Chương 365: Chapter 351 - Interlude 35

The spring weather was especially warm today. The sun bathed the entire street in its rays, creating a curious scene – many people still dressed in warmer clothing, like jumpers, coats, and long pants, some even with scarves, mixed with an equal number wearing shorts, T-shirts, and sunglasses. Between the high-rises and other large buildings, the heat lingered low to the ground, trapped in place.

Every so often, a passing vehicle brought a brief gust of wind with it, a refreshing rush that eased the warmth for a fleeting but welcome moment. He stopped for a moment, letting his tired body rest before adjusting his grip on the box and continuing on. Glancing down at it, he couldn't help but feel conflicted. It was a rather expensive piece of equipment – especially for someone of his means – but he hadn't been able to stop himself from buying it.

Entering the high-end store in his old, rumpled clothes had felt stressful. Even so, the sales assistant had greeted him with a practiced smile, handing over the item as he anxiously watched the payment terminal, waiting to make sure the payment would go through. When it finally quietly dinged, he let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He had worked long and hard to be able to afford it. Looking around the shop, he couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed.

Here he was, buying the most basic helmet, while others stood around massive pods, chatting animatedly with charming sales assistants, completely at ease. Still, he had managed to buy it. That was what mattered. Half an hour later, he stepped through the door of their family apartment, leaving the suffocating heat behind as he was greeted by the cool, crisp air of the air conditioning.

As the door creaked shut behind him – a reminder that he really needed to oil the hinges – he heard the quick pitter-patter of feet running across the floor. A small grin formed on his face just before his teenage daughter burst into the room. She looked slightly disheveled, wearing her study shirt and shorts – but as her eyes lit up at the sight of him, a familiar ache stirred in his chest. She looked so much like his late wife. Sometimes, it almost physically hurt.

Still, he was quietly grateful she had inherited her mother's looks and intelligence, rather than his.

"Dad! You're home early," she exclaimed, darting forward to hug him. Then her nose wrinkled.

"Ugh, you reek. Go take a shower."

"Hello, honey," he replied, already feeling the day's stress begin to melt away.

"I had something to take care of, so I only worked a half day." His boss didn't like it, but he had insisted.

"Really? Why?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she looked at him. The gesture was so familiar it caught him off guard for a moment.

"What do you think?" he said with a chuckle, lifting the box slightly. He had asked the shop to wrap it in plain packaging – partly to avoid attention on the street, but mostly for the surprise. His daughter studied hard and helped around the house without ever asking for anything. He did his best to provide what she needed, but chances to truly surprise her like this were rare. True to her mother's sharp mind, it didn't take her long to figure it out.

"Is that…" she asked breathlessly, her eyes fixed on the box.

"It is indeed," he declared proudly. She looked up at him, beaming, her eyes shining.

"Thank you, Dad." He chuckled softly.

"Let's go to your room. My arms are starting to hurt."

"Hell yeah!" she shouted, spinning around and running off. He took his time, giving her a chance to clear a spot, and paused in the doorway to look around. The walls were covered in posters from that game – all of them plastered with the logo of that game – Magic Unbound. A muscular man surrounded by flames. A woman wearing an impractical amount of armor. And in the most prominent place, a poster of an ordinary-looking man standing beside a massive black wolf. He knew she loved that wolf.

With just a quick glance, he could spot at least three plushies of it scattered around the room. He had never quite understood why. She had tried to explain it to him before, but he couldn't really follow. He was fine with simple games, but this new type was a bit beyond him. Still, she liked it, and it made her happy to watch. That was enough. Before long, the box was set down and the packaging torn away, revealing the helmet inside. His daughter let out a delighted squeal and hugged him again.

"Yes! I can finally play the game! I can't wait to see Solar in action!"

"Just make sure to protect yourself, honey," he said gently.

"I remember what online games were like when I was young. I doubt they've improved much." She opened her mouth – no doubt ready to argue – but then paused, closing it with a small huff instead.

"I can take care of myself, Dad."

"Good," he nodded.

"I still worry, you know."

"I know…"

"Alright. Have fun," he said while picking up the trash.

"I'm going to take a shower."

"Thanks! Dinner is in the fridge! I made your favorite!"

"Love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

"Well, your friend is a piece of work," Lara's grandfather declared during their semi-weekly get-together.

"Whatever you mean, grandfather?" she asked grandly, arching an eyebrow as she slurped her tea. When she had first heard the plan, she had laughed for almost ten minutes straight, convinced no one would be stupid enough to fall for it. Her family – her grandfather, especially – was far smarter than that. Yes, Sam had looked confident, and Lucy, as always, supported him. It had seemed harmless enough. No real damage, no real risk.

