Abigail tapped her long pipe, looking at Hayden with a suspicious gaze.
What she said makes sense.
But Hayden had no idea what special thing could cause Karen to suddenly ascend to a higher level of divine power.
"The simplest possibility is that it is related to her starting her own business independently, but obviously not every young goddess can become a god after starting her own business independently for a few months."
The little witch gestured in the air with her pipe.
"Besides that... let's not even talk about ancient gods. Modern gods basically became gods by doing something extraordinary. You and that young lady are so close. If she has done something really remarkable recently, you should know, right?"
What particularly remarkable thing have you done recently?
This... seems to actually exist.
And Hayden did indeed know.
"...Is creating new magical plants with great practical value a remarkable achievement?"
After thinking it over and over, he finally couldn't help but ask.
Abigail immediately raised her eyebrows: "Of course. Do you know Badr, the current CEO of Wotan Mystic Technologies? He's the eldest son of their chairman, Odin. You've definitely heard of him, right?"
Of course. Who hasn't heard of Baldr, the son of Odin, CEO of the Wotan Company, and the radiant and beautiful god?
So the witch continued, "Baldr once created a plant called Valerian, also known as the panacea, or Baldrion, which means 'baldrlight.' Although you may not realize its value because it's used in so many places, it's a panacea. You can't possibly misunderstand its worth, can you?"
Hayden scratched the back of his head.
The ability to cultivate and produce nutritional supplement herbs industrially can play a significant role in society as a whole. This is truly remarkable.
In fact, the name Badr means "blooming flower." He is the Norse/Germanic god of spring, joy, and light, and therefore the CEO of Wotan Corporation. Who could be more suitable than such a god to oversee all the day-to-day affairs of a large international company?
But that's a bit of a tangent.
The key point is that Karen has now created a plant that can greatly benefit modern society and even change the entire world...
Dream Flower (Sabunikav)
In terms of power, it is even more terrifying than the "Light of Baldr".
Therefore, Hayden couldn't possibly tell Abigail about this. It was a serious matter, and he wouldn't casually discuss it with anyone.
The witch's words silenced him for a long time.
In fact, even as Hayden and Angela left the Veela bar, walking down the street, Hayden was still hesitating over a thorny issue:
Shouldn't they tell Karen about what they saw and what they were worried about today?
"I don't think this is a good idea."
Before leaving, Abigail had expressed her opposition to this.
"This young lady must have just obtained this level of power, so she hasn't controlled it yet, and may not even have noticed it. A mature god would have discovered that his divine power had been stolen long ago, and would have immediately sent a lawyer's letter or a combat force to cause trouble."
"If she knew you stole a small portion of her power when she wasn't looking—or to put it more bluntly, developed a ritual to steal her power, do you think she would steam or boil you?"
This is a problem... Hayden certainly can't help but worry about.
However, seeing the changing expressions on Hayden's face, Abigail thought for a moment and said something nice: "But from another perspective, you didn't offer any sacrifices, nor did you have long prayers or grand ceremonies day and night, nor did you offer a lot of money. You just used a few simple compliments to get the little girl to respond to the ceremony... It seems that this little goddess girl likes you quite a bit."
"Although this little girl is obviously not that strong yet, this is still a blessing from the goddess to her chosen ones. So she probably won't really boil you up."
How dare you speak to yourself, you little old hag?
But in the end, Hayden decided not to say anything to Karen unless some other sign that made him feel dangerous appeared. Abigail, of course, supported this decision.
Angela, on the other hand, was less impressed: "Our master is really silly in some ways. Miss Abigail, you're no different."
Why?
Regardless, the days still passed by one by one.
Hayden and Abigail had been worried that Karen's constant desire for independence might cause trouble, but that didn't seem to be the case. Two months had quickly passed since Karen hired the "Karma" company to explore the southern swampy wastelands. Karen's business was not only booming, but she had even begun developing the southern swamp.
The swamp is now teeming with flying sprites and Karen's employees, who regularly come and go under the protection of mercenaries. The materials produced in this wasteland should be heavily polluted and difficult to use. While large corporations always have ways to purify them, purification is troublesome and expensive.
Therefore, no one has ever developed these barren swamps in the past.
But Karen clearly has her own methods, and these methods are probably quite low-cost. That's why so many flower fairies now live in that swamp, helping her manage and prepare what she needs. Furthermore, Karen's employees regularly go there to pick up supplies.
Two months later, even Hayden couldn't help but feel that this situation seemed destined to continue for a long time.
Hayden had a fairly fulfilling time during this period. He spent most of his time studying, training, or researching new things. Occasionally, people from mercenary agencies, such as Dulin or the saleswoman, would come to him for help. Sometimes, the Mercenary Company would also receive some troublesome jobs that others might have trouble handling. Hayden happened to have new things that he could use for practical testing, and there was money to be made, so of course he went.
