Despite my proclamation of tiredness, I couldn't sleep. The battle may have ended, but adrenaline took some time to fade. As such, I lay back in bed and peered at my Status.

  ... I had an extra skill point. Same with my Stats; I had one too many in each of them.

  When had that happened? Level thirty, or thirty-one? Was it from [Fragment of the Past]? If it was giving me one extra point in each Stat and one extra skill Point every five levels, then thirty would make sense.

  Awesome. Bonus skill points. It meant I could get another two levels of [Dagger Mastery] instead of only one.

  One more level, and then I could start working on magic. As I was, I relied far too heavily on stealth. When faced with enemies that could negate it—or even simply enemies with some semblance of tactics and organisation—a lot of my power was lost. Yes, I could fight head on—I had [Dagger Mastery] and high Stats, after all—but it wasn't my greatest strength. I could fight one orc face-to-face, but not an entire village.

  And as for my stat points, what did I need next? Should I even everything out in the hopes of greater bonuses at the next growth marker?

  [Monster Slayer I] had ranked up in the middle of the battle, too, with [Monster Slayer II] granting another ten percent experience boost for killing monsters.

  "What's the plan for tomorrow?" asked Ryan. "Or, well... later today, now, I suppose."

  "The next dungeon on the list is the Enchanted Wood," answered Daniel.

  "Don't you think we deserve a few days' rest after that?" asked Lee.

  "Isn't there an adventurers' guild hall near the Enchanted Wood?" asked Felicity. "We should report our quest completion. Given how much experience that one was probably worth, I might get my next level out of it."

  "Sounds like I'm not the only one still awake..." I said.

  A snore reverberated from inside Stacy's helmet. No-one commented.

  "I doubt it'll get me my next level, but if it gets Felicity the next stage of [Heal], I'm all for it," said Ryan.

  "Plus they'll pay our reward, and I need a new dagger," I added. "I lost one in the orc village."

  "Stopping by the guild is fine by me," said Daniel. "It's not as if it's out of our way. Weapon shopping would be a bigger delay, if you're intending to spend so much that you want your share of the orc reward for it."

  "I'm not sure daggers are going to be much use against treants, anyway," said Ryan.

  "Who says? I've taken out treants before. One of my D-rank promotion quests was to harvest their heartwood."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Ryan blinked.

  "I realise it's a little late to be asking this, but who the hell are you?" asked Lee.

  Uh oh. One of the difficult questions.

  "Really? You find a few treants surprising after knowing he soloed the kobold chieftain?" pointed out Daniel.

  "It's not the treants. Didn't you see him in the orc fight just now?"

  Lying in bed, I couldn't see the faces of the other party members, but Daniel's uncomfortable silence said everything it needed to.

  "Well, I kinda had to. They'd have flattened this village otherwise."

  "No, that's not what I mean," said Lee. "It's not the fact that you attacked them. I'd have done the same thing if I thought I stood a chance."

  "What do you mean, then?"

  "You weren't frightened. At all. You weren't acting as if the orcs were an existential threat to this village, or even to yourself. You looked almost... gleeful. Like you were happy that a bunch of free experience was handing itself to you."

  "Uh... I'm pretty sure I wasn't gleeful," I said.

  "You totally were," confirmed Ryan.

  "Yes, I'm sorry, but..." confirmed Felicity.

  "Look, we aren't blind," sighed Daniel. "It was obvious from the time we first met that you're abnormal, but don't think we didn't notice the way you handle your dagger improved in the Haunted Graveyard and then completely changed after running off on your own in the forest. We didn't want to say anything, because, well, we need you to deal with some of these dungeon challenges. But at the rate you're going..."

  I didn't say anything. I knew from the beginning that they'd catch on soon enough, and even if I tried to deny everything now, [Dagger Mastery] had jumped another three stages since then. The orcs were, indeed, a bunch of experience handing itself to me. I wouldn't have described it as 'free' experience, but 'bunch' was, if anything, underselling it.

  "Speaking practically, we'll be nothing but dead weight to you by the time we finish touring the E-rank dungeons. Maybe you think we already are."

  "Not at all," I countered, feeling I could at least deny that part.

  Ryan snorted. "No, he thinks we're a useful distraction. Something to hold the attention of monsters while he sneaks into their back lines and does the real work."

  That was harder to deny, even if it wasn't a polite way of phrasing it. "You're underselling it..." I said. "You could just as easily say that Stacy is just someone to hold the attention of monsters while you pelt them with spells. I wouldn't be able to clear the bonus tasks of half these dungeons without you."

  "Snuuurk," agreed Stacy. Or, at least, I was going to take her conveniently timed snore as agreement.

  "If we're having this conversation, is anyone going to mention the assassins?" asked Lee. "Because I feel someone should mention the assassins."

  "What assassins?" I asked. "No-one mentioned assassins."

  "Oh, come off it. The way you talked about the capital, and the way you're avoiding it and worrying about getting us involved, it's obvious there was a targeted attack involved."

  Before I could refute that—not that I knew how—Daniel sighed. "Really? It's the assassins you're going to focus on?"

  "Uh..." said Lee, and I could hear his obvious incredulity. "I kinda think the fact that assassins are after him is important."

