“YOU!” Appio snarled, recognizing Edward through his aura. He drew his blade. “I refused to believe you killed master Quintus. I will show to the world that you are nothing more than a low life!”

He didn’t seem to realize that Edward was now at the predator level and could kill him in a single move. He is in complete denial. Appio’s world had been turned upside down in a few hours, his enviable future as a scion from the Vega family had been broken in an impromptu way and he was having trouble accepting the reality.

Meanwhile, seeing that the attention wasn’t on him, Carlson was trying to slither away through the crowd. However, Edward’s aura was covering the whole area and it didn’t escape his attention. I let you go once, only for you to return and hit me in the back. I’m not committing the same mistake twice. Edward ignored Appio and teleported behind him, right next to Carlson. He blanketed him with his aura, the latter freezing under the pressure. Carlson was only at the quiescent level, and with the aura of a predator focused on him, he felt like a hare in the middle of the road, standing still in front of an oncoming car with full headlights.

“Let it be known.” Edward declared loud enough for the whole crowd to hear him. “I may forgive a wronging once, but I won’t be as forgiving if you persist in your mistakes. This man in front of me.” The other members of the Vega family pushed themselves away to open the distance between them and Edward, leaving Carlson isolated. “Has opposed me once in the past hoping to gain influence and control at the expanse of the common good. I let him go and he went to the Vega family spouting lies and wrongly blaming me. Today is the day when this end.”

Edward drew his dagger, elongated the blade with his aura, and beheaded Carlson in one full swing. The head fell to the ground with a wet noise. None made a sound, a heavy silence reigned over the gathered crowd. Appio was shaking with barely contained anger. Edward stared at him. “You are free to leave. You had no part in the Vega family decisions. However, I won’t let you bully others. Leave with your own boats.” I feel like it would be easier to kill him and be done with it. The way he is looking at me, he is hating me to the bones. But I already killed Carlson, and the population is downright terrified. I have to show I can be magnanimous. Anyway, he is not a threat to me. And even if he complains to the core of the Vega family, I doubt they will do anything about it in the middle of an unusually strong monster surge. They are too far away to organize a punishing expedition when they probably have more urgent matters to attend to.

Seeing as Appio wasn’t moving, Edward added. “Unless you want to stay and fight me? I’m ready to take you on at any time.”

One of Appio’s friends put a hand on his arm and pulled him away, whispering something in his ear. The crowd shifted and the Vega family continued to load their boats with their possession under the watchful eyes of the city guards and Edward. They left alone the merchants’ vessels they had tried to requisition.

Edward stayed until the vessels were filled and drew back their boarding planks before setting sails and leaving the harbor. A large pile of furniture and sundries was left, forsaken on the dock. Edward asked the city guards to bring all those goods to Cornelius and let him see how he wanted to use them. As for Carlson’s corpse, he just told the guards to do whatever they wanted with it. Throwing it to the sea, burning it, or burying it, Edward didn’t really care. Seeing that nothing more was happening, the crowd of passersby dispersed, returning to their activities.

Edward returned to Cornelius to inform him that the situation had been dealt with. Also, while he wasn’t particularly interested in raiding the Vega family’s leftover goods, he would need money at some point. Marc’s nest egg wouldn’t last forever. Edward was determined to push his advantage to ask for future favors. Being the most powerful predator currently in the city and being the one at the source of all the recent changes, Cornelius would be hard-pressed to refuse him.

Edward reappeared inside Cornelius’ office, the latter getting used to Edward’s sudden appearances, not even filching. “Can I assume everything went well?” He asked Edward.

“The Vega family left, some asshole got killed, and you have precious goods forsaken on the docks. Yes, I would say everything went pretty well.” Edward declared.

“Did you kill the Vega young master?” Cornelius asked curiously.

“He wanted nothing more than to throw himself under my blade, but no, I let him go. I killed only a nobody that had nothing better to do than abuse his power and mislead people for his own advantage. Honestly, just by killing him, I’m sure I made life better for a lot of people.”

“I see. I would have preferred it if nobody died but this may have been too optimistic. Since the Vega family left some of their belongings behind, I assume you managed to stop them from stealing the merchants’ vessels?”

“Yes, I couldn’t just watch and not do anything while they bullied others. Speaking of the leftover goods, you can reclaim them, but if I ever need something I expect you to help me. I know I’m acting for the well-being of the city but I need to live too.”

