It was already noon when I managed to return back to the Town Yoentia, physically and mentally exhausted. After that encounter with the cultists, not only I had to stay for a while to make sure the traitors in the military didn't ruin my efforts, but also I visited several other refugee groups that were struggling to defend against the constant monster attacks, distributing the rest of the Advanced Skills to the young men that looked idealistic enough to defend their group.

At least, until their destination. It was hard to understand how power would change a man, and I had no doubt that soon, quite a number of those idealistic men would lose their idealism, but I didn't have days to waste while assessing their personality and identifying the most appropriate targets.

Ensuring their safety until their destination was a decent trade for creating a convenient string of false appearances for the heroic knight.

Still, even with those false trails, I didn't plan to use the skills I had reserved for our use immediately. I didn't want to give anyone a reason to poke around Town Yoentia looking for a mysterious organization.

Distributing those items wasn't the only reason I had been delayed that long. It was still night when I finally finished distributing them, but after that, I had returned to Town Maell, going directly to the inner town for some trade.

I spent most of my morning arranging the acquisition and the smuggling of the items that were on Zolast's list. My initial plan was to buy only the less sensitive items I had presented on the list, and rely on Barzist and his black market connections to handle the rest.

Ironically, the chaos created by my unusual move had allowed me to buy the rest of the items easily — though with a significant markup. The town with rife with gossip about an auction to sell a Charisma-related unknown ability, with more to come, and a lot of merchants were liquidating their stocks for that purpose.

After a careful application of overpayment, bribery, and Charisma, I was able to acquire everything that was required in half a day … through the usage of half a dozen identities.

It had cost me quite a bit, in terms of gold and silver, but, luckily, with my casino working excellently, it was one thing I wasn't lacking. I wondered if the young duke even realized I was making more money than he was making in taxes.

Still, it had been an impressive affair.

But, by noon, I was driving a cart filled with all the items Zolast had requested through the gates of the inner town. "Inspection," one of the guards declared, but I revealed my identity plaque, which should have been enough to let me pass.

As a high-ranking member of the guild, I had the right to pass without inspection.

"Stop, we need to inspect the cart," one of the guards said, which disagreed with the law.

I didn't answer for a moment, just watching him with a blank expression. He shuffled in discomfort a few seconds later ... and I didn't even need to use my Charisma to make him shuffle that. While he said that, his gaze shifted toward one of the other guards, clearly waiting for an order.

Interestingly, it wasn't his guard commander that he looked at, but one of the other guards … a guard with a familiar face even though he had shaved his beard already.

One of the leaders of the Greens.

I sighed even as the guard started to walk toward me in an intimidating manner, his hand already on the hilt of his sword, clearly trying to provoke me.

Even though they had inconvenienced me several times, I was willing to let the Greens go. After all, it was a new, complicated world, and I couldn't expect everyone to suddenly cease their plots. Whatever they were planning, I had no intention of blocking.

But they clearly insisted on stepping on my toes.

"Take a step forward, and I cut off your head," I growled as I raised my halberd, which I still used while walking around the town, It was already an intimidating sight, but, to be on the safe side, I also enhanced it with a subtle touch of Charisma, too soft for anyone to notice.

The undercover Green looked surprised at my reaction, clearly expecting me to just lower my head and allow things to pass. That reaction surprised me at first, but then I realized the reason.

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They assumed that I didn't dare to touch the gangs that surrounded my territory because I was afraid, unaware that I was just using them to train my employees properly.

Clearly, they didn't even know that the cart was actually holding critical resources — as I had made a point of escorting the carts into the inner town for that exact purpose — or they would have been prepared for my reaction.

Was there a better way to handle the situation? Certainly. I could have just turned and left, and told Zolast to stop working on the dungeon until Knight Artmiss intervened, which would have maintained my harmless impression while solving the issue.

Unfortunately, it would also delay the establishment of the dungeon at least half a day, maybe even more if the old knight decided to test our patience.

Soon, the Green leader shook his head subtly, and the guard commander spoke. "Don't you see it's a guild officer, you moron? You can't search him," he shouted, as he had just realized what his guard was doing. "I apologize for that, sir," he said, though he had thrown a resentful glare at the undercover guard.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again," I said as I led the cart forward, finding their immediate retreat interesting. They were testing me … but why, I had no idea.

