4 Chapter IV - The Eye of a God

In the capital of the Baal Shur Empire, a large, black castle stood tall amongst the other lavishly designed buildings in the residential area of the nobles. It seemed out of place amidst the other brightly coloured and stunning structures around it– yet it was the most striking and beautiful.

This black castle was known as Nightbane, and was the castle of the Golden Tyrant; the ruler of the Baal Shur Empire.

Within Nightbane was a tall, lean man outfitted from head to toe in dark gold armour. Even though he wasn't standing, his height was still quite obvious, being at a little over six and half feet tall.

He sat casually on a black throne made from ebony, carved to look like the faces of countless tormented souls. If a historian, or anyone who was well-versed in the affairs of the world were there, they would instantly recognise this throne as the 'Throne of Agony' or the 'Wailing Throne'. This throne was one of the few Relics that were still known to the world, and it being in this man's possession showed how powerful he was.

A thick, red cape with black fur lining sat comfortably on the man's shoulders and flowed smoothly to his ankles. Even as he sat, he exuded an air of dominance and sheer badass-ery.

Obviously, this man was none other than the Golden Tyrant himself.

Kneeling before him, was a young lady with long white hair which extended to her knees. Her face was hidden by a white mask made with technology far ahead of the other Empires', which possessed a number of sophisticated features. The rest of her figure was unseen, as she donned a distinctive white, hooded, ankle-length cloak fastened with three red buttons on the front.

"Report," The Golden Tyrant said lazily in a deep baritone voice that would send waves of pleasure down anyone's spine. However, the woman kneeling before him didn't even react– or rather, she had been trained not to react.

"My Lord, the army we had sent out has been defeated by the army of the Free Empire. However, after we didn't hear from the spies situated within the enemy's camp, we approached stealthily and found all the Free Empire's forces dead– Even the renowned Captain Eide," The woman reported briefly. The sunlight streaming into the castle reflected off the flat surface of her white mask. Even without eye holes, she could still see and monitor her surroundings even better than if she did, all because of the Baal Shur Empire's technological advancements; all because of this man dressed in this ridiculous gold armour.

The Golden Tyrant hummed lightly as he pondered. "Very well. I wonder who could have done this? Well, it's not like we weren't going to do that anyway; we were just testing our new weapons. By the way, how did that go?"

"The 'dark rifles' designed by Your Highness functioned adequately. However, the slaves we sent as soldiers were malnourished and could not take the recoil of the weapons," The woman said, her voice distorted to the point of being unrecognisable– a feature of her mask.

"The 'C-10' bombs created by Your Highness were the main reason the slaves even managed to stand a chance against Duke Barry's army. The bombs stripped everyone within its range of their flesh, leaving them as dry skeletons,"

The Tyrant nodded satisfactorily and tapped his armoured fingers against the armrest of his throne while humming a foreign song.

"Naara," He finally spoke after a while. A bright red light shone through the eye-slits on his helmet from one of his eyes, giving him the appearance of an overlord. His next words were spoken with a level of dominance only a god can achieve. "Go. Find who this mysterious person is and bring them to me."

"Dead or alive,"

A second later, his dominating aura disappeared and he returned to being a lazy ruler relaxing in his castle. "Preferably alive, though."

"Yes, Your Highness,"

*****

Nexus City was a pretty large city under the Free Empire. It was a prosperous town– largely due to the Lushwood Forest which was a stone's throw away from the town. Although being at such a close proximity to a forest inhabited by powerful, mysterious beasts was unfavourable, Nexus City had been prospering because this danger attracted lots of adventurers, who helped to improve and advance the town.

Due to its prosperity,  Nexus City was home to a lot of popular stores and businesses.

'Midas' Touch' was one of such stores. It was run by a blind man named Eric Midas, who was a tailor. Although he was blind, Eric's tailoring skills were beyond human, and it was rumoured that his father was the King's personal tailor.

Eric himself was a young man barely above the age of twenty two. He had fallen out with his father and left the capital city to make a name for himself in Nexus City.

His store Midas' Touch was a small store in the middle-class portion of the town. His customers usually came in and placed an order, so he didn't really need a large store. In fact, there were just about a dozen dressed and outfits on display in his store, causing it to look a little plain.

The back of the building, however, was Eric's workspace where he had his sewing equipment and projects. Because he had nothing better to do, Eric also lived in the extra room of the store, not bothering to waste funds on separate living quarters. This didn't mean he was poor, it only meant that he didn't want to spend too much.

Anyway, at this moment, he stood at the far end of the store, working on an armoured vest which was ordered by an adventurer in the city. The outfit was scheduled to be delivered today, and the customer would be arriving anytime soon. He was done with the vest, but he still decided to improve it a bit at the last minute.

Just as he finished working on the dark coloured shirt, the bell above the doorframe rang, signalling the arrival of a new customer.

"Hello," Eric heard a young man's voice as his new customer plopped down onto the only furniture available for customers– a brown leather chair.

"Hello," Eric greeted and carefully walked towards the young man. While his vision was impaired, his other senses were basically on steroids. He could even tell if it was going to rain about half an hour before it rained. His heightened senses allowed him to do things some people who weren't blind couldn't.

"You are a tailor, yes?"

Hearing the young man's question, Eric chuckled slightly and leaned against his worktable. "Well just a tailor is an understatement," He joked laughingly. He could feel the young man's gaze boring into the blindfold he wore over his eyes to cover them.

Eric frowned and snatched a silver coin from the air.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" Eric asked calmly while pointing at his blindfold. However he was really pissed off. He knew that he customer had flicked the coin over to him.

The customer slowly rose to his feet. He could hear him slowly making his way toward him with calm, calculated steps. From the sound of his footsteps, he seemed to be walking barefoot.

"No. I just wanted to see how good your senses are," The young man said. Now, he was just a few metres away from Eric– just close enough for Eric's senses to carefully monitor every single move made by him.

"I need you to help me with an outfit,"

Eric chuckled and smirked. "All you've done since you've walked in here is insult me. If you want me to craft an outfit for you, you would have to pay handsomely," His emphasis on the word 'craft' coming from his skill at sewing being far above simple sewing. He was basically crafting clothes and other apparel.

"Okay," The young customer replied simply, surprising Eric.

From his lack of footwear, Eric had assumed that this customer was from a low-class family. He never expected him to simply agree.

Still suspicious, Eric furrowed his brows and pursed his lips. "And how much are you willing to pay?"

"I have no money," Came the customer's short reply.

Before Eric could send the young man out of his store, he was suddenly silenced by the man's next words.

"But, I can give you something you need,"

Eric scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "And what might that be?"

"Well, for one..." The young man said and placed a finger on his lips. "I could protect you from the people who are coming over here with the intention of robbing you,"

"What?"

The young man paused and stared at Eric with surprise. "You couldn't tell? They're about a two hundred metres away from here, and if I'm just going to guess, I believe their leader was the one who ordered your latest masterpiece,"

Eric grit his teeth and tightened his fists. "That bloody bald fool, Burek!" He cursed angrily.

He believed the man in front of him because he knew what kind of character Burek had, and he knew he was a dishonest, wild and cunning person. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for him to do something like this.

"Wait, before you do anything else, listen to my second offer," The young man suddenly interrupted Eric's thoughts.

Impatiently, Eric waved his hands hurriedly, signalling for him to continue speaking.

"My second offer is... "

"The eye of a god."

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