I didn't spend too much time working on my new company. After acquiring another batch of hires — my lifetime of experience helping me to test them quickly when combined with Perception and some subtle Charisma manipulations — and getting other necessary purchases done, the trade caravan departed.

Their first task was to visit the port city of Oniphia — which was the only proper city in this forsaken corner of the planet — buy enough ore to fill their carts, and dump it back to the warehouse. Rinse and repeat.

I had yet to find a chance to visit Oniphia. Unlike the dungeon towns, Oniphia was a proper city. It had been there for years, with corresponding infrastructure and high-level guards. It was not a good target for my Concealment tricks. At least, not until I could enhance further, and get a better sense of magical measures against it.

Entering the city through ordinary methods was much more difficult than places I would regularly infiltrate. My identity as a middle manager in a guild allowed me to enter towns without magical checking … but the same didn't apply to cities.

And, that would reveal my divine allegiance … or, more accurately, lack thereof.

Hopefully, my trade venture would present me with a chance to bypass it once I brought it to the level I wanted.

Though, calling the trade venture a business was a bit of a stretch. With the number of skilled people I had hired, there was no chance for it to profit in any foreseeable future … not that I cared. Commodity trading was only profitable when done in scale, and such scale was only attainable for people with strong political connections.

For me, Iron Trust Traders only existed to conceal some of my more questionable transportation needs, and as a vehicle to collect gossip. Nothing more.

It was expensive … but with the casino constantly producing excess cash, we could afford it. And, even if that cash flow had some trouble, we still had the ability stones that were deemed useless by Zolast for our objectives.

Their sale was illegal.

But that never stopped me before.

I just needed to find a reliable channel for it, and it would be done.

"A concern for another time," I said as I left Town Maell behind once more. However, rather than returning to Town Yoentia immediately, I began watching my newest business venture.

The first trade caravan of Iron Trust, consisting of a dozen carts and thirty employees, was already on the move. I stayed at a distance, observing them to see if they were acting like I expected., not that I expected any problems.

It was not due to blind confidence. My trust in my new employees was … variable was the best way to put it. Did I trust them to handle an actual threat, or keep an important secret?

Certainly not.

But I trusted them — and my ability to read them — enough not to expect them to risk their new, relatively well-paying job for a few carts of low-value trade goods. Especially since those goods were too bulky to be stolen easily.

They were external hires at best, and I had no intention of actually trusting them with anything of actual value. Especially not with the carcasses of the Lord Beasts.

For those occasions, I could always add a few temporary employees as necessary. Mahruss or Dalmut would be particularly fitting once they completed their next promotion. They were just low-profile enough that their disappearance would go unremarked for a few days, and reliable enough not to question the contents of the sealed crates that they were tasked to escort.

It was not a bad start for a smuggling ring.

That was not what I had been planning when I visited Town Maell. But then again, I wasn't expecting them to be stupid enough to completely destroy their underground operation, allowing me to muscle in with a physical operation without raising any suspicion.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Ideally, I would move a few trusted lieutenants and start setting up an actual operation — a few gambling rings, maybe a small black market, a few protection rackets — but it was too early for that.

House Maell needed to calm down first, and that didn't look like something that was on the table for the near future.

They were even more spooked by the assassination than I had expected. There were too many guards in the inner town, which I was able to bypass despite their alertness, but it didn't help. House Maell and their guests were locked in the residence, afraid of poking their heads out.

Which, unfortunately, meant that my information-gathering mission wasn't as fruitful as I had hoped.

But, it wasn't a complete waste either.

I had learned two important facts. The surviving guild masters were still in the manor — which was guarded by double the amount of guards and additional magical defenses, making the prospect of sneaking in unpalatable — and there was no sign of a military mobilization.

Better than nothing. At least, it showed that I didn't need to deal with a military campaign anytime soon.

With that done, I decided to go back to Town Yoentia. My first destination was Zolast, who was waiting for my return to go for another dungeon run through the secret entrance. It was inconvenient, but with everything going on, at least one of us had to be on standby to respond to a crisis.

"How was the operation," Zolast asked even as he pushed a plate toward me. This time, some kind of meatball with some blue sauce on the side.

"Not bad," I said, and gave a summary of the events … which took longer than I expected, mostly due to all the time I had to stop to eat more of Zolast's cooking.

It was good to see he was putting the beast meat to good use.

"I don't think they can act anytime soon," Zolast said after I finished my explanation. "At least a week, maybe even more."

"Really? A week?"

"That's a pessimistic guess. Assassinations are not an easy thing to process for the nobles. There's a reason that any class with Concealment is imprisoned immediately."

"And that reason is not to train them as spies for the churches and kingdoms?" I asked.

"That as well, though not as many as you might think. The official story is they are executed, but most of them are power-leveled through the best dungeons and receive their Ascension."

"Even gods need people to do their dirty work," I said.

Zolast laughed, but there was a dark edge to it. "Oh, that's the only thing those selfish bastards need humans for. Dirty work, and nothing else."

His tone was frustrated enough that I wanted to reach for a bottle. Unfortunately, we had too many pans on the fire to enjoy a night of drinking. Instead, I changed the topic. "Speaking of those selfish bastards, any progress on researching Calamity?"

"Nothing more than what I had already suspected. It's not a natural phenomenon but something that would be triggered."

"How sure are you?" I asked.

"About ninety-nine percent," he answered as he pulled a paper, and put on some complicated numbers, most of it going above my head. "These are the results I had collected when I was still the Holy Guide. Even then, there were some problems. The signs were too uniform, enough that I was confident enough to challenge the Divine."

"And what changed?" I asked.

"The new readings I started collecting once my curse was gone. All of the indicators are reversed," he said as he added several numbers, and then used some basic math to extrapolate the results.

"Look at that. The turning point is the exact day I managed to escape."

"Actually, it's two days after. I'm guessing it either took a while to reverse whatever ritual they were using."

"That, or, at first, they were confident that they would be able to find me soon. Only after realizing that they had failed, they reversed. Never underestimate the bureaucratic inertia."

"Good point," he said, then there was a knock on the door. "Come in," he said. It was Karak. "Are you ready for the dungeon," he asked. Karak nodded, silent as usual. "I'll be there in five minutes," Zolast said, and Karak left.

"Chatty as always," I said.

Zolast growled in frustration. "It still averages out well with Terma's chattiness. I suspect he didn't Awaken Speed to run, but to speak without pause."

"Hey, he's not too bad," I said, not bothering to hide my mocking laughter.

"You're not the one who has to spend hours in a dungeon, in close quarters. I swear, it gets worse the stronger he gets. Always dashing around into dangerous situations."

"Isn't it unfortunate that I can't go to dungeons," I said, making no attempt to hide my smug smile.

"You're an asshole, Edward," he said, using my real name to show his frustration and stood up. I copied him, accompanying him toward the end of the corridor. "How's Limenta adapting," I asked.

"Not bad. He's a sharp kid. Thoughtful and patient. Gets along surprisingly well with the group, though his crush on Luminera is getting too entertaining."

I sighed. "I can't believe I'm missing that show, always running around to solve disasters," I complained. I was sad that I was missing such a beautiful show.

It would have been so entertaining.

Zolast's smirk showed he knew exactly how annoyed I was with that situation. "Too bad you can't go into dungeons," he said.

I poked his shoulder. "Go have fun with Terma's chatter," I said, and we split. He had thousands of shadowy mana monsters to kill.

And I had a town to protect in his absence.