The Author's POV

"This works better."

"Are you sure?"

"If you want to deal the most amount of damage, yes. This is the best way."

"Okay…"

Things seemed to be rather tense inside of a fairly sized office space, as two figures sat on opposite ends of each other.

"What about with this one? Would a guild war be more suitable, or should we cripple them financially?"

"Guild war? That sounds rather fun."

"…It might backfire."

"I don't think it will. You can just ask Kevin to help you out. I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem doing so. He's a pushover. Furthermore, you yourself told me that you had to have them gone."

"True…"

In this unusual atmosphere, the words that were being spoken between the two individuals would've sent waves around the human domain.

It was then that.

Knock. Knock.

The door suddenly knocked, and a deep voice echoed from the other side of the door.

"Young miss, may I come in?"

"Yes."

Amanda replied.

Following this, the door opened up and a young man in his thirties walked into the room.

He was Maxwell, Amanda's assistant.

The moment Amanda's eyes laid on him, she curiously asked.

"What brings you here?"

"…Nothing in particular young miss."

He curiously looked around the room before his eyes paused on the figure sitting next to Amanda.

Despite the slight twitch in his mouth as he paused to look at the figure, he quickly continued speaking.

"The elders wanted to know whether you have come up with a solution for our current predicament."

"About that…"

Amanda turned her head to glance at a girl who was sitting next to her. Other than Melissa, who else could it have been?

Only she would say such words. Well, there was Ren, but he wasn't exactly here.

Lifting her glasses up with her finger, Melissa didn't reply and scanned the map of Ashton city with her eyes.

Then, taking her gaze away from the map, she responded.

"Your best bet would be to financially cripple, Dongtan Guild, Ikarian Guild, and Snowstar Guild. In terms of finance, they are the weakest of the lot, and will go down without putting up much of a fight."

"I thought so too."

A nod followed Amanda's response as she pointed at two more guilds.

"Regarding these two guilds, Wraithless and GoldenCrow would be the best to announce a guild war against. They have the financial power, but are not as strong in terms of members."

"I agree, that's your best bet."

Melissa replied with a serious look. There was a glint of excitement in her eyes as she gazed at the map.

"...My only gripe with this is that they might hire external help to fight in the guild wars, that in itself will be a disadvantage."

"I agree."

Amanda's eyes narrowed. Her brows relaxed not long after.

"But I think this can work for our advantage."

"It might..."

In agreement, Melissa plucked lightly at her lips.

"Especially since they will be individuals that have never worked with each other before."

"Yes."

One of the most important factors for ensuring victory in a guild war was coordination and seamless collaboration between all participants.

a 1v1 scenario. It was a large-scale battle that

external help, they would essentially be giving up control. In particular,

arrogant they were, making them harder

this was a serious problem when guilds hired external

other words, a

"Hehehe…"

sudden giggle escaped Melissa's

'This is fun...'

about how many diamond-graded guilds might potentially fall from their plans,

that would come from

grin spread across

Amanda

She then asked.

"Why are you laughing?"

"…Nothing much."

off. But the

under Amanda's gaze, Melissa came

laughing because this is

"Fun?"

"Yeah."

once more, she pressed

entertaining than I originally thought. Kind of

of everything that had happened with the magic cards recently, Melissa was overworked and

the absence of Amanda's call, she probably would've spent the day

it was boring. It got so boring that Melissa increased

had

have a change of

"...I see."

time to reply. The look on her face as she

her

"What's wrong?"

was staring at her made her feel

'What's wrong with her.'

that Amanda spoke. Her next words caused Melissa's

me of Ren when

"Wha..t."

mouth agape, Melissa's body started

say what

in front of her, Melissa had a

remind her of

Hell no.

her worst

tightly as

all the people you had to compare me to, you

"Sorry."

be sorry at all. Rather, she had a look

Melissa's fist clenched.

for ruining

Melissa took out

Gulp.

at it, there was an audible gulp in

took it

tightly, Melissa grit her teeth as she forced herself to put the potion

had promised herself to control her

she

on doing something as fun like this

in Maxwell's way before

"Seriously?"

in a barely audible voice. She was

copied someone, it would have been him copying

of the whispers, Amanda still heard every one of her

'At least she knows...'

Amanda's eyes lingered toward the area Melissa previously stood. She

heard everything, you can report this to the elders. Report to me whether they approve of

"Understood."

Maxwell bowed down politely.

Maxwell was about to leave, he thought of something

"Young Miss..."

"Yes?"

tip of his nose, a faint

conversation between the two of you, and I just wanted to add

sentence, Amanda's head cocked a little as her delicate

"What is it?"

of you had the same look on your faces when I entered

"Hm?"

Amanda's face stiffened.

before she could ask him to

Clank—

sound of the door closing, silence enveloped

how to reply as she touched her lips

really look like

she had mixed