2/5

Dimitri didn't care about conserving his strength anymore. He called for reinforcement, promising rewards to every member who would come and hold the line. Rewards of items, equipment, and money were also promised to those who could kill the other guild's members and high-ranking players.

Victory against White Unicorns would increase Fate Alliance's standing in the leaderboard, as well as their popularity. On the contrary, if White Unicorns were defeated, they would be significantly humiliated.

With that in mind, both leaders did their best to win. No matter how meaningless it was, it was too late to back out and turn tails now that everyone was watching the whole spectacle.

A fight between guilds gave no EXP rewards, only dropped items that were worthless, especially simple items like potions or common equipment like long staffs and short swords. The items they expend in the battle were far more expensive than that.

Of course, everyone would realize it too. At the beginning of the battle, everyone was hot-blooded, and both sides poured in considerable efforts in an attempt to gain the upper hand. But when their core members began to suffer casualties, Dimitri ordered his elites to pull back and send in the regular members. Eric used that as an opportunity to display his newly acquired spells.

Such large-scale battles oftentimes wouldn't require skills and strategy. All the participants needed to do was charge in the general direction of wherever everybody was charging. But even then, the regular members were not fools. When they saw that everyone was losing against the might of the mages of White Unicorns, most of them dying and losing their equipment, the battle slowly died.

It was White Unicorns' victory, proving its rightful place as number 2 in the leaderboards.

The battle was decided the moment Eric sent in their mages that had AoE elemental damage. The majority of members of the Fate Alliance Guild had been wiped out by the spells' might, and it was a one-sided massacre that left no one alive.

Those Elemental Books that Ren brought had shifted the fight in White Unicorns' favor.

Just like that, they claimed victory.

However, the battle raged next in the internet world. Even after suffering huge losses, Fate Alliance Guild was commended for their bravery in fighting a guild such as White Unicorns.

Of course, White Unicorns wouldn't take it without retaliation. Once again, a battle ensued between the two guilds, but this time, the venues were the forums and chats.

Meanwhile, the number of people who admired Ren and wanted his service increased by the day. At this point, he had already received thousands of invitations to join other guilds. However, he rejected them all.

World Conquerors badly needed that research and organizing department, or else they would forever be swamped with work.

The Guild Wars was also fast approaching, together with COVENANT's Halloween Event. Many top guilds were asking World Conqueror to help them with the upcoming occasion.

"Wow, look at this. Ferocious Ravens are willing to give us all the gil rewards if we help them win this month's guild war," said Leonel as he read the group's emails.

Ren, Leonel, and Evie were back in World Conqueror's HQ while the rest were out on a mission. After doing some series of jobs, they were back to organizing and picking their next set of work.

"We won't be participating in the Guild Wars," announced Ren.

"We aren't?" both Leonel and Evie asked at the same time.

"Why not?" Leonel added. "All the jobs related to the Guild Wars involve a lot of money."

Ren's eyes were still stuck reading and replying to his emails as he answered Leonel's question. "The Guild Wars this time might be different. And besides, this type of event is usually so formal and attracts a lot of attention. Not to mention a lot of money.

"The first time that we interfered was alright. However, if we interfere again now, it would create a lot of backlash for both our clients and ourselves. A guild winning because of outside help wouldn't fit well with the masses, and the powerful people who are going to bet on their winning guild wouldn't let us off either."

Ren finally gave Leonel his prized stare. "Do you know how much money revolves around that thing that even the Government declared it as a national holiday?"

Leonel swallowed hard. "M-millions?"

"Billions."

Leonel's eyes went wide. "T-that much?!"

"So let's not interfere so much with the Guild Wars from now on. Clearing dungeons, defeating bosses, getting first bloods, and completing quests are safe jobs for us since those things are accessible to all.

"A guild war, however, only happens once a month, and it immediately shoots the winning guild to the top. The rewards are also huge enough for the investors to double or even triple their investment if they won."

"I didn't know that our job is that dangerous." Leonel couldn't help but feel a little afraid of what Ren said.

He immediately deleted all emails related to the Guild Wars from his part of the mail and even deleted them from his trash folder.

"No worries, you have Isolde," teased Ren, though his face remained stoic. "No one would dare touch the boyfriend of a gangster."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny," Leonel retorted, unamused.

He was about to tease Ren, too, since Evie was present, but it seemed like Ren had read his thoughts. The latter's piercing glares were already burning a hole through him.

Leonel could only sigh and get back to what he was doing.

His friend's romance could wait. Forcing it wouldn't do any of them good. And besides, it looked like Ren's time finally came, seeing Evie's constantly staring at him.

If Leonel noticed Evie's weird glances, so did Ren.

And he couldn't take it anymore. Ren's nerves were wreaking havoc at her attention, so he asked her, "What is it?"

Evie's head was filled with what the girls in Golden Phoenix said that Ren liked her that she didn't even notice that she had been staring at him for a long time.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)