Greed

Night in Smuggler's town had nothing to do with beauty or relaxation but was only left with cruelty, deception, and hunger.

In this darkness, a horse cart moved slowly towards the west. The oil lamp on the front of the carriage illuminated the road for the two drivers. The carriage moved like a small island of light in the ocean of darkness.

Sitting on his grey wolf, Simon Black followed the horse cart leisurely. A hint of greed flashed through his eyes as he saw the middle coffin, which was filled with treasures from the Dark forest.

Unnoticed by the group, Alex followed Simon in the darkness. With his eagle vision, he observed the party approach a large wooden gate.

Two magic lamps hung at the entrance and illuminated the surroundings. On the gate, Alex noticed a symbol of a Vulture standing on the cross.

'This must be their Den. The outer appearance is of a Funeral house, but it is a warehouse for the Vulture group. One, two, three... total of Six warehouses,' observed Alex.

Two burly thugs stood guard at the entrance of the funeral house. They checked the identities of the group before letting them in. Alex, who was silently following the group, saw them enter and frowned.

From the looks of it, the funeral house was a facade to the black operations of the Vultures group.

'Should I enter or stay here to ambush him?' thought Alex.

Alex looked around. Except for a few warehouses in the distance, there were only empty fields.

And with the senses of the Great wolf, it will be hard to ambush them in the open space. So Alex gave up that idea and thought of a way to enter the warehouse.

[Varis, where are Simon and the wolf?]

[Simon is in the fifth warehouse. It's the middle building in the second row. The Great wolf was led to the Stables along with the horses.]

[Got it] said Alex. He was happy to not deal with the wolf.

[And what do you plan to do to him?] asked Varis.

[I ...] Alex hesitated. He never killed a human before, nor was he willing to. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

After all, if the bastard Simon could bring three Professional Rankers to take care of him now, most likely, there would be Elite Rankers hunting him down in the future. He had to seize his inattention and take care of him cleanly.

After clearing his mind, he was ready for action.

[How many guards are there? What is the suitable entry point?] asked Alex.

[Total of ten guards. One in the rear just went away. You can enter from the back.] replied Varis.

Alex quickly made his way to the back of the funeral house. He observed the four-meter-high old wall and frowned.

He stepped a few meters back and started sprinting. The blue mana covered his soles and reached his max speed in few seconds.

Just as he approached the wall, he kicked the ground and jumped. He caught the top of the wall and pulled himself up.

Just as he climbed the wall, he heard someone cursing below.

Alex froze. He quickly looked below and found two people coming from inside the fifth building. From the small light coming from the inside of the building, he saw a bald man and a thin man walking outside.

"That greedy bastard, sending us away, so he can take away the treasures. Boss, what should we do? If he takes all the precious herbs, we will be in trouble." said the thin man anxiously.

"What can we do? He is our young master after all," said the bald man dejectedly as they walked towards the next building.

Upon hearing Simon's greedy behavior, Alex's resolve strengthened. If he did not remove the problem in the bud, that guy would just be more overconfident and ruthless.

He jumped down from the wall as quietly as a falling shadow and entered the warehouse.

A peculiar sight greeted him. Many boxes and coffins are placed beside the walls, and in the center of the warehouse's floor, there was a 4 meter wide huge hole covered by wooden doors.

'Is this the tunnel out of the town?' Alex wondered as he observed the circular doors on the floor.

He came out of his reverie and observed the surroundings. He found few people hurriedly exiting the warehouse while Simon knelt in front of a coffin and carefully examining his trophy.

Alex quickly disguised himself. Even if he failed in his attempt, he did not want to expose his identity quickly.

He hunched forward, with face flying low, and covered himself with a dirty cloth on the coffin. He walked towards Simon, his pace neither slow nor fast.

As he walked towards his target, Alex's heart kept beating against his ribs while his palms started to sweat.

***

Simon looked at the coffin full of treasures with shining eyes. Medical herbs, Magical beast leathers, Sacred woods, and Magic crystals.

Any one of these could be traded for hundreds of gold coins. If not for the fear that father might lose his temper, Simon would have taken away the whole coffin.

While restraining his desire, Simon's eyes fell on a jar of shining golden liquid - Magic Honey.

It was a unique treasure that could improve both mana and mental energy. It's a favorite snack for bears and wizards.

If Simon had not met with the group coincidentally, the magic honey would have gone to Declan. It was not the most valuable in the bunch, but he wanted to piss off Declan.

Simon sneered and quickly stuffed the magic honey in his space bag. He looked around like a thief. There was no one except for a hunchback old guy in dirty cloth.

"Why are you still here? Move it!" yelled Simon carelessly before turning back to his coffin full of treasures.

Simon felt the old man stop behind him. Just as he turned his head to admonish him once more, he felt a burst of mana behind him. A palm covered his mouth. Just as he wanted to struggle, a blade pierced his neck.

Assassin!? Only now, Simon understood and struggled harder. But it was too late.

In the last moment of his life, Simon saw Alex's face behind the dirty cloth. His eyes widened in realization.

He had a million questions but no time left. Blood spilled on the floor, and the body slumped on the ground.

***

Alex almost dropped his knife in fright. In his whole seventeen years of life, it was the second time he almost dropped the knife. The first time was when Alex was seven years old, his father made him kill a chicken for family dinner. Right now, he felt even worse.

Looking at the messy scene, Alex was not happy. He blocked all the negative emotions and cleaned the blood using the rag. Now to spoils.

Alex found two magic treasures on Simon and a coffin full of treasures. One of the treasures was a silver bracelet, and the other was a space bag.

As he looked at all the treasures, his negative emotions were slowly dispelled. He scanned inside the space bag with his magic and quickly found the details.

'A two cubic meter space. A little small. Some of it is already occupied.' thought Alex.

He opened the coffin and saw the treasures. Due to the limited space in the bag, he took away the most precious treasure first. Magic ores.

Alex scanned the blue stones and felt immense mana inside them. They are like the solidification of pure mana.

After that, he pocketed the Magic herbs and Sacred wood. In the end, only a few pieces of leather are left in the coffin.

The coffin was now half empty and started to deal with Simon's body. He squeezed Simon's body into the coffin. He sprinkled some scent masking powder on him and locked the coffin tightly.

Alex hoped the coffin would travel a few days to its destination without anyone taking a glimpse inside. That way, over time, few clues would be left.

After double-checking, he jumped the wall and exited the funeral house. He ran at full speed and got far away from the funeral house.

[How is the situation in the Funeral house? Is there any disturbance?] asked Alex as he panted.

[Everything is fine. Some people started to go to the fifth building but no disturbance.] replied Varis.

[Thank the Earth gods.] Alex wiped the sweat off his forehead.

[Can we go eat now?] asked Varis.

Alex smiled. Just as he was about to reply, he felt a hot sensation from the bracelet.

He raised his right hand saw the silver pearl on the bracelet glowed in the darkness. As he scanned the bracelet with magic sense, a calm voice rang in his head.

[Young master. We already staked out that brat's inn. Is your work done?]

He was stunned. Alex almost forgot about the other two guys in his haste. He quickly concentrated and came up with a plan. He injected mana into the bracelet and replied.

"... My work here is done. Where are you," asked Alex imitating the arrogant voice.

[ Well, I am in the building opposite his hotel. Randal is pretending as a beggar in front of the hotel. Haha. He is very suitable for that profession.] laughed Hack.

"Got it. I will be there in 5 min," said Alex into the pearl bracelet.

Alex heaved a long sigh and walked into the darkness.