A dark room in the elven kingdom.

  tap, tap, knock knock tap! A series of taps and knocks were made against the side of a wooden door.

  A small slit was opened as the mouth of an elf appeared as a question emerged.

  "What kind of coffee do you want?"

  "sugar" came the response.

  "With spice." the mouth on the other side continued, causing a sigh to emerge from the elf standing outside, before the elf finished the code.

  "and everything nice."

  A moment of silence went by before the door was opened after a series of locks and magic circles were dismantled, as the door opened, letting the elf in.

  Were he here to see the elf, he would be able to quickly identify him as the S-rank mage who had attacked him that day.

  "Do you have to use such a ridiculous passcode?" he complained.

  The contact agent shrugged. "It's ridiculous to avoid attention. I've been using a similar code for the coffee and woman appreciation club we run here, the only difference being "and spice". We've had 45 infiltrators since, but they've been successfully tricked because of my efforts." He said plainly, uninterested in the embarrassing words spoken.

  "Whatever. Set up the communication circle. I need to speak with the high priest." he said, ultimately choosing to ignore the weirdness, but making a note to report it to the higher ups.

  The table, which had been a simple wooden table earlier, changed with the push of a button, the center of it flipping open to reveal a magic circle.

  Upon activating it, a voice came through.

  You failed. The voice got to the point and the mage apologized, but the elven noble on the other side dismissed the apologies.

  It's not your fault anyway. I hear two servants of the gods appeared. What I want to know is why.

  Hearing this, the mage reported what he witnessed with a grim look on his face.

  "Unfortunately, I fear that this mission has gotten harder than I expected. These servants do not seem to have appeared by chance, but to defend certain individuals. In particular, the servants of Anubis arose to protect a turtle that was seen a week prior traveling with the target.

  We can only speculate, but based off what I saw, I'm inclined to believe that they were sent to protect it."

  Confusion appeared in the older elf's voice. A saint has appeared?

  "Doubtful sir. When saints appear, they take on missions given to them by the Gods in often public acts to garner faith for their Gods. Anubis has rarely ever been seen choosing saints.

  The temple of Anubis hasn't made any major movements recently either.

  If the Gods wanted to take action against the elven kingdom, I doubt they'd send out a saint. They are after all, still worried about the false goddess." He said it rudely, plainly ignoring the goddess that Anubis had spoken in fear of.

  Are you suggesting then that he's a chosen of the Gods? Gods only ever elect one of those once a century. And to be a turtle, which shares nothing with the concept of death... The voice spoke with disbelief, finding the concept ridiculous.

  The mage couldn't help but sigh. "However ridiculous this is, the truth is before our eyes. The gods are likely to take action again."

  Do you think we should withdraw for now? The voice on the other side spoke with uncertainty, and the mage shook his head.

  "We've already set our plans in motion. Another high elf would throw a wrench into our plans. We don't know what the purpose of Anubis is at this moment. There's a chance that even if we choose to halt our attempts on the target that the gods will persist their attacks on us. They may even be collaborating with the false goddess.

  I believe it's better we strike again and this time aim to take out the favored of the Gods, to warn them. Killing the high elf girl should still be a priority, but frankly, she takes a backseat now. Once we take out the favored of the gods, the threat of demigods coming to their aid disappears, and they'll be less of a threat."

  ...There'll be no hiding this from the other families once we bring out that kind of power.

  "They're already bound to notice with the commotion of two demigod level beings fighting an S-rank. We may as well take advantage and act immediately before they can react."

  What do you think your lordship?

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  A silence ensued, before a tired female voice spoke.

  Send in the Terminus squad

  Crack!

  The sound of metal piercing wood echoed through the courtyard as the axe split wood.

  Despite his old age, the man showed no signs of stopping as he continued to chop wood.

  In an almost rhythmic way, the chopping of wood had a mysterious nature to it as the old eastern man continued to swing his axe.

  "No matter how many times I see it, it always amazes me. It should be mundane, yet I can't tear my eyes away from it. " one servant whispered, as the maid next to him nodded. "I don't know how he does it. That's C-rank wood yet he's splitting it like butter!" she chittered.

  A passing maid leaned in as she added into the whispering. "I heard he's a special guest of the previous marquis of Gamoceras. And that he was introduced by the temple of Jorvus." Hearing this, the other two servants gasped at this tidbit.

  "If he was a guest of the last marquis, then no wonder he was special. " Exclaimed the first servant, only to be elbowed by the first maid.

  "That's what you're focused on? He was sent by THAT temple! That order is always up to something" she exclaimed quietly, only to get smacked over the head by the second one. "What was that for!"

  "Are you stupid! How dare you say that about the followers of lord Jorvus!" she scolded, looking around nervously." The first maid snorted, and shot back with another snide comment.

  The group quickly devolved into a silly squabble.

  The old man had ignored the three, easily able to sense the troublemakers in the back. He'd already put up with his three sons squabbling for thousands of years.

  what's three more brats throwing a fit.

