Chương 345: Chapter 331 - Interlude 33

"What the hell is he doing now?" asked a very irritated voice. On the screen before him, and the entire hall of people, was a very familiar figure as he broke the stained-glass window of a ship. Next to it, another screen showed behind-the-scenes data streaming down at medium speed – every action generated some code or comment. The moment the glass broke, instantly a new deluge of code began to flood the screen. Next to the man, the sound of click-clack could be heard as someone began to type on their keyboard.

Then the giant projection on the wall changed, the video feed of their number one enemy – well, their boss's enemy – to a top-down map of the area, the fractures where the Fucker had gone highlighted with red color. Following that, several other spots were highlighted in blue, and then a thin green line began to connect them, forming a giant star.

"As you can see, he had started the North Star questline that unlocks one of our pre-planned raid instances," came the explanation from the woman.

"And how the hell did he know that it was there?" he asked incredulously, before excitement broke out on his face.

"Did we finally catch him cheating? Tell me!" Selene chose this exact moment to pop up on a nearby screen.

"Afraid not, sir."

"What?" the man yelled, while pointing at the screen dramatically.

"But it's all there! I saw the code. He didn't do any of the required quests. He just went straight for the keys." Selene just shook her head, sending blonde curls flying everywhere. Some would say it was a waste of processing power, but she enjoyed the compliments.

"Sir. The maps showing the locations of the fractures have been publicly available since they appeared. A bunch of people had made the connection between them. The only difference is that nobody figured out the keys yet. However, I checked his gaming history, and he fought in the Ice Rumble, where he found one of the keys," she explained.

"Admittedly, his conclusion about the way to destroy the heart is rather far-fetched, but it is still within the realm of possibility. He is an experienced gamer, after all." The man standing in front of the projected screen listened to the explanation and visibly wilted in place as he processed the information.

"But…but…but…" he gibbered, pointing at the screen. One of his employees stepped up to him, patted him on the back, and handed him a steaming cup of coffee.

"There, there, sir. Maybe next time you can catch that dastardly guy!" The man took a sip of the coffee, then sent a withering look at the other man.

"I don't like your tone."

"And I don't like to listen to your rants about that Fucker every day," came the instant retort.

"So, I'd say we all have things we don't like." They stared at each other for a moment, one man glaring, the other smiling in an upbeat manner, before the man holding the coffee let out a deep sigh and nodded.

"Fine. Fair is fair."

"Thank you, sir."

"I'm still not giving up!"

"Wouldn't expect it, sir." The other man left the first one to return to his workstation as Selene transitioned to a bigger screen.

"I took the opportunity and checked the quest for the raid instance," she stated as the big screen once again changed. All the marked spots had notes written next to them, detailing the fracture there and highlighting the key item inside them.

"As you can see, he was simply lucky to start with that particular fracture. The key is obvious. The destruction is not so much, but we can chalk it up to the gaming experience. Starting from there – with the knowledge that all of these are connected – I'm almost a hundred percent sure that our friend is going to figure out all the keys." The man sipped his cup of coffee, eyes taking in all the information on the screen, his brain visibly working overtime.

"Can we–" he began to ask, but he was instantly interrupted by the AI.

"No, we can't increase the difficulty. We also can't add more monsters, make it impossible to complete, or curse his entire family with itchiness." He closed his mouth, sending a wounded look at Selena. She ignored the look and cheerfully continued.

"Also, per the request of the HR department, please stop putting 'hiring a witch to curse the Fucker' in the communal suggestion box." He ignored as people nearby looked at him, and most definitely ignored the sniggering going on behind his back. Instead, he frowned, for once his voice lacked the usual dramatic tinge, instead sounding exactly like a person in charge of a department at the company currently making more money than God.

"I think we still should do something. Unfairly increasing the difficulty is out, I understand. But if he completes the North Star and unlocks the raid, that would make a mockery of the effort all the northern guilds had put into the area. A PR nightmare." He reached up and rubbed his chin, feeling the prickly stubble. Selena just looked back, interested, waiting for the boss of the department to come up with a solution. After a minute of thinking, he finally spoke up.

"Do we have a list of guilds that are the closest to solving the problem?" Another person piped up.

