The Author's POV

-Knock!

Thirty minutes after Victor left, Patrick heard someone knocking on his door.

"Come in"

Entering the room, Victor bowed slightly and said

"Guild Master, as per your orders, we've looked through all of the camera footage from the night where the incident happened."

Pausing, looking at Patrick straight into the eyes, Victor solemnly said

"We found something..."

Nodding his head, Patrick spoke

"Show me"

Tapping on the holographic function of the tablet, a 3D video replayed in front of Patrick. The camera angle pointed towards a rather secluded parking lot area near the nightclub.

Pointing at the video, Victor said

"In one of the video cameras, we managed to spot a suspicious individual exiting the venue right after the fight started. The most interesting part regarding that individual is that he was wearing a skin mask"

Frowning, Patrick couldn't help but glance at Victor as he asked.

"A skin mask? That is indeed suspicious, did you managed to find out his identity"

Right now, he didn't really care about the details.

He just wanted to find the guy responsible for crippling his son...

Nodding his head, using the holographic function of the tablet, a profile appeared before Patrick.

"we've managed to identify the identity of the masked man that was responsible for taking the young master's arm."

"With reference from the database from the system, we managed to identify the man as Patrick Marr. He is currently working as a manager for a construction firm not so far from here, and other than that there were no notable discoveries...however, once we dug further we were able to find a crucial piece of information."

Pausing slightly, Victor looked at Patrick and slowly said

"The company he is currently working for is a subsidiary of Bull's wrath"

Nodding his head from time to time as he heard Victor talk, pausing for a moment as if something clicked inside of his mind, Patrick fell into deep thought.

"Bull's wrath, Bull's wrath...I see"

Repeating the name a couple of times, a trace of a smile appeared on his face

That indeed sounded suspicious.

Bull's wrath.

If Patrick thought about it, the guild that would benefit the most out of Luxious fighting against Sword of Light would definitely be them...

They too were a gold graded guild, and compared to the other gold graded guilds in the vicinity, they were the ones that were closest to both Sword of Light and Luxious.

Moreover, both Luxious and Sword of Light had conflicts with Bull's Wrath...

"I see..."

As his thoughts paused there, the frown on his brows deepened.

His instincts told him that Bull's Wrath were indeed the ones responsible for instigating the conflicts between Sword of Light and them, however...

He didn't have enough evidence.

Just because the culprit worked for a subsidiary that was under Bull's Wrath control didn't mean they were actually working for them...

They could very well be hired mercenaries in disguise.

This would mean that this was planned by someone else and that they were trying to insinuate that Bull's Wrath was behind it...

"Just who is it..."

The more Patrick thought about it, the more questions emerged in his mind.

Just who?

If only he had more evidence...

-Knock! -Knock!

Snapping Patrick out of his thoughts was the sound of someone knocking on the door. Regaining his usually cold bearing, Patrick coldly said

"Come in"

Opening the door, wearing a black suit, an individual came in

"Master, we have received another report..."

...

-Tak!

"What did you do with the two guys you brought here last time?"

Pausing for a moment, my hand froze for a split second.

It took me a couple of seconds to understand what Smallsnake was talking about.

That's right...Smallsnake was the one who helped me carry the bodies of the two individuals I met at Ryan's house

"Them?"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake asked once again

"Yeah, what did you do with them?"

"...ah about that, they sort of escaped"

"huh?"

"Yup.

They escaped.

When I returned from my trip to Ryan's house, I brought them to a relatively isolated storage space and tied them up with a rope. I wanted to interrogate them and all, but...

Well, I had to go to the bathroom.

By the time I returned they were already long gone.

Very negligent on my side..."

As I recounted what had happened, noticing Smallsnake's darkening face, I coughed in embarrassment

"kheummm...I obviously didn't let them go that easily...kheumm...I am confident with regards to my knot tying skills...and honestly, I tried really hard to look for them. Ten minutes in, I had to give up as I really couldn't find them"

-Bam!

Smashing my fist against the desk, I angrily spat

"...damn, how could I have been so negligent"

Sighing, Smallsnake shook his head as he said

"Sigh, your acting is really terrible"

Opening my eyes wide, a hurt look appeared on my face. Wiping the corner of my eye, I replied with an aggrieved tone

"Wha-at, what are you talking about? Why are you coming at me like that Smallsnake?...How could you belittle me like that?"

-Tak!

Shaking his head, moving a pawn, Smallsnake gestured for me to move

"your move"

Snorting, I replied

"Hmph, you changing the topic won't change the fact that I'm pissed"

...

