Kate's House, Slum Street, Commoners' Borough.
It was around noon.
At that moment, a red-haired lady sat on a luxurious chair in her study room and looked at the documents on the table solemnly. Before her table stood a total of five men, standing eagerly and seemingly waiting for the payment. Their eyes glued on her two beautiful melons, making her a little uncomfortable.
But she didn't dislike their lustful gaze; instead, she liked it very much.
"You guys did great work today." She said while bending her waist a bit. Her loose gown revealed her two beautiful melons to those five at that moment, causing the five brawn men to gulp their saliva.
As she was about to tease these five little fellas, she suddenly saw a black-haired boy appearing in that room and froze.
Without any other choice, she straightened her waist and bowed at Abium respectfully while standing up.
"We manage to collect all those information, My Lord."
As those five men heard Kate's words, they opened their eyes wide and turned their heads angrily. They didn't expect someone to dare interrupt their precious time and got furious inside.
But what made them frown a little was that their master addressed this skinny kid with respect, which caused them to be a little doubtful. All five looked up and down at the kid and got more displeased.
'Is he noble?' A thought came to their minds. But even if this kid was a noble, they didn't have any worries in their heart. They knew that even nobles had to abide by the rules in this city.
Although they were displeased by this kid's intrusion, they didn't show it on their face and stood there arrogantly.
Meanwhile, Abium slowly walked near the table and glanced at those papers one by one.
While reading the papers, Abium sat on the nearby wooden chair and fell into a deep silence.
'It seems there is no ruin in these woods. Instead, it's a dungeon. Some adventurers found it two months ago and reported it to Adventure's guild. But Light Church and the Royal family quickly acted and silenced anyone who knew this information. Hmm? Wait a minute...2 months ago? Isn't that the same time the necromancers broke the last seal? Hmm, those seals are likely to have some connection to these dungeons.
Yes, I remember the dungeon's appearance became more frequent when those seals got broken. Heh, it explains everything.' Abium nodded in understanding as he made a guess and quickly looked at the next page, which contained information about the ones who would participate in this upcoming expedition.
'As expected, one is Light Church members, then Royal Family and a mysterious organization named Red Pyth-' Abium's amber eyes squinted sharper as he halted his words. The next instant, his face became icy cold.
'Red Python? They are so daring. Why are they beginning to act without hiding their presence? I need to be more careful. If I'm not wrong, 'The Watcher' was the one who manipulated the members of the Red Python members and planned the whole King's assassination incident. I must find out some information about this organization.' Abium quickly took a note and shifted his gaze towards the table.
There was simply one piece of paper on it, and it had five names written.
'Hooper, Nadine, Selma, Smith, and Roysia? Is somebody searching for them? For what?' Abium's interest was piqued.
"Who asked for information about these five?" He asked.
"That's none of your business, brat." A brown-haired man, around 30 years old, among those five said coldly and instantly unsheathed his dagger from his waist.
"Tell me." Abium raised his voice and gave him a piercing glare. The next instant, that brown-haired guy got infuriated and threw his dagger at Abium's forehead like a skilled assassin.
'He is an expert!'
Abium's eyes squinted sharper as he saw the dagger coated with purple-colored liquid.
"John, stop it." Kate's expression turned gloomy as she saw her servant attacking a mage and quickly shouted.
But it was too late. That poison-coated knife flew towards Abium at an incredible speed and almost arrived at his forehead in a blink. Then the next moment, everyone saw that the young kid's hand moved like a flash and grabbed the dagger's tip like it was nothing.
"Oh? A high-tier dagger!" Abium grinned as he examined that weapon and turned his head towards the guy named John.
"Where did you get this weapon?" He asked.
But soon, the smile on Abium's face vanished and was replaced with a frown.
At that moment, he sensed some dark energy residing in that dagger and felt a sense of familiarity.
'Something is wrong with this dagger. Hmm, I feel a familiar smell.' He muttered to himself and then looked into John's eyes.
John turned his eyes bloodshot at that moment and almost looked like a mad dog.
"Madness!" Abium spoke gravely and quickly appeared behind John.
Then, he stabbed that dagger directly into John's back, where the heart was located.
