The assassins headed back into the mountain to grab their things while Adrian walked back to his group, looking incredibly satisfied with the flawless operation.

Aria just held his hand and skipped happily beside him. Her dark eyes looked totally innocent. Nobody except Lorcan knew exactly what she had just done, but even he did not know that it was her.

The assassination team was officially secured and the timing was absolutely perfect. Because somewhere near the bordering towns of Crestwall Empires, some people began making moves.

Count Frankenstein sat on a plush velvet sofa. His right wrist was heavily bandaged and he caressed it out of habit while he glared at the wall in front. His face twisted in pure hatred which was clearly directed towards Adrian.

Sitting across from him was Marchioness Vaneira.

Adrian’s ex-wife looked as elegant and haughty as ever. She wore a stunning crimson dress, sipping expensive wine from an expensive looking glass.

The rumors of Adrian’s booming success had been reaching her ears for a while, but now? He was getting to the point where it would be almost impossible to do anything against him.. The useless, cursed loser she had casually thrown out of her life was currently getting ridiculously rich.

He was building an army and he was easily securing powerful allies.

Her massive ego simply could not handle it. She knew how hard it was to secure allies like Duke Silas or Marquis Draven and she couldn’t get them on her side even though she met them personally over the past few years. Yet, Adrian had done it in a single meeting.

A young man stood quietly near the table. He wore a simple grey tunic and looked like a random peasant one would see at the side of the streets and forget a moment later. But he wasn’t just a random peasant.

The vibe and the presence he had, was that of a killer.

"Do you understand the assignment." Vaneira said, setting her wine glass down.

"I do." the young man answered and his voice was completely devoid of emotions.

"I want Adrian Sterling dead." Count Frankenstein hissed, aggressively pointing his wrist at the killer. "I want him humiliated! I want his head chopped off and thrown into a ditch."

"And the child." Vaneira added ruthlessly. "Kill the girl too. I do not want any loose ends claiming inheritance rights to that territory."

The young man just gave a slow, simple nod.

Vaneira reached onto the table. She grabbed a leather bag and pushed it towards the man before picking her wine glass up.

"One thousand gold coins." Vaneira stated.

She picked up a second item with her other hand. It was a thick, leather-bound book.

"And a Knight’s Training Manual." Vaneira said as she pushed it towards him too. "Consider it a bonus for a clean, untraceable job."

There was a change in his expression for the first time.

A slight smile appeared on his face as he stared at the Knight’s Manual. This could make him stronger than ever before. He could already assassinate knights while being a normal person but if he managed to become a knight too? Then that would help him get better contracts in the future.

More power just meant more money.

The young man walked forward and picked the heavy bag of gold along with the book. He did not check the coins and nor did he inspect the manual. After all, if any of his contractors tried to scam him or made a mistake, then it would be their heads that would roll on the floor instead of their targets.

He then left the mansion but he did not take the front doors. Instead, he just opened a window and jumped down into the dark streets below while barely making a sound.

Then he booked a carriage heading straight for Oresfall.

The journey took a few weeks.

He sat in the bumpy wooden cabin and went over his mental notes. He had read information on Oresfall. The books and the people called it a barren wasteland with a useless goblin dungeon. It was a doomed place where peasants had to go through hell just to get enough copper to buy stale bread. The iron mines that made it prosperous in the past, was now dry too.

So he expected the place to be a mess. Maybe a little better based on the way his employers were talking and he didn’t have many expectations.

But when the carriage got close and he leaned out the window to too, he couldn’t help but stare.

Massive chiseled stone walls stood in front of him, making a perimeter around the town. They were several feet high and looked incredibly sturdy. Thick wooden gates stood wide open, guarded by heavily armored men who didn’t look like they were slacking off like he was used to seeing in other territories.

The carriage stopped once it got close enough and the two guards stepped up and thoroughly inspected the undercarriage and the cabin.

"State your name." the guard demanded.

"Jack." he lied smoothly.

The guard just nodded and let the carriage through.

Once they were inside, Jack stepped out of the carriage and looked around.

The town didn’t really look like much to him. There weren’t any booming markets and nor were there many people moving on the streets.

But, after a bit of walking around, he could see where most of the population was concentrated at.

Every single person he saw, was busy doing some sort of construction work. There was a group that only focused on cutting up stones, a group for moving these stones on trolleys, a massive group working on a huge apartment complex and a separate group that was busy placing some cut up stones on the dirt road.

All of them looked energetic and happy to be there.

’No, these can’t be slaves... Slaves are cheaper so why pay people to do this?’ he asked himself, but he didn’t really have an answer to that.