“Are you sure about it, sir?”

Wagner nodded, idly playing with a dry, shrivelled fruit. It was slightly larger than a date.

The Fruit of Insight.

That little thing was worth a kingdom. It granted insight as its name suggested. It was the only specimen in existence. Growing these little fellas was expensive and time-consuming.

So far the tree yielded two fruits in a century.

Selling the first fruit had made Wagner one of the richest men in Geneva and fuelled his advancement to Level 7. The second fruit stayed with him for the moment like this.

The group he’d taken in was a high-risk-high-reward case but he didn’t like when the stake in the game was his life.

“I have to do it.”

“Why?” Sylv asked. Wagner scowled. If he let her ask questions, she’d find a way to dissuade him from this course of action. She was a very risk-averse person who balanced his desire to push forward.

“We have Vivena Sael, the same person who killed Caesar Stonewood. She’s only Level 2. Her Talent must be near the Broken level.”

“Do you think about feeding her to the Talent tree?”

“No,” Wagner shook his head. “Our Talent tree is … an error and killing a person to gain a fruit with an inferior version of their Talent is not a sustainable approach. Anyway, Pucci assured me that the rift materials have already turned everything upside down. If her calculations are correct, we will be able to grow one Fruit of Insight per decade and its properties will at least double.”

“Then what… oh, I see.” Sylv narrowed her eyes. “You believe the fruit is going to give you an insight into how to change the Talent tree.”

“Sylvanea Silver,” Wagner said with a smirk, watching his personal assistant stiffen. She was beautiful in her own way. Her entire body was covered with a red, matt cream made out of danger berry and shockroot. Her long blonde and unbelievably glossy hair was braided on both sides while the rest hung loosely to her thin waist. She wore an elegant dress that covered very little of her skin, which was the point of using the cream. Sylv’s red eyes were the result of the other red-tinted fruit she ate every day. It increased her Perception by a few points. Her outfit was finished with high-heels which—coupled with her athletic body—made her dangerously sexy. It was very disruptive. “You’re very smart.”

Ah, and there was one more thing.

“Sir,” Sylv’s voice became hard as steel. “Since I have joined Monolith faith, I have stopped being Sylvanea Silver, and you know it.”

“Something about your faith gives me creeps,” Wagner admitted.

Sylv crossed her arms.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting that your name has changed. It’s unnatural.”

“Sir.”

“Fine.” Wanger raised his hands in defeat. “Let’s get back to the topic at hand. So, we have Vivena Sael with an unknown and likely very powerful Talent. She’s a granddaughter of Syberius Sael, the head of the Sael House and the newly baked Level 8 ascender. In terms of wealth and power, the Saels belong to the great five – the Stonewoods, the Ravencrofts, the Trumans and the Romanovs. The five richest families in the solar system. At least before the war. I have a feeling that when the war is over we will see many new names at the top.

“Anyway, Vivena Sael is an important asset here and we must treat her as an honoured guest. Make sure Tyr understands what it entails, no flirting.”

“Absolutely. Also, I can take care of his pinky—”

“You won’t cut off anything.” Wagner shivered at the thought.

“It will grow—”

“No.”

Sylv shrugged, unbothered by her boss’ alarmed gaze.

“Now, the next person on our list is Christopher Wolf. He’s an ex-commander and ex-director from Scottish cluster city. He’s Level 5 and his Talent is publicly known. His speeches inspire loyalty. Unsurprisingly, his minor upgrade is kept private.”

“Level 5 for a commander? That is unusual.”

“I know but as far as I can see, there seems to be nothing extraordinary about him. And he has no relatives.”

“Everyone died in the first outbreak.”

Wagner nodded solemnly. The first outbreak caught the world unprepared and killed billions. Many towns and villages disappeared from the surface of Earth.

“You’ll have to do more digging about that man. Now, Kaito Ren, Level 3, ex-specialist and ex-head trainer. A member of the Oriental League. Has a Portal Talent—it may be very useful. We will offer him a permanent job.”

Sylv nodded then took out a notepad from her dimensional pouch and made a note.

