Lepto POV

Sitting on a chair in the dining room, which looked like a mess, I couldn't look into Mom and Dad's eyes. What happened was unforgivable, and I don't know what will happen, but there is hope that this mistake will not lead to a death sentence.

It was obviously wishful thinking.

I heard Mom, and she was enraged, screaming, "ARE YOU INSANE?! ATTACKING YOUR SISTER WITH A KNIFE, NO LESS! YOU COULD KILL HER!"

My sister... huh, she changed so much... who knew that she had the balls to go against me?

But this was not the critical part since I attacked not only my sister but also an apprentice of a Noble.

Attacking the apprentice of a Noble and no less Alex's apprentice should cost my head. I hope this puppy is not a moody one, but from what I heard, he is somewhat forgivable if Lia makes mistakes, so there is a chance.

On the other hand, I will definitely lose my apprenticeship and my future, at the least, 'Urgh, this is so stupid...'

It was silent.

This silence told me that Father started "talking," so I moved my head up and saw what he said,

Father stayed beside Mom and, like always, wearing an absolutely neutral facial expression, but I could also see some sadness in his eyes, 'Huh, he also knows that I am in deep trouble...'

Mom was very concerned, stared at him, and "spoke" as quickly as possible, in panic,

While we all could talk, except for Dad, we usually kind of forgot to and used sign language, which brought us into some awkward positions with our friends or groups outside of the family.

It made me and my siblings weird. It was not easy having friends, but I tried, and it was fine most of the time. I was just known as the silent one, and it was fine.

Dad looked sternly at her, moving his hands rougher and more wildly,

Mom frowned and spoke

Dad quickly intervened,

He always had the last word, but he and Mom had almost always the same opinion, and he was the one who pushed her to take a job as a Maid as he didn't want her working as a barkeeper in some fucked up bar.

It worked. Since then, six years ago, we lived a very peaceful life where we had everything we needed, and even Dad changed his job to being a stable boy in the last months.

Mom looked solemn towards the door and nodded towards Dad, probably knowing that he was correct and I needed to get out as quickly as possible before it got blown out.

He went to me and grabbed me by my shirt, and dragged me out of the door. As he pulled me away, I grabbed his hand and tried to let him go of me, "Hey, I can walk myself!"

He stood still and used his one hand to talk with me, looking wary at me,

I frowned, and I couldn't but smile, thinking that I wouldn't definitely run away as this would for sure signal my death, "No, I am not that stupid."

He looked me more sternly in my eyes and let go of me after a couple of seconds.

...

*tap*tap*tap*

It was silent as we walked through the Estate and out of the gates. Nobody concerned themselves with us as they knew exactly who we were. Respect and admiration were very high towards our family... and I threw it away... because of one dumb decision...

While the Estate was somewhat central in Wolfsteeth, it was mainly surrounded by forests and a small lake, so we needed to walk for quite some time.

We walked for more than two hours fastly until we reached some high-end-looking rental shop for coaches and carriages. Dad let me translate that we wanted to rent the complete package with a driver, and he even paid extra, so everything remained anonymous.

While watching how much he paid, I thought that would be most of our savings he needed to fork out, 'Damn it! Why do they take so much for some carriage and driver!'

As we took the coach and drove silently inside the city, we didn't speak, and my thoughts were rushing all around the place...

*catchak*catchak*catchak*

How could this happen? No need to ask this myself. I know why and the sole reason is that I am an asshole, through and through.

Since I was a kid, I tried my best to fit in and receive recognition, but... all that effort went away instantly the moment my sister became Alex's apprentice.

Her reputation grew without stopping, and in the end, I wasn't Lepto anymore. I was Lia's brother, the apprentice of the one guy who revolutionized the training regimen of soldiers and strengthened them enormously.

How could I compete with it? Even though I have an apprenticeship by one of the most famous locksmiths, it barely amounts to anything if compared to Lia.

Where was my place in this world? It was decided the moment when Lia took the apprenticeship. At that point, I was only known as Lia's brother. Is this really the future I wanted?

*catchak*catchak*catchak*

No.

*catchak*catchak*catchak*

I hated it.

*catchak*catchak*catchak*

Is this why I did what I did? Was it too much for me to just be known as someone because of my sister?

I clenched my fists so firmly that they became white, and I could feel that my eyes were getting redder and redder.

