***

(Third Person)

As the sun slowly fell above the sky of the lawless town of Agrona. Inside a certain mansion located in the innermost part of the territory of the Spriggan faction.

The current leader of the Spriggan faction Tanya put some of her silver hair at the back of her pointed ears as she shifted her gaze upon the demon wearing a butler suit standing a few meters away from her.

Her seemingly emotionless pair of gray eyes dwelled on the butler she tasked to observe the person who took her attention.

Wearing a black gothic dress made of delicate black taffeta and cotton fabric with a skirt down to her upper knees, revealing her black straps connected to her black thigh-high socks, a huge part of her arms were covered with black arm sleeves, and she's also wearing a black and white fabric headband on her head, an elegant set of clothing that greatly complementing her porcelain white skin.

Her eyes shifted back towards the currently descending sun that could be seen at the huge glass window she was standing on. "How was it, Gareth?"

Gareth, who was standing a few meters away from her, slowly bowed his head and spoke in a gentle manner. "Half of the town is now under his control."

"Did he manage to acquire Leal's advanced class skill?"

Gareth shook his head. "Leal didn't use his strongest skill."

Tanya nodded. "Knowing Leal, that's fairly expected." She shifted her face back to Gareth. "Now, that person, is he really a meruem?"

"From the information I gathered, I can say that there is a good chance that he really is a meruem, I can't see any tricks in his horn."

Tanya paused for a second and shifted back to the currently dark sky. "You did a good job, Gareth, take your rest."

Gareth bowed his head. "Yes, Lady Tanya."

Gareth silently left the room and closed the door leaving Tanya behind staring at the dark sky.

She remained silent and unmoved for a few seconds before slowly breathing out. She closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

"Ten years, it took him this long to arrive, but just like what you said, he is finally here, your boasted valiant hero, Magerna."

***

(Casimir Kismet)

I shook my head as I looked beneath the terrace I was standing on. The people beneath cheered as they chugged the cup of booze being served to everyone while taking some food from the tables covered in white clothes scattered around the plain grassland in the middle of a huge garden full of different kinds of flowers that I could see thanks to the lamp post spread throughout the area.

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In some parts of the garden, there were several decorative-shaped bushes acting as mini mazes, however, none of the visitors even dared to step inside them.

I mean who would? Nobody wants to get wrecked by whoever owns this garden.

This place looks beautiful, which is saying a lot because this place feels out of place compared to the other places in this town. As if I was no longer inside the lawless town of Agrona.

"Boss!"

I stared at Leo currently sitting on one of the tables with Mehrad while waving the comically large bottle in his hand.

Sheesh, just by thinking about the booze he made me drink last night, I can already feel my hangover coming back.

On the other hand, I found Misha currently hanging out with Japheth and the gang who were gathered around the white metal table at the edge of the garden.

This place couldn't accommodate all the guests so the people inside the garden were the only ones who were picked and the rest were celebrating outside the road in front of the headquarters of the Marionette faction, and there were a lot of them.

"Do you like what you're seeing?"

I looked back and found Leal leaning at the frame of the door of the terrace I was in.

"This place feels incompatible with the overall theme of this town. Whoever made this garden did a very good job taking care of this place."

He chuckled and stood up beside me while looking at the garden with a smile on his face. "Kuro planted it all. Since the day we established the Marionette faction, she decided to make this place her garden."

So that girl Kuro loves gardening.

"By the way, I'm just wondering, who made up the idea of accepting challengers and risking your hard-earned power every time someone is going to challenge you? I mean, no matter how hard I think about it, you already have an army of your own, you can deny anyone if you want to. Is there a reason why?"

"Who would want to risk their leadership by accepting a fair one-on-one duel? We're doing this not because we want to, it's because we have to."

"You have to? Why?"

"It's part of our agreement with her."

"Her?"

He exhaled and turned his eyes on me. "With the Shadow fairy, Tanya Latora. In exchange for the right to acquire half of the area of Agrona that I and Mehrad split into 2 factions, we agreed on her condition to take challenges from anyone who will challenge us and risk our leadership. At least I've managed to maintain up to this point until you showed up and took it from me."

Wow, that made me feel bad about it.

"There are several reasons why we can't say no to her condition. But the 2 main reasons are, first, Tanya is the one controlling most of the supplies of the entire town. Most of the goods were coming from her faction." He pointed his hand at the people beneath us. "Commodities, building materials, and even the temporary truce and treaty between the nearby kingdoms, all of it, it's all because of her."

The hell? She's that influential?

"And secondly, she's extremely powerful. Even if the 2 factions join together to fight her, me, Mehrad, and Leo, she could easily defeat us without even trying, maybe there are still people who are more powerful than her, but she's one of the most powerful mages I have ever met, I saw it first hand during the war, the main reason this place never fell within the entirety of seven years war was mainly because of her."

Now I'm starting to get nervous about what's waiting for me at the Spriggan faction tomorrow!

"I see."

"You are planning to challenge her right?"

"Yes."

"Then, I will suggest for you to prepare yourself, and set your expectations to the highest, I can assure you that she will easily exceed them."

"Master Leal and Mister Casimir."

Both of us looked back and found Kuro bowing her head on us. She raised her head and stared at us using her sharp gazing black eyes.

"Mister Mehrad asked me to fetch the 2 of you."

"We're going now." Both of us answered while walking toward the door.

Prepare for the worst, huh?