'That was almost too simple. I had heard the rumors about the young Emperor being a hotheaded fool who wanted to achieve results without taking into account the consequences of his actions, but.... it's almost comical how easily he agreed to everything.'

Oscar smirked as he turned his head at every passing woman, as he made his way through the Capital of the Empire.

His arrival was almost completely unannounced, and as such these citizens did not know who he was. Essentially, he was under a low profile right now, so there was no need to disguise himself.

'Well, that was the entire reason I got Kyle to kill the Emperor in the first place. No matter how calm of a ruler the son was, anyone would be boiling for revenge against a country that used a hero to assassinate their leader. This isn't an event which can be easily solved with a discussion. The assassination was the gasoline, and all I needed to do was provide a small spark.'

Looking around, Oscar started making his way into the deeper parts of the city.

'I need to find the nearest brothel. Before I leave the Empire, I can't allow myself to not have experienced the women here. The women of the Kingdom were very split into two types- the noble women and the peasant women. Among them, most women were housewives, though the nobles were raised to have higher responsibilities than that. They seemed to function as diplomats. The men of the noble households would take over the affairs of the noble court, while the women would deal with affairs regarding the domains of each noble. They would meet with figures within their domains and even do planning and allocation of resources within their domain.'

Seeing some youthful girls running by Oscar wearing the typical tunics of the Empire, he found difficulty hiding his smile.

'The commoners of the Kingdom would merely take on the responsibilities of housewives for the most part, but their work was labor related. They sometimes would take care of farms and animals, and others would do vigorous amounts of cooking and cleaning. There were even some who owned small restaurants and businesses.'

As he was walking, a young girl around 17 or 18 ran around a corner carrying a bucket of water on her head, bumping into Oscar and spilling it, falling backwards.

Oscar, who was now soaked and looking at the girl, gave her a kind smile despite her worried demeanor.

"A-are you alright, mister!? I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention!!"

Getting up and lending a hand to the girl, Oscar merely chuckled.

"Please don't worry about it."

'If I had a cell phone I would be worried.... but I suppose there isn't a need for such a thing.'

[/delete water]

In an instant, it seemed as if the clothes that Oscar was wearing dried.

Helping the girl up, she could not help but stare in fascination, wondering how the water had evaporated so quickly.

"Sir, are you a magician?", the girl asked.

"Something like that. More importantly, don't you think you should make it up to me? Why don't we go somewhere together. My treat, of course."

"O...ok...."

'The women of the Empire seem far different than those of the Kingdom. The first thing is that they seem to be much more.... free? Loose? The peasants in the Kingdom seemed stuck in one place, but here in the Empire it seems that the citizens are much more.... able to move around and do as they please? Everyone seems much more lighthearted and content, but perhaps there are many in the shadows who are not. I'm sure the Capital is one thing, but the outskirts are another. Either way, I suppose I'll start with this one. After I've played around with enough women to collect a reasonable sample from the population of the Empire, I should head over to the Sultinate. I'm sure the women there would be far different than the ones either in the Kingdom or the Empire.'

And with that, Oscar once again continued in his debauchery. While he was to search out for the hero of the Sultinate as soon as possible, he considered this to be a far higher priority. Especially so because he had found Troy so easily. He had not expected to find the hero of the Empire as soon as he got here, so he thought that he would have time to play around with the women here while he searched. Now that he had, he was ahead of schedule and could consider this a day off.

'But I wonder about those women which the Emperor was laying on top of.... perhaps once I take over the Empire, I can make even them my own....'

----

Oraguth sat watching the feed from the spider cam which had been placed in the throne room of the Emperor.

'This is..... well, my master did make plans in case of these things, but to think that they would actually happen..... I need to contact him immediately.'

After witnessing the events which transpired, Oraguth had no time to lose. His masters were concerned about one person in the entire world, and he had simply showed up without warning into the very throne room which Oraguth had just established his faction in.

'This is wonderful, to be honest, but we must be careful. We cannot allow anyone to catch onto our existence here, and especially not the Indeterminant. The people who I used mass panic on should have been traumatized to the point where they have no memory of the events just before they went unconscious, but I will need to be much more careful from this point on.'

Calling his master, Trevor picked up.

[Oraguth? Is everything going according to plan? I haven't had time to watch the feed. We've been so busy here expanding the walls of the city, and trying to coordinate with the other villages. Give me the brief details and I will view the specifics later.]

"Yes, your excellency. To be frank, two major events have occurred.... both of which were.... within your predictions, but I will be honest in saying that I did not actually expect them to happen, as you told me that it was nothing more than an extreme precaution."

[Oh? And what were these two things?]

