Chương 72: Chapter 71 - Interlude 6

The city was starting to feel small. The people just kept coming while the areas where people could hunt and farm without interference just kept getting smaller and smaller. And with Dave's guild, he needed those areas to make sure his guild was strong enough to contend with his competitors. Granted, they could have moved to a different city, but he invested too much money and time in setting up a base in Ironwood.

Plus, with the quests he had done and had his minions done, he was well on his way to playing a great role in the seedy underbelly of the city. Exactly the place he felt the most at home. But with the increased player base, he needed to be aware of an increasingly larger number of guilds and player groups. And not all of them could be scared away with a small display of strength.

The number of battles they got into with rival groups had been increasing, so he was looking for some kind of solution, but he couldn't get any quests or tasks from NPCs that would rapidly increase his power. At least not without joining one of the myriad of cults prowling around the city looking for hopeless fools to dupe. Then he heard about the Heavenly Forest. Exactly the thing he needed to feel a little better. And those people had the gall to refuse his entry. Just because he asked what the rent was!

For a long moment, as he looked at the unassuming building and seethed in anger, he felt like taking a torch to it, but then an approaching patrol of guards shook him out of it and he stalked away with determination in his steps. He would show them! And now he sat in an ordinary tavern, where their guild rented the topmost floor, looking out of the single window as the setting sun painted the city of Ironwood in a rather nice shade of orange and violet.

"What did you find?" His aide, as always, stood behind him, the shadows gathering around him, lending him a mysterious air.

'He always understood how to be dramatic…' he mused after glancing back before returning his attention to the city before him.

"Heavenly Forest is owned and operated by a company called AFK. They also own the Commercial Centers that were set up, as well as the warehouse service that opened up."

"How the hell did they get money for that? Or permission?"

"I don't know about the money. The city doesn't keep records of that. Or if they did, I haven't found a way to access them." Came the calm and somewhat frustrating reply from his aide.

"But the permission is easy. They are backed by the Silvercrest family."

"What?" he couldn't help but exclaim. The Silvercrest family was one of the most affluent families in the city. Getting their backing meant that the owner of the company did something very major…

"Yes. It surprised me too, but my contact double-checked it and it is legit." He couldn't help but bite his thumb hearing that.

"So, we can't attack them politically…"

"It seems so…"

"What about financially?"

"What do you mean, sir?" came the slightly confused reply. Meanwhile, Dave was turning over the idea that invaded his head. With the increasing number of people showing up, he needed a different way to arm and finance his guild to keep up the fight against the others. Why not take a leaf out of Heavenly Forest's book and start building up a business empire?

"Start sending out feelers for locations we can acquire … We won't be able to compete with Heavenly Forest in quality or resources, especially after the city has clamped down on giving out permissions to buy property." His aide was already dutifully making notes, so he nodded in satisfaction and continued.

"However, we can go in the opposite direction…"

"Should I look for investors?" came the question from the man standing behind him. Dave just waved his hand. As a criminal, he was well aware that he was not the biggest fish in the pond, so he always made sure to pay his respects to those who were above him. It was natural that when he transitioned to games; he continued this practice. After all, he never knew when those connections could become useful.

"Just contact the usual people to see if they want to get in on the ground floor. If not, then we have enough liquidity to start the process. Right?" he asked, glancing at the other man. His aide took a moment to think, then nodded.

"Yes, sir. But it would strain the coffers quite a bit if you want to do it fast."

"Hmm…" Dave thought about it for a moment, but in the end, he wasn't a hesitating kind of person and once he decided something, he was all in.

"Put every available person on it. I want it up and running as fast as possible. It's only a matter of time before somebody else comes up with the idea… imagine if the twins figured this out…" he shuddered at the thought of those two idiots trying to do something like this. They only survived their world because of their father protecting them…

"It would be a bloodbath…"

"Yes, sir. I'll get on it!" His aide sketched a small bow and left the room with rapid steps, leaving Dave alone with his thoughts.

'Who thought playing a game could be this complicated…' Their guild was going well. With the inclusion of the petite AzureTiger, their efficiency rose to untold heights. This mainly meant that missives from officials didn't get lost in the office, so they were actually on time for meetings with the mayor and other officials. Which in turn meant that those same people were less grumpy and upset with them, resulting in a better payout for their quests and tasks.

