"This young lady............ Want to join your mercenary group. ”

As Old Hank spoke, Rhodes moved his gaze to the woman next to him, and under his gaze, the other party finally took off his cloak and revealed his true face.

It was a girl who looked no more than sixteen or seventeen years old.

The delicate face, delicate facial features, and the long, snow-white hair looked particularly eye-catching, and a pair of large burgundy eyes flashed with curiosity. With the confidence and pride peculiar to the nobility, judging from the girl's beautifully crafted collar and the intricate patterns on it, it was clear that she should be the queen of some nobleman.

"This young lady is ............"

Rod frowned, he didn't want anything unexpected.

"Hello, Rod. Mr. Elantt. ”

The girl Luoluo generously stretched out her hand and said with a smile.

"I'm Marlene. Shania, as you have heard, I would like to join your mercenary group, and please give me this chance. ”

"Marlene. Shania? ”

Hearing the girl report to her home, Rhodes was stunned for a moment, and then showed a look of surprise on his face.

Marlene. The name Shania is not unfamiliar to Rhodes at all, and in the game, this character is quite famous among players, and she even has a nickname called "Queen of the Mercenary World". It is rumored that this young lady is a magic genius, and at the age of nineteen, she has broken through the limitations of the inner ring mage, and has established a mercenary group called the "Ring of Freedom", which can be said to be one of the few genius girls in the Principality of Moon. However, among the players, this young lady is not liked, as she is rumored to have a quirk ——— she hates men.

This is very evident in the game, where the mercenaries in the Circle of Freedom are all women, not a single man. And those male players who want to join are all turned away, and even if this mercenary group publishes tasks, it is only limited to female players, and even those male players who want to hire a few mercenaries with their wealth are turned away. This also makes many players itch their teeth with hatred for this woman. Therefore, most people do not have a high opinion of this mysterious woman who is known as the "queen of the mercenary world", and even hates it a little.

Although hated by many players, Marlene's ending was a standard heroic end——— in the face of the attack of the Night Kingdom, she and her subordinates resisted the attack of the Night Kingdom outside the Golden City for three days and three nights, and finally launched a suicidal forbidden spell surrounded by heavy troops, and died in the country. From this point of view, it is indeed awe-inspiring.

Although Rhodes had heard of this young lady's name, but because of his "male" status, he had never met the other party, and at this moment, he heard that this young lady was actually in Deep Rock City and wanted to join his mercenary group, which also made Rod quite surprised. Didn't you say that the young lady hated men the most? How could she have come up on her own initiative? Or did she think of herself as a woman? I don't think anything so weird will happen.

And looking at Marlene's outstretched right hand, Rhodes was also a little puzzled, could it be that this is just a different person with the same name? It doesn't make sense, the other party is indeed surnamed Shania, and judging from her dress, she does look like a noble family, but ——— Shania's family is far away in the Golden City, and this eldest lady can't go to the Wang Li Magic Academy, so what are you doing in the poor countryside of Deep Rock City? Is it to answer the call to go to the mountains and go to the countryside?

"I've heard your name, Miss Shania."

Rod replied quietly, holding the other man's hand at the same time. He doesn't know much about the story of this legendary character, and it's no different from other players, but he still knows the ordinary situation.

"I beg your pardon if you are offended, but ............ Isn't it time you should be in the academy ............"

Hearing Rod's question, both Marlene and Old Hank's eyes flashed with a hint of strangeness.

The reason why Marlene found it interesting was because the other party actually knew her identity, and even knew some things about herself, which showed that the rumor that this strange mercenary leader was a nobleman was not wrong when she heard from Old Hank. And old Hank was a little surprised, he didn't expect that Rhodes would really have something to do with the aristocracy. Although many people have been speculating about this for a long time, it is difficult to stand up without the support of actual evidence. And now, Rod has finally shown his side as a nobleman, just imagine, this kind of news is generally circulated among the children of nobles, if Rod is just an ordinary mercenary, then it is absolutely impossible to know about this kind of thing. …,

"That's right."

Perhaps because of the confirmation that Rhodes is "his own person", Marlene's reserve and pride at the beginning have also dissipated a lot.

"My mentor thinks that my strength has reached a stage at the moment, and if I want to continue to improve, I need a certain level of practical experience, so I asked Uncle Serek to give me this opportunity to come here and practice."

It turned out to be related to Serek.

Only then did Rod suddenly realize, it was obvious that the Shania family would send their daughter to this ghost place because of the face of this swordsman, but ——— before that, Rod still had something to confirm.

"Miss Marlene."

Thinking of this, Rod withdrew his hand, his face slightly gloomy.

"Since Uncle Hank brought you here, then I think you should have learned about our situation from him, frankly speaking, we are indeed understaffed now, but because of this, it will be very dangerous to follow us on a mission, especially since we have only recently received a four-star level mission, if there is any accident, it is very likely that we will encounter a catastrophe, in this case, are you willing to use your life as a bargaining chip to join my mercenary group?"

In the face of Rod's inquiry, Marlene raised her chin slightly, revealing a confident and somewhat sly smile.

