“I think, the not-Guildmaster is out for blood this time." Prof said, "During the concert, he just tried to hinder us, not send thugs to arrest us."


    “Illegal arrest isn’t equal to wanting to kill us off. That wouldn’t be excellent!”


    “Look, Wolfgang. No one just sends foreigner thugs to arrest someone illegally, so they could have beer and snacks. I can almost guarantee, no one would have found our corpses ever."


    “Actually, you can find corpses quite easily. All you need is a marginally good necromancer. Oh, and a few other schools of magic are good at finding missing people too! Not to forget [Investigation] and [Tracking] and quite a few Perks. That''s assuming, the corpse doesn''t come knocking at your door on its own."


    “I thought, undead were created and don’t just crawl out of a ditch on their own.”


    “Well, mostly we need some kind of ritual, the higher order the undead is, the more complex the ritual needs to be. However, in certain circumstances, an undead can form on its own.”


    “Thank you. Anyways, we would be dead, no matter, if our corpses would be found or not. I personally wouldn’t like to die.”


    “You would make a cute undead! Not a Skeleton, though, you wouldn''t be able to keep your best appendage. It would be a pity. Nor a Vampire. Maybe a…"


    “Could we focus on the part of not-dying?”


    “Prof is right, Miss Minerva. The not-Guildmaster crossed a line. I would suggest a pre-emptive termination.”


    “My friends, are you really planning to kill a not-Guildmaster? Changing management through a grassroots initiative isn’t the most excellent thing to do.”


    “If I remember correctly, you bashed him over the head with a guitar.”


    “That was an artistic-historical debate!”


    “See? You can debate with him again, but this time, use your axe. His dying that way would be just an accident. Honestly! Everyone could see that!"


    “Miss Minerva, we aren''t Red Elves. Even with their ''accidents'' no one seriously believes the accident part."


    “Plausible deniability can only go so far. We should sue him for preventing and hindering, and attempted abduction without the Thieves’ Not-Guild’s consent.”


    “If you want to do that, Wolfgang, be my guest. Come tomorrow, we are away anyway, and out of his hands. You are the ones, who will live with the aftermath. I personally would rather go see sights than play a part in an assassination of local dignitaries."


    “Wolfgang, I think, the adventurers are right." surprisingly it was Wilhelm, who went for the violent option. Obviously, lawyers were able to realize, when the time came, they couldn''t win by bending the laws and had to ask vigilantes for help. Or highly professional, high-Level adventurers. As none were currently around, however, he had to be satisfied by what was available "While I''m certain, we could get Greenskin musicians, thieves, and lawyers to make a move on the not-Guildmaster, that would easily lead to another riot and would make the current almost civil war heat up even more. I do think, the not-Guildmaster wasn''t and isn''t behaving in an excellent way, and our friends here are correct. He has to be silenced in a quiet way." Everyone, save for Wolfgang, nodded to that piece of wisdom.


    Prof started to have a bad feeling. Surely, the band and the rest of his party didn’t want to drag him into a local political quarrel! While the not-Guildmaster was out for his blood, Prof was perfectly fine to relocate to a different country. World-altering acts were not his thing – even if he accidentally played a role in foiling a genocide committed by Elves, and finding a long-lost national treasure.


    And organizing Arkadia’s very first Mythrill concert.


    “We should start planning.” Bianca took the lead.


    “No need for a plan. They mostly fall apart as soon as the battle is joined anyway. Just go in, start kicking ass and taking names! It mostly worked for me."


    “Pleasssse ssspeak other language. No underssstand. Sssstabbing?” Oh, yeah, they were talking in Greenskinnian, and Sharpclaw still hadn’t learned the language.


    “Yes, Sharpclaw, we are going to stab the not-Guildmaster.”


    Obviously, no one felt it necessary to cast a vote – on the other hand, everyone else was from a medieval society, and democracy wasn''t yet invented in Arkadia. Be as it may, Prof wasn''t asked for his opinion. Maybe he could be the get-away driver? Or the guy, who wasn''t present at all? Letting the others kill a few random bywaymen wasn''t the same as killing a dignitary off. Even with Mini''s "training" in the Human Dungeon, Prof still wasn''t exactly comfortable with just murdering folks. Even if said folks tried to order his death first.


    “Even if the initial plan falls apart, we should have one to start with. And an alternate plan, an emergency plan, and a plan in case the emergency plan fails.”


    “Too many plans, Bia. I say, we kick down his door, pile on him, and feed the remains to Binky and Sleepy. There! A plan!”


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Even if Prof wasn’t fully convinced of the necessity of the hit, he couldn’t stand by and watch Mini’s foolproof plan unfold.


    “Look, Mini. We don''t even know, where he currently resides. We don''t know, how many bodyguards he has. More importantly, we don''t know his Level, Skills and Perks. First, we should collect information."


    “And then we kick his door in, pile on him, and feed the remains…”


    “No. We then make a plan with the least risk and highest chance to succeed.”


    “All right, all right. We can run a few simulations. Prepare your Character Parchments, Rulebooks, and dice!"


