Chapter 43

In the end, though after that thinking process of her settles down, Julie decides to do something different. 

Her body changes back to her true form of a beautiful silver-haired woman. She needs to verify something, and that can only be done as Julie, the Headmistress, not as Ain the Mysterious Girl.

...

The next day after killing the Water Hero, Alex appeared at his mansion, which was nice to look at. Even if it was a little too medieval for his eyes. The world has developed differently since it has mana, and the design of buildings has also developed differently. People prefer the medieval look more, plus some modern building materials aren't discovered yet.

Magic City is the most prosperous city on the Human Continent. It is considered hundreds of years ahead of every other city. Each house is enchanted to stand heavy damage.

...

Julie was meeting with some of the City Managers before she went to meet Alex. The city managers are in the dozens, they each manage the everyday running of the city, each of them has a greedy look as they sit on a long table, of which Julie stands at head of.

Each of the members was middle-aged to elderly, of different genders and their ambitious eyes looked at Julie like sharks. She didn't mind any of this, she even encourages it.

She has a bored look in her eyes as she casually says. "Dexter, I have already figured out your plan to poison me with Dragon Blood. I have had your wife killed for that. I wanted to take one of your eyes, but that would make you less efficient. Also, I want you to come up with an amazing economic plan and have it in action within the month. If you don't do so, I will kill your son next."

A middle-aged bearded man flinches at this slightly. He is Dexter, and learning of his wife's death a tear rolls down his eye. But he resolutely answers. "Yes, Headmistress."

Julie nods at this, she doesn't care about betrayal as long as the people who try to betray her are also useful. She is over two hundred years old, she has experienced her fair share of betrayals, and once she figured out that they are inevitable, she decided to use them. 

'Not like they would be able to ever hurt me.' Contemplates Julie, not at all worried about any of them being a danger to her life. It wasn't arrogance, it was absolute trust in her abilities. Plus if they became incompetent, then she would kill them.

The man which now has a dead wife is Dexter, a smart merchant who makes hundreds of millions of gold for the Magic City. He is an ambitious man, who is also a Rank 3 Magician. He and many others want to have Magic City and their resources for themselves, so inevitably they will need to get rid of the Headmistress. 

Who encourages them to try and kill her, and even reassures them that as long as they are competent she won't kill them. But every time their scheme is figured out they will receive punishment and a quota that they will have to meet.

Of course, this is only a net of security that the Headmistress created intentionally. She will kill them if they are truly dangerous, but she hasn't met one City Manager that has been dangerous ever since the creation of Magic City. 

Plus, she likes the schemes that people sometimes come up with, and she even copies them and uses them on her enemies. 

Julie always wants to advance, to her staying stagnant is a fate worse than death. And even though her power hasn't improved in 150 years, her mental department and Magic Item creation ability have skyrocketed. 

She will be better than she was yesterday, that is the promise that she made to herself over two hundred years ago when she escaped the controlling clutches of her father.

'Ah~ these old folk are so boring.' Complains Julie internally, not at all paing mind to the hypocrisy in her words… as she is the oldest person in the room.

..

..

Half an hour later Julie with a fake smile gets up and tells the people in front of her. "Well, good work everyone. Please push yourself harder next time. So Magic City continues to advance every day."

As she says that, the smile on her face is radiant and beautiful. But it sent chills down everyone's spine in here. This woman would kill them plus their families and replace them all if Magic City didn't continue getting better… or worse, it regressed.

'How dumb, all of them, hoping to one day surpass me.' Thinks, Julie. 'Their ending has already been decided, they must work for my improvement till the day they die. That is the unofficial duty of the City Manager. Anyway, now I can go and meet up with Alex. Someone worth way more than this heap of dead bones.'

...

At the same time, Alex just enters his new home (mansion) and sees around fifty servants, butlers, beautiful maids, and cooks bow slightly.

"Welcome home, master." Says everyone of them in unison. 

Lily is slightly perturbed at this as she feels like something is wrong but dismisses the feeling as just superstitious.

Alex hadn't quite explained to her exactly what a warrior's feelings mean. 

But he didn't need any strange feeling as he just looked at the servants coldly and said. "All of you, fu*k off."

He then points with his thumb at the doors behind him.

"Huh?" A butler who seems old seemed confused by this. "My lord, may I ask why?"

Alex just points a finger at the man who talked.

Pow!

The man's head bursts like a watermelon. Alex looks at the servants coldly once more and asks. "Anyone else have any questions?"

Everyone shakes their heads.

"Good, then fu*k off." Says Alex coldly. Immediately everyone rushes and goes outside of the mansion doors. They didn't have the guts to ask if they could pick up their stuff.

Lily is a little confused by this, knowing that Alex is not needlessly cruel. "What was that for?"

"Spies." Answers Alex casually. Having some of his luggage float behind him.

"Spies?" Lily is confused by this. "Every one of them?"

"Yep, every one of them. Though mostly working for different people around the city." Explains Alex, he thought that he might find someone who would be loyal to him. But he didn't have that good luck it seems. He already did his investigation, that is why he was so through with the servants. He can't allow a spy to work under him.

"I see." Says Lily, as her eyes dull a little, thinking about how the situation would have gone if they let spies inside. 'I must also be as cautious as Alex, this place is truly a nest of vipers. I don't know if I would be able to survive without Alex.'

As they enter the mansion, Lily once more feels that strange feeling in her stomach and this time she decides to inform Alex about it. "Alex… something is weird here."

Alex just nods at this. "Yep, it seems like a little bird has entered our house."

The mansion is luxurious, but kind of empty. There are two stairways with which one can come down and go up to the 2nd floor.

And in one of the staircases, a man wearing a purple kimono appears. He has long dark blue hair tied in a ponytail and a katana in his hand. He has a pretty almost feminine face.

"So you must be the new Hero?" Asks the man, a strange smile on his face.

"Don't try to act cool." Says Alex, making the man frown. "I know that you have been waiting here for us for two hours and had to also hide from the servants."

The man smiles at that. "Hahaha, that is true. Anyway, my name is Nobunaga, The Sword Hero."

'Nobunaga…' Alex thinks about this name and can't help but feel a little repulsed by it. 

In the future he will be the man that would hunt down players left and right, he used to call them the Cancer of This World. 

Alex never cared about this in his past life as his interactions with Nobunaga were minimal at best. Having seen him only once during the war against the Beast Emperor.

But it seems like Nobunaga still didn't have that hate for the players yet and seems like a friendly guy. 

'What could have made him hate the players?' Wonders Alex, he remembers Nobunaga never smiling and being known for being grumpy at all times. 

But in the end, not even Alex can figure out something that he doesn't have any information on. The Players did a lot of repulsive things for fun… except r*pe since that wasn't allowed in-game. But everything else, from murder, torture, blackmail, extortion, and everything in between. 

Still, Alex has no enmity with Nobunaga and doesn't plan to have any in the future. The man would reach the peak of Legendary Rank in the future and possibly could go beyond it. Alex doesn't plan to kill him as the players did in the later versions, so the man can grow into a sword and shield against future true enemies.

Alex in the end just smiles and greets him. "Hello there, Nobunaga. My name is Alex, I hope we get along."

'This kid isn't as bad as the other Hero trashes in this place.' Nobunaga smiles.

But his smile slips away when suddenly another voice behind him says. "True, I also hope you can get along."

Nobunaga's eyes widened at this, his instincts screaming at him. Immediately his katana swings backward, but unlike a normal slash, it creates three after images of the same sword, one from above, and one from the opposite side of the swing. 

This is an attack that defied logic.

<Three Dimensional Slash>

....

 Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

...

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