"Zolast, this is the young man who helped me discover the trick behind Heroic Party," I said as I stood next to Limenta, introducing him to Zolast.

"P-pleasure to meet you, sir," Limenta said, tense as I introduced him to another old man. Not a surprise considering the nature of my identity. Especially since he knew that Zolast was aware of my identity as a hero, yet treated me casually.

Implying that his own identity was nowhere near simple.

"Okay, I'll leave you two alone to talk about the general strategy and other issues before your dungeon run while I collect my thoughts a bit. Zolast, make sure to stop by the roof once you're finished with the run. Limenta, don't forget to give the blacksmiths your gift. I'm sure they'll appreciate it," I said, winking with a large smirk.

Zolast shook his head in amusement while Limenta looked blankly, not understanding the joke.

I'm sure he would once he met our team of blacksmiths.

Especially since they didn't bother disguising themselves during the dungeon runs since it was supposed to be only them and Zolast.

With that, I left them alone, trying to decide what to do while I stayed in the town. With Zolast in the dungeon, I had to be ready to intervene in the case of a crisis.

Pity I had to leave Town Maell immediately after the assassination. I didn't want to take the risk to linger around and get noticed, ruining the tense ploy I had created with my successful assassination. It was also why I decided to bring Limenta around. The moment someone saw him, they would come to a conclusion about the one responsible for the assassination.

Well, that, and I didn't have faith in his ability to stay alive if House Maell decided to go into dedicated search mode.

Still, losing my only spy in Town Maell was a pity.

"Luckily, not for nothing," I said to myself as I climbed the stairs that were leading to the roof. While I had lost a source of information there, Zolast had gained a reliable agent with a functional semi-invisibility that could assist him in collecting information in my absence.

Considering the forces that were arrayed against us, it might be an even better advantage.

Not to mention giving me another party member who could supply me with experience.

I didn't do much while Zolast was in the dungeon. I played with my bow to get a better sense of my sole skill, I examined the magical diagrams Zolast had given me, I napped, and I occasionally patrolled the town.

Doing my best to ignore the desire to start killing every member of Night Blades in town.

It was not yet the time. Any aggression from our side would give them the excuse to single us out without disturbing the young duke, making their job easier. No, we needed to engineer a way to pit the young duke against the Night Blades. It was a topic that Zolast was much better at than me.

Luckily, the foundations of the issue were already set with the weak response of Night Blades during the challenge.

It was already dawn when Zolast climbed the stairs to our little private-roof bar.

"So, an assassin," he started, his tone giving a slight sense of tension.

"Smart boy, useful class," I said, my tone just smooth enough to show I wanted no argument about that. I understood the cultural implications well enough, but even if I didn't already count him as a part of our group, his skillset was too useful to turn away.

Zolast stayed silent for a moment, then shrugged. "It's nowhere as troublesome as our little brigands of blacksmiths," he admitted.

With that concluded quickly, I decided to move on to more important topics. "How did he react when he met with the brigand at hand?" I asked.

That brought a chuckle from Zolast. "Oh, you missed it. I didn't think it was possible for someone to blush that much. Are you sure he doesn't have an ability for that?" I just smiled, saying nothing as Zolast poured a drink for me and applied his mana trick.

"Damn, I really need to learn this," I said.

"Sure. Simple. We just need to find you a stat that would allow you to heal. Then, we just need six months to teach you," Zolast answered.

"Simple," I said, enjoying another sip.

"So, another level?" he asked. I nodded. "Good, we need it."

"Oh, you have no idea," I said before giving a detailed breakdown of everything I had discovered, including the plans to target our people as an opening salvo.

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"Fucking nobles," he growled, trembling in subtle anger as he listened.

I nodded, sharing his emotion, but I didn't bother lamenting about it. I much preferred talking and focusing on more productive aspects.

"We need to decide on our next steps," I said. "Things are getting annoyingly heated."

"Yes, we already knew that a group was targeting the young duke," Zolast said. "But all the evidence shows that there are at least two unrelated groups with a strong interest in his failure."

"Worse, it's not exactly impossible to be three of them. I still have some suspicions about the Greens. It's not a given that they are working for the dissidents in his family."

"Perfect, and that's not counting the cultists, right?"

"No, because they are not focused on him. Even with the suspicions of a possible link with the cousin, it's unlikely that they are one faction."

"And if they are, it wouldn't exactly make our situation easier," he completed.

"Yes," I agreed. "Simpler, maybe, but certainly not easier."

We fell silent once more, sipping away at our drinks while we silently tried to come up with ideas. "Any development on figuring out why so many different groups are targeting our young landlord?" I asked.

"No. At least, not except the usual succession nonsense, but that doesn't explain even a quarter of what's going on," he admitted. "Should we start targeting Night Blades, and the other guilds?"

