The darkness masked my silhouette as I stood rooted on the roof of Carnia bar. People in exquisite clothing strolled the streets, inter-spaced with dingy tunics at the corners. Nobles flourished around these parts because the noble residences were right across the street. Escavs patrolled the roads around the vicinity, preventing commoners from crossing over to the place the idiotic mortals deemed holy. The bar was the sweet spot for allowing the mingling between lustful nobles and seductive commoners. And it was the second largest in the Capital, only after Forth Bar.

I watched the streets vigilantly. Two jobs at once was an easy task for this undead, but my instincts weren’t happy with my confidence. The guild had asked me to arrest the criminals wreaking havoc in the bar by sequestering the hard-earned money of the commoner women inside their trousers. The rightful tax, they called it, for protecting the locale, but they missed the irony in their words and deeds.

The mercenary guild knew the Escavs couldn’t touch them. I reasoned a high member of the nobility was backing these pests. It was a private request from the guild; thus, I knew they were still unaware that their doomsday was approaching.

I suppressed a smile and climbed down the roof, using the eaves of a neighboring building as my anchor. I knocked down a tile of the bar on my descent. [Shadow] helped me blend back into the night. I landed in the deserted alley beside the bar; too many ale bottles for there to be mortals. When I reached the entrance, I saw two sturdy men on either side. Broken teeth, yellowing nails, and a bent nose adorned the man on the left. The right one was more or less not as deformed as his partner.

“Got money?” The broken teeth delinquent asked as his forefinger tried to remove something stuck in his teeth.

I showed him my pouch, filled to the brim with pebbles, but he didn’t bother checking, possibly because my clothes signified my connection to the noble house. I walked inside with the trudging crowd, trying my best not to get squished from either side. It was only when I exited the narrow entryway that I finally caught my breath. I wish I hadn’t because the stench of sweat mangled with ale was too much for my nose to bear.

I strolled through the large room, ignoring the bar counter, and took the stairs. [Shadow] helped my ascent as I sneaked in with an entourage of servants of a nobleman, whose tummy weighed more than my lady. His saliva draped uneasily as he stared at bare-chested men on the second floor. Nevertheless, a lady was dropped on his lap, and the only thing I heard was the pitiful cries from within a private room.

His servants stood rooted outside the room, heads down, and I dislodged from their entourage. Helping the mortal wasn’t on my status quo, so I walked deeper into the corridor. The mana lamps had become scant the deeper along the arrays, but I found the right room, nevertheless. At this point, I trusted the reconnaissance of the guild, so I steadied myself with a weapon forged from my own blood before knocking.

It was a dagger this time because I didn’t want to kill the leader without getting out the answers. Blood flowed down my wrist, and I made a temporary clot with [Blood Forge].

A bulky man opened the door, and I slammed his head to the jamb before kicking him toward the people seated around the table laden with fruits, bread, and ale. The bread held my attention for far too long. I gulped the saliva and closed the door behind me, counting the number of people in the room leisurely. Six it was, excluding a man and a woman, whose faces were bruised.

A man was still seated at the table calmly, smiling in my direction. His cronies had already drawn weapons, swords being the most obvious. “The guild sent you, perhaps?”

“Yeah, they did,” I said, returning his smile. “Can I have that bread first?”

“Be my guest,” the man said and asked his crony to erect a chair for me. I took the bread and started eating peacefully. This was counterfeit goods, but I had eaten worse bread, so I let them be.

“You are the sixth person this winter,” the man said, picking up his mug that had tumbled down the table. “Three before you took the extra money I offered and returned quietly, two died miserable death under my sword, and the last one is still screaming in agony after I had peeled his skin and locked him in a dark room. Who do you want to be?”

I gulped the last piece of bread and looked at him. “Can I be the guy who eats bread, gets information, and walks out unscathed?”

That earned me a laugh. “Interesting lad, I see,” he scratched his short hair and touched the scar spanning his forehead. “Say, what do you want to know?”

“Two things,” I said, leaning against the chair. “Who spread the rumor about Lady of the Valorat manor? I heard some nobles sowed the seeds in this bar before it became common knowledge, so I need their names.”

“That I can’t say,” the man said. He had pierced his right ear, and a small ornament hung there blithely. “What’s the second?”

I shook my head and sighed. “No need. I’ll get it out of you.”

Before his men could react, I stabbed my blood knife into the crony’s eye behind me. [First Step] instantly moved me behind him. I pulled out the knife, ignoring his hysterical shouts, and slashed his neck clean. Uneasiness lingered in the room when I dropped the limp body on the floor.

“Wait,” the man said, his eyebrows furrowed.

Another [First Step] landed me beside his second man. Albeit small, his reaction time was faster, and he had already backpedaled and cast a five feet boulder between us. Little did it matter since a punch with [Cardina Garch] destroyed it, and my elongated sword had slashed his head. It tumbled down and rolled toward me, the blood from the body trying its best to catch up. The boulder disappeared and became mana once it lost its potency.

