Raking in the Rewards

Kyren clicked his tongue in annoyance as he stared at another hologram screen Leo displayed. He was back in his casual clothes as he sat in his office chair with his shoes on the desk.

The screen showed a live display of Hiroki getting dogpiled by his party members and he couldn't help but feel displeased and envious.

He soon realized that Hiroki fit the bill perfectly for a protagonist of any story. If this were truly some novel or TV show, he would without a doubt be the main character.

"I mean seriously, what's with all those girls fawning over him?! His harem is even bigger than mine at the moment!! And on top of it all, that rat bastard acts like he's a victim to their lust as if he's pure or saving himself for the right one!?!"

A string of curses flowed from his lips before he eventually calmed down.

"At least my girls are far more beautiful..."

<Master, your presence is needed briefly.>

Kyren set aside his jealousy of a system recognized protagonist and used [Teleportation] to appear back inside his armor over the plaza.

Leo filled him in and pointed out the situations that required his attention.

He scanned the region and discovered that more quarrels between factions were occurring all over, but with a stronger intensity and lethality compared to before.

'The Alvestine Empire truly isn't a cohesive country no matter how you look at it. Well, even if it was, it wouldn't survive his future conquest.'

He knew his domineering presence wouldn't stop the factions from bickering and strangling each other's necks. Especially now since the stakes were terrifyingly higher. Five-star materials were just too precious a resource for them to willingly let their enemies obtain.

Factions that were acting peacefully and respectfully before were now joining in. Big factions initially wanted to decrease the number of smaller factions participating, but they were too preoccupied with the other influential behemoths to accomplish any of that. The small factions on the other hand had less to lose and not as much face to maintain as the bigger ones, so they were more vicious and cutthroat.

The fights were getting extremely out of the hand. A civil war was starting to materialize at a faster rate compared to before. Strong mortals such as the C~grades and B~grades could potentially start some catastrophic battles.

That's not to mention the A~grades who had enough power to destroy the city on their own. Luckily, those kinds of existences were leaders of factions most of the time, therefore leaving them less opportunity to start trouble themselves.

Many players gave up on the futile act of searching for information and take this opportunity. Taming the strengthening chaos to increase participation became a whole lot more appealing now.

'I've been waiting for this moment to come. Time to increase my participation in this event...'

He pulled his communication bracelet out of his [Dimensional Storage] and contacted Krista.

:::*Sigh* Yes m-master?:::

"Oh? Why so submissive all of a sudden~?"

:::Only because you told me to!:::

"Nice try, but we both know you're too prideful to act like this without me using the pact. So what do you want?"

:::Mmm, how do I put this... I wish to not be present when you meet the nobles.:::

"Why? As one of my leaders, you should be there."

:::Well, as one of the high noble families, my instincts and common sense are telling me that my mother will be present. I do not wish to have a premature reunion with her!::: There was a slight tinge of anger and fear along with obvious desperation in her tone.

He didn't need to see her face to know there was distress in it. Numerous emotions swirled around inside of him as he became more gentle, "I'm sorry but I can't allow that. I respect your privacy so I won't pry, but you must be there to support me. I won't let her or any others recognize you so they can't take you away from me. I don't want you to leave~"

:::Hmph:::

Kyren took a wild guess that her face was tomato red right now and he held back a chuckle. He reassured her again and then changed the subject to check on the forces currently on standby.

After initiating the second part of Conquered Storm, he hung up and waited a while for them to properly prepare.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"You think just because you have an A~grade in your midst, you can bully the rest of us!!!"

Out on plains to the south of Kassio, fights and arguments were getting brutal with tensions rising fast.

One of these volatile quarrels was between the Penlas family and the Moran family, who were both at the count level.

These two families have always been rivals within the region they resided in. When the Penlas family gained Jarred, a terrifying A~grade monstrosity, they went into hiding to avoid confrontation.

Now that they were all participating in this event, this confrontation they dreaded could no longer be postponed. There was nothing they could do now that Jarred had personally shown up.

Jarred, who was keeping silent with a disinterested expression off to the side while his father's forces faced off against the Moran and numerous other families, finally made a move. He stepped in between the two sides and glared at the temporary alliance that tried to oppose him.

His killing intent and golden-red physical aura made the other flinch and unconsciously back up. Jarred's gaze swept over the small crowd of dissatisfied but scared nobles as his eyes landed on the head of the Moran family.

She was a small woman with a low stature that looked like the motherly type. Out of all of them, she was the least afraid and the most hostile, especially to the man sizing her up.

Jarred's expression became twisted and foul as he grinned at her while slowly approaching her, "C'mon now, your still not mad about what I did to your precious daughter, right?"

Countess Moran showed a face of pure fury from his words. But there was helplessness within her that couldn't escape Jarred's eyes.

"My daughter was innocent until you corrupted—"

"No, no... that slut was begging for it! She was like that long before I got to her!! HAHAHA!!!"

"How dare you!! Take that—GAHH!"

She was about to blindly attack Jarred when she choked on her words and was forced to the ground. Blood came out of her coughing and weakness flooded into her as Jarred's aura rained down upon her.

She was a peak B~grade and not too far from Jarred grade-wise, but worlds apart in strength.

Jarred's complexion became even more twisted and demonic as his dirty boots jabbed her side from a kick. Although the attack was light and without any weight behind it, she was still sent flying a few feet, increasing the internal damage she received from his aura.

