Chapter 309: Is He Qualified?

“Lady Swordmistress, I think everyone is almost ready. Should we set off now?” Watson asked Christina at the entrance of the Holy Sword adventurer team.

At that moment, the 200 adventurers were ready to set off. Those adventurers wore armor ranging from bronze to silver-tier, which was considered quite luxurious in the City of Steel. In addition to the 50 horses responsible for pulling the carriages and the second echelon waiting outside the maze for rescue, more than 500 people were there.

The sound of people’s discussions, the neighing of horses, and the sound of movement—it was very lively.

“Wait a moment. In addition to these people, I also have to bring another person with us. You know that person too. It’s Claude, who might have had a conflict with you in the Adventurers’ Association.”

Christina held her hair when the wind blew. Her face was shining brightly under the sunlight. “Claude is my military advisor. He had many ideas when I was raiding the maze. With him, we will have more confidence in raiding the dungeon! I know that you guys have had some misunderstandings, but I have already taught him a lesson. For my sake, can you forgive him?”

Claude had also been locked up for two days. Christina felt that it was enough.

“Well, since you say so, then I have no objections.”

Watson shrugged; Claude was not worth his attention. He was just a clown. He did not even have the desire to be angry with such a person.

“Blake, come here.”

“Lady Swordmistress, what’s the matter?”

Blake rushed toward her when he heard her voice. Dressed in golden armor with a holy sword icon embroidered on the breastplate, he looked majestic. He went to Christina and bowed his head respectfully.

“Go and get Claude.”

“That—”

As soon as Christina’s voice fell, cold sweat broke out on Blake’s forehead. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Claude has only been locked up for two days. It’s too light a punishment for him if we release him now. If the other members knew about that, they might think that you are prejudiced by giving him a light punishment because he is the vice-leader.”

“I can use Claude’s help in the dungeon exploration. I’m not prejudiced, but I want him to have a chance to atone for his sins.”

“I still think we should detain him for a longer period. Let’s not bring him this time, and I’ll take him to you after the raid is over. Is that okay?”

Blake was in a panic. He was not nervous because Claude was not there, but because of why Claude had not returned yet.

He glanced in the direction of the dungeon. He had sent Claude to the Golden Quill Pavilion half an hour ago to stir trouble. He should be done by then. He only wanted some problem for Watson’s companions; he wished to prevent Christina from entering the dungeon. Even if Christina were to learn the truth later, he was okay with that.

“Captain Blake, you seem to be hiding something.”

Watson stared at Blake. His tender eyes seemed to pierce through his soul; it made Blake’s mouth dry. Just as he was about to explain himself, a loud shout came from the street outside.

“Are you looking for Claude? He’s here.”

“Claude, you’re finally—”

As he turned his head, Blake was about to say something in surprise, but his face froze when he saw who it was. The person walking across the street was not Claude but a man with a wooden cane. It was a middle-aged man with platinum hair and a gorgeous flame elf.

The flame elf had a rope in her hand, and the rope was tied around a few Holy Sword adventurer team members. They were all badly bruised and bound.

Only one person dragged more than ten people on the ground, but the flame elf did not seem to find it difficult. In just a few minutes, they had arrived in front of everyone.

“This is Claude, the one you’re looking for!”

After throwing the dozen or so severely bruised men on the ground, the flame elf snorted coldly, “You people from the Holy Sword adventurer team are quite daring. You said that you wanted to cooperate with our young master to explore the underground city, but on the other hand, you sent people to the Golden Quill Pavilion to ambush us.”

That flame elf was Denise, and she was furious at that moment.

Obviously, the Holy Sword adventurer team was not sincere in cooperating with them. She even suspected that Christina had planned to lure the tiger away from the mountain. She might have wanted to distract Watson so that she could take revenge.

“The Holy Sword adventurer team did that?” Clyde’s group stood near Watson; they were shocked. Nightingale, who had been following Watson like a shadow, rolled her sleeves and said coldly, “Young Master Watson, just give me the word, and I’ll kill these people cleanly and neatly.”

“Miss Christina, what’s going on? I hope you can give me an explanation! I’m sincere in cooperating with you, but it seems that you’re not sincere with me.”

After he stopped the impulsive Nightingale, Watson’s eyes turned cold. He valued his family the most; he would make them pay if they dared to touch his family.

Fortunately, before he left Mount Creation, he had helped everyone to advance to the platinum tier. His master was a diamond-tier elite, so he was not afraid that something like that would happen. He did not expect that to happen at all. If Antonio and Denise were not platinum and diamond elites-tier, he dared not imagine what those criminals would do to them.

