"Clovis. It seems that my mother wants to meet you," said Melody while bringing some food from the kitchen.
"When?"
"She is planning to visit us today, sometime in the afternoon."
"Sure. It seems that the situation is worse than I originally thought." Clovis furrowed his eyebrows.
"Worse? Is that the reason why my mother wants to meet you?"
"No. The fact that your mother wants to see me is how I know the current situation." Clovis shook his head. "By the way, how about Erwin?"
"He is living with Ragna right now. Considering we’re about to move in months, he thinks it’s better to live with Ragna, not only to avoid rumors about him charming other girls but also to know more about this group."
"Alright."
Kanaria took out her device and projected a map. "By the way, this is the plan we currently have. Vasige City is located at the foot of Ribelius Mountain. Hence, we’re thinking about going through this river, which should be pretty safe, before heading to the fallen city of Foll to kill some beasts.
"The hunt should last for only one week. Once we reach the city, we’ll get the super injection and head on for another hunt before returning here."
"Mhmmmm…" Clovis thought for a moment. The biggest problem for him would definitely be the membership upgrade. On the one hand, he needed some money to renew the membership. On the other hand, he wanted to upgrade the membership.
The essence they sold was enough to cover the rest of the money to upgrade the membership, but Clovis decided to save it for the time being. He needed to renew the membership first before getting more money, not only for the upgrade but also for purchasing numerous things with that discount.
He even thought about increasing the visit limit first before upgrading. This way, he could get more items.
’Two sessions should be enough to cover the money for the upgrade as well as the purchase of the items, but I still need to find another ten million to increase the time limit.’ Clovis wondered where he could get that kind of money.
Now that the upgrade had reached millions, it was getting hard to find a way to earn that much.
’The easiest to make money will always be the royalty from the beast souls, but the operation hasn’t started, so I don’t think I can ask Hana for more money. Hmm. I need to upgrade my visit and membership as quickly as possible.’ Clovis pinched the bridge of his nose.
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"Alright. Let’s follow your plan." Clovis nodded.
"Alright. I’ll begin resupplying it accordingly. By the way, do you have any plans to visit the underworld again?"
Now that he thought about it, aside from the rescue mission, he hadn’t gone to the underworld for a while.
"If there is a big raid or something, I think it’s fine to join. But if not, we can focus on exploring the fallen cities."
"Got it." Kanaria started making the detailed plans.
Without her realizing it, three hours had passed, and her mother had finally come.
Considering her personality, Clovis thought that Vania would come with a lot of dirty jokes. To his surprise, she actually remained solemn the whole time.
While Kanaria brought something to drink, Clovis asked, "Is it the Drake group?"
"You know about it?"
"Not really, but I can guess." Clovis shrugged.
"I see. First of all, this matter seems to be more complicated than I originally thought. Do you know the power balances of our city?" Vania asked.
"I’m not entirely sure."
Vania took out a pen and projected a board. She then started writing while explaining, "There are six great influences in this city. In this one, the military is not one of them, even though they are the strongest force.
"Those six great influences are the Drake Group, the Silver Snowflake Group, the Rusth family, the Renvolt family, the Havenson family, and the Panorama Organization.
"The Renvolt and Havenson families are allies, while the Rusth family and the Panorama Organization are similar."
Clovis frowned. "Now that I think about it, the one who stopped the Havenson family before…"
"Yes. It’s the Panorama Organization. You can consider this organization an explorer group, but they are focusing on other things such as logistics, real estate, and others in the underworld.
"Anyway, you can ignore the Silver Snowflake Group. They’re based in the underground city, so they rarely join the politics in this city."
Clovis asked, "If that’s the case, two against three, huh? No. Should we count the mayor?"
"You can count him as well, but there’s a limited thing he can do." Vania shook her head helplessly.
"So is the problem related to the fact that we’re outnumbered?"
"Yes and no. Indeed, we’re having a lot of problems because we’re outnumbered, but the Panorama Group’s support has been declining because of your group’s rise as well as the failure of the previous attempt. They are considering whether they will continue to ally with the Rusth family or break free before it’s too late.
"And no, the serious matter I want to tell you is that there is another person who joins the conflict."
"Another person?" Clovis crossed his arms.
Vania let out a long sigh. "Do you remember the matter about the illegal goods?"
"The mule?"
"Yes. The mule is currently messing with the current balance."
"Is he siding with them? Isn’t the mule merely a smuggler?"
"That’s the problem. We have underestimated him. The person is actually affiliated with a mercenary group that handles information."
"!!!" Clovis squinted his eyes, finally understanding the core of the problem.
"And the problem is…" Vania pinched the bridge of her nose. "…that person is selling information to both sides."
"Both sides?" Clovis widened his eyes in shock. There were two possibilities in this action. "Is he trying to maintain his neutrality or…"
Vania confirmed his worst fear. "As you have guessed, it’s the latter. Because he is trading information to both sides, he is actually turning this growing tension into chaos."