Assassin’s Chronicle - Chapter 521

Baery and Saul looked serious as they watched the interrogation of Eddy. Eddy was a necromancer, but Baery and the others at the scene did not mind him being the necromancer. They only cared about his stance, and which side he would take. Baery used to be friends with Golman. It was because Golman had betrayed Minos I. Baery could have killed Golman, if that was not the case. Back then, Baery had many opportunities to kill Golman, or at least Baery thought he had many chances.

Life was so unpredictable. Light Church and necromancers used to be enemies by nature. The fanatic followers of Light Church used to talk about killing all necromancers. Pope and archpriests would not use such strong words as would their followers. People in power usually had more education and experience than regular people. They seemed to have better and deeper understandings of life than regular people did. People in power could be hypocritical, or deceiving, but never naïve.

It’s believed that regular people were just the tools the people in powers used in many occasions. This view seemed upsetting, but it was undeniable that it was the truth. People in power needed regular people to provide and sustain their luxury lifestyles, and to help them achieve their dreams. Sometimes, people in power wanted to irritate them, while at other times, they wanted there to be harmony among them. It was called governing, but it also could be called playing games at the same time.

People definitely could be divided into good and bad, but the strategies they employed seemed to be the same. Baery criticized the evil things Shansa Empire did before the war started, and encouraged the soldiers to fight against them. After they got a good opportunity, he asked the soldiers to work and live with the soldiers from Shansa Empire in harmony in return. This was a good example of that notion.

The strategy Eddy employed was created by necromancers. When a person was about to turn into a death spirit, he would gradually lose consciousness. If this period of time was prolonged on purpose, it became the most torturing tool, since that person had lost his judgement, and while death spirits would treat “their builder” as their masters. That was why Marquis Djoser answered whatever Eddy asked of him, without holding anything back.

Miorich thought the way Anfey handled it was too crazy. He looked like he did not know if he should laugh or cry about it. He passed the poisoned wine to Christian. If Christian died after drinking the poisoned wine, what would he do with Marquis Djoser? If Djoser wanted to risk his life to kill Anfey, that would be fine for Miorich, but the target became Christian at this moment. It just seemed ridiculous. Except for Anfey, no one else wanted to see it.

Marquis Djoser did not want to leave on his own, but the oldest prince Wester wrote him a letter. Wester sounded really worried in the letter. This victory seemed to be able to change the situation on Pan Continent. Christian had contributed so much for building a Great Maho Empire, while all the officials would leave their glory in the history. Christian suddenly gained his fame and became more popular than Wester and Granden. Christian even became the topic among the girls in the upper class, and the dream guy for them. Wester slept with too many women when he was young, so he left people with a bad impression. It was well-known that Granden had been wooing Niya. Christian became the only option among the three princes in the empire. He was a very good potential pick for those girls. Queen was such an attractive title. No girls would not like to have it.

Wester was so anxious that he could not eat and sleep. He asked Marquis Djoser to go back to Sacred City immediately, and hinted for him to collect enough evidence to prove that Christian had done evil things. This deceit obviously showed Wester’s true intentions.

Jacob brought the poison to Djoser and pushed him to make a decision. Jacob was a archalchemist. Djoser trusted Jacob and believed that poison could take effect in a month. He gave the poisoned drink to Christian and had him drink it. He believed Christian would not die until a month later, and therefore, that no one would suspect him killing Christian. Christian was going to be killed. Saul was getting old. If he could help Wester to take the throne, it was time for Anfey to die.

Djoser could clearly see where this was going. It was going to be easy to attack and take over the Shansa Empire. It seemed the falling of the Ellison Empire became a necessary step in the whole plan. When Wester became the only prince on the Pan Continent, Anfey would not be able to fight against the whole continent, no matter how powerful he was.

Saul frowned harder and harder. He gave Anfey a look, signaling an asking of Anfey to walk out of the inspectorate group. Anfey hesitated for a second, then followed after Saul.

“Anfey, how did you get to know Djoser wants to kill Christian?” Saul asked after he checked to be sure that there was no one around them.

“I do not know.” Anfey shook his head.

“Really?” Saul asked.

“In fact, that is a setup Jacob and I planned,” Anfey said with a smile. “Master Jacob will tell Djoser in front of some servants that he made a miracle poison. Whether Djoser will be interested in it, will be his business. It has nothing to do with me.”

“What if he is not interested in it?” Saul asked.

“Then today’s interrogation will become very short. When we waited for you, Djoser has committed suicide when there was nobody around,” Anfey said.

“Did you set him up on purpose?” Saul had a faint bitter smile on his face. “Does it mean he will die today, no matter whether or not Djoser wanted to kill Christian?Am I right?”

“Well.” Anfey scratched his head and gave a brief splutter of a hollow laugh.

“Anfey, Djoser is still the duke of the empire. How did you…” Saul did not know how to handle Anfey. He could not think of Anfey as a bad kid, since he had been working for the empire and made big contributions to the empire by taking many risks. Anfey also took good care of his friends. Saul also believed that Anfey respected him from the bottom of his heart. However, Saul could not think of Anfey as a good kid either, since he had so many evil schemes in his head. Anfey was brutal towards his enemies and showed no mercy to them.

“Professor, I have no other options,” Anfey said slowly. “Djoser is going back, but I did not know where he was going. The previous citymaster Aroben became a cripple while Urter was missing. If he wanted to go back to Violet City and do something, professor, do you think Niya could handle him by herself? Besides, if Djoser dared to kill Christian, he might do something to Niya.”

“Killing is not the only way to solve problems. You could have asked Baery to keep Djoser in the legion. This way, we only need the king to give an order,” Saul said.

“How long do you think we could keep him from doing anything?” Anfey smiled. “If the hatred could not be diminished, it’s better to let all the troubles disappear. Professor, I don’t think I did anything wrong.”

“What else?” Saul heaved a sigh.

Anfey was shocked for a second and said, “What else?”

“You have gone out of your way to kill Djoser. You even asked Jacob to help. Is Djoser’s death all you want?” Saul asked.

“Hehehe, I might always leave people with an impression that I am really sophisticated. Wester was behind Djoser and asked him to do those things,” Anfey said with a smile. “I spent so much time playing with Djoser. He is going for the death himself.”

“Why couldn’t Granden be behind Djoser?” Saul asked in a low pitch.

“Huh?” Anfey looked up in surprise. He glimpsed Saul’s face and paused for a little bit before he said, “Professor, you must be kidding. Djoser has been very close to Wester. No one would believe me if I said Granden is behind Djoser. Besides, I have a good impression of Granden. He could have been more forgiving on Wester’s birthday last year, but he is good in general.”

“Do you differentiate a friend from an enemy by seeing whether that person could leave you with a good impression?”

“Yes, when it was before I got hurt. I used to believe Slanbrea.” Anfey mocked himself for his own mistake. At this moment, he sensed Saul had relaxed.

“I watched Granden and Christian growing up. They are both good kids. Granden is just not mature yet, because he has not experienced anything bad yet. Whenever he had any troubles, he would get stuck with the problem and throw some temper-tantrums.”

Anfey looked as if he was in deep thought. Anfey thought Granden threatened his league if he made Christian embarrassed. However, Saul’s stance and view were quite different than his. He heard it very well that Saul thought Granden was just a spoiled kid and just threw some temper-tantrums.

“Anfey, why are you targeting Wester?” Saul changed the topic.

“Because it is for Christian,” Anfey answered.

“Teacher, you have known Christian for so long and should know him well, right?” Anfey asked in a low pitch. “Christian is very nice. He might not know to fight back until Wester puts his sword on his throat. I am worried that would be too late when that happens,” Anfey said.

Saul frowned.

“I just want to remind him that peace is never created and kept by one side. What Christian is going to do will have nothing to do with what Wester will do,” Anfey said slowly. “If kitties and doggies know to fight for their milk, how could people not fight for their benefits? Even if Christian said he would not fight with Wester, I don’t think Wester would believe him.”

Anfey never mentioned Granden, even though he thought Saul had this hope or dream. Saul had treated Granden as a kid. This sounds so ridiculous to Anfey. Granden would not think himself as a kid at this moment.

“Anfey, the situation in the Sacred City is pretty messy. Do you really want to make it even worse?” Saul smiled bitterly.

“Professor, what you are doing is not fair for Christian,” Anfey said in a low pitch. “The mess was caused by Granden and Wester scheming against each other. Do you not want Christian to join the battle only because you don’t want any mess?”

