Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

The officials agents were like a pack of mad dogs, specializing in secretly hunting down Demi-Humans with special talents before using their bodies for all kinds of inhumane bloodline experiments.

Ryan stood within the shadows, expressionless as he looked at the little wolf cub raging in midair.

Although his severe injuries had caused his current base attributes to fall below ten points—making him inferior even to an ordinary apprentice swordsman—

When he stood there quietly, the terrifying aura tempered through mountains of corpses and seas of blood still made the girl suspended in the air feel a suffocating pressure.

It was probably the same feeling as a fat pig raised in captivity looking up at an experienced butcher.

“So it really is an Azure Moon King Species.”

Ryan looked at the girl’s faintly glowing amber eyes in the darkness and silently made his judgment.

The next second—

The terrifying aura around the veteran instantly vanished without a trace.

He revealed a helpless bitter smile.

His entire person reverted once more into that somewhat down-and-out retired uncle with a bad temper.

“Has your clan never learned its lesson?”

“This reckless personality of charging straight into death over a little bait is exactly the same as Selenie back then.”

Ryan sighed and shook his head while limping toward the old desk.

He extended his rough fingers and casually pinched out the remaining sparks of the lure burning inside the brass incense burner.

And when she heard the name “Selenie”—

The girl, who had been struggling wildly moments earlier, suddenly froze stiff.

Her amber eyes filled with disbelief.

Because Selenie was precisely the name of her aunt!

“Y-you… how… do you know that name?”

The fierceness in the girl’s voice disappeared, and even her speech became somewhat stammering.

“Looks like my intelligence network wasn’t wrong.”

Ryan turned around and let out a long sigh.

He raised his head and looked at the Werewolf girl hanging from the beam with a complicated gaze.

“I know that recently, ‘Dark River,’ that underground organization specializing in slave trafficking, accidentally lost a batch of high-value Demi-Human cargo during transport.”

“And now the hyenas under Dark River are searching all over the world for your whereabouts.”

Ryan rubbed away the ash that had stained his fingers.

“I deliberately mixed this special scent targeting your royal bloodline today because I wanted to find you before those mad dogs did.”

“I wanted to see if I could intercept a big fish like you first.”

After speaking, Ryan slowly raised his right hand.

He snapped his fingers.

Snap!

Along with a faint flicker of mana, the secret silver threads wrapped around the girl’s limbs instantly loosened and transformed into several streaks of silver light that flew back onto Ryan’s wrist, once again becoming an inconspicuous braided cord.

Having lost the support suspending her—

The girl’s body dropped straight down, heavily crashing onto the dusty wooden floorboards of the attic.

“Who exactly are you?”

“Why go through all this trouble to help me?”

Ignoring the pain in her body, the girl tightly covered her swollen and reddened wrists and curled into the corner like a frightened kitten, watching Ryan before her with extreme vigilance.

“I really was once part of the Black Iron Directorate.”

Ryan openly admitted that shameful part of his past without avoidance.

But immediately afterward, he forcefully slapped his stiff left leg.

“But just look at me now. I retired over ten years ago.”

“There’s no way those Directorate officers would keep letting a cripple who can barely walk continue doing dirty work for them.”

Ryan laughed self-mockingly.

“Back when I was carrying out missions in the royal capital, your aunt Selenie once helped me out tremendously.”

“I, Ryan, hate owing favors more than anything in my life. I owed your Azure Moon royal clan a debt.”

“Now that I happened to run into you during your time of hardship, I’ll consider that debt repaid.”

Ryan turned around and rummaged through the worn drawer, pulling out a bottle of brown ointment specifically used for treating external injuries before casually tossing it toward the Werewolf girl in the corner.

“For the next period of time, stay obediently inside this house and don’t go anywhere.”

“I’ll head outside to gather information. Once the situation settles down, I’ll find a chance to send you out of Graystone Town.”

“What’s your name?”

The girl steadily caught the small porcelain bottle and pulled out the stopper, carefully sniffing it beneath her nose.

After confirming that it only carried a rich herbal scent, she raised her head and glanced at Ryan.

She understood clearly in her heart that if this veteran truly harbored malicious intentions toward her or wanted to capture her for bounty money—

Then there would have been no need to release her just now. He could have simply left her tied to the beam and waited for black market buyers to arrive.

“Ayla Lunaris.”

While carefully applying the ointment onto the bloody marks on her wrists, the girl softly reported her name.

Just as the atmosphere had eased somewhat—

Ryan’s tone suddenly shifted.

“You were following Lance just now, weren’t you?”

“Give me a reasonable explanation.”

“That will directly determine what kind of relationship the two of us will have from now on.”

Ayla became so frightened that she stopped applying the ointment.

She hurriedly opened her mouth to defend herself.

“He’s an extremely rare Dragon-blooded! I only wanted to seek his help!”

“According to the 《Azure Moon and Golden Covenant》 signed in ancient times, bloodline descendants belonging to the Dragon race are obligated to provide unconditional safe shelter whenever our Azure Moon Werewolf royal clan falls into hardship!”

Hearing that answer—

Ryan froze for a full half minute.

“Dragon-blooded? What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”

The veteran looked at the serious-faced Werewolf girl before him as though staring at an idiot.

“Within the Iris Kingdom, all those people called Dragon-blooded are great nobles who control the lifelines of the Empire. You could practically call every single one of them Grand Dukes!”

“Lance’s father was just a poor soldier. Where would he get Dragon blood from?”

Ryan felt this girl not only had problems with her brain but also something wrong with her eyesight.

“And another thing!”

The veteran couldn’t help raising his voice, his tone filled with disappointment.

“Did Selenie never teach you to read more history books back then? Or has your Azure Moon Werewolf clan already declined to the point where you’ve become this illiterate?”

“Don’t you know that within today’s Iris Kingdom, the Dragon blood flowing through those so-called Dragon-blooded nobles was mostly forcibly stolen centuries ago by their ancestors through brutal dragon slaughter!”

“And you actually expect a group of human executioners who built their fortunes through dragon slaying to honor some ancient covenant your people cling to after it was abandoned by the times long ago?”

Ryan’s barrage of questioning directly stunned Ayla in the corner speechless.

She stared blankly with her mouth open, clutching the medicine bottle while her mind went completely empty.

Looking at the girl’s pure and foolish expression—

Ryan helplessly raised his hand and rubbed his swelling temples.

He silently shook his head inwardly.

This was an inexperienced foolish dog.