But for a party on a sensitive, highly classified reconnaissance mission, this dense commercial saturation presented both a challenge and a perfect tactical opportunity.

In order to get in without attracting attention, they had pretended to be ordinary merchants also.

It was a simple, bulletproof cover story that Yuan had arranged through his administrative channels prior to their departure.

An S-rank arch magus traveling with a regional guild master and a capital master magus would have triggered immediate alarm bells among the count’s spies and whatever hidden entities were manipulating the anomalies within the sector.

By masking identities beneath the superficial guise of a wealthy merchant syndicate arriving to inspect a private warehouse, they could move through the gates without undergoing the rigorous mental scans or background checks usually reserved for foreign military assets.

They were just another set of silk robes and iron locks in a sea of trade.

The illusion held perfectly as they navigated the busy commercial lanes.

Varis maintained his steady, calm posture in the driver’s saddle, his large hands guiding the massive mutated stallion through the crowds with the casual expertise of a hireling driver.

The chariot he was in slowed down, the rapid, smooth momentum of their journey across the field gently transitioning into a careful, low-speed crawl as they navigated the tightening boundaries of the inner districts.

The horse was then steered to the side, into a corner in the street with the chariot following along.

Noah gently placed a hand on his face, his fingers grazing the cold, polished surface of the material that obscured his features from the world.

His eyes narrowed slightly at the feel of the mask, his thumb tracing the sleek, molded contours around his jawline to ensure the fit was entirely secure.

He wasn’t wearing the usual white demon mask he usually wore, which had become his signature appearance at this point.

Instead, his palms rested against the smooth, matte finish of a black cat mask.

The new disguise was elegant yet completely unassuming, featuring stylized, pointed ears that rose slightly above his brow and narrow eye slits that shielded his pupils from view while allowing his analytical gaze to track the environment perfectly.

He did this so he wouldn’t attract too much attention to himself.

The white demon mask carried an immediate, heavy weight, functioning as a beacon that would instantly signal the arrival of a high-tier combatant to anyone who had even a passing familiarity with the local intelligence networks.

With how much attention he had been drawing to himself as Mr. White, there was a very real, very dangerous chance that the people in Vale already knew about him.

Word of an unranked, independent magus capable of wielding dual-element sub-forms like ice and lightning traveled incredibly fast through the mercenary taverns and official branches of the surrounding territories.

If the underlying networks operating within Vale city caught wind that the legendary, terrifying Mr. White had just stepped through their gates, they would instantly pull back into the dark, erasing their tracks, destroying their ledgers, and burying their secrets far deeper than Noah could ever hope to dig.

The stakes of the investigation were far too high for him to allow his own pride or a static disguise to compromise their approach.

To properly find the truth about the organization related to turning kids into shadow monsters, as well as the strange horned man Tara spoke about during her frantic briefings, he had to maintain a low profile.

He wasn’t here to fight an open war on the avenues; he was here to infiltrate, observe, and harvest the exact nodes of their infrastructure before striking a lethal blow.

Fortunately, wearing of masks wasn’t a rare thing among merchants in Vale.

The merchant city operated under a completely different set of social mores than the rigid, local districts of Eidbale.

It was, in fact, very common for traders, high-stake brokers, and foreign syndicates to conceal their identities while conducting high-volume transactions on the open market.

Many did it to protect their families from rival factions, some to mask their true lineage during speculative bidding wars, and others simply to safeguard the massive amounts of coin they carried across the provincial borders.

Because of this established cultural quirk, no one would think of it as weird when they see him putting on a mask.

He would blend seamlessly into the tapestry of wealthy eccentric traders who treated anonymity as the ultimate form of currency. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The heavy alloy chariot finally ground to a complete halt within the quiet, shaded confines of the alleyway, the shock absorbers clicking softly as the vehicle settled its mass against the granite paving stones.

He and Yuan alighted from the chariot, the door swinging open with a muted, mechanical hiss as they stepped out into the cool, damp air of the side street.

Varis followed immediately after them, abandoning his position in the command saddle of the massive mutated stallion and dropping to the ground with a dull, heavy thud of his armored boots.

The mana beast let out a soft, silent huff of air, its massive charcoal flanks still pulsing with residual elemental warmth as it stood perfectly still in the shadows.

As they formed up beside the carriage wheels, Varis glanced at Noah, a strange, complex expression flashing through his dark eyes for a fraction of a second before he managed to lock his features back into that rigid, formal mask of military discipline.

The bald master magus kept his head slightly tilted in accordance with the S-rank hierarchy, but beneath his submissive posture, a quiet, frustrated calculation was spinning through his mind.

He stared at the matte-black cat mask obscuring Noah’s face, his fingers twitching slightly against the hilt of his defensive dagger as he realized his private objectives had just been thoroughly derailed.

’I thought this will be an opportunity to see the real face of the infamous Mr. White... but this sly fox just decided to use another mask.’