“You see this?” Yolanther asked as he tossed the document onto the table and smiled.

“I apologize, Your Majesty, but I don’t see anything special about this,” the old man behind Yolanther said hesitantly.

“Look at this,” Yolanther said, laughing. “It says that Anfey is proposing assassinating Scarlet and causing Baery to lose the battle. It says that Anfey is a Shansa spy. They want me to summon him to Sacred City and interrogate him.”

“He is gaining fame,” the old man said. “He’s not good at socializing. The officials and noblemen aren’t fond of him.”

“Anything else?”

“I don’t think he likes the noble class,” the old man continued. “A lot of noblemen think that he is going to cause them to lose their power.”

“What about Alice?” Yolanther asked. “Alice has never done anything to them, has she?” He found another document and placed it on the table. “They say Alice is Edward the VIII’s daughter and should not be trusted. They want me to summon Alice here and question her publicly. They want me to imprison her!” Yolanther finished with another laugh.

“That… is strange,” the old man said.

“I’ve been striving for unification for years,” Yolanther said. “But for these noblemen, that’s not important. What is important to them is what they can get from it.”

The old man sighed but did not say anything.

“They want to use me to create an opportunity for them. If Alice is here, they can pressure her and use her as well. Do they really think I’m that stupid?”

“They underestimate her,” the old man said.

“Who do you think is behind this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Alice is very important. We need her to stabilize the Shansa Empire.” Yolanther paused and sighed. “Can you imagine how powerful they will be if they can control Alice?”

“They won’t,” the old man said. “I don’t know Alice, but I’m certain she won’t be controlled by the noblemen.”

“Let’s look at this another way; Alice can’t be a ruler. That would only make those from the Shansa Empire uncomfortable. But there is a way we can unite the two nations peacefully without angering anyone.”

“What is it?”

“Marrying Alice off to the right man will be the first step,” Yolanther said. “Her child will be the rightful person to take the throne. Of course, I have to be careful; I have to pick the right man for her because her husband will be my successor.” He turned to the old man and said, “This is why I am asking you. Who do you think would be best?”

“Christian is in the Country of Mercenaries. It has to be either Grandon or Wester.”

“Obviously.”

“I am not in the right position to comment on this,” the old man said with a shake of his head.

“What makes me angry is that the noblemen are not paying taxes,” Yolanther said. “They are stalling. Someone is telling them what to do. I’m too busy right now to do anything about them. What makes me so mad is that they are so careless. Even in the face of a common threat, the noblemen still only care about themselves.”

The old man sighed but did not say anything.

“Maybe it’s because they’ve forgotten that I am their ruler,” Yolanther said softly. “I didn’t punish Phillip; I allowed him to roam free. Maybe those noblemen thought I would be as forgiving with them as I was with Phillip.”

“You mean…”

“I cannot allow them to mess up my plan,” Yolanther said. “Did you say that some of the important members of my court are involved in avoiding paying taxes?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Do you have enough evidence?”

“I do.”

“Do what you must.”

The old man nodded.

“Another thing,” Yolanther said. “What do you know about Alice?”

“She is a capable woman, from what I’ve gathered,” the old man said. “Baery and Saul know her better than I do, but I am certain they will tell you the same thing. She expanded the League of Mercenaries tenfold in less than a year. Without her, Anfey never could have managed all those mercenaries.”

“What about her weaknesses?”

“She can be hesitant when it comes to making important decisions, but she is still young,” the old man said. “She works well with Anfey. He is determined and is capable of making quick decisions. She is much more considerate and can see things through a different perspective.”

“If I give her a chance, would she take it?”

“She may not,” the old man said. “Anfey did say she doesn’t trust us.”

“I see,” Yolanther said. “If she had other motives, she would try to gain our trust. Clearly, she doesn’t need us to get what she needs.”

“She cares very much about the League,” the old man said. “I think she thinks of the League as home now. Her dedication to it shows that she no longer thinks of the Shansa Empire as her home.”

“And she gets along with Anfey and Christian?”

The old man nodded. “They all respect her,” he said. “He doesn’t respect a lot of people, but I believe she is one of them. She is also well loved among the commoners. When she was still living in the Shansa Empire, there was a plague there. She went to the cities that were quarantined, against the wish of her advisors, to comfort the sick. Without her, the people in those cities might have rioted.”

“Wonderful,” Yolanther said. “I see that I can trust her with important issues.”

“Even if she has trouble with them, she will have the support of Saul and his students,” the old man said. He paused for a second and said, “The recent victory made a lot of people here restless, Your Majesty. Your support of Anfey will only make them even more so. They… they may try something against it.”

“As long as I am alive, they will never succeed,” Yolanther said with a laugh.

When the flowers withered, the Maho Empire and Shansa Empire had arrived at Stormburg. They both had everything ready. All they needed to do was to take over the Shansa Empire. The Shansa Empire seemed ready to be conquered as well, as if waiting with its door open.

No one thought that King Yolanthe from the Maho Empire played such a such prank on everyone. Baery, Saul, and others all thought Alice would feel resentment against Yolanthe. They advised Yolanthe to deal with Alice with caution. However, Yolanthe did not seem to listen to the others’ suggestions. He gave orders one after another, which not only stunned Alice, but also Baery and Saul.

A minister in the Maho Empire did not handle the tax issue well. His peerage title was taken away by Yolanthe. That minister became a civilian and was put in jail. It seemed that Yolanthe could have killed the minister in order to set an example, but did not do it as he perhaps rightly should have. His influence could be much more far reaching if he had killed that minister. In fact, this showed the personality of Yolanthe. He liked to combine punishment and reward at the same time. That minister had worked a long time for the empire. Even though he made some mistakes in his administration job, it would appear brutal to kill him with judgement, and possibly even hurt the country’s interests. Some people with evil intention might use this opportunity to hurt Yolanthe’s reputation. In addition, there was no difference between keeping that minister in jail or killing him. After all, anything could happen while he was in jail. If Yolanthe gave a look, that minister might die out of “sickness” the next day. Each profession had its dark side. It was not difficult for a prison guard to kill a prisoner. The very first order Yolanthe gave was to appoint Alice as the Honorable Grand Duke. Baery and Saul were a little shocked by this. Alice’s face changed. It’s was not that she was overly thrilled. Instead, she did not appreciate Yolanthe titling her. She doubted Yolanthe’s intention, believing it was done merely to lure her to the Sacred City. She immediately went to look for Anfey, to see what he would say.

Anfey did not find anything inappropriate about Yolanthe titling Alice, but he could not convince Alice about it. Once women had suspicions about anything, they usually became very stubborn and only believed their own intuitions. Anfey and Alice talked for a long time, but they could not convince each other. Suddenly, Yolanthe’s second order came. Yolanthe decided to keep the seven states in the Shansa Empire, and also change the the name of the capital of Shansa Empire into Centrol Province, thereby appointing Alice as the Executive Governor for those eight states. Yolanthe did not give Alice the title of a king, but asked her instead to do the job of a king. Of course, the Executive Governor did not have any military power.

Alice stood there with a foolish look on on her face for a long time. She did not wake up from the shock until Anfey patted her. She really did not understand why Yolanthe gave her such a high title and important job.

Alice wanted to turn Yolanthe’s offers down, but she could not do it at this moment, since things had just gotten really serious. Yolanthe had made it clear in the letter that he would try his best to treat everyone the same way, no matter which country they were from, once the two countries were united. However, the followers of Yolanthe did not obey his order. Instead, they acted as conquerors and did bad things to the people in the Shansa Empire. To best way to protect the people from the Shansa Empire was to pick a capable person who did not only know the Shansa Empire well, but who also had Yolanthe’s trust. Besides these qualities, this person had to have some popularity within the Shansa Empire, or at lease among the civilians and a few royals. Only someone with all these qualities and experiences could effectively manage the issues in the Shansa Empire. Alice knew she was the best pick, since she had everything Yolanthe wanted, but she was still not sure if Yolanthe really trusted her. Alice did not think two people could build their trust without even seeing each other in person. If Yolanthe wanted a different person other than Alice for this job, there was actually no other candidate who fit better.

After Alice became the governor of the eight states in the Shansa Empire, it became unnecessary for her to go back to the Sacred City. Finally, Alice felt a little relaxed about it. A few days later, sensational news came from Sacred City. After Yolanthe gave out those orders to Alice, there were voices which rose up against it. Many officials and royals thought Yolanthe was deceived by Anfey, and they agreed to give the Shansa Empire to Alice. Generals in the Moho Empire felt they had contributed so much for the Maho Empire, but had returned with nothing. They did not find the meaning of joining the war at all due to this.

