Crow

In the Golden Lion Villa's gardens, a dozen men were lying on the ground, devoid of stamina, desperately trying to catch their breath. Standing, there stood a youth with his torso exposed to the sunlight emitted by the rising sun, facing his last two opponents at the same time.

There was no servant or soldier in the Golden Lion Villa who didn't know of George's true age. Yet, the fact that George was only 15 at this point was something that could no one could understand. A teenager, 15 years old, with such a fierce body, effortlessly taking on dozens of knights, was something that had never been achieved in the History of Melvinger City, the City of Knights.

Yet, George was a breathing legend who had nothing left to prove, as he trained them daily.

Lady Hubert possessed a gracious body, muscular and agile like a cheetah, wielding a rapier and thrusting with speed and accuracy. Ugly Rat was different, as he used a sword and a shield, protecting Lady Hubert from George's deadly blows.

[Knight Killing Technique - Hubert Thrust]

Immediately, Lady Hubert's blade shot forward like a snake, taking the shortest and most efficient route towards George's neck.

*CLANG*

Unfortunately, George was even faster, easily deflecting the proud knight killing technique of the Hedge Knight that had recently served allegiance to him. At first, he had suspicions towards her. He thought that she was a spy sent by another faction in Melvinger City. His suspicions leaned towards the Mayor.

The man was rewarding him publicly, going so far as to give him access to the Dragon Pavillion Library, and giving him hundreds of magical ingredients monthly for his potions and contributions to the city. Slowly but surely, the Mayor was deplinishing decades' worth of harvested plants and hard-earned treasures from the city treasury.

During the Magical Society Meetings, the mayor would even go so far as to congratulate him. However, George could sense the mayor's hostility. His close relationship with Lady Emma, even when she was judged guilty of being a dark path acolyte, had earned his hostility. The other wandering acolytes were much more lenients. Most of them did not operate based on friendliness, but rather on benefits. And George, who was a talented alchemist, was a walking factory in their eyes.

As long as they formed a friendly relationship with him, they would have access to potions that might save their lives. Besides the Mayor and Tyrus Veras, George had successfully earned the respect and admiration of the wandering acolytes in the Melvinger Magical Society.

However, after careful interrogation and using Lady Hubert's pulse and facial expressions, the biochip had thoroughly concluded that she was not affiliated with anyone, earning George's trust.

She came from a long way, like most people living in the region. She was from the Balorian Empire, which was even further than the Sarad Kingdom. There, she escaped her fate as a high-born lady to live a martial life. For years, she wandered through the lands of bandits and wild beasts as a Hedge Knight. She even joined a mercenary group at some point, but left it before it was engaged in a territorial war between two nobles in the Luce Kingdom.

Hired as a bodyguard for some wandering acolyte, she travelled to Melvinger City, where her contract ended. Since then, she would participate in every Melvinger Knight Festival in hope of earning a new contract, and further progress in her knight cultivation. Years later, the Golden Lion Knight appeared, and won the festival. At the time, she admired him. Young, mysterious and strong. This was the reputation that the Golden Lion Knight had earned in Melvinger City.

Little did she know, after fighting against orcs and nearly dying in the wilderness after being beaten by a poisonous snake, that the very same knight she admired would save her and accept her pledge of loyalty.

Eight months passed since then, and she had made tremendous progress.

[Name - Catherine Hubert | Status - Healthy | Knight

Attributes :

Strength - 3.2 | Dexterity - 2.8 | Vitality - 2.8 | Spiritual Force - 1.0]

However, in front of George, she was helpless.

One minute later, both Ugly Rat, the captain of the Golden Lion Villa Guard Order, and Lady Hubert, were lying on the ground like their peers, defeated without being able to make George unleash anything besides basic parries and strikes.

As always, George would then go to each individual and give them personal advice, a process that had enabled the average soldiers to reach the knight realm in a period that was so short that it was nearly unbelievable.

"You are too stiff when you fight. You just consume too much stamina that way. You have to relax, and only harden your abdominal and arm muscles right before the impact. Prefer dodging over blocking, unless you have a counter attack in mind", George accurately pointed out to the nearest guard.

