The next morning, at nine o'clock, Esther boarded a passenger ship from Simim Island back to Byam.

A few hours later, the ship entered the port of Byam, and the clouds in the sky had all dissipated, and the sunny weather set off the furious torrential rain of the previous days into a kind of joke.

There was also an airship hovering and patrolling in the sky, and the atmosphere in Byam seemed to be quite tense.

Esther was standing on the side of the ship, and at a glance she could see several Rune soldiers in Red Army uniforms on the dock, who were staring at all the ships entering the harbor, and from time to time they were checking for suspicious persons.

Esther was a little glad that she had not taken any disguise this morning because of her laziness, and if she had been censored, it would be the same as the fake identity of "Hamel Brooke", who was a rather inconspicuous tourist in this crowded Byam.

After all, Esther is not on the bounty warrant and is not wanted.

But some people don't have it so well.

Esther stepped off the gangplank and stepped onto the sturdy dock when a man dressed as a soldier happened to stop a lady.

Although she had a powder on her face to make her complexion look a little darker, and a black hair cover on her head, Esther recognized the girl's true identity at a glance - Mary, the "Pearl" who had a relationship with Esther yesterday.

Esther's mind moved, and she walked up to her with a smile, and a little illusionary interference was superimposed on the girl's face at close range.

Esther greeted quite enthusiastically on the surface: "Hi Anna, long time no see, I didn't even notice that you were also on the ship." ”

Fortunately, Mary didn't have any protective power, and Esther's small movements didn't fail.

Then, before the soldier on the other side could speak, Esther looked at him in surprise and raised her hand to cover her mouth: "Sorry sir, did Anna commit something?" She's just a reckless person, and she didn't make you unhappy, right? ”

The Rune soldier on the other side clearly heard Esther's Beckland-accented Rune, which was much softer than the tough attitude just now: "It's just a routine check, ma'am, your friend......"

Esther took advantage of the moment she put down her hand, and suddenly stole the ordinary soldier's thoughts, because she deliberately turned her body away from the angle of the other soldiers, and no one noticed such a small movement.

Mary, of course, saw it, and glanced at Esther in surprise, but said nothing.

Esther smiled and grabbed Mary's arm: "I hope there are no suspicious people, it's really unsettling to come to Byam on vacation." Then we'll go first, sir, and have a nice day. ”

The soldier, who took several seconds to come back to his senses, nodded subconsciously, thinking that the girl had come to talk to him and inquire about the situation. The trance in his mind prevented him from taking any further action, and instead let the harmless-looking blonde and her friend go.

As soon as she looked out of the soldiers' eyes, Esther let go of Mary's arm and looked at her amusedly, "You seem to be unlucky, ma'am." ”

Mary gave Esther an angry look: "Who would have thought that Byam would suddenly become like this? What are those Augustus lackeys going crazy again! ”

"You'd better keep quiet, I don't care about you if you're being targeted again, the people from the Storm Church are over there, I feel like there's an extraordinary ......" Esther gestured to a few figures walking around the corner.

Mary immediately shut up, but her face was still annoyed.

The two walked like this for a few minutes, and Esther had to turn to her in confusion: "Why are you still following me?" Don't you have a place to go? ”

"Ah, aren't you taking me hostage?"

Esther looked at her with disgust, "Your head is worth more than a hostage, miss. Can you please find a place to cool off by yourself? ”

Mary suddenly realized: "You are indeed a supporter of Russell the Great, right?" How to always say his famous quotes. ”

"If you don't leave, I'll really trade you for a bounty." Esther's right hand lifted and snapped out and closed in the air, a movement that made Mary subconsciously take two steps back, only to find that nothing had happened.

Esther was pleased with Mary's reaction, and walked away with her hands behind her back with a grin.

However, what she didn't expect was that Mary had the courage to catch up, only to throw something very small at her before Esther could speak again.

Esther caught the thing with agility, and then spread out her palm, and found a bead lying in the palm of her hand, and her urge to leave was suppressed, and she suddenly felt a little goodwill, eager to hear what Mary had to say.

Such an abrupt change made Esther's demeanor gradually cold: "So what do you want to say?" Better hurry, I'm not interested in talking nonsense with you. ”

Mary also realized that the extraordinary ability she had exerted was detected by the other party, but she still cheekily continued, "I—I want to ask you if your path is ......"

"No comment." Esther replied indifferently.

