Sin City

Far away on the front lines of Otheni, in a vast tent, three men sat on the ground covered with thick fabric. One of them was Orkan, the head of the defense and security department, also serving as the leader of Adam's entire forces in the battlefield. The second was Gerald, the head of the medical unit. The last figure was a middle-aged man named Halford, the leader of the mage unit.

"The peaceful era is about to end; in the new era, things might not be as calm as they are now. I don't know how many people will suffer because of this change," murmured Gerald.

Raising his eyebrows, Orkan replied, "Peaceful era? The international situation might seem peaceful, but not everyone enjoys that peace."

"The leader is right, this era of peace is only enjoyed by the nobles," Halford, with his wealth of experience, agreed with Orkan's statement.

Gerald, sensing the disagreement between the two, furrowed his brow. He then asked, "Mr. Halford, Leader, it seems both of you have unique understanding and experiences regarding this. Could you share them with me?"

Halford put on a wide smile, "The leader's story is more intriguing; it would be delightful to hear it."

"Old man, your experience is equally fascinating. But, well, I'll share a bit of my life experience."

Serkanat was a kingdom with 70% of its territory covered by forests and mountains, becoming a haven for criminals, criminal organizations, wild mages, and groups of wild mages roaming around. Deep in the woods, there were many lawless towns built by these groups.

"Sin City?"

"That's how we call it."

Orkan hailed from Serkanat, born in a rural area there. His life went on normally until one day when a group of wild mages came to his village, massacring the men and then raping the women, devouring all the food stored in the village's warehouses.

At that time, Orkan managed to escape into the woods but was captured by a slave trader and sold as a slave in Sin City.

Fortunately, the person who bought him wasn't too bad. The purchaser was an assassin who used the alias Hassan. Unlike typical criminals, Hassan had principles. He wouldn't seek trouble unless provoked, and he would only kill on assassination missions.

Initially, Hassan bought Orkan to be his little assistant, helping him with various tasks, from daily life chores like cooking to mission-related needs, such as pretending to be Hassan's son.

As time passed, their relationship slowly grew. Hassan, who initially saw Orkan as a slave and an assistant, began to recognize Orkan's talent as a killer and fighter. He then taught Orkan his knowledge as an assassin and trained him in the art of killing.

Orkan, eager to change his fate, took this opportunity to learn many things from Hassan.

Eventually, when Orkan reached the age of 16, Hassan died during one of their missions. Orkan then took over as the new assassin for hire. However, now Orkan preferred to kill criminals or criminal organizations, especially those with bounties on their heads.

His reputation as an assassin started to rise. Orkan, continuously hunting down criminals and criminal organizations, was now hated in Sin City. Some people who wanted Orkan dead eventually paid a sum of money to the Wild Mage Group.

Whether by fate or coincidence, the group hired to kill Orkan turned out to be the same group of wild mages who had slaughtered Orkan's village.

However, they would never have suspected that Orkan had never forgotten his vengeance. After becoming an assassin, he gathered information about the wild mage group, including each member's mage abilities, their personalities, backgrounds, weaknesses, combat records, and more.

When the mage group wanted to hunt Orkan down, he had already set various traps and plans to seek revenge against them.

The final battle erupted; under the onslaught of the wild mages, Orkan ran into the forest, luring them into an area where he had set traps. Exploiting the darkness of the night, he attacked each mage one by one, baiting them into the traps he had laid out and breaking their unity.

His continuous actions eventually bore fruit; Orkan succeeded in slaughtering the entire wild mage group. He shattered the myth that ordinary humans couldn't defeat mages. Although some people could defeat mages, the group Orkan faced were high combat strength wild mages. The weakest mage among them had a D-class talent.

At that moment, Orkan's reputation as a mage killer spread.

This success heightened Orkan's ambition; he wanted to kill the people behind Sin City. Sin City harbored many criminals, yet neither the Mage Association nor the Serkanat government ever attempted to eradicate it.

Having gathered information, Orkan knew that a powerful mage protected Sin City, a mage so formidable that it made both the government and the association afraid to engage in combat with them.

Orkan understood that although all mages possessed powers beyond those of ordinary humans, they were still human. Sharp weapons could wound them, poison could kill them, darkness could blind them. Orkan's various experiences made him confident in killing the mage protecting Sin City.

But reality slapped Orkan; even before he could act, he was immediately hunted down by the mage's hired group. He was severely injured but luckily managed to escape by leaping from a high cliff.

"I was later rescued by a caravan owned by the finance department. I arrived here and met Master. His grand goal is now my goal too."

Gerald applauded. Orkan's story reminded him of some protagonists in books. According to the popular plot, Orkan would return to Sin City to settle his affairs.

"It's quite a rollercoaster, Leader. I didn't expect you to go through life filled with such challenges."

"There are many less fortunate people in Serkanat. Massacres in a village are not uncommon there," explained Orkan. Being a Serkanat native, he knew more vividly than others how dismal life was for villagers there.

After a while, Orkan added, "Fortunately, many people are now willing to move under Master Adam's protection."

Gerald then asked again, "Mr. Halford, what about your experience? I'd like to know about your life experience."

Halford shook his head, "Another time."

Knowing that Halford didn't want to discuss it, Gerald took the initiative to change the subject.

"By the way, their command system is very chaotic. Can the grand war proceed smoothly?"

The Rextozos family didn't want to involve themselves in commanding Otheni's forces, only allowing them to train the Otheni forces instead of leading them. Thus, during the war, Adam's and Otheni's forces would have separate commands. Additionally, there were mages from the International Mage Association also in separate command.

In the end, there were three independent forces in Otheni.

Orkan voiced his opinion, "Despite the lack of a joint command or central command, all three forces, including ours, have their own division of tasks. Our numbers aren't large, so the primary strength still lies with Otheni's forces and the mages led by the International Mage Association."