“What do you have in mind?” Cornelius asked warily.

“Nothing much. A place to sleep, maybe a workshop or a forge for my friend, and some amenities.” Edward exclaimed.

“This is surprisingly frugal of you. I’m not used to predators only asking this much. Nor to them asking instead of simply taking what they want. It is a nice change.” Cornelius answered happily.

“I won’t stay for long. I feel like luxury is a trap anchoring you to a place. It’s not like you will be able to bring all of your precious belongings on a trip, especially when you have to fight. And with how things are developing from the monsters’ side, I think Gobéliard needs it more than me. I wouldn’t achieve anything hoarding all the gold for myself.” Edward clarified. And besides, I already have good weapons, which can even provide me healing in a fight. That is already this less to buy.

“I’m glad you think like that. I will of course support you and your friends if you need it. As for the monsters’ situation, it is indeed concerning. Already, you have helped to quell the Murlocs’ growth and even solved the situation with the Lusus naturae. However, we are still having a dramatic increase in Harpies attacks. I would feel safer if you could take care of this problem before leaving Gobéliard.” Cornelius expressed his worries for the future.

“I will look into it,” Edward promised. “Now, if that is everything I will go back to my friends. I left precipitously and I have to reassure them that everything is okay.”

Cornelius thanked him one more time before letting him go.

*****

Edward reached the adventurer guild, choosing to walk normally through the front door rather than teleporting inside, there was no urgency. Charles, Leyla, Aquamarine, Norte, and Brian were still waiting for him while the city guard was gone, probably having returned, to the city hall. Edward recounted what had happened with the Vega family leaving the city and the death of Carlson.

The group of adventurers was bothered by Edward killing someone so easily. It made them realize that if any predator wanted to kill someone, unless another one opposed him, there wasn’t much that could be done. Knowing that powerful individuals could kill them without consequences wasn’t a pleasant feeling. Still, the fact that Leyla seemed more relieved than angry by Carlson’s death reassured them. It wasn’t as if Edward had acted without reason. When Leyla told them how Carlson had been ready to sacrifice innocent villagers to assuage monsters, they understood what type of man he was.

With everything that had happened in Gobéliard recently, and Edward being the main cause of these events, he was certain to become a historical figure for the city. The group joked about how some scholars would learn their name later in history simply because they were acquainted with Edward. After chatting for a while, they left and Edward asked Leyla to stay to talk about his ideas for future runes artifact.

“Where are you staying right now?” Edward inquired.

“Why? You want to come to my place?” Leyla asked playfully.

Edward couldn’t help but flush. “That’s not it, I…”

Leyla cut him, laughing. “You may be a predator but you are still the same. You are so cute when you get flustered.”

Edward didn’t know where to put himself.

Leyla laughed some more before changing the subject. “I’m staying at the Smoking Pelican tavern. Your friends actually paid the rent for me for a week. They are nice.”

“Yes, I owe them. I wouldn’t have been able to contact you without them, not while the families were keeping an eye on me,” Edward agreed. “Since I’m working with Cornelius, and since I helped him with several matters, he can arrange a place for you. You won’t have to pay rent this way. I’m sure even a workshop could be arranged.”

“You want me to settle in Gobéliard,” Leyla asked surprised.

Edward’s face turned serious. “The situation is worrying me. Monsters are growing in numbers everywhere. I know this is something periodically happening in this world, but both Cornelius and I think that the amplitude is abnormal this time. I know Agripin now disposes of numerous awakens, but I’m not sure if this will be enough. Already, I had to fight a monster strong enough to cause problems for a whole group of adventurers.” Edward explained thinking back about the huge Lusus naturae that had been able to use aura. “If the situation keeps worsening, Agripin won’t stay safe. I think they need to evacuate the village to move to Gobéliard while they still can.”

Leyla considered what Edward was saying. “I know we have been attacked by wolves on the way to Gobéliard, but I didn’t realize the situation was this dire.” She frowned. “Did you take care of the Gobéliard main families so that Agripin could move safely to Gobéliard without suffering from repression from the main families?”

Edward chuckled. “I would like to say that I had such foresight. But no, thanks to Carlson the main families went directly to me to cause problems. I had to do something if I wanted to be able to stay freely inside Gobéliard.”