Kane questioned his life decisions as he walked toward the stage where Blackhood Rella was waiting with a bloody dagger in her hand. How did I end up in this situation?

Throughout his career in the Hoods, he had done his best to lay low and avoid attention, his actions dictated only by profit and his personal safety. He assessed situations based on their profitability, the risks involved, and whether the risks were worth taking in exchange for the profits. His sharp mind was what made him a relatively successful smuggler, and it was the weapon he used to compensate for his lack of fighting skills. It was also the main reason why he was still alive after spending years as a member of the Hoods, although Kane was now questioning his decisions. Where did I go wrong?!

Was it his decision to operate in Halros many years ago? Maybe if he chose some other city to operate in, he wouldn't have had to deal with this situation. But the other cities were risky too. Reports had been trickling in over the past few months that some of the Hoods' footholds in other cities were wiped out, down to the last man, so surely it wasn't a wrong decision to operate in Halros where the Hoods' influence was strong enough to grant him some protection.

Then was it my decision to join the Hoods in the first place? Kane asked himself as he arrived in front of Blackhood Rella, who gave him a bright smile. Maybe if I decided to just be a normal merchant instead of being a smuggler, things wouldn't have taken such a wrong turn. If I had the chance to make that decision again, I'd turn away from the Hoods without hesitation.

When Blackhood Rella raised the dagger to his face, Kane closed his eyes in surrender. Ah, too late for regrets now.

But instead of lopping off his head, Blackhood Rella spoke to him with a sultry voice as she caressed his face with the end of her dagger. “Redhood Kane. Did anybody ever tell you that you look so cute?”

“Bwah?” Kane said in confusion. The fear that he felt made him garble his words, which made the Blackhood laugh.

“You're so funny! I always liked little men. You look so much like children pretending to be adults,” Blackhood Rella said with a laugh. “I know you're not a traitor, Redhood Kane. I've been watching you since you've entered the city.”

Kane felt cold sweat drip down his back. If the Blackhood was watching earlier, then that meant he had been this close to dying when he tried to run away. Tilton, despite being a traitor, saved his life by convincing him to stay. Oh, thank you so much, you back-stabbing bastard.

“I-It's an honor to know you've been, uh, interested in me, Blackhood Rella,” Kane stuttered.

“Oh, I'm really interested,” Blackhood Rella said with a sweet smile. “I want to know where you got your new merchandise. It's been a long time since I've worn a dress fit for a queen.”

Kane cursed in his mind. His plan to have a monopoly on Mr. Marion's products was gone. Well, at least I get to keep my life. Money is useless if I'm not alive to spend it.

“I-I will be glad to tell you, Blackhood Rella,” Kane replied nervously.

Blackhood Rella smirked. “I know you don't like it, little man.” Kane grew pale. “But in exchange, I'll make you the manager of Dagula's. You'll have a small cut of everything that will be sold here.”

Kane goggled at Blackhood Rella. A ‘small cut’ she says! A small cut from a high-end auction house like Dagula's is dozens of times larger than what I make with each trip between Halros and Wildpost!

Greed lit up in Kane's eyes, but he immediately remembered the epiphanies he made when he thought he was about to die. Money was useless if he was dead. Kane needed to get out of the Hoods if he wanted to stay alive for a long time, and if he accepted Blackhood Rella's offer, he'll just involve himself deeper with the Hoods.

“I am very grateful for your generosity, Blackhood Rella, but I'm afraid I will have to decline your offer,” Kane said nervously. “I do not find it in me the capability to handle such a large business without failing you, and I fear to disappoint you, honored Blackhood.”

Kane heard snorts in the audience from people who knew of his greed. But Kane ignored them. They didn't know of the new Kane, the one that had just learned valuable wisdom from his close brush with death. Laugh all you want, you fools. The one that gets an important position is the one that will eventually be targeted by the Shadow.

