"..."
Having been left on his own with the task of solving the chaotic situation that seemed to have occurred all the way in the Great Sky Kingdom, the tall muscular man slowly slumped back into his seat, a speechless expression on his face as he understood full well that this diligent little senior of his had somehow managed to successfully place this burden on him before he even had the chance to fight back or say anything.
Going along with how she normally did things, he wouldn’t be surprised that she had somehow already contacted those in charge of these kinds of emergency situations and informed them that he would be the one to take care of the situation in the Great Sky Kingdom.
Not just that but given his original involvement with the guild leader in charge of the capital branch of the Great Sky Kingdom, he understood that he essentially had no way to escape responsibility, as the assignment of that old friend was partly his. Meaning his old friend’s failure to report was his mess to clean up something he wanted to avoid, but something he couldn’t really avoid.
Troublesome as all of this might be, he couldn’t really blame his senior for throwing this problem to him. Only able to lean back with a somewhat exhausted expression on his face as he began wondering what had happened for his old friend to have suddenly turned to the Holy Flower Sect.
Although he knew that it was a very real possibility given that he was reaching the end of his lifespan, he had genuinely trusted this old friend and didn’t think he would end up betraying the Adventures Guild and cause something as horrible as a dungeon breach in the Great Sky Kingdom.
In a way, part of him was silently hoping that the fault wasn’t with his old friend but something different instead. After all, in that case, he wouldn’t be to blame for helping promote this old friend of his, while his old friend would be proven to be innocent in this matter.
The problem was... For something of this scale to have remained unknown to his old friend, he understood that it would mean that this old friend of his had already died and somehow been replaced by someone from the Holy Flower Sect without the Adventures Guild knowing about or his old friend had fallen under the control of thew Holy Flower Sect through some other means.
No matter what it was, it wasn’t exactly anything positive and would most of the time mean that his old friend had already died.
But... Compared to an old friend turning traitor at the end of his life, he much preferred the scenario where his old friend had already ended up dying and being replaced. After all, in that case, he wouldn’t have to personally get rid of this old friend when he got to the Great Sky Kingdom...
"Haaa... Hopefully the situation isn’t what I think it to be..." Muttering this to himself as he glanced down on the letter that his little senior had discreetly left for him detailing the current situation of the Great Sky Kingdom from the branch guild leader of the Howling Caverns Dungeon Guild Branch, he did feel some hope that his old friend hadn’t turned traitor and joined the Holy Flower Sect.
The reason for this being that the branch guild hadn’t mentioned anything about the capital branch guild leader, something that was rather odd given the current situation, as a capital branch guild leader would normally be at the forefront when this kind of situation took place.
For the capital branch guild leader to have seemingly disappeared into thin air, there was a higher likelihood that something had happened to him that prevented him from showing up.
Although there was a chance of him having run away to avoid responsibility, there was also a high chance of it being because something had long since happened to this capital branch guild leader that made it impossible for him to show up in person, that something being that he might have been secretly replaced.
After all, even though it might be simple for a major power like the Holy Flower Sect to have someone look the same as the capital branch guild leader and take over the position after getting rid of the original, it was impossible for this copy to reach anywhere near the same level of strength as the original.
Normal circumstances would have been fine, as it didn’t require fighting, but in the face of a dungeon breach, fighting would be inevitable for someone like a capital branch guild leader.
The reason being that outside of just being the local figureheads for the guild in a specific kingdom or empire, the capital branch guild leaders of the Adventures Guild were all S Rank Adventures.
For them to not join in when an emergency took place was... Odd... And gave the muscular man some hope that the situation regarding his old friend wasn’t about him betraying the Adventures Guild and joining the Holy Flower Sect to orchestrate the dungeon breach that had ended up taking place, but instead that his old friend had long since been killed off.
Sad as this outcome might be, it was far better that the capital branch guild leader turning to the side of the Holy Flower Sect. Assisting them in causing a dungeon breach that had already destroyed one of the dungeons that had been carefully managed under the Adventures Guild, with the rest of the dungeons inside the Great Sky Kingdom also teetering on the brink of having a monster stampede sweeping through them and potentially causing more dungeon breaches inside the Great Sky Kingdom.
One dungeon breach might be manageable, but if multiple dungeon breaches occurred inside a single kingdom, it wouldn’t just be about the Adventures Guild losing their dungeon infrastructure and a few large cities being forcibly abandoned. Instead, it would turn into a situation where the kingdom itself might be overrun and face destruction.
Not only would this reflect poorly on the Adventures Guild, but it would also cause them to lose influence in that region of the world. Meaning that a power like the Holy Flower Sect could move in during the chaos and establish themselves in the region.
Given that there had been a clear attempt to cause more than just a single dungeon breach within the borders of the Great Sky Kingdom, it was clear that the Holy Flower Sect should be aiming for this kind of outcome that would not only expand their influence but would also deal a significant blow to the Adventures Guild in the process.
With that in mind, it was clear that the cleaning up of the Great Sky Kingdom would be far from simple, as the Holy Flower Sect would undoubtedly continue interfering with the Adventures Guild and might even attempt to cause another dungeon breach.
Because of that, the trip to the Great Sky Kingdom couldn’t be handled carelessly and he had to ensure that there would be enough manpower to handle any unexpected situations, while at the same time also ensuring that the people chose could handle the situation.
After all, the main job of the Adventures Guild wasn’t to deal with factions like the Holy Flower Sect, but instead to deal with monsters and dungeons across the world. Not all adventures were keen on killing other humans and refrained from such tasks. Only focusing on dungeons to deal with monsters.
Even if the headquarters of the Adventures Guild was filled with countless S rank Adventures and even several who had exceeded this rank like the small senior of his from earlier, he couldn’t exactly just grab a handful of them and drag them all the way to the Great Sky Kingdom.
Unfortunately, S Rank Adventures didn’t work for free and even if he could convince a few of his friends to follow along because of who this incident involved, it would be difficult to convince more than a handful, as most friends of his weren’t always at the Adventures Guild.
Calculating the normal assets available for this kind of situation along with the few he could trick to follow for free; he guessed that he would only be able to pull along a dozen S Rank Adventures and a few hundred A Rank Adventures.
Terrifying as this force might seem, it was barely enough to contain a single dungeon breach and help suppress the other dungeons in the region and prevent any more dungeon breaches from occurring.
As for dealing with the Holy Flower Sect and their potential interference? That was where he came in.
If not for the Holy Flower Sect’s involvement, it was unlikely that someone like himself would have even been tasked with dealing with this situation, as that senior of his would most likely have thrown the task over to a junior to handle. After all, like her, he was also someone who had exceeded the S rank and could be considered at the pinnacle of the Adventures Guild.
Only dire situations or situations involving enemies of the Adventures Guild would require someone like him to act... And... As terrifying as a dungeon breach was, it wasn’t enough to justify him being dispatched to the Great Sky Kingdom. Only with the Holy Flower Sect involved and orchestrating the dungeon breach was it enough to justify an Adventurer that had surpassed the S Rank being dispatched to the region. Potentially weakening the Adventures Guild response if other situation should pop during his absence...