The next morning.

As I headed down to the dining hall within the inn, I stared at someone with a look of sheer disbelief.

A familiar face. I let out a short sigh.

“So, why are you here?”

“I needed to find a place to stay, too. This was the only inn with any rooms left.”

Chasey replied nonchalantly, having followed me out of my room.

I shot her a suspicious glance, but she protested as if deeply wronged.

“I’m serious! All the other inns are fully booked, not a single room to spare. I had no idea there were this many travelers in Trivik.”

She wasn’t wrong.

The streets of Yukantar were overflowing with outsiders due to the rumors of ruins in the northern region.

In fact, just over the past couple of days, countless people had come to the inn only to leave empty-handed.

However, it was the same story here—no vacant rooms.

Wasn’t it blatantly suspicious that Chasey had taken the room right next to mine, Room 203?

“So why are you in the room next to mine?”

“It just kind of worked out that way.”

Chasey feigned innocence.

The middle-aged man who had been staying in the room next to mine had left in high spirits last night; it seemed she had slipped him some extra cash to take the room off his hands.

Well, the closer I stayed to Chasey, the more my safety was guaranteed, but…

Given our vastly different statuses, I couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Enjoy your meal!”

Chasey casually sat at my table, and the food we ordered while waiting arrived.

“Eueu-“

Chasey scrunched her face the moment the food entered her mouth.

“This food doesn’t suit my taste at all. Why is it so bland yet greasy and heavy?”

She forced herself to swallow and set down her spoon. Just like yesterday, she was a young lady who truly didn’t know the value of food.

“What kind of food do you even like that you reject everything?”

“I prefer simple things like salads over this. I love seafood the most, though it’s hard to come by. The food here is so heavy and greasy that it makes my stomach feel bloated.”

Chasey grumbled.

Come to think of it, Luteran cuisine was generally on the bland side.

As for me, having grown accustomed to all sorts of intense flavors from various delivery foods and having gone through a localization process on the streets, I could eat just about anything and find it delicious.

But for Chasey, who had grown up in Luteran, the characteristic heaviness of Yukantar’s food simply didn’t sit well with her palate.

‘I think it’s delicious, though.’

As if to show my disagreement with her opinion, I frantically shoveled food into my mouth.

Resting her chin on her hand, Chasey watched me and murmured as if fascinated.

“You’re quite fascinating, Mr. Shin. You eat like a starving man who hasn’t eaten in days, yet your table manners are absolutely flawless. You must have learned them somewhere, I presume?”

Her words caught me off guard for a moment.

To think that the effects of the dining etiquette education I received as a Korean would manifest in a place like this.

“I suppose. I just eat. That’s all.”

“Is that so?”

Chasey smiled as if she understood and nodded. I felt like another layer of misunderstanding had been added to her imagination.

After a brief pause, Chasey carefully began to speak.

“You know how we talked about looking for a faction we could join? I searched hard yesterday, but there weren’t many options.”

She wouldn’t have come to find me without a reason. Her demeanor had also grown a bit more serious.

“What kind of options?”

“First of all, if we want to join a faction without revealing our identities, seeking out an underworld faction is the safest bet.”

“Underworld factions…”

“Places mostly populated by assassins, plunderers, and criminals who hide their identities.”

“Can even places like that participate in private battlefields?”

Even in Trivik, free from the Empire’s interference, it wasn’t entirely lenient toward criminals.

There were naturally some restrictions on their activities, and as expected…

Chasey shook her head.

“That’s the problem. They can’t participate in private battlefields of any decent scale. But it does fit our goal of keeping our identities hidden.”

“Hmm…”

It wasn’t an option I particularly liked.

It meant we wouldn’t be able to participate in battlefields offering Item combination formulas as rewards.

Unlike Chasey, who simply wanted to experience battlefields to complete her deck, I aimed to secure at least one Item combination formula before participating in the next Ranked Match. Thus, that option wasn’t satisfactory.

“Alternatively, we could just acquire a decent legitimate faction.”

I actually preferred the second option. Of course, it had its drawbacks as well.

“On the other hand, it will cost quite a bit of money. Even if their Faction Ranking is low, they’re still ranked, so the price tag won’t be cheap.”

If we weren’t careful, the extras could end up costing more than the main deal.

It felt like there had to be a better way…

“It’s only been a day since I started looking into it, so I’ll investigate a bit more.”

Nod.

Since this was a decision that required careful consideration, it was best to dedicate our full attention to it.

Still, gathering this much information in just a day was impressive.

“And there is one piece of bad news.”

“What is it?”

Chasey’s gaze shifted. This seemed to be the real issue.

“It seems the Rorte Newsletter I know of is having financial difficulties. They don’t have enough funds to buy the information on the assassin deck.”

“Are you saying we can’t sell the information?”

“No, not that, but it might take a little more time than expected. We need to look for newsletter companies that can pay a fair price.”

“How long do you think it will take?”

“Well… it depends on the negotiations, but I’m guessing it will take about a week.”

Hearing that, it didn’t seem like a big deal. It was well within the expected range.

“There are two candidates. The first is a newly established company, the Bik Newsletter. You’ve probably never heard of them.”

Just as Chasey said, it was my first time hearing about them.