The next instant, a shrill cry reverberated inside that hall, followed by a thudding sound.
A second later, John grabbed his chest in pain and looked at him in panic and confusion. No, he seemed somewhat pleased and crazier.
"Madness, indeed. So, tell me now, who are you?" Abium asked while grabbing John's brown hair tightly.
Meanwhile, a smile crept on John's face, followed by a chilling, eerie voice in the abyssal tongue.
"I'm coming for you all, mortals."
Abium stared at John with a surprised expression and blurted out in Abyssal tongue as he heard the familiar voice.
"You are that Snake Demon Susur, aren't you?"
At that moment, John transformed into some black demon with red lines and appeared to be already on the verge of exploding.
"Keh?..., Interesting! You are that mortal elf! So you even knew Abyssal Language and me? I have been waiting for all this time to vent my anger." John said and smiled mysteriously.
'No good! He is up to something.'
Abium turned his face solemnly and instantly beheaded that guy's head using the same dagger.
After that, he quickly cast a fireball and burned that body without leaving any trace.
Meanwhile, the remaining four guys and the red-haired Thieves Guild leader Kate stood there with stunned faces and didn't know what to do. This change was so quick, which made all of them stand there like idiots.
"This expedition is going to be a pain in the ass. Well, I think I can take care of this demon if I get my hands on that Dark blade." Abium spoke casually and turned his head towards red-haired Kate.
"My lord, we will never tell a soul about what happened here." Kate got scared out of her wits and quickly spoke.
"Nah, spread this news to everyone. Tell everyone that a snake demon named Susur will participate in tomorrow's expedition along with Red python members. Make this news look like a secret one." Abium curled his lips upward as he said those words and added.
"Also, tell others that this demon's main target will be Light Church's Bishop."
Kate became dumbfounded for a while and soon nodded with a stiff smile.
Meanwhile, Abium let out a chuckle and fell into deep thoughts again.
'Rilos's appearance here in this city made me puzzle a bit at first. But this demon's arrival confirmed my suspicion. Hmm, from the earlier vision, I can tell that Rilos and I would act like allies and defeat some demon... Wait... That imp-faced demon from the vision... Is he also Susur? Possible! Then, he must have a divinity along with him. I need to be more careful then.' Abium abruptly changed his plan and thought one of his main priorities was to kill that demon during this expedition.
After a short breath of a moment, Abium looked into Kate's bewitching scarlet eyes and asked,
"How much is the payment for this information?"
"50 white gold coins, my lord." She replied instantly and turned her gaze toward the other four guys.
But now, there was no playfulness on her face. Instead, she looked at them with full of vigilance. After seeing how John turned into a demon, she became nervous inside.
"What about them, My Lord?" Kate asked nervously.
"Don't worry, they are normal. If you want to play with them, there will be no problem." Abium grinned while placing a gold coin bag on the table and asked further.
"What about the task I asked you to find out about the grey-haired old man?"
Kate's eyes widened as she had almost forgotten about giving that information and spoke hurriedly,
"I found a similar person working in the Royal capital, my lord. His name is Edel, and he is an apprentice mage and also a disciple of a first-tier royal mage."
'Royal Mage? Most probably an academic mage like me.'
Abium frowned as he heard those words and fell into deep thoughts.
'Should I put a bounty on his head? Or should I release this information about him to the royal family?' Abium rubbed his temple and soon made up his mind.
"Spread some news about this guy being a spy of Light Church. After that, create a rumor about him revealing confidential information to Light Church about an artifact in the secret chamber." Abium didn't want to waste his time on some random spy and thought of ending quickly.
He knew once this news spread to the Royal capital, everyone in the Royal palace would guard up against this guy and might put him under constant watch.
Abium wouldn't be surprised if they executed in the name of treason in the future. Once he sent out those orders, Abium quickly cast [Teleportation] spell and disappeared from there, leaving Kate and the four muscular guys in the room.
After a long silence, Kate made a deep sigh and ordered.
"You guys can go back and do your regular job after clearing this charred corpse. As for your payment, you will get that later."
All of them nodded their heads solemnly and started cleaning the room.
...