Announcement

The group of knights bring many stack of wooden boxes filled with potions, hiding in one of the buildings waiting for the right time to come out again.

When the sun began to hide turning the sky into evening times, they immediately went back to their master mansion.

In Lukas mansion, Nikos and Lukas is already waiting in the garden behind the mansion drinking tea, the two was waiting for the result of Nikos plot.

"We found quite a few signs in the forest," Nikos said while sipping his tea. "That strengthens the belief that this monster wave attack was the result of something controlling it from behind the scenes." He shared some of the information about the situation with Lukas.

Lukas nodded upon hearing the news. "I hope this situation resolves quickly; my business has been significantly impacted by all of this."

Then a group of knights approached them.

"Master, Sir Nikos," the leader of the disguised knights greeted the two.

"This is all the potions we managed to obtain."

Lukas' man placed the wooden boxes on the ground, around 20 boxes, more precisely 23 wooden boxes completely filled with potions.

Nikos stood up from his chair and open the boxes one by one checking the potions personally.

"Nice, it's all a good purity potions and in great conditions."

Lukas seeing the successful result from Nikos' plot, letting out a chuckle. "You are quite a cunning and brave, Sir Nikos. Stealing from the alchemist association in broad daylight." 

Nikos turned to Lukas with a slight smile, "There is no stealing here, the alchemist association gave it to me for free." he said in a calm tone. 

Nikos responded, making Lukas even more amused at this man. He let out a loud laugh.

"It's no mistake that I made friends with you, Sir Nikos. My sense is never wrong; you are truly an interesting person. I couldn't wait for my share of profit after all this monster wave activity subsides."

"Definitely, the profit is going to be a big one from all this plot," Nikos said while his hand placed the wooden boxes one by one into his magic inventory bag.

Seeing all of that, Lukas was left wondering, "How big is your magic bag?"

Nikos had been pretending to put the wooden boxes into his magic inventory bag all along, but what he was actually doing was putting all the wooden boxes into his system inventory, which had unlimited capacity.

"This bag is my family artifact; it has an unusually big capacity," Nikos explained shortly.

Lukas nodded in understanding, the value of that supposedly artifact. "That is truly a great artifact for a merchant such as you, Sir Nikos."

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| Inventory |

Potions x12.700

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After finishing his business in the mansion, Nikos excuse himself to Lukas and headed back to his own shop.

A couple of days went by, but the rumor about the neighboring town sending their armies to help Oakheart town still hadn't come.

Many people began to doubt the rumor, but some who had seen the previous disguised knights still believed they would eventually come.

Inside the alchemist association shop on the manager branch office. Lark's body is tense in the chair, his finger couldn't stop tapping the table over and over again.

Where are the Lord Faye armies? It's already been three days since I last heard anything about them. Lark was sweating, his throat swallowing excessively.

He muttered under his breath. Did I miss something here?

Lark's mind been thinking about the worst-case scenarios, but still there is some little hope he keep saying to himself, that everything is alright it just needed a little more time.

Lark shook his head hard. "I can't do this, I will be crazy thinking about it." He stood out of his chair. "I need some fresh air." He said as he walked out of the office.

He walked through the streets of the town. People were busy with their own activities, while Lark tried to ease his mind out of all the anxiety.

Suddenly an envoy from Mayor Cava being guarding by two guard come and stepped up to a central platform.

The arrival of the envoy attracted a lot of attention from the citizens. People hushed their conversations and turned their eyes toward the platform, sensing that something important was about to be announced.

Lark also stopped in his tracks, curious about what the envoy was going to say. A part of his thought hoped it was not what he feared.

The envoy began to unroll a scroll and clear his throat. 

"Citizens of Oakheart!" the envoy began, his voice is loud and clear with practiced authority. "I'm here to announce the words from our beloved Mayor of Oakheart, Mayor Cava, this is regardings the rumor that been spreading lately."

Whispers rippled through the crowd. The rumor was exactly what they had thought, it was the rumor that their town was going to receive help from the neighboring town.

The envoy continued, "It has come to our attention that recent rumors regarding assistance from the neighboring town are unfounded. These rumors have been investigated and found to be false. There will be no aid coming from our neighbors. The town must rely on its own strength and the brave efforts of our local defenders."

A collective gasp rose from the crowd. Faces that had shown signs of cautious optimism now reflected disappointment and anxiety. Murmurs of discontent and frustration began to spread.

"What do you mean it's a false rumor?" shouted a burly blacksmith, his face twisting in anger. "We've been preparing for their arrival!"

What?! You can't be serious, this can't be real! Lark is in disbelieve state hearing the announcement.

The envoy raised his hands to calm the crowd. "Please, remain calm. Mayor Cava is already taking every measure to ensure our defenses are as strong as possible. We also recently have been securing a significant supply of potions from Sir Nikos shop, which will help in our efforts to defending the town. We ask for your continued cooperation and bravery in these hard times."

Lark pushed through the dense crowd, who were all talking about the new announcement that deny the validation of the rumor. Lark struggled to make his way forward, he reach the edge of the platform, then climbed up.

The crowds, seeing this, fell into silent, wondering what he was going to do.

"Mr. Lark–" before the envoy could say anything, Lark snatched the announcement scroll from the man's hand and read it for himself.

As he read it, the scroll turn out to be exactly what the envoy had been telling the town peoples.

Shit! This is real. Lark's face turned ashen, and without a word, he threw the scroll to the ground.

Lark went back to the store, leaving the crowds and the envoy confused, clutching his fists hard.

At the alchemist association store, one of the staff was standing there, waiting for visitors who never came.

Then from the door, his boss Lark came in with a dark face.

"Boss, how is it? Have the armies arrived?" the staff asked, standing in front of Lark.

Without answering, Lark pushed him hard, until he fell, and Lark went to his office.

Everything started to piece together in Lark's mind, the situation he was in and everything that had happened with the alchemist association in this town was someone's doing. All his thoughts were pointing to one person and only one person.

It was him, that bastard Nikos.