On hearing the full story from her guild members, Black Rose quickly checked with the front desk lady, simply because the three missions in the story didn’t add up.

The Guild had a strict policy about taking on more than one mission or soloing missions meant for a party. Idris had broken the two.

"How many missions did Idris accept from the guild before leaving?"

"T-That would be three, Guild Leader."

"How is that possible?" She frowned.

"The first mission he took from me was for a party of three, and when I pointed it out, he threatened to report me. And after I left, I guess he came again and did the same with my stand-in."

"What? Report you to who?" Black Rose was confused. The first thought that came to her mind was Cindra, but the next words that came out of the lady’s mouth stunned her.

"Y-You."

"What? And why would he threaten you with my name? Are you saying you can compromise for anyone who walks in here and threatens to report you to me when you’re doing your job?"

"I’m sorry, Guild Leader. B-But he’s not... just anyone."

"And what’s that supposed to mean?" She frowned.

"H-He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?"

Black Rose was stunned for a full minute before she scoffed in cold disbelief. "What? Do you really believe every rumour you hear? Who told you he’s my boyfriend?"

"It’s not just a rumour, though. He confirmed the both of you were dating here before proceeding to threaten me to stamp his mission paper."

"W-What?" Black Rose was completely taken aback, but the genuine look on the lady’s face told her that was what had transpired.

She gritted her teeth.

After ignoring her and telling her to her face she wasn’t his type, he really went ahead and told people they were dating just to get around the guild rules?

"You’re dead meat, Idris."

She sneered and stormed off, leaving the confused lady standing there.

"So are they dating or not? She sure does look like an angry girlfriend."

Black Rose immediately logged out and stepped out of her room in search of Cindra.

"Greetings, young miss." The maidservants lined along the luxurious hallway greeted her in sync, startling her for a moment before she remembered she was no longer in Cindra’s house at Stronghold 5, but was currently at the capital.

"Where’s Cindra?" She immediately asked.

"Your friend is in the living room, downstairs, young miss."

She immediately headed downstairs and spotted Cindra standing in front of the television.

"Cindra, you won’t believe what happened while we were away." She said immediately, but her friend simply turned to look at her before pointing at the TV.

"Does it have something to do with Idris casually meeting Kaelen Cross?" Cindra asked with her thumb pointing at the podcast on TV.

Black Rose couldn’t help but look.

"... Kaelen Cross has to be the coolest character in Evolution Online. Dude literally has so much aura that he walks into a goblin field, and the goblins literally drop dead, and this dude that was with him makes like a hundred thousand merit points for his guild—"

Black Rose quickly grabbed the remote and switched off the TV.

"Why did you turn it off?" Cindra asked.

"Don’t you think there’s something not adding up here?" Black Rose asked with a frown.

"What do you mean by that?"

"What kind of hidden boss gives a person 300,000 merit points?"

"I dunno. But if your point is that Idris somehow rigged the system, then I’ll have to stop you there, ’cause I checked the guild’s records and confirmed that Idris made 100,000 merit points in three places, which is ten percent of how many popularity points our guild makes."

Black Rose was stunned on hearing that. "Are you saying that..."

"Yes. Our guild is up 3,000,000 million popularity points from Idris’s encounter with Kaelen Cross, putting our guild millions of points ahead of any other guild in Evolution Online. So I think we should be grateful to Idris and reward him with that last slot as promised."

"It’s too late for that."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I already flew Stephanie to the capital with us. I never thought anyone would ever beat her score. And it’s gotten increasingly dangerous travelling across the wasteland."

She certainly never thought Idris would even come close to beating Stephanie’s merit points score—not in five days. She only told him that so he’d think he had a chance and grind for five days straight.

That was supposed to be her second trap, but he’d somehow beaten it by a far margin once more.

There was no denying it now. Idris was the most talented player she’d ever come across, and as much as she wanted him there in the expedition, there was simply nothing she could do about it.

At that moment, Cindra’s phone suddenly vibrated with a call, as she grabbed her phone with a look of surprise on her face.

"Speak of the devil. Hey, Idris. You’ve been busy these past few days, haven’t you?" Cindra asked teasingly.

"Something like that. I actually called because I saw this post on the game’s forum about this upcoming expedition, and I think it’s the same one Black Rose was talking to me about if I earn 20,000 merit points in five days. I did 300,000 in three days. How about that?"

Cindra chuckled softly before looking at Black Rose with a bitter smile.

"Uhh... about that. I don’t think that’ll be possible—" Cindra was saying when Black Rose snatched the phone from her hand.

"Idris, you’re right about the expedition, and it’s going to be the biggest Evolution Online has ever witnessed. I’m sure you don’t want to miss that. But you see, we’re all in the capital right now, which is the chosen base for the expedition. So I’m sorry to disappoint you, you’re going to be missing the biggest opportunity ever to make a name for yourself in this game, as we already have a replacement for you. But if you can somehow make it to the capital in the next 24 hours, I’ll send your replacement right back that instant and onboard. How about that?" Black Rose said in a heartbeat, her eyes burning with flames.

This was her payback to him for breaking the guild’s rules and telling people they were dating.

She wanted to hear that sorry and pleading voice as he begged for a window of opportunity before she hung up on him. But the next words that came out of his mouth made her freeze.

"Alright. Bet."

And before she could even reply, he’d hung up on her.

She stood there for a moment, staring at the phone in shock and confusion.

What the hell is he thinking?

Is he actually planning on making it to the capital in 24 hours?

Not only was it dangerous, it was simply impossible.

***

Meanwhile...

As soon as Kaelen hung up the phone, he turned around and climbed into the military-grade private jet ready for takeoff.

Inside the plane was President Hunter as well.

After turning in his three missions that earned him 30,000 extra merit points, more than enough without the system butting in, Kaelen had logged out and quickly contacted President Hunter to purchase the private jet for 200 million dollars and hire mercenary pilots willing to take the risk for tenfold their salary.

Before takeoff, he decided to call Cindra to secure his position before entering the jet with President Hunter, who had offered to go to the capital with him as well.

He casually waved his hand at the hostess and sealed the doors shut, then informed the pilots to take off immediately.

"Stronghold 1... here I come."

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