"They have resorted to hiring demonic rankers to target us."

Finished eating her roasted wolf leg, Raina said after she finished eating her roasted wolf leg. Eren pondered a bit before commenting.

"I'm guessing then that the kingdom will look the other way when we blur some lines and kill the Spiders."

Raina nodded at Eren and replied promptly.

"Precisely. The kingdom's forces are already stretched as they are. They'd rather have a three-star organization like Stardust guild take care of the mess any way they can.

We'd still have to do things on the sly. That means not targeting the Spiders when they are inside the city. Ambushing them in isolated spaces. Pretty much what the Spiders did to our guild members.

Unlike the spiders, who have nothing to lose, we need to be extra careful. That means we'd have to make sure we kill everybody in the Spiders' party when we strike. No witnesses."historical

Eren got up from the log that served as his seat and dusted off his posterior. He then walked up to Raina and made her hold a shot glass. Yana appeared beside Raina as well, asking for her shot glass.

Eren sighed before taking another shot glass from his storage. He then took out the ranked booze that he had gotten from Malcolm. He liked its blend because it reminded him of the Latvian vodka he used to have when he was with Tory.

Eren poured a shot glass for himself and gulped it down instantly. Raina did the same and liked Eren's taste in booze. However, Yana struggled to gulp down the booze after feeling the burn it was causing down her throat.

Eren chuckled at Yana when she couldn't finish the shot glass of ranked liquor. She was an Awakened ranked entity who shouldn't have a problem with a concoction made for Meta rankers.

Yana took offense when she read a bit of mockery in Eren's gaze. She drank the booze angrily just to prove to him that she wasn't the wuss he thought she was.

Eren powered one more shot glass for himself and drank from it before asking another question he wanted to ask.

"I still don't understand why we can't launch an all-out war against the Spiders. Seems counterintuitive to me if the opponent is not playing by the rules and we insist on sticking to them."

This time, even Yana was curious. Raina looked at both Eren and Yana for a while before answering.

"We don't want other rankers and the general populace to know about a three-star guild ruling over the region with an iron fist even if we are like that. It's irritating that we'd have to think so much about our actions now that we have become a three-star guild. Especially when we are doing the same thing Spiders did.

You can bend the system a bit using the right levers. But you can't break it as long as you are part of it. I guess that's what it is all about."

Raina licked her lips with her tongue and brought her shot glass in front of Eren, indicating he poured her another one. She quickly emptied the contents before continuing.

"It's not like the showdown won't take place. When we kill enough Spiders and they start using the demonic rankers more, the kingdom will declare the House of Spiders as a rogue organization. This will place bounties on their most prominent members, allowing us to legitimately target them.

We'd be free to hunt them down when that happens. As part of the process, the kingdom is also observing our actions. This can be considered one of their tests. They would be keeping tabs on us-- to see how we tackle the problems related to being a three-star organization."

Eren nodded his head before speaking up.

"Alright. It's not like I mind doing things on the sly. An assassination or killing of a demonic ranker. It doesn't make a difference to me. Both are cut from the same cloth if you ask me.

Tell me when and where and give me a few days to prepare.

I don't have any assassination skills or spells. My presence is not lowkey and my battle style is as wild as it can get. So I think you should also be aware that I can only serve as a decoy for the most part. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll be detrimental to your assassination jobs.

That's about it. Now, if you two pretty ladies don't mind, I'd like to take some rest."

Eren said and started walking towards his tent. He let the two ladies decide who would keep the first watch.

***

"Boy, have you got access to some sort of ranker-specific steroids? What kind of crazy improvement is this?"

Malcolm greeted Eren with a look of surprise on his face. The bald shopkeeper was surprised that Eren had managed to break into the final stage of the Meta rank so soon.

"Did you find out about the lead I gave you?"

Eren ignored Malcolm's question and asked him the question he wanted to ask instead. Malcolm had been assigned the task of checking on the lead related to the Hexers' testing ground. The one Lagartha had informed him about.

"*Sigh. Acting so mysterious just because it looks cool. The youngsters these days have no respect for their elders."

Malcolm said with fake sadness on his face before admitting

"I did. Here's the information you are looking for."

Malcolm handed Eren the information written inside a sealed scroll. Eren's main signatures were needed to read the contents within it.

"How much?"

"Mere 300 Mana Quartz."

Eren stared at the smiling and welcoming Malcolm straight in the eye. He didn't say anything or tell him to lower the price. He just stared at him quietly and waited for him to budge.

"Alright. Alright. 100 Mana Quartz. But I'll not take anything less than that. Information gathering costs money, you thankless brat."

Eren's stoic expressions softened and he smiled when Malcolm gave him a reasonable price. He then started buying more things and spells from the bald merchant. After all, he had plenty of Mana Quartz in his storage.