Anna silently nodded.

 

Under Kade’s arrangements, all of the Young Guard had been evacuated from Rivershore City in small groups. While Rivershore City’s defenses seemed quite tight, they were also quite lax. There were always some unknown secret paths belonging to different groups of people.

 

Kade had bought the information about a certain escape route from the old Goblin’s place, before the Special Patrols rushed back from the docks the night before yesterday.

 

After clearing away a certain corrosive Monster that once occupied the sewers in the northern part of the city, the Special Patrols never really paid attention while making their rounds there anymore.

 

As a result, there was a section of the tunnel that was expanded and extended outside the walls, there was enough space for an adult male to walk through it.

 

Bane’s Black Claw Chamber of Commerce controlled that specific path. He and Kade worked together to get the Young Guard safely out of the city.

 

The young men kept the leather armour and discarded military weapons, going back to Green Village and other places. Kade and Anna didn’t question their loyalty, and knew that under Andre’s leadership, the Young Guard wouldn’t fight over the belongings.

 

***

“Doing it like that, it was too dangerous!” Anna scolded Kade with a quiet voice, she was terrified for him and it showed.

 

“I know that you hated him. He killed the old Lord, and deserved what happened to him--but what if the Wizards look into it?”

 

Kade and Anna sat side by side on the bed, the smaller girl looked up into Kade’s face, her large eyes glued to his as she spoke. She was very worried.

 

Anna had brought Miro’s daughter back home this morning, and shortly afterwards, every major Guild offered a bounty for the Masked Warrior in the afternoon.

 

“It’s unlikely.” Kade smiled faintly as he looked back down at the Half-Elf maid.

 

He reached out and stroked her soft hair, she leaned into it at first, but then sat back with an annoyed look.

 

“My Lord! Please, take this seriously.”

 

“I am. Please, trust me--Divination Magic won’t work any more.” Kade smiled reassuringly at Anna.

 

Anna sighed, “You will explain sometime, won’t you, My Lord? How you changed, and what’s going on?”

 

“Even if I don’t, you will find out soon enough.” Kade grinned as Anna rolled her eyes and leaned in closer--Kade stroked her hair again.

 

Kade didn’t explain, because he had no idea if things were identical or if they had changed--it was obvious that the Legendary Wizard Anthony had died sooner than in the game, so there may be other changes.

 

But for now, the people in this Era still revered the Wizards.

 

They were, after all, the group that was currently ruling the world.

 

This was why Rivershore City’s public security was so high--but that was already in the past.

 

Kade clearly remembered that all Diviners had lost their abilities around six months before the Great Calamity; this was a sign, but the Wizards didn’t pay attention. After all, Divination had always been a little tricky.

 

The reason that this happened was because the God of Time took out a portion of the Magic inside the Font of Magic. The power that he had taken had originally related to the previous generation God of time, and was Divination--the next generation was weaker because of the previous sacrificing their power, willingly or unwillingly, in the creation of the Font of Magic.

 

The Gods had started.

 

The assassination may have been early, but the fall of Divination was on time; Kade felt some relief when he realized this. It was also because of this that Kade had acted so boldly, he knew that he couldn’t be located that easily.

 

As for the City Hall high-official Miro, he couldn’t personally appear to help identify Kade. The Special Patrols had moved because of his handwritten warrant--he couldn’t appear as someone that had neglected his duties.

 

It was just that there was something that surprised Kade when he went looking for information in a tavern around noon. He actually heard that the Special Patrols had grabbed a few followers of an Evil Cult at the docks.

 

Apparently, they were secretly offering sacrifices to the Plague God, and the Special Patrols burst in on them. They had very bad luck.

 

It was possible that he had instinctively acted on information from the game when he suggested that they go to the Docks instead of anywhere else in Rivershore City. But it also reminded him that multiple Cults had become more active towards the Great Calamity--usually the Twin Snakes of Doom, or World-Ending Twin Snakes, were held back until the assassination of Anthony, so the others had a head start.

 

But that had changed.

 

He needed to recover White River Valley, so he could fulfil a promise, and possibly use it is a bade of operations.

 

But before that, he still had to act as the ‘victim’ of the family--after all, following Miller’s sons deaths, Kade was his only living blood relative. This meant that he would inherit Miller’s possessions.

 

But Kade knew that even if the City Hall sent him a notification, the great majority of his inheritance would have been plundered by them in advance, so he would only get the leftovers

 

***

Late in the afternoon, Kade changed into his noble clothing, it was time for him to start acting like a weak and incompetent Young Noble again.

 

He went to City Hall, Anna followed respectfully along behind him.

 

As expected, the official in charge of the inheritance only gave Kade a deed, the deed of Villa 31 of the Wealthy district.

 

The rest of his belongings weren’t there.