"We have three of them who accidentally destroyed at least two keys. But they're all stumped by the Ice Rumble. The current highest – discounting the Fucker – is Wave 43."

"Estimate?"

"With luck, two weeks. Without it, maybe a month if nothing changes."

"Damn," he grumbled to himself before looking at Selena.

"Can you do a controlled leak?"

"What information?"

"We need a hint about the keys. I want somebody – preferably someone chatty – to realize the importance of the keys. Let the Rumble be the final deciding factor." Selena looked away, signifying that she was processing the request as the room descended into silence. Five minutes later, she refocused on the man and nodded. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Done. Also warned the marketing department to focus on the situation. They've started putting together some promo materials. We can even connect the event with some merch releases," she told him with a smile. Then bowed her head a little.

"Excellent idea, sir."

"Good. Also, make sure that the local government catches wind and starts preparing for the raid portal. I don't want a free-for-all melee to happen. Those always turn nasty…"

"Already on it. Anything else?"

"Yes. Do you know the number of a good witch doctor?"

"Sir…Just…no."

"What the hell is this?" Lucy looked across the table, straight at the irate representative of the Astran family. The man was responsible for the legal and bureaucratic matters of the business the family was setting up in the town Lara had built. He was also dealing with bookkeeping. Which was the main reason they were here. The man slammed a stack of documents onto the table, rattling it slightly.

"How dare you charge us this much? Where in the hell did you get the nerve? Do you know who I represent?" came the irate tirade as the man almost began to spit fire. On the surface of the table was a document detailing the many, many charges Lucy had invoiced the family after their 'prodigal' sons and daughters decided to be little shits. She just smiled calmly, reached into her own bag, and pulled out a simple piece of paper, then put it on the table and slid it over to the man.

"What's this?" he asked, reaching for it.

"The excerpt from our contract that states that requests that require monetary compensation are to be invoiced to your corporations at a monthly basis."

"Yes, yes. I've read the contract. But only the requests made by those who're authorized to make them can be invoiced. The rest only after being approved by an authorized person." Lucy continued to smile and slid another piece of paper over.

"Naturally," she replied with a smile she had learned from Sam.

"However, when the Astran Corporation had set up headquarters, they sent over a list of authorized persons. Please compare it to the invoices." The man's eyes widened, then he quickly raised both papers in front of him and began to read them rapidly. A minute later, he put them down, let out a painful sigh, and began to massage his forehead. Then he looked up and sent a knowing look at Lucy.

"You knew those requests were…unwise. Couldn't you have had them double-checked?"

"I did," she replied cheerfully, pulling out another document. Then she pointed at a section.

"As you can see, we contacted a representative named in the main contract for clarification about the authorization issues."

"And?"

"The first few were denied. As expected. However, the principal persons who were affected by these authorization issues had sought remedies for those denials," she told him with a polite smile.

"An amendment was put into place that negated the need for secondary authorization for those kinds of requests." The man stared at her, hands gripping the surface of the table.

"So, just to be clear. Those annoying little shits went complaining to daddy and mommy when you didn't do what they told you to do?"

"Yes." The man let go of the desk, leaned back in his chair, and put the back of his hand on his forehead.

"What even is my life…" Lucy just stayed silent politely. After all, this was kinda her fault. She made sure Tim set up several situations where those second or third-generation-rich people saw something shiny, and then made sure they knew they could buy it from them. And naturally, Heavenly Forest was there to fulfill all their needs. She expected to be stopped after the first few times it happened, but apparently, the amount of money those idiots were spending was just a rounding error for the Astran family.

Well, now one of them asked for an item they saw in a forum post. It was an extremely rare item that was only in their hands. At least to Lucy's knowledge. After all, it was Sam who collected it. They already auctioned a few of them away, and the idiot decided they wanted it. Of course, Lucy told them she could source one – that is, go down the vault and pick one up – for a price. A price that was between ludicrous and oh-my-god.

When she told the guy the price (in gold, of course), the little shit just rolled his eyes and told her to get going. Well, she got going.

"The people upstairs are not going to be happy." Lucy shrugged.

"I'm afraid that's not our cross to bear. We followed all due processes, even going beyond the required steps to acquire authorization. The breakdown of the process happened on your side." The man rolled his eyes.

