Sneaking my haul back to the town was even easier than I expected. The fight at the safe house was enough to alert the Night Blades to the existence of our organization. Moreover, the death of an inner town commander gave the Night Blades all the justification they needed to start poking around all around the outer town.

The irony that the Greens were being blamed for the death of one of their members was far too amusing.

The chaos had already lessened the number of people at the walls, and several that went out to chase the 'mysterious spy' who had been bringing out their critical resources only weakened the defenses even further.

With those facts combined, it was almost trivial to bring the four crates I stole back to the town — though it required multiple trips as I didn't want to be seen carrying a stack three times my size.

No one expected me to bring them back just moments after I took them away.

Of course, after every trip, I made sure to show myself around the casino, patrolling the newly established palisade walls, with the magical bow I recently "acquired" in my hands. The palisade was properly assembled already.

Nice efficiency.

The wooden walls were not too tall, barely ten feet, and the advantage they would provide in a fight would be limited, especially since we didn't have many archers among my employees.

They were more of a psychological barrier than anything else. I was showing the Night Blades that we were not easy pickings. It was an important message, but I could already see the Night Blades raiding several unrelated businesses.

Several high-ranking members of the Night Blades were watching us, but none of them actually came to talk with me, happy to handle their own issues first before handling the rest. Their approach allowed me to repeat the trip four times.

Until I had brought all the treasure I managed to steal.

Interestingly, even as the chaos in the outer town continued to grow, the old knight did nothing. He didn't even show himself.

After making sure there was no emergency I needed to address, I went inside and started going through the crates I had managed to steal.

And, it was certainly a great treasure.

Twenty magical weapons of various types, a bunch of skill stones, more than a hundred derums of gold … and most importantly, several mana stones, glowing intensely.

The mana stones were still not enough to trigger my Promotion, but it was good to have an egg nest to start. Hopefully, the secret dungeon Zolast established would produce even more of them.

I created another bundle from the treasures, one that included none of the gold or mana stones, but the majority of the skill stones and all of the weapons.

I couldn't use them without alerting the others that I was the thief, so I hatched a plan to bring them to Zolast. They could be used for the secret dungeon. And, should the secret dungeon were to be discovered, we would have bigger problems.

The faster we developed, the better. The meeting I eavesdropped on suggested that the Greens were doing their best to block the dungeon, and I doubted that our changing schedule would endear us to them.

After arranging the bag, I walked out, ran another patrol, then found Mahruss. "I'll be in my office, alert me if there's anything irregular," I ordered, but as I did so, I gave him a sign. Nothing complicated, just raising my index finger as I spoke, then tapping my wrist. A prearranged signal that informed him I would be visiting the inner city, and that he should use a magical scroll to alert Zolast if there was an emergency.

Sneaking to the inner town took longer than I expected, but otherwise eventless. Soon enough, I was at our headquarters — still under construction — and found Zolast.

He had some surprising guests, namely Jertann, Terma, Silas, and Karak. Our little band of troublemakers. "Oh, that's an unexpected crowd," I said with a chuckle, making the three of them jerk in shock. Karak didn't react, and Zolast just shook his head in amusement.

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"You don't get bored scaring the young people, do you?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I need to entertain myself somehow," I said as I took a chair and placed the large box down. Amusingly, only Terma looked at the box while the rest ignored it.

"What do we have there?" he rushed, easily dodging Jertann's hand, his speed allowing him to zap around easily. But, when he opened the box, three gasps escaped. Even Karak's lips parted, which, in his own way, was a shout of disbelief.

Only Zolast was unaffected by it, too used to my surprises. After all, for all strategic importance, the haul I had brought wasn't as valuable or rare as the previous ability stone.

"Just a little gift from our enemies," I said.

The four ignored the implication, while Zolast sighed. "I should have known you're responsible for the mess."

I shrugged, then sent a questioning glance toward the four. "Yes, I called them for the secret dungeon run. I had already established one that could handle a few people, and I decided they would be the best. I wanted to check in with you but you were sleeping."

