"So what kind of favor do you want to ask of me?" Siderius said.

"I would like you to take over Scalize. I heard from the Royal Court that you actually had the magic of a Lesser Witch. You can protect Scalize and my territory for me."

Siderius smiled gently. The mana of a Lesser Witch was simply a trick created by his False Mana Core that he made from Mana Tears. He wasn't a Lesser Witch and was surely no way near as powerful.

He was the antidote for all kind of witch. As of now, he was barely completing his first rank of mutation, Extima.

Extima included the eyes, the ears, the nose, the skin, and Ultima. He was only at the ears. However, he was already capable of dealing with a lot of Witchling. The strong one he hadn't met yet.

"You're thinking too highly of me, Jude. I may have the mana of a Lesser Witch but I do not have their scale of power. Taking in your territory would mean I'm having two baronies.

A baron cannot have more than one. Unless he becomes a Count. I have no intention of becoming a Count yet."

Jude sighed in defeat.

"But fear not." Siderius continued. "We do have many workarounds we can use. Instead of giving your territory to me. You can just... 'entrust' it."

"Entrust?"

Siderius nodded. "Yes. Instead of giving it to me wholeheartedly. You only give me the rights to manage and defend the territory. We can make a pact to be allies. Then we can use that pact to entrust the territory to me.

Because you need to go on a long journey."

Jude rubbed his thick neck beard. "Yes... I have heard about these alliances before. But if we're going to do this. I will need to get approval from the Royal Court first."

"I leave that to you. Once you get the approval, just send someone to Santa Roberto."

Jude nodded. "It shouldn't be that hard. You and I are independent witches, creating an alliance of our own should not mess with any one's interest."

"I came to meet you also for another reason, Jude. Jayce, the owner of the Crossroads Inn, told me that you've been having issues with some kind of beast?"

"Yes. It is a Chaos Wolf as far as I know. That thing is very intelligent. I tried to catch it a few times but it always hid itself when we're ambushing it."

"A Chaos Wolf, huh? You sure?"

"Probably. It is definitely not an ordinary wolf. It was at least two meters tall and very big. No ordinary wolf can be that big.

But, of course, since you are much more knowledgeable about monsters than I am. You may know some other types of beasts that fit its criteria."

"I do think of a few other creatures. I'm intending to catch it. How much information do you have about it?"

"There is a hunter in the town that knows all about what happened. You can talk to the commander of my soldiers as well. He led a few ambushes at the beast."

"Thanks for the info. I think I will stay here for a few weeks to try and catch that beast."

"Very well. That beast is causing quite a problem for Scalize. If you can deal with it, I can give you five gold coins."

"Why are you suddenly so generous all of a sudden?"

Jude chuckled. "Consider it as a token of our soon to be alliance."

Siderius ended the day after the meeting with Jude. He was rather surprised about Jude's determination to save Caterina. He actually cared about her and his witch desire, Gluttony, had to stand aside.

"Maybe there can be a salvation for these witches. Unfortunately, I am not the one who will bring salvation to them."

Siderius stayed at the Crossroads Inn like last time. He enjoyed the quietness of the area around it. There were quite a few better inns and taverns inside the walls of Scalize, but Siderius didn't like crowded places.

He spent a good night sleeping to be ready for hunting the beast tomorrow. He was hoping that it would have a great pair of ears that he could use.

The next day.

The first thing Siderius did was visit the commander under Jude.

"What do you know about the Wolf, commander?"

The commander bowed to Siderius when he arrived at the garrison. "Greetings, Baron of Snowfell.

The beast is extremely intelligent. It never showed up when we had an ambush for it. Then after we broke our formation and began to return to town, it picked a few of our soldiers and attacked them separately.

It was very fast and strong. They didn't have any chance at all. We lost two great men and one was able to survive."

"My condolences, commander. Can I see the armor of the deceased?"

"Of course, my lord. Please go this way. We still keep it inside the armory."

The commander ordered some soldiers to lead Siderius to the armory of the garrison. They had a big armory in the section of the building where all the weapons and armor were stored.

The soldiers rummaged through the pile of discard items for a while before identifying the pieces of armor of the deceased and gave them to Siderius.

"This is the armor that Jon and Jin wore that day, my lord. Jax's armor was also ruined but he got out of it alive so he still kept it. He must send it to the blacksmith already. Do you need us to fix it, my lord?"

"No need. These two suits of armor are enough."

In front of the eyes of the soldiers, Siderius picked up the suits of armor and examined them.

By the way the steel armor was ruined, he could estimate the size of the claw and how strong the beast was.

"These marks... They don't look like the paws of a wolf."

"It is not a wolf?!" The soldiers blurted out and looked at each other.

"I didn't say that. The claw is definitely canine... dog-related species for sure. But there are five claw marks not four.

A wolf had five claws but one of them was placed higher up. If it clawed at the armor. There should be only four claw marks.

Additionally... A wolf will never use its claws as weapons. Its body is simply not designed that way.

This can be something much more dangerous.

Where is the last survivor, right now?"

"Jax is in the infirmary, my lord."

"Aside from him, did anyone else survive the attack from the beast?"

"No, my lord. He is the only one."

"Inform the commander to prepare the troop. Surround the infirmary but do it secretly. Our sole survivor may not be that lucky after all."

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