Child of Destiny

...

A couple of hours before Shin and his group cleared the Five Penance Training Grounds.

Maple Cloud City.

Arthur and the others were waiting for the reinforcements that were going to assist them in clearing the open dungeon underneath the city.

They were surveying the area to make sure that no one was lucky enough to stumble upon the entrance of the dungeon while they were still making their preparations.

Not long after, batch after batch of hooded players started to appear at the place, signifying that the members of the Trading Firm finally arrived.

Shiella strictly instructed Delusive Smile to make sure that no one would notice their movements in the city since it was going to be troublesome if their rivals noticed their actions. With that, she decided to split the members that they were going to send into small groups and let them enter the city in their respective ways.

This strategy would help them dodge the scouts of the other organizations and let them enter the city without arousing any kind of suspicion.

After a few moments of roaming around the city streets, the groups started moving towards the location that Delusive Smile had given them.

The first leader of the group who arrived was Tinker who immediately met Arthur and the others.

"It has been a while, Young Master," greeted Tinker the moment he saw the Dragon God.

On the other hand, the other members of the group couldn't help but turn to Arthur when they heard how the Chief Engineer of the Hand of Midas Trading Firm addressed him.

Well, of course, aside from Leonard who already knew about their real relationship between Arthur and the Trading Firm.

Though, the expression on his face immediately turned stiff when he heard how Tinker greeted him. "I hope you've been well too, Sir Simba."

The corner of his mouth suddenly twitched after hearing how the Chief Engineer addressed him. No matter how many times he heard it, he still couldn't bring himself to get used to it, especially when he knew that Tinker was a few years older than him.

'Even though I don't like to admit it, I somewhat prefer how those butlers in their place greeted me,' he thought to himself before nodding his head at Tinker.

In the meantime, Arthur looked at Tinker with a skeptical tone before sneering at him. "You are still addressing me that way yet you are still not giving me any discounts when I am commissioning you."

Hearing that, Tinker smiled bitterly before replying. "We are just following Young Miss. And you should know better than anyone what will happen if we disobey her orders."

This time, the expression on Arthur's face turned dark while refuting. "But I heard Adept Hands, Harmony, and Black Hammer are giving Shin special treatments!"

The smile on Tinker's face became even bitter before answering. "But that is a different matter, Young Master. I heard that Young Master Shin is providing them with high-class materials during the production."

"I can do that too!" refuted Arthur angrily.

Unfortunately, Tinker quickly dodged the topic and turned his attention back to Leonard. "Can we hear the details about the dungeon? And we also need to have an estimate of the dungeon's size."

Leonard chuckled a little when heard those words before inviting Tinker to join him while walking around the area.

While all of that was happening, the other members of the group were conversing with each other.

"I already had some suspicion when I read our contract. But I still do not expect that they have that kind of relationship with the Hand of Midas Trading Firm," commented Alucard after seeing how Tinker addressed Arthur.

Hearing that, Daulla slightly nodded her head before adding. "And from the looks of it, that Young Miss is the guild leader of that merchant guild."

As an experienced player of the game, she obviously knew what kind of power was the guild called Hand of Midas. It was the very first merchant guild that rivaled the powers of the Powerhouses of the game. Moreover, their influence was able to reach every part of the virtual gaming world, which was also why those powerful guilds were wary of them.

Having a connection with them was more than enough for most of the players.

No.

It was not an exaggeration to say that it might be the dream of most players.

Yet, right now, their Adventurer Team seemed to have a connection with this particular powerhouse of the game. And a very special relationship at that.

"Looks like choosing to join this team is really not a bad decision after all," muttered Alucard while wearing a smirking smile.

Hearing his words, Daulla couldn't help but nod he heard in agreement. At first, she only joined this team since she was curious about their members. She wanted to know how a player could become so strong.

Moreover, Archimedes seemed to also respect each member of the group, especially the trio of monsters who were clearly leading them, Shin in particular. She wanted to know what this person said to her 'father' to convince him to join them.

Meanwhile, S.Tigris and his group couldn't help but stare at the scene with weird faces on their faces. They didn't know how to react to the current situation.

They also knew that the 'reinforcement' that the Dragon God mentioned was not going to be simple. But they still couldn't believe that he just summoned an elite team from the Hand of Midas Trading Firm. And on top of that, it was pretty obvious that he was pretty close with them.

"D*mn! Now I fully understand why the Alliance Leader is asking for some assistance from them," said S.Tigris after remembering what the Golden Slaying Feather said to Arthur.

Raven, Ringo, and Ara nodded their heads in unison when they heard his words. They now seemed to have a little glimpse of how much influence the Empyrean Talons had.

While they were still distracted by their respective thoughts and drawing their own conclusion inside their heads, Black Hand seemed to be frozen in his place as he stared blankly in the air.

It took them a few moments before S.Tigris was able to notice the strange reaction that his friend had. "What's with that look? Is it really that shocking for you to be that stunned?"

Hearing those words, Black Hand finally came back to his senses and quickly turned to S.Tigris. "Heh! I also don't know why I am acting this shocked either. It is not like we don't know how influential the Dragon God and War God can be."

"Anyway, I am going to investigate the guards within the dungeon first. Would you guys want to join me?" he said before walking towards the direction where Leonard and Tinker were headed without waiting for their reply.

"Strange! Old Black is really acting strange!" said Raven loudly as if he was the only one who noticed.

"You don't have to shout! We can see it too!" snarled Ara while hitting the Master Twilight at the back of his head.

"Ah! Is hitting me really necessary?!" snarled Raven back while glaring at Master Archer.

In the meantime, S.Tigris stared at Black Hand's back while knitting his eyebrows. He was also suspicious but didn't voice it out.

"It doesn't look like we need to worry about it. Given his personality, he will tell us about it already if it is something that he can share with us," said Ringo before patting S.Tigris's shoulder. "So, don't put much thought into it."

Hearing that, S.Tigris smiled bitterly before nodding his head. "You are right. If it is him, then we don't really have to worry."

After that, he waved his hand at the other three and followed after Black Hand. "Let's go. We also need to know how we are going to deal with those guards on our own. We can't just rely on them when we start the raid. It is going to be embarrassing."

"Tsk! Tsk! As if we are going to let that happen," said Raven while clicking his tongue repeatedly.

"Then don't drag us down," said Ara sneering after hearing his claim.

Hearing that, the Dark Elf Master Twilight quickly turned his head at her and glared sharply. "You know what? You really are picking a fight with me."

The White Elf Master Archer returned his sharp glare before saying with a mocking tone. "As if you are going to have a chance to fight me."

A fight was obviously about to break out when their sharp gazes met in the air. But fortunately, Ringo quickly put himself in front of them and prevented the worst-case scenario. "Alright, alright! I know that you two are eager to prove who is better between the two of you. But you can just do it later when we start the raid."

After that, he put his arm around Raven's shoulders before urging him to walk forward and follow after their party leader.

"Hmph!"

Seeing that, Ara quickly walked ahead of them while pursing her lips.

...…