  Still, it was a bit nostalgic. He hadn't seen the three of them ever since the qing dynasty started hunting down gods.

  Despite fighting so often, for once the stubborn fools had decided to stand together and resist the current dynasty.

  While being wrapped up in old memories, he stopped for a moment as he felt something.

  A feeling. For the average man, it was merely a twitch, but for people of his level, it was a heads up, that someone he knew was coming back.

  Taking out a turtle shell, he began to deduce the secrets of Heaven, and as he saw who was returning, he couldn't help but laugh.

  "I had thought that when he died that his connection with the opportunity hidden in this city had disappeared, but it's only become stronger! Ha ha ha! So this is the power of someone who's mastered the law of fate! Not even death can change the outcome. Or perhaps she had predicted this outcome millions of years ago." he pondered, before looking at the magpie hanging in a cage nearby, a bell wrapped around its neck.

  The little magpie was a inconspicuous critter, with its only real defining features being a single yellow feather atop its head, and a small, withered third leg hanging between the two, looking more like a deformity than anything else.

  "Looks like your opportunity still exists little one." he said, teasing the little bird, much to its dissatisfaction as it beat its wings in righteous rage.

  It was a magpie though, so its rage amounted to nothing.

  The old man laughed at the birds hopeless struggle before returning to his chopping, but this time with great vigor as he began to stretch.

  "If he's coming back, I better start putting my back into it. I won't need nine strikes this time, but

  In a tavern nearby the estate

  Like all taverns, at night it was a lively establishment, as people from all parts of society came to drink and relieve their stress.

  Unfortunate accountants who would not escape even in death, likely to end up following a minor god on the path of paperwork,

  sailors who had to face large serpents and terrors of the deep beyond the wildest of thoughts,

  cultists lurking yet desperately in need of a drink until the day their great lord descended upon this world,

  catsiths in desperate need of new employers

  and many tired adventurer a plenty.

  Recently, a new rumor had begun to spread amongst the gossipping sailors, for who loves to spread rumors more than a sailor?

  Few know melons better than sailors do, few with more outrageous imaginations in the land.

  "A serpent controlling a crocodile?"

  "Yeah, I saw it! I giant crocodile, twice the size of our ship, emerged from the depths and swallowed an approaching pirate ship! One bite!" one sailor said, making great motions with his hands, desperately trying to mimic the terrifying sight he'd witnessed that day.

  The other sailor rolled his eyes. "Musky, your ship is the size of a small dragon turtle.A croc twice the size of that? I think I gotta take that drink from you." he said, as the sailor went to grab the drink

  "No-no-no I sslaw iiitth" the man said as his voice slurred, merely affirming his friends suspicions.

  He managed to yank the drink from his friends hand, sighing. "I mean, a snake controlling a crocodile? You may as well have told me that it was a servant of lord Sobek's. I'd have believed that." he sighed.

  This conversation, among many similar discussions entered the ears of a pair of women quietly observing from a corner table.

  "You hear that milady? All the sailors around here think we're the result of drunken stupor." a lady commented humorously. Though she wore a cloak to hide her presence, the hints of a maids outfit could be seen.

  The other, who had a more graceful, and seductive atmosphere around her spoke.

  "That's the point. We're being treated as hearsay currently. Better a myth than a dangerous reality. Even if we're helpful, a monster who eats boats attracts too much attention. " Maria responded, before swigging a beer. Contrary to her father's complaints, she found beers quite pleasant.

  This was a soda float though. Even as a serpent, she still enjoyed sweet things Even better when they were spoonfed to her by Earl.

  "I could stop eating boats. They make me feel so bloated." the maid complained, rubbing her irritated stomach, still full of the last batch of pirate boats.

  "That's fine." the lady agreed a lot faster than the former maid thought. "Really? No more boats?" Nessie said hopefully.

  "Yup My skill is telling me that Earl is starting to approach his estate. Knowing him, he wants to make sure the estate is stable before he finally chooses to sever all ties with his last life. As responsible as usual." she said wistfully.

  "What about you milady? Surely he's going to go see you as well?" the maid asked and the lady shook her head. "He probably already knows about what I did. He is the favored of Anubis. Why would he hide it?"

  Indeed, for the most part, Anubis did not try to hide it. Prolonging the news on the other hand... yes he did.

  "You will have to speed up clearing those pirates out though. I want to make sure that his trip through the sea will be a clear one. "Maria said, with a look of determination.

  Nessie groaned hopelessly, yet she would never disobey her ladyship. SHe would have to down a few more.

  For the next month or two, the pirates suffered an unprecedented attack that could not escape the attention of the higher beings.

  Of course, with the kind reminder of Sobek and Anubis, not even the God of pirates dared to say anything, being forced to suffer in silence.

  The god of pirates dare not offend the god of the sea, nor a god of commerce.

  It was simply bad business.