There was way too much noise inside the hall. Everyone was yapping, throwing their own theories about the situation. After some time, all the guild masters arrived and took their seats. Slowly, silence filled the hall.
Igris broke the silence first.
"No need to be so formal about this. Just start your shit now."
Aanya was the first to speak. She didn't hold back.
"So last night, our church was destroyed. The amount of damage done in a single night is massive. Our holy towers are nothing but piles of rubble now. All our guards were killed. Warriors are the only ones who are unaffected by our holy magic, so they are the only ones capable of causing this much destruction in one night. There are also clear signs of rapid combo attacks — skills that are only present in the Warriors Guild."
"Alright," Igris said calmly. "Even if I accept that, why did you start the war in the Archives' kingdom? You used the war horn near their territory."
"Ohh, so you're getting straight to the point, huh?" Aanya replied. "Fine. I'll be very clear. We have strong suspicions about the Archives. Rhea and her fellow guild members"—she shot a sharp glare at Kai—"have been accused multiple times of planting false information and spreading rumors between guilds."
"What do you mean by that?" Rhea snapped. "We never did any of that. And just because you suspect us doesn't give you the right to start a war in our fucking kingdom."
"Language, Rhea," Ciling said sharply. "This is a court, not your guild hall. But you do have a point. Just because you suspect something doesn't mean you can start a war. Do you have any proof that Rhea is behind this?"
"I don't have solid proof," Aanya admitted. "But it's the Archives. They don't need a particular reason to hate us. And if I have to point out a motive, then it's the church itself. Our level 50 church was completed just a few days ago. Because of that, our knowledge and potion power increased immensely. We used that knowledge to upgrade our visibility and clarity potions because we planned to destroy the Archives in the upcoming Guild Clash."
Her eyes burned with hatred.
"But of course, they couldn't just sit back and watch that happen. So they made their move. They must have fed false information to the Warriors, provoking them to attack us and destroy our church. And look — that's exactly what happened."
"Hahaha…" Rhea laughed lightly. "You're a great storyteller, you know that? This is just your theory. Why do you think the Archives only have invisibility as a skill? That's a guild skill — and every guild has unique abilities. Why would we take such a huge risk just for one advantage?"
She continued calmly.
"And anyway, now that you don't have a church, still potions aren't a big deal. Buy some items and you'll have visibility and clarity potions again — slightly weaker ones, sure, but usable. So why would we even consider something this stupid?"
"She made a fair point," Igris said. "But let's address the real elephant in the room — Arcon himself. Why don't we ask him directly? I think we might get something useful."
"Hahaha… man, you guys are entertaining as hell," Arcon finally spoke. "But yeah, it's my turn now. First of all, this has nothing to do with the Archives. I haven't even met Rhea in the last two months. Instead of blaming others, why don't you look at yourself first?"
"What does that even mean?" Aanya shot back. "Get to the point. If the Archives aren't involved, then why did you attack us?"
"Ohh, so you really don't know?" Arcon smirked. "You're dumber than I thought. Five hundred liters of wine were stolen from our bar inventory. And just a few days ago, while building your new church, you offered almost a fucking pool of wine to your god."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Aanya shouted. "Are you accusing us of stealing your wine? We publicly announced that we would purchase 2000 liters of wine from merchants. We got permission from all guild members and bought it from eight merchants with proper documentation."
"Ohh, but you're forgetting something," Arcon replied calmly. "Initially, you placed an order for 3000 liters. The total world limit is only 4000 liters. Giving you three-fourths of that would cause a shortage, so you didn't get permission. You had to settle for 2000 liters."
He leaned back.
"And there's no limit on offerings during a church upgrade. Reaching level 50 is already insane, and going beyond that is even harder. Your greedy mind couldn't settle for 2000 liters — so you stole the rest."
"That's completely illogical," Aanya replied confidently. "We already had 7000 liters of wine stored. We purchased and saved it for months. We didn't need your 500 liters."
At that moment, Kai opened a private chat with Rhea and sent her a message.
After reading it, Rhea spoke up.
"Ohh, so you're saying you already had 7000 liters in your inventory," she said with a smirk. "But you didn't include the wine produced by your glorious wine factory. That's another 500 liters, right?"
She tilted her head.
"So that adds up to 9500 liters. You were just 500 liters away from hitting the 10K mark. So sad. Either you wait until next month… or you take another route. One we already know about."
"Hahaha… now I get it," Aanya shouted, staring straight at Kai. "You're really an asshole, Kai. You're behind all of this, you son of a bitch."
"Mind your language, Aanya," Rhea snapped. "Where did Kai even come into this? Now you're blaming my guild member for your own mistakes?"
"Fine," Aanya said after a pause. "I admit it. We offered 10,000 liters of wine to our god. What happened was — when I placed the order for 2000 liters with eight merchants, one of them told me that his supplier had extra wine, around 700 liters. He said he could arrange it if I wanted."
Her voice lowered.
"I agreed and purchased 500 liters of extra wine from him. Now I'm pretty sure that supplier was none other than Kai himself."
As soon as she finished speaking, her face went blank — like she had just realized something.
"Alright," Igris said quietly. "Then show us all nine deal reports and transaction logs."
Aanya's face turned pale.
"I can only show logs for eight deals," she admitted. "The ninth deal was unofficial. There's no record of it."
Ciling thought for a moment, then spoke.
"There's another way. Why don't you give us access to your guild merchants' transaction logs? We can easily identify who supplied the extra wine."
"I can't give you access to that," Aanya replied flatly.
"What the fuck are you saying?" Igris almost shouted. "Your church got destroyed, and you still can't give us access?"
"No," Aanya said coldly. "I can't give you access. That's final."