Chapter 176: Chaos Draws Near
One week after leaving the test area, Arlo was watching over the girls as they hunted monsters in the Cold Mountains.
Just as expected, they were all doing well and developing quickly.
But they were only the beginning. As promised, Arlo would continue recruiting strong people into his guild and training them.
Before that, however, there were other things he needed to do. Just before leaving, Shin had given him a note containing a few specific instructions.
First, he had asked Arlo to give a huge sum of money to a newcomer named Eva. In the note, Shin described it as an investment to save his clan.
"I will be going away for a while, so don’t hunt in any dangerous areas," Arlo told the girls before disappearing.
The amount of money Shin had requested was no small sum, but it was still something Arlo could easily afford.
He assigned one of his subordinates to find the girl, and earlier that day, the man had finally returned with the information he needed.
"Thank you for your hard work," Arlo said to his servant. "One more thing. Could you arrange a meeting with my sister as soon as possible? I have some important information to give her."
"It will be done," the servant replied before disappearing.
With that matter settled, Arlo headed toward the third floor. According to the information he had received, Eva and a group of newcomers were currently hunting there.
It did not take him long to find them.
The group was in the middle of fighting a monster when Arlo arrived.
Eva immediately noticed him standing nearby, calmly observing the battle. He seemed to be evaluating her and her group.
The moment their eyes met, her expression hardened. She had never seen him before, but every instinct told her to be cautious because he was clearly strong.
After the fight ended, Eva approached him while the others remained alert behind her.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Arlo," he said with a soft smile. "But who I am doesn’t matter. I was sent by Shin. I came to help."
Eva narrowed her eyes.
"Shin never mentioned you."
"It’s probably because he didn’t plan on meeting with us," Arlo said with a shrug. "Anyway, you don’t need to trust me. All I came here for is to give you some money."
The newcomers behind Eva exchanged confused looks.
Arlo opened his system screen. A translucent blue panel appeared before him, visible to everyone present.
After selecting Eva’s name from the player registry, a transfer window opened. Numbers began appearing inside the payment field.
The amount grew larger and larger. Several of the newcomers rubbed their eyes, convinced they were reading it wrong.
Then Arlo pressed Confirm. A brief flash of light appeared on both screens. At the same time, a notification appeared in front of Eva.
[You have received a transfer.]
For a moment, she simply stared at it. Then she looked at the amount and her eyes widened. Of course, the others quickly noticed her reaction.
"What happened?"
"How much was it?"
"Wait, that’s actually possible?"
Eva asked the rest of the group to step back, saying she would tell them the details later. Then she turned her attention back to Arlo. Who could he be? It was hard to imagine he would gain anything at all from helping her.
"Why?"
"Because Shin asked me to."
The answer was simple enough that she couldn’t find a flaw in it.
Arlo turned around and started walking away. However, before leaving, he stopped and glanced back at her.
"I can more or less guess what you people are planning."
Eva’s expression immediately became cautious again.
"Don’t worry. I don’t care what kind of chaos you cause." He pointed upward. "I just ask that you leave the seventeenth floor out of it."
Eva became confused by the request, but Kaho, standing behind her, nodded in understanding. She had already read about the major clans, and it wasn’t hard to imagine that Arlo was part of the Ice Wolves.
He paused for a moment before grinning.
"Although, if you happen to turn the eighteenth floor upside down, that would be quite helpful for me."
Before anyone could ask what he meant, Arlo disappeared.
Just two days later, Arlo finally got a meeting with his sister. At the very least, she still agreed to hear him out, even if...
"So, what brings you here?" she immediately asked in an unhappy tone.
It was obvious their relationship was far from ideal.
Arlo let out a sigh. If his sister were not such a difficult person, things would be much easier. But that wasn’t the most important thing right now.
Shin had told him something extremely important, and he needed to inform the clan leader.
"Sis, I believe the clan is really in danger, so we need more than ever to keep our territories on the eighteenth floor."
"This is all you have to say?" she asked, looking unbothered. "The eighteenth floor has always been a tense area for us, but all I need to do is crush any enemies that come from there."
She gripped her sword, her eyes glimmering.
In fact, she was a spectacular fighter. Arlo recognized that. It was no coincidence that no one could defeat her.
However, trying to solve everything through fighting alone was obviously stupid.
"What I’m trying to say is that we should use the time we still have to make preparations, maybe even alliances."
"No!"
The woman answered coldly, making the atmosphere grow heavier.
"We are the Ice Wolf Clan. And I won’t allow alliances with untrustworthy foreigners."
She stepped closer to her brother, her heavy aura almost suffocating him.
"Is this why you took those newcomers into your guild, brother? Do you plan on making alliances and betraying me?"
"Of course not..." Arlo answered weakly. "I took them in because I promised I would take care of them for a friend. I told you everything about it in my reports."
Arlo had already told his sister about Shin and how he had saved him and helped them defeat Gut.
"Anyway, there is one more thing I need to tell you," Arlo forced the words out of his mouth. "Things are going to become very complicated soon."
"Why?"
"Do you remember Shin? He still hasn’t left the Dark Forest."
This time, the woman blinked in shock.
"Why not? Weren’t you an instructor? Why didn’t you take him with you?"
"Because he asked me not to. He’s planning on spending a full year inside the test area."
"What?" For the first time, the woman showed genuine shock. "Is that even possible?"
"I don’t know. But I wouldn’t doubt it coming from him. Right now, only he and one other participant are still there."
"This means we will have a full year to prepare..." his sister murmured. "And you want me to waste that time making stupid alliances?"
"Yes!" Arlo said, but it was obvious his sister wasn’t going to listen.
At least he could relax for now, knowing no clan would be able to attack them. During the testing period, all territorial expansion by guilds was forbidden, therefore, any conflict would need to wait until after the test ended.
Normally, this would mean around a month of peace each year, but Shin alone would force that period of peace to last much longer.
