Chapter 257: The Strongest Bronze (VII)

“The top ten guilds are each organizing their own large-scale legions to carry out the **[Great Expedition]**,” Miss Meihua explained.

“At the same time, we will explore the depths of the Sea of Trees from different routes.”

“…”

Samimi was still wallowing in the frustration of being a pig that failed to eat the tiger.

‘Are we just two yellow-haired dogs and a little calf by the side of the road that no one cares about?’

After reading face-slapping webnovels for decades, she thought any pig could pretend to be weak to devour a tiger, but the actual operation was far more difficult than she imagined.

After all, those were novels. The author could develop the plot however they wanted. But this was her reality, and reality had far too many uncertain factors.

“Wait, what do you mean by the top guilds building a large army? The Great Expedition? That sounds incredibly ominous,” Samimi finally snapped out of it.

“Whenever a powerful enemy appears, the Adventurers’ Guild assembles a large army to strike,” Miss Meihua explained. “There have been several instances in history defined as **[SS-Rank Missions]**. They are all recorded in detail, though no one except important figures in the association can access them.”

“You can just build an army without consulting the Kingdom?” Samimi questioned.

“Is that what you’re focused on? You are from the Royal City, after all. Distant water cannot put out a nearby fire; there is no time to report. We will inform the Majesty later,” Miss Meihua said.

“So, the enemy this time is…” Niubao’s expression also turned serious.

“The scouting report says it is a humanoid Magic Phoenix. It has gathered an unprecedentedly large army of monsters. More importantly, it possesses the Sword of the Hero. It likely obtained it deep within the Sea of Trees,” Miss Meihua introduced.

“The Sword of the Hero.” Samimi rubbed her chin, falling into deep thought.

“That is the symbol of a Hero, a legendary sword that all the great guilds dream of obtaining. The top three guilds all have members who hold the title of Hero. Everyone will build their own adventurer legions to march into the depths of the Sea of Trees,” Miss Meihua continued to explain, hiding nothing. It seemed she trusted the Priestess quite a bit.

“I advise you not to go. With the current strength of your Dawn Guild, you aren’t strong enough yet,” Samimi said.

“The arrow is already on the string and must be fired. If we back down now, the guild’s reputation will plummet,” Miss Meihua said.

“Man, it’s a matter of face again.” Samimi waved her small hand.

“It can’t be helped. A guild relies on face to survive under the shadow of this forest,” Miss Meihua said.

Samimi’s smile gradually faded.

“Is there another problem?” Miss Meihua asked.

“The humanoid Magic Phoenix… I encountered something like that around the Royal City. It is a special, intelligent monster born from the mutation of a powerful creature. We in the Church call them **[Demon Humans]**,” Samimi said.

“Demon Human?!” Miss Meihua was shocked. she immediately took out a notebook to record this important intelligence.

“The Church once obtained the torso of a Demon Human. Originally, it was a Corrupt Flesh Dragon. Even a common crow becomes stronger when infected by the Abyss. However, when a powerful monster like that is infected, it instead turns into a bone dragon that can only crawl on the ground. Yet, within that bone dragon’s body, a brand-new monster was gestated. Our Church analyzed it and concluded it might be born by absorbing all the energy of the host. They possess a certain level of intelligence, understand human tactics, and are extremely cunning and difficult to deal with. The legendary Demon King is likely born from among these Demon Humans,” Samimi continued the introduction without omission.

“Does the Church actually possess such important information? How did you, Miss Priestess, come to know this?” Miss Meihua asked while writing.

“Because that Demon Human was cut in half by us. One half was left with the Dierte Knight family, and the other half was handed over to the Church for research. Both the Knights and the Church know this secret. I’m actually wondering why you, who deal with monsters every day, don’t know? Have you never seen a Demon Human?” Samimi asked in return.

These words were a hint. It was impossible for the Adventurers’ Guild not to know about the Demon Humans, but they had not announced it to the public, nor had they shared the intelligence with the guilds.

However, the Adventurers’ Guild’s source of information was the major guilds themselves. It was likely that some guilds knew the truth while others were kept in the dark.

“…”

Miss Meihua suddenly stopped her pen, her expression filled with doubt.

“It seems your adventurers aren’t of one mind either,” Samimi sneered.

“It is all thanks to you, Miss Priestess. Otherwise, our Dawn Guild really wouldn’t have known about this,” Miss Meihua said gratefully.

“I hope you can spread this information as quickly as possible. The more people who know, the better,” Samimi said seriously. “I don’t care what interest conflicts your guilds have; I just want more people to come back alive.”

“I understand.” Miss Meihua sighed helplessly and agreed.

She had originally intended to keep this secret for her guild.

‘We don’t even know which guilds are hiding this secret. Regardless, they chose to keep it suppressed.’

“But you can publicly announce that the Dawn Guild released this secret. It will give your Guild Master a good reputation,” Samimi said.

“Miss Samimi, thank you so much. I thank you on behalf of Vice President Hake,” Miss Meihua said.