“I heard the Bik Newsletter has a lot of funds relative to their low recognition. They’re desperate for an exclusive story to make a name for themselves, so they should be able to pay a fair price for the information. However, the impact of the article itself will inevitably be limited. Their area of activity isn’t very wide, either.”

“Hmm…”

Since my goal was to spread the information widely rather than just making money, it wasn’t a very appealing option.

“The second candidate is a place you’ve probably heard of as well, Mr. Shin. The Yukan Newsletter.”

“The Yukan Newsletter…”

“Yes, the one where Imperial Priest Veron is the majority shareholder.”

Leaving Imperial Priest Veron aside and looking solely at the Yukan Newsletter, they were widely spread across various regions centered around Trivik, so we could likely achieve the desired effect.

However, there was a catch.

“Because of their size, they’re harder to approach than other newsletter companies, which means there’s a disadvantage: it’s difficult to guarantee the informant’s anonymity.”

“That won’t do.”

“I figured you’d say that.”

Both candidates Chasey proposed were lacking. Reading my expression, she cautiously continued.

“The best option is still the Rorte Newsletter, the one I mentioned first. The editor-in-chief there is personally acquainted with my father.”

The Rorte Newsletter, based in Luteran, was good in many ways, but there was one problem that needed to be solved.

Chasey let out a sigh, indicating it wouldn’t be easy.

“The exclusive story the Rorte Newsletter was trying to publish this time was covered identically by the Yukan Newsletter. Since their influence is on a completely different level, all the consumers bought the Yukan Newsletter. Who would bother reading the same article content elsewhere?”

Because of the unsold inventory piling up like that, their financial situation had deteriorated.

“Even their existing customers have crossed over to the Yukan Newsletter, so they can’t secure the funds to print another edition.”

That meant they were on the verge of bankruptcy…

Let alone paying for information, they barely had enough money to print the newsletters.

“It seems the Yukan Newsletter planted a spy within the Rorte Newsletter… but they haven’t been able to find out who it is, so they can’t publish follow-up articles. If the same thing happens again, they’ll truly go under.”

A spy, huh…

If they got hit the exact same way again, they’d just be fattening the Yukan Newsletter’s pockets for no gain. If we wanted to sell the information to the Rorte Newsletter, we absolutely had to catch the spy.

However, there was one thing I didn’t understand.

It was just printing letters on paper—how could that cost so much?

Chasey cleared up this doubt for me.

“Speed is everything for a newsletter, right? To print a large volume of newsletters quickly, you need the corresponding Magic Engineering facilities. If you write everything by hand, the rumors will have already spread far and wide.”

As a homebody gamer, I was a layman in these matters, so I quietly listened to her explanation.

“You need specialized personnel to maintain the facilities, and you have to spend a lot of money on distribution and sales. So if the printed newsletters don’t sell well, their financial situation can deteriorate rapidly.”

Since higher prices would mean fewer buyers, the price of the newsletter itself wasn’t that high.

Therefore, to sell them on a small-margin, high-volume basis, they needed a large number of users buying the newsletters. But since the consumer base was limited, this field was essentially a zero-sum game.

“Hmm…”

It was a headache-inducing situation.

Setting aside all the circumstances, the best method was to use the Rorte Newsletter.

Since the editor-in-chief had personal ties with Chasey’s father, they could guarantee our anonymity and even edit the article’s content in the direction we wanted.

But if a spy was planted there, it would all be for nothing…

A spy?

For a moment, I recalled the words of Jay, the boy who had sold me information for one Silver Coin.

“By any chance, are there any people from Yukantar working at the Rorte Newsletter? Specifically, could you check if there are any orphans without parents?”

“Orphans… Ah, maybe! Hold on a moment.”

My words seemed to trigger something in Chasey’s mind as well, as she frantically tapped on her Device.

About five minutes passed.

Ding-!

Chasey’s expression brightened as she read the incoming message.

“It says there are a few people from Yukantar working in their production plant! And among them, there’s only one orphan.”

“It seems we’ve found our spy.”

To think the information I bought for a single Silver Coin would come in handy here.

Now, they wouldn’t have to worry about their exclusive story being stolen.

“Then, can we sell the information to the Rorte Newsletter now?”

“If they scrape together all their remaining funds, they can gather enough to print one edition of the newsletter… but we’ll inevitably have to receive the payment for the information later.”

“That much is fine.”

I wasn’t in desperate need of quick cash, so getting paid later wasn’t an issue.

My original goal was to flood the market with information on the Hardcore Assassin deck; the money that followed was just a secondary income.

“If we resolve this issue well, the editor-in-chief will be incredibly grateful. It’s essentially saving their entire company, so it will be a huge help if we ever need to use their newsletter in the future.”

Catching an industrial spy hiding within their company and even providing them with an exclusive story made us nothing short of saviors to the Rorte Newsletter.

If the Rorte Newsletter managed to properly recover from this opportunity, they might become a useful connection in the future.

Chasey looked at me with newfound respect.

“Your business acumen is quite impressive as well. As expected…”

It was a burdensome gaze.

Since I hadn’t actually done much.

Rattle-!

“Then I suppose we should slowly start preparing.”

“For what?”

If the information on the Hardcore Assassin deck flooded the market in the near future, the battlefields would experience an upheaval for a while.

The current meta Gunslinger deck and the Hardcore Assassin deck aiming to counter it would both be running rampant.

If so, this would be the perfect time to play a counter-to-the-counter deck.