Later that night.

Hong was in Cale's arms looking down at the roof below them. Cale petted Hong's fur that was soft after being thoroughly cared for by Cale, well, mostly deputy butler Hans.

"My my, the Singten guild leader seems to be in a rush. Right, Billos?"

"Yes, yes young master-nim." Billos quickly responded to Cale's question, but felt a chill down his back at the same time.

He followed Cale's gaze and looked down at the roof below. He was currently sitting down and hanging on a rope.

On the other hand, Cale had the Sound of the Wind at his feet while leisurely standing on top of the roof.

'...The young master-nim has been hiding his strength.'

The shield was not the only Ancient Power that this young master had. A normal person would find it hard to be standing at the tip of the roof. It would also be scary. Billos himself needed to be carried up here by Hilsman.

'I did not know enough about the young master-nim.'

Billos recalled Cale's past. Cale Henituse, the Trash of the Count's family. He had known that Cale had pretended to be trash, however, he truly felt that fact to be true at this moment.

'Right, how would he know so much about the Western continent if he really was trash?'

There used to be a small rumor from a person believed to be the young master's tutor in the past that talk about how much of a genius the young master was when his birth mother was around. But because of the trash behavior after, that rumor was buried and no one believed it afterwards.

Cale knew a lot about the nations in the Western continents, the famous locations, and the influential people. He needed to have studied in order for someone in the remote corner of the Roan Kingdom to know about all of this information.

'He must have abandoned the lessons on the surface but secretly studied. To fool everyone that he's a harmless Trash.' Billos was thinking that Cale had gathered these powers during that time as well.

In fact, he was thinking that Cale was even better than himself, who had been gathering his strength while living the life of a bastard son.

'What he is looking down at?'

Billos was looking past the money and getting an intuition as a fellow human being.

Cale's record in these past two years was telling him something. He was thinking that the moment a person who was hiding his abilities slowly starts to reveal his strength was when the world would change.

Billos clenched the rope he was hanging onto as he looked toward where Cale was looking. '...The strength he was hiding was not just his own strength as well.'

This was the residence that the Singten guild leader was staying in. Billos could see the eerie fog surrounding the residence.

He knew that Cale traveled with Cats, but he did not know they could control the fog. 'I also didn't know he had so many experts and such a stealthy information guild as well.'

The masked information guild members were moving around based on Cale's orders right now.

Billos had his own group of informants as a merchant, however, he had never seen such stealthily informants before.

'The fact that they were able to stealthily approach the Singten guild leader means that they are pretty much highest-grade assassins.'

He had no idea who that person might be.

Billos would probably be shocked if he knew that that assassin was the same Ron who had handed him some honey lemon tea yesterday.

However, there was someone here who would be shocked even more than Billos.

It was the owner of the residence that Cale was currently looking at.

Plavin Singten.

He was the one responsible for raising up the Singten Merchant Guild to its current glory, as well as someone who was dreaming of it becoming the best merchant guild in the Empire, and then the western continent.

He was currently tapping his cup of wine on the table with a frown. "...How did he know?"

Tap. Tap. Tap. Even the noise of the wooden cup tapping on the table could not disturb Plavin Singten's thoughts.

'The Determination of Fire?'

The Determination of Fire was an item that he had given to the Pope when he, after being unable to decide whether to build a connection with the Empire or the Pope, decided to tie himself to both sides.

The Pope who had pretended to be an upright priest had been extremely materialistic.

This guild leader was able to become close with the Church of the Sun God after delivering the Determination of Fire as an offering to the pope.

He had naturally done this without the Empire's knowledge.

'I didn't expect it to put me in such a rut!' Plavin Singten's gaze headed toward a corner of the table. He could see an open invitation sitting there.

"...Crazy bastard. Just wait until I get my hands on you." Plavin ground his teeth in anger.

This invitation forced him to come to the Caro Kingdom's auction even though he was extremely busy. He also could not bring many people with him because he could not let the Empire get wind of this information. He could not even bring his personal assassin guild that he had been grooming.

