As the sun rose above the clouds, the bandits began to patrol their target areas near their base.

In a place where no one's willing to live, where even the rats were skipping this curb. There was a group of vile people who were lurking in the shadows.

There was a secret base underneath the abandoned mansion. Going inside a bit, there was a single room that only a selected person was allowed to enter.

Someone was walking closer to the door, hovering his hand to grab the doorknob.

The gentleman named Jerald knocked twice on the door and patiently waited for the owner's permission to enter his room.

"Enter," the owner permitted with a soothing tone. "Thank you, sir," the gentleman unlocked the door and entered it. Then, his hand slowly shut the door before he faced the owner.

The room was decorated with an aristocratic style of a bureaucrat, working in a merchant company.

The gentleman locked his gaze on the owner, who was sitting on a sofa with a collected face.

His dominating aura was matching on his authority. That all of his moves were superb and calculated.

His handsome face had a mole under his left eye. He wore a white tailored suit, a black vest, and a rose hung on his left chest.

The owner was looking at him, telling him to speak hurriedly. The gentleman gulped his saliva before his mouth was opened to talk.

"Greetings, sir. I deeply apologize for coming late today. I know you already told me that man of his word should never arrive later than a turtle. Only a piece of his finger is an equivalent price to pay for his failure," the gentleman hung his head and placed a hand on his chest. "Is that all? I don't even remember anything about your visit. I am not sure who is wrong here since my secretary didn't inform me beforehand. If you are really sorry about it, then it can't be helped. You're really a disappointing man, Jerald," the owner picked up the cup of his tea, sniffed it, and took a sip.

"My apologies, sir. It appears I enter the wrong timing. It is not my intention to disrespect you, sir," Jerald lifted his head as he looked at the owner. "Good grief," the owner clicked his tongue.

"Apology accepted. Who am I to behead an enforcer of the family anyway? You're a valuable asset to the boss, so I have no other choice. By the way, what brings you here, Jerald?" the owner placed down the cup on the table, and then, he clutched his hands together on his lap. "I have come here to report to you something very intrigue," answered Jerald as he summoned a brown folder in his hands.

"I'm all ears," the owner's lips upturned. "Take this document first, and read it. Our scouts traced powerful mana in this sector, next to the abandoned weaponry building," reported Jerald with a grave look.

"Hmmm, interesting. Who on earth will release this powerful mana?" asked the owner. "Sir, we don't know yet. Our boys are still investigating the site. I won't make a promise that we will get the answer. Why? Because the site is already got destroyed by a powerful explosion last night. We're only fortunate that we found some trace of uncommon magic and footsteps. One of which, our scout stated the foot had the same size as a fifteen-year-old teenager," Jerald explained briefly.

"Oh, so he escaped, huh?" the owner smirked in satisfaction. "Pardon?" Jerald tilted his head to the side with a confused face.

"It's nothing. Please continue. Where did we stop?" asked the owner. "Oh, right. In the background check, a lot of important things such as rifles, ammo, and old arsenals are found, but it's undeniably placed the whole investigation into a challenging status. Truly a disappointing result of our performance," Jerald heaved a tiring sigh.

"Ooh, that's really intriguing," the owner giggled. "This is not a laughing matter, sir. Never mind. I don't think this is going to stay hidden from the eyes of the public. Our team will do our best to cover the situation as much as possible. That's why I come here to inform you of my next plan to prevent the outsiders found the incident. The blue folder contains the plan for the restructuring and rehabilitation of the site. The funds are already calculated by our accountants, so there is no need to hire a bookkeeper to check it," declared Jerald with a respectful tone.

"Is that all?" asked the owner with an apathetic look. "We need your signature for it," Jerald handed him a pen.

The owner jotted down his signature and handed it over back to the gentleman.

"Uh, eh, may I sit down?" asked Jerald with a worried face. "Sure, go ahead," the owner allowed.

The gentleman hurried to sit down on the opposite side of the owner. He's now facing him at one table.

"Here, this is another file that I want you to check out. I mean to show it, sorry. You see, these documents I carried have a lot of secrecy that only you and the mistress must-see," enunciated Jerald, with a determined face. "Proceed," permitted the owner with a disturbing look.

"Thank you very much. Now, let's start from this page," Jerald pointed to the illustration of a corpse. "Oh, the corpse looked like a roasted pig. I can feel inside my body how he suffered severe pain before his death," the owner nodded in satisfaction.