Then reality, as it so often did, slapped her in the face with just how much stupidity humans were capable of. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. The entire family – including her – had received the kind of education money couldn't buy, yet much of it seemed to have slipped cleanly out of some of her relatives' heads.

'And that fucker even made a bet with me…' she cursed in her mind. At least the forfeit was just a meal at a restaurant he liked. But the knowledge she lost still rankled her. Still, a part of her was impressed. Sam had constructed a situation that should have been seen through in seconds by anyone even remotely experienced – and yet people had still fallen for it. Honestly, it was a little unsettling how easily her friend could play with people. Which reminded her of a conversation.

During a lunch outing with Lucy, she had once asked if she had ever received offers from other guilds. The unassuming girl – currently leading one of the most profitable in-game guilds – had simply smiled.

"Why would I leave to work under some imbecile?" Lucy asked, laughter in her voice.

"I mean… more money?" Lara offered weakly.

"And listen to some moron's orders? Please…" Lucy waved a hand dismissively.

"I'd rather quit the game."

"But you listen to Sam," Lara pointed out.

"Well, yes. But Sam isn't a moron, for one," Lucy replied.

"If anything, he's the exact opposite." Lara knew Lucy had been with Sam from the very beginning. She had seen nearly everything he'd done.

"Really? I mean, I know he's not stupid, but I've met geniuses. He's nowhere near that." Back then, Lucy had just smiled in a way Lara hadn't understood. Now, sitting across from her grandfather and listening to the fallout, she finally did.

"I mean," Lucy had said, "from where I'm sitting, it's pretty obvious Sam's been running circles around all those so-called geniuses." She had taken a sip before continuing.

"I've never seen him do anything random. Every move, every decision – there's always something behind it."

"One day, he dumps a pile of materials into storage. Weeks later, when we're working on a classified potion for a fracture – something I never told him about – we find those exact materials are essential."

"And he just happened to farm them earlier." That conversation had been… enlightening. Lara had always assumed Lucy – and later Adam – were the main driving forces behind the guild's growth. But it seemed it had been Sam all along. Lucy simply handled execution and politics, which, for some unfathomable reason, she actually enjoyed. Most of what they were working on now had been set in motion months ago. Plans within plans, all under the unfathomable gaze of one weird guy.

Shaking herself free of the memory, Lara refocused on her grandfather.

"…and I had to step in personally. Me! I'm practically retired!" the old man grumbled, slamming his fist on the desk.

"I assume people aren't happy," she commented idly. Lucy, on the other hand, had been thrilled. They had swindled Lara's family out of a rather hefty sum. Funnily enough, due to how her contract was structured, she would receive a percentage of it. She made a mental note to buy her grandfather a gift with the money. When he calmed down, he might even appreciate the irony.

"Not happy?" her grandfather repeated incredulously.

"I'm furious! Everyone's furious! Those idiots are going back to school!"

"I doubt that'll help…"

"I don't care!" He slammed the desk again.

"I know he's your friend, but it still reflects on the family that he managed to hoodwink us!"

"I'm sure Sam will be devastated to hear that," she said flatly, though her eyes sparkled with amusement. Her grandfather glared at her, his gaze crackling with intensity. For a moment, the entire air in the room felt heavy with pressure – the old man's anger almost visible – then in the blink of an eye, it vanished, leaving behind only an old man before her. Lara watched as he reached for his cup and took a loud sip. For a few quiet minutes, they simply sat together. Eventually, he set the cup down with a sigh.

"I assume he's expecting retaliation…"

"He may have mentioned something like that…" The old man huffed, clearly offended by the idea.

"Well, tell him not to bother. I know better than to get into a pissing match with someone like him."

"A wise decision…" Lara murmured. If what she knew of Sam held true, any retaliation would be… unpleasant.

"Let's call it a lesson learned and move on."

"Not with the same people, right?"

"I'm not that lenient," he said sourly.

"Leadership in Ferabor is going to change."

"Not it."

"Damn." Lucy sat in her in-game office, going over paperwork related to the war effort. Her guild, the city of Ferabor, and the entire Emerald Kingdom were operating at full capacity, preparing for the Blood Army incursion. Cities were being reinforced. Guard units trained. Armies deployed to strategic positions. And all of it came with its own headaches. Politics. Some nobles were offended that the crown wanted to move troops through their lands. Others demanded payment. Those were the simple cases.

Even with a looming invasion, every 'important' person seemed determined to use the situation to further their own agenda and line their pockets. And thanks to Sam's actions – both across the kingdom and in court – there were far too many greedy eyes fixed on the Chrysalis guild, the AFK company, and everything under their control. The identification business. The crafters. The supermarkets. Heavenly Forest. Every time she turned around, something new required attention. A shipment delayed. Goods missing.