My thoughts sank into some dark places, and I tried to rationalize my behavior, but it was impossible. There was no reason to attack her, but there was also no reason for what consequences I would live through from now on.

What if it were the other way around? If she attacked me, there would be no consequences... this is not fair!

Is nobility really that much better than we, commoners, so much that attacking some simple apprentice and not even hurting her will result in death? THIS IS NOT FAIR!

*catchak*catchak*catchak*

The only possibility that I have left is to run away and start anew in some different place... maybe I can gain immunity if I sell the information I gained, even if it is not much?

I heavily sighed and smiled, knowing what I did and will do, is actually something unforgivable... if Dad weren't here and decided to bring me away, I would probably be dead when Lia woke up.

Is this what I want to do to affect my family negatively? Maybe, but what about it? They will probably side with Lia in every case and bring my head to Alex, but... why did Dad get me away? Most likely so, Lia will not be disturbed when she wakes up... I feel like cattle, ready to be slaughtered, and was just brought to someplace to get fed before dinner... DAMN IT!

The coach suddenly stopped somewhere in some really sketchy part of the city. There were a ton of prostitutes and suspicious guys hanging around.

Mom and Dad worked in these parts of the city before they became servants.

They were staring at us, probably thinking we were some rich folk and were here for fun... Even though a rope was wrapped around my neck, I felt somewhat good about it as they were all trash of society, amounting to nothing and opting out for crime or prostitution.

We went out, Dad gave the coach some coin so he would wait, and we went towards some rundown bar called "The ripped tail," I could also barely read it since the shield was crooked and was so old that the color on it was mostly faded away.

*clank*

As we went inside, I pinched my nose so I couldn't feel how the smell of cheap beer and piss invaded my nostrils.

I looked all around and mainly saw Cat-kin's sitting, flirting with some hookers, and getting drunk on that cheap-ass stuff.

Dad suddenly took me and dragged me to the barkeeper, who smoked some pipe. She was a burly Panther-kin with a droopy eye, which was purely white and had a scar over it.

He looked at her, and she showed a face full of surprise while laughing, "Oh! Michael! How come you are back? Did something go wrong, kakaka!"

Dad frowned and started talking without even going into a small banter or small talk,

The barkeeper suddenly frowned and glared at me, also starting to speak in sign language,

He ignored every question of her and pointed at me, going directly to the matter at hand,

Before the Panther-kin could say or do anything, he threw a couple of small gold coins at her and nodded to me, speaking more quickly,

The barkeeper was at a loss and raised her voice, "Hey! I didn't agree to..."

He interrupted her with a couple of waves of his hand before she could end her sentence, which meant,

She started growling and looked at me, probably thinking things more through. She stared again at Dad. Her tone began to get more deep and rough, "Fine! Don't come to me again for anything after this is done..."

She inhaled strongly from her pipe so that you could see how the herbs inside started burning down completely.

After exhaling a giant puff of smoke, she looked more relaxed and mumbled under her breath, "...I hope the Leonandra's will not get my ass for this..."

*****

Authorial POV

In the evening, when the sun was going down, the horizon was colored beautifully red-orange, and if you looked up to the sky, you could already see some of the moons showing up, greeting the coming night.

The whole Leonandra Estate glittered as this light fell on their pearl-white buildings and the massive garden, enlightening the pond, as it glittered with all the fish inside, who swam happily around.

The person sitting on a tree, relatively far away from the entrance, did not see all this. Still, he could and did listen to the mansions nearby, and one of those mansions was the one specially dedicated for the head servants and other personnel with similar status.

This unknown and suspicious person was smiling all over the place and thought there would be a chance to sew some chaos as he heard a fight going on, 'How nice! Worth a try at least.'

Sitting and wearing a cloak and a fox mask that concealed him whole, he was waggling his feet happily down from the branch. His eyes closed as he concentrated intensely on all the talk. Even the sign language was discernable if you put enough Mana into the Skills and discern the air movement that flows during the "talk."

His Skills needed a ton of Mana since they didn't work as good if there was any nature nearby.

After everything ended and the duo left the Gate, he jumped down and concealed every possible sound. He followed them, morphing into every shadow he came across.

He frowned slightly as he saw that they went to a rental shop for coaches and carriages. He took out a Mana potion and gulped it down in one go as this tracking could go on for some time.