"Yes, yes. However, while I'm sure everything is properly filled out, this is flying face-first against the spirit of the contract." Lucy also rolled her eyes in response. She reached into her bag – causing the man to flinch – and pulled out a rather thick stack of documents and placed it in front of her. The man eyed it with trepidation before speaking up.

"W-what is that?"

"A collection of complaints against the persons of interest in our conversation," she told him joyfully.

"Complaints?"

"Yes. Mostly harassment and unwanted sexual advances. Monetary and physical coercion. Our guards stopped most of them, but the complaints are still valid." The man looked like he was used to hearing this particular sentence. Lucy decided to twist the knife a bit deeper.

"One can only hear the sentence 'I'm with the money, you should just shut up and do what I tell you!' so many times before doing something drastic." The man closed his eyes and took a fortifying breath.

"I thought the members of the Astran family had much higher standards," she added 'thoughtfully'.

"My friend had met a few of them, and according to him, while they are eccentric, they were a delight." Just to remind the man that Sam had an actual connection with the upper echelons of the Astran family, in case he had forgotten. The man opened his eyes and looked at Lucy tiredly.

"Fine. Give me the documents, and I'll try to work something out with my boss." He looked so done with the entire thing.

"But I must warn you that this will have consequences."

"Don't worry. We here at the AFK Company are ready to do our part to uphold the contract," she chirped with a big smile.

"I hate you," the man muttered as his eyes were reading over the complaints.

"Another common complaint."

"I'm not surprised."

"What the hell happened here?"

"Sabotage."

"Sabotage?"

"Sabotage."

"Do I even need to ask who did it?"

"Do you want me to answer that?" They looked around at the scene of devastation before them. Supplies were torn apart, siege equipment was still smoldering, and NPCs were lying everywhere. Literally everywhere, as the explosions had torn most of them apart. Most of the fortifications were in ruins, a few of them half-standing, but he knew that their structural integrity was probably shot. Or they were left up as traps. Wouldn't be the first time it happened.

"Bastards!"

"Didn't we release a magical pathogen in the water supply of three different villages first?"

"Well yes. But they're our enemies, so they're automatically bastards."

"Gotcha."

"Any survivors?" he asked hopefully, but he only received a sad shake of the head.

"They were thorough."

"Any of them from the big teams?"

"Are you hoping someone spotted Solar or his team?"

"A man can hope. It'd have looked bad for them if we'd framed it well enough. So?" Another headshake.

"Sadly, no. Chrysalis put out a bounty on our positions, so everybody is in a frenzy to gather as many contribution points as possible."

"Ah! Don't even remind me. I saw those pictures of the exchange window. Sometimes it makes me want to turn traitor…"

"Yes, well, Solar is on a different level."

"He is. Yes. But he only has a core team on that same level," he told his assistant.

"While our side doesn't have anyone on Solar's level, we have a rather sizable group with higher-than-average capabilities."

"I don't think there is anyone in the game who is on Solar's level…"

"Eh… there are rumors about some no-lifers out in the east rising through the ranks with some insane skill combos…"

"Could we hire them?"

"I floated the idea at the council meeting, but the fact that they would need to learn a bunch of skills from our repertoire just to survive on our side of the battlefield makes it really expensive. It's cheaper and easier to raise our own force."

"Still haven't regretted joining the 'dark' side?" his assistant asked, making the quotation marks with his fingers while smiling as they walked through the smoking ruins, occasionally kicking aside rubble or body parts. He shrugged.

"It's a game. Plus, the pay is pretty good. Though after the war ends and my contract runs out, I'll try my hand at crafting. My whittling skills have recently reached master level."

"Oh, congratulations!"

"Thanks!" He took out a carving of a dog – albeit with some additions. Like a few tentacles and a bit more teeth than necessary. He threw it onto the muddy ground, where it began to wriggle and vibrate before starting to increase in size. The small carving grew and grew until it reached the size of a small horse, when a shiver went through it. The carving began to move, the wooden item imitating the movement of a real dog.

It instantly began to sniff around both with its nose and tentacles, going around, touching everything within reach.

"Let's see if we can find something that our investigators missed."

"Yes, sir!"