Apology

I leave the Dian Cecht mansion. Once I'm out of sight, I activate 'Stealth' and use my heightened senses to return to the mansion without being noticed.

The deal between Argus and Dian Cecht is supposed to be a secret. And I got to know that secret.

The right thing to do should be to keep my knowledge to myself. Then, retaliate by striking where Dian Cecht isn't looking.

But the problem here is that Dian Cecht Familia is nothing like Argus Familia. Argus Familia was a group of ruffians that nobody would miss.

But Dian Cecht Familia is vital to the city of Orario. Because most of the potions and healing items in Orario are produced by them, the city can't function without them.

I can't just annihilate them as I did with Argus Familia; This city won't let me.

The only options left for me are either to take on the whole city as my enemy or to not retaliate at all.

Actually, I'm fine with the second option. It will leave a bad taste in my mouth, but I think I can live with it.

But even if I hadn't made a move on them, Dian Cecht himself was still hostile to me and he would've been the one making a move.

This time he would pay a stronger Familia to do the job. And this Familia would know a lot about my fighting capabilities. Everyone in the city watched my fight in the War Game after all.

I haven't shown everything I got in that fight and I gained a cheating Title "Executioner" that boosts my abilities when fighting against adventurers.

But still, I don't want to fight another Familia so soon. I just want to lay low for a while and maybe clear the "Shadow Catacombs".

Anyway, doing nothing isn't an option. Fighting the whole city isn't an option either. So, I came up with a plan to deal with Dian Cecht.

Well, it's not exactly a plan but it's enough to keep Dian Cecht busy for a while.

So I went in there and threw out some terms in Dian Cecht's face while acting like a jackass.

I wanted Dian Cecht that to think that I'm an extremely arrogant person who acts without thinking. Either that, or he would think that I'm just an idiot.

I did nothing but alert him to the fact that I know about his deal with Argus. I didn't gain anything from this little show.

Well, I learned Dia Fratel. An AOE magic spell that can cure-all with a lasting effect. Casting the spell as it is would take a tremendous amount of mana. But I'm not that type of copycat. I understood the effect of the magic. Now, I know how to cast AOE healing magic, healing magic that can cure-all, and magic with lasting effect. I can cast them combined and I can cast each one separately.

Anyway, Dian Cecht doesn't know that. He thinks that I gained nothing at all.

Now that I left after just some threats, there is no guarantee that he would give me anything.

If I really wanted money, I should've taken whatever I could from him right there and then.

But I just walked away and gave him the chance to think and prepare for my next visit.

Right now, I think Dian Cecht has three options.

A- Quietly comply with my demands for now and attack me later after I lower my guard.

This would be ideal for me. I would only make him rebuild the pharmacy; I won't take anything else from him. And by the time he strikes, I would be the strongest in all of Orario.

B- Refuse to comply and hire top-ranked adventurers as guards for now and attack me later after I lower my guard.

This one is also good for me. Dian Cecht's fortune would bleed paying his guards. And I would get enough time to get stronger before Dian Cecht decides to strike.

C- He wouldn't wait at all and he would send assassins from a high-rank Familia after me right away.

I'm assuming that this one is the least likely because I think that it would be hard for Dian Cecht to find someone to accept his contract.

A lot of strong Familias are out trying to recruit me right now. It would be nearly impossible for a Familia to come after me without their notice. Things would become complicated after that.

(That's unless a very powerful Familia, like Freya's, accepts the contract. If that happens, then I'm in deep shit.)

….

Now, I'm inside the mansion with the effect of 'Chameleon' activated.

"… THIS LITTLE MAGGOT! WHO DOES HE THINK I AM?"

"Please calm down, Lord Dian."

It's kind of amusing watching him scream as he insults me like this. I wonder what his expression would be if I just deactivated my 'Stealth' right now.

I resist the thought and wait for him to calm down and start giving orders.

"Contact all the Familias that we deal with, tell them we need guards. And make a Shift Schedule for guarding the house and the pharmacy.

I want four guards to be active at all times, at least two of them should be First-class. "

Good! He went with hiring protection. I will still wait for a while to see whether he will contact anyone else.

If he doesn't contact any assassins, I will just leave him alone for now.

---

He doesn't contact anyone for a few hours. It seems that Dian Cecht is afraid and all he thinks about right now, is acquiring protection.

I leave just before the first shift of guards arrive. Let's take no chances here. Who knows! Maybe one of them has the ability to sense my presence.

I head towards the Guild.

---

Once I enter the Guild, I feel dozens of eyes watching me. Some with awe and respect, some with envy and jealousy, some with curiosity, and some seemed like they were waiting for me.