Many royals got together and targeted Anfey as being the cause of the issues. They fiercely attacked Anfey, who got blamed for it, but in fact, he did not do anything. Royals had their different views on it though. Anfey and Alice were the founders, with powers of the League of Mercenaries. They had worked for a long time. Anfey had kept Alice’s identity a secret for a long time. He did not give her identity out until now, so that she could get her reward from Yolanthe. Those royals thought Anfey even had asked Yolanthe to give the Shansa Empire to Alice. They believed Anfey and Alice had asked too much from the king.

A large, newly-controlled territory meant newly born royals, and an exponential growth in their land, wealth, and number of slaves. After the news of victory came back to the Maho Empire, all the royals were thrilled. They went around to get information about the states in the Shansa Empire. They were planning to build a paradise on the other land of the continent.

Yolanthe’s appointment hit them hard, knocking them off their game. The higher hopes they had, the more disappointment they felt. A person who wanted to claim all the benefits could not be tolerated, and should be taken out.

Anfey did not know if he should laugh or cry about all these things. He had no idea what happened afterwards. After Anfey left the Sacred City with his league, he had no information about the Sacred City, unless a person was sent to him with urgent mail.

Outside of the Stormburg, Baery gathered everyone, including Marino, to get them ready before they started their trip. Anfey ran away from the gathering, giving some excuses after he heard there was another meeting. He walked to the outside of the campground and saw Shinbela supervising mercenaries in setting up tents. Alice hid herself behind a tree, peeking at something with a weird look.

Anfey quietly walked over out of curiosity, careful to not make any noise. He even held his breath. After he stopped behind Alice and stuck his head out to look down at what was in Alice’s hand, Alice suddenly noticed him. She immediately folded the paper in her hand.

“Hey, what are you looking at so attentively?” Anfey asked.

“Do you want to read it?” Alice asked.

“Is it ok for me to read?” Anfey had seen clearly what was in Alice’s hand. It was a letter. He was curious who would write a letter to her.

Alice held the letter out to Anfey, who opened it and only read two lines before he folded it closed. “This is a love letter. I should not read it. Here you go.”

“What are you talking about?” Alice blushed. “The eldest Prince Wester asked someone to give me this letter.”

“Wester? Wester wrote you a letter?” Anfey asked.

“What’s wrong with that?” Alice asked.

“Then I do want to read it.” Anfey opened the letter again and started to read it carefully.

“I did not know Wester was so talented.” Alice smiled. “His writing is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Are you kidding me? Beautiful?” Anfey skimmed the letter and looked up. “This is called flirty. It seems that he has known you for a long time. Besides, it is in question as to whether he personally wrote this letter.”

“Anfey, do you know Wester?” Alice asked.

“I met him a few times in the Sacred City,” Anfey said.

“What kind of a person is he?” Alice looked far in the distance as she asked this of Anfey.

“Do you really want to know how I see him?” Anfey asked.

“Yes,” Alice said.

“He is not a good guy,” Anfey snorted. “He wrote you this letter without good intentions.”

“Are you mad?” There was a big smile on Alice’s face. She turned around to look into Anfey’s eyes.

“Mad?” Anfey did not think this description was appropriate. But when he thought about the intentions of Wester, he did feel angry. “Yes, I am angry. I cannot believe that bastard wants to play that game with me.” Anfey took another look at the letter in his hand and tore it into pieces, tossing them on the ground.

Alice did not try to save the letter. She only looked at Anfey with smiles. “Wester is the oldest Prince. How could you call him a bastard? Then…”

“Alice, I am not joking.” Anfey sounded serious.

“I know.” Alice nodded. “I would not take these kind of things from others.”

Anfey blinked. This did not feel right to him. He immediately changed the topic. “Alice, who gave you this letter?”

Alice lifted her chin up and pointed in a direction. Anfey followed her and saw Shinbela.

“Shinbela?”

“She found the letter outside of my tent,” Alice said.

“I cannot believe Wester’s people are just around us.” Anfey snorted again.

Anfey seemed to show his emotion too much at this moment. He could not be blamed though. Wester had touched his buttons. He never treated Alice as his property, and he had many other reasons to be mad.

Alice was not only his good friend, but also a good assistant. However, the situation had changed. Alice had become an Executive Governor for the eight states. A governor would not help anyone to manage a mercenary group. Anfey felt upset and sad when he thought of this. He was not in a good mood already, and what Wester did had just made it worse.

“It’s nothing unusual,” Alice said with a smile. “Look over there. Thousands of people were over there. Isn’t it easy for him to arrange few people to get in?”

Anfey frowned a little, without commenting.

“But if that person could get close to my tent, he must be an official, or Shinbela’s mercenaries.”

Alice looked at Anfey and said: “Do you really want to find out who put the letter outside of my tent?”

“Of course,” Anfey said slowly. “If people could put the letter outside of your tent, then they could assassinate you, too. Don’t you remember the last assassination?” Anfey regretted what he said right away. He should not have mentioned the last assassination. Unfortunately, he could not take his words back.

The march was easy for the Maho army, and they did not run into any obstacles. The army was able to occupy the province of Moro within a week. The province was Marquis Legoya’s territory, but by the time the army arrived, Marquis had already fled. Marquis’ departure was what made the occupation of the province simple.

The League created a rumor that the Shansa Empire had lost to the necromancers. Everyone, including Edward the Eighth himself, had bent the knee to the necromancers and Scarlet’s revival was proof. Both Stan, a Priest of Light, and Fernando, a Knight of Light, began criticizing Edward the Eighth’s behavior. The Church was the authority when it came to necromancers. Stan and Fernando’s ties with the Church made the rumor more believable.

Most of the Knights of Light did not join the initial battle but quickly joined forces with the League after the major victory. Both Fernando and Stan were siding with Yolanther, but the Church was still split on the matter. Even the pope himself did not show a clear stance. One side believed that Yolanther was poised to unite the entire world and siding with him would be the right move. The opposition believed that if Yolanther took over the Shansa and Ellisen Empires, the Church would not survive any longer.

After the Shansa Empire’s loss, however, it was made clear that there was no one standing between Yolanther and global unification. The druids joined the war and the Church should not lag behind.

Alice made her first appearance in front of the people of the Shansa Empire. She was well loved and well respected among the commoners. A lot of people would have chosen Alice over her father, Edward the Eighth.

—

A dark figure approached a stately building in the Province of Moro’s capital city, Moonlight City. It was close to midnight, but the building was still heavily patrolled.

The dark figure watched the building for a while, then chanted a spell quietly and disappeared into the night.

A few minutes later, the door opened by itself on the third floor of the building. Inside the room, Suzanna’s eyes flickered open. She sat up in her bed, inspecting her room with a frown. She felt someone come into her room but could not see anyone. Then she yawned with a shrug and lied down on the bed again.

After more than half an hour, the door opened and closed again. A few moments later, another door down the hall opened and closed. The person was clearly searching for something and did not want any attention. By the time he finished searching the four buildings, dawn was breaking.

Another door opened by itself. A person was sleeping inside, and their face was concealed by the blanket. As if the person heard the door opening, they rolled over, revealing Shinbella. She did not wake up and kept sleeping.

The person quietly turned to leave the room. Before he could close the door, he heard a soft thud. He turned and inspected the room, realizing there was another, smaller room hidden in the first. He hurried over and pushed open the door, peering into the smaller room. To his surprise and joy, he saw Alice sleeping inside. The person stepped into the room and hurried towards her bed.

Before he could reach the bed, however, he suddenly ran into something. Before he could react, he was blinded by a sudden burst of light and the effects of the invisibility spell disappeared. A tall and thin man appeared in the room.

The man frowned. As soon as he regained his mobility, a dagger appeared in his hand and he lunged towards Alice.

A shrill howl broke the silence. An arrow flew through the window towards the man. The man raised his dagger and blocked the arrow but was struck by the wind blade attached to the arrow.

The man’s armor bursted into a light and he was unharmed by the wind blade. A few seconds later, Anfey broke through the window and swung his fist at the man.

Shinbella hurried into the room. Seeing that Anfey was already there, she quietly left. Alice was lying in her bed and did not say anything. She trusted Anfey to protect her and she knew that running and screaming would have only distracted him.