Blackhood Rella stared at him with unusual intensity in her gaze. Just as Kane thought that his newfound wisdom had failed him, Blackhood Rella laughed loudly. “You really are cute, aren't you, Redhood Kane? Not only are you loyal, but you have a good head on your shoulders as well. That's very hard to come by in Redhoods these days.”

Kane's jaw dropped at the unexpected praise.

“For impressing me and for your unwavering loyalty to the Hoods, I hereby assign you as the General Manager of all our operations in the business district,” Blackhood Rella announced with a large smile, eliciting envious gasps from the other Redhoods in the audience. “Don't disappoint me, little man.”

Kane could only nod dumbly at the Blackhood. Not only did his plan to lay low fail drastically, his goal of escaping the Hoods' clutches suddenly became an almost-impossible task. How did I end up in this situation? Kane asked himself again as he slowly walked to the exit in a daze. Blackhood had called another Redhood to the stage and beheaded him the moment he arrived in front of her, but none of that registered in Kane's mind as he pondered his new predicament.

●●●

We only stayed in the dryads' Sanctuary for a single night and left the very next day. Selise wanted to stay for longer and spend more time with her new nudist friends, but I incessantly pestered her until she agreed to go home. I felt a bit guilty for pulling her away from her new friends, but I didn't want to stay in the Sanctuary any longer than I should. I still didn't know if the dryads truly were our ‘allies,’ but I can't find it in me to trust a big tree who knew I was an Ascendant out of nowhere.

The parting had been pretty brief, with Selise saying her goodbyes to Wennena and the other dryads she made friends with in the short time we spent in the Sanctuary. Wennena was pretty cold to me, but she assured me that I could come back as long as I took Selise with me. I didn't bother asking what would happen if I came alone.

When we returned to my cave, I finally breathed easily now that no naked tree-women were looking at me with curious eyes as their breasts jiggled. Damn nudists made me tense the entire time I was there.

“Are you going to stay here for the day?” I asked Selise as we loitered around in front of my cave, still processing everything we've witnessed yesterday. Despite our dramatic scene yesterday, we were back to our usual dynamic. It was pretty impressive, really, since Selise had just learned that she had been talking to a living doll for the entire time she knew Taloress. I thought things would become awkward between us, but Selise didn't change in the way she talked to us.

“I think I'm going to go home and take a breather for a few days,” Selise said as she gathered her belongings from my cave. “I know I said I'm going to stay for a few days, but yesterday was just too stressful for my liking. Finding a hidden community of dryads and learning that my friends were an Ascendant and a puppet were just too much, Mr. Marion.”

“I understand. Just… please don't tell anyone, alright?”

“That's the sixth time you told me that, Mr. Marion,” Selise said with a roll of her eyes. “You're secret's going to be fine with me.”

“I'm going to send Taloress with you when you return to Wildpost. It's dangerous to travel in the Wild Woods alone,” I said as I fed Clip and Clop some of the ‘special grass’ the dryads gave me as a parting gift. They said I could boil it into a tea and drink it to make myself healthy, but there was no way in hell I'm consuming something from those suspicious tree huggers. Clip and Clop seem to disagree as they furiously consumed the small pile of grass I placed in front of them.

Selise looked like she was about to disagree, but in the end, she shrugged. “Alright. With Loress by my side, I'm practically invincible in the Wild Woods.”

Taloress nodded proudly and puffed her chest out.

“By the way, can you do me a favor and ask your father if he can lend me some pickaxes and shovels?” I asked. During the trip home, an idea came to me that would solve my problem regarding not being able to build my headquarters with the threat of sea monsters coming in the spring. If I couldn't build a structure on the surface because it'd attract the monsters' attention, then why not build an underground headquarters. Not only was it hidden from plain sight, but the thought of having an underground base also sounded way cooler!

