Gauss fell silent for a long time.
Even for him, a choice like this demanded repeated, careful thought.
Across from him, the Guild Master clearly knew he was weighing the pros and cons in his mind, but simply sat there with his teacup, quietly blowing across the surface.
Gauss's thoughts were racing.
This was clearly a solo commission.
Bringing more people would only increase the risk of exposure, which meant that when the time came, he would have to temporarily split off from the Red Dragon Company and, under cover of the chaos on the main battlefield, infiltrate enemy territory alone and feel out the situation himself.
Honestly, he did not think his own risk of exposure was especially high.
The reason was simple: if the Green Dragon Queen really had such a clear grasp of his whereabouts, then he should have been targeted far more often by now.
But up to this point, he had only run into trouble a handful of times. The only one that truly counted was when the Dragon Worship Cult used Alia's trip outside to lure him into walking right into their hands.
Strictly speaking, even that incident could not be considered proof that the enemy knew his movements particularly well. It was more that he had happened to run into them in Longflute, and they were already active in that area, so naturally he got marked.
If he were the Green Dragon Queen, and he knew there was a talent like him out there, then if he truly had the means to pinpoint his location in advance, he would absolutely have sent assassins after him long ago—especially back when he had not yet grown this strong.
As far as Gauss knew, he had long since made the monster faction's bounty list. He had already heard his own name mentioned by other high-level monsters back when he completed that commission in Blackwater Town.
If the enemy monsters had not done anything by now, then the only conclusion was that they could not.
The best chance to kill him had been before his strength broke into the transcendent tier. Now, all that could be said was that killing him had become much harder.
Against many transcendent monsters, he might still not necessarily win, but killing him outright was no easy matter either.
First, they needed a certain degree of flying capability. Ranged attacks were best if they were highly proficient. They could not afford any major weakness in speed or detection. And if they also had space-related abilities on his level, that would be even better.
Otherwise, one small mistake, and he would slip away using Any Door, with his absurdly sharp senses.
Hardly anyone would claim a fly was stronger than a human. The two were also vastly different in terms of life level. But objectively speaking, trying to swat a fly to death with your bare hands was not exactly easy either.
That was the power of being a true all-rounder.
There was another point as well. Going deep into the Jade Forest to raid the juvenile dragon nest was definitely dangerous—but that also depended on the timing.
The shadow of war was already gathering over the borderlands. Once war broke out, the monster faction would inevitably commit most of its forces to the front lines, which in turn would make the rear much more hollow than usual.
He really could use his own mobility and concealment to loop around into the deep rear.
Unless he abandoned Coldemerald Province altogether and turned his back on the coming war between humans and monsters, then as long as he remained on this land, there was no such thing as true safety.
Even if he backed out this time, where exactly could he run?
The war the Green Dragon Queen was stirring up was, in all likelihood, only the opening act of a much larger conflict. When that happened, every human would be dragged into this war between factions whether they wanted it or not.
And no one understood the significance of dragons better than Gauss.
He himself was proof of that.
If he could kill those juvenile dragons before they fully matured, it would not only benefit him personally, but also snuff out future disasters before they could even take shape.
As for the Green Dragon Queen hanging over everything like a sword of Damocles, there was no need to fixate too much on her for now.
That was not to say Gauss's strength had reached the point where he could ignore a threat like her.
Rather, if the mysterious powerhouse the Guild Master mentioned could not pin her down, then Gauss would still have a high chance of being targeted early on the main battlefield anyway. Given the distance and chaos there, he might even die faster.
He laid out every gain and loss in his mind and sorted through them one by one.
The only thing he still could not put out of his mind was the Red Dragon Company.
If war broke out and he left the team behind, would that not create a situation where the whole group was left leaderless?
"But if I leave, what happens to my adventuring company?"
Gauss voiced the concern directly.
"Don't worry. If you go carry out this commission, then the guild naturally won't be conscripting your company onto the front lines," Monroe said. "And if your people want to join the effort anyway, I can use my authority to place them as close to my own battlefield sector as possible. If that happens, I'll also be able to step in and protect them whenever necessary."
Once war broke out, soldiers, adventurers, and other professionals would not all just be thrown together in one place.
The battle lines would stretch out over a long distance, and in a situation like that, there would naturally be more dangerous sectors and relatively safer ones. Even the strongest individuals had limits; no one could protect everyone on every front.
Matthias Monroe's meaning was obvious enough: he would do what he could to protect the Red Dragon Company.
Hearing that, the worry on Gauss's face eased a little.
"Guild Master Monroe, I may need to go back and discuss this with my companions first. I'll give you an answer tomorrow."
