I hadn’t known what [Aura Of Light] did until I casted the Skill. But I had been able to make a few guesses. After all, I had killed enough [Healers] in my past life to be able to make a few logical inferences based on the name alone.

  And I was right in my prediction. It was an area of effect healing spell— a domain of healing, so to speak.

  Even with a maximum output use of the Skill, it was far less effective than [Healing Touch]. However, it also had other benefits, beyond just being able to heal multiple people at the same time.

  [Healing Touch] was only capable of healing wounds inflicted onto the body. But it seemed [Aura Of Light] was capable of curing negative ailments like poison and illnesses on top of healing wounds.

  Which proved useful right now, especially when I was trying to make a statement. And a statement I made.

  A crowd had gathered around me, gaping at me as they pointed and whispered. Those who had been healed by my magic were talking excitedly about how I was their savior, while those who had witnessed what I did wondered aloud about who I was. The mother whose child I saved just tightly hugged onto her son as she repeated herself, thanking me again and again.

  The [Nun] that had tried to chase me off earlier stared at me with her eyes bulging from their sockets. She stepped forward as she pointed at me.

  “Y-you…” she started.

  But I drew back as I turned to Nicky who was off to the side.

  “Let’s get going,” I said simply.

  The redhead blinked a few times, taken aback. But before we could leave, the [Nun] called out to me and grabbed me by the arm. I glanced at her with a raised brow.

  “You’re a [Healer], aren’t you?” she babbled loudly for everyone to hear. Everyone’s gaze snapped her way the moment they heard that Class. “That was no ordinary healing magic— even Reverend Donovan isn’t capable of casting such a spell. That means you have to be a [Healer]!”

  She practically shouted as she spoke, drawing even more attention towards me than the crowd that had already been gathered. I just craned my neck back to face her as she let go of my arm. She met my gaze for a long moment, and a smile slipped onto my face.

  And I replied casually, “Yes I am.”

  Then I strode off as she tried to stop me. “Wait—”

  But this time, I brushed her off. Even as she tried to grab me by the arm again, I just slipped away.

  And when I walked past Nicky, I nodded at her to follow me. She took a moment to process what I meant, before she quickly hurried after me.

  ***

  I made my way back to the base of the Blood Swords with Nicky, leaving behind the main square of Velmond far behind me. More than a handful of people tried to give chase to me— ask me questions. But I ignored them. And with Nicky’s help, we managed to escape from their sight, eventually being left alone.

  As we headed our way back, I asked Nicky a few more questions that I had in mind. Specifically, about the Blood Swords.

  “Tell me, other than yourself, are there any other members of the Blood Swords who remain?”

  It was a simple question. I could already guess what was the answer.

  “No,” she said as she shook her head. “I’m the only current member left.”

  I tapped a finger on my chin as we made our way through the empty alleyways at the edge of the city. “That’s surprising. You’d think that for such an influential gang, you’d have more members in a city of this size.”

  “A few of our older members left when our old boss passed away,” Nicky explained as we arrived back at the warehouse. She unlocked the front door and pushed it open, letting me enter first. “And many more left when my brother took charge and began leading the Blood Swords in a direction they disagreed with. Since then, we had mostly recruited former criminals and thugs.”

  “Do you think you’d be able to get them back working for us?” I asked as I strode through the dark corridor of the warehouse. The door swung shut behind us as Nicky trailed after me.

  Nicky chewed her lower lips. “I think it should be possible, but it would take a bit of convincing. The Blood Swords wasn’t always a violent criminal gang. We used to be a militia that protected the city. But with our blemished reputation…”

  “Let them know that we’re returning back to our roots,” I said as I grinned back at her. “We’ll make money the right way— helping people for coin.”

  “I see…” Nicky nodded hesitantly, before she scratched the back of her head. “I’m sorry if I’m overstepping, but what is your goal here? Why are you doing all… this?”

  “My goal?” I quirked a brow when I heard that. “I mean, I have a few goals. But my goal with this specifically is, well, money.”

  “Money?” Nicky stared at me in shock when I said that.

  I nodded back at her. “Yes. I mean, if I’m going to be taking over a gang, I might as well make money from it too, right?”

  “I guess that makes sense. But I just…” she trailed off.

  “Yes?” I eyed her curiously.

  “I don’t know. I just thought you had more sinister plans in mind when you decided to take over the Blood Swords.” Nicky answered after a moment’s hesitation as she averted her gaze.

  I scoffed at her as I crossed my arms. “And were you really going to help me carry out these ‘evil’ plans when you weren’t willing to let a few children die?”

  Nicky said nothing. But both of us knew her answer that question. I just smirked.

