Chapter 278: The Tragedy of the District Seven

Solomon stared at the manila folder, the pieces of the twisted conspiracy finally clicking together in his mind. He honestly should have expected a scheme exactly like this the moment he discovered that ’The BlueYorker’s Shield’ was actively involved in the District Six operations.

’They are literally pulling the exact same stunt they pulled in District Seven,’ Solomon realized, his hands trembling as he gripped the legal documents.

He could not control his boiling fury. The sheer intensity of his rage spiked so high that his silver aura instinctively began to leak from his pores, casting a faint, dangerous glow across the dark playground.

Solomon closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep, shuddering breath. He actively reeled his aura back in, locking the spiritual energy down tight.

’Calm down,’ Solomon reminded himself repeatedly. ’This is not how I planned to do things. If I act reckless right now and just storm their headquarters, my entire plan will fail, and everything I have prepared so far will be completely meaningless.’

He needed a calculated approach to secure his revenge against The BlueYorker’s Shield. He needed to ensure they paid in blood for what they had done to the unnamed District 7 guild he was once part of. He held them entirely responsible for the deaths of his former guildmates, and most importantly, for Serah’s death.

When a high-tier dungeon had originally manifested in District Seven, the unnamed guild had naturally submitted a formal bid to secure the exploration rights to clear the threat. However, their bid was swiftly rejected by the Dungeon Regulatory Bureau. The exploration rights were instead awarded to the highest bidder in the district, which was The BlueYorker’s Shield.

After securing the exclusive rights, The BlueYorker’s Shield deliberately delayed the expedition. They issued public statements claiming their top-tier raid parties were currently deployed on separate, vital missions, and promised they would send their elite teams to clear the anomaly shortly.

However, they stalled for weeks.

During the final week of the grace period, the dungeon’s magical frequency began to destabilize, which was a clear sign that a catastrophic dungeon break could occur at any moment. Only then did The BlueYorker’s Shield issue a desperate public announcement.

They formally declared that their guild had ’failed’ to clear the dungeon. They magnanimously opened the it to the public, stating that any independent adventurer or rival guild was free to enter the portal without paying the standard entry fees, provided they surrendered eighty percent of all acquired loot and monster cores back to The BlueYorker’s Shield, since they still legally owned the exploration rights.

Desperate to prevent a localized monster break from destroying their homes and slaughtering the citizens of District Seven, numerous smaller guilds and independent adventurers immediately joined the frantic expedition. The unnamed guild Solomon belonged to was one of them.

Because Solomon lacked an official Adventurer’s License due to his unawakened talent, he was legally barred from entering the portal. Everyone else from his guild marched inside.

Combining the desperate members of all the local District Seven guilds, alongside a few brave volunteers from neighboring districts, twelve distinct raid teams were hastily assembled, each consisting of roughly fourteen to twenty members.

Serah was assigned to the team with her guildmates.

Fortunately, the combined raid teams successfully cleared the dungeon, and the impending monster break was neutralized.

However, out of the two hundred adventurers who stepped through that portal, only a single person walked out alive.

That lone survivor was Serah’s father, the leader of the unnamed guild.

The very second the dungeon was officially classified as cleared, The BlueYorker’s Shield immediately swooped in. They exerted their legal rights over the anomaly, claiming ownership over the dungeon core and every single valuable resource generated inside.

Serah’s father was not given a single penny of compensation. He had lost his entire guild roster and his only daughter to that dungeon. The families of the other 199 adventurers who sacrificed their lives to stop the break received absolutely nothing from the dungeon’s massive yield.

Naturally, public outrage demanded that The BlueYorker’s Shield be held legally responsible for the catastrophic loss of life, citing their blatant negligence in delaying the initial expedition.

The Dungeon Regulatory Bureau ultimately declared them entirely innocent. According to the fabricated official reports, The BlueYorker’s Shield had ’tried their absolute best’ to clear the dungeon but had tragically failed against overwhelming odds.

The Adventurer Association subsequently issued a sickeningly hollow public statement regarding the tragedy.

"The Association extends its deepest, most profound gratitude to every single brave soul involved in the recent District Seven raid," the official broadcast had claimed, dripping with bureaucratic insincerity.

"We have allocated a standard bureaucratic stipend to the families of the deceased. These fallen adventurers were great heroes who nobly sacrificed their lives to save our beloved city from disaster. However, the Association’s highest commendation and the ’Guild of the Year’ award must be bestowed upon The BlueYorker’s Shield for their tireless, administrative dedication to protecting District Seven."

It was absolute bullshit. They expressed zero genuine remorse for the slaughtered adventurers. The BlueYorker’s Shield received awards and massive financial grants for ’protecting’ the district, when in reality, they had done absolutely nothing except orchestrate the tragedy for profit.

Following the massacre, the smaller guilds entirely collapsed. Only a single, monopolizing guild remained in the entirety of District Seven, which was The BlueYorker’s Shield.

Now, they had seemingly partnered with the ’Six Savers’ guild the moment a new dungeon appeared in District Six. It was incredibly obvious to Solomon that they were trying to pull the exact same stunt, orchestrating another tragedy to crash the real estate market and monopolize the neighboring territory.

If the residents didn’t evacuate, they would just not clear the dungeon and pretend as if they tried. Even if someone else tried to clear it, there was no guarantee that they would succeed.

However, if even half of the residents evacuated, they could just pay the remaining half of them and buy the entire district.

Solomon took another deep breath, forcing his heart rate to slow down.

’Back then, I was not strong enough,’ Solomon reminded himself, staring at the dark grass. ’I did not know how my talent worked. I could not do anything against an entire guild except watch them destroy my life and endure the humiliation.’

But now, everything was different. Although The BlueYorker’s Shield had grown even more powerful and wealthy over the past years, he fully intended to take them head-on. He was going to dismantle their empire and exact his revenge for what they did.

He closed his eyes, recalling the moment he heard the devastating news about Serah’s death. He remembered exactly what he was doing at that time.

The memory brought a wave of guilt. He hadn’t even talked to Serah or met with her before she entered the doomed dungeon.

They had gotten into a argument the day before the raid. Serah had discovered his illegal mercenary activities in the underground fighting rings. She had furiously tried to smack some sense into him, terrified he was going to get himself killed. In response, he had gotten angry, yelled at her to mind her own business, and stormed off to sulk.

He refused to speak to her the following morning.

The very last memory he had of Serah was their bitter fight.

He didn’t even get to see her one last time to apologize. He didn’t even get to see her body, as no remains were ever recovered from the depths of that dungeon. The grave he had visited in the local cemetery earlier that morning was completely empty, serving merely as a symbolic memorial.

"The reason I requested a leave of absence from the academy was to come back here and completely destroy The BlueYorker’s Shield," Solomon muttered into the quiet night. "But luck happened to be on my side when this new dungeon manifested in District Six. Now, I can take care of both corrupted guilds at the exact same time."

He stood up from the swing set, gripping the manila folder. "I will get my revenge, and I will secure District Six so my family can finally live in peace without corporate vultures threatening them."

He had already permanently removed the loan sharks and erased his father’s financial burden. Now, it was time to remove all the remaining threats.

He intended to eradicate every single worry plaguing his family, so that he could return to the Live Streaming Academy with a clear conscience, focus entirely on his classes and martial training, and truly become the worryless man.