"Victor contact the guild master of Sword of Light"

"As you wish"

With his hands interlocked behind his back, Patrick stared at the window of his office.

To think Bull's wrath was so audacious and ambitious enough to think that they could play the oriole without getting caught...

How audacious indeed

Smirking, Patrick couldn't help but think to himself

...Their plan might've actually succeeded if not for the fact that they had been negligent on their end.

Just moments prior, he received a report detailing the fact that two of his subordinates had just come back heavily injured.

After healing them, they instantly recounted everything that had happened.

From how they were trying to recruit Ryan, to suddenly finding themselves ambushed and how they miraculously escaped...

For the most part, Patrick didn't care...however, a certain section of the report intrigued him

'I saw that the aggressor had an insignia of a bull with a cross inside of his sleeves...'

Bull with a cross.

That was Bull's Wrath's insignia...

From then, Patrick read the report more seriously and got a better idea of what had happened.

Apparently, someone wearing Bull's Wrath insignia stopped them from recruiting the kid that they had a slight interest in...

Although it didn't prove that Bull's Wrath was responsible for the conflict, it was enough for Patrick

He didn't believe in coincidences

He had already sent the information to Sword of Light...now it was time to wait.

He will definitely make them pay for what they've done.

...

-Tak!

Moving one of the chess pieces on the board, Smallsnake couldn't help but ask

"So basically you redirected everything you did to Bull's Wrath?"

-Tak!

Nodding my head in confirmation I moved another one of my chess pieces. Glancing at the board, apart from a few pieces, almost everything was gone.

"Yeah, pretty much"

Frowning, Smallsnake asked

"Why Bull's wrath though?"

Out of all the guilds he chose to use as a scapegoat, why Bull's Wrath?

He was genuinely curious.

Smiling, whilst waiting for Smallsnake to make a move, I said

"There are multiple reasons why I chose Bull's wrath...geographically they are the closest guild next to Sword of Light and Luxious."

"They hold a grudge with both Luxious and Sword of Light"

"They are famous for being overbearing, and taking whatever they wanted..."

Pausing slightly, my eyes narrowed

"...but out of all the reasons, the most important out of all points that I have just listed...is that they too showed interest in Ryan..."

"...and you don't touch what I already set my eyes on"

"Ah..."

Nodding his head, Smallsnake somewhat understood.

Apart from the last point, everything he said was reasonable.

Be it geographically, reputation-wise, and relationship-wise, Bull's Wrath was the ideal guild to put the blame on.

That he didn't disagree with.

As his thoughts paused there, Smallsnake couldn't help but be impressed. The level of detail in the plan was something that even he, someone who has seen a lot, couldn't help but be impressed with.

-Tak!

Placing his piece down, Smallsnake asked

"Can I ask you one more question?"

"Go ahead"

"What happens after Sword of Light and Luxious beat Bull's Wrath? Won't they just focus their attention back on Ryan then?"

Hearing Smallsnake's questions, a smile appeared on my lips. Shaking my head, I laughed

"hahaha, you forgot something Smallsnake"

Pausing, I slowly said

"...human greed is boundless"

"Even if Sword of Light and Luxious win, you didn't forget that both of their heirs are currently heavily injured right?"

Shaking his head, Smallsnake said

"No"

Seeing that he was following, I continued

"The alliance is merely temporary, by the time both guilds swallow Bull's Wrath...they will soon both be at each other's throat fighting for what little remains of Bull's Wrath as an excuse to weaken each other"

"Though on the surface it was an alliance, it was merely one made out of convenience."

"As soon as Bull's Wrath was out of the picture, they will immediately fight against each other"

"...by then, no matter who wins, they would be so busy fighting each other that that years would've already have passed"

"And during the time they were fighting, Ryan would already have been long forgotten by them..."

"...In the end, what I did was something that would've inevitably have happened in the near future regardless of my interfere-"

-Ding!

Stopping me midsentence, my phone rang. As soon as it did, a smile appeared on my face

"Ahh, finally"

Checking my phone, and confirming that it was indeed the message I was looking for, my smile deepened.

[Sword of Light and Luxious have jointly declared war against Bull's Wrath]

-Tak!

Moving my queen diagonally to the black king, I said

"Checkmate"

[Game over - White won]

Staring at the chessboard that displayed the large 'You won' sign, I couldn't help but glance at Smallsnake and say

"...ahh, don't you just love it when everything falls into place?"