When dawn came, the people of Saryo town woke up to a grim mood covering the whole town. Most don't know why people the bell was rung at night but they knew it was for no good reason seeing as the town was loud. For those in the slums, dawn came early as the town guards were there before the first light with their fire torch. Searching the whole slum until they left with one of the beggars, dragging him with great fanfare as if they caught the most heinous criminal in the whole town's history.
Dawn finally came and people were gathered at the market sharing gossip with one another. While the town was well populated, most people are still related as this was a tightly knitted community.
"The Odel's son was murdered yesternight." Someone broke the news, to the people gathered, causing many to gasp.
Murder was an incredibly rare word to use in a town like theirs, the crime rate was very low. Apart from some burglaries and petty harmless crimes, it was extremely rare to hear of serious crimes.
"I know, my neighbours' son was murdered too. He walked together with Odel's son and the town lord's son's gang." Another whispered, "I also heard from my brother that the town lord's son was crippled, it seems it was a revenge work."
"Why would someone do something so heinous, those boys were sweet, they help me with my heavy work sometimes." The first person lamented.
"Heh... Calling those devils sweet? I saw what they did to the late Epiho's son... They hit him as if he killed their parents." A voice cried out in grief, "Just for his appearance, they came to his home yesterday to beat him but he was absent---"
"Clear out people!!!" As if on cue when someone was about to criticize the town lord, the guards came around and tried to clear out the crowd.
"THEY WANT TO SILENCE US... LITTLE TATE MUST HAVE SNAPPED AFTER HIS MOTHER WAS MURDERED BY THOSE LITTLE DEVILS!!!" The voice cried, raising her voice, her grief piercing the atmosphere of the city.
"Madam please do not make a ruckus here, the town lord orders for there to be no gathering on this day. We are expecting esteemed visitors anytime now." One of the guards implored aunt Del, Tatio's neighbour. She was the one screaming in Tatio's defence.
It was by this time the gate which had been closed all night was being opened, as a convoy of carriages enter the town.
"Miss please---" The guardsman was still trying to placate aunt Del when he caught sight of the town lord moving to intercept the convoy, "Drag her back to her house."
Trying not to show his failings to the lord he ordered her escorted back to her house.
Aunt Del, still muddled from her grief, was startled to hear the guards' order.
"I KNEW IT!!! THEY TRY TO SHUT US UP FROM SPEAKING THE TRUTH!!"
"Gag her."
And so she was gagged as she was forcefully escorted back towards her house, all this while, the gossipers dared not to turn to her help as she was handled like a raving lunatic. A pity, if one person supported her, she would have come out as one who had an iota of truth to her ravings.
Town lord, Tusli Saryo was clad in his knight armour trying to look good to please the esteemed guests visiting his town. Despite his son still being unconscious after what happened yesterday, he tried to look presentable to his superiors. At least if everything went alright, he could seek their help in confronting their adversary, the hermit who took residence up the mountain.
Roland Odel, the uncle to one of the dead kids and his guard captain beside him also looked grim with his anger hidden in public. Roland was feeling more shame than anger, he was a Rank One bloodline warrior with the spur panther bloodline that specializes in speed. Despite that, he still was unable to close the gap against that Journeyman. As far as his cousin being dead, while that might bring a little bit of pain to him, it wasn't his son.
Looking at the convoy closing in on them they spurred their horses on to intercept the carriage in the middle, a black one with an emblem of a black tiger on it. This is the carriage that represents Duke Tigris, the Ebony Tiger.
In light of the reigning Hero's announcement, the Aruthus Empire which holds the most power on this planet, saw interest from the nobles to recommend a top-tier talent to the Hero academy that is being built on this planet.
This planet, although nameless is usually called the vanguard planet, this is one of the furthest planets from the human realm. The reigning Hero, who was a magical and martial arts genius was born on this piece of land and also retired on it. This is also the only planet in the human realm with an ajar abyss gate, which means the demons would flood through this planet first to get into the human heartland.