Gauss rose to his feet as he spoke.
"All right. Go back and think it over carefully. But whether you accept it or not, please do not share the specific details of this commission with too many people."
Monroe had already noticed the shift in Gauss's expression.
"I understand."
Gauss nodded.
Information was everything. If this leaked and the Green Dragon Queen's forces found out, then they would absolutely make arrangements in advance. At that point, it would not matter whether Gauss or someone else took the commission—the risk would become enormous either way.
He understood that perfectly well.
"Then I won't disturb you any further, Guild Master. I'll take my leave."
"Take care."
Matthias Monroe stood and watched Gauss's figure disappear through the office door. Only after a long while did he withdraw his gaze.
Then, alone in the empty office, he let out a sigh.
Even now, he still did not know whether handing this commission to a heaven-blessed magical prodigy like Gauss was truly a good thing or not.
In his eyes, a talent like Gauss was already beyond the point of being limited by mere level bottlenecks. As long as he did not die, he would inevitably and steadily break through all the way to legend.
The only difference was whether it happened sooner or later.
Someone like him could easily have been withdrawn from the front lines of the war and transferred somewhere much safer—like the royal capital of the Kingdom of Carlos, or even the imperial capital, Aureidian.
"Lord Sage… what exactly are you thinking?"
Monroe murmured under his breath, confusion thick in his voice.
Could it be that the situation had already worsened to the point where there was no longer time to let a genius grow at a steady pace? That the process had to be accelerated through external pressure?
With the information he personally possessed, there was no way for him to understand the higher reasoning behind such a decision.
And though in the eyes of others he was a highly respected top-tier transcendent, when standing before epic and legendary beings, he too was nothing more than a chess piece carrying out assignments.
In this world, the more people who knew an important piece of information, the greater the risk that it would be exposed. Beyond that lay powers that surpassed the five senses—powers involving fate and causality.
That was why the more important the intelligence, and the broader the plan it belonged to, the less likely anyone was to truly know the full picture. Sometimes even the people executing it—and even the planners themselves—might not know the real truth. Their deeper memories could be erased completely by certain means.
Meanwhile, when Gauss walked out of the Adventurers' Guild building, he found his companions waiting at the main entrance.
Almost everyone else had already left. Only his own people remained here because he had been the one kept behind.
"Gauss, what did that Guild Master want with you?"
Alia asked in a low, curious voice.
It was not just her. The others all looked over too.
"I'll explain when we get back."
Seeing his reaction, Alia immediately understood that his private conversation with the Guild Master likely involved something major. If it had been something trivial, he probably would have told them on the spot.
So she and the others simply nodded and did not press any further.
"Then let's head back first."
They got into the guild-provided carriage and returned to their residence.
Ivan soon excused himself. He needed to arrange some specific procurement work—stockpiling certain essential supplies ahead of time. Once war broke out, the prices of many materials and resources would rise sharply.
The others followed Gauss into the room.
"Guild Master Matthias Monroe wants to entrust me with an extremely important mission."
He adjusted his phrasing a little in his head, then imitated Eden's ability, using spiritual power to produce a kind of "voice transmitted directly into the mind."
The sudden sound of a voice appearing in their heads startled several of them, but they quickly caught on.
"You don't need to speak. Just think the words in your head, and I'll hear them."
Before anyone could actually say anything aloud, Gauss's voice surfaced again in their minds.
This method required some preparation beforehand, but it offered better secrecy than spell-based communication. It was basically like opening a private team voice channel inside their heads.
"I understand."
"Lord Gauss, I love you!"
"So weird."
"…"
Gauss immediately felt several voices sounding inside his mind at once.
"Albena, please do not think about unrelated things."
In reality, Albena clamped a hand over her mouth the moment the voice rang through her head.
"All right."
Now that she had experienced how strange this felt, she quickly tried to stop herself from thinking random things.
Unfortunately, the mind was a tricky thing. The more you tried not to think about something, the more wildly your thoughts exploded like weeds.
All sorts of bizarre fantasies that normally appeared only in dreams suddenly surged through her head one after another.
Before long, her face was bright red, and she cautiously lifted her eyes to glance at Gauss.
The things happening to her captain inside her mental world just now had been… pretty awful. If he actually knew what she had been imagining, he would definitely be angry.
Fortunately, when she looked over nervously, Gauss's face remained completely normal. If anything, he was looking back at her with mild confusion.
This woman was clearly thinking something weird again.
"What is it?"
"N-nothing, Lord Gauss. Please keep going."
In truth, she was worrying too much.
Gauss's spiritual communication was not mind reading.
