By evening, night had completely covered the sky. Outside the headquarters of the 9th Division, a royal carriage stood beneath the dim glow of the street lanterns.
Vortan slowly walked toward the carriage with a completely serious expression on his face. A burning cigar rested between the fingers of his right hand, its orange light glowing faintly in the darkness.
Without saying a word, he opened the carriage door and stepped inside. Soon, the carriage began moving through the silent streets of Greyrock.
After some time, it finally stopped in front of an old bar hidden within one of the darker corners of the city. Vortan stepped out of the carriage and quietly looked toward the bar
The entrance door of the bar was made of old wood, and beside it hung a small golden bell. The moment Vortan grabbed the handle of the door, his heartbeat suddenly became faster, and drops of sweat slowly rolled down from his forehead.
For a few seconds, he simply stood there silently. Then he took a long deep breath… and pushed the door open.
Ring…
The small golden bell echoed softly through the empty bar as Vortan stepped inside. The entire place was empty. Every table sat abandoned in silence… except for one near the window.
Sitting there was a slightly overweight man wearing a royal cloak and expensive clothes. It was Roman Morveth, the King of Morveth himself.
Beside him stood a young beautiful elf girl with white hair. She looked quite young in age and held an expensive wine bottle in her trembling hands while quietly serving Roman.
The moment Roman noticed Vortan, a smile appeared on his face. He slowly lifted his wine glass toward him.
"Come… come over here. I knew you would come today."
Vortan walked toward the table and sat down across from him.
"I read your letter," Vortan said quietly. "But I cannot do this job."
After saying that, he pulled out a small box from inside his coat and placed it on the table before slowly pushing it toward Roman. Roman's eyes first fell upon the box… then shifted toward Vortan.
Without saying anything, Roman stretched one of his hands toward the elf girl. She immediately tried to hand him a cigar, but because of her weak condition, it slipped from her fingers and fell onto the floor.
The girl quickly bent down in panic. Her body looked extremely weak, as if she had not eaten properly for days. She hurriedly picked up the cigar and nervously extended it toward Roman again.
But Roman was already staring at her with furious eyes. The moment the elf girl noticed his expression, her body began trembling in fear.
The very next moment—
Roman struck her hard across the face. The impact threw her onto the floor, and tears instantly filled her eyes.
"Get out of here," Roman said coldly.
The elf girl could do nothing except whisper a weak apology before forcing herself to stand. She could barely even walk properly anymore because of how weak she had become.
Vortan silently watched everything happen before his eyes… yet he said nothing. He could not do anything.
Slowly, the elf girl stumbled out of the bar and disappeared into the dark streets outside.
Roman calmly took another sip of wine before speaking with disgust.
"These non-human races are completely useless, Vortan. They should not even be called people. They are elves… monsters."
Then he looked back toward Vortan.
"Now… where were we?"
"We were talking about the letter," Vortan answered quietly.
Roman leaned back in his chair and said, "I will give you ten platinum coins."
But Vortan still shook his head nervously. "No… I still cannot do it."
Roman stayed silent for a few moments as if thinking deeply. Then a faint smile slowly appeared on his face.
"Twenty-five platinum coins. And I will also give you a special dagger."
The moment Vortan heard those words, he lowered his gaze toward the table. Sweat was still falling from his forehead.
After a long silence… he finally spoke.
"…Fine. I will do it."
The moment those words entered Roman's ears, a satisfied smile spread across his face.
"Good!" Roman laughed lightly before raising his wine glass again. "Tonight, drink whatever wine you want. I will pay for everything."
—
Meanwhile, outside the bar, the weak elf girl continued walking through the empty dark streets while stumbling again and again.
"I want to go back…" she whispered weakly to herself. "I want to return to my people… I do not want to stay here anymore…"
A few more shaky steps later, her body finally collapsed onto the cold road.
At that exact moment, another carriage was moving through the streets toward town. Inside the carriage sat Leo, Ray, and Chris.
Ray was casually looking outside the carriage window when his eyes suddenly caught sight of someone lying motionless on the road ahea
"There's someone collapsed in front of us."
The moment Chris heard that, his expression turned serious.
"Stop the carriage."
The carriage quickly came to a halt. Chris immediately opened the door and stepped outside alongside Leo and Ray.
The three of them hurried toward the unconscious elf girl. Chris quickly placed two fingers near her neck to check her pulse.
"She's still alive," he said seriously. "She only fainted because of weakness."
Without wasting another second, Chris carefully lifted the elf girl into his arms and began walking back toward the carriage. However, while walking, his eyes briefly shifted toward the person driving the carriage.
But he continued forward silently.
After entering the carriage, Chris calmly spoke, "Take us toward the Greyrock market."
The carriage driver said nothing. The carriage simply began moving once again.
Inside the carriage, Chris still held the unconscious elf girl in his lap while Leo and Ray sat across from him.
Chris gestured toward himself and silently signaled Ray to move over and sit beside him.
Chris carefully placed the elf girl beside Leo. Still unconscious, she slowly leaned against Leo's shoulder.
Leo looked confused by Chris's behavior. "Why are you acting like this?"
Chris immediately signaled him to stay quiet.
"Do not say anything."
Then Chris slowly raised one finger into the air. Smoke immediately began flowing out from his fingertip and quietly spread throughout the inside of the carriage.
A few moments later, outside where the driver sat, two large smoky hands suddenly emerged from behind him and violently covered his mouth before he could make a sound.
At the same time, Chris opened his dimensional space and pulled out Leo's katana. Thick smoke instantly wrapped itself around the blade.
Without hesitation—
Chris drove the katana straight into the back wall of the carriage.
The blade pierced through the wooden wall completely… and stabbed directly through the chest of the carriage driver outside.
The smoky hands finally released the man's mouth. Inside the carriage, both Leo and Ray stared at Chris in complete shock.
Chris immediately stepped outside the carriage, and Leo and Ray quickly followed behind him.
The dead driver's body hung lifelessly where he sat, the katana piercing completely through his chest. Dark smoky aura slowly flowed from the blade.
Leo looked at Chris with disbelief. "Why did you kill him?"
Chris calmly answered, "This man was following us. He was trying to discover where we live."
Then suddenly, the dead body began twitching violently. A few moments later, the man's appearance completely changed.
His disguise slowly began to fade away, revealing the true appearance hidden beneath it. The man was a cultist, and just like the other cult members they had seen before, his face was horribly burned beyond recognition. It was impossible to even tell what he had originally looked like.
Large parts of his skin looked melted and torn apart, exposing dark red flesh underneath. Deep burn marks covered almost his entire face, while one side of his lips had completely rotted away, making his twisted teeth partially visible even when his mouth was closed.
On his left forearm was the same strange symbol carved into his skin—a circle with a single line cutting straight through its center.
Chris looked at the dead cultist and said, "This cultist had taken the carriage driver's face so that no one would ever suspect him."
Chris looked toward Leo and Ray seriously.
"Now you two understand why I killed him. He was also a member of the cult."