Of course, as the only planet in the human realm with an ajar gate leading to the abyss, many powers from the human realm also have their branch here and yet the Aruthus Empire holds the most sway on this land due to the Hero being from the Ebony Tiger family. Even in the thousand realms, the Ebony Tiger family holds much sway due to the fact it produced the reigning Hero. Now as another period of strife is coming, this one which the Elf prophets claim to be worse than all before, the nobles are not slacking in their search for talents that would hold their interests.
"Greetings!! Black Tiger Emissary!!!" The Town lord got on his knees first.
"Greetings!!!! Black Tiger Emissary!!!!" All present got on their knees.
No one dared slight the visiting noble, as their offence could implicate their entire family.
"Rise..." A young mellow male voice, with an unmistakable dignity, reached their ears. Everyone stood up in response.
"Ride with us, town lord!" The voice continued, "Take us to our place of resting."
"By your grace!!" The town lord saluted quickly.
The convoy moved towards a corner of the town, this is where the town affluent gather and where the best house in town is located. In a few minutes, they reached their destination, a mansion that seem out of touch with its surrounding. The mansion was built with the best materials and metals from the mines in the mountains, giving it a glow that calms the mind. This location was given good thought, as the mansion was in the middle of an inland lake, giving it great scenic views. Even for the Ebony Tiger family, this house would not be lacking a holiday crib.
The convoy move on a transparent platform till they reached the mansion gates and entered the place.
When the convoy stopped, the servants quickly got out of their carriages to wait upon their lord. In the crowd of the servants are people who by all standards seem different, young men and women with different looks, ages and attires but all seem to have an aura that made the town lord wary. These are the talents that have been gathered through the patronage of the Ebony Tiger family.
The main carriage, the Ebony Tiger carriage finally opened and out of it came a young man who seem to be in his teens. He is a dark-skinned man who wore a black suit, and black shoes and was holding a cane, with his hair flowing backwards past his ear lobe. His build was a bit bulky and no one would deny the power within that body.
"Greetings Young Duke Leonhard!!!" Everyone present kneel in the worship of the young duke, a gesture he accepted readily, "Rise..."
The congregation rose in response.
"Husha!" He called, and a pale-skinned woman whose aura seem to dwarf the collective stood up beside him, "Your grace!"
"Make arrangements for everyone."
"Understood." She replied before waving for all the servants and talents to tag along.
"Town lord Tusli, your consideration has earned my praise. I like this place." Leonhard said lightly.
"Praises be to you, Your grace!!" Tusli and Roland quickly bowed in respect to Leonhard's praise, to which Leonhard nodded.
"Lead me to my chambers then." Leonhard replied, "Follow, Duste."
Then his carriage driver replied, "Yes Young master."
To which Tusli and Roland were aghast, throughout the whole journey, none of them had seen this masked man who had been in their line of sight the whole distance. This made them shudder, an assassin, a master at that.
Roland felt it the most at the presence of the driver, his bloodline the spur panther was an assassination-oriented one, which made him most sensitive to changes in the surroundings and even now, his instincts were still silent. This blow was worse than the one he received the day before, he finally knew how weak they'd been in their enclosed well of a community.
Not daring to tarry, Tusli and Roland led both of them into the master chambers, where Leonhard directed them to lead him to the study first.
"Spill it, what do you want?" Leonhard asked directly, tired of seeing their disgusting pandering.
"Your Grace!" Both of them knelt, "Yesterday was a sad day for the whole town..."
With that, both of them accounted for everything that happened the day before as they made sure to keep the major faults of their side hidden.
"My son is crippled now and Roland's nephew was killed. Please bring us justice." They concluded with their heads on the floor, expressing their sincerity.
"You want me to help you deal with the hermit?" Leonhard asked them lightly, obviously not putting many thoughts into the hermit, anybody interested in this piece of land is not worth thinking about. The real powerhouses go into the abyss for expeditions.
"No sir, we just want him to stop sheltering the criminal," Roland replied.
"Indeed sir, we want him to hand over the criminal to us." Tusli echoed the sentiments.
"Hmm... Go back, we will go see this man tomorrow and we would get back your culprit." He replied, his tone suggesting that the deal is done and tomorrow would see justice is served to them.
"Thank you, sir!" Both men were ecstatic to have finally solved this issue as they expressed their thanks for an issue that would never be solved.