Nonetheless, it was an exciting finding! The father wanted to bring his son somewhere since they had such a fight on the Estate, and renting a coach in the evening and going out was indeed something unusual.

While he waited outside the rental shop, his thoughts showed some annoyance, 'I have been here in Wolfsteeth for the last couple of months, gathering information and trying to find something I could use for my mission but nope! This damn Leonandra's are like a safe, and barely anything comes out! I hope it will be worth all the energy I put in! All I did till now was to kill some rich Beast-kin and gather fucking useless gold coins for something I needed so I wouldn't be instantly found out and killed. What a fucking waste of time... till now, I hope!'

They came out and drove the carriage towards some sketchy part of town, with a grumbling person following them, but this time, he needed to run so that he would not be shaken off partly.

As he ran, he regretted every decision he made in his life, 'Go to Wolfsteeth, they said, being a spy is fun, they said. FUCK THESE ASSHOLES! I would rather hunt some soldiers in the north and not sleep in canals full of piss and shit! Who cares about beer, food, and stuff if you pray every second not to be found out!'

Following the coach, which went towards the red light district, his thoughts went for the worst since it could mean they had some business or wanted to have fun. He prayed that it would be the former!

As they went into some cheap bar, he jumped onto the bar's roof, instantly trying to discern what they were saying, but all he could do was curse inwardly as they started again using sign language.

He could barely hear them anymore, so he downed another Mana potion and threw the container away towards the streets. Nobody cared about it and just gave him some glances and went to their business again, following their premise, "Didn't see, didn't know."

The red-light district was something allowed by the Leonandra's, who controlled this territory. Still, there were multiple skirmishes in the past where Boss's of gangs tried to usurp this part of the city for themselves, it all ended in a bloodbath, and the last one was 20 years ago, where more than 150 People died in a fight.

Through a lot of work and after dozens of executions, it was found out that the Rosé Family was behind it. Since then, the relationship has been on thin ice, and wouldn't it be for the regular Demon runs and thinning campaigns, the Leonandra's would probably march right into their Estate and execute every one of them.

Everything else was held secret, and not even the person with the Fox mask found information about it, hoping that he could somehow bring the Rosé family to his side, but it didn't work, and they only gave him a charm for disguising his smell, for a ton of gold.

As he was waiting to discern their talk, his smile grew wider and wider under the mask. As such, he drank another potion and waited for the boy to be brought away so he could discern if there were some backdoor to where he was since going through the bar would probably be impossible if he didn't want to go on a massacre.

He tried to think of other solutions for going in, but there were none, as the underground world of Wolfsteeth also needed to keep the city as stable as possible. With this, they could ensure a steady income through their customers, and the Leonandra's wouldn't bust through their door, beheading them.

So he couldn't bribe them, not if a servant wanted something from them and brought his son over to hide. Especially not if it was a "favor." He knew precisely the implications since the guy probably had connections and knew quite a lot about them. If something happened to the young boy, his Dad would spit everything out, and they would probably all lose their heads... he clicked his tongue, knowing that there was only one way.

He followed the breezes of air that went to and from the boy's underground room. This took 30 minutes, and after three more Mana potions, he found the escape route. Mumbling slightly, he was very excited by this and already had an idea of what to do with this boy, "...this is a little treasure..."

The young Spider-kin was somewhere in the basement, and the entrance was under a barkeeper. This will be problematic... there should be some secret entrance... and there was, 200m from here, an old well... with two guards? Someone is a lover of safety.

He strolled towards the well and checked his charm, which made him smell like a Beast-kin, thinking it should be changed soon, 'In about 4 hours, it should work out.'

As he felt the guards through the wind, he started to sneak towards them and position himself where they couldn't see him.

The very feminine-looking man took out a pale pipe and put some small darts inside.

Getting closer, he blew into it fast and successively, hitting both guards in their neck. Not even 5 seconds later, they fell, fully sleeping.

As he strolled towards them, he took out the darts while mocking and giggling at them, "Dear dear, no resistance, hehe."

He looked into the well and tried to make sure by feeling the wind that he was right, and he was, but, suddenly, he grabbed the place where his solar-plexus was and felt how his Mana went insane inside his body. It flowed in all the directions it shouldn't. He thought he did something dumb as he gulped down so many Mana potions in such a short time frame.