Besides that, Hayden also had to continue teaching Eric some things. Fortunately, he had come up with quite a few new things lately, so he had a lot to teach others. Eric was a very straightforward person, and in return, he taught Hayden a lot of his family's traditional techniques, mainly things that could be used in creation.
With these new technologies, Hayden was able to create even more new things. So, for the past two weeks, he'd had almost no time for anything other than studying and researching. However, his development process was becoming increasingly smooth and efficient.
Finally, around mid-March, almost a full year after Angela came to Hayden's side, one afternoon, when Hayden came out of his studio to rest, he felt that he had become much stronger than he had been a year ago.
But Hayden's cheerful mood didn't last long. As soon as he entered his living room, he saw Angela with a slightly furrowed brow.
"Master, Mr. Eric is seriously injured."
She began by saying,
“Yoranda and the others who went to work with him rescued him. He is now being treated at Miss Karen’s flower shop.”
Hayden was certainly not happy about this.
"When you're a mercenary, there are bound to be times like this." But he still said this, "He's lucky. He was seriously injured and his teammates were able to drag him back for treatment. When I was a lone wolf, I would get injured and still have to finish my work before dragging my wounds home to treat myself. That's what's truly terrifying."
When Angela heard him say that, she didn't know if she was imagining some scene, but her brows furrowed even more.
As for why Eric was sent to Karen's flower shop after his injury, it's because "Karma" Company recently signed some cooperative contracts with Karen.
In this era, whatever medical services you want, you have to pay for them yourself. The best services come from healthcare companies; for a hefty sum, you can get the best treatments from all over the world. But mercenaries mostly don't have that much money, otherwise they wouldn't be making a living on the streets.
One of the main reasons Hayden was able to survive as a lone wolf mercenary for so many years was his expertise in inexpensive healing magic, allowing him to save his own life. However, it was impossible for every other mercenary to study medicine for three or four years beforehand; they had to find a way to make do. That's why Angela had the "Retribution" company sign a "make-do" contract with Karen's flower shop, allowing mercenaries from the company to be sent to Karen's shop for treatment if they suffered injuries they couldn't handle themselves.
Although Karen runs a flower shop, she is indeed capable of doing so.
Hayden then thought of something strange and frowned: "Speaking of which, Eric's foundation as a Level 2 enhanced human is already top-notch for a mercenary in New Yatu. Plus, I've been teaching him a lot recently, and he's gradually gaining practical experience. How could he suddenly be seriously injured? What happened to him?"
"The Janelli family had previously hired some mercenaries to help protect their smuggling convoys."
Angela didn't even blink before recounting the whole story, as if she had memorized every detail of the entire Retribution Company's business.
Incidentally, the Giannelli family is a dominant Italian mafia family in New Seattle. The company that hired Hayden a few months ago to beat up those werewolf-like Russians and help him seize territory was actually this Giannelli family.
"Their convoy was attacked by the enemy on its way to San Francisco, the Golden Bear, after leaving New Jersey and crossing the border of Evergreen State."
Angela continued speaking, still frowning.
"According to Yolanda's report, the enemies that appeared at that time were—a plurality of mid-level demons."
……ah?
These words were so terrifying that Hayden couldn't ignore them: "The devil? The devil again!?"
Although he said "again," in reality, Hayden's last sighting of the devil was only a year ago at Alicia's house. After all, how many devils are there in North America for people to see?
However, this also made Hayden understand why Angela had been frowning for so long, which was quite unusual.
"This is too strange. I've been a mercenary in New Seattle for almost ten years, and I've only encountered a devil once, in Alicia's area, and that was Adam's doing. How come Eric has only been a mercenary for less than half a year and he's already run into a devil and been beaten half to death?"
Despite the complaints, the situation was extremely serious. Hayden immediately took Angela and rushed to Karen's flower shop. Fortunately, by the time they arrived, Karen had already administered daisy essence to Eric to save his life. Eric, who had just escaped back to New Jersey, was lying on the hospital bed, eyes closed and silent.
His back was a bloody mess, with hardly an inch of undamaged skin, and his arms were also torn open. His ex-girlfriend, Juliet (Hayden didn't know if they had gotten back together or not, and he was too lazy to ask), was tearfully using mithril tweezers to pick out tiny metal fragments from Eric's wounds. Some fragments were so deep that they couldn't be pulled out with tweezers and had to be forcibly dug out of his body with a scalpel.
When Hayden entered the ward, Juliet had already finished most of what she was doing. Not only was the bed covered in blood, but her own hands were also stained. A large tray beside her was piled high with twisted arrowheads and blade fragments. Judging by the weight, it must have weighed a kilogram or two.
So Hayden picked up a fragment of an arrowhead from the tray, examined it closely, and his brow furrowed even more deeply: "This is demonic cold iron. It really was the devil's doing?"