 

“Sir Kade, I’m sorry for your loss.” The Official spoke insincerely.

 

Kade feigned weakness, asking, “Now that my uncle also died, my only blood relative. When can Rivershore City send troops to help me clear out that pack of Gnolls? I need to get my territory back.”

 

The official still spoke in his insincere manner,  “This is…quite difficult. Sir Kade, you see, followers of Evil Cults have been roaming around in Rivershore City, along with savage killers like the one who killed your uncle, the Masked Warrior. We are severely lacking in manpower. I think it would be good if you patiently waited inside the city for a while longer.”

 

Kade’s face showed disappointed, but inside, he felt both irritated and a little vindicated. He had long suspected that people other than his uncle wanted his territory for some reason--the way that the City Hall accepted the bribery so easily…it was likely that someone even higher up the ladder of power was wanting the ‘secret’ hidden in White River Valley.

 

But, he didn’t plan on relying on the strength of the Rivershore City soldiers anyway. Him asking like this was both something that would be expected of the weak persona that he had to hide behind, and a way for him to make sure that someone, somewhere, in the higher-ranks of Rivershore City was also eyeing his territory.

 

Kade quickly checked his Quest Log, he still only had 18 days left on his main Quest.

 

***

Upon leaving City Hall, Kade immediately began planning his next step.

 

After yesterday’s murder and arson, followed by looting, Kade had harvested quite a bit of wealth from Miller’s home. The amount of riches was well over 100,000 silvers.

 

Kade made sure that the Young Guard had left with over a third of the easy to carry valuables that weren’t silvers--he would be using them as capital once he got his territory back. He had sold the remaining 2/3rds to Bane at less than market price--but a reasonable amount--while still using the identity of the Masked Warrior.

 

The old Goblin was crafty, he would have to be, to survive in his line of work. He knew who he could provoke, and who he couldn’t. Kade instinctively emitted Killing Intent when he was in his Masked Warrior disguise, so when Bane made a deal with him, he had actually given him a very good price.

 

Moreover, Bane had understood that Kade’s two subordinates were both powerful Phantom Assassins. In Bane’s line of work, there was one very clear point: Never provoke an Assassin.

 

The old Goblin enthusiastically expressed that ‘Sir Masked Warrior’ was one of Black Claw’s important business partners--even if there was a large bounty on his head.

 

Kade was currently carrying 50 gold with him, the rest were in his Void Ring. Which was around 50,000 Silvers when converted to the more frequently used currency.

 

“Here, 30,000 silvers.” Kade handed a fairly large bag to Anna, before speaking solemnly, “Go to the Adventurer’s Guild and hire us some people. They must have a Combat Class. Prioritize those with battle experience, those who have their own armour and weapons would be preferable. Get around 20, and as for the monetary reward, do as you see fit.”

 

The Half-Elf maid nodded, her eyes sparkling a little as she looked at the massive bag--she hadn’t seen this much money in one place, that wasn’t the vault in White River Valley.

 

He was completely confident in Anna’s abilities. She would do her job well, and get enough Adventurers.

 

To take back White River Valley, he would need soldiers. Relying on the 20 Young Guard wouldn’t be enough.

 

“Young Master Kade, what about you?” Anna asked.

 

“Me?” Kade grinned cheekily, “I’ll go check out White River Valley first. Kylie may be weakened, but she can still use Greater Stealth on me. Don’t we need someone to scout?”

 

***

The setting sun was illuminating the top of the East Coast’s Tower of Holy Light.

 

On the highest platform, a corpse lay quietly on the ground, a stooped old man sat next to him. Even if the Legendary Wizard was badly injured, he was still quite strong. Even if he had suffered a sneak attack and was close to death--he managed to quickly and easily kill this traitorous disciple of his.

 

It’s just that, he was also on the verge of dying.

 

Even if the Shadow Prince was a weak God, he was an extremely powerful Legendary Dark Assassin before he ascended.

 

Anthony closed his eyes, his face covered in bruises.

 

The voices coming from the Eye of the Bright Sun were in a mess, as if there was something interfering. He also tried to contact other Legendary Wizards in the region, but something like an indescribable Force Field was blocking him.

 

This was very definitely a conspiracy.

 

Anthony forced his eyes open and staggered his way to the edge of the platform. From this point, it was possible to see Sail Boat City in the North, and Jewel Bay in the South.

 

‘Such beautiful scenery…’

 

The old man calmly stood right at the edge and began a chant.

 

30 seconds later, his body fell from the platform--and a pitch-black cloud quickly formed in the sky. In a split second, all of the kind-hearted living creatures in the East Coast suddenly felt an acute pain.

 

A woman with weak willpower was unable to restrain herself, and began to cry.

 

Everyone was looking towards the East, shock filling their eyes.

 

A Legend had died!