Rui was right.
Rui and Kane retreated from the fourteenth floor, leaving the Shionel Dungeon after Rui confirmed the extent of the damage from the mini-fiasco that the operation had turned out to be. They returned to back to their inn undetected via Void Step, before spending the rest of the day taking a break.
Rui completed his chores such as writing a letter informing Guildmaster Bradt of the location of the latest supplies of esoteric ore deposits, while including an updated three-dimensional map of the Shionel Dungeon as per their agreement.
On the other hand, Chairman Deacon was not having such a chill day.
In fact, any semblance of peace he was having that day had been upended when he read through the report submitted by the captain of the expedition team on the fourteenth floor.
"WHAT?!"
His bellow was loud enough to echo through the main branch of Deacon Industries, making all of his employees wonder what lit his fuse this time.
For the next few hours, Chairman Deacon poured over every word in the report one by one, digesting all the information before he finally put away the documents, before frowning.
His eyes wandered around as he clasped his hands hands together.
"Sir, the Chairman of Carlun Manufacturers has requested a meeting with you," His chief of staff informed him, breaking the silence.
"Not now, I'm busy," He replied absentmindedly. "Have Vice-Chairman Dellia handle it, or postpone it."
He dismissed her, wanting to think in peace.
('Smoke bombs… Empty floor… Appearing and disappearing figures leaving the Shionel Dungeon,') His eyes narrowed as he parsed through all the information that the report from the leader of the expedition.
There was a lot of information to process, but he quickly made strides in analyzing them as he considered everything that he had just learned. He began with what he considered to be the most interesting and significant.
('Multiple figures appearing and disappearing,') He considered what it meant. ('It's almost certainly not literally the case that they appeared and disappeared out of existence. No Martial Arti technique in the lower Realms should be capable of such a nonsensical feat.')
He quickly ruled out the possibility of it literally being a case of something like teleportation or something of the sort. There was no way Martial Squires ought to be capable of something of that sort.
('Given the sensory jamming traits of the Shionel Dungeon, it's almost certainly the case of said figures eluding the senses of the patrol guard,') Chairman Deacon quickly inferred some basic facts. ('It's not implausible that they just temporarily entered his sensory range momentarily before leaving very quickly, giving him the illusion that they appeared and disappeared.')
He obviously did not take the ambiguous report of a single patrol guard as absolute fact and was open to the idea that the report was not reflective of what happened.
('However, the patrol guard was certain that their direction of travel was towards the tunnel, not away from him. Meaning they appeared and disappeared while the distance between them was more or less constant,') He sharply noted. ('That reduces the probability that the man mistook them entering and exiting his senses as them appearing and disappearing into thin air.')
He considered another event that had happened within a very short time period from it.
('The smoke bombs…') His eyes narrowed. ('Why smoke bombs?')
The answer, of course, was obvious.
('A smoke screen that could hamper even Squire-level sense momentarily. They wanted to sabotage the awareness of the expedition team. To prevent them from witnessing something.') His eyes narrowed. ('Their goal had nothing to do with the expedition team. They didn't mount an attack on the expedition team, they did not harm them anyway. Any damage that was done to them was actually done through friendly fire.')
His eyes narrowed. ('Was that part of the plan? Is Squire Harens actually a secret operative colluding with the Voider?')
This was a possibility that naturally presented itself to him when he considered the facts. The timing was truly quite suspicious.
Of course, he was quite familiar with Squire Harens. The man had been a trigger-happy Martial Artist for as long as he could remember. This reduced the probability of it being a conspiracy. However, the operation didn't make sense if the attack from Squire Harens was the end objective. Such an objective was worthless by any means of evaluation. Use the smoke screen as a cover to launch an attack that ultimately only killed three?
What for? What could that possibly achieve in the big picture?
('Nothing,') Chairman Deacon's eyes narrowed. ('Thus, it can be concluded, that regardless of whether Squire Harens is a colluder or not, that attack could not have been the main objective. There had to be another objective most likely completely detached from the expedition team.')
What else could a third party be interested in those circumstances, if the objective had nothing to do with the team?
('The floor, there is literally nothing else it could be,') He realized. ('And there is only ever one reason a Martial Squire might be interested in a floor.')
Esoteric resources!
Why on Earth would any Martial Squire even step into that nightmare of a dungeon that hampered their senses to the point of being merely one percent of what it normally was? There were exceptions, but none of the applied here.
('They dropped the smoke bombs the moment the expedition team finished the last layer of defenses,') He noted. ('That is not a coincidence. Did they use us to clear the tree? To try and gain esoteric resources at the center of the floor?')
His eyes widened as he stumbled across an even more shocking possibility.
('Did they discover the floor before us? Could they have manipulated us into discovering the fourteenth floor?')
It was an astounding possibility that sent chills down his back. If true, it would mean he had severely underestimated their opponent.
"No no…" He shook his head. "There's no way that's true. It's too unlikely."
Whether he truly believed that, or simply chose that for the comfort of his heart was unclear.
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