He had just noticed that the man named Blake had a strange look on his face. It seemed like he had sent someone to do that. He did not know if Christina knew about it. He would remove the Holy Sword adventurer team from his list if she did, let alone cooperate with them.

“Blake, explain yourself.”

Christina gritted her teeth and turned to look at Blake. Her gaze was sharper than a sword. She was in the mood to kill. After witnessing Watson’s ability, it was not easy for her to get Watson to help her. However, such a thing had happened. If Watson were to leave in anger, how long would it take for her to clear the dungeon?

Plop!

Blake could not bear the pressure. He knelt on one knee and lowered his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Lady Swordmistress. I don’t understand why you would cooperate with a bronze-tier adventurer team. That would bring us danger. I suspect that you were deceived by those people, so—”

“So you did that behind my back?”

“Yes, Lady Swordmistress. I made all those decisions on my own. Please punish me.”

Christina rubbed the space between her eyebrows. Her body swayed as she turned to look at Watson. “Young Master Watson, I know you might not believe me now, but I did cooperate with you in good faith! I did not manage my subordinates well when this happened. I can compensate you. I hope you can abide by the agreement—”

“Agreement? What agreement? You guys played tricks on us first, right? If something really did happen to Young Master Watson’s master and Denise, how would you compensate them?” Nightingale retorted disdainfully.

She had never liked Christina. She should have gone to the hot spring to serve Watson that day, but that woman had beat her to it. She had endured it because of Watson, but she could not bear it any longer.

“Miss Christina, you said that you didn’t manage your subordinates well. That makes it hard for me to trust you. What if your subordinates act on their own again after entering the underground city? Forgive me for saying this, but I won’t go down the maze with your team anymore.”

Watson shook his head with a serious expression. “As for compensation, forget it. My people did not suffer any losses. We just hope that you can keep a close watch on your subordinates in the future.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the group of more than 500 people from the Holy Sword adventurer team outside were displeased.

“Brat, your words are so arrogant. You don’t want to go down the maze with us? Well, we don’t want to go down there with you anyway.”

“You’re right. Even though it was wrong of Captain Blake to do such a thing behind the swordmistress’ back, it was also for our own good.”

The other adventurers’ words stirred the crowd. Blake, who was kneeling on the ground, also raised his head and said, “Lady Swordmistress, I deserve to be punished for my mistakes. However, you can’t team up with those people. I don’t think they’re worthy.”

“Blake, how could you say such a thing? I told you that Watson is a platinum-tier elite. Have you forgotten that? Is that not enough reason for me to invite Watson?” Christina clutched her heaving chest as she looked at Blake, her eyes filled with sadness.

“Lady Swordmistress, you are only guessing that he is a platinum-tier elite. Furthermore, even if he is a platinum-tier elite, he won’t be of much help in exploring the maze. Otherwise, the current sword saint would not have been the only one to have passed through the maze for hundreds of years.”

“Let’s go.”

Watson was too lazy to waste his breath on them; he turned around and waved at Clyde and the others. Then, he walked down the street with Nightingale and Denise behind him.

At that moment, the commotion had attracted the attention of many passers-by.

“Do you know what happened?” A passer-by asked the people around him.

“It seems like the swordmistress wants to take the newly promoted gold-tier Blood Rose adventurer team down the maze. Most of the people in her team, led by the vice-captain, are against it,” another person said.

“That Blood Rose adventurer team is too arrogant. Lady Swordmistress promoted them for their talents, but they think too highly of themselves. I heard that the rooms arranged for them in the Golden Quill Pavilion are the best. They’re clearly taking advantage of Lady Swordmistress.”

“Maybe it’s not the Holy Sword members who are against them going down the maze. Instead, perhaps they’re afraid and deliberately find an excuse not to do that. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they fight back when others insult them? Why would they only run away dejectedly?”

The rumors spread very quickly and became more and more outrageous, causing many people to look at Watson and his team members with disdain. Many people still wanted to curry favors with the Blood Rose adventurer team just a day before that. However, at that moment, they had become street rats everyone despised. Many Holy Sword adventurer team members also joined the commotion to spread more rumors about the Blood Rose adventurer team.

Watson sighed when he sensed changes in the crowd’s expressions. He had wanted to live a low-key life, but things had turned to that. He could only show his skills to eliminate the rumors.

Just before he made his move, someone walked forward. That person held a cane, and his platinum hair fluttered in the wind as he slowly walked in front of Christina.

“Christina, I had not wanted to meet you in this way, but your people have done a very outrageous thing to my disciple. I can’t just stand by and watch! Are your subordinates confused about why you want to team up with Watson? Well, my name is Antonio, and he is my outstanding disciple. When you know this, I just want to ask if he is qualified to team up with the Holy Sword adventurer team?”