The Author's POV

[This is a godsent opportunity for us. With the mana density of the world rapidly increasing, our recruits will experience a faster rate of growth. Increasing the budget for rookie recruits should be our number one priority!]

[I disagree, I think we should approach this situation carefully. We still don't know anything about this phenomenon. In fact, I'm more worried about the dungeon overloads. If before there were no overloads due to the thin mana in the atmosphere, what about now that the density has increased? Our current priority is investing in the defensive budget.]

[I agree with this suggestion. If a dungeon overload truly happened, and the monsters don't die instantly, the consequences will be too much for us to handle. It's already bad enough that the guild leader isn't here, if something like this happened, scuse my words, we're fucked.]

[No, no, no you're wrong. This conservative thinking is wrong! We need to grasp the opportunity now! Train the youngsters for the future. We can use them to handle the dungeon overloads. It's a win-win situation! You guys are being too narrow minded!]

"Sigh."

Listening to the conversations happening in front of her, Amanda let out a long sigh.

Leaning back on her black chair as she gazed at the holographic projection in front of her.

At the moment the elders of the guild were discussing the measures the guild should take in response to the sudden increase in mana density.

This discussion had been taking place ever since the morning, and since then, there had been zero progress.

Zero.

Whenever an elder presented an approach, another one would quickly interject, and an argument would start.

This had persisted throughout the whole morning and had now become an endless cycle that tired Amanda to no end.

Really tired.

That being said, although she was only present out of formality, she did express her input from time to time, but the elders were simply too stubborn with their opinions.

They wouldn't listen to each other, let alone her.

[That doesn't work. The time it will take to train those recruits will be two to three years, can you guarantee that nothing will happen then?]

[Neither option is good. We should currently be focusing our strength on the production of magic cards. Once that hits, all those problems will no longer be a problem!]

"Haa..."

Letting out another sigh, Amanda raised her head and stared at the ceiling.

'I want to go home.'

She muttered inside of her mind.

Clank—!

Out of nowhere, the door suddenly burst open and an enraged Ren entered the room.

"This is bullshit, Amanda!"

Already expecting such a scene, pressing a blue button next to her, Amanda turned off the speaker of the call.

Lowering her head, she asked.

"What's wrong?"

Actually, she was merely pretending at the moment.

She knew exactly why he was angry.

"What do you mean, what's wrong?!"

Grabbing the guest chair and pulling it back, Ren exaggeratively sat down.

Leaning forward and pressing his finger on the table, he angrily spat.

"Mr. Han Yufei? Han Yufei?!"

"You came here for him too?"

Ren's finger paused.

"...Came for him too?"

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head with a stoic look.

"My secretary informed me not too long ago that he's coming. Should be here at any minute now."

"Bullshit!"

Standing up, Ren angrily smacked his hand on the table.

Pointing at himself, he spat.

"That was me!"

A frown emerged on Amanda's face.

"...Why would you be Han Yufei?"

Ren's mouth twitched. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he sat back down on the chair.

After he managed to calm down, he managed to say.

"Not once did I ever introduce myself as Han Yufei."

"How odd."

Tapping on the table, a thoughtful look appeared on Amanda's face.

"Could there have been a small misunderstanding? She did say the most handsome guy that I had ever seen, and that's Han Yufei. I thought that I made that clear to you back in Issanor."

The moment she said those words, Amanda watched as Ren's hands clench into fists.

"Ho, ho, ho."

His fake laugh rang throughout the room.

Raising her head and staring at his angered figure, the edges of Amanda's lips threatened to curl up.

'...Cute.'

She thought.

Amanda always found Ren's childish side cute.

Most of the time he tended to act mature, but he always had a childish side in him. One that she would see from time to time. No matter how much he tried to hide it, he couldn't.

Most notably was his petty side.

If there was one thing that Amanda noticed after having interacted with Ren long enough was that he was extremely petty.

That, and the fact that he was extremely insecure about his charm.

"Oy, oy are you listening to me?"

"Hm?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Amanda saw as Ren snapped his fingers in front of her face.

Finally getting her attention, a displeased look flashed across his face as he leaned back on his chair.

"You weren't paying attention at all."

"Sorry."

Amanda quickly apologized.

Brushing her hair by her ear, she asked.

"What were you saying? ...Can you repeat it for me?"

"Fine."

Letting out a long and exaggerated sigh, Ren once again started to speak.

"As I was saying, my charm is currently <B-> rank. That is planet topp—"

"Pfff."

Unable to keep her composure anymore, Amanda suddenly bursts out laughing.

"Hahaha."

Holding onto her stomach, she burst out laughing like never before.

Like morning bells, her laughter rang throughout the whole room.

As she laughed, she couldn't help but find all of her stress vanish out of thin air as her line of sight fell onto Ren.

Truly, only with him could she ever laugh like this.

"Oy, what's so funny?"

Ren angrily spat through his clenched teeth.

"Something funny about what I said?"

Covering her mouth with her hand, Amanda shook her head.

"N...no, not-hing funny."

Her voice trembled slightly. Clearly, she was having a hard time trying to hold her laugh in check.

"Whatever."

Ren said as he glared at galred at Amadna.

Crossing his arms and leaning back on the chair, he changed the topic.

"Jokes aside, I came here for two things."

Returning to his usual expression, he raised two of his fingers.

"One, I'm here to get some information regarding the magic card situation. I want to know if you have any problems."

Lowering one of his fingers, he added.

"Two, I want to ask you if you're free anytime soon. I'm going to bring Nola to watch...ehm..."

