Child of Destiny

…

After hearing Ribbit out and instructing the latter to be ready to proceed with their plans, Shin walked out of the office and headed to his room to rest and contemplate everything that he just heard.

Naturally, he also assigned a few more people to guard Ribbit after learning that the secret organization that the NPC had used to be part of was quite powerful.

He fully understood the gravity of the situation, so he made sure that everything was being handled properly. He also had to ensure the safety of this named NPC, especially now that he had an important role in Shin’s plans.

Sitting on the sofa, Shin leaned his back tiredly. It seemed like all the mental fatigue that he had accumulated up until now was starting to kick in.

While resting, he started organizing the information that he had gotten inside his head.

Based on what he had heard, the secret organization that Ribbit used to belong to was called ‘Silver Knives’. It was an underground NPC organization that secretly operated in different kingdoms.

It was one of the largest NPC organizations that was not part of any Religion or bound to any nation. They were made up of merchant organizations with each member being the most elite people in their field.

The heads of the organizations were named NPCs which were quite well-known within the game. Most of them were also the owners or an executive of Merchant Organizations within the game.

The founders of the organization built it while having a goal to make profits that would continuously flow in their pockets even if they were not doing anything.

It was something that had to be expected from a merchant organization.

But they also had a secondary goal and that was to connect all Kingdoms and Empires and spread their signature products to the entire continent.

Profits always came first while the rest came in second.

Ribbit said that the organization was very small when it started but it quickly grew in power and became larger as time passed. Its influence started to spread throughout the entire continent as more merchant organizations joined it.

It continued to grow until it became one of the hegemonic organizations within the continent. Even though they were not that well known by the public, they were still a massive monster lurking in the shadows and controlling the market.

It was also said to be the wealthiest organization on the continent.

As for the reason why Ribbit left and was being hunted by this organization, Shin learned that it was because of the sudden uprising of a certain group that recently joined the organization.

There was a sudden power shift when the current leader of the organization died due to an unforeseen incident.

The entire organization was in chaos, especially since everyone here was sly and cunning businessmen. They quickly revealed their fangs and set their eyes on the empty seat left by the previous leader.

The different factions within the organization started fighting against each other, clearly showing their greed for the wealth of the organization and their desire for the empty seat of the leader.

A lot of organizations were eradicated during the process, and it only stopped when the new leader was seated in the head position.

This impacted the strength and influence of the secret organization, but this new leader did not care and continued to wipe out the enemies that he had within the organization.

Ribbit was one of those people, so he was forced to leave the organization. But from the look of it, the current leader of the organization had a deep-rooted grudge against him.

Not only did this leader kick Ribbit out of the organization, but he also annihilated the merchant group that Ribbit previously had and forced him into hiding.

Ribbit ran to this kingdom and kept a low profile, hiding from the eyes of the ‘Silver Knives’. But from the look of it, this organization seemed to have sniffed him up and started pointing their daggers at him once again.

Shin felt that because of the Calderock Town during the previous time and the recent events that centered around the Saint Heaven Kingdom, the higher-ups of the Silver Knives might have noticed Ribbit movements.

Thinking about this, Shin suddenly turned at the update of the quest that he had gotten from Ribbit.

—————–

[Quest Name] Ribbit’s Ambition – II

[Quest Type]: Hidden Assistance Quest

[Quest Difficulty]: Default

[Quest Update]: You have discovered Ribbit’s hidden identity and learned that he was part of the hidden organization, Silver Knives.

Due to Ribbit being one of the greatest opponents of the current leader of the organization, he was constantly being hunted down by the Silver Knives for years.

Ribbit was the sole survivor of the opposition and was also the wisest among them, but due to his faction being crushed greatly and his previous merchant group being annihilated, he was powerless in front of such a powerful organization.

You have promised Ribbit to help him reach his ambition, but when you are about to succeed the Silver Knives have noticed him.

[Quest Condition]: Help Ribbit survive this predicament until you reach your goal. Or completely resolve the entire matter.

[Quest Rewards]: This will be calculated depending on your choice and overall performance.

lightsΝοvel.cοm [Quest Penalty]: Ribbit’s death.

—————–

Shin frowned deeply as he read through the information about the quest before slightly shaking his head. This quest was not as complicated as the previous ones that he had completed; it was even very straightforward. But given the information that he had in hand, he could see that the quest was quite tricky to deal with.

He even got a hint from the system after seeing the final phrase written at the quest condition.

“To rush building our cities or deal with the secret organization, huh? This is quite trick to deal with,” muttered Shin as he stared at the quest panel.

This might be quite troublesome since he would be facing a powerful NPC organization. It might have weakened due to the internal conflict and power struggle that they had a few years back and still in the middle of recovering. But they were still a big organization, nevertheless.

But even if it would be a problem to provoke such an organization, Shin was not that scared at all. He and his friends had been fighting against NPC Organizations up until now, which were much bigger than it.

The Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches were among the major factions within the game, so the difference between these two organizations and the ‘Silver Knives’ was pretty much obvious.

