"Damn it! We lost him! Master Crow won't be too happy about this, and one of us will most likely lose our lives!" On top of the roof Nick had just landed on before entering the Palace space, emerged a group of dark-cloaked figures that were emitting a scary vibe. The man speaking was the leader of these assassins, and his name was Shadow one.
Nick had long sensed the group following him but was unable to pinpoint their exact location, which was why he chose to enter the Palace first and then find them.
"Why do we have to die over something as mundane as losing a single target?! We have already captured the man that came with Nick!" Shadow two spoke out, a little angry.
"Master Crow's orders were explicit; we were to track this Nick character who is parading the streets using the alias Albert until the Light Prince arrived! The Light Prince had lost a valuable technique that belonged to him and was tracking it when he sensed it in Gathering city."
"But because the Green Sparrow Immortal was pursuing him Light Prince didn't want to come here yet. So, he tasked Master crow to find the technique and the person in its possession and to keep them in the city long enough for him to return."
"And the person we captured, Loyd, didn't seem to know anything of value about the man aside from telling us his actual name was Nick, not Albert. We even asked what Light Prince wanted to know the most, where exactly the man disappeared to in the middle of their fight, and that bastard Loyd just kept on repeating, 'Any information given out will be in direct violation of the signed agreement with the System and will be considered treason of the highest order, please ask another question!' over and over again!"
Shadow One was usually a man of few words, but he knew that he had to explain the situation clearly so that his crew can understand the gravity of the situation.
Nick felt shocked to hear about Loyd's capture. But what stunned him more was what they said about the questioning. Apparently, the system truly didn't play when it came to information regarding the palace. And thanks to the agreement Loyd signed with the system when he entered the Palace, Loyd couldn't reveal the existence of this secret place or tell the people anything that could jeopardize Nick's safety, so he told them Nick's real name instead…what a traitor!
"Wait?! The Light Prince Immortal asked for this task personally?!" Shadow two was shocked. They were the Crow Assassins, and their leader, Master Crow, was a renowned and powerful assassin himself. And usually, the people that could directly ask a favor of Master Crow were few and far in between, but Light Prince had this privilege as a monstrous powerhouse that could shake the continent with the quiver of his shadow!
"Yes. So, now do you understand the gravity of this mission?! We have to find this young man at all costs!" Shadow One emphasized.
"But if the task is so important, then why didn't Master Crow do it himself. If we can't find Nick before Light Prince arrives at the city then he will probably suffer too, right?" Shadow Two couldn't help but ask. Shadow Two was the most outspoken among the five Shadows of the Crow Assassins. And he sometimes felt a little out of place in the group since the other assassins enjoyed hiding in dark alleys for hours quietly, to capture their prey, while he was always the one humming or singing loud enough to alert the target. And he was certain that today's failure would be the excuse Master Crow needed to dispose of him.
"When have you seen an Immortal Core realm rank one expert chasing after a Transcendence realm rank one weakling?! If we weren't being too cautious due to the overly crowded streets earlier, capturing him would have been easy for us, but we couldn't do that since the Light Prince warned us repeatedly that we can't underestimate Nick, and that he was a very tricky person to deal with! Now spread out and search the area, he couldn't have just disappeared into thin air!" Shadow one snapped.
Nick watched as the cloaked group rushed off in different directions and he couldn't agree more with their approach. Why send the scary Master Crow after him when he was just too weak? He hoped that everyone was as principled as these assassins because it was idiots like these who keep him alive in this treacherous life. Nick was also rooting for these people. He hoped that their search would bear fruit and that they find him soon…
"Big Bro Nick, did you find any of the others on your way here? Did you find Uncle Peter?" Dean asked, a little worry and agitation obvious in his voice.
"Well, I found Silver and Loyd! But I lost Loyd again, I guess, so that doesn't count… And I didn't find Peter but don't worry, that Old rascal won't die easily. He is too smart and has great survival instincts. He's probably holed up in a cave somewhere counting pebbles, naked." Nick thought about what he would do in Peter's situation, and this was what he could come up with.
"Big bro Nick, why would uncle Peter be naked?" Dean asked, a little confused.
"Because…it is hot inside caves…" Nick replied. But he soon realized that all the questions were coming from Dean, and he couldn't hear Maggi at all! So, Nick turned off the outside viewing function of the system and checked the surrounding of the Palace trying to search for her.
Nick soon spotted Maggi crouched down by the main door. Curious as to what she was doing, Nick walked over to Maggi and asked, "What are you doing?"
Maggi acted like a frightened little kitten the moment she heard Nick's voice as she threw her entire body to the ground, trying to cover the thing in front of her.
Oiiiiiinnk! And Nick heard a sharp and pained Oink from under Maggi's body all of a sudden.
Shwa!
Maggi got tossed away in the next second, and from under her an angry little Piggy rose from the floor and started at Maggi like she was her arch-nemesis.
"What were you doing to my little Piggy?!" Nick asked as he picked up the little Piggy and tried comforting her a little by petting her. This Piggy was his like-minded pet who enjoyed stealing other people's cloth when they entered the pool, she was such a lovable pet! And in the future when Nick brought women into the palace, her true worth as a cloth thief would shine brightly!
"Wuuuu, big bro Nick, you're mean! How could you ask me that when I was the one tossed away?!" Maggi felt wronged. Was her chocolate fountain betraying her now?!
"Humph! Do you even know how valuable Piggy is?! Can you do what she can for me?! Can you steal other people's clo…" Nick realized that this wasn't something he should brag about to the kids. But his like-minded pet Piggy understood him and gave him a wink, which translated to 'Don't worry bro, I got you covered, just point me at the clothes you want gone, and Master Piggy will take care of it!'.
"You were the one that jumped on it first. What if you killed it?" Nick decided to change tactics. And as Nick spoke little Piggy stared at Maggi cockily with her two front legs on her hip as if asking Maggi, 'Yes, what if you killed me?!'
"But I just wanted to hide it from you so that you wouldn't throw it away or cook it! I just wanted to keep it as my pet since it was cute!" Maggi's eyes welled up with tears. Not because of Nick, no, she was used to him being an asshole, but because of Piggy's attitude towards her.
Little Piggy grew worried all of a sudden, it could understand humans a little since it inherited a part of its mother's memories. And from Maggi's words, it didn't seem like staying so close to Nick was a very wise or safe decision.
"No, I would never eat Little Piggy! Not in a thousand years, not in a million years! Well, it has been a while since I had bacon… But no, I won't eat her, just look at how small Piggy is, and how cute she is, I can't eat her!" Nick suddenly looked at Piggy with a smile. And Piggy also responded with a smile, but she was swearing in her mind! She swore to never fatten up, or this bastard might actually eat her! No, she would stay small and cute, forever!
The reason Nick wasn't too concerned about Maggi was because he knew the fall hadn't really harmed her. Someone at the peak of the Spirit realm wasn't so fragile as to get scratched up from a simple tumble. Besides, the twins had shown a large lack of disrespect earlier as they repeatedly referred to him as a chocolate fountain, and it was about time they got a little payback.
"Both of you are too weak to survive in this Secret realm so you will spend your times cultivating in your rooms! Here, take these transcendence stones and try to break through to the Profound realm within the next few days, I will try to find you some techniques suitable for you during that time." Nick then took out ten transcendence stones and gave the kids five each. He then took them to one of the unoccupied rooms and told them to cultivate inside while he went outside and tried to free Loyd.