13 Victory

"Rax, you go and notify the other guards. I want all the exit closed and slaves back inside their cages."

"Yes, right away, master."

The level-16 warrior left after saying that. Following that, the innkeeper signaled the old man to come in.

On his way in, the old man took out the small sack of coins from his inner pocket. While doing so, he ended up dropping a silver coin on the floor.

He acted as if he didn't notice or care, and walked up to the table.

The old man then placed the sack on the table, creating a huge jingling sound.

As he was doing that, the level 18 guard walked inside and picked the silver coin that fell from the old man's pocket.

As this all was happening, Lucifer snuck in through the door and hid behind the curtain on the window.

There were two large windows with long curtains in the room—One behind the table and the other one on the old man's right.

"The brat betrayed me, and now there is no hope of me getting out of this city. I need your help. I beg you; please give me your aid."

He quickly opened the sack and showed the gold. His hands were shaking, which was natural in this scenario. But it looked like the innkeeper took it as a sign of fear of authority and consequences.

"I promise you that I will make it worth your time. Here, I have 200 gold coins. I will give you 200 more once I get out of the place. I have hidden it in the forest, so you can send one of your men to get it."

"Of course, of course. I will hear you. But you have to tell me what happened, old man. If you are here to play mind games with me, I will make sure to feed every bone you have to my dogs."

"Y-yeah, you remember that servant of mine, he turned out to be a traitor. He used me to reach the church, and once there, he used me as a scapegoat to rob the church with one of his high-level comrades."

"Hmm... Do you know where he is now? Some guards came to ask me about you, and it's a shame, but my information sources had no clue about what happened out there."

"I… have no idea. But before they left me, they were saying something like they were going to escape by causing fire on the stables… and I would only be extra baggage for them."

The man grabbed the sack and put it in his drawer before continuing.

"Of course, I will help you. Just by looking at you yesterday, I was certain that you lacked any and all the qualities of being a master. It's no wonder that the brat was tricking you... However, if you fail to deliver my men 200 coins, they will slit your throat, and only bring your head back."

"Ep! I promise that I won't break my words."

While the two were talking, Lucifer moved to the other curtain and took out the sharp slicing sword from his storage.

Right as he was trying to fit the sack in his drawer, Zakan pulled the sword slowly from its sheath and stabbed it right through the man's heart from behind.

The sword was so sharp that it went past through his skin and organs without much effort. And before he could scream, the old man pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and covered the old man's mouth.

Even though he couldn't scream, he was able to tab the table, which attracted the guard's attention. However, before he could figure out what just happened and come charging towards them, Lucifer opened the window behind them.

Before they jumped down, the old man grabbed the coin sack from the drawer and threw it in front of the guard. Between his master's life and the gold, his choice was obvious.

His master wasn't some sort of sage who did good deeds. Like him, his master was also a scum, and a bastard wouldn't hesitate to sell him for money one day. There was no loyalty here; everything was because of greed.

From this moment, his master's power, which was based on his wealth, could be his. He could take over the money and the slaves, and become the new ruler of the black market.

He picked up the sack and put another sword through his master, whose HP was already decreasing rapidly.

----

Once the two jumped out of the window, they hid in the roof and slowly jumped down while stepping on the first floor's window.

The front part of the town was already empty, as people had mostly evacuated to a safer location.

Lucifer stared at his hand. This was the first time he had taken a human life, and even though he felt no regrets, something inside him felt heavy.

"It's alright; you will get used to it. This is just how life is. The only way to avoid this all is to stay in your cave, being ignorant of how the world works. When you are facing it for real, you need to do what must be done."

"Yeah, old man. Let's move on. The guards may show up here any minute now."

The two smiled as they looked at each other's faces. Both knew that, after all this, they would be seen as criminals by the nation and church. They will be wanted throughout the nations, and there will be rewards on their heads.

The only way to survive from this point was to keep moving while avoiding as much attention as possible. They had to be prepared for any potential risks, and level up as fast as possible.

They snuck back to the black market, which was crowded with demi-human slaves at this point. But instead of going through the flow that was headed through the front gate, the two snuck towards the back gate.

This was because, even if the soldiers let the slaves and merchants pass, they would be thoroughly looking the two in the crowd. It wouldn't be surprising if they only let the people through only after checks.

There were only a few guards stationed at the back gate, so sneaking past them was no big deal.

The two threw the disguise that they had been wearing since the morning and rubbed off the paint on their face using the clothes. They then snuck past the patrolling guards by hiding in the alleys, but they knew that it would be impossible to hide from the ones at the gate. So, the two were planning to come up with something after ascertaining the situation.

However, when they reached the gate. It had already been breached. The door was already broken, and the soldiers were running around in panic.

The merchants and slaves who were aware of this were rushing out of the city using this exit. However, compared to the front gate, the crowd here was a lot smaller.

The front door led to the main trading route, while the back door led to the path going deeper into the forest.

Most would just turn around and walk towards the front route or circle the city to get there. While a few who were confident would choose a route through the forest.

While the soldiers were busy requesting backup, the two could easily get past the soldiers by getting mixed with the crowd of merchants and slaves. All they had to do was cover their face and lay low.

Once they reached outside, the two left the crowd and walked towards the forest where Luna was waiting for them.