Stephen, thrust into the position of guild leader on the account that he was the first one to acquire his pet, was very happy that he didn't have to deal with the whining of city officials about all that. The guild altogether was coming along nicely, they even had to divide the guild into two parts. An inner core housing those that were trusted and had been with the guild for a long time and an outer core for newly joined players.

Thanks to their success and the company's announcement about the pet/minion/summon photography competitions they were practically besieged by people wanting to acquire pets. Thus the separation. They needed to weed out those who just wanted a pet and those who actually wanted to join the guild. Plus, several other guilds popped up in this and neighboring cities that all proclaimed to be pet-focused guilds. There were even several that touted having access to extremely rare pets. With the right price, of course.

Stephen didn't care much. He wasn't playing the game for money, though he wouldn't lie that the idea of living off a game after finishing school didn't appeal to him. However, he kept that thought to himself as his parents only allowed him to play the game if his grades were high enough, and if they knew of his ambitions, then Stephen was pretty sure they would add more and more restrictions on his game time. However, all this was secondary to his current problem.

Seated on Slathy, who was lazily munching on a demonic cabbage (the alchemist experiment went wrong, but the big rabbits loved them) he faced the rest of the inner circle, with the recently added AzureTiger sitting on his left, petting her new pet, a flying octopus of all things.

The thing was silvery blue and about the size of a person's head and could be usually found hovering around AzureTiger, handing her things she was looking for or simply resting on her head, using its tentacles to brush her intensely blue hair.

"What should we do? The quest payout is pretty big, and Azu told me that if we get it we are pretty set for the next few months," he stated while gesturing toward their administrator, who simply nodded with a tight smile.

"But I have no idea what to do, so now I open the floor for suggestions…" His friends looked at each other (the annoying snake just kept staring at him, as always) but nobody spoke up. Even as he racked his brain for ideas, he couldn't come up with any solution to the current issue. Where would they get hundreds of new mounts for the city guards? Finally, it was Kim who spoke up albeit a little reluctantly.

"What about the deer?"

"What?"

"I recently heard one of the hunters complaining that they were turning into an invasive species," she continued, her explanation picking up speed and confidence.

"We could go out, hunt them down, and turn the best ones into mounts." Stephen scratched his chin at his girlfriend's suggestion.

'Deer as mounts… Isn't the craziest thing I've heard…' Finally, he turned to Kim.

"Do you think the mayor would go for it?"

"Getting them mounts and at the same time getting rid of an invasive species? That scrooge would sell you his daughters for less…" she stated with a deadpan expression. Stephen didn't even doubt it. The mayor was that much of a penny pincher… He looked at the other people, but nobody could offer any other ideas, so he nodded and turned to AzureTiger.

"Azu, any objections?"

"Feeding them will be the hardest. We'll need to increase our farming areas. So, we'll need more druids," came the quiet response from the fastidious administrator. Stephen nodded and exclaimed.

"Alright then, it's decided! Operation 'Oh deer' is a go!" Only groans were his answer. The contract came rather fast. Still, she made sure to read everything in great detail, as well as consult with the usual lawyer who helped her with the streaming and sponsor contracts, but all in all, it was a pretty solid contract.

Though it guaranteed pretty great freedom for her streaming, it also contained some rather severe stipulations about information that she acquired, but she mostly chalked that up to securing important information for their business. She had been reading about Heavenly Forest, as its existence had spread like wildfire among the netizens, and Liz was pretty sure that those stipulations were put into the contract for that specific reason.

Naturally, when she accepted that she would be joining them, her first instinct was to ask for permission to stream from there, but after reading the contract, she didn't. Seeing how seriously they took their guests' privacy; she would wait until she accrued enough goodwill with the company before asking. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

So, after the money came through, Liz announced on social media that she was taking a break from streaming as she was working on a big project that needed all her attention. Then, she packed up everything from her rented workshop, secured everything in crates, and went around the town to say goodbye to the people (mostly NPCs) who helped her out. For a few of them, she even told them which city she was moving to, as she felt that the connection she made with them would prove useful in the future.