He whispered lightly to himself, "Calm down, this will go away... damn it, I can't give up now... after months of dilly-dallying around, I finally found something to fulfill the mission... shit..."

He sat down and meditated for a couple of minutes, inhaling and exhaling strongly, to calm himself down.

He opened his eyes, stood up, and jumped down the well without thinking much.

Staying at the same place for at least 10 minutes at the bottom of the well, thinking about what was needed if he wanted that everything went as planned. Mana was one of the most critical prerequisites, so he took another Mana potion and hoped for the best as he gulped it down.

His body went through what could only be described as "chaos," and even meditation barely helped. Only Mana-related Skills could be of help, but he had none of them.

Exhaling strongly, a blue cloud came out from under the fox mask, glistering under the moons in the sky.

Opening his eyes slowly, it was time to do his job and get going.

Strolling through the tunnel slowly but steadily, he couldn't use his Skills at full force anymore, so caution was needed.

*tap*tap*tap*

This concern was not needed as he found the young Spider-kin and opened the room door as soon as he arrived there.

*****

Lepto POV

*clank*

The door opened suddenly out of nowhere, and I thought it was the Panther-kin, wanting to talk with me, but instead, a shady figure came in, wearing a black cloak and a fox mask.

I was shocked and backed onto the wall as my mind raced to find an explanation, 'Who is this woman?'

I heard a solemn and high-pitched voice, "Don't worry, little boy, I am not here to hurt you, hehe."

My heart was beating so fast that it almost jumped out of my throat. My mind fumbled, thinking about who this was, 'Is this an assassin sent by the Leondandra's?'

The shady figure sighed and asked me solemnly, opening her arms towards me, "Don't you want justice?"

What? What does she mean? Is this a test? I spoke, almost whispering, being as careful as I could to discern the intention of this unknown person, "What do you mean?"

The person came gallantly over, like a cloud flowing in the sky, and sat on the bed. She had a very slim body and delicate, lightly green hands, so I presumed it was some Reptile-kin. Crossing her legs, she tapped on the empty spot beside her.

She tilted her head slightly towards me. I could see her beautiful green eyes, and something in her voice made me feel safe, "Don't worry, little boy, I am not from the Leonandra's. I even doubt that they know right now what actually happened, but I am here for some other business. So sit down and talk with me."

I nervously rubbed my arms since I didn't know what was happening, but I sat beside her and nervously asked, "Could you please more clear?"

She started giggling and holding her hand in front of the mask, where her mouth would be, and answered me, "I am here to fight against the world's unfairness. Don't you find it unjust that all the Nobles only hold power and that commoners are the one who needs to crawl before them, hoping for some crumbs of the cake they eat?"

If she said something this aloud, this would be treason against the nobility, and execution would be the result, but what she said was true.

There was a feeling inside me that wanted to break through, screaming at the world about the unjustness, which wanted to see me dead!

Because of some minor mistake I made against my sister, it is now considered a crime against the nobility, and thus, I am sitting in some hole, hoping that I wouldn't lose my head.

Is this fair? No! The same crime from commoner to commoner would most likely be ignored.

Clenching my fists tightly, I became more and more agitated, but my thoughts were interrupted by the mysterious green-eyed lady, "Do you want more fairness in the world? Then work with me, and we will together create something where commoners don't need to cower before nobility!"

She laid out her hand and looked at me intensively. I could feel how my mind became clearer, and I was sure of what I wanted to do now!

I took her hand and nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! I am in!"

...

...

...

*****

??? POV

Coming out of the room and out of the well, I sat somewhere further away under a tree and breathed heavily, shivering.

I felt that something slightly warm and wet touched my chin, but I ignored it since I knew what it was, 'I hope the charm will also conceal the smell of blood...'

I was trying to relax. Meditation was impossible since I had already fucked myself too much up and overtaxed my body to a stupid extent. Hopefully, it will go away, or there will be big trouble.

Who knew that using manipulation Skills would be this taxing? Damn it, my Mana fell to single digits for the god knows how many times today, but I did it... this young boy will be what we need to spread chaos inside the Estate and lower their presence in the east.

Looking at the clear and starry sky, all I needed to do now was to visit him a couple of times more and make sure he understood what he needed to do.

Suddenly I started laughing hysterically and crying, not knowing why, but it felt refreshing, "Hahahahahaha..."

...