âWait, then who is that bastard? Is he part of the Vermont Special Forces, just like I guessed?â
Jet was hastily running with his son peacefully sleeping in his arms. Luckily, the child remained sound asleep until they arrived at the dock.
âDammit, my life is ruined. I was gonna land a position as an accountant in Akin.â
His big dreams, everything he worked hard for; he had to leave them all behind.
âI didnât think that I would be running away.â
Even until the moment he boarded the ship, he doubted his life decisions based on the words of a child he didnât even know.
Jet climbed into the starboard with a disappointed face and sifted through his pockets. He grabbed a heavy gold necklace, a ring, and a handful of tiny gold pieces.
Keep this while you run away. Feed your son well.
Those were the last words Jet heard from Jin. He couldnât understand the childâs intent of helping after impersonating Beradin and manipulating Jet.
âWelp, Iâll first get to Vermont and wait for the news.â
Jet was clearly depressed.
* * *
BANG!
The auction houseâs agents woke up to the sound of someone busting a door open. Alu furiously stomped in with heavy breaths.
âThat scamming fuckerâWhere is he?!â
âHuh? Boss, who do you mean?â
âBeradin Zipfel! That bloody impersonator of Beradin Zipfel! Bring him to me right now. I will peel his skin and kill himâ¦!â
âWh-what do you mean by âimpersonatorâ, boss? Thereâs no way.â
All of the agents exchanged glances of cluelessness, as if uttering âDid you know?â âThe hell if I did.â
âBoss, th-they already left. About an hour ago.â
Alu was going to go insane from their stupidity.
Slap! Slap!
He slapped each of his agents with his thick hand.
âYou useless sons of bitches. You let that happen? You just let that happen?â
âBut boss, you got tricked as well.â
No one had the courage to point it out. Whenever Aluâs eyes were in the back of his head, it was smarter to just stay silent.
âBoss, those guys⦠They took all of the customer registry and transaction records. They didnât take anything valuable from the basement thoughâ¦â
Alu was about to explode. As much as he wanted to slaughter all of his workers, catching the impersonator was more important.
âGet ready to chase them down. Weâre catching those rat bastards before sunrise.â
* * *
Meanwhile, Jin had already sent the anonymous letter to three places using postal magic. He sent it to the Vermont Imperial Family, Zipfel House, and the Akin Kingdom Press.
If the anonymous note only said âTesing is badâ, then the three organizations wouldnât bat an eye.
However, Jin sent different pieces of evidence for each recipient. He sent the slave records to the Imperial Family, the transaction history to the Zipfels, and the customer registry to the press.
âThe Vermont Imperial Family would take action after seeing that the majority of the slaves in the Tesing underground were citizens of its empire. The Zipfels would get heated over all of the illegal transactions of valuable artifacts. Essentially, the Tesing Clan is doomed.â
And of course, the Akin Kingdom Press would speak out after receiving the customer registry. Even though the press was under the Tesingsâ control, there were those who silently despised the clanâs business.
Now, the organizations just needed to read the information within two days. Then, the Tesing Clan would be obliterated and forgotten forever.
Despite the imminent downfall, Jin did not leave Akin. He and his companions were waiting for Alu at the outskirts of the kingdom.
Jin needed to check if he has a connection with a Runcandel in any way.
âKiddo, arenât you being too wary of Jetâs words? You really think any of your siblings could get along with those lowly scums?â
âI agree, Young Master. Thereâs no way a Runcandel would meet such people.â
âThe Tesings themselves are not significant, but Alu is at least a 7-star. Thus, he is a man of significance.â
Jin didnât know anything from Aluâs past aside from the fact that, at some point, he took control of the clan and corrupted Akin.
âHm⦠Well, we should at least thank him before we leave. Other than Tzenmiâs magic tome, he also gave us a great masterpiece. I was pretty surprised when you came out of the basement with that ring.â
According to Murakan, the ring artifact was not called the âHelm of the Demon Kingâ, but instead was called âMyultaâs Runeâ.
Thousands of years ago, the demons of Myulta created this artifact in order to protect one of their great leaders from the never-ending battles.
And that great leader was the first emperor of Vermont.
âI honestly canât believe we found this in some sketchy basement. After everything is over, letâs decipher and read through Tzenmiâs magic tome.â
They waited for two hours.
Some time later, a group of Tesing agents found the three sitting around a small fire.
âItâs him! Report to the boss!â
Boom!