  “Exactly. If I wanted to do something bad, I’d have gotten your brother to help me out. But I don’t.” I continued walking down the hallway as she stared at my back. “So don’t stress about it. I’m not going to ask you to do anything evil for me, alright?”

  There was a moment of hesitation where Nicky said nothing. Then she nodded as she hurried after me.

  “G-got it, boss.”

  I paused when I heard that. “Oh, so you finally settled on calling me boss?”

  I eyed her with a grin. She shuffled her feet uncomfortably as she came to a halt next to me.

  “I, uh, feel like it would be weird to call you by your name. So…”

  “Understandable.”

  Nicky led me to a storage room which was where the Blood Swords kept their weapons and gold. There were a few artifacts and potions lying about too— but it was nothing special. Even though I no longer had an [Appraisal] Skill, I could tell that the rarest artifact in the room was only F-grade at best.

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  There were also a few crates and boxes of illicit substances. Some kind of popular drug that was making the rounds right now— apparently, it originated from the elven kingdom of Dryz. According to Nicky, her brother had only recently just ordered this shipment, planning to get into the business of selling drugs to grow the wealth of the Blood Swords.

  But I knew just how tough the Sanctus Empire cracked down on drugs and other illicit substances. And I didn’t plan on drawing their ire just for some extra money.

  So I disposed of it the same way I had disposed of the corpses the other day— a single flick of the wrist and some [Infernal Destruction], then it was all gone.

  Other than that, all I did was do some basic accounting like counting out how much coin the Blood Swords had in their inventory.

  “One-thousand-three-hundred-and-fifty-five gold coins, huh?” I whistled. “That’s more than I thought it would be.”

  “It would be more,” Nicky said as she poured the coins back into the sacks carrying them. “It’s decades worth of saving. However, my brother was obsessed with expanding the Blood Swords, so he spent a lot of our coin on pointless endeavors.”

  “I see…”

  I knew that a hundred copper coins was worth a single silver coin, and ten silver coins was worth a single gold coin. But other than that, I wasn’t really in-touch with the actual value of a hundred gold coins.

  I just knew that it was enough for me to start out with for now.

  “Alright, now that that’s all resolved,” I said as I clapped my hands together. I turned to Nicky as I held a hand out expectantly. “Where’s my weapon?”

  “The Artifact of Death?” Nicky blinked, before reaching for a satchel she carried at her side. She produced the Lesser Death Dagger and handed it over to me. “I have it right here.”

  “Thanks. And my mask?”

  Nicky apprehensively handed the skull-like mask over as well. I smiled as I adjusted it over my face, before I looked towards her.

  “By the way, what do you know about the Artifacts of Death?” I asked, peering curiously at the redhead. “Or the Avatars of Death— do you know anything about them?”

  She shrugged back at me in response, not really meeting my gaze. “I just know that they’ve been appearing ever since Aria the Lady of Light slew the previous Death God. I thought you’d know more about it than me, since it’s related to you.”

  “Shame. I’m sure I can learn more about it from the temple. For now—”

  I started past her as she watched me go.

  “Where are you going?” Nicky eyed me quizzically as I glanced back at her.

  “Oh, I’m just going to pay the Lord of Velmond a little visit…”

  ***

  His name was Alistair Velmond. He had ruled over the city of Velmond for nearly twenty years now. Even though he was a lord, his family was poor. At least, relative to other noble families within the Sanctus Empire.

  And that was because Velmond was located in a rural part of the country. They weren’t farmers, nor were they miners. They relied solely on trade. And unfortunately, this trade route was no longer as popular as it used to be.

  A long time ago— back when his great grandfather had been the Lord of Velmond— the dwarfs of the Mykas Mountains would pass through Velmond to sell their wares in the Sanctus Empire. Unfortunately, during the terror of Val the Death God, the Mykas Mountains were destroyed.

  So, Velmond fell into disrepair, compared to the flourishing city it had been many decades ago. And Alistair had been forced to accept that he was never going to enjoy the riches and luxuries many of the other noble families of the Sanctus Empire often indulged in.

  At least, that was until recently. About ten years or so ago, a stranger had showed up at his doorstep, offering him a simple deal.

  Each year, Alistair would be given a thousand gold coins in exchange for… allocating his funds away from the city’s temple.

  The deal had made no sense to Alistair. What exactly would the stranger have to gain? However, it was not like Velmond’s temple was even considered an asset by the Church of Life either. Nobody would care if the city’s subsidies of the temple stopped, right?

  So Alistair accepted this offering, and did what he had been told to do. He slowly began to pool funds away from the temple, happily accepting the gold that was given to him.