Liz didn't mind that the boss of the company wanted her to travel incognito, as she had felt that traveling in a caravan through forests and mountains was exactly what one should do when in a fantasy land. Plus, it gave her time to properly move in the real world. Thankfully, she didn't have a big apartment so the moving company she had hired managed to pack up her entire life in a few hours, and on the same day she went to bed in a different city in a different apartment, but much more content.

She was away from her mother's immediate reach and had a rather lucrative contract to look forward to. Then came the monsters. Almost as a clockwork, after every few dozen miles, the caravan was besieged by monsters. Thankfully, they were mostly lone predators chased out of the forest, too hungry to make a proper decision, and they were quickly taken care of by the players who were hired as caravan guards. But then, the number of monsters increased.

At first, the guards managed to handle them with ease, but as the numbers grew, so did the decrease in their efficiency. And at the last few ones, even she had to take her staff and join the fight. And then suddenly a goblin horde! The tide of green with a few darker green orcs and a few trolls simply rolled over the guards.

Thankfully, before dying a player popped off some kind of large area damage wind spell that shredded most of the surrounding goblins, but this still left a sizable army of ravening goblins and orcs baying for their blood. Liz immediately climbed up to the roof of their wagon, took out her staff, and activated the drones she had on her. While taking potshots at any goblin that she knew would be taken out by her Crystal Spear spell, she cursed herself for packing up her most potent weapons.

Unfortunately, currently, none of her creations worked for too long. Or at least those that packed some oomph usually required maintenance after a few shots or a few hours of usage, and that maintenance wasn't something that could be done on a moving wagon. She was about to contemplate running away as she knew that her target, Ironwood, wasn't that far away when the sound of battle was overshadowed by a roar and suddenly a storm of fire was raining down on the merciless goblins.

Liz almost sagged in relief before somebody appeared next to her, causing her blood pressure to jump through the roof. She instantly raised her staff and began to shoot off her favorite spell when she noticed the smile on the man's face.

"Fancy meeting you here!" She blinked once, twice, and three times. In the end, she could only answer with one thing.

"What?" Lucrecia was in heaven. She had her own familiar, and more, it looked exactly like Lucky looked before he transformed into his magnificent form. Her new pet, named Fortuna, after Lucky, of course, was simply the best. And it knew how to merge with her shadow! So cute! This made Lucrecia very aware that her hero, her knight in shadowy armor, was well aware of her intentions, and this was his way of encouraging and helping her.

After all, what better way to deliver clandestine messages than by a shadow familiar that can jump in and out of shadows? She couldn't even put into words the myriad of emotions she was feeling. On one hand, she was elated that her hero was paying attention to her and appreciating her efforts, on the other hand, she was rather ashamed that she barely accomplished anything.

Her spy organization was coming along rather well, but the incoming information was not the best, certainly nothing she could make use of for her beloved. Sitting on her bed, stroking the sinfully silky fur of Fortuna, as she lay in her arms, she came to the conclusion that she needed help. And the best person for that? Lucrecia thought for a long while, going over the people she knew, their abilities, skills, and allegiances, but in the end, only one remained on her list.

That person was the only one who was loyal to her, the only one she could trust implicitly, and who had the appropriate skills. At least she thought so… Thus, with renewed vigor, she deposited Fortuna in her own bed, made from the best materials, grabbed one of her less attention-grabbing dresses, and slunk out of her room. She plodded along the halls of their manor, dodging servants until she arrived before a door. She took a deep breath, then knocked and gently called out.

"Mother, are you in?" Once again, they were seated in the same tavern, covered by the same fog, and dressed in the same all-concealing clothing, nursing a few fruity cocktails. After all, if nobody knew who they were, then they couldn't call them out for drinking such 'girly' drinks.

"Did you get the info?"

"Yes, boss."

"And?"

"Just as suspected. We can't afford it." He hung his head and let out a sigh.

"Alright, I expected it, but still hurts."

"I know boss, I saw the lobby, and it looks fancy."

"Really?"

"Yeah! And not the 'I have too much money' fancy, but real fancy, if you know what I mean…" He shook his head.

