Two young men were toddling through the corridor with hesitation written all over their faces.

They were on their way towards the boss' room to answer his summons. It was normal for them to be nervous. It was their first time being summoned by their gang leader, after all.

They walked up to the door and knocked.

A brief silence was followed before a calm voice gave them the permission to enter. The two entered the room with their eyes lowered.

"You are here." The leader said.

The two young men hurriedly greeted him as they gathered their courage and raised their heads to look at their leader and ask for the reason they were summoned here.

But they were stunned when they saw their leader for the first time. He was rumored to be a ferocious-looking tough guy who slits the throats of his enemies as soon as he gets the chance. But what they were seeing made it impossible for them to judge the rumors, as the man in front of them was covered from head to toe… Even his eyes were only slightly visible as his head was covered in a thick black cloth.

Curiosity took over their fearful thoughts as they had the urge to ask their leader about his new 'look'. But it was just that, an urge, as they didn't want to get punished for asking a senseless question.

"I have a task for the two of you." The leader's calm voice entered their ears, forcing them to throw away their useless thoughts, as they focused back on him.

The leader then pointed at a rectangular wooden box lying on the floor. The two young men looked at the box that was big enough to fit an adult human and wondered about its contents.

"Take this box, along with this letter, and deliver them to the Safaira family." The leader ordered in his cold voice.

The two young men nodded as one of them received the letter and moved back to help his partner lift the big box. It wasn't that heavy, considering that the two of them were in the Foundational Realm.

The two of them supressed their curiosity and started making their way out while carrying the box.

"Those bastards will now know better than sending spies to my base." Just as they were leaving, they heard their leader muttering.

Their legs wobbled as the box almost dropped out of their arms. Hearing his words made them realize the possible contents inside the box.

They hadn't witnessed the commotion that had happened at the bar earlier. They were out, doing missions to earn more credits to secure their new membership. But they had heard about it after they had returned.

Now hearing the leader's words, while carrying this box that might contain a corpse, made the new members of the gang lose their calm.

They did their best and suppressed the impulse to throw the box away. Their steps became quicker as they wanted to get rid of this box as soon as possible.

Only the leader was left, sitting alone in his room, as he contemplated his situation.

*sigh*

A sigh escaped his mouth as he removed his mask and revealed his face.

"Damn! I should have chosen something summer-friendly." Anom grumbled as he wiped the sweat from his face.

He had come here to gain more information about the Handler family. But his observation made him change his thoughts.

Although they were not one of the strongest forces in Nulis City, their man-power and network were significant enough to make a difference.

That's why, when he saw the leader, he changed his plan. Before, he was only going to dig out some information and instigate a fight between the gang and the Handler family.

But then he thought of a better way and decided to take the matter into his own hands… That was also the reason he did everything so carefully. He could have defeated the gang leader even if it was a head-on fight, but that would have created too much commotion and wouldn't have served any purpose other than alerting his opponents… After all, a show of force is only useful when you are worthy of being the absolute authority.

He then ignored these serious thoughts and chuckled. He had suddenly thought of the reaction Crystal would make if she heard him suggesting offering her to Sorneo House.

Chuckling at this thought, he stood up and walked towards the table placed on the side of the sofa. A round metal plate was placed on the top with many colourful patterns covering its surface. Many of these designs were similar to the ones drawn on the badges of the Giro Gang.

Anom pressed the center of the metal plate, making it glow.

"How may I help you, Boss?" A rough voice came out from the metal plate.

Anom was not surprised as he replied using the gang leader's voice, "Don't let anyone disturb me till tomorrow morning."

"…Alright… but, uh, about your dinner… Should I send someone to place it outside your room?" The voice asked in a hesitant manner and sounded… worried?

"Don't bother. I'll be practising in my room till morning. I hope no one will come disturb me till then."

The voice kept silent for a while and then…

*sob* "Boss, you work so hard for our sake…" The rough and tough voice turned weird as the person whom it belonged to started sobbing.

"Oh right!" The tone of the person talking through the metal plate changed again. The voice exclaimed cheerfully, "Boss, you can call me if you need a massage… hehe~ I'll make you feel good, just like the last time…"

It would have sounded like a normal talk between a leader and his underling if not for the weird tone this person was using.

Anom shivered as he started doubting the preferences of the original gang leader.

'Aren't such people supposed to be surrounded by women who are forced to serve them? And I always thought that I had already experienced all kinds of situations before.'

He shook his head to get rid of the weird feeling and removed his hand from the metal plate.

This metal plate was the communication device that the gang leader used to communicate with his subordinates. The duo from before were also summoned using this. The person on the other side of this device was like a manager and a vice leader, who managed the whole gang on behalf of the gang leader.