Their talk, related to the kidnapping, death of their people outside of their domain and corruption, lasted for one hour, and the guest finally folded the file and opened the next issue related to the incident last night. The gentleman finally heaved a sigh of relief when he got his interest a little bit.

"As expected, you're a really good listener, sir. No one has the same caliber as you, Sir Matheus Dante the sole underboss of the Verdugo family," Jerald jeered. "Oi, hold your horses, boy. Don't speak some nonsense right now. Y' do realize we're on the mission that was approved by Donna. So keep it to yourself. Zip it. We must completely keep hidden our true identities from the public. This occupied territory is only known as a bandit lair and is not part of any clan. If someone discovers it, we're screwed," Matheus scolded, correcting his comrade's mistake.

"Aye, sir, but rest assured. We're totally fine. All we have to do is stay under the radar as long as possible. The Universal Law of Mafiaocre must be followed or else, the other mafia Dons will come upon us, especially that man named Hermes Archnemesis. Even though he is still a child and known as the sole survivor of his family, he is fully stable in this society," Jerald agreed.

'I know,' Matheus gritted his teeth.

"Well, we're still gathering decent information about his identity, and it will take a month to discover his current whereabouts. Hmm, we've lost a hundred spies to check his status in his mansion, so we're lacking a solid background of his abilities. I don't know if they are being bribed or killed but the fact that no one knows his exact appearance as of now. Unbelievable, right?" Jerald waved a document with a disappointing face. "Good grief," Matheus responded.

"All we can assume right now is the child has powerful servants that keep protecting him from the outsiders. Oh, by the way, have you heard about the new merchant and a butler who arrived in the village a few days ago?" asked Jerald. "Nope," Matheus shook his head horizontally.

"Wait, what? Unbelievable, here. This is the photo of the merchant and his attendant. The child's name is Aljen the merchant, and this handsome guy is Justin. They arrived in the village three days ago. According to our source, the teenager has a mask covering his face, and he's releasing an alarming risk in his surroundings," Jerald pointed out. "So, why we are talking about him now?" asked Matheus with a bothered face. "Wow, you don't get it, do you? Well, it can't be helped," Jerald shrugged his arms off.

"I'm curious. Who is this Aljen the merchant?" inquired Matheus, smiling. "Well, I don't want to joke around. This Aljen the merchant from the Southern Cimeria Desert is none other than our arch-enemy, Hermes Archnemesis. However, he is not that kind of good and skeptical like our Donna. He doesn't even know we already controlled this place though for almost five years because he only cares to scheme something from his former territory. How stupid he was. To think he always did that for his own entertainment. Hilarious, right? I haven't seen anyone like him go there, disguising as a merchant, and promised the Village chief that he wanted to invest his money for a better cause. What a disgusting and pathetic man. Anyhow, forget about him. He is not that important anyway. The point of my visit is this," Jerald explained.

"And, so... what do you want us to do?" Matheus looked interested. "We have to make a countermeasure first. I know there's a risk of showing this, but I think you must inform the information to our Donna before the other capos find it," he added.

"Hmm, I feel like I'm missing something. I don't know the issue here. Why do you want to keep it a secret from the capos?" inquired Matheus. "First of all, there's no issue between me and the capos. Keeping the information to limited people is the most efficient way to prevent the spies found it out, you know. That's why I propose to keep it to ourselves first before we inform the leader, sir," Jerald explained promptly.

The underboss closed his eyes for a second, lips pursed.

"Hmm, that's true. I guess we left no other choice, but to keep it a secret for a while," Matheus folded his arms across his chest and crossed his legs thereafter. "Thank you, sir," Jerald appreciated it.

"Anything else?" Matheus picked up a biscuit on the plate and took a bite. The gentleman pulled out an item, and he slid it over the table for the owner. The underboss picked it up and his eyes shook a little upon recognizing it. "We found it in the scorched crater," Jerald pointed out.

'Oh, these people are dead now. Useless pawns,' Matheus commented inside his head.

"I don't know how the item got there. I can prove this is one of the insignia of our special intelligence. I tried to contact the office, but they told me they didn't know anything. I believe there is something going behind our leader's back, sir. I suspected the SI is working an undercover mission by the orders of a powerful capo," Jerald mentioned with a sharp gaze.