'I couldn't do it because the Imperial Prince has eyes everywhere.'

Imperial Prince Adin had been thoroughly keeping his eyes on all stealthy organization ever since the attempted murder of the Alchemists' Bell Tower's vice tower master and the destruction of a portion of the Sun Palace.

Plavin could not do something as dangerous as crossing the border with his assassin guild members in such a situation. He could not reveal his weapons right now.

'...But there should be no reason for me to be in danger, right?'

He had brought the Vice Guild Leader of the assassin guild, as well as a high-grade expert swordsman, as guards. He shouldn't be in danger as long as a sword master did not appear.

Tap. Tap. Tap. The tapping of the cup continued in rhythm.

'I need to first capture the crazy bastard who sent the invitation and take the Determination of Fire from them if they really do have it.'

He could not leave such a weakness out in the open.

Tap. Tap. Tang. Tap-

"...Hmm?' He heard an unexpected noise.

Tang. He turned his head and looked toward the window that was half covered by curtains.

Plavin finally noticed the weird situation. "...Fog?"

The Caro Kingdom had a naturally dry climate, and it was not raining. The thick fog caught Plavin's attention. His palms were starting to get sweaty.

The fog was red. That was not a normal fog.

Screeech. The room door opened.

"Guild leader-nim." It was the Vice Guild Leader of the assassin guild.

"Go check it out." The assassin immediately headed toward the window at Plavin's command.

Swordsmen quickly surrounded Plavin, who held an antidote in his hand and took out a magic item imbued with shield magic.

It was at that moment.

Tang. He heard the sound of something banging on the window once more. The swordsmen clenched their swords while the assassin held a dagger in one hand and quickly opened the curtains.

Chhhhhh- The curtain was opened...

And there was nothing there.

"Mm." Plavin let out a groan.

However, the assassin found an item on the empty terrace. It was not what had been causing the noise from banging against the window. He could not tell what had been banging against the window.

All he saw was a small invitation. That invitation was quickly delivered to Plavin, who opened it only to find a short message.

It was a seat number for the VIP auction.

Plavin glared at the assassin and his guard with anger. "Just what the hell were you guys doing?"

The guards and assassin had done nothing while the fog had spread and someone had infiltrated the house to leave this invitation behind.

However, Plavin, who was about to get angry, could not help but become shocked at the high-grade expert's response.

"I apologize, guild leader-nim. I ran over as soon as I saw the fog, but I did not notice any presences. I was patrolling just as we discussed."

They had discussed how to guard the guild leader prior to leaving for the Caro Kingdom.

Plavin had verified it earlier as well. That was why he had thought that they would have been slacking off and was about to get angry. However, the truth was different.

The assassin quietly responded as well. "Guild leader-nim ... I did not feel any presences at all until now. All I saw and heard was the fog and that 'tang' noise."

Plavin finally realized the situation.

It was an expert that the Vice Guild Leader and a high-grade expert could not notice at all. That expert had left this invitation behind for him.

Gulp. Plavin could not help but gulp. He had goosebumps all over his body as he continued to glare at the seat number listed on the invitation.

He now had another reason to go to this seat on the first day of the VIP auction. That reason was fear.

"Young master-nim, I am back." The masked Ron reported with his voice still disguised.

Cale turned his gaze away from the residence. "Let's go."

The residence was quiet once the red fog disappeared. Cale hoped that the Singten Guild Leader would understand his situation while sitting in that silence.

***********************************

The next morning, Cale headed toward the Golden Tree with a newly purchased magic bag. This was naturally an empty magic bag to be filled with 30 billion counds.

The top floor of the Golden Tree. This location that was the highest spot in Vegas City was as quiet as a theatre waiting for a play to start, although there were some whispers down below.

Click. The Singten Guild Leader Plavin opened the door to R-3.

