Hellbents
Chapter 31: No Deal

The commission to make the power bank is resolved, the item takes at least a week to do the first experiment. That is, Ava must try to maintain emotional stability in other ways.

Delivery can be done through [System], so he makes Bia store ID as an account that Ava follows, and vice versa. That was when River poked his shoulders, asking with his eyes, Ava waited for what was bothering the man, "I want to follow you too!"

Oh. Ava thinks River has done it a long time ago. They also exchanged IDs. River was seen beaming after, the man immediately looked at what was in Ava's account, but the contents were empty.

Like any social media app, Ava can create multiple accounts at once, provided she pays her administration fees. Loose rules like this are what lure many fraudsters. What Ava gave to the two people in front of her was an account named "Rina_Colby", one of her fake identities. He also has an account called "V-Herbalist" to sell the remaining anesthetic powder and his double EXP potion, although no one has dared to buy because of the price he pegged. Even if no one buys, the store slot can be used as an additional inventory slot, so there is no harm.

But the double EXP potion was useless for Ava who could not level up. So he planned something else.

***

That night was Ava's last night in Englerock, the existing passenger ship will finally depart tomorrow after a week-long delay

Ezra and Ava play cat-splitting as usual, the prince has not given up on tying Ava up on her way to collecting royal throne credits. And every time he escaped from Ezra's ruse, Al's gaze became even more frozen.

"I told you, our destination is different, so you can't hire me as a bodyguard" Ava warned.

"Then I asked, where are you going? You haven't even heard of my destination," again and again Ezra refuted.

"The ship we will ride is different, the place to stop must be different."

Due to the insistence of the prince and the old servant, River ended up leaking his boat ticket under pressure. So Ava threatened Roy to reveal their ticket as well. Tomorrow there will be three ships leaving for their respective destinations, fortunately Ava already knows that the third destination is different. In this way, Ezra could not use the excuse of "coincidence" once again.

"My goal is to go on an adventure, wherever I can." Ava snarled in her heart. So the tactics are shifting now? But a prince like him would not accept if his authority was threatened, so Ava was sure Ezra would not really obey him if he and his servant remained adamant about taking part in his journey.

"Just hire more experienced mercenaries, I'm just a herbalist, who can fight in our group later only River one."

"I'd rather that the person I hired was someone I knew."

"We only met two weeks ago."

"At least you don't intend to threaten my life."

"If your life is as important as that, it's even better that you hire someone who can indeed keep you from danger, not a stranger whose strength is not as clear as the two of us."

"But I know your potential is high, especially you." Ezra pointed at Ava with his fingertips.

Is this the hint of skill the prince possessed that made him obsessed with Ava? See someone's potential?

Ava still could not check Ezra's skill for sure, her observation ability to see the skill was still in cooldown, at least tomorrow morning she could use it again.

"Remain still, recruit people who really want to. All you need is not just a strong man, but a loyal one."

"I know, I'm just-" But Ezra's speech stopped by itself. Although the two did not raise their voices when arguing, the tension felt stifling in the room. Other people who ate at the restaurant were also swept away, letting the heat of the awkwardness that was extended until Al gave a glass of beer that had not been drunk to Ezra.

Ava took a deep breath, aware that today almost everything that happened irritated her, and the stubbornness of the prince did not help. Perhaps looking at the stiff end of his mouth, River gently patted the tip of his head, which instead made Ava feel like a tranquilized animal. He snorted, though did not try to keep River's hand out of his hair.

"If from what I heard, party A does not want to be a bodyguard because of different destinations, but party B is willing to follow party A because their purpose only wants to adventure. Then the second reason is because the A side feels unable to be used as a bodyguard, but the B side insists that the strength they have is enough, in addition, the B side is more comfortable with the A side that is known personally than mercenaries. Isn't this why party A is invalid to refuse?" Selena, as a third party, suddenly went wide.

The woman was shocked as her gaze met with a black bead that seemed to burn her alive. His heart leaped hard on his chest, his detachment he could almost feel in his throat. But in an instant the rays of hostility disappeared within Ava's spotlight, gone as if what Selena had just seen was just a piece of imagination manifesting from the current tense atmosphere.

"Even though you are coming along, I have objectives that I must obtain, but the purpose of your journey is adventure, in another sense exploration. In my experience, such a thing requires months of commitment, whereas I have a series of short-term plans that I expect to take two weeks per point."

"Doesn't it mean that if we come along you'll get additional reinforcements?"

"This trip wasn't meant for fun, because I had my own agenda."

"You can decide which city we're going to go to, let us have our own fun."

Ava couldn't believe this prince was still trying desperately to tie her up, she said, Ezra must have felt humiliated at having to ignore his pride as a royal family because of a foreign commoner girl whom he happened to find and considered useful as a pawn in the political chess of his throne.

But that's the additional reason Ava is getting harder and harder to resist, because if she gives up now, Ezra's reply will be even bigger later.

"But it means that the problems that each of us will create will also drag the other." Sharing the responsibility.

"We don't intend to make trouble" Roy who had been writhing uncomfortably finally spoke up.

"But I'm the one who intends to make some trouble." Ava is a criminal with high impulsivity tendencies, he is fully convinced his later journey will be scathed by the things he deliberately created himself. His first to-do list even broke into Eve's lab, then robbed anything of value from there, opening only the items he needed. And Ezra's presence as an authority figure would certainly hinder him.

That way Ezra and Roy went silent. Al who had given up from the beginning nodded in understanding. Selena, the third party who accidentally almost plunged him in the scheme of the prince is still rigidly sculpted. River glared at Ava with a worried look.