“I said wait!” he shouted, getting off the chair. His voice echoed in the room amidst the wailing of the bruised man.

I crooked my neck with a smile and glanced at him. “I have just started.”

“Earl Covict,” he said, gritting his teeth. “The crown prince ordered him to spread the rumor according to the man you slayed. Perhaps, they were trying to win some favor of the masses by sending her to Rynak. I am just reporting whatever little we managed to garner from the conversations between the two.”

“Who do you work for?” I asked, walking closer to him.

“That…”

“Who do you work for?” I put my sword on his neck. I never understood why even the strongest mortals tended to show their worst side when faced with death. I’d rather die an honorable death than ever cower in fright.

“Hesroeder mansion!” he shouted, collapsing on his butt.

I sighed and glanced at the bodies uneasily. “Had you decided to talk first, this wouldn’t have happened. I was just trying to make some extra money by wiping you folks out.”

Everyone in the room glanced at me in surprise. “Are you… are we on the same side?” a bald guy asked and dropped his sword before I could reply otherwise.

“Just continue what you were doing and report to Volch regularly. Don’t recount to him what happened today. I’ll find one of these days to clear up the misunderstanding. Then again, I don’t think he ever asked you to take the money from these women.”

Even a dropped loaf of bread could echo in the room now. I sighed and continued, “I wouldn’t say it’s the wrong way, but you should stop attracting the guild’s attention for your own sake. You see, villains should be clever enough to stay lowkey and do their bidding. Torturing weak people would elicit protective desires in some stupid mortals. Try to earn money cleverly. Selling the information you get for a large sum might be one way, or kidnapping some rich noble women and taking an enormous ransom in exchange would also do. Be sure to stay under the radar and not attract much attention. And-”

“We know,” the man, who was previously oozing with confidence, now stood up in respect. “Don’t tell anyone that you were here! Train us to become good villains like you, boss.”

Just like that, I freed another mortal from the clutches of the world. But I felt he had become dumber and less villainous than before.

His cronies stood beside their master when I walked to the door. “Please teach us again next time!” they said in unison, ignoring the bloodied room. Guess they had seen a lot of blood after all.

I decided to report to the guild the next day. As far as the mission was concerned, I had solved the problem, so I expected payment from them. As for the details of the mission, they somehow worked in my favor.

When I reached our manor, the guards saluted me respectfully. Over the last few weeks, they had started accepting my lady as their master, so naturally, I got the respect I deserved. Igan had played a significant role in subjugating these vile rats. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t care either.

I ambled through the western courtyard corridor and reached my room. The small room had always offered me solace in the past. Now, it had just become my lady’s hangout spot. She was mostly found in my room or the mansion but never in her room alone. My empty cot had been replaced by a soft bedding, large enough for one and a half undead, and my neat table was littered with her papers. She was fervently reading a book on business when the door creaked open.

Letitia threw the book aside and skipped toward me. Her white gown fluttered in the cold wind of the winter as she wrapped her hands around my waist with a bright smile.

“I’m surprised you didn’t get a drop of blood on you,” she rubbed her head on my bosom. “Did you find out the instigators?”

“I did,” I ruffled her hair and walked toward the window with difficulty. She hugged my waist all along, trying her best to hold me in place.

“But I also killed some of Volch’s men on the way. Didn’t know they were under him.”

“I’ll talk to Casey about that,” she said, pecking my cheek. "We can visit Volch one of these days and gather some intel."

I nodded and pinched her nose. “Did you have a bath?”

“Not yet,” she let go of me and sat back on the bed. She searched among some sprawled papers until she found whatever she sought. “Currently, we have forty thousand shins in our family treasury. This is money we got from the ships, healing Lykan, your missions, and after selling all the valuables in the house. Arabell said she would try to sell her ornaments, but I stopped her. It’s her wealth, and she won’t start earning any time soon. I will reserve ten thousand shins for Meisie’s marriage and dowry, so we are left with only thirty thousand shins. Buying a building in the central square or market would cost ten times our savings, so we have no way to open a confectionery shop as things stand.”

I glanced at the document she had handed to me. All income was explained in detail, and currently, even with my additional income, we were losing 678 shins every month. There were just too many servants to support, and we weren’t exempted from taxes since our house hadn’t made any achievements in the past few years.

“I think I can make up for this difference, my lady,” I said, sitting beside her. “But we need to figure out additional ways to fill our treasury.”

“Let me do the thinking, Rudolf,” she said, moving over to my lap. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin over her head. “You just bring home money like a good husband and pamper me.”

I laughed and pulled her cheeks. “What is becoming of the most feared mage in history?”

“I don’t think you were that great,” she giggled and bit my neck. “Even if you end you becoming just a commoner, I will never abandon you.”

I smiled and flicked her forehead.

“You don’t trust me, do you?” she pushed me to the bed and sat on my stomach, trapping me with her legs.

“I do,” I said. “Just that both of us will die if I become anything less than undead.”

She stared at me for a while. “I will protect you with my life.”