An agent fired a signal firework. However, they couldnât blatantly attack the three targets. The impersonator was a child, but they remembered that he wielded at least 5-star magic.
It was a weird standoff.
Jinâwho had no intention of running awayâblankly stared at the agents, and the agents were waiting for reinforcements.
âMurakan.â
âWhat?â
âI want to duel Alu.â
âYouâve gotta be kidding me. So, youâre telling me to deal with all of the peons?â
âExactly.â
âMan, what a hassleâ¦â
While Murakan complained, Alu arrived. He was soaked with sweat from running hastily.
Behind him were about a hundred underlings who were also panting from exhaustion.
The agents who were cautious of Jin became confident after the reinforcementsâ arrival.
âY-You⦠motherfucker. The hell are you guys doing? Get him!â
âWait here and guard our Strawberry Pie.â
Out of all the attacking agents, half of them were magicians, and the other half were mercenaries. The magicians started to cast their spells from afar, while the mercenaries charged at the enemy.
Unlike them, Murakan was basically naked. He only wore a thin shirt and had a small dagger in his hand.
Crack!
âKurkk.â
However, despite his lack of gear, Murakan cracked the first attackerâs jaw with his elbow and dashed into the crowd of mercenaries.
They werenât well-trained, but they werenât unskilled either. In the middle of the crowd, every time Murakan threw a punch, someone either died or fainted.
In the eyes of Alu and his bodyguards, Murakan looked like an invincible fighter.
âYou fucking idiots! Attack the kid in the back, not him!â
The magicians changed their target after hearing Aluâs screech. Jin scoffed at the sight of ineptitude.
âFire!â
The lead magician shouted, and the magicians simultaneously raised their staves.
âGilly, get behind me.â
Fwoooooosh.
They chose to fire the 3-star ice magic, Icicle Shot. Fifty icicles aimed for Jin and flew towards him.
Howeverâ
âI donât even need to block this.â
Thanks to Demonic Beast King Orgalâs Pendant, Jin was immune to any spells that are 5-stars or lower.
Crackle⦠Crackleâ¦!
The icicles disintegrated before they could reach Jin. The spells of Tesingâs unregistered magicians were blocked with a blink of an eye.
âWh-What are those guysâ¦?â
âAhhhhhhh!â
âOof!
Murakan was already almost done with the peons. It didnât matter if there were fifty or a hundredâpeons were peons. It was too easy for the Shadow Dragon.
Five minutes passed since the battle started.
The Tesing mercenaries were losing their will for battle. But their devastating defeat against the ones who tricked the clan was not only because Jin and his companions were strong.
After finding out that Jin was an impersonator, the agents of the Tesingsâ elite forces ran away.
They predicted that âAlu was done forâ. Until now, the Zipfels had overlooked the Tesingsâ illegal activities. But after being tricked by the impersonator, they knew that the Tesing Clan would inevitably fall.
After sunrise, it was certain that the Zipfels would take action, so their escape was a wise choice.
At this point, Alu knew that his underground empire would soon fall.
âHehehehe.â
Alu cracked a pained smile as his sword emitted a white aura.
âIt seems that you guys arenât just any normal scammers.â
SCHICK!
Alu began to slash at his own magicians. They could not escape their crazy boss, so most of them immediately died on the spot.
âB-Boss, why are you doing thiâAAACK!â
âAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!â
Alu slaughtered every single one of his minions with a straight face, living up to his âSpiderhandâ name.
âWho sent you guys? Who hired you in the first place?â
He spoke with bloodshot eyes.
âYou guys were gonna go to hell anyways. Iâm just alleviating the pain you would have felt.â
âThatâs true⦠butââ
SLASH!
âHeâs fast!â
Alu threw a dagger at Jin, barely missing his cheek. If Jin were a little slower, the dagger would have sliced his neck.
âBut how unfortunate. I donât intend to go to hell alone. You guys are coming with me.â
This was just the beginning.
There were 50 meters between Jin and Alu.
Jin felt the goosebumps traversing his body.
âAs expected from a 7-star knight.â
He had met countless 7-star knights, but this was the first time one tried to kill him. His throat dried from the pressure of the standoff.
The moment he drew his swordâ¦
âYou finally met someone your size. I guess it is my turn to guard Strawberry Pie. Kuku, good luck!â
Murakan shouted at Jin as he ran away with Gilly on his back.
âââââ
âââââ