Episode 183
* * *
That night.
It was while Dale was sitting cross-legged in his room, trying to control the darkness and coldness that was circulating within his body.
There was a knock.
“Can you excuse me for a moment?”
At the familiar voice that followed, Dale hurriedly gathered his blood and coldness and answered.
“Yes, Sepia.”
Sepia was no longer Dale’s teacher. Nevertheless, she would remain the Saxon family’s governess.
“… … I guess I disturbed you while you were trying to go to bed.”
“No, I was still focused on my training.”
Dale shook his head.
“Aren’t you cold?”
Just then, Sepia opened her mouth. Dale couldn’t answer for a moment and held his breath.
Even though I tried hard to keep my composure and not show it, I couldn’t fool Sepia, just like I couldn’t fool Dale’s father.
As a Frost Watcher, he could not possibly be unaware of the cold curse of cosmic winter that would torment Dale’s body until his death.
“cold.”
Lying would be useless. So Dale smiled quietly.
“But there is too much warmth beside me to succumb to this cold.”
He held Sepia’s hand without saying a word. Sepia blushed shyly at his actions.
“You taught magic to Lize today. How was the lesson?”
Dale changed the subject, and Sepia coughed hastily and laughed.
“You learn really quickly. Above all, you have a purity that doesn’t suit a wizard.”
“That child will make a good wizard.”
“… … Yeah, I’m looking forward to it too.”
Sepia smiled bitterly. After laughing, she quietly reached out to Dale’s nape. Dale took a deep breath.
I thought there was no such thing as warmth in the freezing cold. It was just a vague statement to get over the situation.
No it wasn’t.
Dale was left speechless by Sepia’s warmth as she silently embraced him.
Dale also stretched out his arms and wrapped them around Sepia’s nape. He wrapped his arms around her pale, slender shoulders and buried his head in her nape. He flinched and felt Sepia’s embarrassment, but it was only for a moment.
“Can we stay like this for a moment?”
Dale asked, and Sepia said nothing.
She just hugged Dale tightly, as if she wasn’t going to let him go.
* * *
the next day.
The Black Hole’s office.
“Did you say ‘Grave Walker’?”
To his question, Dale nodded.
“I would like to form an organization among the knights who are loyal to me as the Shadow Lord, consisting of professionals in the shadows, such as the Shadow Court or the Mountain Assassins. They are the people who can be loyal to Saxony and the Shadow Lord.”
Dale told us his vision.
“To that end, I plan to utilize the trade network that Guild City has spread across the continent, as well as the spider web that the ‘Blue Tower’ possesses.”
“The Blue Tower… … Are you talking about the Sorceress Council?”
Dale nodded at Black’s words.
“Do you think you can trust them?”
“To be honest, I don’t really trust it.”
It is not that Dale is unaware of the insidiousness shown by the Blue Curtain. Furthermore, it is also the secret hidden by the Sorceress Council.
“But I think that the Sorceress Council is trying to gain the Shadow Lord’s trust through ‘information.’ At least, I don’t think their actions themselves should be distrusted.”
“They are not claiming to be me, but your standard-bearers, so for now I will respect what you say.”
The black ball nodded.
“But do not forget that it is we, the Duke of Saxony, who will claim to be your standard-bearers until the very end without any compensation.”
“I deeply understand that point.”
The Blue Tower, the Shadow Court, and even the forces led by Dale are only loyal to the ‘Shadow Lord’. However, the continent’s greatest black magician and his organization were not like that.
Blood ties, because Dale is that man’s son.
“That you are my father, and that I am a son of the House of Saxony.”
As Sepia had shown her warmth, it wasn’t much different for Dale’s father.
* * *
Some time after that.
Imperial Free City (Freie Reichsstadt).
It is a form of autonomous city that is directly under the emperor and is not subject to the rule of the ecclesiastical princes or local lords by imperial edict.
Accordingly, the Imperial Free Cities were usually located at the hubs of continental trade or transportation hubs, and were cities of opportunity that did not discriminate between high and low class people, as they were not under the rule of lords.
For example, it is not uncommon for a runaway serf to start a business at a street stall in a corner of the city and have it grow exponentially, eventually leading to him becoming a bourgeois, the real power in the city.
However, where gold gathers, so does desire. In the end, the number of seats that can be occupied by the bourgeoisie is fixed, and the political struggle to obtain those seats is literally a bloody fight.
It was in the same context that the Empire’s assassins, thieves, and various criminals established their organizations and guilds in the Imperial Free Cities.
In the sunny areas, there were those who profited from the city’s trade and taxes, and in the shady areas, gambling, red-light district operations, and other illegal profits were being fought over every day.
In most imperial free cities, there is a real power that rules the city, separate from the mercenaries and guards officially employed by the city council. In return for their collusion with the city council and their work in the shadows, the city council tacitly overlooks their presence in the open.
