Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 118 A Loyal Army

Karl Harper. Has worked for one of Amerka's top-leading news outlets for a few years. And although he was not yet considered to be a chief reporter at Amerka Today, he had gained enough merit that any news he brought to the company would be put up without any questions asked.

He had a way of digging deep and looking into sources that no one would think to even glance at. For the past few weeks, however, there was one piece of juicy scoop that has been in each and every reporter in Amerka, a scoop that eludes even him.

He had been trying to find information about it day in and day out, but the location of the on-site recruitment of the Wilder's Harem has completely managed to remain covert.

Karl had even tried to register himself through the Wilder's Harem socials and even through their website, but he had not even gotten a single reply back. He had even paid Lowborns to do it, but they either just ran away with his money, or just refused outright to be part of whatever he was doing — already an inkling of how much influence Rhys was having on them.

But all of a sudden, when Karl was ready to give up this scoop, one of the Lowborns he paid to register and fill up an application form sent him an email; an email containing the location of Wilder's Harem's recruitment site.

And of course, without even any slight hesitation, Karl went to the site…

…only to find himself in some sort of cult. Rhys Wilder was saying that it was not a cult, but Karl already had experience in visiting cults to know what Rhys was building… was probably worse than a cult. He was right to bring several 360-degree cameras and hide them all over his body to catch everything that has happened in that building.

He was so excited that if he had access to the internet right now, he would have probably gone live to broadcast the news himself.

This wasn't just a simple explorer report, but also a political one. This was it, this was the scoop that would let him fall into leagues of prestige… or so he thought.

Right now, Rhys Wilder was knocking on the window of his truck.

"Let's talk."

Karl's basic instincts were telling him to just drive off right now and not look back, his reporter's instincts, however, made him open his window subconsciously.

"Mr… Mr. Wilder," Karl put up the smile he had always been using to disarm anyone he talked to, "It's… it's a shame that I wasn't able to join the guild. But I promise you, once you open up recruitment again, I'll be the first one in line!"

"May I ride with you, Sir?" Rhys said he leaned his head down, seemingly inspecting the inside of the truck, causing Karl to immediately push away and hide the black wig he wore earlier.

"Ride… ride with me?" Karl forced out a chuckle, "Oh, is… is this about the reimbursement? Please, I don't really need it and—"

"I know who you are, Sir," Rhys let out a sigh as he started walking around the truck, gesturing to Karl to open the passenger door. And Karl, of course, opened it for Rhys, who just calmly got inside the car and sat beside him,

"Karl Harper, reporter for Amerka Today."

"That—" Karl was going to feign ignorance more, but finally realized what had happened and could really only close his eyes and sigh, "Of course… they approached you once they were in the guild."

"No," Rhys breathed out as he shook his head, "You're right that it was one of the people who joined the guild, but she had already come to find me before she even sent you that email. I asked her to send you that email."

"You… leaked the location yourself? To me…?" Karl took in a small gulp, not knowing whether to glance at Rhys or just run.

"Why don't we go for a drive, Sir?"

Karl could not help but flinch as Rhys suddenly stretched his hand toward him, only for him to see Rhys just turn the keys to his car and start it himself.

"Where… where do you want to go?" Karl's entire body started to tremble. He wasn't a fool — he had heard of many news of reporters just being executed outright when they miscalculated how much they could extend their reach, and this just seemed like the kind of situation where he was about to get executed.

"Something is going to happen very soon…" Rhys whispered, "...And I would like you to be in the front of it. But for now, just…

...Drive."

***

"Rhys, where did you suddenly disappear to!? I've been looking for you for like an hour now!"

"I… was just walking around."

"...So, you don't know!?"

After having a calm conversation with the reporter, Rhys returned to Wilder's Harem, only to be welcomed by Lina's slightly panicked expression. His new guild members too, were all looking at each other, before turning to look at Rhys with worries in their eyes.

"What's… going on?" Rhys then saw both Katarina and Ayesha together, using Ayesha's satellite phone to make calls since there was no normal cellular service at the edge of the Safe Zone.

"The apartment it was—"

"It was ransacked and destroyed." And before Lina could even explain anything to Rhys, Maria appeared from the crowd with a tablet in hand, "We believe it was done by extremists. And judging from the timing, they probably knew you weren't there."

Rhys's eyes widened as he took the tablet from Maria, only to see his apartment completely destroyed—no. Destroyed was perhaps an understatement, as the entire floor, and above and beneath it were completely burnt and left with nothing but debris,

"Did anyone get hurt?" Rhys asked.

"...Yes," Maria sighed as she retrieved the tablet back from Rhys, "The four of you are practically the only ones living in that building since the government tagged it, but there were people below when it happened and they were… crushed by the rubble."

"Wait… how are you even here?" Rhys finally realized Maria's sudden attendance in the building.

"Because I am very good at my job, Mr. Wilder," Maria breathed out, "I know where you are at all times."

"That… is very comforting to know," Rhys did not really know what to feel from Maria's statement, "But you said this was done by… extremists? Do you have suspects?"

"The DTL," Maria once again handed the tablet back to Rhys after fiddling with it a bit.

"DTL…?" Rhys squinted his eyes as he looked at the tablet. His new guild members, who happened to hear Maria's words, could not help but let out gasps which quickly turned into breaths of anger.

"The Death To Lowborns targeted you, Mr. Wilder!?"

"Death To Lowborns…?" Rhys could not help but raise an eyebrow as he looked at the tablet, only to see pictures of several people wearing gas masks and pointy white hats leaving his apartment building.

"For now, I was tasked to bring you to safety, Mr. Wilder. Which, may I remind you, should not be in the scope of my job," Maria pointed at Rhys as she once again snatched her tablet from him, "So, I need you to come with me, now."

"...How hard is it to just want to be an Explorer?" Rhys shook his head before stepping away from Maria and glancing at the members of his guild, "And I'm not going with you, Ma'am. If I'm in danger, then it's possible they might be targeting them too."

"But—"

"If you want to talk about safe, this is the safest place he could be, Suit." Ayesha approached Maria before she could finish her words, "With me."

"...Where will you even be staying?" Maria squinted her eyes.

"Well, and here I thought you were good at your diggity god damn job, Suit," Ayesha let out a cheeky smile as she looked at Maria,

"We leased this entire building — you are looking at Wilder's Harem HQ. Well, the Doc leased it in her name and we put Rhys's WeTube money as down payment. The building is pretty solid, and you could see the entire perimeter since it's practically the tallest infrastructure on sight within 500 meters."

"Hm…" Maria turned to look at Katarina, who was still busy making calls, "...Expect the government to send some security here in a few hours."

"I thought they wanted me gone?" Rhys blinked a couple of times.

"Whether you like it or not, Mr. Rhys Wilder…" Maria looked Rhys in the eyes, "...You're a political figure now. And if you happen to die, you become a martyr and that would cause a huge revolt. Although… I guess you planned that too."

"...What?" Rhys could not help but force out a tiny chuckle as he returned Maria's gaze.

"And now…" Maria leaned her head to the side to look at the almost hundred members of the Wilder's Harem,

"...You have a loyal army under you."