I ignore all of them and head for Eina's desk.

'Oh, she's not free!'

Some adventurer is being advised by her. So, I go back to the lounge and wait for my turn.

It seems that my act of sitting down invited some of the watching eyes to approach.

Two Level-3 adventurers approach me: "Hello! I'm Mars, The Startling Flash and this is Peter, The Morningstar."

"Hey."

"We are forming a new raiding party. Right now, we gathered fifteen members all of which are Second or Third-class…"

"I'm sorry, but I like to raid alone; I don't join parties."

"Come on, you can be our leader if you want."

"Alright, then my orders would be: Go raid without me."

"So, you will be like this?"

"Let's go Mars. His attitude says that he already has a party lined up."

'That went well!'

They didn't even tell me the name of their Familia. Judging by the way they flashed out their aliases, it seems like they are famous adventurers.

They are weak though…

Huh!

Interesting…

Out of all the adventurers watching me, three adventurers are particularly strong. They don't seem to be together since I can see them glaring at each other.

They also stopped any more adventurers from approaching me using only their glares.

I don't know their faces from the Anime or the Manga. They are either secondary characters that didn't get much time or maybe they are characters that haven't been introduced at all (Like Argus Familia).

When they see me looking at them, they just nod at me. I don't think any of them will approach me while the others are watching.

Anyway, I feel thankful to them because they spared me some pointless and uncomfortable conversations.

Also, I feel a little wary of them, not because of their strength. But because of their attitude and of how the other adventurers cower in front of their glares.

It looks like they are from very powerful Familias.

It means that the competition over me is even more intense than I thought.

….

A few minutes later, the adventurer that was sitting in front of Eina leaves. I take his place.

"Congratulation! I didn't know that you are that strong." Says Eina.

"Afternoon, Ms. Eina". I say.

"Also, your level-up came at a suspiciously convenient time – Still, even if you just became Level-3, it doesn't give you the ability to beat an entire Familia of veterans – You should be at least Level-5 to achieve such a feat – But your officially announced Level is 3 – So, you must've been lying about your true level – But an emergency Denatus meeting was held right after the War Game and your Familia wasn't penalized – So, you didn't cheat after all – But then, how did you win like that?" She says in a monotonous salesperson's tone.

What the "…?!"

"These are the talks circulating about you in the Guild and between the adventurers. This will surely make some powerful people react. Being famous is a double-edged sword. You should be careful about every rumor circulating about you.

Also, some rookies and wannabe-adventurers have been asking about your Familia's residence. Once they find out that it was destroyed and that you're in debt they leave. So if you want to increase the headcount in your Familia, you'll have to quickly find a residence." She continues.

"Umm… okay?"

"So how can I help you today, Mr. Rick?" She asks.

"...Ms. Eina, Can you do me a favor?" I ask.

"What kind of favor? I'm against giving my advisees any preferential treatment." She says.

"No, it's nothing like that. I want to spread a rumor… No, a true piece of news. It will somehow divert the news circulating about me. And it may also help me in some other trouble that I'm in." I say.

"I'm not good at this sort of thing but I know someone who loves to gossip. I think I can tell her whatever info you want to spread and she would take care of the rest. But that depends on the news you're talking about. If I don't like it then I won't help you." She says.

"I will tell you the reason that made Argus Familia attack me and my Familia."

"You told me before that they were inquiring about you and you don't know the reason."

"Before the War Game, I captured a member of Argus Familia and interrogated him. He told me that they were contracted to destroy Miach Familia by another Familia."

"Speak of the devil… Hey Misha, come listen to this!" She calls for a Guild employee girl with pink hair and pink eyes who is passing by us.

I raise my voice and wave my hand as if I'm telling a public story. I want everyone around to hear this.

"I'm telling you, it's all because of Dian Cecht. He contracted Argus Familia to destroy my Familia. And who knows! He may be contracting another Familia right now to finish the job".

'It worked!' everyone in the city is curious about me after all. If I'm telling a story, it's a given that they will stop and hear what I have to say.

"And why would Lord Dian Cecht do that?" Asks Eina in a skeptical tone.

"I know that your two Familias have a history of rivalry. But it's just a history, no more". Says Misha interestedly.

"Yah, Dian Cecht Familia's in the cream of the Orario's crop. And excuse me for sayin' Miach Familia's in the bottom of its barrel". Says some burly adventurer.

"It's all because of this!" I say as I take a potion out of my 'pocket'.