  And with it, he decided to finally live the life he deserved— the life of an actual noble.

  He hired dozens of maids and bodyguards when he could previously only afford a handful of them, whilst splurging on the most delicious of foods and wine, ordered from across the nation. He hosted parties where he previously could afford nothing of the sort. And finally, he was happy.

  He couldn’t care to even ask for more.

  That was, until about a year or so ago, when the Blood Swords came under new management. Previously, it was understood that Alistair would overlook the militia-like activities of the Blood Swords in exchange for their protection of the city from threats like monster attacks. This was an agreement that came into existence under Alistair’s father, Jalen Velmond.

  However, with the rise of Nicholas the Bloodied Blade , things had changed.

  He approached Alistair with an enticing new agreement: that the Blood Swords would be given free rein over the city of Velmond— beyond simply militia-like activities— in exchange for a portion of their profits each month.

  And Alistair realized that he could always have more. This was too much coin to be passed up.

  So the Lord of Velmond greedily accepted this offer, ignoring the increasingly violent extortions that the Blood Swords were carrying out within his city. After all, it was not like anyone was going to do anything about it, right?

  That was why, as Alistair’s usual day of partying came to an end, he could sleep soundly underneath his purple silk sheets like he always did. He sighed delightfully as his head hit the pillow, his eyelids already growing heavy.

  And right as he was about to doze off, a voice piped up, snapping him awake.

  “You’re really as sad and pathetic of a man as I heard you were, huh?”

  Alistair immediately sat up in his bed as he blinked a few times. In his dimly-lit room, he saw his curtains blowing with the wind as a window was left open. And on the foot of his bed, a small cloaked figure sat, inspecting a black blade.

  “Guards—” the Lord of Velmond opened his mouth.

  And froze when the figure threw the dagger out, piercing the pillow right next to his head. The cloaked figure rose and wagged a finger dangerously at the fat man.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the cloaked figure said in a distorted, almost feminine voice. “All it would take is a flick of my finger, and you’d be dead. Your guards won’t even hear you scream.”

  A cold drop of sweat slid down Alistair’s neck as he panted, staring at the cloaked figure with round eyes. Even though it was evident that the figure was a kid— a teenager at the oldest— they were definitely capable of killing the Lord of Velmond in an instant. So he had to play it cool for now.

  “W-who are you?” he mustered up.

  “Me?” the cloaked figure chuckled. “I’m the leader of the Blood Swords.”

  “What?” Alistair sputtered when he heard that, losing his cool. “That’s ridiculous— you’re not Nicholas! You’re just some kid!”

  “Am I?” the cloaked figure said and lifted the hood. Underneath, a familiar mask was unveiled— a visage of a skull that glared right into the soul of the fat man.

  “Wait, that’s—” the Lord of Velmond paled.

  And the cloaked figure continued, “Let’s just say Nicholas was… let go from his job.”

  It didn’t make any sense to Alistair. That mask belonged to Nicholas the Bloodied Blade— that was what he was known for, beyond his brutal battle style which often left his enemies dismembered and in a pool of blood.

  And Nicholas was a Gold Rank.

  There weren’t very many Gold Ranks around in Velmond— and he was supposed to be the strongest of them all. So there was no way this kid could’ve just stolen the mask. Which only meant…

  “Life be damned, you’re being serious…” Alistair breathed as he stared up at the cloaked figure.

  “Of course I am,” the cloaked figure continued, raising an arm. And the black dagger shot back into the palm of their hand. “And from now on, things are going to be different.”.

  “W-what do you mean by that?” the Lord of Velmond asked in a trembling voice.

  The new leader of the Blood Swords just laughed and hopped off the bed. “For starters, you’re going to start allocating five percent of all your income sources to funding the local temple.”

  “Five percent? That’s…” Alistair hesitated. That was more than he had been giving the temple even before the deal he struck ten years ago with that stranger. However, that wasn’t even what was important. “But I can’t do that!”

  Alistair protested desperately. He didn’t even question why the cloaked figure wanted this— all he thought about was his loss of income if he broke his deal with that stranger.

  But the cloaked figure came to a halt before the open window and glanced back at the Lord of Velmond. “Oh, you can. Otherwise…”

  The new leader of the Blood Swords simply brought their dagger up to his neck, using the black blade to draw a line across their head. Alistair gulped as his heart continued to hammer in his chest.

  “There will be a new Lord of Velmond. And this time, they will be one who actually listens. Is that understood?”

  With that, the cloaked figure stepped out of the window, leaving Alistair staring out into the night sky in shock. And he was left with a decision— money, or his life.

  The answer, even for a greedy man like Alistair, was quite obvious.