After locking the door and making sure that the room was secure, Anom walked towards the bed. He had already gained control over a significant factor. It was enough for the day as doing everything hastily might ruin his plan that was currently progressing well.

Just as he was about to climb up the bed, Anom stopped. He wrinkled his nose before pinching the bed sheet and throwing it into a corner. Only after replacing it with a clean and new sheet did he sit down while heaving a sigh of relief.

"It's time to meet my lovely goddess." Anom smiled as his soul already missed that divine warmth already.

He closed his eyes and immersed himself inside his soul.

……

The guards of the Safaira family were standing in an alert state as they guarded the area around the estate.

It was a routine job for them, but the recent developments regarding the Handler family had put everyone on edge. The guards were directly affected as they had to keep the family space safe or, at least, buy enough time for the other members to react…

The guards in front of the gate were doing their jobs as usual. They rarely had visitors now, as if everyone in the city already knew about their unchangeable fate.

Suddenly, a guard noticed two people coming towards them. They were wearing cloaks that hid their appearance, making them appear suspicious. What's more, they were also carrying a large wooden box.

"Halt! State your identity and purpose!" One of the guards walked forward while showing the poise possessed by the guard of one of the biggest families of the city.

The two visitors stopped a distance away from the gate as the one in the front began rummaging through his clothes.

Just as the guards were getting themselves ready for a fight, a letter was pulled out as the man in front tossed it towards them as he spoke, "Give this to your Old Head."

A guard grabbed the letter and looked at it suspiciously. But he didn't take any action and decided to call his superior first.

Only after his approval did the guard go on his way towards the place where Gamus lived.

But it was not his old house near the lake as he had already transferred his stuff to the main mansion. He did this to remain near his family members, as the current situation was too delicate to act ignorant.

The guard knocked on the door and waited.

"Come in!" The calm and solid voice belonging to Gamus sounded.

The guard pushed open the door and bowed without raising his head. "House Guard Uzo greets the old head." It was the young guard's first time to meet the old head in person, so being a little nervous was normal. But more than that, what he felt was a rush of excitement. Being able to meet the strongest person in the family was the desire of every low-level member.

"What's the matter?" Gamus asked calmly.

The guard gathered his thoughts as he offered the letter to Gamus respectfully. He described the situation of the two people outside in detail.

Gamus took the letter from the guard, and without letting his curiosity get the better of him, tore it open.

A frown covered his face as he began reading the letter, which soon relaxed as he smiled. Then he started laughing.

The guard was following every expression of Gamus closely. His frowning expression made him scared as he guessed that the letter might contain bad news. He didn't like the thought of being the one to deliver this bad news to the Old Head.

But soon he saw Gamus smiling and laughing. The guard was stunned as he had heard about the calm and strict personality of the Old Head. Seeing him laughing like this was something that he couldn’t even imagine.

A hard pat on his shoulder broke him out of his daze as he saw Gamus looking at him.

"Good job! Now go and call Loreana here. I will be going out to receive the box myself," said Gamus, as he had already started walking out.

The guard responded hurriedly as he tried to suppress his excitement. 'The Old Head praised me!'

He started making his way towards Loreana's place while smiling happily.

And while the guard would take a few minutes to reach Loreana, Gamus had already arrived at the gate of the estate.

The guards felt a blur passing by and found a man standing in front of them the next second.

Looking at his sturdy back, the guards hurriedly bowed, ""We greet the Old Head!!""

Gamus waved his hand and looked towards the two men who had already put the wooden box on the floor.

The two of them were looking at the old man who had arrived all of a sudden and shivered as they felt his aura. Although they were asked to bring this letter to the Old Head of the Safaira family, they hadn’t thought he would come out personally.

But then their thoughts turned as they suppressed their instinctual fear while puffing their chests out. How great was the effect of the letter written by their leader that the Old Head had to come out personally? Who else could achieve such a feat in the whole city? So it was normal for them to feel reverent towards their leader who was influential enough to lead them towards a better future.

Gamus looked at the two wags and chuckled. He wasn't someone who bothered with such trifling matters. But the situation that Anom had described in his letter had already made Gamus feel amused. He couldn’t wait to open the 'gift' that Anom had mentioned in the letter.

He waved at the guards and they moved towards the box to carry it.

Gamus turned towards the duo from the Giro Gang and spoke, "You can leave."

His voice contained a bit of his aura as the two felt as if a tornado was coming towards them. Just as they were getting scared shitless, the aura suddenly disappeared.

The two felt cold sweat on their backs as they turned their tails and ran.

Gamus looked at them and chuckled again.

'Being with that kid is really fun.' Gamus mused, as he couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed something like that.

He turned towards the gate and started walking back while the guards followed him while carrying the wooden box.