“Sure, I'll see if Dad has some. I'll just let Taloress carry it back when she returns,” Selise said. When Clip and Clop were finally finished eating, I lent the wagon to Selise so her trip would be quicker.

When they were gone, Spider emerged from the treeline, his tentacles wriggling as he greeted me. Welcome hooome, Massster.

“Good to see you again, Spider. Did anything happen while we were gone?”

Monstersss have intruded into your territooory, but I have already taken care of theeem.

“So the monsters are starting to creep into our territory, huh? Looks like it's time to let them know that something far worse had replaced the Grisly Bear that used to live here,” I said with a smile. “Where did the monsters come from?”

The southeast, Massster.

“Wait, that was where you guys saw the black panther, right?” I asked Mr. Marion and Tedd.

Yes, Master. The last time we intended to scout the area, we encountered the panther, so we decided to retreat. We have no information regarding what lies in the southeast, Mr. Marion replied.

Maybe that's where the panther lives, Tedd said fearfully as he peeked his head from Mr. Marion's coat.

I felt a chill go down my spine at the thought of the blasted panther living so close to me this whole time. But an idea suddenly popped up in my mind. If the panther really was living there, we could spring a trap on it since we knew where it lived. Hehehe, it's time for some payback, you stupid cat.

●●●

When Taloress returned in the afternoon, she cocked her head in curiosity as she saw all of us gathered in front of the cave. Mr. Marion and Spider stood by my sides while Tedd sat on my shoulder. I was currently outside Mr. Marion since I wanted to feel the fresh air on my skin again. My puppets watched as the threads floating in front of me formed into a magic circle.

Master, I'm back, Taloress said as she parked the wagon beside the cave and approached us. I brought the pickaxes and shovels.

“Thanks, Taloress. Just put those in the cave, we'll deal with that later,” I said as I focused on the magic circle forming in front of me.

Taloress came back a moment later and leaned over my shoulder. Master, what are you doing?

“What I should have done a long time ago,” I replied as I finished the magic circle and moved it a fair distance away from us. “Developing new spells!”

Right after I finished my sentence, I activated the magic circle. I expected it to fail just like the others before it, but my expectations were blown away when the spell successfully activated. The force was invisible, but in the brief time that it existed within my mana sense, I felt a mass of Wild mana form into a shape of a thin lance before it flew off toward the distant tree I designated as a target.

Unlike my usual Force Blasts, the lance of force traveled further and pierced through the thick trunk, bursting through the other side of the tree in a shower of splinters. It was a resounding success. “Lady and gentlemen, the Force Lance is now a part of my repertoire!”

My puppets immediately started clapping and showered me with congratulations. “Hehe, thank you, thank you. I'm so good, aren't I?”

As I chuckled at my narcissism, I opened my spellbook and started stitching notes into it.

Spell: Force Lance Type: Wild Magic Level: Third Circle Description: sends a lance of force in a single direction Important note: a Force Lance flies farther than a Force Blast and can easily pierce through thick materials. Recommended for sniping distant targets and for poking annoying people.

When I finished listing down my new spell's details along with a drawing of its magic circle, I perused the three other spells I've created while we waited for Taloress.

Spell: Force Shield Type: Wild Magic Level: Third Circle Description: Creates a domed shield one meter in diameter. Important note: The integrity of the shield depends on the amount of mana channeled into the spell. Put some extra juice into it if you don't want some monster random monster chewing your beautiful face.

Spell: Force Blade Type: Wild Magic Level: Third Circle Description: Sends a blade of force one meter in length in a single direction Important note: Perfect for cutting down enemies clumped together and ripe wheat.

Spell: Force Bomb Type: Wild Magic Level: Third Circle Description: Creates an explosion of force with a two-meter radius Important note: Radius is small and is harder to control than a Force Blast, but capable of obliterating a fully-grown tree at point-blank range. Wennena would cry if she saw what the tree looked like post-blast.