  "And you didn't think it odd that the adventurers' guild prepared all that information for us? Or assigned us a compulsory quest that was way above what a party of our rank should be capable of? Or that every dungeon we've visited since the Goblin Den has been empty?"

  "Uh... I didn't until just now, no. It is odd that we haven't run into anyone else in the dungeons, given that everyone is supposed to be crowding them right now, but it could just be fluke. And the guild had a perfectly good explanation for sending us after the orcs. They even said we didn't have to kill them all."

  "You really think all the high rank parties left for Harvent Canton? The way I heard it, the group was dispatched the day after news arrived. You believe they gathered every single adventurer in the royal canton in one day? Yes, the capital likely lost a huge chunk of its manpower, but I can't believe we were the best available squad for dealing with some orcs. Besides, let me ask you one more thing: how did the orcs track us to this village?"

  "Following our footsteps?" asked Lee, now sounding rather uncertain.

  "Orcs don't have tracking abilities. The ones that escaped the destruction of the first village left the first horde before it caught up with us or never left the village in the first place. It's not like they could have led the leaders of the other villages directly to the scene of our fight. Maybe they could have visited one of the other villages, and maybe led a group of orcs back, and maybe they managed to follow our footprints, but both villages? Not only that, but the full forces of both villages? It seems... unlikely."

  "What are you saying?" asked Lee.

  "Exactly what it sounds like. It could have been a coincidence. So could the dungeons being empty. Maybe the guild assigned us the quest because there really was no-one better available, and provided us with all that information out of the goodness of their hearts. If only one of those things had happened, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. But all four?"

  "So, what? You think someone led two villages of orcs to us?"

  Daniel sighed. "Not going to say anything, Robin?"

  No, I wasn't.

  I still remembered the letter I'd found on my bed, after all. I knew exactly what Daniel was suggesting, and it sounded... plausible.

  "So, what? Or rather, why?" asked Lee. "Why the heck would someone go ahead of us and clear other adventurers out of the dungeons? Rather, how would they do that?"

  "Stop and think for a moment," said Ryan. "I'm no expert at melee Skills, so I can't say I've noticed Robin's dagger Skill increasing, but if Daniel is right, he's gained multiple levels since joining our party. I've not gained one."

  "What's that got to do with anything?"

  "Do you really think the powers that be would leave someone with that sort of growth rate alone?"

  Damn. He went and said it. He really went and said it.

  And I was pretty sure he was right.

  "You think someone is funnelling experience to him? That makes no sense. If some noble wants him, they'd just offer him lots of money, or send a few men to kidnap him, and then worry about levelling him up. They aren't going to level him up first. It would make him harder to kidnap later."

  "Depends what they're after," answered Daniel. "It might be something that's better achieved by not taking direct control of him."

  "I note Robin is staying very quiet," added Ryan.

  "I'll admit, it's a very plausible theory," I said. There was no way around it. The royal guards had given the impression that they knew. Adding in the letter, which I had no intention of admitting to them, it was almost certain.

  "And therein lies the problem," said Daniel. "Someone is trying to raise Robin, not us. If he leapfrogs us in power, then on its own, that wouldn't matter. We could perfectly safely continue conquering the E-rank dungeons, and he'd be a help, rather than a hindrance."

  "The problem is more compulsory quests," sighed Felicity.

  "Indeed. If orcs are no longer a challenge to him, what if we find ourselves dispatched to an ogre village next? I've already lost an eye. Next time, we could lose a lot more."

  "To play devil's advocate, having someone emptying dungeons ahead of us is kinda convenient," said Felicity.

  "Really? It's worth ogres? One of your own eyes?"

  "... No."

  "So, what's the end goal?" asked Ryan. "Robin, you didn't sound at all surprised, so you've obviously already put thought into this."

  "A guild receptionist did once remark how convenient it would be if I cleared the Deep within the next three years."

  "... Fuck," said Ryan.

  "Yeah, screw that," said Lee. "So, what's the plan?"

  "Conquer the Enchanted Wood before visiting the guild, just so we have five conquered dungeons. Then, when we visit the guild to report our completion of the orc quest, we remove Robin from the party. Sorry, Robin, but I won't risk the safety of my team."

  "... I understand," I said. It was unfortunate, but I knew this would be a temporary arrangement from the beginning. I'd been hoping that I'd get around all the E-rank dungeons before we broke up, and maybe even a few of the D-rank, but five was a good start. With the levels I'd gained since the first one, and with the information provided by the guild, I could conquer a good portion of the rest on my own. The ones I couldn't, I'd just need to clear normally.

  "I'm glad, and if I'm honest, a little disappointed."

  "Disappointed?"

  "It would be so much easier to kick you out if you were a dick about it," clarified Lee.

  "Ah..."

  "Anyway, I need to catch some shut-eye before tomorrow. Everyone else, too."

  Oh well. I'd certainly got my use out of this party.

  The only problem was that while they could protect themselves from further risky compulsory quests by splitting from me, I couldn't exactly split from myself. If someone really did lead the orcs to us to force us to fight, so that I'd gain experience, then nothing would stop them doing so again. And next time, I wouldn't have a full party for support.

  They presumably wanted me alive, but that didn't necessarily mean they'd be gentle. If I died in the process... Well, it just proved I wasn't capable of whatever it was they wanted me for.

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