The auction house for the VIP auction had seats from 1 – 5. However, there were VIP sections as well.

R. This was the symbol for the terrace where you could see the auction platform, as well as the seats below. The auction house had a total of 8 terraces like this, and they were all labeled by the letter R.

It was possible to see the entire platform, but most importantly, the terrace had a sound barrier and made it easier to hide your identity in comparison to the other seats.

Plavin Singten entered terrace number 3 while wearing a mask that was embedded with beautiful jewels.

Screeech. He opened the curtains covering the terrace.

Plavin had to find a seat in R-3 at short notice, however, it was not difficult as the seat originally assigned to the Singten Merchant Guild, which was one of the top five merchant guilds in the Empire, was within the 8 terraces.

The number itself was not important.

"Guild leader-nim, shall I bring some tea?" Plavin turned toward the voice.

The participants inside the auction house could bring one servant with them. Knights and mages could not come with them. That was why Plavin had brought the assassin guild's vice guild leader as his servant.

"No need." Plavin did not even sit at the luxurious couch as he looked around the terrace. 'Is he on terrace 4?'

'That bastard. Where could the crazy bastard with the Determination of Fire be located?' That was the only thing Plavin was focused on right now.

The eight terraces were all paired up, however, there was a thick wall between the paired terraces in order to make it difficult to know who was on the other terraces.

Plavin licked his lips with his tongue. 'Just how are we going to meet?'

He had no idea about how the person would approach him. He asked the assassin a question. "The Flynn Merchant Guild is on terrace 4?"

"Yes sir. It is said to be Billos, who is second in line to succeed the leader."

From terrace 1 to terrace 8, the Singten Guild Leader had used all of his information networks in order to figure out who was on each terrace.

'...Is the Flynn Merchant Guild's successor the crazy bastard?'

Billos, the bastard son of the Flynn Merchant Guild's guild leader, was still young. But most importantly, he had never gone near the Empire's Vatican nor had he had any contact with the Pope.

'It is possible that I just didn't know.'

It could be that he was looking down on the Flynn Merchant Guild, however, his instincts that had been honed through years of experience were telling him something.

It was not the Flynn Merchant Guild. They were not at that level. He was close to certain that his intuition was correct. It was a more difficult existence to determine. That seemed to be the crazy bastard's identity.

"It will start soon. How about we sit down for now?"

"Sure." Plavin realized that he had been overly anxious after hearing the assassin's comment. His face underneath the beautiful mask was extremely nervous.

'The Flynn Merchant Guild's successor apparently already entered terrace 4.'

Plavin was the last to enter terrace R. The staff of the Golden Tree Auction House had closed the entrance to the terrace as soon as he entered. Talented swordsmen were said to be guarding outside the door.

'But they're probably still weaker than that crazy bastard.' Plavin hated the person blackmailing him, but still wanted to see who it was. 'Is this what it feels like to be dragged around?'

The merchant guild leader had changed his goal after last night. The original goal was to reveal the person and take the necklace away, however, it had now changed into making a deal.

A mutually beneficial deal. This meeting would not be too bad if it was a mutually beneficial deal. Plavin made up his mind to put his 'know-how' that he had gained after so many years to use.

Of course, he had no idea that the phrase 'mutually beneficial deal' was not in the other person's mind.

Boom- He started to hear the sound of a drum beating.

"It is starting."

"Yes." Plavin sat up straight at the assassin's words and casually looked down at the platform.

The auctioneer for the auction walked up to the beat of the drum. The auctioneer was also wearing a fancy mask as he spoke into the amplification magic device.

"Nice to meet you. Thank you very much for joining us in this new year celebration VIP auction."

Contrary to his respectful tone, the auctioneer's demeanor did not seem respectful at all. He increased the anticipation for the items that were about to come out with some brief descriptions.

"Our VIP auction is famous for bringing out one best item every day for the duration of the three days."

