Ryan watched for a moment as he was received by the crowd in the clearing. He had so many things spinning in his mind that he simply decided not to overthink it and prioritized his most urgent matters.

"Alicia." He pronounced her name out loud, stopping his walk for an instant in the middle of the village’s main path.

The assistant moved quickly and reached him immediately, adjusting the skirt of her uniform. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

Ryan adjusted his pace toward the village smithy, ignoring the fixed gazes of the refugees. Behind him, all the elves remained gathered, cheering and celebrating his return.

"Won’t you say anything to them, Your Majesty?" she asked curiously, looking at the crowd of people packing the sides with joyful expressions.

Ryan stopped for a second, looked at the group, and offered them a few brief words about the trust they had placed in him during the village relocation before continuing straight on his way.

Mirian walked a bit further behind along with the other girls in the party and let out a small, silent laugh. "Ryan has never been good at this sort of thing."

Karol walked by her side holding her staff and nodded, completely in agreement with Mirian’s words.

Everyone followed Ryan’s firm steps until they reached the smithy sector.

Before entering the factory’s main building, Ryan turned to his assistant to give her instructions.

"I want the scout unit under Beatrice’s command to be assembled as soon as possible," he ordered, looking at his assistant.

"Look for nine of the most skilled assassins among the elves and beastmen in the village," he continued seriously.

"Give them instructions that Beatrice will now be their official commander and that they must follow every single one of her orders," he added.

Alicia nodded immediately, making a mental note of the task, and quickly withdrew to look for the squad members.

Beatrice approached Ryan with slow steps, showing a mixture of shyness and surprise on her demon face.

"Ryan... are you really going to give me command of an entire group? I thought you would leave me here."

"I trust you will do a good job leading that group, but don’t worry, you won’t go alone this time."

The demon girl lowered her gaze for a brief instant, nodding her head as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Understood... I will do the best job possible to meet your expectations."

After finishing that conversation, they stepped fully inside the village’s relic factory. Runa and Mika were next to the main anvil, surrounded by the heat of the fire and metals.

Ryan walked straight toward the wooden table where Runa was working.

"I need you to manufacture some new relics for the group that is heading out in the morning."

Runa stared intently at him, leaving what she was doing.

"I want tools that serve to alter the visible stats of whoever wears them," Ryan explained calmly.

"And besides that, let it be an item to alter the visible race to anyone who tries to inspect them. Our people belong to different races, but there are too many of them to simply stay hidden."

"I understand, what you want is that if any adventurer checks them with a skill, the relic must make them look like ordinary humans," Runa said.

Ryan reached his hand into his coat and took out two items he kept stored in his inventory to use as a mold. He placed the relic that changed hair and eye color onto the wood of the table.

Right next to it, he placed the relic that the elder had handed him when he set off toward the dwarf city, which modified his appearance to make him look like a B-rank adventurer.

"Use these two pieces to forge several identical relics," Ryan ordered. "I want every assassin in the squad to carry one with them."

Runa took the objects between her short hands and examined them under the light with a confident smile.

"It’s obvious you’re in a hurry, Your Majesty. I’ll get to work on that right away and have them ready by dawn."

"I appreciate the effort," Ryan responded before turning half around toward the workshop’s exit.

"Well, for now, let’s all head back to the village house to organize some details."

Everyone left the smithy and walked back toward Ryan’s main residence.

Once inside the main hall of the house, the girls gathered around the main table to listen to the young king’s plans. Mirian settled into the sofa, keeping her eyes fixed on him.

Beatrice looked at Ryan intently, breaking the room’s silence.

"What exactly do you have in mind for us? What will our objective be?"

Ryan rested his hands on the wood of the table, looking at each of them face-on. "The first thing will be to gather as much information as possible on the outside."

"We need to know what humans, adventurers, and members of the church are saying about my name after the latest events," he explained.

"Beatrice, as the commander of the unit, you will be in charge of directing the espionage movement in the nearby towns," he ordered.

Later, he deliberately shifted his gaze toward the little mage who was sitting on the other side of the table. "You will go along with Karol."

Karol opened her eyes wide, visibly taken aback at the mention of her name by her king. "What?! I’m going with her? Why does a mage like me have to participate in an espionage mission?"

"It’s because of your flight magic," Ryan replied directly, cutting off her complaint before she could start grumbling in the hall.

"I need you to accompany Beatrice and her group so that they can leave and return from the dungeon." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Karol puffed out her cheeks with evident annoyance, but ended up crossing her arms upon noticing the seriousness in Ryan’s expression.

"Fine, if you put it that way, I guess there is no choice."

’But that doesn’t solve the problem. I remember getting a couple of scrolls with flight magic in the dungeon, but...’

Ryan stared intently at both of them, reinforcing the expedition’s security.

"For this time, I’ll go with you. But I’ll return early to meet with Ophelia."

"Ryan, can I come with you too?" Helen asked as she approached.

"No, you and Mirian will remain in the village in case something happens."

"But why? I’ll get super bored here, let me go with you..."

"Absolutely not."

"I knew you would say something like that," Mirian added.

Alicia entered the house at a rapid pace, stopping in front of the meeting table before making a small, formal bow.

"Your Majesty, I have done what you asked. I already have a group selected."