Soon, I shrugged. No point wasting time on that, when I didn't have time to follow up. Pity I didn't have reliable men to assign to such a task. Karak and Mahruss were the only two I would actually trust to handle such a task, but both had more important missions.

Greens had to wait until I had some time.

Maybe after my promotion.

Soon, I was at Zolast's tent, watching him carefully slice some kind of marinated meat. "Try it," he said as he pushed a slice, which had a soft glow.

I took a bite, enjoying the way it melted in my mouth. "Wow, that's the best thing I ever tasted," I murmured as I enjoyed the clash of aromas in my mouth. And, that was completely true. Not only it was more amazing than anything I had eaten back on Earth, but it was also better than the stuff I had tasted when I was a 'guest' at the flying castle.

They were still more refined than the piece of marinated food Zolast had prepared, but they didn't have the same charm. It was like the difference between a very expensive restaurant with expensive ingredients but little imagination, and the kind of street stall that actually made people fly to a different country to get a taste.

"I decided to dabble in some proper food now that I finally have some time, with the dungeon construction hitting a snag due to the lack of materials," he said.

I chuckled, recognizing his subtle admonishment. He already knew why I was here. "So, it's a bad time to tell you I have solved our lack of material, and you can continue the construction," I said.

"Of course not. Who cares if an old man has some time to enjoy his hobbies."

I chuckled. "Certainly. As a young man, I can never understand that."

"Yes, you're certainly a young man. A teenager, even," he said. He followed up with a sigh. "So, how much material did you manage to acquire?"

"All of it."

"All of what? For the dungeon itself. How?"

"No, I mean both for the dungeon, and for the secret floor. It wasn't particularly hard?"

He shook his head, amused and exasperated. "Not too hard, he says. Even a Duke is struggling to get all of them."

"It's because they are a bunch of rich men, who used to be able to purchase everything officially. And, now that they're official channels being clogged by their rivals, they can't make the slightest move. I purchased everything from the nearby towns."

"Despite most of their items being restricted?" he asked.

"You would be surprised just how willing a merchant is to mislay some restricted items, especially when they are trying to gather money for an auction for an Ability."

Zolast chuckled, realizing my plan. "And, nicely giving you enough money to buy everything that was needed. Very clever."

I nodded, not bothering to mention that I had used the money from the casino to buy them, as it would require me to explain the trick with the skill stones and everything else. It was better for Zolast to think I just passed it to my nonexistent organization, and they handled the rest.

"So, about construction," I started, changing the subject. "Now that you have the materials, is it possible for you to finish the secret entrance first then the rest of the dungeon," I asked, which surprised Zolast.

"Daring," Zolast declared.

"Meaning you can do it," I countered.

"Yes, but the difference in time couldn't be too long. Merely a day, or two at most. After that, the magical reactions of the dungeon would be too obvious to hide."

"Two days are better than none," I said. "Jertann and the rest of the fighters need all the advantages they need."

"You expect trouble."

"I always expect trouble," I said with a vicious expression. "But you're right. There are several groups poking around, and I don't want to get caught flatfooted. Also, I need mana stones. The more, the better."

Hopefully, I would soon collect enough mana stones to trigger my promotion. I was strong … but with people searching for the hero, they would eventually realize I had managed to escape the forest before they could block the way.

The stronger I got, the safer I would get.

"That sounds nice, but without skills that could use mana attacks, the dungeon is not exactly a huge benefit —" he started, cutting his words only he notice my growing smile. "Let me check them," he said with a sigh.

I passed him half of the skills I had acquired, and he assessed them carefully for ten minutes. "They are good, really good," he said. "I expect most of them to allow mana attacks. Maybe all of them if we're particularly lucky."

"Good news," I said. "Still, be careful while passing them, and ask people not to show off too much, at least for a few days."

Zolast nodded, and used the dubious items I had brought. "There's one other problem. How to dispose the tainted mana stones. We have already established a warehouse for their disposal, but we can't use it for the ones that generated from our secret floor. You need to be able to handle their disposal."

"Don't worry about that. I can handle that burden easily."