"Well, well, well..." (Hindi)
"Look what we have here." (Hindi)
A tall, muscular woman approached the group—Shreya Mishra.
Following close behind her was a woman in a saree and a white facemask that left only her eyes exposed. She was holding a magic staff, which An immediately recognized as the Mana Staff. It was quite an expensive beginner item, if he remembered correctly, though it was never worth crafting for him. There would be better versions available in the higher floors.
And just behind Shreya Mishra and the masked woman? It was Mountain.
"Now, now, Steve Rogers, you cannot recruit this Asian fella. The Silver Eye has our eyes on him first." (Hindi)
She spoke in Hindi, so obviously, no one understood anything.
"Hello, Steve Rogers. Shreya said the Silver Eye has their eyes on the Asian man first." (English)
Suddenly, the woman behind Shreya, the one with the mask, spoke up in a remarkable English accent, translating what Shreya had just said.
Steve Rogers, impressed, tried to turn the conversation in his favor.
"The Silver may have their Eyes on him, but the Crimson Circulation will provide him a better future. Also, didn't he already defeat you? How can you call yourself the strongest player alive and a guild leader at that?"
The next ten seconds were filled with exchanges between Shreya and her translator. Shreya sounded confused, probably because Roger's pun on Silver Eye couldn't be properly translated across languages.
"Haha, you brat, you're saying as if you're any better." (Hindi)
"Come on, Shreya. You know that a [Strategist] doesn't fight one-on-one. How about your guild versus mine? I've been aching to put you in your place for a while now." (English)
"Oh yeah?" (Hindi)
Shreya cracked her knuckles and stepped forward, sizing Steve Rogers up. She then said something in Hindi, which caught her translator off guard.
"Naina Devi, tell that Asian man I'll give him five crystals if he singlehandedly defeats everyone from the Crimson Circulation. I want to see this American man humiliated." (Hindi)
Crystal was a rare loot item that could be obtained along with enemy drops when defeating foes. On this floor, only F-Rank crystals were available, and even those were rare. From Shreya's calculations, one crystal would drop after approximately ten Mountain Wolves (though some might get unlucky). A team of adventurers could only kill so many wolves in one day, and when the day ended, they'd have nothing left to share. So, offering five F-Rank crystals was a big deal.
"I would translate that to him," Naina Devi responded in Hindi, "But he already walked away."
Shreya looked around, trying to find traces of the Vietnamese man. But she could only see Mountain and Tam. An was nowhere to be found. She smirked and shrugged.
"Well, you guys missed him. Better luck next time."
She said this in broken English, not needing a translator for trash talk. It was funny how the language barrier could be so easily disregarded when it came to dissing someone.
"But... I'm still looking for a fight if you want one," she added, her eyes gleaming with a battle-crazed intensity.
"No," Steve answered, "Not when we're still building our guild."
The Crimson Circulation turned around, disappointed.