I shook my head. "It's a reasonable call, and you're the guild leader." More importantly, unlike me, Zolast actually knew more about dungeons than a few inaccurate gossip, so I trusted his decision-making.

"So, how careful should we be about the weapons?" he asked.

"Probably the same level as the secret dungeon entrance," I said, but didn't give any more detail. I didn't trust Jertann and the others. I wasn't afraid of their betrayal, not at this point, but they were far too reckless to be trusted to act responsibly.

Zolast, sharing the same general concerns, didn't ask for more. "So, what's the plan for the dungeon," I asked.

"I made the secret entrance as safe as I could manage, even though that required us sacrificing quite a bit in terms of the number of people it could handle at the same time. Currently, five is the upper limit, and even after constructing more, I doubt I could increase the number over twenty without using some truly rare magical items."

"Sounds good," I answered. "We can't keep hundreds of people constantly getting stronger, so prioritizing safety and secrecy is more important. What's the plan for the dungeon."

"I'm going to go down for the first few raids, to train them and to make sure I can provide some emergency healing, but it won't be a regular thing," Zolast said. "Only for the first few raids. Until I'm sure these four can handle it without depleting their Health."

"Sounds risky."

"It's a good opportunity. With Sir Artmiss and the young duke away, no one would question when I say I'm building the dungeon."

"They are not at the town," I said, nodding as I received the answer about why the inner town guards weren't interfering. Without their leaders, they were not bothered.

"Yes, they went to the port, trying to negotiate the acquisition of the materials required for the dungeon. There has been another delay," Zolast said, shaking his head in dismissal.

"What a shocker," I answered. Even without hearing the exact reason for those delays, I wouldn't have been surprised by another one. Those delays were already common enough to show our young duke was being targeted. And, clearly, neither he nor his loyal knight had the commercial acumen to bypass even the slightest trick.

"So, you're going to use their absence to help this useless bunch level up a bit more, and then surprise them with a gift once they return," I said.

"Yes, I'm planning to say we chanced upon a desperate trader who didn't know the value of the items he had, so we bought them on the cheap," Zolast said.

"Makes sense," I said, knowing Artmiss wouldn't be stupid enough to dig through that simple story, especially if the materials they needed appeared after another unsuccessful trip to buy them, thus completing the most difficult part of their royal assignment.

Then I nodded at Karak who was busy going through the skills I had brought along with the rest, questioning Zolast silently about his presence. After all, I distinctly remembered him declaring that Karak's promotion was not possible anymore after his injury.

Zolast waved his hand, and a blue shimmer appeared around us, blocking the sound.

"Karak is here because the dungeon gives him a chance to earn his promotion," Zolast said, answering my silent question. "When I told you that it's impossible for him to earn his promotion, we were part of a bunch of refugees. Having a dungeon is different. Even with his injury, he could kill many monsters down there … and the amount of Experience he collects would no doubt earn some attention from his god."

"And, trigger his promotion. Quite mercenary of them," I said.

Zolast shrugged. "That's gods for you, only caring about their benefits. Ultimately, promotion represents an investment from the divine. Only by proving that they can pay back their investment the poor guys could earn it. It's even more important for Karak, who has a demigod as a patron. They are much more careful in assessing the return, as their powers are already limited."

"Another question: what would happen if someone attacked the main dungeon while you're inside?" I asked.

Zolast's expression tightened, which gave me the answer I needed. "Do you expect it to happen?"

"Not very likely," I answered. "Still, it might be for the better for you to tell me whenever you guys go down … just in case."

Zolast nodded, his expression telling me that my warning was taken seriously. Good.

I nodded, and he dispersed the silencing field around us. "I better go," I said as I looked at the younglings, who were still fascinated as they were going through the magical weapons I had brought with me, barely nodding at my voice.

I chuckled at their attitude. Pity I couldn't stay and tease them.

I need to go and make sure the gang war I triggered won't hurt my operations.