The lines were drawn as the palace in the Human Kingdom capital rapidly filled up. The three Dukes would be in attendance, and not just with projections either, but their real selves. Borderline every noble of any influence had shown up, and when the king also entered along with his wife – a mid-tier A-grade – things got even more intense. Especially when the old man following behind the two of them was seen. He was slightly hunched over, and had a frizzled beard and no hair, with an overall weak-looking demeanor, but his aura told a whole other story.
Jake, who was also taking part in this “party,” if one can really call it that, stood on a balcony and overlooked as these people entered. His gaze temporarily landed on the Lord Protector, as he was called. While he was no Snappy, in the context of this world, he was definitely one of the strongest. A peak A-grade existence that Jake saw even the otherwise arrogant Duke of Flames approach respectfully as he bowed to the old man.
Now, while attending this party was wholly expected based on the trajectory of all the special missions he had done thus far, the way he had gotten his invite was a bit… off. Not because he had gotten one but because Jake had ended up getting four separate invites. One from the Duke of Flames’ daughter and the dukedom she worked, with another one from PETE, a third from the Duke of Flames, and the final one from the Guild itself, which gave Jake a Special Courier Job to attend the party. It didn’t specify what Jake had to do once there, just to attend it.
He wondered if the Special Courier Job was a failsafe if someone failed to get invited or if it was something everyone who had gone down this same quest path received. Then again, everything else revolving around the party was Side Jobs from all the different factions. So maybe he was meant to always get this Special Courier Job? In either case, Jake found It pretty funny getting all those invites, especially as he had to go through a complex “vetting process” before he got each, where every faction wanted to ensure Jake was truly on their side.
How the hell he had passed every single of of them, Jake had no idea. All of them used lie detectors, and Jake even ended up meeting the person who had killed those adventurers who had been with the scalekin mage. It was the Duchess of the dukedom that the Duke of Flames’ daughter had allied with, and an A-grade in her own right. She was a powerful karmic mage, and she also used her magic to scan Jake throughout their entire vetting process, and ended up walking away with the conclusion Jake didn’t have any positive karmic relations with the other factions. She did point out how Jake didn’t have a particularly good connection with her and her husband’s dukedom either, but Jake easily excused that by saying he was being a professional and just working with them. They were still a bit suspicious, but after he passed a lie detector confirming he wasn’t “working for the benefit” of any of the other factions, they approved him and gave him an invite.
This process was pretty much the same with all of the factions, though their means to confirm Jake was, at the very least, not working with the enemy varied a bit. Jake was honestly kind of lucky in this entire process because he could truthfully say he held no positive feelings toward any of the other factions and that he didn’t work to support them. They couldn’t ask if he was working with them, period, because as an infinite loop agent, he naturally was, so as long as he didn’t support them, that had to be good enough, right?
Jake also came to learn that apparently, Couriers were even respected in royal courts. Alright, the low-ranked Couriers probably weren’t, but Jake was considered a highly respected professional by now with lots of experience. Never mind the fact Jake hadn’t even had the job for a year.
As he was standing and overlooking all the guests arriving, Jake considered what his next move would be. The king organized this party, but at the request of two of the three dukedoms because they all wanted to use it to “expose” their enemies. As for how they would expose them? Well, they all had the exact same plan that could be summed up in one word:
Jake.
Not only was he their star witness, but he was also the guy with all the evidence. All of them had asked him to get an ancient rarity Medallion before this meeting, as with it, his trustworthiness would be even higher. Who wouldn’t give a high-ranking Courier with an impeccable track record at least some trust and hear him out?The problem was that Jake still didn’t like any of them. Exposing PETE’s leader, as well as the fact they worked with another dukedom that hatred the Duke of Flames, seemed like the easiest solution to causing a big conflict. Of course, he could also expose the fact that the Duke of Flames was running an illegal drug and weapon trade in collusion with an enemy country to fund his endless hunger for elementals or maybe that the daughter of the Duke of Flames liked to “punish” those who helped her father for fun behind his back.
PETE was the easiest to deal with. They were the weakest stand-alone faction by far, and Jake had a hard time not seeing them burn to the ground no matter what he did to expose them. He had learned that nobody, not even their allied dukedom, knew the true identity of their leader, so that was something Jake could expose to get rid of them.
However, Jake had begun to form another plan.
What if he just exposed all of them at once to the king and just sat back as he watched the world burn? What if he made some false statements to involve the third dukedom that otherwise wasn’t part of anything? Or maybe even a foreign country?
As Jake was still deep in thought and saw that the final guest had just about arrived, he noticed someone walk up beside him. Jake was leaning on the railing of the balcony, and this person joined him in looking at all the esteemed guests below.
“Quite the gathering,” the man said with a smile.
