Aaron was in hiding, watching and waiting for any of the ten people to make their move before he acted. It was always possible that they weren't enemies, and he wouldn't attack innocent people for no reason.

When they approached the Fire Wolves slowly and surreptitiously, the likelihood of innocence decreased. They closed in a circle around the unit, weapons in hand and blood in their eyes. When they got in position, the leader finally revealed himself in front of the unit.

"Put your weapons on the ground, raise your hands, and get away from the ligurus!"

As soon as he said so, six of the men also revealed themselves while the other three remained hidden, two archers and a man who looked like a Rogue. The leader was a Four Star Qi Manipulator, and the others were in the Two Star level in multiple specializations, mostly Qi Manipulators too.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Tia yelled back. She kept to the middle of the ligurus despite the man's orders.

The leader gave her a sinister smile. "Isn't it obvious? I want everything you have." He looked at Logan. "A Greater Mortal Armor..." Then, at Lana "...a Lesser Mystic Staff..." And lastly, at Tia. "...and a veiled spatial ring. This is my lucky day."

That made it for Aaron. Even the orders to lower their weapons and get away from their mounts could have come from a local guard, but after the man announced his intentions, Aaron acted.

He ran through the shadows in complete silence and quickly reached the hidden Rogue from behind. A dagger to the neck and the man died without even seeing his attacker. Aaron held the body and laid it gently on the floor so as not to make any noise, then went for the hidden archers.

In a few moments, they were dead.

Meanwhile, Alys showed her Arcane Circle emblem. "Are you sure you want to take action against a Four Star Sorceress of the Circle?"

The man's smile widened. "A female Sorceress of the Circle?" The ring on his finger released energy and a black metal collar overflowing with Psychic Energy appeared on his hand. "The last one I sold to the southern barbarians made me a small fortune! The gods love me!"

Alys went pale when she saw the collar. It was then that Aaron suddenly appeared behind the leader, took the collar from his hand, and put it on his neck. While Aaron was doing so, his other hand was already acting. It hit a specific point on the back of the man's head, and he fell unconscious.

It was all so fast and unexpected that before anyone's mind registered what had happened, Aaron had already killed the two closest men of the remaining six and was rushing at another.

His target let out a brief cry of fright and panic when Aaron appeared in front of him. He died with a dagger to his neck. The other four also shouted or made expressions of astonishment just before turning to run.

Of those, Aaron killed two before they could get too far. Alys tried to capture the third with Space magic, but he was a Shaper himself. He released Space Energy around himself and her spell exploded harmlessly. A second later, Aaron's dagger killed him. The last one ran for nearly a hundred feet before Aaron took a metal dart from his spatial ring and threw it at his neck, also killing him.

When Aaron returned to the unit shortly after, the Fire Wolves were looking at each other without quite understanding what in the seven hells had happened.

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The king was sitting on his throne. The Red Duke, suzerain of the Red Baron, was complaining about the Crown's allocation of war resources when the king heard a faint cracking of glass.

Suddenly, the king stood up, and the duke fell silent.

"We'll continue tomorrow," the king said and left the room without explanation.

As soon as he arrived in a safe place, he pulled the gold chain he wore around his neck and looked at a platinum ring with three small crystals on it. One crystal was cracked, but not entirely broken. That meant Telles had been compromised, but he was still alive.

The king didn't hesitate. He put his finger on the broken crystal and squeezed it. The delicate crystal broke easily, and Telles and his team died.

That was worrying. Even though Telles was the least important piece of the trap, just another distraction, he was still a Four Star Berserker. No one in Illyria should be able to capture him alive when he got into battle!

Unless...

He looked toward the Red Forest, where the support battalion of the Arcane Circle had gone to. They had stopped at the edges to pretend to protect some natural treasure — as if it were possible for something like that to grow there! — but his spies had warned him that the battalion's top ten percent had followed the Madam into the forest.

That old woman...

Only she could capture Telles, and who knows what mental reading tool she had taken with her, what kind of information she had extracted before Telles died, however fast the king had acted.

It was time to move the plans forward. The Arcane Circle had to disappear from Illyria.

He activated one of the spatial rings he wore on another gold chain, and a crystal appeared on his hand. He pushed some Psychic Energy into it and sent a message.

"Activate order B-forty-two."

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While the Fire Wolves were still looking at each other without knowing how to react, the collared leader woke up with wide eyes, screamed briefly, and died.

Aaron frowned. He had felt minor Psychic Energy explosions in every bandits' brains just before the boss died, but as Aaron had no control over any kind of external energy, he couldn't have done anything about it.

It was a shame. The man was a Four Star Qi Manipulator, powerful enough to have a significant influence in that kingdom. Aaron was very interested in knowing what had led him to become a common thief instead.

Tia was the first to recover from the shock. "You wrote ten on the tree. The other three...?"

"Dealt with," informed Aaron. "What are the rules on spoils of war for imperial mercenaries?"

"We deliver everything to the guild, and the guild returns it to the families of the dead," informed Tia.

Aaron shook his head. "Even if we ignore the possibility of the guild diverting resources, bandits try to kill us, and we feed their family?"

"Their family is not to blame," said Logan.

That was true, but Aaron could not help thinking that such a family would be angry at what happened to the deceased and seek revenge. Returning the spoils of battle to the family was tantamount to financing revenge on himself!

Even worse, by giving things the criminal had stolen to their families, the guild was sending the message that crime pays off, that it was a great way to feed one's family as long as the criminal was willing to die. That was an incredibly stupid way to legalize stolen goods!

Instead of discussing that, he asked, "What if they have no family?"

"The guild donates an equivalent sum to the spoils' value to a charity," said Tia.