I smiled in satisfaction at my growing repertoire of spells. I didn't know what other mages thought of as impressive, but I'm sure creating four new spells in a few hours was pretty impressive. I'll admit that creating these spells had been relatively easy since all I had to do was manipulate how the spell would shape the force that would be created, but it was an impressive feat nonetheless.

“With this, half of my preparations to kill the damn panther is now complete!”

What's the other half, Master? Taloress asked as she took my spellbook from my hands and started perusing it.

“The other half involves preparing lots of fabric that I'll never run out of it during the battle and creating a fourth-circle spell.”

I could already imagine the difficulty in trying to create my first fourth-circle spell, but it shouldn't be impossible. When I created my new spells, I learned several insights about magic circles that would definitely help in trying to create my first fourth-circle spell.

“Let's stop the magic testing for now,” I said as I assessed the damages my trials had wrought. The clearing in front of my cave now looked like an active warzone with all the craters and ruined trees created by my failed spells. I guess it's a good thing I decided not to build my headquarters aboveground, huh?

Before I proceeded to my other tasks, I had my puppets cook some lunch first. With the high number of monsters my puppets hunted last week, I had a small variety of meat that I could choose from, all of them under Preservation spells to make them last almost indefinitely as long as I constantly refreshed the spells.

Since the dryads had fed us nothing but fruits and nuts when we stayed in the Sanctuary, I decided to go with the meatiest choice. “I'll have the hind legs of a stampede boar, please.”

My puppets happily began chopping off a leg from a huge boar and started preparing a fire while I stood watch, making sure none of them caught fire. When the fire was ready, Spider took hold of the leg by the hooves and began rotating it over the fire. Normally, the meat had to be soaked in hot water to make it easier to pluck the hair off the skin, but I already removed all the fur with my Authority long ago.

“Alright, while Spider cooks the food, we'll start on our other task,” I said to Mr. Marion and Taloress. “We're going to turn our cave into an underground headquarters! To do that, we'll have to make several rooms first. Mr. Marion, Taloress, pick up those pickaxes and let's start digging!”

I directed my puppets to the right wall of the cave a short distance from the entrance. “The first room will be located here. Make an entrance and a short hallway first then dig a large room with a moderately high ceiling. Make the ceiling just a bit higher than the ceiling of our cave.”

I don't have experience with digging, but I will try my best, Master! Taloress proclaimed before approaching the wall with her pickaxe. Using her strength, she struck the wall with all her might, violently shattering a small chunk of the rock wall and sending debris flying everywhere. A piece of rock whizzed into my forehead.

“Gah!”

Master, I'm sorry!

After a short moment of Taloress apologizing and Mr. Marion reprimanding her, I told them to proceed with the job while I nursed my bruised forehead beside Spider. Lesson learned: stay away from my puppets if they're about to do a job they have no experience with.

“What do you think I should use the first room for?” I asked Spider as I watched him roast the boar leg. For all my excitement in building my headquarters, I had no idea what a textile factory needed to operate.

Technically, I didn't need a headquarters since I could just create clothes from raw materials with my Authority, and I could do it anywhere. But if I wanted my company to grow big in the future, I couldn't just do everything myself. I needed workers and equipment to produce the clothes without needing my supervision. I had no problem with workers since I could just create more puppets, and I had the money to buy the equipment needed for mass-producing clothes.

The problem was that I had no idea what kind of equipment I needed for a textile factory. I knew the tools needed for creating clothes, but not for processing the raw materials. The fibers had to be spun into threads and the threads had to be weaved into fabrics, but I had no idea what kind of equipment I needed for those. Maybe I should visit the nearest city and take a look at the textile factories there?

I haaave an idea for the first room, Massster, Spider said as his tentacles wriggled. A trophy room, where the headsss of all that opposed Massster are displayed to strike fear into the hearts of our enemiesss.

I scooted away from Spider. Where the hell did he get that idea?!