“It is indeed,” Jake said as he glanced at the newcomer. He gave off the aura of an early B-grade and looked on the younger side. He had long, combed-back hair and gave off a confident demeanor, and while Jake didn’t recognize him, he already knew who it was as he picked up the presence the man was disguising.
Ah… there it is… Jake thought to himself. He had been waiting for the final twist to reveal itself, and here it was. During all this time when Jake had worked with all of these different factions, there was one place that did know everything Jake was up to. Not his thoughts or plots, but they did know he did work for all of them at the same time.
He was naturally speaking of the Guild itself.
“I heard you are quite the distinguished guest today,” the man stated as Jake subtly felt the area around them shift as a sound-isolation barrier appeared without anyone around noticing. “Many friends in high places.”
“Not sure I would call them friends, but my work indeed takes me around, and I am here for work today as well,” Jake said with a shrug. “I am a Courier, after all. Completing jobs is what I’m meant to be doing.”
“And quite a Courier you are. Within a year, you went from a total newcomer to someone so highly respected,” the man said with a big smile. “I even heard that you have a borderline perfect track record, never really messing up any jobs, despite what hiccups you may have encountered.”
“Just doing my best,” Jake said as he kept leaning and looking down at the crowd while talking to the man who did the same.
“That I believe… the question is, what will you do now?”
Jake turned and looked at the man as he answered. “I don’t know quite yet… does the Guild Founder have any suggestions?”
That’s right, the plot twist was that the Guild Founder was also going to at this party and approach Jake! Had he kind of predicted this would be the case? Not fully, but he did suspect there would be one more twist, and the Guild Founder revealing himself during this party would be entirely on-brand for the Challenge Dungeon.
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However, Jake didn’t want to lose his agency and momentum by having the Founder reveal himself at an inopportune time. Besides, Jake being able to recognize the S-grade despite his technique to hide who he was, even from the peak A-grade, had to impress him, right?
The Founder frowned at Jake’s question. “Guild Founder? I apologize if I gave you the wrong impression, but I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Jake smiled a bit as he turned back to look down at the crowd, who were far too busy socializing to notice the two of them. “You know, none of those people down there can recognize you, so I understand why you question how I could. It wasn’t anything you messed up; I just have a little something that is also part of the reason I am a good Courier: Good intuition.”
“So you believe I am this Guild Founder just because of some gut feeling?” the man who was totally the Founder questioned.
“No, I know you are the Guild Founder because of my gut feeling,” Jake answered in a confident tone. “You have hidden your S-grade aura well, good enough to fool pretty much everyone in this world… but not me.”
“Quite loose reasoning for such an impactful statement,” the man said with a light smile, seemingly not really trying to hide who he was anymore.
“My instincts are more trustworthy than anything anyone can ever tell me,” Jake shot back.
“In that case, what are your instincts telling you to do in this situation where you look down upon the people gathered here, knowing you hold the power to upend the entire political landscape with nothing but words?” the Founder asked in a serious tone, having dropped the act.
“They aren’t telling me to do anything, but they do make me fully aware that things are, for the lack of a better word, fucked. Powerful nobles are fighting while the uninvolved people just living in their territories suffer, and everyone is doing shit under the table, trying to get one over each other all the time, never daring to openly confront anyone,” Jake said with a sigh.
The Guild Founder slowly nodded as he spoke. “It is shameful, but yes, things are indeed a mess. Tell me, do you know why the Guild was initially established?”
“Enlighten me,” Jake offered as he felt another option to resolve this entire mess of a storyline slowly materialize. He remembered the dwarf attendant in the very first Guild he ever entered telling him the Founder had made the Guild around forty thousand years ago, but never the reason, so he was also a bit interested.
“Back in the day, before the Guild, all of the enlightened races were united to some extent to fight back the monster factions led by the dragon tribe. The borders were open, there was free travel and trade, and friendly meetings between monarchs were frequent. Despite the constant conflict with an enemy faction, it was a more peaceful time for the regular citizens back then, living far from the battlefield,” the Founder began explaining the lore of the Guild.
“It was a tough time for those of us who did live close to the frontlines, though, and I grew up right on those borders. I found out at an early age I had potential and quickly rose to power with the sole intent of finally bringing peace by defeating the Dragon King and ending the war. When I made it to S-grade, I challenged the Dragon King and managed to come out on top. The dragon tribe crumbled after that, and the monsters united under the tribe scattered, some forming their own factions that stand to this day. I genuinely believed my actions would be the end of conflict… but in the world of politics, there always needs to be an enemy, it appears.”
Jake nodded along. Having an enemy meant you had something to unite against. In fact, Jacob’s father, Arthur, had used this strategy to gather the United Cities Alliance against Jake and those with divine factions, making a boogieman out of them.
“The once peaceful alliance between the enlightened races fractured, and the lines were drawn. Borders closed, wars began to brew, and things were looking more dire than ever. No one talked. Everyone expected others to plot against them, as they, too, were plotting against someone else. I at first tried to calm everyone, but I was treated with nothing but fear and heard nothing but false promises and platitudes. Something had to be done, and in the end, I settled on making the Guild.”
