Ilyon approached the group that was healing Rowan slowly as he prepared his sword.

"He\'s lost a lot of blood"

Three members of White Iron chatted as they checked on Rowan\'s condition while crouching beside him.

"We can see that, but his body can still hold out till the swarm at the frontlines is taken care of. And with the herbs and potions we\'ve used, he should start feeling better soon"

"Thankfully, we have the guildmaster here or else those snakes would have killed us all"

At the end of that sentence, a shadow loomed over the three men as they turned their heads upwards, only to be shocked a moment later as one of them quickly spoke up.

"G-Guild master, what are you doing here?"

Ilyon looked at him, puzzled.

"Do I need a reason to inform you before checking on the Admiral\'s condition?"

Realizing his blunder, the man quickly apologized, hitting his head on the floor.

"Forgive me for stepping out of my boundaries! I had not noticed your presence beforehand!"

Ilyon\'s expression didn\'t change much as he replied.

"Hmm, if you\'re that willing, I might actually just forgive you, for a price that is"

The man\'s heart skipped a beat as he reluctantly asked…

"W-what is the price?"

The other two had their eyes glued to the beheaded bodies of the assassins lying on the floor.

While they were using all sorts of potions and herbs to heal Rowan, they hadn\'t heard Ilyon sending the group of adventurers to the frontlines.

Ilyon\'s lips released a thin smile as he spoke…

"I don\'t know, how about-"

*Shin*

"-your life"

Neither the man nor the other two saw it coming as Ilyon\'s sword had them beheaded before they could even comprehend such action.

Like the man before, expressions of disbelief were plastered to their faces as their heads fell to the floor and blood erupted from their necks as their bodies fell limp to the floor.

The three men were now exactly the same as the bodies they had seen just a moment prior.

Corpses.

Ilyon looked at them and muttered…

"You should be honored to have died for the future of the guild" he said, before turning his gaze to Rowan who was still unconscious on the ground.

The three men had moved Rowan away from his pool of blood.

\'Now, all I have to do is tell them a convincing story that the three men had silently stabbed him to make sure he died slowly because they wanted to take his ring. But I discovered them and swiftly killed them off as they tried to make excuses to buy time and flee\'

Ilyon nodded and looked around. There was no one nearby, so he would be the only eye-witness.

Only one other person remained, Motavu, but he was still lying unconscious ever since the snake flung him aside.

The three men hadn\'t checked his condition because they were dealing with Rowan. They would have done so after taking care of Rowan, but now, they were dead.

As he thought it over, he felt astonished.

\'To think he could come up with such a devious plan\'

The man with the glasses had been the one to enlighten him with this plan. He would kill both Rowan and Motavu, and then become the hero of the day. Even the Empire would have to compensate him for his efforts once he gave a report.

With it, he would rise in ranks if he was lucky enough. He could then become an Expert and work towards Master-rank from there.

Such a rosy future. Ilyon couldn\'t help but look forward to it, but he also knew the consequences for his actions were beyond dire.

The rewards would be lavish, but the risks were also no joke. That\'s why he killed the man with the glasses first and foremost.

A secret that more than one person knew was no longer a secret. Had he kept the man alive, he would\'ve become a double edged sword.

The man would hold his most fatal secret at hand and would no doubt use it to extort and blackmail him sometime in the future.

But a man who could think up such a scheme would be a very good ally for him.

In the end though, Ilyon chose the first method, getting rid of a problem before it became a problem. While the man would make an excellent subordinate, if he ever decided to switch sides, then Ilyon would no doubt be doomed.

So he killed the man the moment he finished telling him his plans.

There was a lot to be gained, but to make it a reality, he had to finish his dirty work.

Quickly, he took a dagger which had been handed to him by the man with glasses, amplified his hands with mana, and then stabbed a hole at the side of Rowan\'s abdominal region. Rowan\'s body shook and his face winced like he was having a bad dream, before ultimately ceasing movement.

Ilyon had moved back the moment Rowan\'s body shook, before sighing in relief when it stopped moving.

Ilyon was sure Rowan wasn\'t yet dead, but he would soon be with the rate he was losing blood.

The fact that Rowan couldn\'t even wake up after being stabbed that hard only served to increase Ilyon\'s confidence. To make sure it didn\'t look too messy, he left Rowan to bleed out while making sure not to step on the blood.

Next, he placed the dagger in the hands of one of the dead bodies of the three men and approached the unconscious Motavu, intent on doing the same, just with a different method.

Ilyon touched Motavu\'s body multiple times to make sure he was still unconscious and then crouched next to him.

Ilyon then pried Motavu\'s mouth open, quickly removed a vial from within his armor, and poured its contents into Motavu\'s mouth.

\'Whew, it\'s done. Now I just have to wait for-\'

Ilyon\'s inward jubilation was quickly cut short when Motavu\'s eyes snapped open to reveal a gaze of red.

His eyes were bloodshot as they landed on Ilyon, causing him to move back instinctively, before berating himself.

\'I have to kill him before he gets up\'

With such thoughts, Ilyon lunged at Motavu as he made a vertical slash with his sword.

A look of victory etched itself on Ilyon\'s face as he was already sure of it.

That is, until-

*Bang*

-he had his fantasies, along with a couple of bones, broken as he was sent flying five meters away on impact.

Dust rose up, covering everything in ten meters.

Within this mist of dust an incredibly ugly scowl had replaced the look of victory on Ilyon\'s face as he spoke while holding his sword horizontally.

"Why can\'t you just die quietly?"

Looking closely, one would see Ilyon\'s hands and sword shaking a bit.

\'Dammit! If I haven\'t blocked that attack with my sword, my right arm would\'ve been broken\'

Just from the first blow, Ilyon knew this fight wasn\'t going to be easy, which was why his face had scrunched up.

A silence pervaded the surroundings as the dust seemed to be the only thing awake, until-

"It\'s because I can\'t stand cowardly bastards like you"

-an answer came with the dust clearing up as we see Motavu\'s figure. His hands and legs had become more robust with veins popping out of his whole body.

Both men stared each other in the eye. There was no need for explanations or questions about why Ilyon had done what he had done.

Ilyon had tried to kill him, and that was all that mattered. It wasn\'t like anything that came out of his mouth would justify trying to kill someone, nor would it stop a battle from happening.

It was an unwritten law in Orion, might was right.

More than half the time, power was what distinguished the stars from the rabble.

Motavu spoke once more as he got into a fighting stance with nothing but his armor and bare fists.

"So just stay where you are and let me pummel your head into mush!"

Motavu lunged forward towards Ilyon an instant later, and Ilyon, being determined to show this vermin his place, ran towards Motavu.

With such an outcome, Ilyon could only grit his teeth. His story and subsequent plans would have to be modified or changed completely.

And time was ticking. He had to finish as fast as possible.