"That's right! Our captain has a very important item that has contamination on it, so we've always wanted to entrust the help of someone who has the ability to do it through the 'Thief'. ”

Noticing Esther's unkind eyes, Mary quickly spoke again: "You don't have to board the ship!" As long as you agree to come down, I will contact them, and even ask the captain to send someone to bring something. Our boat was anchored at a small island a few dozen kilometers away from Byam, and it didn't take much time. ”

It was the first time Esther had heard of such a solution: "You mean to let me steal the 'contamination' from that object?" ”

"Yes, it's because you can steal ideas, I think with your sequence you should be able to ......"

Esther didn't speak, hesitated for a moment before asking the most crucial thing: "What about the pay?" ”

Mary laughed, extra confident: "You can choose any one from our captain's collection as a reward, and we will give you an additional five hundred gold louis, or you can directly choose three thousand gold louis." ”

"Intis currency?" Esther mentally calculated that the gold louis was worth twenty fils, and twenty-four fils were exchanged for one gold pound, which, according to Mary, was four hundred gold pounds plus some kind of item or two thousand five hundred gold pounds.

How could this not make her heart move!

"Yes, it's all real gold Russell!"

You seem to have a big misunderstanding of me, miss, I'm not a fan of Russell! Esther didn't understand what Mary had deliberately added.

Still, she asked again: "Isn't this thing risky in itself?" ”

"We have the means to store the contamination and certainly not transfer this hazard to our collaborators." Mary grinned, which made the overly elegant temperament on her face much lighter.

Esther looked at her for two seconds, "You really don't look like a pirate. ”

"I don't have a choice, that's life. So do you accept it? ”

"Yes, but how do I contact you? I don't want to leave my place to you, because I still have friends, and there's no need for them to take the risks associated with this. ”

When Esther said this, she was also deliberately reminding Mary that she was not alone, and that if she was in trouble, she would have other helpers.

Of course, Mary also heard Esther's voice, and for fear that the girl would regret it, she hurriedly gave her contact information: "The café at 19 rue de Teyanafu, when you get there, you just say that you want to buy pearl juice, and remember to show the jewel in your hand to the boss." I'll go back and contact the captain now, I'll usually be there in the morning. ”

"Speaking of which, I'm a little curious."

Mary was stunned for a moment: "What? ”

Esther's gaze fell on the white glove of Mary's right hand, "Are you carrying something from the 'Hunter' route?" ”

"Huh, how do you know?" Mary was very surprised, her gloves were indeed magical items of the corresponding path, could it be that the other party was carrying some kind of prop with identification or detection function?

"Instinct, probably." Esther made a very gentlemanly gesture of "please", "That's still the same, please go first." ”

"Hmm...... Good. ”

Looking at Mary's back and turning the corner, Esther continued in the direction of Sour Lemon Street.

——

A few minutes later, the "Blue Wind" hotel.

Esther dared to walk on the avenue so naturally and comfortably, and some people did not.

As soon as she stepped into the room, Esther saw a depressed Daniz, who was slumped in his easy chair and almost slid to the ground.

"You look annoyed?"

"It's you, how was the trip to Simim Island? I'm bored to death. Daniz said with a sad face.

Esther shrugged, "I'm just going to fulfill a commission, not sightseeing." What do you seem worried about? ”

Daniz just asked casually, not expecting any answer: "Do you have any good ways to improve your strength as soon as possible?" ”

"Extraordinary properties to swallow raw?"

Daniz sat up from his chair with a huge question mark written all over his face: "This kind of joke is not necessary. ”

Esther, however, was very serious, with a sincere look in her eyes: "Steal someone else's extraordinary characteristics." ”

“…… You're kidding, right? ”

"I'm serious."

That obviously sounds like a downright crazy sentence - swallowing extraordinary properties alive? If you don't die, you have to go crazy in this situation!

But Esther's eyes were too serious, and Daniz suddenly felt an inexplicable chill behind her.

After a few dozen seconds of silence, Daniz sat back in his chair and decided to put the matter behind him, never wanting to recall such a theory that would sound unsettling.

Esther put her suitcase back into the house, returned to the living room and sat down in the armchair next to Daniz, leaning on it similarly lazily: "Why do others not believe me when I tell the truth?" ”

"Anyway, I'm going to be back to the Golden Dream soon, so you might as well tell Gelman about all this nonsense."

"Are you leaving? Keep your bounty behind. Esther replied with a smile.

Daniz's expression froze visibly for a moment.

Esther didn't even have to look to know his reaction: "Look, that's a joke. Congratulations, you've finally said goodbye to your hostage career. ”

"Humph......"

Hearing Daniz's smug sneer, Esther knocked on the table again and asked him:

"Did you tell Gelman about it, then?"

Daniz stopped talking again.