The auctioneer shared the theme of this VIP auction. "The theme of this auction is 'Beast people'. Ah! Of course, we do not put living Beasts up for auction. We despise barbaric acts such as slavery. Haha!"

The assassin peeked toward Plavin.

Plavin Singten was someone who had risen to his current position through that barbaric slave trade.

However, the assassin ignored the auctioneer's words after seeing the guild leader's calm demeanor.

"Then we will start with the first item!"

The first item was brought up to the platform and the audience applauded the start of the auction.

Clap, clap, clap-

Plavin did not clap as he simply continued to look down at the platform.

Clap, clap, clap-

Tap. He heard a different noise amongst the applause. Plavin Singten's body quickly stiffened up.

The assassin quickly moved behind Plavin and clenched the dagger that was inside of his chest pocket.

The small noise that they had just heard. That noise had come from the railing. It was as if someone had stepped onto the railing in order to enter the terrace.

"The starting bid is 100 million counds!"

It was the moment he heard the auctioneer's excited voice.

Screeech. The curtains closed.

Plavin could not take his eyes away from the curtain that closed by itself.

Click. He also did not see any intruders, but the inner door to the terrace was locked by itself as well. Plavin clenched the shield magic device in his chest pocket.

"I don't think there will be a reason for you to activate your shield."

He heard a voice even though he did not see anybody.

'Young.' It was the voice of a young man.

Plavin's hand that was clenching the magic device started to shake.

The man did not care as he continued to speak. "An assassin as your servant. Isn't that too vicious? Put away your dagger."

"Haaaa." Plavin could hear the nervous sigh of the assassin behind him.

The merchant guild leader and the assassin. Both of them had the same thought in their heads right now.

'An expert.' They were thinking that this invisible man was an expert.

Clunk. The table in front of Plavin started to move. Plavin's eyes opened wide as he stared at the table.

"Why are you so shocked?" A man suddenly appeared out of thin air. The white-haired man was sitting at the edge of the table with his arms crossed.

The man's clear blue eyes underneath the white mask that was as white as his hair were looking at Plavin.

'... Fuck! He's at least a high-grade mage.' The merchant guild leader started to get anxious after realizing the man had been using invisibility magic, however, the assassin was even more anxious.

'He is a mage and a warrior.' This man had realized he was about to take his dagger out.

That alone signaled that the man was involved in martial arts. He was at least a high-grade mage and a fighter. The assassin got a headache after thinking about the man's stealthiness and the red fog from the night before as well.

However, the intruder in front of them, Cale, was just saying whatever Raon was telling him in his mind.

– Human, aren't I great?

Shield magic device, invisibility, and the dagger. Raon had explained everything to Cale.

'What a clever child.' Cale pushed aside his satisfaction at how Raon learned to report without needing any directions as he smiled toward Plavin.

The mask only covered the upper half of his face, making his smile completely visible.

"H-How did you get-"

Cale shook his head at the fact that Plavin's first words to him were useless nonsense. That was not important.

Cale took a necklace out of his chest pocket.

Clang. He hung the necklace on his index finger and started to shake it.

Plavin's gaze was stuck on the Determination of Fire. He heard the white-haired man's voice at that moment.

"30."

That number brought Plavin back to his senses as he clenched onto the armrest and started to frown. "Who the hell are you? How dare you do this to me!?"

"Haaaaa." Cale let out a sigh.

"How boring."

"What?"

He had no intention to listen to such a boring response. That was why Cale just said what he needed to say. "30 billion counds."

Plavin, who was about to get angry, stopped moving.

30. 30 billion counds.

He finally understood what Cale was saying. He immediately responded back in shock. "W-What crazy nonsense!"

"Then should I go to the Imperial Prince?" The white-haired man responded back in an arrogant and annoyed voice. He was giving off an aura that made it difficult to even approach him.

Plavin wanted to get angry, but the gaze of the man made it difficult for him to breathe.

Cale was using a bit of the Dominating Aura as he spoke to Plavin and the assassin. "Plavin Singten."