Scratching the side of his head, Ren frowned.

"What was it called again? Karamel? Chocolate? Kimbual? Kimchi...err, it's an idol group."

"You mean Kimbol?"

"Ah, yes that!"

Snapping his fingers, Ren nodded. However, his face suddenly turned strange.

"Hold on, how do you know that? Are you also into idols?"

"...No, I'm not."

Amanda shook her head. Before Ren could follow up, she continued.

"I know because that's Nola's favorite idol group."

"Ah, right."

During Ren's absence, Amanda was the one who spent most of her time with Nola, and therefore, she naturally knew about Kimbol. Her favorite idol group.

During the time they would spend together, Nola would always play their music and dance to their tunes.

Secretly, Amanda recorded everything. Not just her dancing, but just her everyday silliness.

Whenever she felt tired or down she would quickly replay the videos to herself.

The videos of Nola reminded her of the childhood she never had, and seeing that she was able to bring a smile to Nola, made Amanda feel warm.

It would always bring a smile to her face.

She didn't want Nola to experience what she went through in the past.

"...Do you want to come with me and Nola one of these days?"

Ren suddenly suggested.

Lowering his head and pointing at the files of papers on her desk, Ren added.

"It looks like you're also in need of a holiday."

Raising her head and staring at the elders that were still speaking, Amanda bitterly smiled.

"Tell me about it..."

Ever since returning from Issanor, she had not once taken a holiday nor a weekend off.

Although the videos of Nola dancing had helped her cope with the stress, they were nearly not enough.

Amanda did not answer immediately.

Leaning back on her chair, she looked toward the ceiling of the room and thought.

'Maybe I should also take a break.'

Honestly, if she asked, Amanda didn't doubt that the elders would give her a couple of days off.

Especially since she had barely taken any ever since joining. In fact, some of them would probably encourage her to do it.

Lowering her head and staring at Ren, Amanda smiled. The thought of going with him and Nola made her strangely happy.

"Okay."

"Really?"

Hearing her response, Ren's eyes lit up as he stood up. Seeing how excited he was, Amanda couldn't help but once again think.

'Cute.'

Those thoughts did not last for long, however, as Ren's next words caused the smile on her face to freeze.

"I'll quickly call Kevin and tell him about the concert. He also deserves a nice rest. Oh, I should probably call Jin, Emma, and Melissa too..."

Just as he was about to call him, he paused and mumbled something underneath his breath.

"No, this won't do. I need to find a way to screw all of them over somehow, what if I tell them it's something important and make them suddenly show up at an idol concert without knowing..."

Ren chuckled.

"Hehe, bet they will never see that one coming..."

"Ah..."

Listening to his words, Amanda let out a strange sound.

She then proceeded to lower her head. She should've seen it coming. Of course, it wasn't just going to be the two of them and Nola.

"Alright, I've messaged everyone."

After a while, lowering his phone, Ren nodded his head with a satisfied look on his face.

"They will definitely be very surprised."

"..."

Speechlessly staring at Ren from her seat, Amanda didn't know what to say.

Turning her head to look away from Ren, she softly mumbled.

"Idiot..."

***

Roshfield household.

It had taken a while for Oliver to clean up the mess that his cousin had created in the house, however, with him now gone, he was able to get it back on track within a couple of weeks.

"Haaa, finally all of the complicated stuff is out of the way."

Moving a file of papers by the side of his desk, Oliver tiredly sighed. Taking out another set of papers, he pinched the middle of his brows.

"Request to use invest in the Kolan crypto coin? An investment of 80 million U?"

Reading through the papers, Oliver frowned. Then, after a while, he dismissed the paper.

"Dismissed, the risk is too high and we're low on funds."

Compared to the time that he had been the head of the household, the funds that he had managed to accumulate over the years had rapidly shrunk. Through terrible investments, bribery, and lavish spending, the money quickly dried up.

The funds which Oliver thought would've lasted over a century, had turned into something that could barely cover their expenditure for the next five years.

Once his thoughts paused there, Oliver's fists clenched tightly.

"I should've made sure he died a more painful death..."

Jasper's death had been too easy. He should've tortured him for all the trouble he had caused his daughter and the guild members.

"Fuck."

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

To Tok—!

It was then that Oliver suddenly heard the sound of someone knocking on the door. Closing his eyes and sensing who it was, a smile appeared on Oliver's face.

"Come in."

Clank—!

Opening the door and quietly coming in was a girl with auburn-colored hair. She was none other than Emma.

Putting everything down, Oliver warmly smiled as he looked at his daughter.

"Emma, what brings you here this late at night?"

"Father."

Greeting her father with a simple nod, Emma closed the door behind her.

The smile on Oliver's face became bitter once he saw this.

He didn't know what happened, but ever since returning from Issanor, he found his daughter to be more reserved. She wasn't as cheerful as she was in the past.

'Is she sick?'

Oliver thought. However, he quickly dismissed such a thought.

No matter how he looked at her, she looked healthy. Maybe her complexion was a bit paler than usual, but that was about it.

It was then that a thought suddenly struck him.

'Could it be related to the boy that Ren was talking about?'

His brows furrowed.

If it was truly that, then it looked like he needed to have a talk with that boy.

Shaking his head to dismiss all those thoughts in his head, Oliver raised his head and looked at his daughter.

"Emma, if you have anything you wish to tell me, I'm all ears."

"Okay."

Emma nodded her head. Closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath, she stared straight into her father's eyes. Her next words caused the room too freeze over.

"Dad, I want you to give me permission to enter 'The fallen pit' dungeon."