"First is that the Indeterminant himself showed up in the throne room of the Emperor, and negotiated with him. According to what I heard, he will be soon leaving for the Asarith Sultinate to search out for their hero."

As Oraguth said this, his master's tone became completely serious.

He seemed to be speaking in the background to the others near him, telling them that this was important and they needed to drop what they were doing to listen to this.

After he gathered not only the other three, but also the Determined, they were all now in the video camera for Oraguth to see, and their faces were stern, as if they were about to go into battle.

The Determined was currently in an angelic form, while the others took their usual appearances.

To Oraguth, they all looked stunning. It was as if they were a team of elites who had been brought together so perfectly that it was a miracle that so many beings of such talent could exist in the same room.

"Your excellencies, and your eminence.... I will repeat what I said before. The Indeterminant has appeared in the Vythguard Empire, and made contact with the current Emperor. On a side note, the former Emperor was killed, and so the young Emperor has risen to the position of Emperor."

Trevor seemed to be doing calculations in his head as he waved for Oraguth to continue his report.

"This much was within the plan of his excellency. 'Since the Indeterminant is the one enemy which we know of that threatens us, and since he could appear at any time, we must plan each and every move assuming that we might run into him, and have a backup plan in the case that this happens.' Furthermore, just today in this very throne room.... he found and awakened the hero of the Empire."

[I am aware of this, as we received a message which told us as such. There are now two heroes awakened in the world.], Trevor commented.

[Is it someone you know, Oraguth? Do you have any information on the person or their abilities?], Samantha asked calmly.

Oraguth gave a quick nod.

"It's someone I know quite well, actually. Troy, the leader of the resistance, has been awakened as a hero."

The eyes of the five went wide at hearing this. Even Trevor was slightly surprised.

[Troy? That guy who couldn't even handle killing his loved ones in his dreams?], Ashley commented as if it he were a child who would cry every time he didn't get things exactly his way. [Well, I suppose I removed those memories of his..... how is his mental state now? Is he an enemy, or can we still use him?]

"That's actually what I am quite worried about. While his excellency did say to always assume that you will be betrayed, and to try to wonder what someone would do if they all of a sudden became far more powerful than they were now..... at the beginning of the mission, he said that the chance of Troy betraying us were he to come into a large amount of power was..... 50/50."

Pushing up his glasses, Trevor seemed to be biting his lip.

Garett, on the other hand, seemed to be smiling to himself at hearing this, intrigued and curious as to what would happen.

[Indeed.], Trevor mumbled. [I ran a number of simulations assuming that each and every person who we were working with came across a large amount of power to determine the chances of their betrayal and the measures we should take in these cases..... but for Troy, it was very complicated. There were some scenarios where he did end up betraying us, and some where he didn't. There seemed to be almost no pattern to it, and the small actions which made the difference seemed highly unpredictable. I couldn't figure out a way to guarantee that he wouldn't betray us without fail. Therefore, I instead came up with a plan under the assumption that he did betray us.]

[And what's that?], Garett asked with a laugh.

[Well, that would depend on what he does. In a worst case scenario we might have to kill him and his subordinates in secret and completely retract our forces from the Empire's capital. This is not an ideal option, as it would be giving up intel not only on the Empire and their movements, but also on the Indeterminant who we must be extremely mindful of. Furthermore, it would create a panic in the Empire, as their hero will have suddenly perished. Even assuming we cover up any traces to ourselves, the stir will be no small matter and might even cause issues with Coran's mission.]

Claire seemed to wince at hearing the word 'Indeterminant'

[That man..... we can't let him go around doing as he pleases. If it helps us to win against him, then we need to keep this advantage.]

Trevor nodded.

[That is my full intention, but we need to prioritize not being caught in a predicament right now. Oraguth. Your goal right now is to determine whether Troy can be trusted. If not... we will have to take drastic measures. Contact us as soon as you have figured anything out, and ensure to not put yourself into any danger. Is that clear? If needed, use the gem which we gave you to teleport back here to the Dictatorship.]

Oraguth nodded, bowing before his masters.

"I will do everything I can to complete this mission, and I hope that we may maintain this advantage. But, I will always obey your orders and prioritize my own health and safety before anything else."

Trevor smiled, and Garett seemed to smirk at this.

Ashley had a bored look on her face and seemed to be twirling her hair in her hands, and Samantha nodded with a dominating grin on her face.

Claire seemed to have eyes which pierced through the screen, but this gaze was not directed at Oraguth. He understood well her anger towards the Indeterminant and her will to take him down- not only for herself, but because he would cause harm to many if left alone.

And with that, the call ended.