"Bullshit," Matheus tossed the insignia back to the gentleman. "P-pardon?" confused Jerald. "As I said before, it's bullshit. There is no way someone has the capability to do that behind my back too," Matheus explained blatantly.

The gentleman shut his mouth for a second. He summoned another document.

"So, like what you stated, they won't move without your approval, right? Then, this letter is valid evidence that you initiated a mission to the SI magicless veterans without consulting our master," Jerald showed him the tangled piece of paper. "Good grief. As I expected from our enforcer, you have no respect for the underboss of the clan, huh. I guess I cannot hide it any further," Matheus heaved a sigh.

"I linked the connection of the investigation to this incident, and I speculated the corpse was none other than the members of the Special intelligence," Jerald concluded. "Well, you're not wrong about it," Matheus picked up another biscuit and ate it.

"The mission failed because someone interfered, I presumed," speculated Jerald. "Well, sometimes it is part of his destiny," Matheus giggled.

"So... why did you participate in the mission? I cannot believe the underboss will crossdress as an old hag," Jerald grossed a bit. "Oi, watch your tone. I'm more powerful than you, you know," Matheus warned.

"I don't know what is your intention, but your target's body is missing. We retrieved the bodies of our comrades, but not his body yet. If you just used your skill, these people won't die in vain. And the site won't get wrecked like that," Jerald condemned. "Yeah, so what? I just want to see it to myself, you see. Well, I cannot deny my surprise a little from the report. It is an unexpected result," Matheus responded bluntly.

"If Donna heard about this, I don't know what she will do against you. By the way, the primary suspect of the destruction of the site is this person. We received this photo from the guards who are patrolling near the location. As you can see, he used powerful tier magic that killed most of our men instantly," Jerald gravely stated.

"Hmm, no wonder these useless pawns failed to accomplish their mission. Is he a hitman sent by another clan? Or an ally of the Archnemesis family? If he is an ally or a friend of our enemy. It's a good reason why he used an artillery spell. But to think there's someone trying to help him out," Matheus commented. "Nope, I don't think he's an ally of our rival. If he really cares about him, then why did he use his power to salvage him? There is an alternative way to save him, though," corrected Jerald.

"Do you think the bastard is alive?" asked Matheus. "No idea. I don't have a shred of evidence to prove if your target is alive or not," Jerald explained promptly.

"Continue to investigate the case," Matheus instructed. "Affirmative. You don't have to tell me that, sir," Jerald simpered.

The gentleman stood up from his seat, and he picked up the documents one by one. Then, he put them all inside his dimensional pocket.

"What a convenient magical relic," Matheus complimented. "Thank you, sir. Now then, thank you for your time. I have to excuse myself," Jerald lowered his head in respect before moving his feet for the door.

"Wait for a second, where are you going after this?" asked Matheus. "I'm going back to the East Scily. I have an urgent meeting with Donna. You don't have to worry about this. I will keep it a secret for now. I'll make sure it won't leak outside of this realm," Jerald reassured.

"Jerald," Matheus stopped him again. "What is it?" asked Jerald. "Investigate the hitman too. If you're going home, then make sure you left a special unit to identify this man too," Matheus added.

The gentleman nodded without saying a word. He exited the room thereafter.

"Hey, Jerald," greeted Patioche Woale, the fifth Capo of the Verdugo clan. His tailored coat covered his muscular body. He's taller than the underboss, and anyone could tell he's a strong contender for the family. "Good morning, Sir. Woale. Nice to see you this morning," Jerald simpered.

"It is also a rare occasion to meet you here in this place, Jerald," Patioche motioned him to stop lowering his head. "What's brought you here?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Please excuse me," Jerald passed him, but the man stopped him from moving. "Nothing, huh? Elaborate what you told to the underboss, Enforcer," Patioche demanded with a sinister gaze.

"As I said before, it's nothing important. I just informed the underboss that I will return to the Verdugo domain this morning. That's all," Jerald heaved a sigh. "Eh? My apologies. I thought it is a serious matter," Patioche scratched his neck in embarrassment.

"Sir, I don't mean to upset you, but if you don't have any business to talk with, then I have to go. Excuse me," Jerald passed him again and left the man alone in the hallway. "Eh~, do you really think I am dumb? Something interesting is happening, huh," Patioche commented, lips pursed.