Unedited chapter. It will be edited soon.

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He quickly made his way to the offices of the House of Shadows, where he met with Jackvin and Fraid.

"Lord Carwine, it's unusual to see you around here so late," said Fraid, sounding somewhat sleepy. He had been sleeping recently.

Jackvin was still fine, as he had plenty of work to do tonight, and he also asked Louis, although Louis ignored them.

"We're going to the northern area as anonymously as possible, allowing us to go and return in the same night. Right now," he said.

Both were taken by surprise and looked at each other strangely before looking back at him.

"Is there an emergency, sir?" Jackvin asked.

"Don't ask questions before you get going. If I'm telling you now, it's because it's important," he said, staring at him.

Jackvin swallowed hard at that threatening look and nodded several times. "I'll get it ready right away," he said.

"I'm coming with you. You're coming too," he said, and took the two of them with him. Although they were dazed, they worked quickly to find some masks, false identities, and a car that wasn't registered to them but was fast.

Due to the time of day, it was difficult to find a new car, but the one they had was sufficient.

As soon as they got in, Jackvin drove as fast as he could through the deserted streets. Unlike on Earth, where there were many cars moving around even in the early hours of the morning, here it was not like that.

Fuel is expensive, and although the empire enjoys a low level of poverty and many industries that have gradually filled the car market, especially in the last six months, the reality is that not everyone can afford one.

Furthermore, many of the cars made by these guys are no faster than trained horses, let alone those high-level horses that can travel hundreds of kilometers in a short time, so it's more worthwhile to buy a horse-drawn carriage than a car (even though carriages are much more expensive).

That's why the car was able to speed along the roads, with no one hindering its progress.

On the way, Jackvin looked at Louis in the rearview mirror.

"Lord Carwine, we have recently had an overwhelming influx of missions. I believe the total expenditure of the House of Shadows this quarter will break records, but we are having a few problems completing those missions. There are too many of them," he said suddenly.

"Many missions and few interested, huh?" He nodded and looked at Fraid. "How's your group doing? If there are many missions and not enough people interested in them to meet the demand, then have your men complete missions, not just the ones you want to do," he said.

"But that could look bad," he said, frowning.

"Your status won't be lowered when your leader tells you to do it, so don't worry. Just do it. Our clients are giving us a lot of money, and we have to accept it so the company can grow. Those missions aren't going to do themselves, are they? And if we break records in spending, we must also break records in profits to sustain the loss."

Fraid nodded with a smile. "Okay. Then I'll make sure to complete the backlogged missions."

Louis nodded. "I've seen that businesses are doing well with the new houses that have been created, some of which are already experiencing explosive growth. But I have a question: how is the smuggling of legal substances going?"

"That's going very well, Lord Carwine," Jackvin said cheerfully when the subject was brought up. "By joining forces with the House of the Ancient Moon, we've managed to start smuggling 60% of the medicines and legal substances from 13 pharmacy warehouses and large pharmacies."

"In the last month, we made a profit of over 938 million Jens, but once sales stabilize and we manage to take it to other cities, that will increase significantly to about 1.734 billion Jens per month, which would be a historic record in profits, even though we are two houses working together. We are suffocating the north in this regard, which is why they are so desperate these days."

Hearing the good news, Louis smiled. "Good... They're doing well," he said and leaned back in his car seat.

Both houses' bets were yielding good profits in the tournament, and thanks to Louis' massive investment in the new houses, they had annexed several houses that had previously competed with them in the betting market and a few other things.

Although it didn't seem like it, this was vitally important, as they could have a monopoly on something as important to mobsters as money and territory.

Everything was going smoothly, full steam ahead, and he had simply stayed out of the way, so the attention he was attracting was decreasing (although it would become problematic when he won the tournament, if he managed to do so).

As long as they continued like this, the north would slowly be swallowed up by them.

He leaned back in his seat and let time pass...

--

Somewhere in Velharthe.

Outdoors, with the night sky above them, two people played chess quietly. One looked amazed, the other looked calm.

They had played many games, and although the calm one had won them all, it had cost him too much each time, which was why his opponent was still sitting in front of him and had not let him leave.

While his opponent was thinking about which piece to move, the calm-looking but rough man with some wounds on his arms looked behind him.

He seemed to blink slightly, as if he recognized and at the same time did not recognize the man walking toward them.

He then gestured to his opponent to leave.

Although he didn't notice it at first because he was trying to move a piece, after hearing the footsteps he realized what was happening and stood up. He didn't say a word, he just bowed several times and left.

The quiet man gestured to the newcomer. "Would you like to sit down?" he asked.

The newcomer sat down in front of him and moved the piece that the previous player had not moved.

Then the game resumed.

The newcomer seemed to be coming back from a game he hadn't started and even led the quiet man into a dead end, but in the end, the quiet man managed to turn it around and, with great difficulty, won.

"As good as ever," he said, praising his opponent.

"Haha, we learned this together on the streets, so I know you well, Aster," laughed the newcomer.

Aster shrugged. "But I took the path of ruling the streets, where we grew up, and you took the path of nobility, and now you want to rule us, old friend Evan," he said. "Or should I call you Duke Sackville?" he asked.

"Haha, to you I'm still Evan Dunn, so don't worry about titles," Evan replied. "Besides, I can't not do it, Aster. The last time I left you alone, you almost ruined three castles and numerous noble houses. You're scary a lot of the time, so I have to start putting you in chains. I'm the only one who can do it, after all."

"Hahaha, chains, huh." He laughed mockingly. "Well, why did you come? It's not like I like my hiding places suddenly being discovered."

"I knew because it's you, so don't worry." Evan declared and took out a newspaper and threw it in front of him. "Have you read the news?" he asked.

"No, I don't care what they have to say, honestly," Aster declared.

"Well, this time you'll probably be interested. Alliances, conspiracies, destruction, death, and chaos have been unleashed in the empire."

"It's always been that way."

"It's not the same," Evan remarked. "The three northern castles and all their great houses, as well as the castle and the great houses of the capital, the church, and the faculty of the Royal Academy have formed an alliance and are currently in the city."

"That many people?" Aster sighed and finally decided to look at the newspaper. It said everything Evan had just said, except for the alliance, and it also said other things, but they weren't as important to him.

"What do you think?" Evan asked when he noticed that he had finished reading.

Aster sighed. "A lot of powerful people in alliance with a church as troublesome as that is never a good thing," he said.

"So?" Evan asked.

"But they knew how to strike, you know?" said Aster, putting the newspaper back on the table. "To this day, I haven't fully recovered, and I've lost control of many of my powers because of the church, you know?" He shrugged and took out a freshly made cigarette and lit it.

"In the end, they rule the continent and have gods. We rule the streets, but our reach isn't as far. The nobility you deal with has more reach than I do, old friend. So if you want me to help you, I can. But don't ask me to fight those guys who took my daughter away from me. I'm just starting to value my life again, you know?"

"My wife is fine, my eldest daughter is missing, but my youngest daughter is alive and growing up well. Her father once committed crimes and is seen as the empire's biggest thug. Do you think that's good for her innocent little mind?"

Evan remained silent and let him speak, so Aster took the trouble to do so.

"My family is fine, we have businesses abroad and they are legal..." He shook his head. "I don't want to get my hands dirty in the mud of this empire again. I don't want to lose another daughter." He declared firmly.

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