Around that time.
In a city where the line between lawlessness and legality was precariously drawn, that man appeared.
* * *
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Underneath the organization, there is another organization. And under that organization, there is another organization. The reality of the great organizations that are usually infamous in the empire is nothing more than a spider’s web with countless dots connected to each other.
A certain criminal organization right at the bottom, and a certain criminal guild that proudly calls itself the ‘Shadow Court’.
Smith was the man who claimed to be the master of that very crime guild.
After starting out at the bottom and working his way up the organizational ladder, he stubbornly climbed up while stabbing himself in the back with the blade of betrayal.
And they have established a solid position among the small-scale criminal organizations that rule the Imperial Free City of Harlem.
At the same time, as an urban outlaw, he calls himself a gangster who can enjoy all the opportunities the city has to offer.
At least that was the case until a few seconds ago.
“Heh heh, what did that little sh*t just say?”
“Ahhhhh!”
The blade swung straight down. Each of Smith’s fingers was stabbed down, and even though they saw the leader of their organization screaming, no one dared move. No, they couldn’t move.
In the back alleys of Imperial Free City Harlem, Smith’s criminal guild calls itself the ‘Little Court’ of the Shadow Court.
The floor was littered with the corpses of assassins. They were the best fighters their organization boasted of.
Smith was proud of the seven veteran shooters, nicknaming them the “Seven Blades.”
Nevertheless, none of them could counter the man’s secret technique. There was really no movement or audible sound when the man threw his secret technique. It was a real instant kill.
Just six dark weapons scattered in a fan shape pierced the hearts of the seven blades like bullets.
Unable to even counter a single blow.
It was a rain of blades, scattered like a shower from all directions.
They couldn’t even dare to be rivals. It was literally an overwhelming gap, close to despair.
“They are a small courtroom of the real shadow court?”
“Ah, no, that’s… … !”
“Haha, didn’t I just say that you were a fearless brat who was squawking in front of the shadow court just now?”
The man shrugged his shoulders as if he was dumbfounded and looked around.
Smith’s proud ‘Seven Blades’ were left lying around as corpses, and yet the remaining members of the Criminal Guild were trembling and urinating.
“I’m going to hit your head in 3 seconds from now, do it.”
The order was given to them by the Shadow Court’s highest ranking assassin, Master Baro, the Sword Master.
“Yes, bro!”
“All right!”
“yep!”
And they all struck their heads in front of their new brother. It was truly a sword-like action. They paid no attention to the pitiful and shameful state of their own guild master, who was writhing in pain.
“Haha, these guys are really good at just knocking heads off.”
It was a bond and loyalty as strong as the name of the crime guild.
“Tongue, Brother! No, Boss! Boss! Please spare me! Aaah, please! This is what I’m begging you to do!”
Smith begged in agony.
“Why am I the boss?”
Master Baro asked back, watching Smith’s plea.
“Please! I swear my loyalty to you for life! I mean it! Please believe me!”
“No, so why am I the boss?”
“That, that!”
“Looking at the tail, it seems unlikely that an organization of this size could be the king of this city. Well then, I’ll ask again.”
Master Baro continued speaking calmly.
“What is the name of the most successful organization in this industry?”
* * *
That moment.
Another imperial free city not far from Harlem, the imperial free city that Master Baro is currently running wild in.
The ones in this area were an alliance of cities called the ‘Free Cities Alliance’, and the ones acting separately from Master Baro were another ‘Grave Walker’.
“I have no interest in the worldly affairs of you humans.”
A dark elf with copper skin opened his mouth.
“But if our lord desires it, he must have the information he needs.”
“T-Tell me, Sister! I’ll tell you everything! So, please, save your life… …!”
The master of the small crime guild that ruled the city bowed his head before the mountain assassin.
“Reveal every detail about the most powerful organization that rules this city.”
The assassin of the mountain spoke. As soon as he finished speaking, the guild master lowered his head and the whole truth poured out of his mouth.
* * *
“That’s all.”
“I agree with what the dark elf lady said.”
The Shadow Lord nodded silently after hearing the report from the Mountain Assassin and Master Baro.
“The shadow ‘court’ rules over the Free Cities Alliance, yet no one in our Supreme Court knows it.”
The Shadow Lord laughed incredulously, and Master Baro shrugged.
“Well, taking care of the subordinates is not as easy as you think.”
“To be exact, it won’t be easy to take care of those guys who are running wild as they please.”
“Haha, that’s right.”
Master Baro chuckled, and Dale nodded blandly.
“Master Baro, you and I will search for the ‘Shadow Court’ that rules over the entire Free Cities Alliance.”
After nodding, the Shadow Lord rose to his feet.
“Because this city needs a little more class in its villains.”