“Daiyu Fen, Level 2, one of seven special operative trainees. We don’t know what her Talent is, and her past has no relevance to us. The next is the Kid family. Ewan Kid, Level 1 with the Talent that fine-tunes glyphs. Learn more about this one, we may offer him a permanent job if his Talent turns out to be promising. Nina Kid-Carter, Level 1, a soothing Talent. No use to us. Harter Kid, fifteen years old, non-ascender. No use to us but someone who may use the Oriental League style of life, judging by his body.

“And finally, Keynes Kid. Our special case. Level 2, another special operative trainee with unknown Talent.”

“What makes him special?” Sylv asked.

“For one, if Hugo sent him here, then it means he must have passed Sophie’s Talent. Not the easiest feat.”

“You’re speaking out of the experience?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Wagner replied defensively. “Anyway. Hugo wouldn’t recommend him if he didn’t believe the guy was special.”

Sylv frowned, looking at her notepad.

“Didn’t he message you to not accept him?”

“Indeed, and I know why.”

Wagner looked at the Fruit of Insight, then at his assistant. She stayed by his side for the last three decades. She was Level 6 with a formidable Talent that reduced Perception of anyone around her she considered an enemy. But Wagner had been in this business since he was a kid. He’d learned the truths of the world, the things hidden for the greater good. Wagner didn’t share the conviction that hiding those secrets served anyone but the Old Blood and their boogeyman.

“Hugo was forced to message me. He used a cypher.”

“By?”

“The same person that the elites of elites are afraid of – the Shaper.”

“The Shaper? Like the Cult of the Shaper?”

Wagner nodded. He had never met him but the top executives of the Sovereign warned him to never reveal his gardening secrets to the world. Since that moment, he was curious who the Shaper was.

And he was preparing to inevitably meet him.

“You’ve never told me this. Why?”

Wagner raised his hand.

“All in due time. Now. What else we know is that Windsor Freeman is also after Keynes Kid. And our sources closest to him say he is ready to sacrifice the world in order to find him.”

“He’s mad.”

“He’s also incredibly powerful and has the largest army in the world but he needs Keynes Kid alive at all cost. Meaning?”

“He won’t bomb us to the ground?”

“Yes.”

“You want Freeman to come here?”

“And the Shaper as well. This house is the stronghold with so many traps that not even a Level 10 can survive.”

Sylv finally saw what Wagner had already seen and it filled him with confidence.

“But why the fruit?”

“I must know what is so important about Keynes Kid that he is worth so much.”

Wagner brought the shrivelled fruit to his mouth. His most prized possession, a single fruit worth more than everything else he’d created, combined.

“Let’s find out what all the fuss is about.”

***

Sylv stood, observing her boss.

He ate the fruit that was worth more than the current value of his company. Even in the face of revelation, she disagreed with him and considered eating it a mistake. But this was Wagner’s call.

A few seconds after the fruit vanished in his mouth, his gaze became distant, his body froze.

It lasted several minutes.

Then he was back, his eyes looked haunted, even terrified.

“We underestimated this… this mess,” Wagner said, his voice shaky.

“What mess?”

Ignoring her question, Wagner added, still rattled.

“He is the KEY to our very survival, Sylvanea.”

***

Keynes watched Daiyu Fen pace the common room. She was frustrated with him. He understood— well, no, he didn’t. She’d gotten herself wounded and he saved her life, now she was angry with him. She had a point that this might be a golden cage although he didn’t believe so. His instinct told him that he’d made the right choice.

On top of that, Wagner Zimmermann was open about their arrangements. He offered to help them but not for free. Something that Keynes liked very much. He was vague about the type of work he expected though and that drove everyone mad.

Keynes decided to take the time and sift through the dimensional pouch belonging to the second assassin. Keynes put aside two other dimensional pouches and accessed the assassin’s one. Unfortunately, the content was disappointing and except for twelve daggers (a common and uncommon rarity), there was nothing of worth; only clothes, cash, personal documents, food and a phone. Seeing the phone inside made him worried. He didn’t know if it was possible to track a device inside a dimensional pouch. If yes, it could expose their location to Freeman. But once again, he didn’t think it was possible. Also Alice added that only mana-powered devices could be considered powerful enough to do so.