The man narrowed his eyes. He had heard of Anfey and what he was capable of, but he had a mission.

The man’s body began contorting in a strange way. He jumped back and fled towards the window.

Anfey swung his fist, the loose elements that had gathered around him surged forward and broke a hole in the wall. The man hesitated for a second but did not slow down.

Anfey chased after the assassin. He did not want to fight in Alice’s room because she could have become collateral damage. He needed to drive the assassin out.

The man suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to Alice’s bed. He swung his dagger at Alice, who was sitting in her bed.

Anfey spat angrily. He waved his hand, summoning a firebird. The firebird flew towards the assassin. He, however, did not stop. Anfey disappeared and reappeared next to Alice’s bed. A moment later, he kicked her bed out of the way. The assassin’s dagger narrowly missed her. He jumped out of the way of the firebird but was too late and it grazed his side.

The assassin grunted in pain. He chanted a spell and disappeared.

Anfey waved his hand and summoned a column of water. He slammed a fist into the water, sending droplets flying. The droplets allowed him to detect the location of the man. Then he summoned three firebirds quickly, sending the birds flying towards the invisible assassin. The three firebirds struck their target, turning a corner of the room into an inferno.

Suddenly, Anfey heard a cry from Alice. He turned and saw her bed and nightgown had caught fire and she was stuck.

Saving Alice was Anfey’s top priority. Anfey slid fast to Alice, like a ghost, and grabbed her burning skirt. A revolving water ball showed on the finger tips of Anfey’s left hand, as he pulled her up by her skirt. He tossed the water ball on Alice.

Alice’s sleep dress looked very strong. It looked like Alice’s bottom hung in the air, while her body bent into a bow shape. Unfortunately, no matter how strong the dress was, it could not be on par with Anfey’s power. With a tearing sound, the sleep dress was torn into two pieces at the waist.

Thinking did take some time. Even though Anfey chose the most effective way, he pulled the skirt off Alice before he could put out the fire on her. He forgot to think of the consequences of doing so.

Alice wore panties underneath her sleep dress, but they was the see-through kind. It was no different than as of she wearing nothing. Anfey was shocked, while Alice did not know how to react. She had dreamed of this same scene, but Anfey was more gentle in the dream, not as violent as in reality.

Anfey did not know how to respond, until he heard the scolding from Suzanna from outside. He immediately shook the blanket and covered Alice. The next second, he realized he had gotten Alice’s skirt in his hand, which became evidence. It was not appropriate to toss the skirt on the ground, but he did not have time to burn it. The water dripped down from the skirt, while he knew Suzanna could come in at any second.

Anfey hurriedly tucked the skirt underneath the blanket. Alice saw the light in the darkness, and turned around to face the light by instinct. She looked into Anfey’s eyes and immediately turned away, like she was being shocked.

The tidy room became very messy. All the people who were supposed to be there were, including Baery, Saul, and Jacob. In order to not have any unnecessary problems, Baery had his squad stationed outside of the city. They had not even entered the city yet.

There was a person with weak breath lying on the floor. They could not see his face clearly yet. A fire bird exploded on his face, bombed it. His nose was gone, two eye sockets were without eyeballs, and his lips were torn, which revealed his whole gums. He looked terrible.

“Anfey, you should not have hurt him so badly. This guy looked like he was going to die soon, anyway,” Baery said as he shook his head.

“He could make himself invisible. That scared me,” Anfey said with a smile. “I was afraid he would make other special moves to hurt Alice. I had to hit him hard.”

“Anfey, why don’t you let your subordinate try it?” Saul suddenly asked.

“Are you talking about Eddy?” Anfey asked.

“Yes.” Saul nodded. “In fact, I think I know who he is, but we’d better ask him to confirm it.”

“Professor, who do you think he works for?” Blavi asked timidly. He was on duty tonight, and then this just happened while he was on duty. If Anfey had not come in time, Alice might have died. Blavi felt ashamed.

“Edward IIIV,” Saul said slowly. “Killing Alice is the only way to regain the control of….” But before he could complete the sentence, Saul had shut his mouth. Doumingo jumped in from the window.

“Professor,” Alice called. She had put on a new outfit. She indeed had good control of her emotions. It was hard to tell if she was scared a few minutes ago. Of course, the so-called scare was partly from the fear of assassination, and partly from Anfey.

“Lord, you…” Doumingo said.

“Master, I am Alice. You can call me by my name.” Alice interrupted Doumingo. She insisted that Doumingo call her Alice, no matter how others tried to convince her otherwise. A name did not seem to matter much. Alice did not mind being called with any name. Anfey gave her the name of Alice. Alice became the name everyone knew and trusted, instead of lord. It seemed to sound too distant, if she was called lord.

Doumingo looked at Alice. He used to like Alice as strongly as Saul had affection toward Christian. After they met, He felt differently, much more distant to Alice.

“Alice, are you hurt?” Doumingo followed what Alice asked him to do at the end.

“No, luckily, Anfey came in time,” Alice said.

“Anfey, how did you notice the assassin?” Saul asked.

“I did not sense anything. I did not notice, until he triggered Christian’s magic array,” Anfey said with a bitter smile. He patted Blavi’s shoulder. “Blavi, you do not have to blame yourself. It’s not your fault.”

Blavi gave Anfey an appreciative smile. Saul looked shocked, “Then how did you save Alice in time?”

“Professor, Anfey has told me that the harder we push Edward VIII, the more danger Alice would be in,” Suzanna immediately explained. “After we came to Moro Province, Anfey has been protecting Alice every night.”

“Anfey, did you already know Edward VIII was going to try to assassinate Alice?” Baery said.

“I just felt it was the possibility,” Anfey smiled. He had heard so many stories from his peers. Even though it was dirty to assassinate the most important person in the other party, it always received the best effect. For example, Zhu Ge and Yao Li changed the situation in their countries with just their individual efforts. If Jin Ke could assassinate King Qin, he could have rewritten their entire history.

“Saul, it looks like we are all getting old. Your good student thinks more thoroughly than us,” Baery said with a smile.

“Anfey, why are you going out every day?” Alice laid her eyes on Anfey. Obviously, she cared about a different issue.

“What is wrong?” Anfey said with a smile.

“Thank you,” Alice said it politely, but she was touched. Her eyes were moist. In fact, Anfey was a typical doer. When he wanted to kill a person, he would not be stupid enough to show his hatred toward that person. When he wanted to protect a person, he would not say it out loud. Instead, he would just go out to protect that person.

“Anfey, you hit him way too hard,” Jacob commented. He had been squatting next to the attempted assassin.

“Jacob, let’s change the topic. Anfey just explained. Didn’t you hear it?” Baery said.

“Do you know what this is?” Jacob raised his hand.

A cloak, or a cloth that looked like a cloak, draped down from Jacob’s hand. It was dark red, with holes everywhere and some burnt markings.

“Do you think this could be the Magic Invisible Cloak?” Saul thought of the invisibility Anfey talked about before.

“It’s not likely. This is the Magic Invisible Cloak.” Jacob shook it a few times and smiled bitterly. “Unfortunately, this magic invisible cloak is destroyed really bad, and has lost its magic power.”

“You are an archchemist,” Anfey commented.

“You are right. I am an archchemist. If you give me enough ingredients, I can make a magic sword. However, if you give me shards of a magic sword, do you think I could repair it?” Jacob asked.

“Magic Invisible Cloak? Hold on!” Doumingo hurried over to the assassin. He checked him carefully, but his face was totally destroyed. There was no way to tell who he was. Doumingo squatted down to undress the armor on the assassin, and kept undressing him to reveal the clothes underneath the armor. The chest of the assassin showed, revealing a red lizard looking animal tattooed on his chest. Doumingo gasped.

“Master Doumingo, do you know him?” Baery asked immediately.

“You should have not hurt him.” Doumingo did not admit that he knew this assassin, but his face showed the fact clearly.

“Master Doumingo, I don’t think it is appropriate to say that.” Anfey said casually. “We did not hurt him. He should not have come here. Since he came, there is no point to discuss it.”

“Anfey, you do not know about it.” Doumingo smiled bitterly. “I heard you have a nickname, the Final Paladin?”

“Well…” Anfrey shrugged. “I do not know which bastard gave me that name.”

“I have to say, you well deserve your reputation.” Doumingo laid his eyes on Saul. “Saul, you know about Dragon man, right?”

“Dragon man?” Saul’s face immediately changed. “Are Dragon men still alive?”