It might be quite troublesome, but Shin felt that they could do it somehow.

On top of these issues, Shin also felt that this might be an opportunity. This was a secret merchant organization that spread throughout the continent that they were talking about, so if Shin successfully fended them off or even took over it, they would surely reap an astronomical profit.

Thinking about it, Shin quickly opened his friend list and contacted Shiella. He wanted to hear her opinion on this matter. He was also looking for her purposely because he knew that Shiella was a Master Merchant in her lifestyle profession.

Given that her guild also owned a training firm that spread far and wide in the entire continent, he felt that she might be aware of this secret organization. It would be better if she was familiar with it.

“What is it?” asked Shiella right after answering. She wanted to go straight to the point since she was currently busy dealing with everything.

Shin did not mind since this was also what he wanted. He did not beat around the bush and quickly explained everything to her. He also voiced out his thoughts and even presented the idea of taking over a secret merchant organization if possible.

Shiella remained quiet the entire time and waited for Shin to finish patiently. She even dropped what she was doing temporarily to make sure that she would understand everything and not miss any details.

After listening for a couple of minutes, Shiella could not help but smile bitterly and scold Shin a little. “You really are a troublemaker, aren’t you? You keep on planning these kinds of crazy kinds of stuff when you are still in the middle of the mess that you have created.”

“And your appetite is quite large, don’t you think? We are still in the middle of building our main base of operation, yet you are already planning to swallow up such a huge NPC Organization? Can’t you focus on one important task at a time? It is not like you will lose anything while waiting.”

Hearing her nagging, Shin pursed his lips a little before refuting. “It is a quest given to me unexpectedly, though. It is not like I can control the system and stop it from giving me more of these crazy things.”

He then quickly shut up when he saw Shiella glaring fiercely at him from the virtual screen.

Changing the subject, Shin quickly said. “So, what do you think? Can we-… do it?”

The corner of Shiella’s mouth suddenly twitched when she heard that before sighing. “We are already lacking in manpower just on the matter with the building of the Twin Cities. I don’t think we have the luxury to face that organization.”

“I can arrange for some people to watch over your Town Manager and look out for the possible assassinations, but I can’t promise to help you with the other matter. After all, my priority is the survivability of that NPC called Ribbit since it will affect our plans greatly if something happens to him.”

“It is better to ignore the second choice and wait for us to settle on the Sky Deceiving Valley and set up a solid and systematic defense before thinking about challenging such an organization.”

“The state of the game was also quite tricky since the Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches are pretty much active all over the continent, so provoking other NPC organizations of that size will only give us more problems than benefits.”

Shin did not immediately respond to her as he could understand her line of thoughts. He had also thought that they might be biting more than they could chew.

And if something went wrong, then they would be facing more problems in the future, especially with the size of the Silver Knives and the scale of their operation. With such a large force, Shin and the rest would most likely be crushed in one fell swoop given their current strength.

It might be a Merchant Organization originally, but given their wealth, it would be not impossible for them to hire the best guards for their protection or even create their security group.

Any of those cases could be possible, so it was also possible for this wealthy organization to hire some assassins or mercenaries to assassinate Ribbit or any other targets that they had, particularly their enemies.

But at the same time, Shin felt he was onto something. Given the clues that he had gotten from Ribbit’s story and the small hint that he had gotten from the quest description, there must be a solution out there that did not require them to go all the trouble.

It was at that point that he remembered that Ribbit was supposed to have an important role in one of the leading factions within the Silver Knives.

“Ah!” when his thought fell into this area, Shin suddenly got a bold idea. “Big Sis. How about we use Ribbit as some sort of bait?”

Hearing that, Shiella stopped herself from returning to her work and turned back to Shin. She then gave him a look that seemed to be telling him to continue.

Shin did not hesitate and continued. “From what I heard, Ribbit seems to have some history with the current head of the organization. It is also something big at that.”

“What if we take advantage of this fact and use it to our advantage-…?” he started laying out the plan that he suddenly thought, trying to convince Shiella.

Shiella fell into deep thought when she heard that and started considering his plan seriously, especially when he mentioned striking a singular target rather than facing the entire organization.

“Attacking the head to kill it in one strike, huh? Then use the influence of your NPC Servant to take over everything,” mumbled Shiella as she started to see this in a different light.

If it was assassinating a single person, then they might be able to pull it off as long as they formed the most elite squad to take on the task.

The only problem was looking for the location of their target.

But coincidental, they were somewhat close with a certain player organization that focused on intelligence gathering about NPCs – the ‘Secret Recipe’ Group.

But this was still needing some time and preparation, so she did not immediately agree to Shin. “Let’s wait a little longer. Let me deal with everything on this side and make sure that everything is going according to the plan before discussing this.”

“I’ll get back to you,” she said before quickly ending the call.

Shin stared at the blackened screen for a moment before shaking his head. He then closed the virtual screen and rested for a little while before heading out.

It was time to deal with the rest of the tasks that he had for himself.

……