Oraguth turned to look at the men around him in the barracks.

'So if things go bad, all these people will die..... and after I took so much effort, combined with the hard work of my masters to brainwash them.... sigh.... I suppose sometimes there are things that you just can't do anything about, no matter how hard you work.'

Watching the door and awaiting the return of Troy, Oraguth played with the gem given to him by his master in his hand.

'I wonder if he will attack on sight? If becoming the hero goes to his head and he ends up becoming arrogant, he might come to the conclusion that my masters are not his allies, but rather his enemies. After all, they admitted when they first met him then and there that they were using him, and now that he has gotten what he needs and is backed by the Emperor, combined with his newfound powers as a hero, he shouldn't have reason to remain loyal to a suspicious country of monsters who helped him get here. If he doesn't have any sense of loyalty, or if he merely compromised and worked with monsters when it benefited him, then he will betray us... thinking more about this, it seems all the more likely that he will betray us.'

Looking around, Oraguth saw a couple men slapping each other on the back and laughing in celebration.

'Well, it's not like I'm attached to them or anything. If it is by the orders of my masters, I would kill not only them, but my own kin, and even myself without a second thought. That is what it means to be the slave of the antiheroes.'

----

Six times the maximum speed of a racing horse.

Approximately 240 miles per hour.

This was the speed at which Slith could consistently run while concealing himself.

In less than 20 minutes, he had made his way almost all the way across the country to the town of Porta, from the Capital.

How was this possible?

"Of course, because I am the best. Nobody else in the world could run from the Capital to this small town in mere minutes. They would run out of breath before even making it out of the Capital, much less run all the way there. And even if they could, they would not even come close to my speed."

To anyone who witnessed him running, it would appear as if a black streak of light appeared in front of them, before soon disappearing into the horizon.

Now, he walked up to the meek yet welcoming building which was the Senator's home.

'I suppose even the Senators out here in the country are low class. This shack isn't even as elaborate as the homes of merchants in the capital.... will this guy really be able to pay up my fee? If he doesn't, I might just have to get Brutus to pay whatever he can't. I'm not about to let him go into debt to me. I hate it when people owe me something. Every time I let someone owe me something, it causes me problems. If they have the payment on them, I don't have to worry about collecting it later, but if they owe me something I have to take initiative and waste my precious time collecting the payment myself.'

Slith let out a sigh as he remembered his own experiences with such matters.

'A servant won't do, as the debtor will just run away from them. It has to be me! Because I'm the strongest! Nobody would dare to run from me, and even if they did then they wouldn't get very far.'

Slith smiled as he put his hands behind his back, making his way up the stairs, walking past the guards who seemed to recognize his unique outfit.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, master Slith."

"The Senator is waiting for you inside."

Slith continued walking, not even so much as acknowledging the guards who had just spoken out of duty to him.

'Ever since I discovered that I'm the best, I realized.... taking the easy way out isn't a bad thing. I always thought that taking the easy way out was wrong. I always tried to punish the people who were taking the easy way out, while I was searching for someone stronger than me. But wasn't I just taking the easy way out myself? Because to take the easy way out of life  has nothing to do with what you're actually doing. It has to do with your natural abilities! What is easy for me may not be easy for others! Taking the easy way out of life is really just doing what you're good at! And I happen to be the best assassin in the world, with an undefeated record!!'

Smirking to himself as he walked up the steps, Slith approached the doorway.

'I've never lost in a fight. Is it wrong to do what you're good at? Of course not. Ever since I accepted this, I've allowed myself to take the easy way out of things, ignoring any roads or actions which could lead to complications. That's why I decided to work under Brutus. He allowed me an easy way to do as I please. I don't have to worry about anything aside from the few missions he gives me these days, and I can live easy! But.... I certainly would like to further prove the conclusion which I have come to.'

Knocking on the door lightly, Slith waited for someone to answer.

'I would like to continue proving that I am the best. That, no matter what challenge is thrown in front of me, that I can overcome it. That no opponent could handle a challenge better than I. How wonderful it is that I get to be the first mercenary ever to drive a monster out of the human realm!!!! I've never in my life heard of something like this. I will be the first!!! The news will publish everything!!! For the first time ever, a monster powerful enough to invade the human realm is defeated by the genius, Slith!! HAHA! I love it.'

The voice of an older man could be heard saying "Just a minute!", and a moment later the door creaked open.

Standing there was the Senator of Porta in his regular tunic, donned by the crown of leaves and his pins which lined a sash.

"You must be Slith! Then, Senator Brutus received my letter well! Please, come in and have a seat. We will brief you with what we know before you are to attack the lair of that monster."