." Shirohime let out as she imagined something indecent. "Are they going to get one room?!" She raised her voice before she walked closer to the group. There was no way she'd allow such indecency to happen right in front of her! Not if she could help it!

Tip. Tap.

Slam!

Just when Albrecht's group entered the tavern, Shirohime also burst inside the tavern with a look of indignation on her face. She glared at Albrecht, then she realized that she was supposed to be undercover.

Clearing her throat, she gestured for Albrecht to continue discussing his accomodations with the owner of the tavern. Meanwhile, she awkwardly waited right behind them. She decided to get a room for herself as well. That way she could 'monitor' them if something were to go down during the night.