Online Game: I Started with Max Charisma and Caught the Goddess's Eye

By the time Lucas returned to his squad’s new quarters, the sun had only just risen above the horizon.

He came back nearly half a day earlier than anyone would have expected.

He didn’t wake his teammates. Instead, he decided to let them rest until noon before calling everyone up. After all, he knew just how exhausted they all were.

Quietly, he slipped into the last empty room and laid down to sleep.

Lucas thought his return had gone unnoticed, but in truth, the moment he stepped into the quarters, Luca had already sensed his presence with keen awareness.

“Lucas came back this early? It must have something to do with my actions,” Luca whispered softly. “Most likely, the higher-ups of the Black Forest camp summoned him back ahead of schedule because of me.”

“I think that’s exactly it,” Sophia’s calm voice sounded in his mind. “But I don’t think anything particularly bad has happened. Otherwise, Lucas wouldn’t be sleeping so peacefully right now.

“Most likely, the Black Forest command has assigned him a very important mission that needs to be completed in the short term. To make sure everyone’s in peak condition, he probably decided to let everyone rest first instead of waking them up.”

Luca nodded slightly, agreeing with her deduction.

Since Lucas wasn’t planning to act immediately, there was no need for Luca to make any moves of his own either. He closed his eyes again, quietly waiting for the moment Lucas would wake them.

Several hours later, Luca was roused by the sound of urgent knocking on his door.

“Get downstairs, now! We need to discuss the mission immediately,” Lucas’s voice called from outside.

“Got it! I’ll be right there!”

Luca stretched lazily, feeling fully refreshed. After a long, uninterrupted rest, his condition was optimal, and he was eager to get started on the task.

By the time he came downstairs, Lucas had already gathered the entire squad in the common room.

The moment Lucas saw Luca, he gave him a subtle nod.

“Since everyone’s here,” Lucas said firmly, “I’ll give a brief rundown of our mission.”

He placed a map on the table at the center of the group, spreading it out so everyone could see.

“This map shows the location of an abandoned manor not far from the Black Forest camp. Our mission is to enter that manor and eliminate every single monster inside.”

After finishing his brief explanation, Lucas turned his gaze toward the group.

In response, everyone—including Luca—shifted their eyes to him as well. For a moment, the two sides just stared at each other in silence.

“…Why are you all staring at me like that?” Lucas finally asked, feigning confusion. “I’ve already explained the mission.”

His words left everyone momentarily speechless.

“Captain, that wasn’t a mission briefing at all—that was just a mission summary!” one of the squad members said with clear disappointment. “Aren’t you supposed to go over precautions before we begin? Don’t you at least have a proper operational plan for completing this mission?”

Lucas blinked, putting on an exaggerated expression of sudden realization.

“Oh, so that’s what you meant! You’re right, I completely forgot to prepare a plan.” He paused deliberately, then turned his gaze directly toward Luca. “In that case, Cole, since you’re the strongest among us, why don’t you share your plan for this mission?”

Luca immediately understood what Lucas was doing.

This entire act—his casual demeanor, his feigned cluelessness—was a setup. Lucas was deliberately testing him, trying to gauge whether Luca was capable of planning a mission under pressure.

Luca furrowed his brows and thought for a moment before replying calmly.

“If you really want me to make an operational plan, I can try to come up with one. But I should warn you—I’ve never actually planned a mission before. There might be plenty of flaws in whatever I come up with.”

“Don’t be so modest!” Lucas said quickly, his tone brimming with confidence. “I trust you.”

With a slight look of resignation, Luca stepped forward and stood by the map.

“Given that we only have this map and no other intel, I can only base the plan on what’s shown here. According to the map, aside from the main entrance, the manor has two smaller gates. I believe we shouldn’t split up while approaching; instead, we should scout all three entrances first and only then decide how to enter.

“Once we’re inside the manor, if we immediately encounter a powerful enemy, there’s no point overthinking it—we’ll engage and fight head-on.

“But if we don’t run into any significant threats right away, then we’ll have to split into smaller groups to cover more ground.

“Beyond that, there’s nothing else I can plan for at this point. Once inside, we’ll need to adapt on the fly depending on what we encounter.”

He laid out his plan quickly and clearly.

It wasn’t particularly brilliant or innovative, but it was reasonable, logical, and practical given the limited information available.

Lucas listened carefully, nodding slowly as Luca spoke.

In his mind, this was exactly the kind of plan he’d expect from someone who was both capable and intelligent—but clearly inexperienced when it came to mission strategy.

The other squad members were still a little uneasy, but overall, they felt that Luca’s plan sounded far more reliable than anything Lucas had offered so far.

“I say we stick to Luca’s plan,” one of them stood up and declared. “It’s not like the captain has a better idea anyway.”

The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

Just then, Lucas suddenly shouted out loud, startling everyone.