"Ugh, so lame…"

"But, boss, why would you even want to get into Heavenly Forest? The guild has all the services that they offer…"

"I don't care about those! I wanted to network!"

"Ohh, so spying?" He took a sip of his drink, appreciating the fruity taste, then nodded somewhat reluctantly.

"Crudely put, but yes. Imagine all those high rollers in one place. It must be an information broker's paradise!"

"Do you think that's why they built it?"

"Why else? Nobody wants to bow and scrape for nothing. I assure you, the company is going to wring everything out of those fops before throwing them aside."

"Should we tell people? It could be used to damage their business?" He just waved his hand negligently.

"Those who are smart know this and those who aren't are simply too stupid to live. Let them have fun. This way at least we'll also know who are the acceptable targets…"

"Makes sense…" They lapsed into a companionable silence as they sipped their drinks and observed the waitresses' back for any hidden and concealed weapons. Very thoroughly observing them.

"Anyway, I was thinking… AFK had a good idea."

"How so?"

"Killing monsters is not the only way to get rich…"

"You want to start a business?"

"Yep!"

"What kind?"

"I have no idea!" came the cheerful reply.

"Then how are you going to figure it out?"

"Why do you think you are here?" came the shrewd reply, and the second man let out a long-suffering sigh.

'Why the hell did I lose that bet? I would've been a much better boss…' Finally, after swallowing several words that would have hurt his friend's feelings, he spoke up.

"Alright, let's start from the top. What is your goal with the business?

"Why, to make money, of course!" came the exuberant answer.

"Good. That gives us a starting point. How about…"

"Uhm, Lee?"

"Yeah?"

"He was flagged again…" They didn't even have to put a name to it, as they were both aware of who 'he' was. A massive headache for their Compliance Department and for the developers. The other man just let out a deep sigh.

"What did he do again?"

"He almost correctly guessed about the upcoming event," came the disbelieving answer. The other man looked up from his screen with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"How the hell did he do it? It isn't even anywhere near him!" The first man nodded, then turned back to his own screen.

"Let me see… Oh, that's something…"

"What? Out with it, man!"

"It seems his Mana Sense level is high enough that he managed to sense one of the first pulses of mana originating from the ritual that starts the event. Then, from that, he extrapolated based on cliché and tropes."

"What the…"

"According to the system, he went with a Monster Horde event, but that's almost the same that we have planned, so the system has been pinging the cheating department nonstop." The second man began massaging his temples.

"What did the higher-ups say? They must have looked into this guy, right?"

"Nothing yet," the man answered, swiveling in his chair a bit before a ding interrupted him. Glancing at his screen he gave the other man a small smile.

"Let me correct myself. The answer just arrived." The other man immediately sat up straighter with a serious face.

"Let's see it then…" He nodded, and with a deft click, opened the mail. Inside were a few standard greetings followed by an account ID a redacted name, and finally three lines. BACKGROUND: CLEAR ASSOCIATION: CLEAR DESIGNATION: LUCKY He stared at it for a long moment, then simply motioned his colleague to take a look. They then both read the small burb under the declarations. Notes: We looked into him, but even private investigators couldn't find anything. No falsified tax records, no unknown payments, nothing.

He is, for all intents and purposes, just very lucky and observant. He will be granted a separate flag so that the system won't ding us every time he does something, but as of now, he is elevated to Code Azure with everything that entails. P. S.: The boss wants new recordings of the pet. I think they want to make him into merchandise…

They looked at each other with a bewildered look, then with a despondent sigh, disappointed that they couldn't bring down heaven's wrath on a cheater, they made the appropriate operation that was required after such a message and then returned to their work, albeit a little sullenly. Lucy expected a lot of things when she signed that contract.

Some little part of her even expected Sam to reveal some kind of horrific hidden clause in the contract that would make her his slave or something, but nothing like that came up. They signed the contract and life went on. Granted, her income increased by a rather large margin, but thanks to her studies, she knew she needed to invest, and on Sam's advice, she invested in Future Unknown and several other industries that he felt would do the best in the future.