"That's ridiculous," Aaron said. "I have to risk my life to pay the bandits' family or donate my spoils to an institution I don't know or trust? And all I get is some sweat?"

"It's in the guild rules you accepted when you signed the contract," said Logan.

"These rules exist to discourage battles," explained Tia. "Imperial mercenaries must not kill people, and if it happens, they must gain nothing from it."

Aaron smiled. "It's a good thing that nobody knows we had this little battle, nor do they need to know."

"They do need to know," Tia said firmly. "We're an Honored Unit."

Aaron's smile disappeared, and he frowned. "What does that mean?"

"We're committed to strictly follow the law and the rules of the guild."

"And what do you get out of it?"

"Respect."

Aaron could hardly believe what he was hearing. "From whom?"

"From everyone."

"Define 'everyone,'" he insisted.

Tie opened her mouth to answer, held it open for a few seconds, and then closed it shut.

"From the benevolent gods," Logan intervened. "The Goddess of Light, the Goddess of Justice, the Goddess of Love, the Goddess of Charity, the God of Respect, the God of Rule, and so on."

"I bet receiving the respect of the divinities must be something very useful," he said with sarcasm. "Tell me something you gain from it."

He also couldn't answer, but Lana did. "I may be graced with a level up."

"Great. So four people in the unit need to gain absolutely nothing after putting their lives at risk, just so you might receive a level up. The way I see it, it's only fair you pay each of us a fifth of the value of the spoils."

Lana's face reddened, and she didn't know what to say.

Finally, Alys joined the conversation. "The rules of the Arcane Circle are different," she said in a low voice as if she didn't want to speak but was pushing herself.

"Alys, no!" said Tia.

"How different?" asked Aaron.

"Alys!" Tia insisted.

"The winner gets everything," Alys drawled as if opening her mouth hurt. "The guild and the Circle are imperial organizations with similar authority. I can choose which rule to follow."

"We are an Honored Unit!" Tia raised her voice. "And he is not part of the Circle anyway!"

Alys swallowed and spoke in a low voice, "I'll give my fifth of the spoils to him. That's how much he would get if we split it up evenly. In the end, he'll get the same."

"What?!" Tia was yelling now.

"I said I'll give my fifth—"

"I heard what you said!" interrupted Tia. "But why in the seven hells are you going to do something like that?! What about our agreement?!"

"I... I... I ..." stammered Alys, trying to think of a reason.

Aaron smiled, approached her, and half embraced her by the waist. "We are together."

Alys's eyes widened, and she blushed. The other three opened their eyes and mouths wide in astonishment.

"Sorry, love," said Aaron to Alys. "I know we agreed to keep it a secret, but they need to know that we need the money to furnish the house, otherwise your friendship may be at risk."

"F- Furniture? House?! Already?!" shouted Tia.

"Kyaaaaaaa!" Lana yelled, embarrassed.

"You're going to marry this Rogue?!" bellowed Logan last in pure disbelief.

Alys didn't know how to respond. Aaron pulled her closer. "Love knows no class barriers," he told Logan. "Well, as it was Alys who ordered me to kill all these people... Oh, right, she used a secret mind message, which sadly none of you heard. Anyway, she told me to kill them, and as she did it as a member of the Circle, so all the spoils belong to her."

He didn't know if his theory about plunder priority was right or not, but he still left Alys and grabbed the goods from the corpses, starting with the leader. Item after item disappeared into his spatial ring while everyone watched, unsure about how to react.

When Aaron was looting one of the corpses, Lana let out another cry of shame. "Kyaaaa! The night that Alys reached the Four Star level!"

Logan gasped, and even Tia covered her red face with her hands.

"Hu?" asked Aaron, turning to Alys, who was so red she looked like she was going to explode at any moment.

She swallowed again. "There is a legend..." she explained. "It says that when two people are destined for each other... When they... Spend the night together... For the first time... The level of at least one of them will increase... This is how you're supposed to know you found your true love... And my level increased..." Her low voice became a whisper as she spoke. It disappeared by the end.

Aaron couldn't care less about his "intimate life" becoming public knowledge, but by the reaction of others, the two of them spending the night together was something significant in their culture. He didn't want to put Alys in such a situation.

"Alright, people, relax," he said and laughed. "That was all—"

"It's true," interrupted Alys. "That night, that's what happened."

Aaron looked at her in astonishment. That level of gratitude for what he had done... His assessment of her increased. It was rare for anyone to be as thankful as she was, no matter how big the boom.

He didn't contradict her. To do so would be to dishonor her sacrifice and call her a liar in front of everyone. Instead, he collected all the loot and finally showed the metal collar to Alys. "What does it do?"

She paled again when she saw the collar, now even closer to her. "Slave collar!" Rather than speaking, she sounded like she was spitting out the words in a mixture of anger, disgust, and fear. "A Pinnacle Mystic artifact forbidden in the Thenor Empire."

"Oh," Aaron replied, threw the collar on the floor, imbued Qi in his leg, and stepped on it.

The metal crumpled and let out a small explosion. It damaged the runes in the inner formation, and the Psychic Energy dispersed from the collar.

Aaron believed that at certain times, enslaving an enemy and making them pay for the atrocities they had committed wasn't a bad idea. But everyone looked at the collar in such a way that it was best to get rid of it without hesitation. He was still very weak and had no confidence in defending himself if the Thenor Empire found out he had the forbidden object and sent some Champions to look for him.

"I'm done here. Let's go?"

He mounted the liguru and resumed leading the unit. The Fire Wolves approached Alys to discuss her relationship with Aaron, the loot issue all but forgotten.

That night, they reached the entrance of the caves.

Aaron didn't know what he expected to find there, but it definitely wasn't what he was seeing in front of him.