"Huh?" Ryan said, trying to wrap his head around what Leo was getting at. Surely he hadn't missed something obvious with the way every other person had come to the same conclusion.

"I believe that what your brother is trying to say is that the contract would've been a better option," Mr. Coman said, turning to Leo. "Is that right?"

"Yes, that is. Unfortunately, Ryan, I believe that what you might've thought was a pincer attack might have more angles to it that you probably haven't considered," Leo said.

More angles? Ryan highly doubted that. He'd escaped their trap, and there wasn't anything that would convince him otherwise. How exactly they had come to believe that he'd made the wrong choice, he didn't know. Luckily for him, he wouldn't have to wait too long to find out.

"I highly doubt that. Mr. Coman here," Ryan said as he pointed at the guild's man, "was sent to cement my fate by forcing me to give up my shop or take the Looter's Heaven up on their offer."

Seeing that Mr. Coman did not deny the statement, it simply confirmed what Ryan had known all along—it was nothing more than a ploy by Looter's Heaven to trap him in some way.

"Those are the obvious moves on the board, yes," Leo started. "What you also haven't considered is the fact that that is the last legal move that they can make. What do you think they'd do now?"

Ryan wanted to face-palm. He was so caught up in trying to get out of the pan that he'd jumped head-first into the fire. Of course he'd officially screwed himself by not thinking things through and trying to solve only the present problem in front of him.

He was only thinking about his next move, and the Looter's Heaven had already planned so many moves in advance.

"Is that so?" Ryan asked no one in particular.

"Well, I'll leave you two to it then. I'll be on my way back," the guild's man said, already turning around as he began heading out of the shop.

Ryan couldn't fault the man—he'd already done what he'd been sent to do, and everything else wasn't of concern to the man. But he'd at least tried to give Ryan a few pointers on his current situation, and it was up to Ryan to figure out what exactly he'd do.

"He's right, you know," Leo said quietly.

"I do, but what's done is done, and there's no way I was going to sign over my prime years for peanuts to those... filth," Ryan said.

He'd made it abundantly clear that he'd rather lose out on his current properties than go ahead to sign their slave contract.

"Yes, but this places you in a way worse position," Leo pointed out.

Of course Ryan already knew that, but it didn't help to get another perspective or have someone confirm his fears.

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"How?"

"Well, to put it simply, my friend," Leo said, "you had an idea what route they were going to attack from previously, but now you're back in the black and left out of the loop. You had a time frame to work with and a lot of time to think through something that would've made you—"

Aha, that was exactly what he'd concluded. The way they'd attack would be totally uncharted territory and probably in a way that he wouldn't see coming at all—or if he was lucky, might see when it was too late to do anything, which wasn't something that you'd say is really helpful, but he'd take whatever he could get.

This was Ryan's first time having to deal with things like this, but it wasn't the same for the Looter's Heaven. No doubt they had a lot of experience wrecking Statics and Adventurers alike, something that he'd have to keep in mind going forward.

Like he'd told Leo, what was done was done. He wasn't going to bow to anyone, even if they controlled everything and everyone from the shadows. He just needed enough people who wanted to start a change on his side and maybe... just maybe he'd be able to achieve something that would leave a mark in Denair. Something that would etch his name in the history books yet to be written—or maybe he'd be another discarded competitor.

"So I'm screwed," Ryan said.

"That you are, my friend, that you are," Leo sighed.

"Any advice for me?" Ryan asked hopefully. At this point, he'd take any that he could get.

He'd sort through the chaff at a later date, but right now he needed as much advice as he could gain at the moment—something that Leo seemed to specialize in.

"Nope, we have nothing on the Looter's Heaven, at least nothing that directly ties them down to whatever has happened to their competitors," Leo looked at Ryan pointedly.

Facts, nothing but pure facts. The Looter's Heaven was like that guy that you could swear by Veron's name had committed a crime, but there'd be no evidence to tie them to it. And unsurprisingly, any time that any 'evidence' or 'eye witness' turned up, they usually disappeared without a trace... something that Ryan couldn't wholeheartedly get behind at this point, neither could the rest of their little town. But what could they do against the massive institution that was spread across the realm? Even a little rep of them here already dominated the market in a way that was appalling to Statics but mostly alluring to Adventurers... those muscle brains.

"Seeing that you've put yourself within their radar as an obstacle, I hope that you are either a very dedicated Veron worshipper or you have a killer plan. Seeing as you lack the capacity for the latter, I believe that you would benefit from hitting the church a couple of times," Leo said.

Ryan looked for signs that the big man was jesting but didn't see any. As far as he could see and tell, the big man meant every word that he'd just said, and Ryan couldn't hate on him since the big man was just looking at things logically. Ryan against the Looter's Heaven would be a hefty task—something that even the moderately well-doing Gerhalt was loath to begin.

"Anything else? Anything that would actually be helpful?" Ryan asked, frowning at Leo's earlier 'advice'—if you could even call it that.

Although if he was being honest with himself, going to seek the face of Veron at the church was still a viable option. He needed all the help that he could get at this point, and he wasn't about to discriminate against that because it sounded like a jest. Best for him to note that down for later.

"Network," Leo said.

"Huh?"

"Get closer to adventurers, build real relationships. Find other Statics that are aggrieved at the Looter's Heaven's presence—" Leo began.

Ryan burst out laughing. Leo sounded so ridiculous; all the things that he was telling Ryan about sounded so... ridiculous, and Ryan honestly couldn't even take him seriously.

"You can't be serious," Ryan said after managing to catch himself mid-laugh.

"You asked for my two silvers, I've given you what I think you should do. It's your problem if you keep on behaving like a moron. I'll leave you to the wolves," Leo said, annoyed.

Ryan didn't doubt that Leo meant everything that he'd just said. So he might as well listen till the end before judging.

"So if I do manage to gather all those people, then what?" Ryan asked seriously.