"You shouldn't have done what you did earlier," Lucius complained as soon as he sat down on the couch. "Do you have any idea who that person was?"
"No, and I don't care," Harrus replied. "I only came here for the information regarding the Monster that attacked the Wolfpine Barony, as well as the funds that are needed for our expedition."
"… People like you are the worst," Lucius snorted.
However, the merchant still tossed a storage ring towards the red-headed Dwarf that contained everything that he was looking for.
Harrus checked the contents of the storage ring before nodding his head in satisfaction.
"I got what I came here for," Harrus stated. "But, I'll still be staying here in Whitebridge City for two days. I hope you don't mind."
"As long as you don't interfere with me, you can stay here for as long as you like," Lucius replied. "Don't barge into my office again, especially when I am meeting with important people.
"Remember this, I am an Honorary Elder of our Guild, so you had better behave yourself in front of me, or I'll tell our Guildmaster about this incident. I'm sure that he would like to speak with you once he knows who I was talking to earlier."
Harrus scoffed. "You still haven't moved on from this incident? How about you focus more on the one responsible for knocking out your guards? All of them may be Low-Rankers, but they are still Rankers. Did you perhaps offend some people? Are you being targeted?"
The red-headed Dwarf gave the merchant a mischievous smile, making the latter feel more annoyed about what happened earlier.
Not only did his meeting with Nevreal get interrupted, some of his elite guards were also taken out without his notice.
Ferron stated that this attack happened simultaneously, preventing any of the guards from sounding the alarm.
Clearly, there was someone, or some people, who had the ability to cause trouble for him inside Whitebridge City.
This greatly alarmed the Merchant because he had indeed made enemies in the past. If one of those people were targeting him then Harrus' appearance was perhaps a blessing in disguise.
'There is still a possibility that they are Nevreal's people,' Lucius thought.
Since Nevreal was one of the King's men, it was quite possible that they had discovered that Lucius was one of the undercover agents of Twilight Rain in Whitebridge City, which was one of the Major Cities of the Kingdom of Gweliven.
However, he had no way of confirming this. The only thing he could do was keep a low profile and let Ferron and the remainder of his guards protect him, while the culprits for knocking his men unconscious were still at large.
"Tell you what," Harrus said. "I'll help you find those who are responsible for what happened today. However, I want proper compensation for my troubles."
The red-headed Dwarf was in need of more resources so he could keep breaking through the Ranks and become a true High-Ranker, which would make his position immovable within Twilight Rain.
Even though he had failed in the past, as long as he was one of the strongest members of the Dark Guild, his critics would not openly taunt him face to face, in fear that he would retaliate.
"You will?" Lucius asked.
"Why not?" Harrus shrugged. "At the end of the day, you're still an Honorary Elder of the Guild. Helping you is the same as helping the guild."
"You're right." Lucius nodded. "Regardless of our differences, we are still on the same side. Very well, I accept this proposal. Find the one responsible for attacking my guards, and you will be compensated."
"Now we're talking." Harrus grinned. "But, before I do anything. Let's talk about the compensation first."
While Harrus and Lucius were negotiating the compensation for the High-Ranker's services, Lux was pondering what his next move would be.
Truth be told, he wasn't afraid of Harrus or Ferron. Far from it, he was confident that he would be able to deal with them if he truly wished for it.
However, there was one problem.
They were inside Whitebridge City.
If a battle suddenly took place inside the city, innocent bystanders might get hurt. Although it was understandable that property damages were inevitable, the loss of lives was something that Lux wanted to avoid no matter what.
Also, Robin, Nevreal, and the Dwarven King, would be disappointed in him if he used the city as the battlefield between him and Twilight Rain.
"Large scale battles are a No, so how about assassination attempts?" Lux glanced at the middle-aged Dwarf who was smoking a pipe, while looking outside of the window. "Will the City Guards protect Lucius if he asks to be protected by them?"
"The possibility exists," Nevreal answered after blowing a white smoke from his lips. "He is one of the most influential people here in Whitebridge City. Since the Guards are here to protect the people, they might agree to his request. So, what are they talking about right now? Also, did you put a tracker on me too?"
Nevreal didn't know how Draven did it, but the Shadow Lord managed to put a tracker on Lucius' shadow when the two of them were talking in private. This made the middle-aged Dwarf wonder if Lux had also ordered his subordinate to put a tracker on him, so that he could monitor his every move.
"I didn't ask Draven to put a tracker on you, Sir Nevreal," Lux answered. "You are an ally, and I know you value your privacy."
"That's good to know. I was feeling restless earlier because I thought you also planned to monitor me."
"Don't worry. I have no interest in the daily routines of middle-aged Dwarves."
Nevreal didn't know if he should be happy or feel insulted by Lux's slight jab at his age. Even so, he still waited for the Half-Elf's answer to the question he asked a moment ago.
"Right now, he is negotiating with Harrus," Lux replied. "The one that tried to kidnap Princess Anastasia wants to get some resources in exchange for hunting down the person responsible for knocking Lucius' guards unconscious."
"Oh?" Nevreal. "Then, what do you plan to do about it?"
"What else?" Lux narrowed his gaze. "Let him go on a wild goose chase, while we target the one person that truly matters."
Lux knew that sooner or later, Harrus and him would fight against each other. But, he chose not to do that now.
He had limited time to stay in the Kingdom of Gweliven, and he planned to use his time wisely.
"Tonight, we're going to strike," Lux stated as he pressed his palms together.
"Aren't you afraid that he has a life saving artifact that will allow him to escape?" Nevreal inquired.
"It doesn't matter," Lux replied. "Whether he escapes tonight or not, our objective will be met regardless of the result. Twilight Rain will surely focus their attention on the one that is targeting their Honorary Elder.
"I also asked two Assassins to deal with the other Merchant that Sam spoke of. Since this attack will happen on the same day, they will think that they are dealing with the King's undercover agents that even the King himself, and the spies of Twilight Rain around him, are not aware of."
Nevreal emptied his pipe before glancing outside the window of his inn.
It had been more than a year since he first met Lux in Leaf Village, and in that span of time, the Half-Elf was no longer the same person who had desperately tried to survive inside a Kobold's Nest, while trying to save his friends.
Nevreal would be lying if he said that he wasn't looking forward to what the Half-Elf would achieve a year from now.
Especially after the red-headed teenager received the World's Blessings, and stepped onto the path of becoming a True Ranker.
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(A/N: I will be posting the different rankings of things in this chapter, and the s to refresh your memories. Some of you don't read the author's notes where I post the rankings of Skills, Equipments, Guilds, and Power Rankings of mortals and monsters. So, here are the rankings to give you guys a better idea of what the power scaling is.)
Let's start with Skills first.
Normal Skills -> [EX] Skills -> [SSR] Skills -> [Epic] Skills, and [Divine] Skills.
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For Equipment, we have the following Rankings.
Rare, Unique, Mythical, Legendary, Demigod, Divine
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In order to not increase the word count, I will be posting the rest in the .
