Volume 4, Chapter 1: Shadows in Disguise
The city streets were alive with merchants, nobles, and adventurers. Among them, a mysterious figure in a hooded cloak moved without attracting attention Cael, operating under a new alias, unknown to anyone in the kingdoms he had dominated before.
> "Master… are you really leaving the organization?" Selene asked, shadows flickering.
> "I left only in appearance," Cael replied calmly.
"They have the means to manage themselves… I help them silently, from behind the curtain. Money, resources… but no one in the world must know."
A Forgotten Past
On the outskirts of the city, a young fox girl struggled to fend off bandits. Her clan, once powerful, had fallen prey to enemies, leaving her isolated.
She did not remember Cael he had saved her as a child from similar calamities, but memories of him and her family were sealed by time and trauma.
Her ex, now consumed by evil, had risen to destroy both her clan and his.
> "You again?" she whispered to herself, glaring at the shadow of her past adversary.
"This time… I will get revenge."
Cael Intervenes
Seeing the chaos, Cael stepped forward, calm and collected.
His presence was faintly felt, shadows flickering around him.
With a single calculated move, he destroyed the ex's forces, effortlessly erasing every threat.
The fox girl stared, stunned, as her attackers vanished before her eyes.
> "Who… who are you?" she asked, trembling.
> "Just a passerby… for now," Cael said lightly, suppressing his aura completely.
"Focus on surviving… and rebuilding."
The Hidden Motive
The fox girl's ex had become evil, driven by revenge and lust for power.
She now sought vengeance against anyone connected to her past, unaware that Cael was the one who had once saved her and her clan.
Cael's true goal was money, resources, and maintaining influence in the shadows, not recognition or gratitude.
> "I do not seek thanks… only results," Cael murmured to Selene.
"The world rewards the hidden… and the shadows always win."
The fox girl's gaze lingered on the disappearing figure, feeling a strange, faint familiarity she could not place.
> "I will repay this someday… somehow," she whispered, unknowingly sworn to the one who had already shaped her fate.
Meanwhile, Cael melted back into the city, his new alias and hidden identity keeping him untouchable, unstoppable, and entirely invisible to the world even to those he had saved.