Another Hard Mission

 When Ryker was dragged into the office, Catherine suffer the same fate as he did, the two entered the room with the door closing in with a 'boom'.

 When he lift his head, manage to recover somewhat, he met eye to eye with a stern looking old man, the Branch Leader himself. Not knowing what he did wrong, he slowly step back.

 "Stay," he obeyed immediately, not wanting to know the consequences of not doing so.

 The old man looked at him before sighing, "Why do you have to join in the damn succession war?" he asked.

 "The Crown Prince asked me before, at Elkom Territory, and I said yes after thinking about. After all, with his support, I can make sure no harm will be done to my family," he answered earnestly.

 "Do you forget you could have asked me for help?" the Branch Leader pointed out.

 "Yes, but I cannot be sure if it is something done on a whim, and whether or not it will extend to my people, but I cannot take the risk. At the very least, with the Crown Prince, there is no one that will try to do something that will be akin to slapping him the face,"

 The Branch Leader become speechless hearing his reply. In the end, he could not fault the young man as while he would be protected, the same cannot be said about his family.

 The man sighed while massaging his head. "In that case, there is nothing I could do about it. Both Lars and Birnabak have agreed to let anyone who wanted to support the princes do that. While most adventurers did not do it, some with lofty ambition decide to do so,"

 Ryker nodded, understanding what the old man is talking about. While the Adventure Guild advocate neutrality, the same cannot be said of their members. After all, they still have families or close relatives in their hometown, so if they home is attacked, they will join in the defender no doubt, unless they manage to find a way to escape, that is.

 In the end, the neutrality depends on the adventurer itself, in which they will be considered neutral until they join in one side in any war, to which the neutrality they have is no more.

 "What are you here for?" the Branch Leader asked. After all, he is involved in the succession war, and so will have to join in the tournament. With his strength, and only a young person, below 50 years old that is, can be allowed to join, it is practically a guarantee victory.

 "I wish to take a mission, preferably a hard one to temper myself," Ryker answered. The older man nodded, understanding what he is going for.

 After all, even if he is considered undefeated among his age, he would have to fight against the previous generation when his strength reach a certain threshold. So, he could only continue to become stronger to not be step by the previous generation's prodigy.

 "In that case, how about another near impossible mission?" the man said, taking out a gem slip.

 Ryker accepted it and use his Soul Sense to read it. His brows scrunched as he read the content. He looked at the Branch Leader with a wry smile.

 "Isn't this just too much for a Genesis Sea expert?" he could not help but complained. It is understandable when they read the slip. After all, what kind of madman send Genesis Sea experts to face off against a Spirit Beast?!

 "The beast itself, when we receive the mission, is still a Genesis Beast, just at the peak and have formed a pseudo-domain. A team of adventurers with two Half-Noble experts had take the mission.

 Who could have known the beast manage to become a Spirit Beast and massacre the teams, with only one surviving returning before dying from his injury. He just returned last night and we plan to change it but considering you want hard mission, this is the only one we could give without breaking the rule,"

 Ryker nodded in understanding. After all, rules are made to maintained a semblance of order. Without rules, there will be chaos, so, the rules made by the Adventurer Guild should not be broken frequently. Bend, yes. Broke, no way.

 "Sure, I will take it," he sees nothing wrong in taking such mission. Even if an Initial Noble Beast will not be much of a trouble for the current him, it will still be a decent challenge if he restrained himself.

 If anyone else hear his thought, they would have said he is insane, proclaiming him, a Genesis Sea expert at the 3rd Stage have to hold back against a Noble Beast. However, for anyone who knew him would have shake their heads in exasperation, especially Ina.

-x-

 "Young master, he already left the building," a man in white said through a communication token. The one at the other end made a humming noise in return.

 "Is there anyone else with him?" the voice at the other end asked.

 "No, young master. This one did not see anyone else," the voice at the other end nodded, even if it could not be seen by his subordinate.

 "Track him down. He dared to claim someone this young master want. He need to pay the price with his life,"

-x-

 "Do you see him?" a man in blue clothing asked, his eyes on the Adventure Guild's building.

 "Yes, he head straight to the gate," his companion, a woman in yellow replied.

 "Good, lets go Miss Candy," the woman nodded as they followed Ryker.

 "Why did the Second Prince paid this much attention to this man anyway?" the woman asked. She had join in the Second Prince's faction for a long time but only just returned late night yesteday so she miss the Gala. 

 "He is strong enough to face of against a 1st Stage Noble expert. So, he will be an obstacle, especially with him joining the Crown Prince's faction," the woman gasped hearing it.

 "Strong enough to handle a Noble expert. Mister Call, are you kidding me?" she asked in disbelief. Call could not blame him. After all, if he did not see it for himself, he would have not belief such thing is possible as well.

 "If that so, why are we hunting him down?" Candy asked, shivering at the prospect of fighting against such prodigy.

 "There are others as well, so we don't have to worry. While the Second Prince could not send a lot of expert for this kind of thing, he can still send in 1 First Stage Noble expert, the other prince doing the same.

 He might be able to beat one 1st Stage Noble, but against 4, it would be impossible,"