Peace settled in the room, before Leonhard asked Duste by the side, "What do you think?"
"This whole mountain range is off, it has been interfering with my senses for a while now." Duste's answer seems more like a warning than any reply.
"Hmm... It shouldn't be too much of a problem." Leonhard said, "If a reclusive master is staying on the mountain, we would just seek his understanding."
"I don't believe there would be a rank seven expert on the mountain. The effect should be accomplished with a rune grid."
This was his understanding, all the rank seven experts and above who were in their family's territory had been accounted for, no mistake there.
"His son also seems to be a talented one, we might as well bring him with us."
He wasn't the least bothered about things going sideways.
"I still think we should be prudent," Duste replied, repeating his warning.
"Don't worry, I'll be taking two rank seven experts and multiple advance rankers, no harm would come to a Tiger in his den." This was the base of his confidence, No Ebony Tiger had been harmed in their territory, which caused the saying 'Tiger has no threat in its den' to be a semi-fact by this point in the thousand realms.
Of course, it would be best to be prudent, which is the reason why he brought along Duste and Husha, two rank sevens during his travels to search for talents.
Leonhard believes that this talent-searching thing is just blowing things out of proportion. As the second son of the Tiger King, the duke of Tigris, he had some confidence in his abilities throughout the thousand realms. He was born with the blessings of All-father Umbryon, he was born a basic warrior mage, he reached the intermediate rank at age five, advanced warrior mage at eight, and journeyman at ten. He was enlightened and created his rank one battle spell at thirteen becoming a rank one warrior mage, and a rank two ten years later. This was an unprecedented speed as this could be compared to the current Hero, his grand uncle, his bloodline was also purer than his grand uncle's.
These are feats that are historical, none of these talents would ever be his match, they would at most be brothers-in-arms with him as they march down the abyss realm to slay the demon overlord. He had this confidence. Of course, others like him seem to have these historical growths but that could only be ascribed to the fact that this strife between good and evil would also be a historical one. Instead of searching for talents, he should be with his peers discussing the future of the thousand realms.
"How is the progress with Alona?" Leonhard change the topic as he asked Duste, the only person with contact with his father.
...
...
While things were progressively moving forward with Saryo town, another situation was brewing at a mountain peak a little distance away from them.
This is not the peak Orion, decided to settle at.
This is a peak unknown to even the strongest in town.
This peak was filled with death mana, reeking of necromancy. On this peak is a single individual, Tatio.
Tatio looked different. Yesterday was an err on his path, he had committed those crimes against his beliefs because of his despair, but he regrets nothing. This new situation is something else to him, it seems his luck is finally changing for good. His build, despite still looking skinny has some weight to it, hard to believe that in half a day his life would change so drastically.
After Lightless brought him to the mountain, he'd woken up, while he'd been grateful to his saviour his despair settled in knowing that his mother is no more. All he wanted was just to leave the town and never come back, maybe start some work anywhere else or die on the way. Who would have thought Lightless father would feed him dragon meat?
He'd only eaten one bite and he'd felt his physique changing, his body ejecting the impurities from all orifice. His skin does not look like a lizard's scale anymore, but more like a snake's and it seems to be the way it should have always been. Despite eating a bite of dragon meat, he is starting to feel the pangs of hunger again, it seems like he had been starving himself all this while without knowing it. According to the hermit, all he needs was just food and he'd continue growing who would have thought that?
Looking at the gate on the mountain peak, he knew he had to enter but he feels vulnerable so, he was going to train a bit here. Sitting down, he started following the guidelines in the book the hermit showed him, the steps being more like an instinct than something he'd just glanced at.
Gradually, the death energies started gathering up until they started entering his body nourishing his physique. This method surprised him as he'd never seen a method that could just absorb the energy from the atmosphere without any movement.
All this while, Tatio asked himself if this was a trap. but the possibility of it being the truth trumps every reasoning that it might be a trap because what's at stake is too precious to lose.
The stake is his mother, or perhaps his mother's soul.
If it means going to hell and back for it he would do it without questioning the motive behind it.
After all, that's the only stake that might make him betray his beliefs even if it means becoming a devil.