"Of course I can understand what you mean, Mr. Rhodes. But that's a good thing for me, and as a Central mage, I'm still very confident in my strength. ”

Is it a good thing for her?

Hearing Marlene's answer, Rod couldn't help but glance at Old Hank suspiciously. He has not been in contact with this "queen of the mercenary world" in the game, and judging from the impression of meeting for the first time now, this young lady is a very independent and self-respecting person, but what she said made Rod a little confused, and he couldn't figure out how a mercenary group that couldn't even get together the official number of people could become a good thing for her?

And Uncle Hank, who noticed Rod's gaze, was suffering, he knew Marlene's identity and influence very well, a noble child, came to a place like Deep Rock City alone, although her strength is indeed not weak, but mercenaries sometimes look at not only strength, but means. Even if you are a powerful mage who can kill countless enemies on the battlefield, but after all, you are still a woman, if you are drunk and dragged to bed by those bad intentions, you are useless as an archmage, right? So old Hank has always been very careful, afraid that if something happens to this eldest lady, it will be difficult for him to deal with it.

And the kind of arrogance unique to the nobility revealed by Marlene also made many mercenaries quite unhappy, although Old Hank had also introduced her to a few mercenary groups before, but in the end, the other party rejected her on the grounds that she was neat and had no way to accept more people. After all, the two sides are not all the way, and for the mercenaries, they don't trust those nobles.

Marlene wasn't stupid, she knew very well why these people didn't want to accept her, but the pride of the nobility didn't allow her to lower her price and cater to these guys.

And Rod's appearance gave Marlene a glimmer of hope.

I heard that the other party is also a nobleman, if this is the case, then presumably he should be much better than those uneducated mercenaries, and this mercenary group only has two people, and the manpower is definitely not enough, if they want to make an excuse to say that the personnel are neat——— then it is not a nonsense with their eyes open?

Rod didn't understand what Marlene meant, but Old Hank knew that she meant something, which also made the old man secretly frightened, before coming here, he had persuaded this proud eldest lady many times, the Starlight Mercenary Group was definitely not her best choice, they were too few people, the task was too dangerous, and they were still living in the famous murderous mansion in Deep Rock City, but even if it was worn out, this eldest lady did not listen to it at all. This also made Old Hank privately complain in his heart that the nobles are a group of proud and stubborn guys, Rod is like this, and this eldest lady is the same, it's really troublesome!

If he could, Old Hank would really like to report this matter to Master Serek and let him deal with it. Presumably, Lord Serek would definitely not allow Marlene to take such a risk, but the Lord who was so good not to die was not in the Mercenary Association for the past two days, and he couldn't find anyone at all. Marlene was very clever enough to see this, so she took advantage of Serek's absence to forcibly order Old Hank to do what she wanted. …,

God, earth, I really don't want to do this kind of offending thing.........

Of course, Old Hank can foresee what kind of expression Marlene will have when he returns and learns that Marlene has made this decision, but what can he do?

This is the sorrow of the little people.

Rhodes didn't know exactly what Hank was struggling with, but even if he did, he probably wouldn't take it to heart, and it would be nice to have a mage take the initiative to come to the door. Even if Old Hank objected, Rhodes had already made up his mind to pull the future "queen of the mercenary world" onto his thief ship.

But until then, Rod felt he still had to make it clear.

"I can accept you as a member, Miss Marlene."

Speaking of this, Rod became much more serious.

"However, I have a few requests."

"Please."

Hearing Rod's mouth, a burst of surprise flashed in Marlene's eyes, she originally came here to gain some actual combat experience, but she didn't expect that after coming to Deep Rock City, she seemed to have become a canary in a cage, and there was no way to move freely. This also made Marlene very dissatisfied, so, after hearing about Rhodes and his mercenary group, Marlene quickly sensed that this was a very good opportunity.

And now it seems that he is about to succeed.

"First of all, since you have joined the mercenary group, then you are my subordinate."

Rod held up a finger.

"As a subordinate, you must obey my orders unconditionally, and in the mission, you can do nothing without my permission. Even if you want something as small as convenience, you have to report it to me in advance. ”

"You!"

Hearing this, Marlene's face changed slightly, but before she could say anything more, Rod raised another finger.

"Second, although you have joined our mercenary group, we are not familiar with each other, because I don't think you can cooperate with our fight. So I ask you in battle, you have to follow my instructions completely, what I want you to do, what you have to do. If I don't need you to defend, even if the enemy is already close in front of me, you can't move! ”

Saying this, Rod put down his hand.

"This is my condition, if you can accept it, even if I welcome you to join my mercenary group."

"What happens if I break it?"

At this moment, the girl's face was already sinking like water, she clenched her teeth and asked in a low voice.

"I'll give you up at once."

Rod replied without hesitation.

"As I said before, this mission is dangerous, and if you don't do what I say, then we're all going to die there. So I have to make sure that the possibility of accidents is minimized, and if you act without permission and bring danger to us, then it is inevitable for us to give up on you. ”

As Rod's words fell, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense.