Name: Nox

  Race: Human

  Rank: Iron - Level 1

  Class: N/A (Class Options Available)

  Titles: [Nascent Death God]

  Title Skills: [Death Magic Mastery]

  General Skills: [Quick Dash]

  Attributes:

  [Strength: 8]

  [Speed: 13]

  [Magic: 499]

  [Vitality: 9]

  [Dexterity: 10]

  Free Points: 3

  I made my way out of the orphanage and headed in the direction the Blood Swords went. As I did, I pulled up my Status and planned a course of action on how to deal with this gang. Right now, I had 3 Free Points I could spend to increase any of my Attributes.

  There was not much of a difference 3 Free Points could make— not when I was going to be going up against dozens of Irons, Bronzes, and Silvers, despite only being Iron. I didn’t need any additional [Magic], and I highly doubted increasing my [Strength] or [Vitality] would make a big difference at all.

  That left my [Speed] and [Dexterity]. Between the two, I stood to benefit from being more dexterous. While being faster would be beneficial too, I already had [Quick Dash] to help me escape if necessary.

  Meanwhile, raising my [Dexterity] would allow me to better cast spells— especially more discreetly. And that would be useful for the plan I was hatching.

  So I made my decision. I spent all my Free Points on my [Dexterity] Attribute before dismissing my Status.

  “Now then,” I said as I raised my head. I saw the Blood Swords in the far distance, making their way through the streets of Velmond. “Let’s see where they’re taking Hannah.”

  While Velmond was not a massive city, there was still a morning rush of people that filled its streets. So I managed to blend into the crowd, keeping out of sight from the Blood Swords as I trailed after them.

  Notably, everyone gave them a wide berth to the Blood Swords as they navigated through Velmond. Even the city guards just averted their gazes as the gang of thugs passed by. It was obvious that they were the real ones in charge around here.

  If I slaughtered them all, everyone in Velmond’s probably going to notice something happened to them, I thought as I glanced around, eyeing the onlookers staring at the Blood Swords in fear. That’s going to draw some… questions.

  And if anyone poked around enough, they might find out about me. Which would be a problem. That was why I had already accounted for that problem. Because—

  After this is all over, I’m going to take over the Blood Swords, I thought as I eyed the burly man and the red-haired woman leading the gang of thugs through Velmond. And I am going to use their resources and reach to help me get to the Holy Academy of the Church of Life.

  Because a gang like Blood Swords shouldn’t be able to act so freely without there being some bribes and corruption going on at the city level. Whether it was a connection to the local church, or the lord of the city, or both— I knew I could exploit their connections to aid me in my goal.

  ***

  The hideout of the Blood Swords wasn’t exactly a hideout. It was a large warehouse located at the edge of the city— an empty part of the city.

  Most of the houses in the area appeared to be abandoned, and there was nobody wandering the narrow streets and alleyways here.

  Because of that, there weren't as many places for me to hide here, and I quickly moved to extricate myself from the area before they even disappeared into the warehouse. I didn’t want to take any risks by sticking around for long.

  As I turned to leave, I counted the coins I had on me. “That should be enough for—”

  However, I was interrupted as a figure appeared right ahead of me towards the end of the alleyway. A tall shadow was cast over me as a gaze bore down onto me. And I blinked up at the young man who was standing there with his hands on his hips.

  “Ethen?” I blinked. “What are you doing here?”

  “I saw you sneaking away from the orphanage,” Ethen said as he marched right up to me. He grabbed me by the arm before I could get away. “I don’t know what in damnation you’re doing here, but we are going back right this instant.”

  “Wait—” I protested, but he tightly grabbed me by the forearm and tried to pull me away.

  In doing so, he accidentally knocked the bag of coins out of my hand. I winced as I watched it drop to the ground, the coins scattering everywhere with a noisy jangling.

  “Well, you just ruined it for the both of us,” I sighed as I glanced back at Ethen.

  He blinked a few times, confused at my reaction. “What do you mean?”

  And right as he asked the question, I heard the shouts erupting from behind me. Ethen’s eyes grew wide as he looked past me. I closed my eyes and placed a hand on my chest as he was distracted. I cast a simple protection spell as my body flashed with a momentary crimson light. Then I turned around and raised my hands in the air as I watched the thugs gathered outside of the warehouse charging our way.

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  “Why are the Blood Swords…?” Ethen stared at them in shock.

  And the thugs surrounded us. The burly man who seemed to be in charge of the group stepped forward as the red-haired woman with him stood back with a frown.

  “Oh, and to think you’d just show up at our doorsteps after all the hassle we went through to find you,” the burly man said with a grin. Then he gestured at his men. “Take them in, boys.”

  And the thugs moved to grab both Ethen and I. My eyes flickered as I prepared myself to cast a spell, but I didn’t do anything just yet. Not out here in broad daylight. Instead, I allowed them to take us into the warehouse as I quickly made amends to my plans.

  ***

  Ethen and I were brought into a cell where Hannah was already waiting for us. She was slightly scratched up, but otherwise, she was mostly unharmed. She ran up to us with wide eyes the moment she saw us.

  “Eli, Ethen, what are you guys doing here?” she asked as the cell door slammed shut behind us.

  Ethen hesitated, averting his gaze. He knew he had messed up— that he was the reason the both of us were now in this mess.

  “I—” he started.

  But I cut him off as I nodded reassuringly at him. “Ethen and I tried to hatch a plan to save you. Unfortunately, we both got caught.”

  It was a simple lie— one I told to absolve Ethen of his guilty conscience. Because, right now, we had more pressing matters to deal with than to blame each other.

  Ethen stared at me in surprise for a moment, before Hannah spoke up as she looked at him.

  “Did you two really try to do that for me?” she asked with round eyes.

  “I… yeah,” Ethen said after a second’s pause, shifting his feet uncomfortably.

  “But you shouldn’t have!” Hannah said, shaking her head. “Now we’re all in this mess together.”

  She began to sniffle as she lowered her head. But I stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. Looking up at me, she blinked a few times.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll help get you out of this mess. I promise.”

  Hannah wiped a tear from her face, before eyeing me quizzically. “What do you mean…?”

  But I drew away from her and walked up to the metal door locking us in. I stood on my tiptoes and peeked in through the thin horizontal hole at the center of the doorway. I could barely see the other side.

  It was a large room with boxes and crates stacked to the side. There were quite a fair few thugs gathered in the room, but I ignored them, focusing on the burly man and the red-haired woman locked in a quiet discussion towards the exit.

  “Hey, you—” I called out to them as I banged on the door.

  The two of them glanced up towards the cell with frowns on their faces. Hannah and Ethen exchanged a glance.

  “What are you doing, Eli?” Ethen asked as he eyed me from behind.

  But I ignored him, shouting loudly through the metal door. “It’s me you guys wanted, right? Well, you have me! So let my friends go!”

  Through the slit in the door, I watched as the thugs exchanged confused faces. The red-haired woman folded her arms as she looked towards the burly man.

  “The kid is right, Justin. We should let the other two go.”

  “That’s not for us to decide,” the burly man— Justin— harrumphed. “We’ll wait for the boss to get back.”

  “We don’t know when my brother’s going to be back— he’s been gone for almost twelve hours now. The last time he disappeared like this, he was gone for almost three days.” The red-haired woman began to protest.

  But Justin snorted as he turned away from her. “You’ve been pushing your luck too far lately, Nicky.”

  He started for the exit, before glancing back at her with a dangerous glare one last time.

  “Just because you’re the boss’s sister, doesn’t mean you can get away with doing whatever you want. Or do you think your brother isn’t starting to get tired of your crap too?”

  And the red-haired woman— Nicky— pursed her lips at that. She looked like she wanted to retort. But she bit it back, remaining silent instead.

  Muttering something under his breath, Justin stepped out of the exit, leaving the room. And Nicky could only watch him go.

  As did I.

  Well, there goes that plan, I thought as I stepped back from the cell door. I looked towards Ethen and Hannah who wore uncertain looks on their faces. If this keeps up, I may have no choice but to reveal my secret to them.

  I didn’t want to do that. I wasn’t sure if I could even trust them. And if I couldn’t trust them, I might have to kill them too. I just hoped that that wouldn’t have to come to pass, since I actually quite liked them.

  I sighed as I walked up to them, before plopping myself on the ground.

  “What do we do now?” Ethen asked as he looked towards me for some sort of plan.

  And I just shrugged. “I guess we wait for their boss to return.”

  After all, that was all I could do for now. Because even if I wanted to slaughter the Blood Swords now, their leader would still be out there somewhere, and I would still have to deal with that afterwards. It would be far more efficient for me to simply deal with them all at once.

  And that was why I waited as I just stared out through the small barred window in the corner of the room, showing the sky outside.

  ***

  Hour passed, and Hannah fell asleep as Ethen and I remained awake, waiting for anything to happen. But we got no news about the boss of the Blood Swords returning. Not until night finally came.

  I perked up, hearing the dangling of keys, before the metal door to the cell swung open. I rose to my feet, ready for anything as Ethen moved protectively over Hannah. I thought it would be Justin and a bunch of other thugs coming to take us away.

  However, it was actually Nicky— the red-haired woman.

  She wore an uncertain expression on her face as she stepped forward, nodding at the three of us.

  “My brother… the boss is back,” she said as she closed her eyes. “And he wants to see all three of you.”

  “All three of us?” I raised a brow curiously at that.

  And Nicky nodded. “Yes. I don’t know why. But that’s what he wants. I—”

  She hesitated as she swept her gaze over us. Ethen had just woken up Hannah. The little girl was looking around in a tired daze.

  “Come on, let’s get going,” Nicky said as she gestured for us to follow.

  I just nodded and ushered myself past her. Behind me, Ethen helped Hannah up from the ground and trailed after me.

  “What’s going on?” Hannah asked as she rubbed her eyes.

  “I don’t know,” Ethen replied, taking her by the arm. “But just stick with me. I’ll protect you.”

  I walked alongside Nicky as she led the way, bringing us through the dark hallways of the warehouse. For whatever reason, the warehouse was much emptier than it was when we first arrived. Previously, there had been thugs mulling about in every room and corridor. However, I hadn’t seen another soul so far.

  Nicky said nothing until we reached a large double doorway with its doors sealed shut. I could sense magic emanating from the doorway— like it was enchanted to be sealed shut once the spell was activated.

  However, Nicky didn’t seem to notice it as she placed her hands on the door handle. But she paused, not pushing it open just yet.

  Glancing back at me, she took in a deep breath. “Life be damned— I don’t know what my brother is planning to do. But—”

  She hesitated. Her eyes fluttered shut as she considered her next words. And then she sighed.

  “I’ll just try my best to talk with him, even if I can't promise anything.”

  “I see.” I nodded in response. I saw the frustrated face she wore as she mustered up the strength to push the door open. And then I spoke out before she pushed. “Your name was Nicky, right?”

  Blinking, she looked back at me, before answering, “Yes, yes it is. Why?”

  And I just waved a hand dismissively as I chuckled. “Nothing. I just think you’re a good person, Nicky. That’s all.”

  “...right.” Nicky shook her head, before pushing the door open.

  She stepped into the room, and I followed after her a moment later.