At the Walton family mansion, Lambert was pacing around his room as multiple thoughts went through his head.
"This has gotten too far. I am being looked down on by other nobles and the worst part is that my friends have begun distancing themselves because of the shame. All this is happening because of that stupid adventurer Zero." A bitter expression formed on his face when he thought of that name.
Lambert recently graduated from the Calton magic school and his family's plans for him was to enter the political scene.
(AN: Remember that the new system for the schools was just implemented, meaning he was during the oppressive era of the school.)
The problem here was that before he could do that he needed to have a number of achievements before he could be deemed worthy.
There were 2 top ways of racking up merits; through the ash corps or through the adventurers association.
Joining the ash corps took years to rise in rank and the dangers that came with the job wasn't worth it for Lambert, so he decided to go through the adventurers association.
In the association, he could use his family's wealth to hire mercenaries to complete very difficult missions while he avoided danger.
This was a perfect plan that would earn him enough merits in the few years to come, but that was when Zero appeared.
Killing the Knox was meant to be the big break that put him in the spotlight, but all the recognition went to Zero.
The number and grade of beasts he brought in were always dwarfed by that of Zero and as if that wasn't enough the Demigod incident occurred.
The news of Zero's adventurer party being involved in the demigod incident spread like wildfire.
That wasn't much of a problem, but what shocked the adventurer world and the nobles was that not only was it their very first party mission, but their performance was outstanding.
This completely removed Lambert from the competition and intensified the light on Zero, but that wasn't all.
What brought about the shame and segregation was when the news of the order of chaos adventurer party entering an ancient research facility and coming out alive without help.
"What will be the best way to get rid of him without being suspected?" At this point, Lambert had already come to a conclusion that adventurer Zero must die, but the question was the best way to do it.
That was when a knock was heard on the door and when he opened it, it was his butler who informed him of his father's summoning.
"Father you called for me?" Lambert bowed.
Sargon Walton was a man in his early 60's with the same brown hair and eyes as his son. Unlike his son, he had a muscular body that added to the mean aura his eyes gave off.
"It has come to my attention that you are being ridiculed within your social circle and we both know that is very bad for our plans." Sargon didn't even bother to look at Lambert who had his head was continuously faced down.
"It is clear that you don't have the situation under control. So, I have decided to help you erase this problem." Sargon said.
Lambert looked at his father in excitement but was forced to take his head down when his eyes locked with that of his father.
"So, tell me about your plan." Sargon said.
"I planned on hiring a mercenary group to hire the adventurer party for a mission in the Mina woods where they will be ambushed by the mercenary team." Lambert said.
"In order to increase the chances of success, they will have to be separated and the main forces will be focused on Zero himself. The problem is how to erase my tracks." Lambert explained.
The adventurer association had policies that protected both the customer and the adventurers. If any were to go missing or found dead the other party will be questioned and an investigation will be made.
"If that is your problem, then you don't have a problem. Leave that part to me." Although Sargon was not too happy with Lambert, he had to praise his insidious mind.
…
The days went by quickly and their class-free days had finally arrived. Blake had many things on his list to do, but beast cores topped all of them.
Due to him not having much to do throughout the week, Blake had been continuously absorbing beast cores thus leaving his reserves close to empty.
The problem now was that they needed to decide if it would be a solo or party activity.
"For the sake of efficiency and speed, let's all go solo, but we will prioritize party missions." Castiel and Brian agreed to Blake's suggestion.
Party missions gave more contribution points and gold than solo commissions, so it was only rational to do so.
When they got to the association and met up with Susan, she informed them about a job that had been commissioned 2 days ago.
It was that of three researchers who needed their strength and protection in searching for black spider monkeys.
Black spider monkeys like the name implied, were black monkeys that had 6 limbs, a tail and a mouth that were able shoot out strong spider webs.
The problem here was that spider monkeys were quite rare and very difficult to deal with.
At first the trio were about to reject the offer because their main goal was to farm beast cores, but the researchers soon made an offer they could decline.
They were to take the corpse and beast cores they encountered, except for the corpse of the black spider monkeys because that was the main purpose for the commission.
"Are we on a wild goose chase or do we have a general idea of their location?" Blake asked.
Black spider monkeys were solitary beasts and although they were tasked to find only 2, it was a difficult task.
"Yes we do. The information we purchased on the black spider monkeys shows they could be found around here." One of the researchers pointed at part of the mina forest quite far from the roads.