The Second Son of the Marquis Wants to Laze Around-Chapter 51: Raven’s bad day

What’s the different between Adventure and Mercenary guild?

Mercenary guilds are kind of like adventurer guilds. Adventurers usually register to explore dungeons, hunt monsters, collect gems or crystals, or conquer dungeon quests. Basically, anything related to dungeon crawling.

As for the Mercenaries. They do similar work, but more focused on jobs outside the dungeons. They take quests from regular people for money—combat, protection, monster hunting outside of dungeons—though that part still overlaps with adventurers sometimes. They also get hired for bodyguard work, scouting, or information gathering.

They usually operate with members from the same guild, but many work solo. Their loyalty is mostly to money, not to morals—though it depends on the person. And they are all Awakners, some of them can even be a criminal or a murder.

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"Basically, they would take on any kind of physical job for money—even the dirty ones like assassinations, sabotage, intimidation, and so on," Leon finished his explanation, his voice calm and composed.

Kristoff looked at him with wide, bewildered eyes.

"Ho? You sure know a lot junior," he said with an impressed smile tugging at his lips, while also patting his back.

But Leon only responded with silence. He had once been a mercenary himself, but only for a year. Those memories weren’t something he liked to recall, but they made him knowledgeable about the topic. After a brief pause, he continued,

"Unlike the adventurer guilds, which are all branches connected under the Guild Association, mercenary guilds don’t follow any centralized organization. Each one operates independently, with its own rules, policies, and way of doing things. No two guilds are ever quite the same."

Kristoff gave a short nod. "So it’s like a club then...? What about the Outlaw Guild?"

Leon crossed his arms, his expression darkening with a frown. "The Outlaw Mercenary Guild is one of the top three most infamous guilds out there. They have a terrible reputation, but they’ve also achieved some impressive feats. Every member is said to be unique, and most of them remain completely unknown to the public. They all use aliases—different names—to hide their real identities."

He then turned his head slightly, his eyes drifting toward Raven, who was still being questioned by the commander.

"Just like her," he muttered under his breath.

Kristoff followed his gaze and looked back at the woman, his interest growing. "So... she’s famous?"

"No. I’ve never heard of her before—nor of that alias."

Leon shook his head firmly. It was the first time he’d ever heard the name The Phantom Fang. That only confirmed to him that she must have used multiple fake names in the past to hide her identity.

Meanwhile, Raven was growing more irritated under the commander’s sharp glare. He was clearly getting impatient as he asked her the same question once again.

"For the last time—tell me who hired you, or I’ll send you back to Nerwyn’s law enforcement!"

It was a threat, and not a light one. Turning her over to her home country would be dangerous. A mercenary of her caliber, once exposed, would have a long list of enemies—noble families, crime syndicates, and organizations that would want her silenced or a payback for what she might have done.

But Raven’s response came in a bitter, annoyed tone.

"And I told you—I can’t! How many times do I have to say it? Didn’t I already give you more than enough answers? You even have all my background information!"

Her sharp voice cracked slightly as she glanced at Eren, the one who had exposed her private details. Yet the moment her eyes met his cold, indifferent stare, she quickly lowered her gaze.

The other knights who were listening in silence were confused by her behavior—by her stubborn refusal to give up her client’s name, even though they had her fully restrained and her identity uncovered. Why was she still holding out?

Didn’t the young master claim she was a selfish, cowardly woman who only cared about money and her own life?

Just then, Eren’s cold voice echoed across the room, sharp and calm.

"She might be under some kind of contract... or a curse, either by her client or her guild—something that prevents her from revealing any information. If she speaks the truth, something bad might happen to her, right?"

Raven’s eyes widened in shock as she looked up at him.

Did he figure it out by intuition and a guess, or had he used the same kind of skill on her again?

Eren let out a quiet scoff, raising his sword and pointing it directly at her, his eyes as cold as steel.

"I don’t care if your tongue is sealed by a curse. If you can still talk without dying from it, then answer the old man’s question. Otherwise, I’ll make things even worse for you."

