Karak's habitual silence once again proved convenient as we continued our journey. My attention was on our observers, both teams retreating after the demise of the unfortunate assassin, further confirming that it was just a test.

An expensive one…

"You're getting better," I commented as I watched Karak kill the beasts that approached him with a renewed passion. Being forced to his knees by Charisma seemed to unsettle him.

"I'm trying," he grumbled as he killed another beast, otherwise silent. But he was able to kill most of the smaller beasts that attacked us, leaving me only to deal with the large ones.

Another giant rat attacked, and three slashes of my halberd left it immobile. "A reward for your progress, take it," I said.

He looked at me. "Isn't it … wasteful?" he asked, still despondent as he pointed at his empty right sleeve.

"You work for me, and I don't allow my employees to work with low-quality material," I answered. "Now, stop complaining and take it."

He nodded before delivering the last hit, and we continued our journey, not even bothering to butcher the beast. We were too far away from the camp, and there was no point trying to carry them … not when the beasts were holding the camp under constant siege.

We could have rushed forward, but as I watched Karak get used to ignoring the constant orders of his skill, I decided to multitask. "Watch me carefully," I said as I pulled a deck, showed a card from the top, shuffled a bit, and revealed the same card again.

"How?" he asked, surprised.

"That's what you're about to learn," I said. "Catching cheaters will be one of your more important missions." With that, I repeated the trick again, this time slower, and his eyes brightened. "You keep the card in your palm," he called.

"Exactly," I said. "Now, how about this…" I added, showing another trick — though I had to stop halfway to kill a large group of critters — for him to catch it as well.

"You kept the card between your fingers, making it a fake shuffle," he identified.

"Not bad, you have sharp eyes," I said. "You're going to help me a lot."

The fact that I needed him for more than just combat earned a smile. After all, even if he was able to learn to ignore his skill perfectly, it would only mean he could fight with one arm. He would be still disadvantaged against a two-armed opponent, and his archery would still be inaccessible.

We moved slowly as I showed him the tricks, first with cards, then with dice. He proved himself to be a quick learner.

Showing the tricks slowed us down, and we managed to catch up with the main group two hours later. The sun was about to set, but to my surprise, they were still moving, with no sign of camping.

"Why don't you go find Zolast and level up," I offered to Karak. "Then, you can have supper, and maybe even sleep a bit."

"I can still fight," he offered. I would have argued against it, but instead, I just nodded. It was not wise to push too hard, but sometimes, it was better than letting the depression of lethargy from settling in.

"As you wish. Not like you're going to be the only one too exhausted to move," I said as I noted the tired state of the caravan as it continued to traverse.

A mistake, certainly, as I could see people around the camp showing signs of exhaustion and Health depletion. Not only the constant movement forced more people to show their effort, but also it made activities like cooking — which was vital to renew the Health of the people — much harder to conduct.

Add in the fact that a mobile group attracted more beasts, it was a recipe for disaster.

It didn't take long for me to identify the responsible. The young lord, decked in full armor, sitting on top of his horse, raining orders.

The setting sun gleamed over his silver armor and his shiny sword, highlighting his blond hair and his imposing figure. He was an impressive figure even without factoring in the constant weight of Charisma that emanated from him.

Most didn't even dare to look at him, just running around, doing their best to keep the caravan moving despite the challenging situation. And, distracted by their own task of keeping the caravan moving, none of them looked at the face of the young lord, missing the signs of worry on his face.

He was aware of the impossibility of the task that he had been assigned. Good.

Stolen novel; please report.

A part of me pitied him ... but that was just a fleeting emotion, nothing compared to my need of making use of him. He was a noble, and from everything I had managed to observe, that was a critical part of earning legitimacy in this world.

A young, desperate noble was an excellent cover for my identity.

Taking advantage of desperate people was not something I particularly enjoyed, but my distaste never reached the point that I rejected such opportunities in a wholesale manner. Cutting off such a path was tantamount to suicide for anyone dabbling in illegal businesses, let alone a godfather.

It wasn't always about money. A criminal empire didn't survive on riches, but a carefully curated web of favors, blackmail, and trades extending into the lawful side of the world; with a particular focus on police, judges, and other members of law enforcement.

Adding new members to that web always relied on their desperation.

I had my own principles. I never took more than they could handle, and I always paid them back generously … though it was often the pragmatic choice as well. It was much easier to ask the help of the police chief, if he owed his rank to me in the first place - ideally, along with half of his force.

But, I didn't just walk toward him and offer a deal like an amateur, of course. The first rule of helping … always making sure asking for help was their idea.