“This Dragon man, or Dragon men, are they that good?” Anfey asked casually.

“Dragon men are the descendants of dragons and humans. We are talking about a group of people, but he is a dragon man, too.”

“Oh, I see. He is a bastard,” Anfey said.

“Anfey, it’s not a good time to be sarcastic,” Saul said.

“Master Doumingo, I am just curious. Did we seek them out to fight?” Anfey said casually. “I am not a good person, but I have my own principles. If people do not offend me, I would not bother with them. However, if they offend me first, I will fight back. If dragon men want to work for Edward VIII, there is no point to continue this talk. They will be my enemies. If dragon men do not want to work for Edward VIII, and things like this assassination happen, they have given us no options anyway. There is still no point to continue this talk.”

At a corner, underneath the moonlight, two people looked up at the same time. They looked at the sunrise in the east. One of them asked in a low pitch, “It’s getting bright. He is not coming back, is he?”

“Anfey kills people without mercy. He would not let him go,” the other answered.

“In fact, I hope he could have made it,” the first said.

“Why?” the other asked.

“I just feel that he is a fool, but a cute one.” He paused a second before he continued. “We’d better not continue to wait here. We should go back and report to the king.”

They looked at each other and giggled.

Moonlight City was the capital of Moro Province and was densely populated. Even though the war had caused some of its residents to flee, it was still very crowded.

Anfey walked through the streets, observing the city and its people. He was dressed in common garments in order to blend in. It was a large city and its inhabitants did not pay much attention to him.

Know thy enemy, know thy self. Anfey knew better than to underestimate his enemies, which was why he just had a long conversation with Saul about the dragonborn.

He was deep in his own thoughts when he saw a familiar face. He looked up and saw Shinbella getting off of a horse. She gave her horse to a stable hand and disappeared into the building that housed the garrison. A few moments later, shouts were heard from the building. Anfey watched curiously. What could Shinbella have been doing with the garrison? He narrowed his eyes and used his mind power. With his mind power, he saw that there were a few dozen women gathered behind the building. Most of the women were young but there were a few who were older. A few women stopped their practice and hurried over to Shinbella when they saw her. However, their conversation was clearly not very friendly. Shinbella was frowning and one of the women had her hand on her sword.

Anfey frowned and hurried towards the garrison building. One of the guards stopped him and asked, “Who are you?”

“Stand back,” Anfey said in a low voice. The guards frowned but did not stop him. He hurried through the door and towards the back of the building.

“Let our swords speak!” Before Anfey could reach the back of the building, he could already hear Shinbella’s voice. He hurried over and called, “Shinbella, wait!”

Shinbella was clearly surprised by Anfey’s presence. Before she could say anything, however, the other woman snorted and said, “You don’t have the confidence to defeat me, so you brought your boy toy as a backup?”

Shinbella spun around and drew her sword angrily, ready to fight the other woman.

Anfey grabbed Shinbella’s arm and shook his head. Shinbella stared at him but did not say anything. Then, she lowered her gaze and returned her sword to its sheath.

The other woman frowned. Clearly, she misunderstood Shinbella’s action. “Why, don’t tell me you’re afraid to fight because your little lover is here!”

“Who is she?” Anfey ignored the woman and asked Shinbella. The woman was dressed like a mercenary but he had never seen her before.

“You want to fight for her?” the woman raised her voice and asked.

“You’re crossing the line,” a young woman nearby said. “Lady Shinbella earned her position. If you have problems, why don’t you take it up with Lord Anfey?”

“Stay out of this, Julie,” the woman spat. “Who are you to this woman and her boy toy? Keep your mouth shut.”

Julie rolled her eyes. “Will you stop saying ‘boy toy?’ Do you need a man that desperately? Please, if you are angry that you can’t get laid, take it out elsewhere. Don’t make a scene here.”

The woman spat and raised her sword. “Do you need me to teach you some manners?”

“You don’t like Lady Shinbella, well, I don’t like you,” Julie said. She walked out of the crowd and drew her sword. The woman glanced at her, then raised her sword and summoned her combat power.

Before the woman could do anything, Anfey walked over and grabbed her shoulder. The woman turned around angrily and waved her sword, sending its radiant light towards Anfey.

“Be careful!” Julie called. She jumped up and dashed towards them. Anfey hesitated for a second, then jumped to the left. Julie waved her sword and her combat power crashed into the woman. The crash caused a puff of dirt, obscuring the two women.

A moment later, the two women reappeared and were already engaged in a fight.

“Wait!” A sudden call distracted both of the women. They turned and saw Anthony dash towards them. The two women stopped fighting and stood still, watching Anthony. Julie had several holes and gashes in her dress from the fight and the other woman was panting heavily.

Anthony stopped in front of them. He was still limping from his wound. Before he could say anything, he saw Anfey and frowned. “What are you doing here, sir?”

“I saw Shinbella,” Anfey said. “How are your wounds?”

“My shoulder will be fine,” Anthony said. “My leg will take a few more weeks.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Lady Alice assigned me to come here,” Anthony said. “She wants me to train them. But, it’s a hassle.”

“A hassle?”

“They argue too much,” Anthony said, shaking his head. The women around remained silent. They respected Anthony too much to say anything.

“Did you talk to Alice about it?”

“No,” Anthony said. “It may be a hassle, but they still need a trainer.”

“I can get Suzanna to train them,” Anfey said.

“Lady Suzanna is occupied during the day,” Shinbella reminded him.

“You’re right,” Anfey said, nodding. He thought about it, then turned to Anthony and said, “I’m free during the day. I can train them.”

Anthony and Shinbella both frowned. Anfey smiled and asked, “You think I’m not qualified?”

“Of course not,” Anthony said. “But you’re the leader of the League, sir. Are you sure you want to waste your time training them?”

The women turned to each other and muttered among themselves. They had all heard of Anfey’s accomplishments and were excited by the thought of training with him. Julie’s eyes were wide and she was practically shaking with excitement. The only person who did not appear excited was the woman who challenged Shinbella.

“Shinbela, what are these people here for?” Anfey asked in a low pitch, as he looked at the swordswomen in the arena.

“Master, didn’t you hear about it? I thought I had told you about it,” Shinbela answered in surprise.

“Did you tell me about it? When?” Anfey asked.

“Few days ago. Lord Christian…” Shinbela tried to explain.

“Oh, Christian.” Anfey immediately remembered when Shinbela mentioned Christian. Christian told Anfey that he felt it was not convenient for Alice to have male mercenaries as her safeguards. Suzanna and Shinbela could not be with her all the time, so Christian was thinking of forming a personal safeguard team with all women. Anfey thought Christian would pick some women from the League of Mercenaries, which was why he did not put those unfamiliar swordswomen together with Alice’s safeguards. He paused for a second and asked, “Where are those swordswomen from?”

“Master, there have been a lot of mercenaries who came to us for help over the past few days. These women were the best of them all,” Shinbela said.

“A lot of mercenaries? It is just the beginning,” Anthony said with a smile. “No one knows better about how those mercenaries think than I. The Country of Mercenaries used to be under the control of four super mercenary groups. They collaborated, but also fought with each other, which left some room for medium or small sized mercenary groups to survive in gaps.

However, it is different than during old times. Smart people could tell that joining the League of Mercenaries was actually their only option. They knew that, the earlier they could join, the more benefits they could get. They knew they either could join the League of Mercenaries or leave the Country of Mercenaries.”

Anfey nodded. He got what Anthony meant. Anfey asked, “Shinbela, are you thinking of forming a safeguard squad with those swordswomen for Alice? You must be kidding me.”

“I have talked about this with Master Alice. We know neither about those swordswomen’s backgrounds, nor the reasons they wanted to join the League of Mercenaries. If we ask them to be Alice’s safeguards, there might be trouble down the road,” Shibela said.

“I am glad you see that,” Anfey said slowly. “What did Alice say about it?”

“Master Alice said she had an idea about what to do,” Shinbela said.

“What does she mean?” Anfey asked with a frown.

“Master, I do not know,” Shibela said.

“Ok, I will go and ask her later.” Anfey went silent for a while and asked, “Shinbela, do you know the woman who always gives you trouble?”

“Master, do you suspect her?” Shinbela asked.

“No, usually, spies know they need to keep a low profile, to not attract others’ attentions. Women like her, who make trouble everywhere, could not be spies,” Anfey said.