"Next topic already," I said with a chuckle, and took another sip before answering. "We shouldn't, at least not as the Dawn Hammers. Feel free to goad the young duke about how marginalizing them might be a good lesson, but don't try to push him too much."

"Why?" he asked, looking tense regarding my decision. His old instincts as a leader was probably asking him to act. Which wouldn't have been the wrong move.

Just not optimal.

I smirked. "Oh, they will be having a lot of suspicion about the source of my little gift. I'm betting that if we don't make any visible preparations for their upcoming invasion, they will write us off as a potential responsible party, and start searching for other candidates."

"And they will either settle on an internal candidate…"

"Or blame whoever is responsible for the Greens as revenge for their earlier rout," I completed. "Either way, it's in our best interest to look unaware of the undercurrents."

"What if they still discover it's us?" Zolast asked.

"Then, they would think that we are stronger than they realized, and try to use some probing attacks rather than an immediate direct confrontation. They don't know the existence of our secret dungeon access. It means they will significantly underestimate our growth."

"Especially since they have no idea we have already used enough Ability stones to drain the ancestral treasury of a mid-sized noble house," Zolast completed. "Speaking of which, we need the carcasses of those beasts. Now that Luminera is finally able to forge magic weapons, stronger vitality is critical for her development."

"She can? Already?" I asked.

"Barely. She's able to imbue mana into the metal, but without a skill to properly guide it, they shatter easily."

"Ask her to forge some arrowheads and ballista bolts," I suggested.

"Even that would be a waste, wouldn't it?" Zolast asked. "Magic ballista bolts are a true luxury even when they are reusable rather than shattering at first use."

"Better than nothing. It's not like we have a lot of options. We have money, but not the skill. At least, this way, her experimental products wouldn't go to waste."

"Good point," Zolast admitted. "Sometimes, I forget just how backwards we are operating. Normally, apprentices should be working with their masters for years to even have a chance to touch mana stones."

"Eh, tradition is overrated," I said. "Let's just push them to level sixty, and hope that their goddess is frustrated enough with their plight to throw a nice class or two our way."

"Speaking of leveling up, we can probably push our little group of troublemakers to their promotion in the next day or two if we focus on it. What should we do?"

I paused for a moment. That was a good question. "What's the chance for a class upgrade for them?"

Zolast sighed. "As usual, that's a complicated question. Let's start with the simplest one. Karak has absolutely no chance, no matter how much Ability we pile on top of him, or have Experience in store. His arm is simply gone, and no demigod would take such a risk. Without his abilities, a promotion wouldn't have been possible, even if he could awaken a stat."

"Fair. Then let him promote the moment it's possible. With his temperament, he'll be the best candidate to catch any sabotage attempts, especially when working together with Limenta. Neither of us can spend our days watching for it. How about the others?"

"Silas, Mahruss, and the rest with at least two abilities have a decent chance for a class upgrade, but don't expect anything fancy. Something like Warrior is the most likely outcome for Silas, and expect similar classes to the others. Probably three stat points each level up."

"An impressive upgrade, but not a game changer," I added.

"True, but that's the best we can do unless we can get a Natural Awakening. Pity we still don't know exactly why it's so easy for you to achieve."

"Maybe Limenta's success with Concealment will help. His results might give us a better idea."

"Hopefully," Zolast answered. "Speaking of Natural Awakenings, I expect Terma to receive a good class. He already has a Natural Awakening with his Speed. Add in all the Abilities he received, and he might get a significant upgrade."

I nodded. "I couldn't help but notice that someone is absent from your list," I commented, about to let out a chuckle, but stopped when I saw his expression.

"Jertann's situation is … complicated," he admitted in a serious tone. "The ability stone is functioning very differently than I expected, and I have no idea why. I need to study him more…"

"But you don't have time for that."

"Yes, it might be better if we keep him from getting more Experience points."

I shook my head. "No, let's still bring him to the limit, but ask him to stay at level fifty-nine unless there's an emergency. Maybe carve him a one-time blocking ward to make sure he could level up regardless of the location."

"You're right, it's better to be prepared," he responded. "What will you do next?"

"Level up, then go fishing," I said.

"You think you can manage to come up with a way to transport them that quickly?" he asked.

"Hell no. I'll do it manually over several trips," I answered with a chuckle. "It might have been possible if it was something less valuable, but there's no way to actually trust anyone in the black market to actually transport them," I said. "It wouldn't matter much if they steal it, but they might leak about a mysterious customer that could somehow access multiple Lord Beast carcasses, who is lacking the infrastructure to carry them."

Zolast just nodded, and I walked away, ready for another fishing trip.

But, not without stopping by the leveling ward.

[Level up!]

[Stat Points +10]

[-29,675,520 Experience]