“You did it to create a neutral faction that could operate across borders to get people talking?” Jake questioned.
“Precisely,” the man smiled. “At least at first. The scope of the Guild’s dealings only expanded from there until it became the organization you see today, but the original plan was for Couriers to be wholly neutral parties whose primary job was to travel between countries to lessen the information gap. This did help, as some line of communication was opened up between the different factions… but that was then. Things have changed yet again, and it seems like the idea of what a Courier is has faded from memory. At least what the status of a Courier used to mean.”
Jake remained silent, but he was beginning to get a good idea as to where this entire thing was going, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.
“And you… you are a prime example of this change,” the Founder said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. “The intent was for Couriers to remain neutral, not getting too involved in politics, but now, nearly every force with any influence actively exploits the Courier system for their own gain. They make Couriers work with them despite that being contrary to what they should be doing. I was truthfully disappointed when I looked into you. Your track record was so brilliant, your word ethic impeccable, and I believed you were one of the most promising Couriers I had ever seen… yet you have chosen to work with these factions and gotten yourself so deeply embroiled in their factions, supporting them and-“
“Wrong on that one,” Jake quickly cut him off.
“Hm?” the Founder exclaimed with a frown. “Are you claiming you haven’t completed Special Courier Jobs for these factions in droves, each Courier Job submitted to further their goals?”
“That isn’t what you said. You said I supported them. Have I worked with them? Yes, but supporting would mean I helped them more than I hurt them, and right now, I think I’m pretty even on that one with all of them.”
The frown on the Founder’s brow deepened. “What are you saying?”
Jake turned to look at him directly again. “That I don’t support any of them. Also, don’t get it twisted; I wasn’t the one who chose to work with them. The Guild did. The Guild accepted all these Special Courier Jobs. Shit, I got involved in this entire mess because of one such job, and now here we are. Or are you going to fault me for accepting jobs offered to me?”
Not gonna lie; Jake was a bit offended at what the Founder said, and he got the feeling he had to dispute it. He also just didn’t like the insinuation he was allied with any of the assholes in the hall… but from the looks of it, this Founder didn’t believe him at all.
“Have you truly deluded yourself that much, or are you simply trying to fool me for whomever you support? I know why you are here today, and I know of this internal conflict in the Human Kingdom. I also know you have come to assist one of the factions present in this hall,” the Founder said, shaking his head.
Before Jake had a chance to react, the man placed a hand on Jake’s shoulder. Some form of magic activated as the man infused a smidgen of power into Jake’s body, as Jake felt it search for something. “Even if you attempt to deceive me, I am far from new to this game. Your clear karmic connection with… with…”
The Founder just stared at Jake for a second before he cleared his throat. He lifted his hand slightly and placed it down again as another bit of energy was infused. “As I was trying to say, karma cannot be hidden even if… if…”
His words tailed off as he stared at Jake with wide eyes. “How is this possible? There is… nothing… what’s going on?”
Jake was also confused for a moment until he understood what had happened, and a lot of things suddenly fell into place. Without even thinking about it, he checked out a certain skill… and there it was in the description of Shroud of the Primordial.
“…The karmic threads in your wake, an endless web impossible to unravel…”
So… well… it turned out that no one being able to detect his karmic connection was pretty damn good when trying to hide who he had any connections to.
The Malefic Viper smiled as he saw the horrified look on the Wyrmgod’s face as he realized what was going on at the same time as Jake. Minaga only flashed a giant grin filled with schadenfreude as he pointed at the Wyrmgod.
“I told you using karmic magic to detect faction allegiances was going to be a problem!”
“It is the most reliable way a person could detect something like that… and with them being A-grades and above, no C-grade should be able to block or avoid it…” the Wyrmgod answered in a defeated voice.
That’s right… in truth, what Jake had been doing this entire Challenge Dungeon was a horrible fucking idea for anyone normal. Fence-sitting and trying to get one up on everyone would have been discovered a long time ago by any of the many A-grade karma mages working for all of the larger factions. Simply lying wouldn’t be enough, and the second they detected Jake sewing good karma with any of the factions through efforts that helped them in any way he hadn’t been expressly told to, he would have been discovered.
But with Shroud of the Primordial, they simply couldn’t see anything. Mind you, Jake formed karma just like everyone else; Shroud did nothing to block any of that. But it sure as hell did make it impossible for a bunch of mortals to see jack-shit and coupled with their simplistic and over-tuned level of trust… yeah, it was a recipe for disaster, and the Malefic Viper was all for it.
“Wait…” Minaga suddenly said. “Won’t this also mess up the-“
“No spoilers,” the Viper interrupted him, enjoying this more than he probably should. “Let us all just enjoy the show as you take notes for fixes in the next iteration."