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It was Li yun. He'd come to pay her a visit. She showed him in while polishing a scimitar that had lost its shine.

'What brings you here?' 

She asked by way of greeting.

'I've just come from closing down the undefeated blades mercenary company. From today, we are no longer a mercenary company.'

'You seem to be in a good mood.'

She commented when she saw him so full of smiles.

'The life of a mercenary is a tough one. We survive by learning to adapt. I came to pay you what we owe you and to also thank you.'

He returned the spatial ring she had lent him earlier on. In it she found payment of a thousand spirit stones and five thousand gold coins as well as a barrel of what appeared to be flood dragon blood.'

Before she could ask, he interrupted her.

'All of us agreed on the amount to give you.'

'I don't disagree. I worked really hard. However, i have no need for the blood.'

'I can't help you there. Each member got a barrel of blood for their troubles.' 

'Then i won't turn it down.'

'Now that we're done with old business, i wish to thank you properly. Thanks to you, we have a new purpose. Gu ding told me about that night. He said you gave him a way to help mercenaries and their families? He said you called it insurance?' 

He looked eagerly at her.

Ahh… so that's why he came. I suppose there's no harm in telling him more. He's more trustworthy than Gu ding.

'Insurance is the general term. It covers every aspect of life: sickness, injury and death are the common ones, but there are more.' 

'Please tell me about it.'

Seeing the interest igniting in his eyes, she explained with a simplified example.

'If your house was to one day burn to the ground, there is insurance to cover that. You can even go as far to insure your sword for example. If it were to break or get stolen, you will receive enough compensation to replace the sword providing you aren't at fault.'

'Fault? What does that mean?'

'One person might misplace his insured sword because he is negligent. Another might report a missing sword that he hired thieves to steal. That's what i mean by fault.'

'Can you tell me more about it?'

She had spent almost a year after her family's death in the house fire meeting with numerous insurance companies. That time had given her an intimate understanding of the underlying principles of insurance.  They ended up discussing the ins and outs of insurance policies all throughout the day. By the time he left in the evening, she had implicitly given her word to be their consultant for the new company. 

For the two months that she stayed in Guangyu city, when she wasn't busy drawing template contracts and forms or giving Li yun lessons on the finer details of insurance contracts, she was busy training the company employees made up of the surviving mercenaries and a few relatives of the deceased members who were of working age. 

If Li yun was attentive and eager to learn all aspects of the business, Gu ding was assiduous in his investigative work. He had been shocked when she told them the ingenious ways people found to get compensation. He volunteered to be an investigator. Being suspicious really suited him. She taught him how to ask tough questions, how to spot lies using body language and other subtle indicators. The training consisted of made up scenarios. His job was to find and follow the clues to solve the mystery. Bai li yue made everything up as she went, but Gu ding was a quick study. She could almost hear the insurance investigators of her former world do a slow clap when she was done with his training. 

She had little time left for herself or for taking missions from the guildhall. The little free time she had went into polishing and identifying the magical weapons and other items she'd found in the other spatial rings and bracelets. 

The Umbrella company got approval from the mercenary guild to begin operation. It was an innovative idea that raised Li yun and Gu ding to new heights. All new mercenary forms came with a compulsory injury and death insurance registration. For older mercenaries, they had an option to register. The first clients of the company were the families of the deceased members of the undefeated blades mercenary company. They received a modest monthly sum of money until their eldest children reached working age. 

Gu ding stayed in a small office in the back of the company composing files on each of their new clients. She'd sold them a bunch of array tablets that could contain information on hundreds of clients each. Finally, she encoded the tablets with a password that was known to only Li yun and Gu ding.

Low level missions to gather herbs held no appeal to her and the previous adventure with the undefeated blades had soured her off mercenary work for the time being.The company was a household name and she was eager for a change. 

Guangyu was an interesting city in its own right, but the capital was beckoning to her. She'd planned to stay longer in Guangyu city, but she found herself imagining life in the capital. 

She finished polishing the dim weapons, but the task of identification proved too difficult. Hoping to get a professional eye on them, she visited the Treasure pavilion, but appraiser Hei had already left. He had gone to the capital under orders. 

'Looks like everyone's heading toward the capital.'

Bai li yue no longer, fought the yearning to leave. Sadly her stay in Guangyu city had come to a close. She packed her belongings and left Guangyu city late one morning. With the wind blowing through her hair, she sucked on a confectionary made of honey and continued on like the carefree traveller that she was.  

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