The Villains Hiding Inside The Town

At the darkest hour of the night, in an underground basement room of a certain Merchant company building in Green Dale town, a group of seven individuals gathered to talk about their sinister plan.

"How's the plan going?"

The leader of their group, an old man with an age more than 100 years old, inquired to his subordinates about the status of their plan.

"Everything is going according to our plan, Sir."

The man leading the group of four other individuals in the underground basement room answers the inquiry of their leader.

To please their leader, he gave him a status report of their plan.

"The group of Adventurers we're working with is taking the Adventurers Academy Admission Exam right now. As for the plan, they're going to release the monster we're hiding at the Inner-Layer of the Forest Valley Dungeon once they reach its location at sunrise. After the monster is free, it's going to hunt the bait as well as the target."

The monster they're talking about is a high-ranking monster that specializes in hunting a certain Demi-Human race. While the bait identity is a certain black cat-like Beast-kin and the target is a young Half-Elf girl.

"Hahaha..."

The leader of the group can't help but laugh at the thought of how great the plan he has come up with is.

Seeing the old man leader laughing to his heart's content, the last member of the group got a bit irritated.

"If you let me kill the targets while they are playing as Adventurers outside the town, then you won't even need that complicated plan of yours. Everything will be done swiftly, and we won't have to disguise ourselves as Merchants to infiltrate this town."

The old man leader look with a face of displeasure to his bodyguard who just spoke of his intent to kill the targets on his own.

"You clearly don't understand the goals behind this plan, don't you?"

"I know. You always speak of it since we managed to infiltrate this town in the last four months."

Their plan includes three goals.

First, to kill the young Half-Elf girl.

Second, to also kill or if possible, capture the black cat-like Beast-kin.

Third, is to erase any evidence that will connect this incident to their homeland.

"That's why we're using that monster to kill the target. So that curse Half-Elf woman won't be able to connect the death of her kin to our homeland."

"Just do what you want. But in case this plan of yours fails, I'm going to kill all the targets with my own hand. Including that curse Half-Elf woman you're so scared of."

"Ha!... As if a coward like you can do anything against that curse Half-Elf woman."

"Tsk!..."

The true identity of this group of individuals is noble and soldiers of the Rein Empire. The Human Empire in the northern part of the Monochrome continent that has a deep hatred not only for the Demi-Humans race but also for their fellow Humans who carry the Demi-Human Bloodline in their blood.

The old man leader is a noble who abandoned his life of luxury many years ago to live a life as an ordinary Merchant with the purpose of one day infiltrating the Green Dale town without getting any suspicion of his connection to the Rein Empire.

The other five are trained soldiers and assassins from the Rein Empire as well. The bodyguard is an Iron Rank Adventurer whose strength is almost equal to that of a Silver Rank Adventurer.

The bodyguard has been offered the rank of a Viscount noble at the Rein Empire if they accomplished their mission of killing the target. That's the reason he abandoned his pride as an Adventurer and worked for the Rein Empire.

Four months ago, their group successfully infiltrated the tight security of Green Dale town as a Merchant company with a good background.

During the last Monsters Stampede at the year's end last month, their group successfully hid and imprisoned a certain high-ranking monster inside the Forest Valley Dungeon with the help of their companions from the Rein Empire.

The only thing that is left for their plan is for their Adventurers accomplice to free that monster.

They thought that all of their efforts and sacrifices had finally paid off. Abandoning his noble life, leaving their homeland, and living as an ordinary Merchant for many years just so they wouldn't be suspected of having an untrusting background and would be allowed to enter and do business within the Green Dale town.

...Everything works according to plan...

That's their thought right here at this moment.

Little did they know that all of their actions were being monitored by a certain person from the day they entered the Baron Greendale territories until the moment of their gathering.

A person who got eyes and ears not only within the Green Dale town but in all the lands under the Baron Greendale territories, including the whole Forest Valley Dungeon.

That person convinces the Green Dale town's security to allow their Merchant company to enter and do business within the town.

That person kept all the individuals who were suspicious of their Merchant company away from their group.

That person manipulates the whole Adventurers Guild to keep the monster undiscovered within the Forest Valley Dungeon.

It was all done for one goal.

To enjoy the entertainment that this incident will provide to that person.

"Fufufu...

...Do your best to give me the greatest entertainment my little weak insects...

...Struggle to survive...

...Crawl in the ground if you have to...

...Not to run away but to continue to fight...

...Do your best so you won't lose what's important to you...

...So you can protect your friends...

...So you can face your fear...

...Do your best to keep your dream alive my dear apprentice...

...Pfft! Hahaha!"

At the intoxicated laugh of that person, like being drowned in the pleasure of excitement, the entertainment that person is waiting for is about to begin.

...Knock!...Knock!...Knock!...

An unexpected knock came behind the door of the basement room where the spies from the Rein Empire had gathered.

They all become anxious about that knock, because there are no other employees left in the building in the middle of the night, and they're not expecting any other individuals to attend their gathering.

"Someone go take a look who it is."

The old man leader gives the order as one of the soldiers walks towards the door to check who is outside the underground basement room.

Using his sense enhanced by the use of his Mana, the soldier tries to perceive if there's a presence of Mana or Magic behind the door. What he perceives is a presence of Mana coming from an ordinary person.

Concluding that the person behind the door is not a threat and nothing but an ordinary person, the soldier looks at the peephole of the door.

What he finds behind the door is a beautiful young girl with purplish-pink hair color wearing a black long dress maid outfit.