Orders fulfilled incorrectly. A contractor suddenly unavailable. And like clockwork, a representative from some noble house would appear, offering a convenient solution to a problem they had only just 'noticed' – with appropriate concern, of course. Honestly, it was almost cute. That was precisely why they had built parallel logistics chains, including a few that weren't officially documented.

With the number of warehouses they controlled – and the cavern system being built beneath Ferabor – it would take months of sustained effort to cause any meaningful disruption. And with the revenue Heavenly Forest generated daily, even early on, building redundancy had been trivial. All Lucy had needed was to listen to Sam ramble about materials over a few lunches. That alone had given her a framework of what mattered. The rest she had refined through meetings with their crafters.

Which, in turn, was used by her own team to work out the details of the lifeblood of the guild and the company. There were exceptions, of course. Liz, for example, had effectively created her own crafting discipline. Supporting her had required some adjustment, but after the initial hurdles, even that had stabilized. Lucy made a point of visiting the woman's workshop whenever she could, if only to marvel at the absurd creations she kept producing. Some of them almost made Lucy wish she enjoyed regular adventuring.

Almost. As for subtler threats? Tim. He was a Swiss Army knife in human form. Infiltration. Sabotage. Espionage. There wasn't much he couldn't do. Lucy occasionally wondered how powerful Silent Step might have become under his leadership. Thankfully, the real-life harem protagonist worked for them instead – providing both invaluable counterintelligence and no small amount of entertainment as his orbiting admirers competed for his attention.

Lucy quite enjoyed the spectacle that had developed around the nerdy assassin.

'I'm just glad Sam doesn't have a dozen women vying for his attention…' Lucy worked through the Blood Army situation with a dozen screens open in front of her, while a steady stream of people moved in and out of her office. Depositing reports on her desk, giving short and succinct verbal reports, or receiving orders from her. Adam and Tim were handling matters on the ground, but some responsibilities remained hers alone. She was midway through drafting a message when the door slammed open.

"Lucy! I-it's bad! So bad!" the woman rushing in gasped. Lucy raised an eyebrow. Working with Sam, she had gotten used to unusual situations. There wasn't much nowadays that could truly surprise her. And even if it did, she knew how to maintain a poker face. Politics had taught her that much.

"Did Solar do something?" she asked, already considering how to deal with him for not informing her in advance.

"No! Yes! I mean… kind of…" Lucy looked at her. Lucy looked at the woman, one of the people she had hired when she had put a team together to help with the accumulated work. The team was made up of her old friends, acquaintances, or people Sam and Tim recommended. Unsurprisingly, most of Sam's recommendations were either outright geniuses or so obsessed with data that it was a wonder they remembered to eat. That also made them reliable. AFK paid too well – and performed too well – for most to consider leaving.

And they also enjoyed the environment. Anything they asked for would be theirs. Lucy was currently aware of three who were feeding information elsewhere. And how did she find out? A fourth one was approached, but instead of taking the offer, she went to her new crush and told everything to Tim. Once again, even the mightiest spy organisation was proven to be nothing in front of the power of a harem protagonist. The woman in front of her shook herself and made a motion with her hand, sending Lucy a screen.

Lucy opened it, idly noting the growing number of filtered notifications she hadn't reviewed. A live stream filled the display.

"Should we do something?" the woman asked anxiously as they watched Sam caught in a Blood Army trap. Lucy just rolled her eyes.

"Sure. Look up acting classes. He clearly needs them."

"W-what?" Lucy gestured at the screen.

"He's acting. And not particularly well." The woman's eyes widened.

"Really? So… he is not in danger?" Lucy snorted.

"He hasn't even summoned Lucky."

"Oh…" They watched as things played out the way Lucy expected. Sam dismantled the ambush piece by piece, eliminating both the trap and the players behind it. The comments under it were either calling for Sam's death or celebrating his success. The chat went by so fast that it was almost impossible to read. Lucy suspected that within minutes, the forums would be full of people discussing his actions.

She could already see the many posts calling Sam a cheater for managing to escape the trap, while dozens of other posts tried to figure out how the trap worked and how to replicate it. She wondered how the Blood Army – and their leaders – were reacting. Because if the attack was sanctioned by them, it was rather lackluster. If not… well then somebody is going to get some rather strong talking to. Either way, she was sure Sam already had an idea how that trap worked and had ways to counter it. As always.

As the stream ended with the last enemy falling, she turned back to the stunned woman.

"Anything else?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I have a ton of work to do." The woman – Mary, an old acquaintance from one of the games Lucy played before Magic Unbound – took a moment to reorient herself before shaking her head.

"No… I just thought… well, never mind."

"Good." Mary, slightly dazed, left the office. Lucy returned to her documents, shaking her head faintly.

'Really… trying to set a trap? How quaint…' After a moment, she frowned, pushed the document aside, and began digging through her files for a map.

"I wonder which city should be the target for a counter strike…"