The hall was drenched in horror. Everyone was barricaded by the flames, letting out agonizing wails of pain. Some others had frightfully skittered their way back and were looking at the flames with paralyzing dread crawling across their faces.

Tristan and Nisha, who had moved a second later, looked at me in slight unbelief.

"Cade..."

Tristan looked at me for a moment and then said nothing.

Nisha, however, stomped toward me.

"What is wrong with you?! Those are innocent people!"

I stared at her face and gave her a disturbing smile.

"What do you mean? Aren’t we criminals? When did we start caring about innocent people?"

She frowned darkly.

I extended my hand, ready to release a chain in case she did anything, while keeping an unnerving smile frozen on my face.

Kassie was behind me, eerily silent.

Levi entered at that point. There was not a speck of blood on him. Rather, he looked like the one who had lazily lingered out of us all.

But I figured he must have kept one clone away from all of the battle, and that was the one walking toward us now.

"What’s going on here?"

His voice resounded across the hall with thundering authority.

Nisha, of course, stepped toward him quickly and filled him in on everything.

Levi looked down at the man and the few people who had been burnt to a crisp. A small, harmless smile was on his face, and even as he turned to me, the smile did not leave.

He stepped closer and tapped my shoulder while I watched him with a blank gaze.

"Well done, boy, well done. So glad you didn’t fall for that elder’s trap."

Nisha frowned furiously at him.

"Boss?"

He turned to Nisha with a laid-back smile.

"Cut the boy some slack. This is far better than you would’ve been able to achieve. Have you even thanked him or complimented him before challenging him right in front of people who may as well be our enemy?"

He shook his head.

"And you saw the result of what you did? They took you as a distraction and truly deluded themselves for a moment that they could escape us."

He walked over to the man with severed legs, then bent and dipped his finger into the man’s ruined knee. The man let out a despairing cry.

"Ohh? This is one precise cut."

Levi said unceremoniously, looking at the severed leg with childlike curiosity.

"You bastards! I will—"

Levi dropped a dagger straight into the man’s heart, killing him without a sound. He straightened and looked at me.

"We gathered a lot of spoils. Let’s share them amongst ourselves."

He shifted his eyes to Tristan. There seemed to be an almost silent communication between them before he asked,

"Did we get what we came here for?"

Tristan sighed wearily.

"Not exactly, but it wasn’t a fruitless journey either."

Levi rubbed his chin, thinking.

"Hmm... hmm..."

He smiled, and his voice echoed across the hollow hall.

"If they’re focusing their attack based on what a mole is feeding them, then things have indeed gone as I thought they would. Our priority remains securing vast amounts of wealth. Everything else comes second."

He grinned villainously as he spoke.

Before he could speak any further, though, I interrupted, a frown finding its way onto my face.

"Wait. I don’t understand... you knew they had a mole."

Levi, whose mouth had been frozen with its unspoken words, turned to me. His eyes gave off an eerie light for a moment, then it vanished just as quickly as a smile curved his lips.

"Of course, Cade. These things are a part of my calculations. It made no sense that the Boundless Wave’s merchandise was all stolen like that. It sounded too easy, in fact, so I had to devise our plan with that in consideration."

After he said that, his eyes held mine for a moment, then he asked, still smiling,

"What? Are you dissatisfied that I didn’t tell you my plans even though I pushed forward to be the leader?"

Truth be said, I was offended. But I felt slightly awkward right now with this conversation. I was self-aware enough to know that, right now, things looked like I was challenging Levi’s authority as the leader. This was nothing special — this was just how the Black Snow Company had always operated.

The problem, however, was that it meant he intended to play and take advantage of White Feather and the Boundless Wave Clan. It felt slightly personal.

But then again...

My suppressed fury melted away.

"No... I’m not dissatisfied with anything."

I set my eyes evenly.

His eyes held mine for a few more moments, and then he nodded.

"Alright... whatever it is, we will move. Transport these separately. Tristan and Nisha, Cade, I, and Gilbert will return to the Boundless Wave Island. Let’s hope there’s something alive that can pay us."

A puzzled frown drew my brows together.

"I don’t understand... a payment? But we haven’t recovered their goods?"

Levi smiled coolly.

"The destruction of the Crystal Deep Clan will set a lot in motion." He paused for a moment and looked around. "What we did here today is considered quite impossible, you know?"

Levi held my shoulder and walked us toward the exit.

"I’m sure the Patriarch, Matriarch, and his heirs did not expect to accumulate this much devastating damage. They had powerful summoners. Their forces were quite strong too. There’s no way just five of us should have been able to beat that."

He looked up with half-lidded eyes.

"That’s the problem with these wealthy people. They depend too much on numbers. Very disgusting..."

We stepped outside, and Levi released my shoulder, saying,

"This will set a lot of things in motion. The Water Moon will strike, and the Boundless Wave Clan might not be able to defend against that... they will be eradicated... but you see, all of this is not what I’m really after. That’s not my payment for this tedious job."

He turned to Tristan, who handed him a parchment. Levi rolled out the parchment and spread it in his hand. A giddy smile spread across his face.

"Now this is what I’m talking about... a treasure map."

I gave him a confused look.

"All of this was for a treasure map? I thought..."

Levi rolled the map closed and nodded.

"Whatever you thought is not wrong. This is not a this-or-that situation. It’s a this and that..."

My eyes widened slightly as I pieced it together.

"So you accepted this job because it was important, but also had your own plans?"

Levi nodded.

I looked at the map in his hand curiously, then asked,

"This is the map to where? What treasure?"

Levi looked at me with the ghost of a smile.

"Where else... Peter Pan."