Karen nodded slowly and replied in a low voice, "It should be. I also discovered demonic energy when I was treating him. A single one could be a fake, but with two and so many of them, it's unlikely to be a complete counterfeit."
For some reason, even though this matter should have nothing to do with her, her expression was not good.
"We're mercenaries. Whatever our employers get into trouble with is generally none of our business; it's just a job—but this is too strange. Why would the devils attack a smuggling convoy? Was it just a random attack by a typical terrorist organization?"
Hayden hadn't forgotten what the devil he'd encountered last time was like.
"Or is someone else deliberately using them to attack smuggling convoys?"
He remembered that Alicia had once said that summoning demons to attack certain places and then claiming that it was the work of an anti-corporate terrorist organization was a common conspiracy tactic of large corporations.
Clearly, no one could answer Hayden's question immediately.
It was Angela who spoke up at this point: "The smuggled goods that the Janelli family's convoy was carrying back then were beauty products produced by Miss Karen's company. Those things could make a lot of money when sold in Golden Bear State."
what?
But, but... what would a devil do with beauty products if he robbed them?!
081: What does this option mean?
"The goods that the Janelli family's convoy was transporting at that time were beauty products produced by Miss Karen. Those things could make a lot of money when sold in Golden Bear State."
Angela said so.
But what can a devil do by robbing beauty products?
Of course, Hayden wasn't really stupid, and he had encountered similar situations before, so his first thought was—could those devils be trying to use the cosmetics made by Karen to create some strange magic?
After all, we've discussed this before. The act of "makeup" itself is an ancient magical ritual. If those wild, devilish terrorist organizations hiding in the wilderness wanted to steal beauty products to perform magic, then while it sounds very strange, it's not entirely unreasonable.
But is it really that simple?
And for some reason, after hearing Angela's words, Karen turned her head and gave her a strange look.
“I don’t think that’s the case. Besides, even if the gang’s smuggling convoy was carrying my products, it has nothing to do with me.”
Then Karen spoke in a very calm tone,
“Hayden, you run a mercenary agency, not a security escort company. The reason why the client was robbed this time has nothing to do with you or me.”
What she said... doesn't seem to be wrong.
Why should mercenaries care why their employers smuggled goods and were robbed by the devil? And why should the original producers of these goods care about such a thing?
Instead, Eric, who was lying on the hospital bed, suddenly raised his head slightly and said weakly, "It's my fault. I was too arrogant, thinking that I could defeat those mid-level demons with just the power of the Thunder Hammer..."
The Demonic Cold Iron is poisonous. Although Karen had given him the drug, Eric still seemed somewhat delirious and his speech was a bit incoherent. However, Hayden still managed to understand the general meaning of his words.
Level 2 enhanced individuals, based on the technological origins of their customized genes, often inherit supernatural abilities from deities or even gods. Eric's ability to forge metal with a thunder hammer is evidence of his family's past connections with the Wotan Mystic Technology Corporation.
With such supernatural powers, a good physical foundation, and having been taught many techniques by Hayden, it's not surprising that he would act recklessly when encountering demons blocking his way. However, even with thunderous powers, one is not an all-powerful true god, and being surrounded and attacked by a large group of demons will still result in defeat.
Moreover, even the modern gods are no longer beings whose "great power originates entirely from themselves".
"These arrowheads and blade fragments stained with your blood must weigh at least two kilograms."
So Hayden spoke up.
"Afterwards, I will teach you some incantations and rituals. We will take these fragments of cold iron and forge them into a thunder hammer. This will allow you to unleash power far greater than your current abilities. In the future, you can use it to smash the heads of those demons."
It's unclear whether Eric actually heard Hayden's words while in a daze, but he did quiet down and soon fell asleep.
Is Hayden telling the truth?
of course.
Supernatural powers may be very flexible, and great power may originate from oneself.
However, sophisticated spells, incantations, and rituals are far more powerful. While less flexible, they are far superior to directly using supernatural powers. Otherwise, why would anyone bother developing various magical techniques?
But that's a digression. Hayden's current focus doesn't seem to be on that.
“You’re right, this matter should have nothing to do with us, but since it involves something as sensitive as the devil, we should investigate it just to be on the safe side.”
The devil is essentially a modern-day terrorist organization. Getting involved with them is like getting mud into your pants—even if it's not excrement, it's still excrement. You have to be careful.
So Hayden turned to Karen and said:
"I'll go find out from some acquaintances about the smuggling routes around New Seattle recently, and about the recent things related to the devil."
He was thinking of Abigail right now, of course. That dark witch must know a lot about makeup magic, demons, and smuggling routes.
But when Karen heard Hayden's words, for some reason, she frowned even more deeply.
Even more strangely, Angela frowned. However, on the other hand, she seemed unsure of what to choose, appearing somewhat hesitant, and ultimately said nothing.
However, just as they were about to leave the flower shop, Karen called Hayden aside.
"Hayden, I have to ask you something."