“Don’t tell your Vice President about me. I don’t want to be disturbed by him. And don’t tell Selina either. That woman looks at my bull with very strange eyes, like she wants to eat beef,” Samimi said.

“This… alright, I respect your wishes. In the guild, only Hake and I know of your existence,” Miss Meihua promised helplessly.

“I won’t let you raise us for nothing. When you finish organizing the legion, reserve two spots for us,” Samimi said.

“Miss Samimi is willing to join our guild?” Miss Meihua was overjoyed.

“I didn’t say I’d join. We’ll just be mercenaries,” Samimi corrected.

“That works too. With Miss Samimi and Miss Niubao joining, our guild will be like a tiger with wings.” Miss Meihua smiled brightly.

“That’s enough. You look busy, so go ahead. Just remember to call me when the expedition starts,” Samimi said.

“Then I’ll head back to report the intelligence. Goodbye.” Miss Meihua tucked away her notebook and hurriedly left the weapon workshop.

Samimi felt the whole world quiet down.

Miss Meihua was good in every way, except her mouth was just like her own family—it never stopped. Everything she said was useless, repetitive nagging.

Perhaps her role as a strategist made her speech so cautious, so she couldn’t be blamed.

‘Miss Meihua is the type of person where I clearly know she’s a good girl, but she’s so polite and formal on the surface that it’s annoying.’

“Niubao, I’m hungry,” Samimi called out like a lazy person.

“Moo.” Niubao replied and went to cook.

‘Look at the communication between me and the Ten Treasures. It’s concise, powerful, and efficient.’

Having nothing else to do, Samimi got up to see what the girl, Wood, was doing. She was curious about how a person in a wheelchair forged weapons.

The girl, Wood, was indeed tinkering with her weapon-forging equipment.

She sat in her mana-powered wheelchair, pressing buttons, toggling levers, and sorting through various weapon materials.

Then, after a period of rigorous observation, Samimi discovered that for people here, forging a weapon was just like forging a weapon in a video game!

She only needed to put the weapon materials into the processing equipment, tap a few times on the screen, and it would generate automatically. It was as simple as crafting in a game.

‘No wonder a person in a wheelchair can be a master weapon forger! You don’t even have to pick up a hammer!’

“Right, I almost forgot to ask Miss Meihua who our enemy is. I only know it’s a Demon Human,” Samimi rubbed her chin and muttered to herself.

“Magic Sword Reid. Everyone outside is talking about it,” the girl, Wood, answered.

“Never heard of him.” Samimi pretended to be ignorant, but how could a transmigrator not know that famous name?

Magic Sword Reid, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Abyss, and the strongest one at that. His strength was second only to the Demon King.

In the original plot, he was the vanguard of the Abyss army. As the first of the Four Heavenly Kings to appear, he directly steamrolled the Adventurers’ Guild and invaded the Kingdom.

The number one, two, three, and four Heroes…

The number one, two, and three guilds…

In the original plot, these characters and organizations didn’t even exist. They were probably wiped out in the Sea of Trees long ago.

In the end, it was the Hero of the Storm and her Hero Party who came out to fight Magic Sword Reid. After all, when the Abyss army pushed to the Royal City, that was their territory.

The other three Kings who appeared later weren’t as powerful as Magic Sword Reid. Although they were also troublesome, they never had that overwhelming sense of absolute invincibility.

Magic Sword Reid was designed as the most powerful antagonistic boss in the early stages of the original story. Breaking the human race single-handedly was the beginning of the end for the “Daily Life of the Cute Hero Girls” plot.

‘Unfortunately, I am a transmigrator. I know where Magic Sword Reid’s weakness lies. This time, I won’t give you the chance to run wild.’

“Miss Priestess, the noodles are ready,” Niubao came over and said.

“Miss Wood, have you eaten? Join us. We’ll be troubling you for a while,” Samimi said.

“I haven’t eaten with others in a long time. But where did your ingredients come from?” Wood asked.

“A **[Space Ring]**. Mysterious, isn’t it?” Samimi laughed.

There was no dining table in the weapon workshop, so the three of them could only huddle around a small tea table to eat noodles together.

“Are you two also going to participate in the Great Expedition?” Wood asked.

“Of course. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to afford the accommodation fee,” Samimi joked.

“That’s good. Actually, I want to go too. Unfortunately, my legs won’t listen to me; I would only get in everyone’s way,” Wood said with a self-deprecating smile.

“Everyone has their own role. You are a weapon forger. Why would you go to the front line to cause trouble? Besides, with support personnel like you staying here, everyone else has no worries. Everyone’s responsibility is equally important,” Samimi said, not trying to comfort her, but simply speaking plainly.

“You’re right.” Wood nodded.

“By the way, do you know who the strongest adventurer is?” Samimi asked.

“The First Guild Master,” Wood answered.

“No old men,” Samimi said.

“Then… if we’re talking about individual ability, it should be the champion of the **[Hell Poetry]** guild, Hero Ranke Von Posia,” Wood replied.