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After a calm evening of moving through the woods Suwon had finally arrived close to another village.

Under the evening, he hunted a rabbit to eat which was as easy as breathing with how much he hunted when he grew up.

His tracking skills were just as good if not even better than his stealth skills and that says a lot.

As he stood on the edge of the woods, he analyzed the village in the distance without showing himself.

This village was slightly bigger than his old one, but still a small country village in the end.

So, no guards and few martial artists which made Suwon remove his mask and steadily enter the village through a cobble path.

As soon as he came out of the ridge, he didn’t do anything to hide his presence, so it turned a few heads.

At the entrance of the village an older woman met him with a warm smile.

‘In this case fitting in is the smart choice.’ Suwon thought as he changed his expression to that of a smile.

“Welcome to our village young man. My name is Nyla.”

“Thank you elder. My name is Sun. Just traveling, is it fine if I spend a night here?”

Suwon asked and decided to not use his real name after finding something specific about Nela.

Her smile didn’t falter, and she eagerly accepted him.

“Of course, follow me and I will show you to the chief.”

Suwon followed as she asked but his senses were on high alert and he analyzed everything he saw, trying to see if his feeling is correct.

‘There has to be something special about this place.’

As they moved through the village quiet a lot of people were staring openly and Suwon didn’t care about most of them.

‘Something feels off, but I can’t figure out what.’

Suwon was feeling a slight tingle on his back as they arrived at a bigger wooden house.

“Welcome to the village chief, you can just enter.”

Nela said as she left right away.

Suwon had noticed something on the path here, most people had visible scars and not normal scars more of the fighting scars.

Something looking like swords or even maces.

He carefully entered the house on full alert but right after entering he was met with a middle aged man sitting on a sofa in the middle of a huge room.

“Have a seat.” He said without looking at Suwon.

“No thank you, I would rather stand if that’s fine.”

He curtly replied as he slightly bowed, which caught the attention of the village chief.

With a curious look the village chief eyed Suwon from head to toe.

“A martial artist, are we?” He knew but phrased it as a question looking for a possible reaction.

‘Let’s be a bit straight with this man. He feels interesting.’

“Yes, nothing grand though. Just stepped in to this world.”

Suwon said trying to imply he knew very little and was very unskilled.

“I see, in that case welcome. I hope you find your stay good. you can take that room over there.”

He said and pointed to a door at the end of the hallway leading out of the room.

Suwon made it to the door and just as he was about to enter the room, he heard a question aimed at him.

“Brat, what’s your affiliation?” The Chief asked in a strict tone as he stared into Suwon’s eyes.

What was he going to answer now?

He has not directly joined a faction or clan, so he doesn’t really have an affiliation.

‘But I don’t think that’s what he means.’

“Long Live The Heavenly Demon!”

Suwon answered and moved into the guestroom and just as he was about to close the door, he heard it.

“Long live the Heavenly Demon!” The chief answered back.

Suwon hasn’t officially picked a faction, but he knew he grew up in the Demonic Cult’s territory.

He also knows a lot about the different factions’ philosophies and if he must choose, he will probably choose the Demonic Cult.

‘Strength is already the deciding factor of the world but only the demonic cult and somewhat the unorthodox faction openly supports it.’

He never was a fan of the other factions, even the Orthodox faction who had gone and probably killed his entire former village.

Suwon didn’t have any grudges against anyone but that would soon change.

The life of an assassin often means enemies and death.

Just as he sat down on the bed, someone outside his door slid a paper under it then left.

Suwon cautiously grabbed it and read the contents.

‘This day is the Heavenly Demonic Cults has existed for 682 years and this yearly duel will commence.’

Suwon had read about this at his former home.

The people in the Demonic Cults territory hold annual duels, celebrating their dedication to the heavenly demon and commemorating the day the cult became its own faction.

The duels are a sacred tradition and those who participate can be martial artists of any rank or normal people.

You can challenge anyone, and they must step up.

What to do with the loser, the winner gets full control of life and death.

There are a multitude of reasons people challenge each other to duels, some of them being.

Grudges, Greed, Anger or to prove something to themselves or others.

To this tradition it is held a feast and everyone who competes is allowed to eat and drink as much as they want.

‘Looks like this is tonight.’

‘Sure, let’s join.’

Suwon thought as he put the paper in his pocket before laying down on the soft bed and dozing off lightly.