“Ah! I forgot to mention something important! Besides this map, there’s one more thing I know—the abandoned manor used to belong to an ancient noble. And according to legend, this ancient noble might even have some distant blood ties to His Excellency the Crimson King!”

His abrupt outburst made everyone frown in irritation.

“Captain, seriously? You’re just telling us this now? If you had this kind of information, why didn’t you say it earlier?” one squad member, who had been silent up until now, finally snapped in frustration. “Is there anything else you’re keeping from us?”

Lucas’s erratic behavior was starting to feel a little too bizarre for comfort.

Meanwhile, Luca watched everything unfold with cold detachment. He wasn’t annoyed—if anything, he was curious.

He wanted to see just how far Lucas was willing to take this little act… and how many more subtle tests Lucas planned to throw his way.

“Cole,” Lucas said suddenly, as if on cue, “what do you think? Does this information change anything for us?”

Exactly as Luca had anticipated, Lucas brought the “forgotten intelligence” back into the discussion only to use it as another chance to test him.

Luca shook his head calmly.

“I don’t know much about the relationships between the Empire’s noble houses, let alone anything about an ancient noble from so long ago. So, no—I have nothing useful to add.”

Lucas nodded thoughtfully.

“Fair enough. Matters of nobility aren’t exactly something most of you would know about anyway. In that case, I’ll make a few slight adjustments to Cole’s plan.”

Almost instantly, his demeanor shifted. Gone was the carefree, scatterbrained act; in its place, Lucas adopted a serious and focused tone as he presented his real operational plan.

“Like Cole said, we won’t be splitting up. But there’s one critical difference—we don’t need to check all three entrances before going in.

According to the intel I’ve received, both the main gate and the right-side gate are cursed. We’ll be entering directly through the left-side gate.”

“After we enter through the left-side gate, we’ll split into three groups and move separately. Our first priority is to quickly clear out the weaker monsters scattered throughout the manor.

Once we’ve completed that, we’ll regroup in the core area of the manor. That’s where the most powerful and evil creature resides. Only by joining forces will we have even the slightest chance of defeating it.”

Lucas’s detailed mission plan made it abundantly clear that he had been withholding a significant amount of critical information from the squad.

The others exchanged uneasy glances. Every single one of them felt a growing sense of concern, though none could understand why Lucas had chosen to keep so much from them in the first place.

The only one who truly understood was Luca—but he had no intention of pointing it out.

And so, the pre-mission briefing ended under a strange and tense atmosphere.

“You have half an hour to prepare,” Lucas said firmly. “We move out right after that. That thirty minutes includes your lunch, so make it quick.”

His tone left no room for negotiation.

Half an hour—that was all the time they were given to eat and make their final preparations. Unsurprisingly, everyone hurried off, scrambling to grab a quick meal and gear up.

Throughout the entire process, Lucas never once took his eyes off Luca. He watched him intently, as though trying to read his every thought.

Luca didn’t so much as glance back, but he was fully aware of it nonetheless.

“It seems his suspicion has grown… much more than before,” Luca murmured softly to himself after returning to his room, a faint note of helplessness in his tone.

“There’s no point regretting anything now,” Sophia replied calmly. “As long as we maintain the disguise, it won’t matter how suspicious he becomes—he won’t find anything.”

Her demeanor was noticeably different from before. The usually cautious Sophia now spoke with a quiet confidence.

The reason was simple—Sophia had already concluded that Lucas’s strength was far too insignificant to pose any real threat.

In her view, the only person within the entire Black Forest camp truly capable of threatening her and Luca was the bloody knight Anwar.

Luca, however, wasn’t nearly as relaxed as she was.

The last thing he wanted was for unnecessary complications to arise before they had the chance to meet the Crimson King.

So, he resolved to keep a low profile during the mission to clear the abandoned manor.

Even if he had to demonstrate his strength, it would only be as a last resort—only when the monsters forced him into a desperate situation. That way, Lucas would have fewer reasons to grow more suspicious of him.

The thirty minutes passed in a flash.

Before long, everyone had gathered downstairs, ready to depart.

Lucas nodded in satisfaction.

“Excellent! I’m very pleased with your preparation. Even with only half an hour to get ready, you’ve all done a commendable job. Since everything’s in order, let’s not waste any more time—move out!”

With that, Lucas led his squad out of the Black Forest camp.

They traveled at their fastest pace, heading straight toward the abandoned manor.

None of them realized that a pair of unseen eyes had been locked onto their backs from the very moment they left—watching their every move with unyielding focus.

And those eyes… did not belong to anyone from the Crimson King’s forces.

Within the Black Forest camp, despite the growing attention surrounding Luca, most of the higher-ups had their focus elsewhere.

Their primary concern was still fixed on the interrogation of the Dragon King’s assassin.