“Master, you are right,” Shinbela said in a low pitch, “I know her. Her name is Midof. She used to be the commander of the Mars mercenary group. We had some conflicts when we were on assignments. We even had a physical fight. She is a senior swordswoman, pretty powerful, but she was at a disadvantage in a few fights with me. It was because…” Shinbela suddenly stopped before she could finish her sentence. Her face turned a little pale.

Anfey patted Shinbela’s shoulder. He knew what Shinbela was going to say. Back then, Manlyn was still alive. When Shinbela and Manlyn fought together, Midof was not a match for them. It looked like Shinbela had healed yet. “Isn’t Mars a powerful name for a woman’s mercenary group?” Anfey changed the topic.

“Hahaha… it is nothing unusual,” Anthony said with a smile. “The weaker the mercenary group was, the more superior the name they gave themselves. Names like, “Dominator”, “Protector”,or “Invincible”, sound terrifying, but they could have less than ten people in their mercenary groups. They are just jokes for others.”

“Indeed.” Shinbela smiled.

“But master, you did a great job on the name for our mercenary group,” Anthony said.

“Me?” Anfey was shocked for a second.

“Yeah.” Anthony nodded. “The League of Mercenaries. The word ‘league’ showed your vision and your ability to take in others’ opinions. It does not sound grand, but has a long, reaching meaning.”

“Master Anthony, if I did not know about you, I would think you were being sarcastic.”

Anfey did not know if he should cry or laugh. “I just randomly picked a name, because I did not want to spend time on it.”

“If you gave it a lot of thought, it would have sounded pretentious.” Anthony must want to keep kissing Anfey’s ass. “We usually could tell a person’s true personality from whims.”

Anfey felt that he had totally lost this game to Anthony. He had to switch the topic again. He knew the answer of the question, but he asked it anyway, “Shinbela, did Midof give you trouble because of the problems in the past?”

“Yes.” Shinbela nodded.

“This should stop. We need to give them some real life experiences to rough them up, which will help them grow,” Anfey said with a frown.

“Master, do you really want to give them the training?” Shinbela asked.

“Yes,” Anfey said.

“Master, it will be a lot of work,” Shinbela said.

“A lot of work? Hehehe, not at all,” Anfey said.

Shinbela blinked. She did not get what Anfey meant. Of course, she would never understand it.

“I am going to talk to Alice about it later. Shinbela, can you stay and watch them?” Anfey asked.

“What about the training?” Shinbela asked.

“It is easy. Ask them to run 100 laps around the arena first. If they finish it before I come back, then ask them to run another 100 laps. Oh, and they are not allowed to use combat power,” Anfey said.

“What training is this?” Anthony asked in curiosity. The highest level of those swordswomen was senior swordswomen. Anthony wondered how Shinbela could ask them to run 100 laps.

“You will understand in a few days.” Anfey smiled. “Shinbela, are there any wells in the garrison?”

“There are two wells,” Shinbela said.

“Dump stones into them and block them. Are there any mages?” Anfey asked.

“No.” Shinbela shook her head. “Master, if the wells are blocked, where can they get water?”

“I will ask Feller to send two mages over.” Anfey thought about something for a while and said, “And no one is allowed to leave without permission. If they leave, they will not be part of the league. Do you understand?”

Anthony and Shinbela looked at each other, They really had no idea what was on Anfey’s mind.

Alice did not look too good. Governing eight provinces was not the same as when she had managed the League of Mercenaries. Back then, she got Anfey’s support, so she had ways to complete her assignments. Moonlight City was in a totally different situation. Marquis Legoya left with a group of royals and city officials. There was a gap in the administration, having no one in medium or upper level administration.

Orders from Alice could not get passed down, because of the gap. She wanted to fill the gap, but she could not find any people she could trust. Yolanthe reminded her several times that she needed to use people from the Shansa Empire to govern the Shansa Empire. The reason for this was to keep Moonlight City in order at this moment, and in the future.

Alice knew Yolanthe was right. If she appointed non-Shansa Empire people to be in the upper administration, people from the Shansa Empire would not be happy about it, even if Edward IIIV did not take advantage of it and make rumors.

Baery and Saul insisted to follow Yolanthe’s order. They were only in charge of military affairs. They had no business in administration. Alice took all the administration jobs upon her shoulders. Governing a province was a lot harder than managing thousands of mercenaries.

She was not concerned a lot, when she was in the League of Mercenaries. As long as she thought it was the right decision, she could insist upon it, because Anfey, Christian, and others could understand her. She had to think a lot before she did anything in Moonlight City. She was afraid of creating problems, because she was not able to take anything in consideration.

The most important thing was that Yolanthe made the decision that she needed in order to take it easy and not be greedy. For every action she took, she had to be sure she could handle it. As it was said, before Alice could return the Moro Province to order, Baery’s troop stayed where they were, to wait for the order.

Yolanthe had another reason for doing this. Edward IIIV did not want to sit and wait. He had been trying hard to recruit people for his troop. Yolanthe wanted to give Edward IIIV enough time to let him try. Edward had already lost his feeling of security. He would try to take money from civilians and force young people to join his military. The more pressure civilians felt, the more Shansa civilians would want the Maho Empire to take over the city to save them. By then, nothing could change the fate of Moonlight City.

Regular military officials might not understand the battle at the strategic level. Even if Edward IIIV rebuilt a troop with thousands of people, and had a general as good as Scarlet, he still would lose the battle. Every step Yolanthe took, he was sure he would succeed. He did not give Edward IIIV any chance to turn the situation around.

If Baery could take over several provinces at once, Edward IIIV should have more problems back home. There would be some messy provinces and tens of thousands of scared civilians. No matter how capable Alice was, she could not put everything back on track in such a short period of time.

Anfey walked to Alice’s office. There were people everywhere in the hallway and rooms. The door of Alice’s office was open. Suzanna stood at the door, quietly watching the people. People could be quite different. Each of them had different facial expressions. Niya smiled before she said a word.

Niya’s smile was so genuine and happy. In Niya’s eyes, people were generally good, except for a few. Alice always wore a smile, but the smiles were her mask, yet not everyone could tell they were just a mask. For example. Manlyn used to be attracted to her, even wanted to dump his fiancé for her, and forgot how he became the commander of the mercenary group.

Suzanna did not like to smile, especially to strangers. Even though her smile could melt people’s hearts, she always looked distant. People were scared to talk to her, even when they did not know who she was.

Suzanna’s job was to protect Alice, so she was very sensitive to her surroundings. When Anfey stepped on the staircase with just one foot, Suzanna had turned around to him. When she saw it was Anfey, her smile grew bigger and bigger on her face. It all started from her eyes, then mouth. The smile was so big and bright that it could melt snow. When people saw her smile, they might feel as warm as the sun shining in the spring breeze.

It might be because Suzanna was happy, satisfied, or for other reasons. She always smiled when she saw Anfey, even though they had been married for about half a year. Suzanna smiled genuinely, not because she wanted to appease Anfey. Her smile was not a routine either, just a real smile from her bottom of her heart.

“Is Alice inside?” Anfey smiled and asked.

Suzanna nodded. She moved aside to let Anfey into the room and closed the door softly.

Alice was speaking with another man inside and did not notice Anfey at first. Anfey coughed softly to catch her attention. “Go,” Alice turned back to the man and said, “I’ll speak to you again.” The man bowed to her and left the room hurriedly.

Anfey sat down on a chair across from Alice and grinned at her. “You have a lot of visitors,” he said. “Are they all from the Shansa Empire?”

“It doesn’t matter where they were from,” Alice said. “It’s only human nature to try and grasp every opportunity that presents itself. I doubt you are here to talk about opportunists. What do you want to talk to me about?”

Anfey smiled at her bluntness. “I heard you want to create a team of female guards?”

Alice nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“I just visited the women you want to recruit,” Anfey said. “I don’t know their history. I can’t entrust them with your life.”

“They won’t be guarding my life,” Alice said lightly.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve considered this myself,” Alice said. “More people show up each day, wanting to join us. Can you guarantee that every single one of them wants to join us because they want to help us? If you turn people away, will they just let it go?”

“No,” Anfey said, shaking his head.

“Which is why I’m creating a team of guards,” Alice said. “I plan on grouping together the newcomers. It’s easier for them and for us.”

“I see,” Anfey said. “Better to deal with the problem than to push it aside.”

Alice nodded in agreement. “Another thing is that we are busy enough as it is. It’s impractical to expand the army. They want to work for me, but I have requirements as well. Joining the League is the best bet for a lot of people. They will have a stable job that will not ask too much of them.”

