It did not take long before the female receptionist returned in a hurry, followed by a steady-looking middle-aged man.
"This lady," the middle-aged man bowed slightly with impeccable etiquette, "pardon the interruption, but could I trouble you to take out one more gold brick so I may verify its purity? This is a necessary procedure for the guild."
"Very well."
Hyacine nodded and pushed a gold brick in front of the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man took the gold brick with both hands, his expression focused.
Immediately after, a deep blue light suddenly flared in his eyes as he began to scan the metal before him.
A few seconds later, the blue light faded. He looked up with an exceptionally solemn expression, his gaze sweeping over Hyacine and Hong Guoguo.
"Are the two of you together?" His voice dropped an octave.
"Correct," Hyacine confirmed.
"I see." The middle-aged man turned to Martha. "Martha, continue managing the front desk. I will take these two distinguished guests to the VIP room for a detailed discussion."
"Yes, President Grimmson!"
Hearing the command, the receptionist named Martha immediately responded and quickly returned to her workstation.
"Ladies, please follow me." Having finished this, the middle-aged man made a gesture of invitation and led the way toward the second floor.
Hyacine and Hong Guoguo exchanged a glance and followed silently.
The furnishings in the VIP room on the second floor were exquisite, featuring soft leather sofas, a heavy solid wood coffee table, and tapestries depicting heroic epics hanging on the walls—a stark contrast to the clamor of the hall downstairs.
The middle-aged man gently closed the heavy wooden door, isolating them from the external noise.
"Please, have a seat." He motioned for them to sit and took a seat opposite them, saying seriously, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Grimmson Hawke, the branch president of the Falling Leaf Town adventurer guild, and also a senior appraiser."
"Hyacinthia," Hyacine responded succinctly, then gestured to the companion beside her. "This is Hong Guoguo."
"Miss Hyacinthia, Miss Hong Guoguo." Grimmson nodded in greeting before cutting straight to the chase. "The main reason I invited you up is regarding your extraordinary commission request. To be blunt, presenting such a massive quantity of gold bricks all at once is extremely rare in the Falling Leaf Town branch. I must personally confirm the details of the commission and your specific requirements."
"My goal is very clear," Hyacine said straightforwardly. "I only want to find my friend as quickly as possible. Resources are not an issue."
Before her voice had even faded, several more glittering gold bricks appeared silently on the coffee table, stacked together with the previous one, emitting a radiance known as wealth.
Grimmson's gaze swept over the gold bricks. He showed no greed; instead, he became even more solemn.
"I understand your urgency. Because of that, I would like to recommend our guild's most efficient service—the Custom Commission."
"Custom Commission?"
Hyacine raised an eyebrow slightly. She knew about ordinary commissions and bounty commissions, but custom commission... this was a term she was hearing for the first time.
"Yes," Grimmson leaned forward slightly and explained, "It is entirely different from a regular bounty posting. Based on the nature of your commission, we will directly assign top-tier, highly reputable elite adventurers or teams to execute it. If the target is your friend, we will ensure her safety throughout the process and escort her to your designated location. If it were a different situation..."
At this point, he paused, his tone becoming somewhat meaningful.
"We can also provide corresponding 'solutions' to ensure the result meets your expectations. The advantages are extreme efficiency and a confidential process, fully guaranteed by the guild. The only threshold is that the commission fee is exceptionally high. However, given the financial strength you have displayed," his gaze swept over the gold bricks again, "you fully meet the criteria for a custom commission."
Hyacine pondered for a moment, her fingertips lightly tapping the armrest of the sofa.
"In other words, the essence of a custom commission is to have the adventurer guild itself become the executor of the task, rather than just a posting platform?"
"You can understand it that way," Grimmson nodded approvingly. "We provide a one-stop solution from planning to execution to ensure your core demands are met. So, what is your decision?"
"Post a custom commission," Hyacine said without hesitation. "The target is my friend Lu Zhaoran, and my sole requirement is: ensure her personal safety and bring her before us completely unharmed."
As she spoke, her hand brushed over the coffee table, and dozens of gold bricks manifested out of thin air from her hand once again.
"A wise choice, Miss Hyacinthia." A professional smile appeared on Grimmson's face. "The guild will certainly go all out to give you a satisfactory result."
The blue light flashed in his eyes again as he meticulously scanned every single gold brick one by one.