Why had he specifically told them to silently recite words in their minds?
Because only those strengthened mental intentions could be intercepted by him.
As for all the other chaotic thoughts bouncing around inside people's heads at the same time, he could not perceive those at all.
Once that little interruption passed, they returned to the real matter.
After Gauss explained that the commission was highly classified and that he could not reveal too much, Alia and the others were naturally curious whether he could take others along.
But once Gauss hinted at the level of danger, and made it clear that bringing more people would most likely only increase the operational risk, several of them fell silent at the same time.
"Gauss, can I help you?"
Shadow asked quietly.
Her concealment ability was the best in the whole team. Up to this point, Gauss had never met anyone who surpassed her in that regard.
So on the way back, he actually had thought about whether he should bring her.
But in the end, he dismissed the idea. If he accepted the commission, he had already decided to go alone.
Shadow's talent was powerful, but it was still limited by energy consumption. If he brought her along for a stealth operation, the burden would only grow heavier, and this mission clearly involved traveling a considerable distance.
More importantly, he did not want to drag a teammate into real danger.
Unlike him, his teammates did not have transcendent-level combat power, nor were they absurdly durable. If something went wrong, the risk to them would be far greater.
The reason he was leaning toward accepting the mission at all was because some instinct deep inside him kept telling him that killing true dragons would bring him tremendous benefit.
He could even vaguely guess the source of that instinct.
And because this was his own matter, he did not want to drag his companions down with him.
So when Shadow offered, even though he knew she truly could be of help, he still shook his head.
"Is it really that important a commission?"
"Yes. I want to go."
Gauss's original plan had always been to grow steadily, one step at a time.
But plans never kept pace with reality. Now that war between humans and monsters was about to erupt again, he had realized that if he wanted to protect himself and the people he cared about in the shifting, uncertain future, then he had to speed up and seize greater strength.
He was still too weak.
So weak that if the Green Dragon Queen unleashed her Emerald Kingdom Domain, it might wipe out him and all his companions in one stroke.
He did not want to entrust his life or his companions' lives to the vague protection of others. But the reality was that he had no choice but to place at least some faith in the mysterious powerhouse Monroe had mentioned.
That unease would not disappear. As long as he remained too weak, it would keep coming back again and again over the coming years.
Until the day he became strong enough that he alone could decide the future of himself and his companions.
Hearing the sincerity in his tone, Shadow fell silent for a long time, then finally stopped insisting.
"Then be careful."
She looked straight into his eyes.
"All right."
What Gauss himself had overlooked was that while spiritual communication was not mind reading, neither was it the same as speaking aloud face to face.
At its core, it was still a kind of mental signal. That meant that unlike ordinary speech, it carried a great many subtle but unmistakable traces of intention.
So the moment he spoke, Shadow "heard" much more than just the words.
She heard his desire to protect them. She also heard the anxiety that had quietly taken root in him after learning about the war—even though on the surface he still looked calm and in control.
Even someone like him, who always seemed completely at ease, had his own fragility, his own fear… perhaps before he himself had fully realized it.
"After I leave, you can wait for me here in the city. Guild Master Monroe promised me he won't conscript the Red Dragon Company. Once the mission officially begins, I should be back in a few days at most…"
Noticing how subdued the others were, Gauss went on to explain the arrangements he had in mind for the Red Dragon Company.
"No. We're joining the fight too."
To his surprise, the team exchanged glances and then shook their heads almost as one, rejecting his suggestion outright.
"All right, Gauss. When the time comes, just go carry out your mission without worrying about us," Alia said.
"But—"
"Captain, there's nothing to worry about. If we die, then all it means is that we weren't strong enough."
Selandur spoke up beside her.
"Yeah. The moment I became an adventurer, I'd already made peace with the possibility of dying."
"Isn't that something every adventurer should be prepared for?"
Gauss looked into their eyes and could feel the resolve behind them.
His pupils tightened, and for a moment his whole mind seemed to go blank with realization.
All this time, he had been carrying the safety of everyone around him on his own shoulders.
That was, in one sense, protection.
But in another sense… was it not also a kind of extreme arrogance?
He had pridefully assumed that his companions all needed to rely on him.
But the truth was, every adventurer—even those who seemed the most afraid of death—had something in their heart that mattered more to them than life itself.
Maybe it was the desire for wealth and status. Maybe it was the conviction to save others. Maybe it was ambition, or some other hunger entirely.
Whatever the reason, there was always something quietly supporting an adventurer, pulling them away from a peaceful ordinary life and driving them to fight monsters again and again.
So what was it that supported his own teammates?
He realized he had never really considered that question at all.
~~~
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