Bear School Astartes

Cassandra pulled her broken spear from Icarus’s neck, gently flicking it, with all the blood easily shaken off, leaving no trace on the spear.

”Easy, this job is really too profitable, maybe I should chase after more mercenaries?”

She said to herself, while taking out a large money pouch from Icarus. It was filled with drachma, which Athens paid him for his mission.

And now, these things naturally were no longer his.

Cassandra also took Icarus’s full-covered metal helmet, which was his source of protection.

But after confronting the broken spear and being breached, the helmet’s luster had dimmed quite a bit.

Even so, this helmet should still fetch a handsome amount of drachma.

Neither Athens nor Sparta’s armies would reject a divine artifact.

Originally, Sparta’s childhood made her extremely concerned about honor. But the later upheaval and wandering made her not as stubborn as a typical Spartan.

Thus, Cassandra, with the helmet tucked in her left arm and the money bag in her right hand, leisurely walked towards Lann, who was still lecturing Phoebe.

”Catch.”

With a ’whap’ sound, Lann caught the money pouch in mid-air without turning his head.

”This assassination wasn’t difficult, but you helped out, so you deserve a share.”

Cassandra said this, and Lann did not refuse.

The Demon Hunter looked at the corpse inside, whose helmet had been removed. This mercenary, with his own intelligence and planning, had caused unrest among the Spartans in the entire Megaliss region, yet seemed not too old.

Now, on his youthful face, Cassandra had closed his eyes. Prior to this, Lann guessed he must have died with unfinished business.

Such a person had ambition, capability, intellect, and determination. Perhaps he saw this war as a stepping stone to gaining Athenian citizenship and transitioning into a politician.

But now, his body lay unfeeling on the cold marble floor of the Athena Temple.

”Don’t overthink, Lann.”

Cassandra seemed to have noticed the thoughts in the Demon Hunter’s mind, speaking nonchalantly.

”He indeed had great potential; his strength and reflexes hadn’t reached the peak of his life. Perhaps he could have acquired more divine artifacts in the future. But regardless of his promising future, there’s no need to think about how formidable he would have become.”

”He conflicted with our goals, met us at this moment, and then he died. That’s it. Potential lost to death is not potential.”

”I don’t have much sentiment,” Lann waved his hand at Cassandra, ”Just a bit unfortunate, I wanted to see how strong he could eventually become.”

”Then back to the main subject, Miss Phoebe.”

The Demon Hunter turned from the mercenary’s corpse and grabbed Phoebe by the back of the neck as she tried to sneak away, pulling her in front of him.

”Speak up, let me see what’s going on with you?”

Facing those amber cat-like eyes, the little girl shrank her neck, smiling awkwardly.

”I-I also helped just now!... Right?”

At first, she spoke with confidence, but towards the end, she glanced nervously at Cassandra.

Seeing her like this, Cassandra laughed mischievously.

”Ah, although everyone in this temple was taken down by the two of us, although only two people were left in this room, although these two people under Lann and my cooperation didn’t last twenty seconds even if there was a ’sudden incident’, yet you think you helped... Well, in a sense, you did provide us with some relaxation after work, I guess.”

”Hey! Cassandra!”

Phoebe, like a little caught kitten, complained unhappily to Cassandra.

Having long regarded herself as Phoebe’s caretaker, Cassandra didn’t care about the little girl’s complaints at all. Instead, she asked Lann with interest.

”Her dash just now was quick, like a wildcat, can you tell us what’s that all about?”

Lann scratched his cheek, feeling a bit like a delinquent who had educated someone else’s kid badly.

”Uh, I happened to teach her something, she has good talent, learned fast.”

”And what about that ’bang’ sound thing, loud and bright?”

”It’s a little gadget I gave her for self-defense.”

”Heh, how can you call that thing a ’little gadget’?”

Cassandra’s teasing left Lann speechless.

But Phoebe seemed afraid that after Cassandra’s comment, Lann wouldn’t teach her anything or give her the ”Dancing Star,” so she hurriedly interjected, changing the topic.

”I’ve been probing around the city these days, guess Icarus started noticing me long ago. Then today, as I planned to sneak in, giving you a preview of the layout or something, and then I just...”

With that, Phoebe went a bit guilty, lowering her head.

Lann chuckled dryly: ”Then you really have guts, I haven’t taught you silent infiltration yet you dared to practice on your own.”

”I have your ’Dancing Star’! If it weren’t for you pulling me back just now, I would have surely run out! Besides, with what you’ve taught me, these Athenian soldiers can’t catch up with me at all!”

Phoebe’s counterargument surprisingly made Lann see some logic.

The little girl’s very light weight, along with her talent, enabled her to use the Light Body Skill with ease.

In terms of running alone, while not yet reaching the level of modern athletes, it was enough to outpace some ancient Greek Athenian soldiers.

”Alright, stop blaming her, Lann.”

Finally, it was Cassandra who comforted him, letting Lann drop the matter.

”She’s inherently adventurous, otherwise she wouldn’t have followed from Cephalonia. I even suspect that even if we weren’t planning to bring her, she would have found a way aboard a ship to follow us. It’s her nature.”

”At least now, she’s adventuring knowing she has a fallback, which is much more rational than I was at her age.”

Lann shook his head, releasing the grip on the little girl’s neck collar. Phoebe landed lightly on the ground.

”Whatever, anyway you’re her guardian.”

”Not just me.” Cassandra nudged Lann’s arm with her elbow, grinning teasingly. ”You also said you’d take care of her, you’re her guardian too.”

With that, Phoebe cast a peculiar gaze as she scanned back and forth between Cassandra and Lann, thinking deeply.

Afterward, Lann and Cassandra together searched the militarized Divine Hall which Icarus used as the command center.

They found a list of spies planted in the Spartans’ camp and learned where the remaining food was hidden.

Cassandra could take this accomplishment to report back.