Second World

"World Maker… With this proof, the queen will have enough justification to completely outlaw this guild within Hydrurond's territory," Arthur said.

During wartime, all the guilds from the opposite country were automatically outlawed. This was to prevent the members of the guilds from sabotaging the country from the inside. Hence, Deekoff and his other friends shouldn't be able to roam Hydrurond's cities. That's why they needed places such as this shop to hide.

But this restriction was only temporary. After the war, the guilds would be allowed access again. Just like how members of Everlasting Heavenly Legends were still able to roam in Verremor after Verremor invaded Themisphere.

Even though World Maker was involved in the war and its leader was also the sovereign of the force that was invading Hydrurond, the guild itself was considered innocent. Hydrurond would not be able to outlaw World Maker after the war. If Hydrurond used force to outlaw them after the war, the system would consider the action as a tyrant. This would lower the public favor.

The serial killings started before the war. Now, with Deekof in their hand, this proved World Maker had harmed Hydrurond even before the war was announced. Hydrurond would be able to outlaw World Maker indefinitely without worrying about the world system punishing them.

"If you can make sure this Hidden Dragons guild is involved, the princess can send troops to seize their buildings and outlaw them as well," Arthur said.

"I will try to infiltrate one of their places first thing in the morning," Jack said. "I will let you know if I find anything."

Arthur nodded. "Once their hiding places were taken, these serial killers would be flushed out. We can then end the problem."

"I agreed," Jack said.

"The princess was right to enlist your help in dealing with this serial killing issue," Arthur said.

"Huh? She didn't enlist me. She just lightly mentioned the issue when we talked," Jack said.

Arthur simply smiled at the response.

"About these two," Jack said. "Please keep them bound with runic ropes. That will prevent them from sending messages and warn their friends about my intention."

"All right," Arthur said.

A few draconian soldiers appeared soon. They knew Arthur and recognized his authority as the princess' confidant. Arthur told them that Jack could be trusted so they didn't trouble him. Arthur also instructed them to take the two bound players to jail and not release their runic ropes.

*

The next morning, Jack headed to one of the places owned by Hidden Dragons.

The investigative teams had been hard at work the night before. They cross-checked their information. From the new data regarding the involvement of Hidden Dragons, they quickly identified the links. They pinpointed the possible hidings.

Jack said he wanted one that most likely had the hiding players inside. Although World Maker players most likely stayed inside the hiding places full time, there was always the chance they were out doing other things in disguise until it was time to strike.

Hence, the most likely time when they were sure to be inside the hiding places was the day just before they struck or the day after they struck.

After reviewing the info, Jack decided to go to a city where a murder had just happened the day before. The same day when he saved Zoikod from being murdered. The city's name was Abdiletra.

The investigative teams didn't peg the victim in Abdiletra as a potential target because the victim was a rare elite. Also, the murder in that city took place in the interval of just three days.

'This is the doing of that group of experts that is different from the other groups,' Jack thought.

He suspected the group should still be in hiding because they wouldn't dare to move around after the incident. The day after a murder was always the most riled up. Patrols were heavier than usual and checking was also more severe. Hence, the murderers who had just committed the killing should still be laying low in the hiding place.

Jack sent a message to Arthur, who arranged for the guards in Abdiletra to give him a pass. When Jack teleported to that city's zone portal, the soldiers guarding the place only used Inspect on him and didn't give him any trouble.

Jack immediately traveled to the place informed by the investigative team. The place was a potion shop. It sold potions brewed by the guild's alchemists.

Jack went into the shop and pretended to window-shop the wares. It was not a big shop. One door led into the inner part of the shop. Jack saw on his radar three blue dots in the room behind that door.

There were two shopkeepers and he was the only visitor, so his every movement was watched. After one round of browsing, Jack left.

He found a secluded place and summoned three of his royal agents. Jonathan, Lindsey, and Amy. He was at first worried that the barrier that prevented cross-country teleportation during wartime would block his attempt at summoning his royal agents. It was proven now that the barrier was not powerful enough to prevent that.

He was glad to know this. This meant during the campaign to another country, he could just leave his royal agents to continue their tasks and summon them when needed.

Jack told the three what he wanted from them and he returned to the shop with the three.

He went to browse the wares close to the door leading to the shop's inner part. The other three went to the opposite side.

After Jack got into position, Jonathan and Lindsey started quarreling loudly. This was Jack's instruction to pull the shopkeepers' attention away. When the shopkeepers just watched without doing anything, Jonathan improvised by getting physical. He pushed Lindsey.

It was just a nudge, but Lindsey responded with a hook to Jonathan's chin. It was not known whether Lindsey was also improvising or she was genuine, but her hook sent Jonathan reeling.

When the shopkeepers saw that, one of them hurriedly came over. They were worried that the two might knocked their merchandise over and broke them.

The other shopkeeper still stubbornly stayed in his place. Amy came to him and forcefully chatted with him. This caused the shopkeeper to turn to her and away from where Jack was.

When Jack saw the two shopkeepers were occupied. He moved to the nearby door. He pulled the door handle and was glad to find it was not locked. He then dashed into the room behind that door.