Thankfully, her own research supported his own, so she followed along. In the game, she handled the Commercial Markets with their accommodation services, the warehouse as well as the identification service, with the Heavenly Forest requiring the bulk of her attention. Both Sam and she wanted to make sure that nothing went wrong after opening, so she didn't mind spending a little more time dealing with issues that cropped up.

It helped that her information gathering, handling, and other related skills shot up after she began working on securing the place. Surprisingly, her encryption spell proved rather useful in securing the documents relating to the guests who stayed in Heavenly Forest. She even got an achievement and title for that! [Secret Keeper: Anything that you encrypt is much safer. It takes double the effort to decrypt something that you personally encrypted.] She even took up enchanting and runework so that in the future she could personally make sure that her office was safe. The new people that Sam brought in were just as eccentric as he was. And he wanted her to arrange contracts for them, of all things! Katie was a sweetheart when she wasn't ranting about bathing in the blood of her enemies or maniacally laughing.

Thankfully, after getting her familiar, the little shadow monster got most of her attention when she was in the building and not out doing who knows what. The other guy, Dan, was just simply obsessive about fire. Though, after seeing him practice (she definitely didn't watch because he did it shirtless) she had to admit that he had talent, though based on the mutterings she had overheard with her ravens, he still lacked the necessary control according to Sam…

Altogether, she felt they were good and talented people, so it made sense that Sam wanted to hire them early before someone else realized the same thing, but their eccentric behavior could prove a little aggravating.

'Well, that was something… A mana pulse, really?' She mused as Sam left her office in a great hurry. Her friend was always weird, but this somehow took the cake. A mana pulse that only he could feel? It sounded stupid, but as of now, every one of his predictions or guesses came true one way or another. So, despite her misgivings, she began to issue orders.

The lower levels of the headquarters were outfitted for storage of a few delicate items that she didn't want to store in a regular warehouse, so she didn't even need to arrange for anything special. She simply put together a shopping list and her lovely secretary forwarded those to the appropriate people. Then her messages dinged. Checking it, it was apparently from Sam, containing a single line.

'Send the message to the Silvercrest family: It happened. Details soon.'

'What the hell does that mean?' she wondered, once again curious how much actual pull Sam had with the family. However, her hands moved as soon as she finished reading the message. Sam wouldn't jeopardize a connection like that for something silly, so she didn't feel that any trouble would arise from delivering the message. Using one of her adorable ravens, she retrieved the high-quality stationery and began composing a letter…

'Who knew those calligraphy lessons would come in handy…'

"What happened?"

"We underestimated him."

"Yes, you did." There was a silence, and the man sitting behind the desk, covered head to toe with a black robe, continued.

"Did the client pay for repeat tries?" The first man shook his head and stayed silent.

"Good, then leave it be. Report back that we tried, but the operation was unsuccessful. If they want it done again, then they will have to pay the elite rates."

"Yes, sir." There was another moment of silence, then both of them leaned back in their chairs and sighed.

"Okay, that's over!" spoke the first man, removing his hood and revealing a rather handsome face. Short-cropped black hair and a meticulously cared-for beard could be seen on his face, while the person sitting opposite of him had disheveled hair, and could be seen that he rarely cared for his appearance.

"What the hell happened, Tim?" Tim shook his head in disgust.

"He toyed with us. We didn't stand a chance. I was the only one who could even put up a fight, but I think he just toyed around with me."

"That's not good."

"Yes," came the agreement from Tim.

"We have been on the top of the food chain for a while now, but he picked your team apart like it was nothing. That means the top guilds are all probably around that strength."

"Highly probable…" came the despondent answer from Tim.

"We need to up our training if we want to compete with the others," he stated as he rapped his knuckle on the desk in front of him.

"This is a different game, so we will need to invest much more effort to be the best assassination guild. I won't be outdone by the White Jackals, or god forbid, the Red Hand!" Tim just nodded, knowing how much his boss hated the Red Hand.

"Thankfully, those assholes are in a different country far away from us, but it won't always be that way…"

"How about that quest?" Tim asked, almost in a whisper.

"I was on the fence with it, but in the end I don't think we have a choice," came the answer from Tim's boss. He began stroking his beard, then nodded.

"Gather the people. We are going to learn about shadows …"