For a moment, only silence remained between us as neither of us spoke a word.

Her request was so vague that I was trying to understand it.

"Join you? Like your guild? If that’s the case, then I can’t help you. I appreciate your help and all, but I can’t join."

Amanda didn’t reply and only continued to smile. I got the feeling that ever since this conversation started, she had been trying to size me up.

"You know, my sister came to me secretly a few times to ask for help. It surprised me because the sister I know is so prideful that she would rather swallow her own tongue than ask me for help. That’s how I knew she didn’t ask for money for her own sake."

"Amelia asked you for money?"

"You don’t really think that a part-time job at a restaurant is enough to take care of anyone, do you?"

Back when I first entered Vesperia, I relied on Amelia for quite a lot. She paid for the food, bills, and even the vitalis fluid that I needed to stay in Verseia for one week.

She never told me that she went to her sister for help.

"I’ll pay you back." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"I’m not interested in money."

"Look, I already told you..."

"Relax. I’m not asking you to join a guild either," she quickly cut me off. "I want you to join me in a different pursuit."

The tone of her voice suddenly turned serious, and she wasn’t as teasing as before.

I couldn’t help but feel intrigued.

"I am creating an effort to help the people of this world. To put it bluntly, I’ve tired of watching the top 1% thrive while everyone else is forced to suffer. I want to change how the current society operates, but I’ll need help to do so."

She wants to help people? That was far from what I was expecting. Hundreds of people die every month, and I’ve never heard of players going out of their way to help them.

"How many players have you recuited to join in this effort of yours?"

She leaned back in her chair and heaved a heavy sigh.

"So far, none. And this is the only reason I agreed to become a professor at this stupid university."

Figured that would be the case. I can’t imagine players lining up to risk their lives to help people they barely even know, after already risking it in Vesperia.

Frankly, I’m not sure if I even want to do the same. Though the upside in doing this was gaining Amanda as an ally. She wasn’t just Amelia’s sister but also the ranked 86 player.

Off the bat, she doesn’t seem like a bad person. She knew where Amelia was all this time and she hasn’t told their father. That alone says she’s trust worthy.

I could learn a lot from her, plus helping the common folks could prove to be fruitful in the future.

"Alright, I’ll help you," I finally agreed.

Amanda’s mouth opened in genuine surprise.

"You will? That’s great!"

Before I could react, she sprang from her chair and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"From now on, I’ll give you personalized training since your combat ability is so lacking. As my first recruit, I’ll make sure you’re in tip-top fighting condition."

"Uh... thank you."

Bzz!

Just then, my phone vibrated. I quickly checked the screen to see that it was a message from Amelia.

She sent me the location where I should meet her.

’Don’t be late!’

"I’m sorry, but I have to go now. We’ll have to continue this another time," I said as I quickly picked up my bag and left the library, leaving Amanda where she sat.

The location she sent wasn’t very far from our apartment.

I left the capital, and after traveling on the sky train for a few minutes, I finally arrived back in Asmura.

The place where Amelia asked me to meet was only a 15-minute walk away from our apartment.

It was an office building, and as I arrived, I spotted her standing outside.

"So what do you think?" she asked as I approached her. "You need an office building that can act as the headquarters for your guild. You’ve been busy, so I thought I’d be proactive and help you find somewhere."

This building wasn’t as extravagant as the other fancy buildings, but this was the best you’d get in this part of the city.

Besides, I didn’t really mind.

"It looks good, so far."

Amelia smiled and nodded.

"Come, let me show you the inside."

...

Inside a dimly lit office space, a large man sat with a piece of paper in his hand.

He glanced over at the paper before his brows knitted into a tight frown.

"What the hell is this?" he snapped before tossing it aside, allowing it to flop lazily on the ground without a second thought.

"It’s a report, boss," the man standing before him in a business suit replied.

"How many times do I have to tell you that if you have something to say, then say it. Don’t give me a long, useless report."

The young man quickly bowed his head.

"Sorry, boss. It’s just that two of our members went missing."

The large man’s fist tightened.

"Missing, as in they ran away?"

"We’re not sure. So far, we’ve only managed to trace their last movement. They were sent after a new player who was trying to create their own guild."

The large man shrugged. This was something they did all the time. It was their job to discourage newbies from creating guilds and force them into signing a contract with the top guilds.

This mission of their didn’t sound like such a big deal at all.

"The problem is that this player is still in the process of creating their guild, and upon doing some more research, we realized that this player’s rank has increased significantly over the last few weeks. Our current evaluation says he might’ve been too much for the players we sent..."

The young man paused as he noticed the dangerous glow in Blood’s eyes.

Just the pressure emitted from this man caused him to freeze where he stood.

"Are you saying that this player might’ve done something to two of my guild members?"

The young man visibly shrunk, as even he was terrified of the repercussions of his answer.

Still, he took a deep breath and exhaled before answering

"Yes, I do think so. All the guild members knows what would happen if they tried to leave the guilds. They would never. It’s more likely something happened to them. Or rather, someone did something to them."

Blood didn’t say a word as he sat with his fist on his chin, a deep rage boiling inside of him.

This rage wasn’t only because of the news of what happened with his players. It started a little over a week ago when he was betrayed by his own brother.

He and his brother had an agreement that they would work together to kill the forest nymph, and that he would gain the Terra-shard from that kill.

He watched with his own eyes as his brother slew the S-ranked boss monster, yet his brother claimed that he didn’t receive anything from that kill.

It was a lie. He was sure of it.

This was the reason for his foul mood.

His own brother cheated him and lied to his face yet there wasn’t anything he could do about it. No outlet that he could take his anger out on.

Blood finally let out a deep, heavy sigh before leaning over and picking up the paper he previously tossed aside before holding it up to his face.

This paper contained the information of the player who supposedly killed two of his men.