"Haha, looks like the blood of a wench runs through your family. We also need to decrease the competition for contacting the hidden organization. They wouldn't mind if we got rid of these useless people for them..." Jarred licked his lips as he cracked his knuckles. The disgusting delight of being the dominant one in this situation showed on his face, "There are two ways you're getting out of this. Either kneel and kiss my feet while returning to your territory because you received life-threatening wounds, or go home in a body bag for your precious daughter and family to mourn over."

His expression seemed to say something else for only the Countess to understand. It was a reminder that she didn't have a choice in the matter, with only one option in which she could choose.

Jarred cracked his knuckles as a few magic circles of varying color pointed at the Countess and the rest of the nobles present. Count Penlas who stood off to the side couldn't be any more ecstatic as he watched a thrilling show.

The Countess hesitated as she gritted her teeth and wiped the blood away from the corner of her lip. She would've unhesitantly have chosen to die with her honor intact if it weren't for that demonic brat also threatening the nobles behind her.

All of a sudden, the mana in between the two sides fluctuated at monstrous levels. Magicules started to gather and synchronize at alarming speeds as space and reality itself began to tear like a piece of paper.

Jarred, who was the closest to this anomaly, jumped backward after getting spooked by how powerful the mana was. His complexion turned grim and ashen as he pulled out a magical scepter, ready to defend himself.

When the portal was fully established after less than a second, three figures came out. The two from behind were those draconic warriors from earlier, with only their masks which emitted the presence of a dragon to show how powerful they were.

The figure leading them was a beauty in medium-sized pearl white and gold armor. There was something dangerous and animal-like about the menacing aura around her that could be compared to a wolf waiting for its prey to try and bite back. Even though she was suppressing it, the pressure of an S~grade could be felt by the others and because of the power disparity, they couldn't tell if it was the equipment she had or just her raw power.

Her otherworldly figure and her smooth translucent skin were the only features that showed any details about the person inside. Originally, Jarred's initial thought was to test his luck with a potential beauty like her but quickly scrapped it. S~grades were not people he could casually mess with.

The two warriors split up to either side to calm them down and send them on their way, while the wolf-like girl stood off to the side and patiently waited for them to finish up. Unlike before, the warriors spoke now but with few words that were necessary to get their point across.

Count Penlas attempted to continue the dispute by saying it was a personal matter that they shouldn't get involved with, but the warriors wouldn't have it. They then preceded to force them to leave the matter alone, with a faint threat hidden in between the lines.

The Count discreetly turned his gaze to his son with a silent cry for help. He couldn't let the other nobles escape when this was such a good opportunity to cut the competition down.

When Jarred was about to unwillingly step in, a glare full of killing intent seemed to burn through his skull. Fear overtook him and he fell back onto his rear end after tripping.

The S~grade was casually staring at him and he tensed up. He suddenly got the feeling that she was silently telling him he didn't have a choice in the matter.

The tables have turned and now he was on the receiving end. He let out a gruff, defeated, and annoyed noise as he scurried away.

Seeing this, the Penlas family no longer had the ability to hold their ground against so many nobles so they also had to make a full retreat.

After they were gone and the situation was diffused, the three from the hidden organization started to walk back through the portal. The two warriors went in first and the wolf-like girl was about to do the same thing when a voice stopped her.

"Thank you!" The Countess was bowing her head with immense gratitude. She was in a bad situation and without her intervention, it would've ended tragically.

Rayna was surprised by this gesture so she friendly nodded her head and continued through the portal.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Scenes like this were occurring all over. Chaotic situations were getting resolved so fast that the atmosphere was turning back to normal.

Kyren was pleased with the way things were preceding. His participation score was steadily rising as each situation was getting resolved without him needing to do anything.

Because the NPCs were doing work by his orders and with his support, the credit and rewards were flowing directly into him. If they were players under his command, half the resulting score-increase would be split between them, and depending on how much he was involved with this person, the more of the score he'll gain. But there were no players following his orders during this operation so everything went to him.

He got this idea a while ago and Leo told him how the distribution of rewards worked. This was an important part of conquering the storm in many ways. It prevented infighting and kept things under his control, giving him the most benefits. It also constantly raised public and faction opinion quite a bit.

He sighed with relief as he teleported back to his personal dimension. Leo could manage things from there so he wasn't needed.

There was a solid system in place that made all of this work without his presence and with Leo standing in for him. His forces were using one of the buildings he bought as a headquarters, with Krista at command.

The way it worked was when Leo opened a gate in the headquarters, Krista would respond by sending out the proper manpower. Each portal varied in mana density and that was how she could properly assess how much manpower to apply.

Since there were millions of people, it was impossible to help everywhere. But that was a good thing because players would still get opportunities to participate. If he somehow completely monopolized all the missions, satisfaction would bloom and it could get aimed at his faction, which was the last thing he wanted.

In some situations where an A~grade was present, she would deploy Rayna to make sure nothing went wrong. He had more than sixty to seventy B~grades, after Krista's training and some support from him, so other situations weren't as difficult to deal with if she allocated manpower properly.

"Krista is busy managing my military while Rayna is busy helping her out. Who am I going to spend the next four to five days with before the main event occurs?" There was only one answer and he knew it. His expression became mischievous as his mind raced, "Looks like I'll have to visit Maya to alleviate my future boredom... Let's hope she's able to stand after this~"