“I understand,” Anfey said. “What I’m saying is that we don’t know anything about those women.”

“I know. This is just a test of mine. I will only hire those who passed all of my tests. I am certain that those that pass will qualify.” Alice grinned and glanced at Anfey. “Now, when the people who want me dead hear that I’m assembling a team of personal guards, what will they do?”

“They’re going to try to become a part of that team no matter what.”

Alice nodded. “Better to have a team of driven assassins than one of the lazy mercenaries,” she said. “If I keep them in the same place, it’s easier to keep an eye on them. There’s not much they can do when they’re under constant surveillance.”

Anfey nodded. “It seems like my worrying is unnecessary.”

Alice smiled. “I’m assembling another team of male guards. Within those two teams of guards, there are at least two spies.”

“And people who actually want to serve us,” Anfey said. “I don’t want to let them go to waste.”

“Anfey,” Alice said, turning to him. “If there’s one thing the League has an abundance of, it’s manpower. Plus, why do we need that much manpower when we have you, Anthony and Suzanna?”

Anfey frowned then nodded. He had never considered how many powerful men and women were a part of the League.

“The twenty thousand mercenaries we have right now are our most trusted men,” Alice said. “They’ve been with us for all this time. We don’t have to doubt their loyalty. It pains me to think about losing those men.”

“We’ve lost a lot,” Anfey said with a sigh.

“There will be more battles,” Alice said. “We cannot trust the newcomers just yet. If something happens, we can always let the newcomers fight and try to preserve the mercenaries we know we can trust.”

Before Anfey could say anything, the two were distracted by the sound of Blavi’s voice outside. “Hui Wei, have you seen Anfey? Someone told me he came this way.”

“He’s with Alice,” Hui Wei said. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you in a bit,” Blavi said. A few seconds later, Blavi burst into the room.

“Blavi, what happened?” Anfey asked hurriedly.

“Niya’s here with Shalley and Urter,” Blavi said. “Urter’s injured. He may be dying.”

“What?” Anfey asked, surprised. “Does Master Saul know?”

“I don’t think so,” Blavi said. “Niya came straight to us.”

“Take us to him,” Anfey said. He hadn’t contacted Urter in a while because he had been occupied by the conflict with Scarlet and Manstuly. However, he still valued him. Also, he knew what was under Violet City so Anfey needed him.

A dozen guards cleared the road quickly. Behind the soldiers were three carriages. Niya was sitting next to the first carriage driver. Her clothes were dirty and she looked exhausted. She kept glancing back at the second carriage and urging the driver to go faster.

Anfey appeared to the right of the carriage. He dove down and landed near it. Niya stared at him for a few seconds, then she pointed at the second one and urged, “Hurry! He’s dying!”

Anfey had never heard Niya sound so worried. He nodded and immediately hurried towards the second carriage.

Inside the second carriage were four young elves. They were all sitting around a man who was lying on the floor of the carriage covered with clothes and blankets. The man was very old with a long, white beard and a bald head. Anfey recognized the elves but did not recognize the man. He was about to go and check the third carriage when something clicked in his mind. He poked his head back into the carriage and asked, “Urter?”

Hearing his voice, the old man opened his eyes slowly. His eyes brightened when he saw Anfey. He opened his mouth but could not speak.

“Urter! What happened?” Anfey asked. He jumped into the carriage and carefully lifted Urter off of the carriage floor.

Anfey could clearly tell that Urter lost a lot of weight. Urter was merely a skeleton of now. Anfey felt as if he was holding bonfire sticks in his arms. Urter could not stop shaking. His eyes kept opening and closing. Obviously, it was hard for Urter to even raise his eyelids.

Niya ducked in the carriage. She took a seat next to Anfey, leaning on his shoulder. The wagon stopped. Garrison and mercenaries from the League of Mercenaries were herding the pedestrians, so that they could set up the street barricade.

Anfey saw that Urter could not talk for quite some time. He had to turn around to ask Niya what was happening.

“I do not know what is going on.” Niya replied, looking confused. “Urter has been missing for a long time. One day, he suddenly showed up in the marquis’ living room. He looked terrible and had lost consciousness. I had to ask soldiers to take him to the room. I did not yet know the horrible things which were going to happen.”

“What horrible things?” Anfey asked.

“Urter got old, so quickly. I could even see his hair and beard getting white, bit by bit, and then he lost all of his hair–even his beard–at the end, even his teeth all fell out. I found priests and doctors to take a look at him. They only told me that his life had reached its end. There was no medical treatment they could provide. They did not know what made Urter like this.”

Urter slowly turned his hand and grabbed Anfey’s hand. He nodded at Anfey.

“What happened afterwards?” Anfey asked.

“Urter said he had something important to tell you. I asked him to tell me first, and that I would then pass the information on to you, but he would not listen to me. He said he had to tell you in person.” Niya seemed helpless. “Urter is so sick, and he would not listen to others. There was nothing I could do. I had to leave Violet City secretly, with little Shally and them, to find you.”

“Did you encounter any dangers on the way?” Anfey asked.

“No.” Niya shook her head. “I met a few people fleeing from Shansa Empire. The few maids of yours are really powerful. They killed them easily.”

“What happened afterwards?” Anfey asked.

“Nothing. We sought out information about you along the way. I came to Stormburg, and met Master Mario by accident. He told us you were in the Moonlight City, so we came here,” Niya said.

There was screaming outside the wagon. “Shally!”

“Sis…” Little Shally’s giggling was heard.

Even though it was Anfey’s only sister in-law outside of the wagon, and his only blood-related family, Anfey was not in the mood to get out of the wagon. Urter could die at any second. If Urter wanted to tell him secrets in person, it meant Urter must have some sensational news. He had to figure this out first.

Anfey suddenly found Urter had laid his eyes on his Dimensional ring. In fact, Urter did not used to be able to afford a Dimensional ring with his salary. Anfey gave this Dimensional ring to Urter as a gift, when he came to Violet City for the first time.

“Dimensional ring?” Anfey asked in a low pitch.

Urter slowly blinked. Anfey slowly lifted the left hand, the one with the ring. After waiting for a while, Anfey only saw Urter’s hand shaking and moving, but he did not see anything showing up. He knew that Urter’s life could wither away at any time. Opening the Dimensional ring became a luxury.

“Master, is Master Urter important to you?” someone asked from inside of the wagon.

Anfey did not realize it was one of the elves speaking. Anfey had had those elves for over a half year, but he never talked to them. He asked them to stay in the station. One of the reasons for this request, was that he did not want Suzanna to get jealous. The other reason was that he did not want rumors starting. Anfey had gone through thick and thin with his friends. He married Suzanna, and got few gorgeous elves, but Blavi and the other boys did not even date anyone. These differences could hurt their relationships. For Anfey, “Master” sounded very distant. He had paid all his attentions to Urter, and did not realize who was talking to him now.

“Master!” The same elf had to call Anfey again.

“Anfey!” Niya called.

“Yeah?” Anfey turned around and looked at Paglia, who talked to him now. “What?”

“Master, is Master Urter important to you?” Paglia asked.

“Yes, very important,” Anfey said.

Paglia went silent for a second. She turned her hand over. A purple crystal vase showed in her hand. “Master, this is the Water of Life. Urter is losing his life. This Water of Life could not let him return to his youth, but it could prolong his life for a few more years.”

Anfey did not take the crystal vase immediately. He looked at Piglia, while the other three elves looked shocked. Jen, who liked to speak her mind, yelled, “Piglia, how could you have the Life of Water?”

“Bruzuryano asked me to keep it,” Piglia said in a low pitch.

“Thank you.” Anfey finally said something: “I owe you one. If you are in trouble in the future, I would definitely help if I could.”

It was such a myth about Piglia. Anfey could tell she was a very sophisticated elf. If she wanted to save Urter, she had many chances, but she did not take out the Water of Life until this moment. She wanted a favor from Anfey. Of course, it was not a terrible thing to be sophisticated in her tactics. The key was whether she had good or bad intentions. Piglia was with Bruzuryano before. She should have good intentions, so Anfey was happy to owe her a favor. It was especially true that he had owed Bruzuryano many. It would not be a big deal to owe one more.

“Master, you are welcome.” Piglia had a smile on her serious face.

Even though Piglia called Anfey master, their conversation did not sound like one existing between a master and his subordinate. “Master” at this moment was just a way to address Anfey.