However, before he could get to the next guard, a crow landed on a tree, which George immediately noticed.

The crow then transformed into a dark-clothed man. Although he was clearly a competent acolyte, he was someone with no ties whatsoever to the Melvinger Magical Society. He came from the Outer Melvinger City Area, and he was one of the three leaders of power there.

"Sir...I have completed the deal. I have successfully delivered your message to the Mayor, without giving away any hint of your identity. For all I know, he thought of me as a magical beast under contract of some wandering acolyte", the man said.

[Crow]

That was his title. George had come to learn his existence after investigating the outer city area. There were plenty of interesting individuals in this part of the town, and amidst the filth, there were some gems. Werewolves, ghouls and a couple of wandering acolytes were living there. However, only a handful could contend with rank 2 acolytes. At best, they were only as strong as knights.

Even Crow, one of the leaders there, was barely a rank 2 acolyte.

[Beep! Scan complete]

[Name - Crow | Status - Corrupted | Rank 2 Acolyte

Attributes :

Strength - 1.2 | Dexterity - 1.0 | Vitality - 0.6 | Spiritual Force - 4.2

Spells - Crow Transformation]

One of the reasons why the underworld was weak was because of the diseases, malnutrition and magical waste that came from raidiations. The inner and core city areas were protected by runes, but the outer city was not, causing the population to be corrupted with mana, decreasing their vitality.

The radiations were said to be the aftermath of a long-forgotten battle of rank 1 magi in the past. While acolytes and knights were relatively immune to the corruption, they would still be corrupted if their parents were corrupted. Like a genetic disease, corruption was transmitted from generations to generations, worsening over time.

George had tasked Crow with delivering a message. Tyrus Veras had cursed the Mayor for years now, seeking the leadership of Melvinger City. While George had said he would not interfere, now that a war had been declared, he had no intention of letting Tyrus Veras break the balance. Even if he disliked the Mayor, it would be truly a stupid idea to kill one of the peak rank 2 acolytes of Melvinger City as well as the symbol of order in the city just because he was hostile to him.

It was only natural for rivals to hate each other, but both George and the Mayor had made an implicite deal of solving the war. That's why the Mayor was so generous with him in the open, and why he had granted the Billing Household leniency in spite of Emma's crimes.

Tyrus Veras would most likely be spared too, at least until the end of the war, but at least the mayor would get better as he would cure his cursed body and perhaps even reach the rank 3, giving a nice advantage to the human city in this war against orcs.

Still, George did not want any evidence left. With the mayor more cautious, Tyrus Veras would naturally suspect George. Without evidence, however, Tyrus would not be able to do anything.

Hence, the only piece of evidence left was the middle-aged dark-clothed man in front of him. A mere newly advanced rank 2 acolyte with observation skills.

George smiled: "James, Gurk...Kill him"

As if they were expecting this, a fireball was cast before Crow could react.

[Beep! Analysing the spell [Minor Fireball]...It has dealt 7 degrees of damage!]

Crow was in shock, but managed to survive the hit somehow, half of his body burned in a flash. Groaning in pain and desbelief, he shouted: "What is the meaning of that? We had a deal! I did everything you asked for!"

George smiled and nodded to Gurk, who unleashed a terrifying whistling spell, [Wind Blade], which beheaded the poor acolyte.

A wandering acolyte died in a matter of seconds.

This was the power that George possessed. With a flick of his fingers, he could order the death of a rank 2 acolyte effortlessly, without having to lift a finger.

"Lady Hubert, clean the gardens. We don't want a corpse in here. Make sure to burn him thoroughly in the underground warming devices we created for the coming winter", George ordered.

As if nothing happened, George continued to give advice to the rest of his guards. Like a puppeteer, George was controlling the flow of events in Melvinger City, slowly raising his own strength and subordinates. Unknowingly, The Golden Lion Villa Faction had surpassed the size, wealth, influence and strength of any main noble family in the core area, and was slowly catching up to the Dragon Pavillion.