    As it transpired, their epic information-gathering quest could be done within a few minutes. Obviously, even in a medieval city, the locals knew, where local dignitaries lived, and how many followers they had. Actually, especially medieval people knew such details. With smaller settlements and lower population density, the chance to vanish in the faceless masses was smaller.


    Or non-existent.


    If the person in question was a dignitary and made waves, remaining anonymous was even harder.


    The wannabe assassins actually didn’t even need to ask that many questions – the not-Guildmaster was holed up in the Musician’s not-Guild, right across from the Adventurer’s Guild, and when Mythrillhead was walking towards the guildhouse, they stumbled upon their target.


    Quite literally.


    The not-Guildmaster was having breakfast in front of the not-Guildhouse when a distracted Adeltraut stepped on him. How distracted Ogres didn''t step on sitting Goblins more often was one of the Greenskin land''s biggest mysteries. Why those smaller Greenskins didn''t die, was another. On the other hand, having higher Levels meant a higher amount of HP, and even Ogres couldn''t step so hard, that Goblins died in one hit. That was true even if an Ogre accidentally kicked the Goblin in the head afterward.


    On Arkadia Goblins even had enough life force and resolve to start a shouting match with the completely innocent part with attention deficits.


    That, logically, brought one side''s friends into the altercation, which, also quite logically, got the un-excellent, impolite other party''s bodyguards and employees to participate. Prof wasn''t exactly sure, how two dozen armed people shouting at each other was regarded by the locals and the local law, but back on Earth, such family discussions meant the speedy arrival of the riot police. And the next day the news would be full with the story.


    Not on Arkadia, though. Well, the constabulary did arrive in a more or less fast-ish way, but it was guaranteed, that the news agencies wouldn''t report it. Mostly, because there weren''t news agencies, not even in Ostwaldland.


    If one didn''t include the grapevine and the basic rumor mill.


    At least they were able to determine, how many helpers the not-Guildmaster had. Everyone was using [Observe] as fast as they could too – even Prof, who remembered to do so just in time. Even after all those months on Arkadia, it was still counter-intuitive for him to actively observe someone for their Levels. It was definitely different to checking out girls back on Earth, or making a big circle around dangerous-looking folks.


    Here, he was able to check, if those folks were truly dangerous, or were just posturing.


    For the not-Guildmaster, no one was able to get a reading, which meant, he was at least Level 20 or so. Or had a very high [Camouflage]. Or was it [Acting]? It was probably the high Level, he was a not-Guildmaster, after all.


    He had three bodyguards – if [Observe] was right, somewhere in the twenties, Levelwise – and half a dozen other attendants. Every last one of those was pegged as at or below Level 10. Assuming, there wasn''t a high-Level assassin or spy or something, who could falsify his Level, the attendants were manageable in case of direct conflict. Hopefully.


    The biggest problems were the bodyguards – not counting their main target. The highest Level was an Orc in heavy, mixed armor and sporting a claymore (with attached strings) and a large shield on his back. Combined with the heavy armor, metal breastplate, and greaves with a chainmail shirt and coif, he was probably the wall.


    The second was a Goblin female with light armor and a small, but wicked-looking crossbow –it had a collapsible bayonet and some spikes –, while the third one was a Hobgoblin in medium armor, using an arming sword and a shield.


    “Did you see the Orc with the claymore-tar?" Wolfgang asked him, after they settled in the Adventurer''s Guild''s bar "He is what we call a noise marine. One of the strongest kinds of musical combatant."


    “Did you say marine? How could you have a marine, when you don’t even have a coast?”


    “Dunno. It’s an ancient term, we use marine as a synonym for elite soldier. Probably a famous ancestor once used marines to do things, and the name stuck.”


    That was just fantastic. They had to face some kind of elite noisemaker with a sword-guitar to make noise with. The easiest way would have been probably to let Mini headshot their main target from afar.


    “What would be the fun in that?” asked Mini, as soon as Prof voiced his opinion. Well, the fun would have been a secure chance to not get hurt. And staying alive. Well, Prof was quite used to living, it was almost like an addiction by this time.


    “Why get close and personal…” As soon as Prof started talking, he realized his mistake. He was talking to Mini, after all.


    “Because close and personal, you can do things to and with other people!" Yeah, exactly. With Mini, everything degenerated into either bloodshed or having a good time in short order. Prof was undecided, about which would be worse in regards to the not-Guildmaster. Why couldn''t they just leave and see the sights? He even bought a travel guide to Southern Ostwaldland and the Human lands beyond!


    According to it, there were quite a few natural and architectural wonders about (including some picturesque ruins) – and since Arkadians hadn’t invented entry fees yet, all of them were free!


    But no, he had to participate in an assassination, instead of driving around in his almost-luxurious, almost-new wagon!


    Life was cruel.


    “I wanted to tell you, that a cousin of one of the Mythrill-players I know is still working in the Musician''s not-Guild. My friend assured me, that her cousin would be willing to help us. She said, her cousin would be meeting with us during his lunch break." Wolfgang informed them.


    Maybe that cousin could help them poison their enemy? Slipping a little bit of cyanide, or some kind of fantasy drug in the not-Guildmaster''s tea would be enough. Of course, they would need to buy said poison first, but still. Every apothecary, alchemist, and convenience store just had unregulated, lethal poisons on sale, right? Right?