“Can you come here to help? I do not know how to use the Water of Life,” Anfey said.

Piglia pulled out the dark red cork from the vase. She flicked her little finger, and a drop of Water of life flew out of the vase. That drop floated in the air toward Urter. The Water of Life looked no different than regular water, but it left a track of mysterious light as it moved in the air, which looked more like tiny comets.

Urter suddenly looked worried, and tightened his lips together, while his thin body shook harder. He tried to turn his face away to avoid that drop of the Water of Life. It seemed to be worthy for Anfey to exchange his promise with Urter’s life, but others might not think so. Others knew how much Anfey’s promise was worth. Piglia knew it, too, and so did Urter. That was why Urter tried to stop this deal.

“Urter, what are you doing? Open your mouth!” Anfey sounded very serious.

Urter was not a match for Anfey. Anfey turned Urter’s head over by force. That drop of Water of Life dropped into Urter’s mouth.

“Master Urter might need some sleep. When he wakes up, he will feel better,” Piglia said in a low pitch.

In a short while, Urter closed his heavy eyes, and his head fell to one side. Anfey slowly laid Urter down. Anfey was still worried.

“Is that it?” Anfey asked.

“Yes, master,” Piglia said.

Suddenly, Christian yelled from outside, “Niya?”

Niya immediately lifted the curtain of the wagon and jumped out. She saw Christian, Blavi, and Riska were all there. She did not have time to greet everyone, but put her index finger in front of her lips. “Shhhh, lower your voices.”

“What’s wrong?” Christian was shocked for a second.

“Urter needs some rest,” Niya said.

“What is wrong with Urter?” Christian asked.

“It seems he was cursed. When you see him later, you will know.” Niya heaved a long sign. “Luckily, he is fine now.”

“Niya, why are you here? Are the people in Violet City dumb? At least they should have told us about it. It’s too dangerous,” Blavi said in a low pitch.

“Ah, I asked them to keep a secret for us.” Niya looked proud. “If you did not know about it, those bad guys definitely would not know about it. It was safe.” This was the first time Niya had used any strategy. She would not allow anyone to put her down.

Christian and the others looked at each other and smiled bitterly. The war had ended. Except for Baery, who could not leave, Saul, Stegar, Ernest, Anfey and the younger ones did not have much left to do. If anyone went back to help Niya, the person could definitely protect Niya. This so-called “Hiding from everyone” was not necessary at all.

“Not bad. Our Miss. Niya knows to think now.” Anfey walked out of the wagon, speaking this with a smile.

“Of course.” Niya felt prouder. She always welcomed praise and compliments, but her smile soon went away. She put her hands on her waist and yelled in anger, “Anfey, what do you mean? Was I not able to think before?”

The garrison nearby secretly tut-tutted with annoyance. They only knew Niya was an important person, but did not know who she was exactly. The current governor, Alice, used to be the assistant of Anfey. They heard Alice was very respectful to Anfey. They wondered who Niya was, and how she could be so arrogant in front of Anfey.

Christian and the others tried really hard not to laugh out loud. No matter whether they were older or younger than Niya, they all treated Niya as if she was their innocent little sister. No matter how much of a higher title Anfey was going to have, or how powerful that he became, Niya still would call him Anfey. Her attitude toward Anfey would not change. She would still laugh or yell in front Anfey, without holding anything back. She was a girl who always spoke her mind. Of course, usually, girls like Niya would end up in tragedy. However, Niya was very lucky, because she was the daughter of Saul.

“You must rest,” Anfey said, pulling the blanket over Urter.

“My lord—”

“I know, I know,” Anfey said softly. He patted Urter on the shoulder and said, “Rest now, and we can talk later.”

“It’s my fault,” Urter said, shaking his head. “I should have taken the Wheel of Life.” Even after he drank water from the Spring of Life, he still appeared very old and withered.

“You held it for a moment and what it did to you…” Anfey said, shaking his head. “You wouldn’t be here talking to me if you had taken it out of the labyrinth.” He paused and sighed. “How did Minos manage to use the Wheel over and over again without dying?”

“Maybe it’s just because I’m too weak,” Urter said with a frown.

“Perhaps,” Anfey said. “We will find out. Rest. I need your help.”

“What can I do?” Urter asked. His eyes widened and he perked up slightly.

Anfey pursed his lips. Paglia had told him that even the Spring of Life could not restore Urter’s life, only extend it by a few years. But if Urter did not have anything to do, perhaps he would have crumbled even faster.

“As you know, Alice was in charge of the League’s internal affairs, but she has other business now,” Anfey said. “We need someone to fill the position she held. She wanted to appoint Hui Wei as her successor, but he is still too young. I’m worried that he may not be able to handle the job. I want you to work with Hui Wei to take care of the internal affairs.” Urter was more qualified for the job, but his physical condition may not have allowed him to work as efficiently.

“My lord, I am honored,” Urter said. “But…”

“What is it?”

“The mercenaries, my lord. I’m just a normal man. I can’t fight. How can I earn their respect?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Anfey said with a smile. “Don’t worry. You have my full support.”

“But what about Violet City?”

“How’s Aroben?”

“He’s well,” Urter said. “I heard from Niya that he’s still fairly healthy.”

“Then we’ll have to leave Violet City to him,” Anfey said. “With Djoser dead, Violet City should be safe. I don’t think he will have many problems handling it.”

Urter nodded.

Anfey smiled at him and told him to get some rest. He left the room and closed the door slowly behind him. Outside, night had already fallen. He walked onto a nearby balcony and watched the city light. A few moments later, he coughed and Robert appeared.

“I have a limited number of trusted people,” Anfey said. “Suzanna has to protect Alice. I will entrust Urter’s safety to you.”

“I will take care of it, sir,” Robert said.

“What about the things I asked you about?”

“The Dragonborn Kamlin is reclusive,” Robert said. “I didn’t even know such a man existed. Luckily, the children had already made contact with the Shansa royalties. Do you remember Young John, sir?”

“Young John?”

“You met him at the tavern once.”

“What about him?”

“He’s not far from successfully seducing Edward the Eighth’s youngest daughter,” Robert said.

“I can see that they’re doing well.”

“Edward the Eighth needs every helper he can get,” Robert said. “From what I’ve gathered, it is very hard for people like Kamlin to have children. However, Kamlin has three. The only one who inherited the power of Dragonborn is his son.”

“Who was the assassin.”

Robert nodded. “I… I am confused, sir.”

“Why?”

“There are so many top-level powers here. Unless Kamlin is a madman, I don’t think he would send his son here to die. I don’t think he was behind this. The child might have done this on his own volition.”

“Or he was working with someone else,” Anfey said. “They’re trying to get rid of Kamlin through us.”

“Could this be the work of Edward the Eighth?”

“Kamlin is reclusive. I don’t think he is someone who would let such mundane conflicts bother him,” Anfey said. “Edward the Eighth can’t get through to Kamlin, so he tricked his son. No matter what, he will turn us against Kamlin.”

“A cunning move.”

“Kamlin should be smart enough to figure out Edward the Eighth’s plan. What can he do then?”

“Should I stop investigating Kamlin?”

Anfey shook his head. “I want to be prepared just in case Kamlin doesn’t see through Edward the Eighth’s plans.”

“I will keep investigating, then,” Robert said with a nod.

“Master Saul told me that Kamlin is a good friend of Shadow’s.”

“Shadow?”

“His Majesty’s shadow,” Anfey said.

“You’re worried that Shadow may interfere?”

Anfey nodded. “He isn’t one I can cross, but if Kamlin decides to be my enemy, I can’t just let him go.”

“It will be hard,” Robert said. “The blood of the dragon will give him some abilities we don’t know about.”

“I have my ways,” Anfey said. “How many Dragonborns are there?”

“Very few,” Robert said.

“Good,” Anfey said. “I don’t need Dragonborns to come seeking revenge.”

“Are you certain, sir?”

“Somewhat,” Anfey said with a shrug. “Tell Young John to keep an eye out. Edward the Eighth will invite Kamlin to visit if he is willing. He just lost a major portion of his army and there are some nasty rumors about him. He will want to use Kamlin to encourage his new soldiers.” Anfey paused, then leaned closer to Robert and whispered something to him. He frowned and nodded.

“Are you certain you can control Kamlin, sir?”

“I don’t want to control him,” Anfey said, shaking his head. “I just want to make sure he won’t become a threat.”