Chương 281: Chapter 270

After they left, Sam made sure to drop off a message to Nowhere in one of the prearranged dead drops, then headed for his own room to get some updates from the others. Resting on his enchanted sofa with Lucky's head in his lap, he opened the messaging system and initiated a group call. Soon, he was looking at his friends' faces appearing in front of him. Lucy, Adam, and Clarissa looked tired, while the three he sent south looked energized.

"Alright, people. I'm soon off on an 'adventure' so I need a quick update about the happenings," he stated with a smile. Lucy quietly cursed under her breath while Adam just let out a sigh. Dan was simply there, sitting on a rock while Katie and Isabella stood behind him and made weird faces.

"Clarissa, let's start with you. How is the situation with the healers?"

"They're ecstatic…" she stated in her usually flat tone.

"They were happy with the ritual and less happy about the cult."

"Really?" She nodded.

"The head of the guild had to be restrained from going on a rampage. She really hates cults."

"Are they going to be a problem?" Instead of Clarissa, it was Dan who answered, surprising Sam.

"I doubt it, boss." Sam turned toward his screen, held back a chuckle at the girls' antics, and looked at his friend.

"How so?"

"Fractures are popping up all around the place. Filled with all sorts of yummy blood stuff. The Church has been flocking to them."

"Anything interesting?" He shook his head.

"Nah, by the time we found them, they were already there. According to them, we need special permission to enter and cleanse them."

"How do you get that?"

"Beats me… They refuse to answer the question," Dan answered promptly with a frown on his face. Clearly, communicating with those communist cultists was rather vexing.

"Even with you being in the group that brought them the great news?" Sam asked skeptically. Dan sadly shook his head again.

"These were new. They had no idea who we were." Sam nodded at that and turned back to Clarissa.

"Could you…?" She looked at him and Dan before nodding.

"Fine. I will go talk to the crazy people. Again."

"Thank you. Then what about the Healer Guild setting up shop in Ferabor?"

"They loved it. Even more when Lucy threw a half-dozen economic concessions at them," Clarissa replied with a small smile finally gracing her face.

"Oh, and she also 'invented' medical insurance." Sam looked back with eyes wide.

"What the hell, Lucy? I knew you're evil, but this much? How could you?" She just sent him a flat look.

"Oh, get lost. It's just a simple benefit package for those who are employed by us and live in the city of Ferabor."

"Wow. Chills…"

"Fuck you…" Sam just smirked.

"Fine, fine… make sure it's a separate company, anyone can sign up and subsidize all low-level healing and consultation up to a certain level." Lucy just scoffed.

"As if I hadn't done that…"

"Alright, I bow to our queen of darkness," he replied with a smirk before turning to Adam.

"And how is the guild?"

"Too many people," came the succinct answer from the tired giant.

"Even with the inclusion of the Steel Lions, Fauna Ark, and Glorious Artefacts we simply do not have the capacity to accept this many people," he reported tiredly.

"Any idea how to solve it?"

"Yeah. Get more affiliate guilds. I already have a list, just needs you to look them over." Sam nodded.

"Understood. Send them over and I'll take a look after I log out."

"Thank you," Adam answered while letting out a relieved sigh.

"I hate the fact that I hate how much success we are having. My administrator and guild master skills have eclipsed my fighting skills. Haven't been to a fracture in ages."

"Then go and do that for a while, I'm sure the guild won't collapse into a singularity while you're away for a few hours." Adam nodded and averted his eyes from the screen, a little embarrassed. Then Sam turned back to the trio, who were doing their very best to depopulate the monster population between Ironwood and the south border.

"Anything to report?" Dan thought for a moment before starting to speak.

"We have seen an increase of other parties going around." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Several requests went out to deal with the monsters from several cities," Lucy added quickly.

"Ahh, that makes sense. They mostly ignore us and each other, but we saw some fights here and there."

"Did you guys fight anyone?" Sam asked, half knowing the answer already. Dan glanced behind him before looking back at Sam.

"Well, some of us wanted to, but cooler heads prevailed." Isabella leaned forward and grinned, shoving Dan aside.

"What he means by that is that people recognized Katie and ran in the other direction," she gleefully reported while Katie just pouted behind her. Dan sighed.

"Well, yes. But I thought I would spare Katie's feelings."

"What feelings?" The meeting from then on devolved to them watching as Katie tried to beat Isabella senseless over Dan's hunched head. Altogether a pretty good entertainment. Sam was found by Lucy as he was doing the last preparation for his new adventure. Filling up his potion reserves, stocking up auxiliary items that could be needed and making sure that his clothing was good for some stealth sections.

She entered the room and leaned against the wall as Sam methodically went through the items that the helpful people of the guild collected for him from the warehouse and crafters. Meanwhile Lucky was on the ground and going to town on some prime meat.

"Anything else you've planned?" she asked.

"Not unless you have something that you hadn't shared?" he asked, not looking up from stuffing several miles' worth of ropes into his inventory.

"No. That's why I'm worried. We're swimming in money. Our businesses are booming and even if we have copycats, people just ignore them. This is too much. Sooner or later, something is going to break…" Hearing that Sam looked up from his activity and frowned.

