Zehn, who had escaped from Lucen’s grasp using sacrificial forced teleportation, had teleported to a nearby safehouse.

His body was broken, his entire left hand had disappeared, and his right eye had been sacrificed just to barely escape with his life.

Every breath he took felt shallow. Every movement sent a dull ache through his body. Yet even in that state, his expression did not twist in pain. Instead, there was a certain madness to it, similar to when Robert learns something new.

"To think I, a fourth circle mage, even with the help of the ability enhancers, can’t keep up with him."

Zehn removed his mask, showing a rather young and handsome face. Despite bleeding all over and coughing up a bit of blood, he was still smiling.

’So that was the ruby-eyed monster. It would seem the plan will be much harder to implement than we initially thought.’

***

Zehn and a few others had infiltrated Norvaegard to try to take control of its underworld. When they first arrived in Norvaegard, they were surprised beyond words.

Norvaegard, the warrior kingdom, did a huge purge of spies a few years ago, and intelligence on the kingdom halted for a few years.

No one would expect the changes that happened in the kingdom. Not only did they create new, unknown weapons, but they also created many new mind-boggling vehicles like the metal carriage that did not need either mana or any animal to pull it.

There was also the ship that flies through the sky. Still, despite being stunned by what they had seen, after they sent their initial report about what they had seen, they quickly initiated the plan of taking over the Norvaegard’s underworld.

That was when they learned that there was no longer any organized underworld in Norvaegard, as the new saintess of the Temple of Justice and Judgment eradicated all the big groups.

So they needed to start from scratch, which was why they started at the center of Norvaegard, its capital, Caelhart.

At first, they moved carefully. They did not come in announcing themselves as conquerors of the underworld, nor did they begin by aiming for the nobles or the merchants with true influence.

That would have been idiotic. In a kingdom like Norvaegard, where strength was respected and weakness was devoured, any group that showed too much ambition too quickly would simply be crushed before it could take root.

Instead, they started with the lower districts. There, all one needed to build influence was desperation, and desperation was something that the lower districts of any nation could always provide in abundance.

Men who had lost work. Thugs whose bodies had begun to fail them. Drunkards who still dreamed of one day standing above someone else.

Former soldiers who had tasted strength once and could not bear the humiliation of living without it. Those were the first ones Zehn and his people approached.

They came with smiles, with quiet promises, with the sort of words that slithered most easily into the ears of the bitter and the weak.

Once they controlled the lower district, they would have slowly eroded Norvaegard from the inside, and then it would be easy to do the next part of the plan.

The task given to him was quite simple: sell the degraded version of the enhancement pill, make the people dependent on the pill.

Of course, while he was doing this, he was also doing his other duties. Now that he thinks about it, it would seem that things started shifting when a few of his men kidnapped a few children.

’Was that the mistake? Should I not have moved so aggressively?... No, that wasn’t a mistake. No matter the state of this phase of the plan, the next phase will happen nonetheless in a few months. So I did things the way I did. I guess I was just unlucky that I caught the eye of the Ruby-Eyed Monster.’

As he was thinking about random things, Zehn was trying to stop the bleeding from his now lost arm and his eye socket. He was still, unaware that a small stone-like object had stuck to his clothes.

With only one good hand left, the work was far more troublesome than it should have been. Even so, his expression did not twist in pain.

He simply tore a strip from his cloak with his teeth, tied it as tightly as he could around the ruined stump of his left arm, and then pressed another folded cloth over the empty socket where his right eye had once been.

Only when the pressure made the bleeding slow did he let out a long breath.

The room he had arrived in was one of the safehouses he had prepared in advance. It was hidden beneath the back room of a cheap liquor shop, the sort of place that smelled of stale ale, damp wood, and men who had already given up on life.

Above ground, it looked like filth. Below ground, it had been cleaned and prepared for use months ago.

A small table stood in one corner. Several potion vials, a basin of water, a clean cloth, and a few sealed documents had already been laid out there in case he needed to disappear into this place in a hurry.

"To think I would need to lie low for a while. I’d better warn the others and my men as well... Should I do that, or should I just push forward and do something else?"

Zehn stared at the bloodstained cloth in his hand for a few silent moments.

Pushing forward recklessly now would be idiotic. Lucen Thornehart had already stepped into the matter personally, and that alone changed the value of every safehouse, every route, and every face Zehn had used in Caelhart.

Yet retreating completely would also be foolish. The lower district had already taken the bait. Too many men had tasted borrowed strength. Too many had started depending on the pills to suddenly stop.

Even if one seller vanished, another could replace him. Even if one route was cut, the others would still remain.

No, the operation was not dead. It had simply reached the point where only the careful survived.

Zehn lowered himself onto the chair beside the table and let his remaining eye drift across the items prepared there. Several potion vials, a map of Caelhart, three sealed envelopes, and several communication orbs.

"Maybe I should just cause a little bit more chaos and retreat. Surely even without me, the others will be able to finish their part of the plan..." Zehn thought about it for a while before shaking his head.

’No, I should proceed. Losses were already accounted for the moment we stepped into this kingdom. These wounds I received will take a few days to heal properly. As for my eye and left arm, I’ll just need to use whatever prosthetic is available. For now, I’d better call in the underworld leaders of Caelhart that came under me, I should warn them not to be as aggressive as before.’

He reached toward one of the communication orbs and let his mana flow into it. For a brief moment, the orb remained dull and lifeless. Then faint light began to gather within it, swirling slowly before stabilizing into a pale glow.

The image of a man rose outward from the orb; it was like the man was standing in front of him.

"Huh? Boss, what happened to you?" The man on the other side was one of the few former bosses of a once large organization that was somehow able to escape the new Saintess’s grasp.

"I’ll tell you about it later. For now, gather the local heads who work for us. Tell them this is urgent. They are to come quietly, and they are not to bring unnecessary men."

The man in the projection stared at Zehn for a second longer. Even though it was an image created via the communication orb, it showed every detail of the other person, making the shock face the man showed quite easy to notice. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Zehn let the other man’s shock hang for only a moment before speaking again. "Do not stare at me like a fool. I said gather them."

The projected man straightened at once. Even through the communication orb, the force in Zehn’s voice was enough to make him react. "Y-yes, boss. I will bring them immediately."

The man then quickly ran out, and Zehn stopped pouring mana into the communication orb. Now all he needed to do was wait for them to arrive.

Once they came, he would explain what the next steps they must take, he would explain it in a way that even fools like them could understand.

***

A few days after his encounter with Lucen, and after his orders had been carried out, the operation continued.

There was no news of interference, no arrests, no disruptions, no deaths. Everything moved as expected, and that was precisely what felt wrong.

Based on the rumors about Lucen Thornehart and what he had seen, he didn’t seem like one to let go once he got a bite of his target.

Then the first report came. One of the enhancement pill production bases had been destroyed. The people they kidnapped to make the materials for the enhancement pill had also been rescued.

If that had been the only report, he might have dismissed it as a setback. But more messages followed from different communication orbs. Many of the workshops he had in the lower district had been destroyed as well.

"How?" That was the only question Zehn had as he listened to more bad news.