S-Rank Harem: I Became My Character with Extra Control Skill

"Then, if we truly assume that Ryan has already reached SS rank, I can logically deduce that Helen, Mirian, and perhaps the rest of the girls in his squad are as well, or are very close to reaching it," Sophia murmured, as she processed the information.

"They are no longer that pathetic and inexperienced group of rookies... The church... No... the entire world will know them from now on for their enormous power."

Sophia kept a profound silence for a long moment, keeping her eyes fixed on the messy reports on her desk, feeling the weight of the world falling on her shoulders.

"They were always a troublesome group from the first day they stepped into the reception of this guild," Sophia said, remembering the constant attitudes of that group.

"But to think that all this madness started simply by sending them to complete a stupid routine quest, and that right there they accidentally stumbled upon a hidden S-rank dungeon..."

"But wait a second, Sophia." William intervened, taking a step closer to the desk, cutting off the master's nostalgia at the root. "You sent Ryan and his small group on that specific quest because you already knew beforehand about the existence of that S-rank dungeon, isn't that true?"

William's accusation fell like a heavy, sharp sword in the center of the room.

Delia and Alina fixed their inquisitive and suspicious gazes directly on Sophia, expecting a confession.

But the experienced guild master did not take a single second to respond, frowning with evident annoyance at the accusation.

"Of course not. I didn't have the slightest idea that a dungeon of that level was in that area," Sophia insisted, slamming the wood of the desk with the palm of her hand to emphasize her truth.

"And the quest they took that afternoon wasn't even to hunt a dragon. The official report from the peasants only said that an ordinary monster was eating the farm animals, nothing more. Not even I, with my entire intelligence network operating in the shadows, knew about that dungeon. But, looking back on it and evaluating the results, I am very glad that it was them who found it."

William did not look away from Sophia's cold emerald eyes. The tension between the hero and the master could be cut with a knife.

"I don't know whether to believe you entirely this time, Sophia. I still highly doubt that you fully trust me," William commented with a calm but extremely firm tone. "For example, you still keep it an absolute secret that you are an S-rank adventurer from all the members of your own guild and from the leaders of the church."

"We have already spoken at length about that topic in the past, William," Sophia responded defensively, crossing her arms.

"The Lunar Veil guild could not continue to be the same neutral haven it is today, if my true rank and my power were revealed to the world."

"But you became an S-rank right inside the dungeon that the demons sealed in Ehres Valley a few years ago," Delia intervened, joining the discussion. "And even so, you never wanted to tell us how the hell you got out of that dungeon, I mean, you only said that the dungeon was sealed with you inside."

"That's true, Sophia," Alina added, supporting her companion with a tone of complaint. "We are supposed to be allies now. Don't you think there are critical things about your murky past that we should know to be able to trust you blindly?"

William also looked at her with great curiosity, hoping she would finally yield a little of her emotional armor and share her burden.

"Even I want to know exactly what it was you saw in the depths of Ehres Valley to become so strong and distant," William confessed sincerely. "But I respect you too much. I will not force you to tell me anything you are not ready to say."

Sophia kept a deathly silence for much longer. She looked down at the carpet, and the shadows of the room seemed to darken her beautiful face as old and painful traumas crossed her mind, blocking any word that wanted to come out of her throat.

Seeing that she definitely would not speak of her personal tragedy, William let out a light sigh and added.

"Well, I assume it must be because of that past of yours that Lunar Veil is one of the nations in the whole world that remains totally neutral and does not submit to the church's edicts," the solitary hero evaluated, breaking the ice. "After all, old rumors say that you were an adventuring companion along with the current king of this nation long before he took the crown."

And before the tension continued to grow until it became unbearable in the office, Alina decided to intervene to change the course of the conversation towards something a little more trivial and recent.

"Hey, changing the subject a bit... did you know that the old house of that man, Ryan, will be auctioned off to the public soon?" Alina asked, trying to lighten the dense atmosphere of the room.

"Yes, I also heard about that matter," Delia commented in a totally indifferent manner, shrugging her shoulders. "It's assumed he has an abandoned property in the Ehres Valley region, but since he is now officially classified as a dangerous fugitive of the church, local authorities decided to seize and sell it."

"Ehres Valley..." William murmured, catching the mention of that place. "That reminds me of something very important. Are you planning to go to Ehres Valley this year too, Sophia?" he asked, looking back at the guild master.

"Yes," she finally answered, lifting her head and recovering her usual authoritative composure. "I go every year without fail to check that everything is fine and there are no problems in the area. I suppose it's almost time for me to go back."

Sophia paused briefly, arranged some reports on her desk to distract her trembling hands, and then looked directly at each of the three powerful heroes present in her room.

"Don't worry about my secrets," Sophia said with a much softer but firm voice. "I promise you on my honor that, at some point, I will tell you absolutely everything that happened in that dungeon. But that time has not yet come. Please understand and respect that."

"Fine, fine, we agree for now," Delia said with a clear tone of annoyance, waving a hand in the air to downplay it. "I don't like it at all when you make such a drama. The important thing right now is that, based on this official report, we can assume that Ryan's squad must have at least one SS-rank member taking care of him."

"That arrogant bastard..." Alina intervened, clenching her fists with pure envy shining in her clear eyes. "He became SS-rank way before me. It's simply unfair."

"No," William suddenly let out a comment with a serious and grave tone, freezing Alina's childish complaints in the air.

The solitary hero looked back at the wrinkled report he held tightly in his hand, analyzing the impossible feats described on the paper.

"He is not a simple SS-rank. He must already be SSS-rank," William stated with absolute and terrifying certainty. "I have no doubts about it anymore."

William's hands trembled slightly from the pure shock of his own words and the revelation of a superior power.

"SSS-rank? Don't fuck with me, William!" Delia shouted, completely losing her composure and opening her eyes wide, unable to process that level of power.

"It makes all the sense in the world if you analyze it coldly," Sophia added, supporting the hero's crazy and chilling theory. "Otherwise, a human could never defeat a demon king in his own territory. The power gap between an SS and a Demon King is too big to overcome with simple teamwork."

"But I thought Ophelia, being a true demon queen, would do most of the fighting and he only took the final credit to instill terror," Alina tried to justify, desperately looking for an excuse not to accept that Ryan was so strong.

"No, you listened carefully to William a moment ago," Delia added, swallowing hard. "If Luciela Rainy herself signed this report and confirmed that it was he who executed Rigal, then that is the harsh truth. The church would never inflate the achievements of a fugitive unless the evidence on the battlefield were irrefutable."

William looked at the wooden floor, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned completely white. The magical pressure emanating from his body became unstable for a few seconds.

"I didn't expect at all that this was what you meant in our little encounter..." William murmured, remembering Ryan's cold and calculating gaze in the streets of Eibach. "You said very arrogantly that very soon you would stop hiding, and that when that happened, then I would know exactly where to find you..."

William clenched his fist violently, completely folding and crumpling the valuable official church paper in his hand until it became a simple useless ball of trash.

He lifted his face and spoke aloud, cutting through the stifling silence of the office with a relentless voice of command.

"Alina, Delia. Listen to me well, there is a drastic change in our plans starting right now." William said, looking at them with an unwavering determination burning like fire in his eyes. "We must go somewhere else."

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