“What are you doing?” Vivena asked, which prompted Daiyu Fen to approach Keynes.

Kaito Ren gave Christopher Wolf a worried look, while Keynes’s family kept to themselves in a corner. Keynes’s father didn’t pay anyone any mind, reading a book he’d found here. His mother glanced at Vivena, her gaze was a little judgemental but she didn’t voice her thoughts. Harter looked impatient.

“I’m checking on the government assassin’s things,” Keynes replied to her.

“How?”

He realised that he hadn’t told them about the dimensional storage. There had been no reason to keep this information to himself. It looked like the dimensional pouches were quite common.

He explained them and saw the disbelief enter their faces and a touch of anger in the case of Daiyu Fen (or more than a touch).

“And you haven’t thought to tell us earlier?” Daiyu Fen stabbed his chest with her finger. “I thought we were past keeping secrets from each other?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” It was the truth. There had always been something else on his mind.

“Of course, you didn’t,” she sniffed and turned her back to him. Keynes had to say that the tight costume they’d given her looked good on Daiyu Fen, not that she’d appreciated it when Harter had mentioned it.

“So, what's inside these pouches?” Vivena asked, her voice much softer. “And— did you hide anything else from us?”

Many things, he said in his head but immediately stopped himself from following this train of thoughts. He was afraid of becoming a gatekeeper of knowledge when he also believed it was a crime to hide it from the world.

Isn’t this one of your dilemmas about sharing information, master? Alice asked while floating around Vivena’s head.

It is and it’s complicated.

He went over the content of the pouches. A part of him wanted to keep secrets but he knew it would drive him crazy. He didn’t want to be like the Old Blood or the World Government.

“So, what are we going to do now?” Vivena asked.

“We wait.”

“I meant the content of the pouches.”

“And you have two extra pouches you cannot use,” Christopher Wolf added. “Wouldn’t it be smarter to give them away?”

Keynes agreed. He gave one pouch to Christopher and the other one to Daiyu Fen after she thoroughly explained to him why her Talent made her a perfect candidate to have one. He didn’t argue with her even though he believed Kaito Ren should have the second pouch.

The argument didn’t end there. They still needed to discuss the items they were taking.

Keynes split the twelve daggers, giving six daggers to Christopher Wolf and six to Daiyu Fen. He didn’t look at their properties. He offered the pauldron and the shield but neither of them wanted these items. All of them were curious about the Scroll of Random Teaching though but they kind of couldn’t decide who should take it and so Keynes kept it. The raw materials were of no use to them for now so they stayed with Keynes. Vampiric Shortsword and the Shortsword of Speed were Keynes’s current weapons. He gave the scimitar-like sword to Christopher Wolf at Kaito Ren’s request.

He also shared cash, food and the assassins’ clothes with them and forced the shield and the pauldron into Christopher Wolf’s pouch as his was almost full.

With that done, Keynes took stock of the content in his dimensional pouch.

5 Scrolls of Identification (Level 2) The Cloak of Shadows A slab of Level 2 aluminium A level 2 dagger with +2 damage A bolt of unidentified pale blue cloth Level 2 unidentified herbs 6 unidentified raw materials (wood, metal, stone) A Scroll of a Random Teaching Formation Schematic (Filtration) Vampiric Shortsword Shortsword of Speed

These were all magical items he currently kept in his dimensional pouch. The other two, Contender Ring and Cosy Robe, he had on himself right now. Apart from that, he had a book about French plants, a Hunting Guide, his notebook, the first assassin’s notebook, a blanket, some cutlery, a tent, a chef knife, food, cash and other unimportant things that belonged to the assassins.

With a dimensional pouch hanging around her neck, Daiyu Fen cooled off and backed to a corner. Vivena wasn’t so quick to give up. She didn’t say anything when Keynes gave items away but he noticed her thoughtful gaze.

“Do you have a moment?” she asked him quietly.

Keynes glanced around the common room. His mother and Christopher Wolf were engaged in a conversation. Keynes’s father didn’t peel his eyes off the book but Harter’s gaze was on him and Vivena.

