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Enigmatic Stranger

While the two stood there, in the cover of the shrubbery and trees, Marcus contemplated killing the individual in front him, but immediately dismissed the idea.

If someone like the man in front of him could sneak up on him without he or his master being alerted, then they weren't someone the likes of Marcus could handle.

What Marcus didn't know though was that his master was already aware of the stranger standing near Marcus and simply didn't inform him.

Why he did this was unknown and only the god himself knew the answer.

Just as Marcus was about to escape, the stranger spoke in a rugged and calm voice.

"Smart choice. Had you tried to attack me, I'd have ended your life then and there."

Marcus froze for a moment at the man's words. He couldn't explain it, but for a moment, he felt as though his life had become forfeit and drew the conclusion that the stranger standing before him was clearly the cause of him feeling this way.

A shiver ran down Marcus's spine as he felt even more motivated to escape from this man as quickly as possible, but the man's next words halted this train of thought.

"You wish to enter correct," the man spoke as he nudged his head towards the gate Marcus had been trying to devise a way to enter.

"Follow me."

For a second, Marcus was stunned, but this didn't last long before suspicion overtook his confused state.

"Heh... if I had ill intentions for you, I'd have already killed you."

'Urgh... again,' Marcus winced as he felt the same familiar aura of death being emitted from the stranger in front of him.

The stranger didn't wait to see if Marcus was following as he exited the bush and headed towards the gate.

Marcus stood there for a moment, puzzled at the turn of events as he stared at the man with an empty expression. He wasn't sure what this man was planning or why he wanted to help him, but it didn't matter.

As a result, it only took a moment for Marcus to make a choice, a choice of which was all to easy to make.

He turned around and headed back into the forest without bothering to look behind him.

Obviously he wasn't going to follow some mysterious individual he'd just met into a place he had no idea how it operated. Such a thing was the epitome of foolishness, but before he even got the chance to move, he was tripped up by something.

Marcus quickly reoriented himself before he could fall, and turned around to see what it was that had tripped him, and what he saw left him stunned.

There, hidden behind the bushes, was a tiny dark tendril.

"A shadow?!"

Marcus's eyes couldn't be seen, but he was clearly surprised at what he saw, as his eyes became as wide as saucers, and he quickly looked in the direction the man had gone.

The stranger stopped walking for a moment and turned to look at the clearly shocked boy behind him. It was almost like he'd anticipated this sequence of events as he stared back at Marcus.

Eventually, the stranger smirked at him before turning around to head towards the gate. At that exact moment, Nekros's voice sounded in Marcus's mind.

"Follow him."

Marcus was surprised by this and wanted to question his master, but before he could, the stranger had skipped past the possession of people lined up to enter the gate and was now conversing with the guards.

His master's presence had also vanished, and he was left standing utterly dumbfounded at the turn of events.

'Hah. Just Perfect. What could go wrong?'

Marcus didn't get time to reevaluate his situation as he hurriedly jogged towards the stranger that was now entering the gates.

As Marcus passed by the line of people waiting to enter the gate, a few lobbed curses at him for skipping the line.

"Hey kid! Get your ass to the back and wait like the rest of us!"

"Who does he think he is?!"

"Oi look! It's one of 'them'."

"Ptui! Filthy omen's probably with that other bastard that skipped a while ago. Why'd the guards let him-"

Before the man could finish speaking he got smacked in the back of the head by another man behind him.

"Hey why'd ya'-"

"Shutup," the man spoke angrily while smacking the man in the back of the head again.

"You idiot! Ya know who that is?!"

The other man only angrily rubbed the back of his head as he looked at the one responsible for hitting him, and had half a mind to punch the fool behind him, but he was curious as to how the other stranger entered without having to wait.

"That man's a patriarch of one of dem' families," one of the men spoke in a serious tone.

Immediately after he'd said this, the man who'd been slapped across the back of the head had his expression turn pale.

He clearly wasn't from the kingdom and as such didn't know how things operated here, but the one thing he'd heard about were the six noble families of Uceris.

He'd have to be an idiot to offend any of those people, and judging by the stranger's earlier appearance, he'd already guessed which family the stranger belonged to.

"The Styx family," another young woman spoke in a cold tone from behind the two men that were previously speaking.

The two men turned around to see two extraordinarily beautiful women with white hair standing behind them.

If the man from earlier had a pale face before, now his expression was almost comical with the amount of fear that was now present on his face as he gazed at the two gorgeous women in front of him.

He and the man who'd slapped him earlier hurriedly removed themselves from the two women's path to make way, along with everyone else who'd been standing in line.

Neither of the two women spoke another word as they headed in the same direction Marcus and the stranger were now going.

All of the people in the crowd turned to see where it was the two women were now headed, and once they saw where the duo was going, the surrounding atmosphere grew tense.

Every step the beautiful duo took was akin to a sound of a church bell going off. It made them feel tense and anxious for what was to come.

It was like the calm before the storm and the crowd was fearful enough not to interfere while also curious enough to wait and watch to see what would happen.

Meanwhile, Marcus was unaware to what was happening behind him as he finally made it to the stranger and two guards that were standing in front of the gate.

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