As Nolan and his companions walked back up the winding stairs leading to the second layer, a black raven with night-colored wings descended, flapping its wings.

Upon noticing the group, they immediately stopped, and the airflow carried by the crow's descent tousled their hair.

"Oh my, everything going smoothly for you, I presume?"

The princess's familiar crow, Oz, flapped its wings as if nothing had happened and inquired.

"Oz!"

Fischl's golden hair fluttered, revealing her fair forehead and the black eyepatch. She used her right hand to tidy her hair and looked somewhat displeased at her familiar.

"Apologies, miss." Oz apologized for its impolite behavior.

In truth he had mainly been worried about his young miss, so flew a bit hastily.

"Fortunately, everything has been resolved." Nolan didn't pay much attention and lightly tapped his head, continuing, "Oz, how's the situation outside?"

Bennett was also curious, looking at Oz.

Since Oz had come, the Lawachurl must have been tied up fighting the Adventurers' Guild reinforcements, unable to properly guard the entrance right?

Oz, who was flying with his wings, also didn't beat around the bush:

"Things went smoothly on my end too. When Branch Master Cyrus heard a powerful Lawachurl was discovered, he just laughed and said it was good practice for the juniors. Then he brought several strong adventurers to easily take care of it!"

"That quickly?" Nolan felt a little surprised, thinking they could still participate in defeating the Lawachurl after getting back to the second layer. It seems he had overthought things.

That made sense, an Adventurers' Guild this large surely wouldn't lack the strength to deal with a single Lawachurl.

Although Nolan felt some regret missing out on the Adventure EXP from defeating the Lawachurl, thinking of the treasure chest's harvest just now he felt satisfied again, no longer feeling it a pity.

Next, they all returned to the second layer together. The Lawachurl lay motionless in front of the entrance, still emitting some burnt black smoke.

Its prided Geo armor was shattered, the domineering bone mask fused with Geo elements on its face also smashed apart.

The powerful adventurers who came to subjugate the Lawachurl seemed to have left, leaving only the vice guild master, Mr. Cyrus, with his lion-like golden mane and a monocle clipped over his right eye.

He held his robust arms around his body, looking at Nolan and his group with a smile:

"Haha, brats, well done.

Challenging a king wandering among the thousand peaks at such a young age, you're only a little worse than I was back in the day."

"Ah... how could we compare with Master Cyrus, we were almost beaten flat!" Bennett said happily, fingers touching the goggles on his head.

Clearly, he was delighted to have his adventuring courage recognized.

"Hmph, just a mere Hilichurl, unworthy of My hands!" Fischl placed her fair hand on her Vision, as if hinting she had held back.

She selectively didn't mention her earlier experience of being chased by that "mere" Hilichurl.

Fortunately, her reliable attendant was there, otherwise the famed Princess Fischl returning to the Adventurers' Guild would surely have lost all dignity, becoming a laughing stock.

Thinking of this, Fischl couldn't help feeling some affection again towards the reliable attendant by her side.

[Fischl Has Developed Good Feeling Towards You, Obtained 150 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.5 (55/500)]

Looking at the sudden increase in affection, Nolan fell silent for a moment. Perhaps Little Amy inexplicably imagined some shining point he didn't know about.

"Greetings Master Cyrus," Nolan politely greeted.

Noticing the young unfamiliar face, Cyrus stroked his golden sideburns considering for a bit before saying:

"Oh? You must be that new adventurer Katherine mentioned who discovered this secret realm, aren't you?!

"Not bad, you even went with unlucky Benny here and little Fischl to the second and third layers this time, haha!

"And it seems you've also dealt with the abyssal remnants the Abyss Order brought out. Looking at it like this, you're not far from becoming the next rising star adventurer of some renown! I've got high hopes for you!"

Branch Master Cyrus evaluated Nolan very highly, leaving him a little embarrassed.

Indeed, to become branch master of Mondstadt's Adventurers' Guild, he surely was no simple man. Perhaps a legendary adventurer of the past.

Completing top-tier commissions more than once, slaying three evil dragons, wiping out two international bandit groups, and even saving all of Teyvat before.

Yet to this lion-like figure, those unbelievable feats were insignificant happenings, side results hardly worth mentioning.

Of course, this was something he said when he was drunk, so its authenticity is uncertain. However, as the branch master of the Adventurers' Guild, even if there's some exaggeration, it wouldn't be too far off.

Perhaps it was because Mondstadt had many powerful experts like him that the Abyss Order with its convenient teleportation network didn't dare personally act recklessly here.

If they did, perhaps they wouldn't even have time to open a teleportation portal.

"Oh no, Mr. Cyrus, you're too kind. It's everyone's contribution, and I've just done a little insignificant effort."

Nolan certainly didn't dare to truly believe that all those contributions were his own.

Without Bennett and Fischl, he wouldn't say whether he could have found the second layer of the secret realm. Even if he did, he might have fled upon encountering the Abyss Mages.

"Haha, modesty is a good quality!"

The former legendary adventurer, Cyrus, expressed his appreciation once again, then continued with a smile:

"Let's go together. Your achievements this time are remarkable. It wouldn't be right to not boast a bit in front of everyone when you return to the camp!"

Mr. Cyrus seems to be someone who doesn't bother with trivial matters.

Before leaving, Nolan collected the Lawachurl's shattered Geo-infused bone mask.

Later he would need elemental potions for elemental attacks. If he had to research and learn it himself it would cost a lot of Adventure EXP.

He still had levels up, and his swordsmanship skills hadn't improved much.

So if he could delegate it to reduce Adventure EXP costs, all the better.

According to his earlier thoughts, he could leave the potions to the alchemists. And Miss Sucrose, student and assistant to Chief Alchemist Albedo of the Knights of Favonius, was perfect.

She was very interested in all kinds of strange bones.

So using the Lawachurl's bone mask as payment, Sucrose would surely be happy to help make elemental potions for him.

While thinking this, they had already returned to where the Abyss Mages were defeated. Nolan recalled he hadn't harvested their materials yet.

Although the gains were plentiful already, he couldn't waste the little things either.

For common Hilichurls, the useful material was the bone masks on their heads. For Mitachurls, the horns were also useful.

The Lawachurl had horns too, but the adventurers who defeated it took those already.

As for the Abyss Mages, the useful things on them were actually the ley line branch wands in their hands, also very useful for weapon enhancement or alchemy.

After a while, before the sky completely darkened, Nolan and his group finally left the secret realm, exited the ruins, and returned to the camp.

At this moment, the notification sound from the character panel sounded again.

(End of Chapter)

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(Note: For the Affection gain notifications, I won't use a form like [100+50(extra)], Instead, it directly shows the combined effect of the character's specialty, written as "Obtained 150 Affection Points," making it more intuitive. This way the forgetful author doesn't mix up the math somewhere lol)