27 kilometers southeast of Poleria Homestead.

There was a small village with many able-bodied men, some smiling women, and even children around.

Life here seemed idyllic and peaceful as the children played while their mothers maintained the houses and their fathers were either out hunting or gathering food.

A simple village that was quite non-descript even. However, all activity in this village paused when a strangely cloaked fellow suddenly appeared in the center of the village's main road.

He stood there in silence, his darkened cowl moving left and right to scan the frozen villagers who didn't move a muscle in shock. He then walked slowly and stately towards the largest manor at the end of the road, where the leader of this village resided.

Once he crossed a few houses, the villagers finally shook off their amazement and hurriedly rushed into their houses with fear written on their faces. One could even see some of their legs shaking in terror as they practically ran, some kids even falling to the floor and crying.

By the time Darius reached the manor, the entire village was silent like someone had whisked all the residents away. He looked back for a second and smirked beneath his cloaked before entering the manor.

Once inside, he noticed that the manor was also empty, yet there were obvious signs that servants and the like had been working here just seconds ago judging by the fallen dusters and obvious footsteps.

Darius could even smell soup simmering on the fire in the kitchen to his right. Darius scanned the foyer and walked towards his left as he saw a singular person seated in the parlor here.

It was a well-dressed man with skin darker than Darius' and a thick mustache. His eyes were a typical brown color and his lips were slightly thick, his obtuse jaw forming into what might be called a 'butt chin'.

He wore a tophat of a dark green color, a gentleman noble's attire of a lovely white shirt with a tie, a jacket that was a striped green and gray combo, as well as fitting pants that matched the color of his tophat.

The fellow also wore white gloves on his hand and was currently drinking from a set of valuable ceramic cups. If the tea was as good as his expression made it out to be, then Darius was interested in having a taste for sure.

Darius unceremoniously sat down on the couch opposite the fellow before him. Just as he had done previously, he began speaking on his own.

"Foldo Garison. Exiled baron of Andrato Kingdom, who was caught smuggling contraband into a family-owned black market by a competitor. As such, your market was disbanded and your assets seized while you were thrown out to live with the dogs."

"However, you've successfully managed to build up your own bandit group on the outskirts of the kingdom by salvaging some of your smuggling contacts. Unlike the other two idiot bandit groups, yours functions semi-legal and you have the biggest smokescreen of them all."

By the time Darius was done, the man called Foldo was no longer in the mood to play around. In the digital era of Earth, despite people knowing all our info was being stolen, no one liked having it read out to them, much less in a world like this where information should be hard to acquire.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, mister?" Foldo asked in a deep voice stressing the word 'pleasure' as his only sign of feeble resistance against this intruder.

He neither confirmed nor denied the earlier claims and statements, but Darius smiled. He had mixed what he had learned from the library with the short intro Derek gave him about the three bandit groups as well as what his improved Analyze skill had revealed to him.

Finally, his deductive abilities had run at full speed in order to parse all the data he had, allowing him to present it to these fellows as statements that chilled them due to their accuracy.

Darius was silent. He was slightly wary of Foldo in a way he would never be of Diato, not in terms of danger to his life, but in terms of danger to his plan.

Foldo was a person with unbelievable 17 Intellect, smart enough that he might see through what Darius was doing and ruin everything.

So it really came down to whether Darius was interested in working with him or not, for he could not risk introducing rogue elements into his plan. Either he commissioned them... or they had to be wiped out to the last man.

Darius was currently favoring the second choice until Foldo spoke.

"I assume you must've visited the other bandit groups?"

Darius leaned back and nodded. "Only the Diato Bandits, although I plan to see the Garwen Bandits after this."

Foldo nodded. "You have the air of a noble and I can see that you must be a powerful mage. Your life level is high enough that you could probably kill everyone in this village with ease."

This was the first time he heard someone talking about life level, as even Diato and his group had been unable to see through Darius. They had only been able to tell that he was extremely dangerous. Darius internally praised Foldo for his observation.

The man before him continued. "I know this, because I too am a mage…well, more of an apprentice level one. I have paid a hefty sum to acquire more than one Scroll of Awakening and although I ultimately acquired a Spark, I remain stuck at the Amateur Rank."

Foldo then took another sip of tea before seriously gazing at Darius. "As such, I do not want gold coins, I have plenty of those leftover. I do not want items, I don't care for your threats and I don't need whatever you plan to offer."

"Instead, make me your Unofficial Apprentice. If you do, I shall become your man in the shadows, and whatever overarching plan you have in mind, I will execute to perfection. You will be able to sit back and reap the rewards."

Foldo clasped his hands together over his right knee which was crossed over the other in a gentleman's sitting posture. "What say you, Good Sir? Do we have an accord?"

Darius chuckled slowly before he responded. "That is certainly an interesting proposition, Mister Garison. However, I have to ask what makes you think I am up to the task?"