"It's our Familia's newest product, a dual potion. A potion that will make adventurers stop buying health potions and mind potions. Because it gives both of their effects in one vial".

(One vial of dual potion is worth the price of ten vials of mind potions. So, nothing of this would happen. Naturally, I won't tell them.)

I feel like a dirty door-to-door salesman who lies to sell his faulty products.

"Is it true?" Someone asks.

"It is. Do you want to test it? Can anyone here tell the difference between potions?" I asked.

"I can." Says a short cute adventurer. He's one of the three strong adventurers from earlier.

Again! Once he speaks, everyone shrinks in their places and watches silently as he takes the vial from me. 'Who the hell is that?'

He takes a little sip and ponders for a few seconds and says, "It's true".

"See? I told you! Anyway, we refused to give the recipe to Dian Cecht. So he decided to destroy us." I say.

"Still, it's hard to swallow. Dian Cecht Familia also provides healing services and produces healing items other than potions." Says Eina.

"Maybe it's the rivalry thing between Dian Cecht and Lord Miach, I don't know. Ah! Do you remember the terms of the War Game in the case if Argus Familia had won?" I ask.

"Gasp!" Misha.

"Please, say them out loud. Some people here don't know them." I request.

"Miach Familia would hand over all their future productions for free to Ar…!" Misha explains before I interrupt her.

"See? It was all about potions… Oh, sorry! It seems that I got lost in my story. I actually came here to have a conversation with my advisor."

With this, my objective was completed. And everyone went back to their businesses.

Rumors of this story will be spread around the city in no time.

It will make things harder for Dian Cecht to act since all the blame will be immediately directed towards him.

The Guild may be generally supportive to Dian Cecht because of his Familia's productions.

But if he tries to destroy his competition like this, he would be doing the exact opposite of the Guild's goals.

Also, I indirectly advertised Nahza's potions. Once we rebuild the Pharmacy, the business will be booming.

"You're manipulative and shifty. Now, I officially don't like you." Says Eina.

"I'm usually not like this, but lately I've been forced to be even worse than manipulative and shifty… Say, who was that adventurer that tested my potion?" I ask.

"Huh! You really don't know him? He is Freya Familia's Van." She answers.

"Crap! That's too soon, then what about the other two? Who are those two adventurers glaring at him from the corners?" I ask.

"Gora from Ganesha Familia and Cruz from Loki Familia." She says.

'Hey, hey! Are you kidding me? Those are the three strongest Familias in Orario!'

I brush off my worries and ask her about the monsters on the lower Middle and upper Deep Floors of the Dungeon.

I want to know all about monsters that can be used as mounts.

----

After an extensive lecture, I got to know that Wyverns and Green Dragons are the most suitable rides.

But both of them are big. It would be hard to move them through the narrow passages of the first few floors of the dungeon.

"Urgh, this is stupid!"

Having the ability to recruit an army without the ability to move them around is very stupid.

Anyway, let's worry about this later.

It's almost dusk, I need to go meet the rest of my Familia.

Before leaving the Hephaestus Tower, we agreed to meet in Amor Square at dusk.

I arrive and greet the only one waiting, Nahza.

She tells me that she rented some rooms in a nearby hotel. They would be our base of operations for a while.

Nahza has been depressed since I lashed out at her the day before the War Game.

"Nahza, I'm really sorry! I know that I hurt your feelings the other day when I snapped at you. And I truly regret every word of what I said.

You are, literally, my only friend in this world. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you are the only person I know that I can completely trust.

I really hate seeing you like this. And I don't know how to fix it with anything other than offering my sincerest apologies.

If there's anything that I can do to make this up to you, please just ask. But don't be like this."

"No, stop! You said nothing wrong. I would've been nothing but a deadweight if I had joined the battle."

"No! I was rude and you are by no means a deadweight. Strength isn't everything there is to a person. You are the best potion maker in Orario."

"But I rarely sold any potions!"

"That's just because people don't know that you're the best. I already took the first step in letting them know." Then I told her about what I just did in the Guild. And finished up with,

"Cheer up, fulfill your role as the Captain of this Familia, think of ways to produce more potions and better potions in less time, bring us back to our feet, and be a leading example for our two new members".

….

The other members of the Familia arrive and greet us. And once everyone got ready to head to the hotel, I say: "Can you girls go ahead of us? I want to talk to Miach about something."

He has been acting weird around me lately and I'm not sure if I should trust him anymore.

I've been thinking about what Takemikazuchi said yesterday. It seems that Miach is acting like this for a reason.

I want to get a clear picture of this reason.

Judging by it, I will decide whether to leave Miach Familia or not.