Currently, Jorge, Foldo, Jeanne, Portia, Shanks, Derek, Nicholas, and Elijah were seated in a conference room within the core area of Safemoon City. Their faces were grave as they stewed in the long silence until Foldo spoke with a sigh.

"Well, it was inevitable. While they knew there is nothing that they can realistically do to us within the city given our backing, there's nothing stopping them from striking outside."

Elijah nodded. "I did think we all anticipated this. Our goods are too important to be ignored, and their costs is above what many can afford. Since they dare not raid us for the items, as they do not have the requisite power, nothing is stopping them from touching our goods once they leave the city."

Nicholas rubbed his brow with frustration. "The road from here to Andrato has long been developed and guarded by the Androids Darius left behind. Not only that, We have installed a great mount of signal towers across the road and even in some select locations in the wilderness to expand the range of the Supreme Portal."

The City Lord then looked at everyone on the table with a confused look. "Yet, these fellows seem to know exactly how to avoid the detection of our towers and not come into range of them. This is absurd as this is Gravitas technology, how could Fallon bandits know anything about it?"

Shanks was the only one smiling, but it wasn't a pleasant one. "There is one party who would have knowledge about how our tech works, but not like the fact that we have it."

Nicholas' eyes widened as Derek nodded. "Gravitas. I could sense the anger and killing intent in their movements when they came for the auction. They are very xenophobic and despise the rest of Faust. Now that we have access to their tech, they would first investigate how the leak happened and cleanse their internal framework of possible traitors."

"Next is to deal with us and either destroy our tech or harass us long enough that we would be estranged and desperate enough to listen to whatever conditions they have." Derek finished with a slight frown.

This made the atmosphere in the room plummet. The issue with a problem is that when it was unidentified, it was a herculean obstacle that seemed unsolvable. However, once the core cause of a problem is identified, there could be a hundred solutions to deal with it.

Jorge smiled slightly. "So, Gravitas? They are definitely not feeding bandits directly, that's for sure. They would have to use intermediaries on our continent, and I can point out more than a few Kingdoms and Empires that would jump at the chance to get back at us."

"Right now, we know that our route to Andrato is untouched, and exchange between the two kingdoms is smooth as possible. However, it is within Andrato and on the routes out of it that these hooligans dare act."

Jeanne sighed and placed her hand on the table gently. "I apologize for the weakness of my kingdom. Had Andrato been more secure, this wouldn't have happened."

Foldo laughed and waved his hands. "Your Majesty, please don't say that. All of us here are former citizens of Andrato, born and raised on that land. We are all implicit in its weakness, and with Master Darius to lead us, would we even have this chance?"

The others nodded in agreement. Blaming herself wasn't really helping, because they were also Andrato citizens. Right now, what they needed to do was find a solution to the problem.

Understanding this, Jeanne sighed with relief, but starting putting that royal mind to use in deducing a path to success. However, it was the softspoken and shy Portia who made her thoughts known at this time.

"Why not halt all exports and rather set an ambush? If we catch those bandits and make a public display of how they are brutally punished, others would not be so daring to act for a short period of time in which we can find a more permanent solution." The young woman said with a smile.

Shanks slapped his knee. "That's it! With that in mind, we can also stretch our limbs for a bit. Our operatives have also had little to do since the establishment of the city, and its time to test those we just recruited."

Everyone in the room smiled. They were all powerhouses who had used Darius' resources to reach absurdly high levels of power, so them taking action this time was akin to using a star destroyer cannon to blow up an asteroid.

However, it was precisely because of this that they had few chances to make a move. With a solid reason to do so now, they began planning their ambush as well as put the pieces together in order to cleanse Andrato in one fell swoop.

.......

At this time, the portal square in the outer area of the city lit up as two people walked through, one man and one woman. The woman was svelte in an athletic sense. Her tight leather garb showed off her small bust and moderate hips, reasonably attractive curves by any standard.

Her cloak's hood was down, her round and soft face was on display, her thick brows, small nose, pursed lips, and freckles making her look quite like a young peasant girl. The only thing that stood out was her curly orange-brown hair that was cut short, only reaching her chin.

Her light brown eyes were very active, moving about as if looking for something in particular.

The man was a truly beautiful middle-aged gentleman with silver-gray hair, pointy ears, and a slim but tall form. He wore black acolyte armor and had his hood tossed back, revealing his face marked with scars.

"Well, we're here now. What next?" The man asked with boredom as he folded his arms grumpily.

"Oh shush, don't be so down. I can feel it in my bones, that coming here will leaded to some sort of great benefit for us. We just have to wait for a bit and the right chance will show itself." The woman replied as her eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Hmph." The fellow remarked coldly, but followed the woman deeper into the outer section of Safemoon.