The commander blinked at those words.

Old man? Was the young master referring to him? He was still in his forties, you know.

Eren’s bloodlust leaked from his body like an icy wave, filling the air. Raven’s body trembled under the weight of it—paralyzed by both fear and the impossible situation she was trapped in.

Gareth, noticing the tension, stepped forward and calmly grabbed Eren’s wrist—the one holding the sword.

"Please, young master. I understand you’re angry, but we need to handle this gently and carefully."

He glanced at Eren with a steady expression.

"If you could retract your killing intent... just for a moment, until we finish this."

Eren’s eyes turned toward the Commander —cold, stoic, and unreadable. After a short pause, he slowly lowered the sword.

"And how exactly do you plan to get an answer out of her when you’ve got nothing so far?" Eren asked, eyes sharp but lazy.

The commander hesitated, clearly struggling for a response.

"I... don’t know yet," he admitted in a low, somewhat ashamed voice.

Eren sighed, more annoyed than surprised. Seeing the man’s awkward expression, he finally handed the sword back to Hector.

"So... all we need is for her to talk about her client, right?" he asked, to which Gareth simply nodded.

’Useless. Is there any item that can make this Gold Digger open her mouth?’ Eren asked silently, speaking to the system within his mind.

[There is, Master. You can purchase a truth serum or a mind hypnosis potion from the shop. There are also other magic artifact than can help you search into her brain and scan it for any information. Another is a good one which can help you look into her memories and see her past history....] Useless continue mentioning more items, until Eren stopped it.

’Then buy me... no, wait.’

He paused before deciding. Something else then crossed his mind.

’Useless. Can the Appraisal function be used to check her weaknesses and strengths?’

He asked curiously, since Raven’s profile didn’t offer much detail beyond basic info.

[Apologies, Master. That feature can only be unlocked after ranking up the system level to Rank 5.]

Eren’s expression turned dull and blank as he went completely silent.

’...Are you kidding me?’

[I-I’m not joking, Master! I’m telling the truth!]

The system’s voice trembled with panic. It would never dare lie to its master—not about this, especially after what happened in the past when it tried to trick him.

.....

Eren looked down at the woman tied to the tree, his cold gaze scanning every part of her body, analyzing her expression, posture, and movements. Raven, noticing his eyes, began to feel increasingly uncomfortable and wary, her survival instincts warning her that something bad was coming.

Without a word, Eren reached into his system storage, while also activating his spacial ring as a disguise and pulled out his game console, but currently disguised as an old, black leather book using illusion magic. Yeah, he cast an illusion spell on his console and changed its looks into a Death Note.

Switching it on, while the people behind him only saw him flipping the book open, he opened the Valoria Legends game and began navigating through its interface, searching for information on the character in front of him.

After finding her name within the game, he opened her character profile, reading through the character story section first. However, to his disappointment, there wasn’t much useful information listed there. Frowning slightly, he switched to her interactive voice lines, hoping to find something more personal.

There, the real details began to show themselves. Her daily preferences, favorite foods, her grudges, trauma, and experiences—all voiced in snippets. It was like reading the pages of someone’s secret diary.

The commander and several knights standing behind him exchanged confused glances. Gareth leaned slightly forward to peek into the so-called "book" in Eren’s hand, only to see blank pages staring back at him. Making him look confused and dumbfounded.

A moment later, Eren’s eyes suddenly widened, his expression shifting from neutral to intrigued. He had found something interesting in one of the voice lines:

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[Raven’s bad day]

"I really dislike when guys try to get close to me, especially those who think they can touch me without permission. Once, during a guild assembly, ■■■■■■.

"I’ve become more hateful towards men."

"Hm? What exactly did he do, you ask?"

"Well... ■ ■ ■ me—on purpose, obviously—and then ■ ■..."

The voice line cut off there, her tone becoming lower, hesitant, and clearly embarrassed.

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After reading the line, Eren’s lips curled into a dark grin. His eyes turned cold and calculating, and for some reason, Raven’s body reacted instinctively.