Instead, I stayed at a distance, observing him more, my attention on the Aura that surrounded him. It was Charisma-based, but it was different from the way it was shaped while he was giving out orders. The shape reminded me more of a cloud than a hammer, radiating around him, wide enough to cover the front line.

The difference in the way people were acting was clear. The people in the cloud worked faster and more enthusiastically compared to the ones that were out … but that was just a mental effect. Not unlike an adrenaline rush, leaving people even more tired in its aftermath.

Another mistake by the young noble, pushing people close to their limits when it was not necessary. But correcting him was not my responsibility, so I went to find Zolast. It wasn't hard to find his cart, right next to the leveling tent, which was currently built on top of a moving platform made from combining four carts, being pulled by a dozen people.

Karak was there as well. "Any idea what Zolast is busy with?" I asked him.

"He's meeting with the old knight," he answered, his voice livelier than I expected.

"You leveled up already?" I asked.

"Three times," he answered, a rare smile appearing.

"Huh, I didn't realize we have killed that many large beasts. What a surprise," I answered. "So, what's your plan?"

"Go and join Jertann for defense if you don't have an urgent task for me?" he answered.

It was a good time to test his other abilities. "I have a task for you, actually. Go and find me four carts, and arrange them to be joined together like this one," I said, pointing at the leveling tent. "I want people to have an opportunity to gamble if the camp doesn't stop. No point in losing money."

He nodded and left, the lack of complaints welcome. It was a small test for his noncombat capabilities, and I wanted to see how well he could complete that before I gave him more tasks.

With Karak gone, I walked along Zolast's tent, waiting for the meeting to end. Ten minutes later, the tent flap opened, revealing the only other figure who owned a plate armor. The old knight.

As he stepped down the cart, he already conducted a cursory assessment of his surrounding area, perfectly displaying the habits of a veteran, before his gaze fell on me. He tried to hide it, but his gaze dipped down to my belt, where I had the magical dagger I recently acquired hanging very visibly, before finding my face.

The safe thing was to avoid his gaze and act like another peasant.

I didn't do that. Not immediately. Instead, I caught his gaze, glaring at him for a second before avoiding his gaze, and gave a rather wooden display of acting afraid. I wanted him to know I wasn't afraid of him … but believe that I tried to convince him of that.

Before the knight could say anything, Zolast left his tent. "Euon, you returned," he declared, then noticed my dagger as well.

"Yes. It was an exciting trip … but a fruitful one," I said as I dragged my finger over my dagger.

"Oh, you know him, holy one?" the knight asked as he looked at Zolast, surprised. I was more interested in the way he referred. Holy one was an interesting way to refer to him, though I was more interested in the tone of the knight.

He was more respectful than I expected.

"Yes, Euon is a mercenary that promised to work for my guild…" Zolast declared, faster than I expected.

It was a move he would have used if he had been trying to establish himself as my superior, and if he tried to pull that in an earlier date, I wouldn't have reacted nicely. But after everything, Zolast earned enough trust from me to play along.

Instead, I focused on his sudden silence. He was clearly giving me a chance to declare my role. Not exactly something I wanted to do blindly in front of a potential enemy, but the situation demanded it. I doubted that Zolast would have declared it like this if there was a better option.

"Responsible for acquisition of the supplies, and other boring tasks of procurement, my lord," I said, giving a bow that was too exaggerated against a knight.

"Really? You look like a fighter, and you're experienced. I would have expected you to be the Master of Arms of the guild," the knight commented pointedly. "Not a ... merchant."

Such a high-profile position was the last thing I wanted. I much prefer dealing with an unglamorous yet effective task like procurement … allowing me to set my own little operation under the wide shadow the guild would cast.

Though, I was impressed by the amount of disgust he managed to pack into his last word. Either it was a personal distaste, or the nobles disdained the commercial activities even more than I expected in a medieval society.

"I'm an old man, my lord," I said, exaggerating the respect a bit … as if I expected that to soften his attitude. It wouldn't, of course, but giving him the impression I was incompetent at manipulation was never harmful.

"Oh, really? You don't look older than me," he answered.

"Not all of us are lucky enough to age as gracefully, my lord," I answered, earning a frustrated grumble.

After that, he looked at Zolast, ignoring my presence. "Our preliminary agreement is already in place, then. Unless my lord has any point he wants to change, we have an agreement," he said, and turned to leave.

"Productive talk?" I asked before the knight could even disappear, acting like I didn't expect him to hear.

"Kind of," Zolast answered, but rather than following up, he pointed at his tent, inviting me in.