Chapter 48: Solo Raid III

Having returned to the guild, Keane walked through the entrance with the same calm expression he had left with, very confident.

The clerk at the front desk looked up, surprised to see him. "You’re back already?"

"Yes." He answered with a small smile as he approached.

"That was fast? How far did you get? Didn’t make it that far?" She joked.

"The end." Keane said, maintaining composure.

"The end?"

"Yes."

"H-hey, you’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking."

By then, a few nearby adventurers looked over, listening in to their conversation.

Taking out the completion token he had secured from the guards at the gate site, he placed it on the counter.

The clerk picked it up, and having gone through it, her expression changed. Only then did it dawn on her that Keane wasn’t joking, and was actually being serious.

She looked at the token, then at Keane, then back at the token. "Did you... reallyclose the gate?"

"Apparently, it seems." Keane said the last part almost to the hearing of no one.

Those listening from the side were just as shocked by that statement.

The clerk swallowed. "You’re aware that this was a managed gate, right?"

"I assumed so, yes." Keane answered, doing well to maintain composure.

"You were supposed to clear monsters and return, not wipe the entire place clean... and the boss?"

"Dead."

"And the core?"

"Destroyed." He said, bringing out the fragments he collected and placing them before her.

The clerk stared at the fragments completely dumbfounded.

After a moment, she lowered her voice. "You just closed a profitable gate."

"I didn’t know that was a problem." Keane tried to protest, but to no avail.

A few minutes later, Keane found himself sitting across from a Guild officer who looked like he was trying very hard not to become angry.

"The Guild maintains certain gates for resource harvesting," the officer explained. "Monsters regenerate, and several materials regenerate that can be collected repeatedly. Adventurers are paid for clearing dangerous areas without destroying the entire gate."

Keane nodded.

"Look, I’m really sorry, alright? It was an accident, and I’m ready to bear the cnsequences... trusting they aren’t too harsh."

The officer stared at him for a moment before speaking.

"There’s a closure penalty." He said, going through some files and then taking out a piece of paper that he slid towards Keane.

Keane looked down, and looking at the amount, it certainly was too harsh. His expression, however, remained calm. Internally, however, he was annoyed.

’10,000 gold coins. So I basically did extra work and got fined for it.’

"The penalty isn’t intended to punish you for clearing the gate. It’s compensation for the Guild’s lost future income and the cost of maintaining replacement routes." The officer continued.

Keane nodded slowly, understanding how it made sense, not that he liked it.

"Can I pay it from the reward?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I’ll start with that then." Keane said.

Seeing how he was ready to comply, the officer looked relieved.

’Fine.’ Keane leaned back. ’I’ll certainly remember that next time.’ He said in his mind. Or more accurately, he would make sure there wasn’t a next time.

If he entered another managed gate, even if he was to end up killing the boss, he would leave the core alone so the gate didn’t close. Normally, adventurers ignore even the boss, but for Keane who gained experience points from hunting monsters, that wasn’t efficient.

Speaking of which, the gate hadn’t really yielded much, from that alone he already knew that he needed something stronger.

’I need to kill something beyond Mortal Realm.’ He thought to himself.

That would finally tell him something. The thought was more interesting than the money, but first, he needed the money.

He wondered if they’d allow him into another gate so soon. ’They must, else how would I be able to pay back?’

.

By the time Keane left the office, half the Guild seemed to know what had happened. From the looks alone, he could tell. It would seem that gossip was very active among idle folk indeed.

While that was the case, Keane had got something wrong.

It was true that they weren’t simply staring because he was Gold rank, Gold-rank adventurers weren’t rare enough to cause this much attention after all. It was because of the gate issue, but they were staring because he had entered a gate alone and come back after closing the entire thing singlehandedly.

It was only after a while that Keane recognized the expression. He had seen the same thing at work whenever a programmer discovered a profitable exploit or someone found a way to solve a problem everyone else thought was expensive and planned to leverage on it.

Not long after he got it, a man walked up to him with a friendly smile on his face. If one didn’t know better, they’d really think it was genuine.

"Keane, right?"

"Yes, how can I help you?" He answered. He wasn’t polite, but he wasn’t rude either, just bland.

"I’m Daren. Silver rank." He introduced himself.

Keane waited without saying anything, watching as the man continued smiling.

"I’ve got a small team. We usually handle Middle Mortal gates. If you’re looking for reliable people..."

He left the sentence unfinished, though Keane understood.

’You want to join me.’ He said in his mind.

Before he could answer, another adventurer stepped forward.

"We’ve got a healer."

"We have a scout."

"We can handle logistics, greatly reducing stress and workload." Another said.

"I’ve got three years of dungeon experience."

The offers started coming.

Keane could only look around dumbfounded... ’so shameless.’ He thought. It was almost funny.

’Smart.’ He couldn’t even criticize them. If he were in their position, he’d do the same thing, just maybe not as shamelessly. Power was an investment after all.

He declined most of the offers politely, but he didn’t dismiss everyone. He especially took interest in the one who could handle logistics, and a few others.

From here, he looked to get in touch with those who had connections, information, or practical knowledge outside just guild and adventurer work, if there were any.

He hadn’t intended to build a group like this, but even this wasn’t bad either.

After the place calmed a bit, the first adventurer who had introduced himself could be seem lightly gnashing his teeth to the side in regret, thinking of how he could have taken the opportunity if it wasn’t the rest of the greedy bastards all around him.

Moving to a different section, Keane spoke briefly to those he chose, and fixed a day for them to meet and talk. With that done, he left the building for the day. He had gone to get another contract, but none was available.