A moment later, the blue light dissipated.
At this time, he took out a parchment contract printed with complex magic sigils and the guild emblem, along with a black-gold quill, and pushed them toward Hyacine. "These are the detailed terms of the custom commission. Please look them over, and once you have confirmed everything is correct, please sign here."
As he spoke, he pointed to a specific magic circle area at the bottom of the parchment.
Hyacine took the contract, her eyes quickly scanning every clause.
After confirming the content was correct, especially the clauses regarding the protection of Lu Zhaoran's safety, she picked up the black-gold quill and fluently signed the name Hyacinthia in the magic circle area.
As the tip of the pen moved, the parchment gave off a faint glow, and the contract officially took effect.
"A pleasure doing business with you, Miss Hyacinthia." Grimmson solemnly stowed away the parchment contract and then began counting the gold bricks. "The fee for this custom commission is three thousand gold coins. Your gold bricks are of extremely high purity, valued at approximately one hundred and fifty gold coins each. By this calculation, I will take twenty bricks."
With a wave of his hand, he put away twenty gold bricks and pushed the remaining ones back toward Hyacine.
"No need to push them back." Hyacine waved her hand. "Hong Guoguo and I are new here. I'll trouble President Hawke to use the remaining gold bricks to arrange a place for us to stay and convert the rest into easily usable gold coins."
"A simple matter." Grimmson readily agreed with high efficiency.
With a fluid motion, he took out a golden card embedded with fine sapphires from a drawer and handed it to Hyacine with both hands.
"This is our guild's highest-level VIP card. Someone will take the two of you to the best 'Blue Stream Inn' in the center of town shortly. They are a long-term partner of the guild. By presenting this card, the inn will arrange the top-tier rooms for you, and all expenses will be deducted directly from the remaining commission balance, so you need not worry further."
(Such high efficiency... is it truly the power of gold coins?)
Hyacine thought to herself, gaining a more direct understanding of "money power" in this isekai.
Although she wasn't clear on the specific purchasing power of three thousand gold coins, looking at this display, it was definitely a massive sum that could allow an ordinary person to live without worry for several lifetimes.
"Well then, we'll head out..."
"Please wait a moment, there is one more thing."
But before she could finish, Grimmson interrupted Hyacine.
His expression suddenly became exceptionally grave, and his gaze turned toward Hong Guoguo behind Hyacine.
"Eh? There's... something about me?"
Hong Guoguo, who had been quietly acting as a background character and mascot, was caught off guard. Her cat ears twitched unconsciously as she pointed at herself in confusion.
"Yes," Grimmson nodded heavily and spoke slowly, his tone somewhat somber. "Miss Hong Guoguo, if I am not mistaken, your race is the extremely rare 'Snowshadow Feline Demi-human', is it not?"
"I... I am indeed of the Snowshadow Feline tribe." Hong Guoguo admitted frankly, but her eyes showed bewilderment. "But most people just treat me as an ordinary white-haired Feline Demi-human?"
"That is exactly the key point I must remind you of!" Grimmson's expression grew even more solemn. He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice, as if telling a great secret.
"You must take this seriously! As far as I know, the price of the Snowshadow Feline Demi-human race on the black market... has been inflated to an outrageous degree in recent years! The starting price for a normal adult is five thousand gold coins! And for a young and talented female individual like yourself..."
At this point, he paused, adding in a voice that was almost inaudible:
"...the price has already surpassed ten thousand gold coins!"
"What?!" Hong Guoguo felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her azure feline pupils instantly widened, filled with unbelievable horror. "Selling... my clansmen?! Wh... why have I never heard of this?!"
After the shock, intense anger began to burn in her eyes.
"Because this is a business that only appeared in the underworld in recent years." Grimmson sighed, his eyes filled with deep worry. "The information is strictly blockaded by black market forces and rarely flows into common channels, so the scope of dissemination is not wide."
Having said that, he looked directly at Hong Guoguo and continued word by word with a strong sense of warning:
"In short, Miss Hong Guoguo, for the sake of your life, I strongly suggest that you immediately and completely disguise your racial characteristics. Although people who can recognize Snowshadow features are rare, they are by no means non-existent. Once your true identity is exposed..."
At this point, Grimmson's voice suddenly turned cold.
"Then... what you will face is the never-ending pursuit of greedy individuals from the entire underworld!"