The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Originally, Shien had though that given that this secret quest was so important, Lamdrion would definitely send out all their elites, with full planning and preparation. They'd engage in a duel of the elites, where they'd show off their brilliant tactics in both offense and defense.

However, Shien had to say it. Reality was disappointing.

Now, after Vivian's explanations, Shien basically understood. This wasn't going to be a duel of the elites, but a parade of fools. All kinds of blatant greed and dirty dealings have been shown.

Given the fact that transporting the major criminal Jillian to the capital will gain them great rewards from the nobility and royalty of the capital, most people have basically stopped acting for the sake of preventing a rescue from the Old Demon Faction, but instead were acting for their own selfish gains.

Leon wanted to use this chance to get new contacts in the capital, and thus further increase his own status.

Markray's father wanted to grasp the rewards from the capital, so he forcibly pushed the party that his son was in into this quest.

In fact, the fact that even Balon would recognize the inclusion of Leon's was probably due to his close aide, Markray's father, used his own influence. Otherwise, there's no way that he would have tried to forcibly keep the peace between Vivian and Leon's party using the big picture as the reason when he knew fully well the issues between the two parties. The fact that he was personally taking part in this quest was likely because he too wanted to earn fame with the capital and gain the recognition of the royalty and high nobility.

Thus, that's why such major issues ended up showing up here.

This basically proved Shien's thoughts from before. In reality, each person were just acting for their own sake, their own profits. Each person also had their own view and judgment when it came to the scenario. That was why various normal results were actually formed of all kinds of considerations all colliding together.

Or rather, the fact that this result ended up happening was practically preordained.

After all, the existence known as nobles are just that kind of thing. Every person's motives cannot possibly be for the world and society. The vast majority of people really only move for the sake of their own profits.

However, this whole matter was undoubtedly a mess, and it's not just one or two issues either.

What will happen next, what kind of cliched scenario will end up unfolding. That was something that Shien could predict without even thinking.

"First, the internal problems definitely exist. Afterwards, those problems will end up continually happen, and then escalate into conflict. Finally, an event will happen where that one will end up getting shown up and he'd end up nursing a grudge. He'd try to get revenge without considering the consequences. Then, this one would try to get more profit out of it, and that one will try to get a better share of the credit. Finally, one particular villain will end up betraying the group, somehow get in contact with the Old Demon Faction, expose the route for the secret quest, and lead the Old Demon Faction to the group in a massive slaughter. Thus, the quest ends up failing."

"Then, right after, in order to salvage the situation, the protagonist will appear while making a huge scene and single-handedly reverse the situation. He would not only end up saving a bunch of counterproductive teammates, but also wind up exposing his identity in exchange for a bunch of new worshipers. He'd also use this chance to enter the views of various major factors, get the attention of some evil forces, and even end up attracting the curiosity of one beautiful big shot after another. Finally, all of them will end up leaping into his arms. The men will come to give away their lives, while the women their bodies."

"A scenario like that could easily fill a good couple million words."

As he thought that, Shien rather wanted to swear right there and then. He seemed to have forgotten the fact that he himself was in fact the one filling the position for the "protagonist" there.

With a scenario that tiresome, how could Shien possibly not get the urge to turn about and leave?

At the very least, Shien could not see a single shred of hope that this quest could be successfully completed without issues.

Of course, Vivian ended up saying something different.

"They're just trying to grab merits after all. They don't actually want the quest to fail. That includes Leon as well as young master Markray and his fater. Even Sir Balon probably believes that this particular quest isn't actually all that dangerous in reality, right?"

Logically speaking, the consequences for failing this quest are extreme, but the chance of failure is actually rather low.

"To fool the Old Demon Faction's spies, the nobility of Lamdrion had been spreading false information all this time. Those who don't know about this will all believe that we will be obediently waiting for the people from the capital. Leili has even been constantly increasing Lamdrion's defenses, to give everyone the impression that they're bolstering their defenses in anticipation of the Old Demon Faction's attack or an escape attempt by Jillian. Thus, no one should know that Jillian had already been transported away in secret."

Under that situation, Lelie, Balon, and company even strictly set an extremely secret route for the transport. They purposefully avoided the main road and any possible errant eyes. That way, there's no way that the Old Demon Faction could know that Jillian had already been transported out, nor would they be able to know how to find the group transporting Jillian.

Given all that, this particular quest, at least in the eyes of Balon, Leon, Markray, and company, shouldn't likely to actually be dangerous.

So long as nothing unexpected happen, and they just steadily transport the prisoner to the capital without making major mistakes, at that point everyone would end up getting what they wanted. Why wouldn't they happily go for it then?

If not for that fact, why would Balon have allowed Markray and group to join in using their connections? How could Markray's father have possibly allowed his own son to take such an enormous risk fore merits? This isn't even getting to Leon, whose whole thing was mooching off of others using his face. Since he knew full well just what he was actually capable of since a young age, even if he wanted to get fame, he wouldn't have gone so far as risk his own life on it.

Thus, it was the issue of the risk that made so many people willing to act for their own selfishness. A lot of people would be quite willing to take risks for profit, so wouldn't it be compounded for this quest where the risk is generally considered low?

Thus, it's still that old saying. There are a lot of idiots in the world, but there are also lots of smart people. Thus, never believe without doubt that your own predictions are the truth of the world and that you're capable of predicting the actions of everyone else. If you do, you'd just end up making a fool out of yourself.

Wasn't this a sterling example of that right here? Even the proactive guildmaster Leili didn't imagine that things would end up turning out this way right?

No, the guildmaster probably did predict that there will be people who acted to take advantage of the profits that this quest could grant them. It's just that she never imagined that the one to actually do so would be Leon's party.

However, Shien could not see any possible ending for this quest other than failure. Even though Vivian said that the risks aren't high, to Shien, that was just her setting a flag, is all.

As was already said, Shien really did consider just going home.

However…

"If you really want to abandon this quest, I'll respect your decision." Vivian hesitated for a bit before saying to Shien, "However, to tell the truth, be it me or Leili, both of us hope that you can come along."

The reason for that definitely wasn't just because Shien had hidden his true power, which gave Vivian and Leili a certain amount of relief.

What was even more important was…

"There's a person that both Leili and I believe that you should meet." Vivian lowered her voice and spoke to Shien, "Perhaps, after you two meet, you'll be able to learn more about your identity."

Shien's expressions greatly started at that sentence.

"Of course, you could also choose to do that later. After all, it's not like this is the only chance for you to head to the capital." Vivian gave Shien a smile and continued, "With Leili and I doing the introducing, you'd be able to meet them even if they didn't want to. However, you'll have plenty of chances sooner or later, so you can decide for yourself what to do."

Hearing that, Shien fell silent.

The reason that Shien fell silent wasn't because of the matter that Vivian had brought up. Instead, it was because that he realized from her words that even if he decided to abandon this quest, Vivian and the rest of them will still continue forward with it.

While all the others were acting out of selfish motives, only they were the ones who sincerely wished to serve the town and kingdom. They'll be continuing on to undertake this quest, despite the fact that it was practically filled with flags and was problematic no matter how one looks at it.

In that case…

"It looks like this particular trip can't be avoided then."

Otherwise, if the Old Demon Faction really did appear, then it was obvious what that would mean for the safety of Vivian and them.

There was no way that Shien could just sit on the sidelines and watch as that happened.

Given that, wasn't it impossible to avoid this trip after all?

However, Shien didn't want the cliché developments that he imagined to actually happen.

"How about…"

Shien suddenly smiled for some unknown reason.