"We have insurance in place, right?"

"Yes, but still…" she began but Sam interrupted her.

"Then don't worry. We all have enough money in the bank to live comfortably even if we lose everything in the game. So, just play the game and try not to think about worst-case scenarios." Finishing with his last task, he closed the inventory and as he saw that Lucky was also finished, he headed for the door. Lucy also began to walk next to him while her hands found Lucky's head who was the perfect height to receive some pats from the worried woman.

"I know that, here," she said while pointing at her head, "but in here it's chaos," she finished while pointing at her heart.

"Well, if it helps, just blame all those things on me and it will go away."

"I already blame everything on you," came the quick reply. Then she smirked.

"Last week, my mother was telling me how her friend's business went under. I almost told her to blame you…" Sam couldn't help but laugh out loud. By the time they reached the area, Tim was waiting for them, both of them were chuckling and gently ribbing each other. However, as they stepped through the doorway, they were both brought up short at the scene before them.

Tim, dressed in his assassin get-up, covered in a black cloak, was surrounded by a bevy of beautiful women, including a worried Liz in her work clothes, Clair in her maid get-up, followed by a few more maids and one new woman in mage robes who was vaguely familiar to Sam. All of them were fretting around Tim, worriedly making sure he had everything and that he would protect himself. Sam used his elbow to poke Lucy.

"Hey, who is the mage chick?" he whispered.

"Flora, the girl you saved in Sunspot."

"And why is she here?"

"Because I told Tim to recruit her."

"Why tho? I said I didn't know her…" Lucy blinked.

"Huh, I thought you were doing that mysterious thing where you pretend that you know nothing."

"Well, that makes sense. But not this time. I have no idea who she is." Lucy looked at the girl who was trying to straighten Tim's cloak, which slipped every time Liz did something to his armor, then back at Sam.

"Oops?" The two of them, Sam and Tim, left the building through the hidden gateway after Tim's harem spent a few more minutes crying and making him promise to come back alive while Lucy watched all of it awkwardly.

"So…a harem?" Sam finally asked as they entered the city proper. Sam was using his Chameleon mask and a single-use item to look different while Tim was blending in with his own skills, leading the way through several alleyways and narrow streets.

"What?" Sam slapped him on the back.

"I mean I thought I had some main character energy, but boy, I do not have anything on you! How many were there? Six, seven?" Tim just looked confused.

"They're not my harem. They are just friends who were simply worried about me."

"Mhm, yeah, seven beautiful women, crying over you. Totally what friends do. Totally."

"Please don't start it. I get it all the time from Lucy." Tim spoke, his voice full of suffering.

"They're just my friends…"

"Hey, you know how Lucy is my friend?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you see how much she cried and tried to touch me when we left?"

"I saw her trying to punch you."

"Exactly."

"What?" Tim led them through the back alleys of Ironwood, occasionally waving to some of the free-spirited children and youths that inhabited them. Sam just tried not to shiver when he saw some of them smile just a little bit too wide. Hell, Tim even spent a moment to pet a few stray cats that happened upon them before leading the two of them underground into long abandoned sewer tunnels which led them to the outside of the city in a weird crevasse that looked like a ruined cistern.

"Found this when exploring for a quest," Tim explained, answering his unsaid question.

"Made sure that it stayed secret and use it sometimes to leave the city when I want to avoid attention." Sam looked around and smiled.

"That's impressive. Where to next?" Tim looked around, as if orienting himself, before checking something then pointed at one of the mountains opposite of them.

"We go that way. Then, after a while, we will need to reorient."

"Coolio but before that we need to have a small talk," Sam said quickly before Tim could take off running. The harem protagonist turned around with a confused look on his face.

"What about?" Sam sat down on a stray stone weathered by the weather and began to talk.

"This situation is going to be weird. We're going to fight your friends. And they will quickly realize that somebody betrayed them for you. It's going to get ugly." Tim listened thoughtfully, then nodded.

"What do you suggest?"

"You stay in the shadows and let me take the blame. People already expect me to be in places that I'm not supposed to be…" Tim opened his mouth, then closed it, and repeated it a few times, before speaking.

"Thank you, but it is unnecessary. The friend wanted to cut ties with them. I'm sure he is using this opportunity to break his contract."

"Does he want to join up?" The assassin shook his head.

"No. He is aware of how traitors are viewed, no matter the circumstances. From what he told me, he is taking a little break from the game and just going to focus on real life."

"So, this is some final fuck you to the Silent Step?" Tim frowned.

"Silent Step doesn't exist anymore. We were neutral, just did jobs and didn't meddle. But now the boss is trying to do things that are antithetical to the entire concept of what we signed up for. A lot of guys are enjoying it as there is more money in it, but a lot of people did it for the joy of it." Sam processed that before answering.

"So, the pivot didn't work for employee morale?"

"No. Plus, the hardcore assassin role players are also pretty angry…"

"Not a group you want to anger…" Tim shuddered a little.

"They can be… intense …"

"Hey, look on the bright side! At least they weren't furries..."

"You just think that..."

"Oh..."