And Keynes didn’t like the way his brother looked at them but he didn’t show any reaction. Maybe his brother liked Vivena and was jealous? If that was the case then… Keynes stopped the thought before it made him furious. Pulling at his Will, he cleared his mind and emotions, and replied.

“Sure.”

They went to the other side of the room. It was spacious but Christopher Wolf would still be able to hear their whisper.

“Do you understand that Zimmermann may turn against us?”

“I do.”

“Then why did you agree to come here?”

“For a starter, he doesn’t know about my Talent and he was recommended by a friend. I don’t know why but I trust him.”

“Keynes.” Vivena’s voice became weary. “There is so much magic around that you trusting him may be a spell or potion.” They were unconscious for a while after all.

He nodded, understanding that this might be the possibility. But at the same time, he had to learn to trust again because if he didn’t, he’d see traitors and backstabbers at every corner.

The worst part was that he tried to trust Vivena but couldn’t. She represented the world that wanted to wrap their long sticky fingers around him and use him as a tool whenever they wished to open a rift.

“I will speak to Ren and see if he can open a portal just in case.”

“I already have and he cannot. Either they are using formations or runes or both. I don’t know but this seems more than even my family has.”

“Well, if things go south, be ready to fight our way out of here.”

***

“Sir.” Sylv and Wagner stood in his office watching the recording from the common room on his TV. “Why did you stop me from confiscating their weapons?”

Wagner barely paid attention to her words.

After the exhilarating feeling of the insightful vision ended, doubt and fear started gnawing at him. His plan had felt perfect when he’d dictated it to Sylv, now not so much.

Thinking about the possible failure he began playing with his walking stick. It was a polished applerot wood. Memento of his gravest error. He’d hoped to find a wood that could keep mana in it. He hadn’t only failed, his failure cost a dozen lives, including his daughter. Applerot was a two-metre high tree that looked inviting and innocent until it smelled human flesh. Its roots and branches in a matter of a second had turned into deadly whips and constrictor serpents. Whoever was in the room died in less than five seconds.

Wagner hadn’t had a chance to stop it but he destroyed it, turning the only remnant of that diabolic tree into a walking stick, a reminder of what a misjudgment could spell.

The golden head was the featureless face of no one in particular. As he considered his assistant’s question, he also asked himself, was he making a mistake here?

Now, his first answer was yes.

The Fruit of Insight gave him knowledge from beyond the curtain but it only showed him things very close to Keynes Kid. When he tried to look at a bigger picture, the details vanished and the insight became vague and useless. The fruit's limitation might as well spell his doom.

But there was a new force that quickly made itself known to him. Once he’d tasted this type of restricted knowledge, he craved more. And sticking to his plan was a sure way to get it.

“Do you think I am making a mistake?” he asked, finding himself at wits’ end.

“Allowing them to keep weapons? Absolutely.”

“No.” Wagner shook his head. “I mean the plan to lure Windsor Freeman and Shaper here.”

“Yes,” Sylv answered without hesitation. “I understand you gained unparalleled knowledge through that fruit but the risk of failure is too great. And you said it yourself, Keynes Kid’s survival isn’t dependent on us, but ours is.”

“You do understand that I just ate billions worth of value, don’t you?”

“I do and I was against it. Also, while Keynes Kid’s survival isn't dependent on us, you must initiate the plan for our fates to become entangled and our lives on the line. Isn’t that right?”

That was true but there was more to it. Keynes Kid wasn’t only crucial in their potential conflict with Windsor Freeman and Shaper but further down the line lay a pivotal point that could end the world. The fruit hadn’t allowed him to see clearly that far and he’d only received impressions or feelings but Wagner wanted to be there. The moment that would define the future, perhaps, in a greater way than the first outbreak.

Sylv placed her hand on Wagner’s shoulder, ensuring that her naked skin didn’t touch his, it would be harmless but unpleasant to a Level 7.

Wagner stirred, then turned his head her way. He saw it in her eyes, she knew his decision.

“Initiate the plan.”