At that moment, I felt intruders enter the radius of my fabric sense. There were ten of them coming from the southeast, and their shapes were extremely familiar. Humanoids with child-like bodies. Goblins.

We've got some intruders, everyone. Mr. Marion, Taloress, untie Clip and Clop from their harnesses and bring them inside the cave, I commanded. Mr. Marion and Taloress immediately dropped their pickaxes and rushed outside, pulling the horses inside the cave.

“We've got some goblins inbound. At my signal, I want all of you to disable but don't kill them,” I said with emphasis. I didn't kill goblins back then because they looked like children, and I still abided by that thought.

Aww, Taloress said with slumped shoulders as she reformed her spike arms back into normal ones.

As the group of goblins sneaked closer to our location, I realized that one of them was way larger than the rest, the same size as a full-grown human. An adult goblin?

When they reached the edge of the clearing, they remained crouched behind the bushes, peeking at us, thinking they were hidden. I decided to strike first and formed a Force Blade.

When the spell was ready, I sent it flying towards the base of the tree branch directly over the goblins, cutting it cleanly. The branch fell and struck one of the goblins right over the head, who screamed in its guttural language as it clutched its head.

Realizing that they were found out, the adult goblin howled and the group emerged from the treeline, shouting and screaming as they charged. The goblin that got hit in the head charged as well, swerving like a drunken man as he did so.

Seeing the goblins with my own eyes reminded me of my first encounter with them. The little critters had ambushed me with the strength of numbers, and now they were using the same tactic. They even had an adult goblin this time. But just like last time, they had no chance of winning. I could already handle them back then, but now I was stronger and had my puppets to rely on. I almost felt sorry for them.

When the charging goblins crossed half the distance, Mr. Marion and Taloress began running to meet them, aiming for the goblins' flanks. Spider remained by my side just in case some managed to get past my two puppets.

Taloress arrived first and like a bowling ball, she crashed into the goblins, heedless of the sharp stones and knives they struck against her body. The poor goblins' formation had already been in disarray before they even charged, but after Taloress' tackle, the goblins' charge was stopped dead in its tracks as the little critters tripped and tumbled over their other fallen comrades. The goblins' entire charge was stopped by Taloress alone.

By the time Mr. Marion arrived, all he had to do was bind the goblins' limbs with thread one by one. Taloress had to scuffle with the large goblin for a bit, but in the end, he joined his smaller brethren lying on the floor, their limbs bound.

Instead of feeling victorious, I felt pity for the goblins. That wasn't even a fight. Taloress practically bullied them with no effort, just like taking candy from a child.

That was embarrasssing, Spider murmured beside me.

“Let's just say they didn't surrender even in the face of overwhelming odds, alright? Give the poor critters a little credit,” I said as I approached the goblins. Even though they attacked us first, I felt like a bully as they squirmed fearfully at my approach.

The goblins looked just like the ones I encountered when I first came into the Wild Woods: green leathery skin, sharp teeth, large heads, and squinty eyes. The only difference this time was that the goblins looked extremely malnourished. I could see their skeletal system with how visible their bones were under their skin.

I shifted my gaze to the adult goblin, the only one among the goblins who wasn't afraid. He was glaring at me as he snarled defiantly, which was extremely disturbing because the adult goblin eerily looked too much like a human. He still had the squinty eyes, large nose, and sharp teeth of the smaller goblins, but his adult proportions gave him a more human appearance.

Master, what do we do now? Mr. Marion asked.

“Now, we'll see if they can understand my words,” I said as I crouched beside the adult goblin. “Caaan yoouu understaaand meee?”

The adult goblin just snarled at me in reply.

I think that's a no, Master, Taloress said.

“Thank you for the helpful response,” I replied sarcastically.

I'm glad to help!

As I shook my head at Taloress' denseness, another monster entered my fabric sense. This time, it wasn't in the shape of a goblin.

It was in the shape of a fucking panther.