The atmosphere in the inn was lively, filled with the murmur of merchants and adventurers drinking after a long day.

Ryan, Beatrice, and Karol were seated at a table in the back, enjoying a hot meal they hadn’t tasted since they left the dungeon.

"Do you think the spy group will be alright on their own?" Beatrice asked in a low voice, taking a sip of her drink while looking at Ryan.

"Yes, I’m not worried about them. They should know how to move well without drawing attention," Ryan responded calmly, cutting a piece of meat. "Actually, I’m more worried about you two."

Karol puffed out her cheeks immediately, offended by Ryan’s lack of trust.

"Hey, for these kinds of infiltration and information gathering things, I’m much more competent than Helen or Mirian, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Ryan replied with a sarcastic tone, causing Beatrice to let out a small, muffled laugh.

"Although Karol might actually be right," Beatrice added.

"Of course."

Then, following a few minutes while they maintained a quiet conversation, a shadow was cast over their table.

A woman in light leather armor stopped right next to them. Ryan immediately inspected her silently, activating his system evaluation without her noticing.

’She is an A-rank spearman. But her base stats are far superior to those of a normal A-rank. She possibly has a hidden epic weapon equipped.’

Ryan analyzed in a fraction of a second, adopting a relaxed posture so as not to give himself away.

"Are you guys new adventurers? I haven’t seen you around here before," the woman said amicably, resting a hand on the empty chair.

The group acted completely normal, limiting themselves to nodding their heads without offering any more information than necessary.

While they weren’t exactly being friendly by omitting verbal responses, it is also true that this is common behavior among adventurers.

"I assume you’re here for the commission; most foreign adventurers have been coming for the exact same thing lately,"

she continued, running her gaze over the trio’s light equipment.

"But looking at your current gear, I don’t recommend it at all. It’s far too dangerous. You should give up, I’m saying this for your own good."

’What commission?’ Ryan asked himself internally.

He knew that asking directly would make him look completely ignorant of the area, so he decided not to do it.

Instead, he would try to steer the conversation to force the spearman to reveal the information on her own.

"So, you’re here to scare off the rookies, huh? It seems the rumors were true," Ryan said with a challenging smile.

The girl changed her affable expression in an instant. A vein clearly popped on her forehead, showing her irritation.

"What rumors are you talking about?"

"When I entered the city, there was a group of people talking in a panic in the plaza. It was annoying, but someone said that a guild lackey was taking it upon herself to scare off the rookies to keep the job for herself," Ryan lied with smooth fluency.

Beatrice and Karol exchanged glances while keeping their faces expressionless. At least to Ryan, seeing them act that way made it feel as if they knew exactly what he was planning, and realizing that gave him a great deal of satisfaction.

’They can play along without a problem, well done.’

"Tsk." The spearman clicked her tongue with evident annoyance.

"So they are going around saying that about me. I’m only doing it for your own good, and the well-being of all the rookies. These are not things you can handle. But if you’re so hell-bent on dying, go right ahead, volunteer yourselves to go protect the A-rank dungeon that appeared on the borders with Demon King Lucerys’s territory."

’So it was just about that. Now I understand why she was saying it.’

"Hey, I just limited myself to mentioning what I heard. As you could tell, we are new here; in any case, thank you for your genuine concern."

Ryan grabbed a mug with a drink from the table and took a sip.

"I just might take you up on that."

She made a dismissive gesture with her hand, turning around to walk away toward the bar.

"Suit yourselves, I was only trying to be nice." Those were her last words before she disappeared into the inn’s crowd.

Ryan immediately looked at his companions. They looked at each other with an expression of having no idea what the woman had just said, which was logical considering they had just arrived in the city.

"That Demon King is one of the most powerful,"

Karol explained in a whisper, leaning over the table.

"The church, which is the only force that has the highest-level SS-rank soldiers under its control, struggles immensely to keep him at bay. They have been at a stalemate in that region for quite some time."

"If a dungeon portal appeared right on that border, Lucerys will definitely send high-ranking demons to try and take it or seal it," Beatrice commented with a serious expression.

Ryan processed the information rapidly.

’I don’t want to get involved in any more problems for the time being. If I plan to take over Rigal’s lands in the future, it would be best not to get into conflicts with other demon kings.’

He was immensely glad to have forced the spearman to talk. Now a lot of things began to make sense to Ryan. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

’It’s true, it was because of that.’

It made all the sense in the world that the church hadn’t sent their best soldiers, those ranked higher than S, to hunt him and the heroines down in the village.

They were busy dealing with their own problems against Demon King Lucerys.

At that moment, Ryan stopped eating and stared fixedly at Beatrice in an intense manner, and then directed that same calculating gaze toward Karol.

They, puzzled by the sudden shift in the atmosphere, stopped their movements.

"What’s wrong?" Beatrice asked, feeling a bit self-conscious.

"I’m sorry, but tonight I won’t let you sleep," Ryan declared in a completely serious tone.

"Are you thinking perverted things?" Karol asked, opening her eyes wide in surprise.

"He is definitely thinking about that," Beatrice affirmed, crossing her arms and looking at him with suspicion.