Darkness again surrounded him. His first instinct was that he had died again. What will the result of our bet be? Zek will say I failed as I died again, but I also did my part to kill the assassin before.

The feeling of floating in the dark faded away. Gravity returned, and when he opened his eyes, the light soon let himself be seen. He hadn't died. He was in the middle of a large bed, in the middle of the sheets. On his sore neck, he had a bandage over his wound. Other smaller bandages covered various parts of his body.

Memories of the battle began to emerge in his mind. Knives flying against his body, the enemy dodging his attacks, using his special technique for the first time and winning. It had been fun; a strange emotion and passion arose in the battle. I'd read that athletes did sports and other extreme activities for adrenaline and that some people became addicted to them. Maybe a battle for your life produced the same feeling.

He sat on the bed to examine his surroundings. He was in a pretty big room. The walls were covered with high-quality wallpaper, it was a red pattern. There was some fine wooden furniture, a kind of dressing table with a chair and some closets. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door of the room. The door opened, and a maid appeared.

"Good morning. I have come to check your bandages. Since the Sir is awake, you can go down to see the young lady if you so desire. You can wear the clothes on the dressing table."

After making that announcement, the maid bowed and walked out of the room.

After realizing where he was, he quickly dressed in the clothes that had been prepared for him. Seeing himself on the dressing table, he realized that his skin and eyes were still under the effect of [Disguise]. It seemed that the spell had been automatically renewed, but he felt that his mana reserve was practically full. He left the room.

He was wearing a fancy suit like the other day, but no cuts. After walking a little through the corridors of the mansion, he came to a central staircase. He could hear people talking. It didn't take long for him to reach the scene. They were gathered around a large table: Lia, the man he saw in the tavern, and the merchant he threatened.

"You woke up. I was worried" Lia said, with a smile on her face. Without delay, she got up from her seat and went to greet him. "That outfit looks very good on you, I have a good eye when giving clothes to others. Come sit here." Without waiting for an answer, she took Thanatos's hand and directed him to a seat next to her. "Eat something; we have tea, snacks, cookies, juice, cakes, whatever you want." Her enthusiasm was evident.

"Well, I'm a little hungry. Maybe a snack."

"Only that? You haven't eaten anything in almost two days."

"What! Two days. I've been unconscious for that long."

"Yes, but don't worry, we've already taken you to the doctor who used magic to heal you."

"Well, that explains why I'm not as sore as I thought, but the most important thing is, what are you doing here?" His eyes looked towards Adel. But it was Lia who responded.

"The truth is that he saved your life" The words came out with little force from her mouth.

In effect, Lia explained the situation, Adel had used his special ability [Flame] to cauterize the wound on his neck. This gave them enough time to take him to the doctor and save his life.

"I don't understand. You were involved in Lia's kidnapping. You are a member of the Red Dragon, right? Besides, I killed most of your companions. Why did you save my life?"

"The reason is simple. I am no longer part of the Red Dragon. And even if you killed my companions, the truth is that I was not close to any of them, so I have no need to avenge them. The most important reason is that I want to be your follower. " He kneeled and bowed his head in front of Thanatos. "All my life I have looked for a way to reach true strength. Joining the Red Dragon was one of several methods I have tried. I've done a lot of terrible things in my life, but I don't regret any of them. When you said that you only work for yourself, I could see in your eyes that you were telling the truth. If you let me be your servant, I will help you reach the top, I will follow in your footsteps to get a taste of real power."

"What will you do if I ask you to do terrible things? How do I know you won't betray me?" Adel raised his face and looked directly into his eyes.

"I will fulfill them all. As long as you maintain that conviction, I will not betray you. And in case you lose it, I will kill you myself." Both stared at each other without moving their eyes. Not to intimidate, but to probe whether the other intentions were genuine.

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"Then I accept you. You work for me from now on" He said with a smile.

After finishing the proclamation of loyalty, Adel sat down again. Lia, for her part, was pouting.

"Why do you make that face?" Thanatos asked.

"Because he didn't even apologize for what he did to you. But you have already forgiven him"

"Okay. His speech was like an apology. He doesn't have to do anything extravagant." He tried to settle the issue, but Lia's expression looked like she was going to start crying.

"Ah..." The merchant Castess, sighed and got up from his chair to go to the kitchen, and a moment later, he appeared with a cake.

It was a personalized cake with the words written in chocolate: 'Thank you for saving my life.' Above was a Thanatos-shaped cookie holding hands with another cookie in the shape of Lia.

"She spent a whole day making it" Castess said, with a reproachful expression.

"I understand, Lia. I forgive you and thank you for doing this for me. For sure, it will be very good" He tried to lift her spirits with a falsely positive attitude.

"You don't have to eat it if you don't like it." Lia's voice became weak again.

"No, no. It looks delicious. Mmm the taste of chocolate with orange and that touch of vanilla gives it a perfect flavor"

"You really like it?" Lia's cheeks started to turn red.

"Yes, it's great. The best cake I ever tasted. You have a very good hand."

The conversation continued for a few minutes, during which Thanatos praised Lia and she blushed more and more.

"By the way, you still haven't explained to me who you are?" Asked Thanatos.

"Then you have already forgotten about me, I am Castess, the merchant you threatened"

"Really? But why are you still here?"

"Who do you think took your body to the doctor. It was me with my carriage, but I had to pay for your treatment. But well, as the work with the Red Dragon ended in a fiasco, I decided to offer my services to Miss Lia"

"By the way, Castess here is the payment for the doctor. I promised you twice as much. It's 200 pieces of gold" Said as she passed him a small bag with the payment.

Thanatos immediately realized the situation.

"I understand you are looking to take advantage of a rich woman and take as much money as possible before escaping."

"That's not true. You are distorting the facts!" Castess indignation reached deaf ears.

Thanatos was thoughtful about his current situation. I achieved my goal, but what should I do now? Before he could formulate a plan, Lia spoke to him.

"Thanatos, you're new to the city, right?"

"Well, yes, I would say yes."

"Then come and work with me."

The walls were filled with fabrics of different colors and quality. In the center, a desk with all the instruments required for tailoring. Scissors, brushes, ink, needles, and abundant thread. The most shocking thing was the skill with which Lia sewed and knitted.

She was practically in a trance. Her hands moved independently of each other at the same time. Her eyes moved quickly between the piece of clothing and the instruments. Without any delay, in just 5 minutes that seemed like a few seconds because of the speed of work, she finally stopped.

"Done. Come on, I need you to try it." Thanatos approached and put a purple hat on his head. "How well it fits you perfectly"

The three people present were still amazed at the ability they had just seen.

"I am now your doll for clothes, but how did you manage to make a hat so quickly?" Asked Thanatos as he took the hat.

"I am the daughter of the Hildir family, my mother taught me since I was a child the technique for weaving, sewing and others necessary in tailoring. Combined with my father, who owns several tailor shops in the Republic. Well, you end up like me. They gave me a shop so I could practice and sell my creations."

"Your dad built you this huge shop just for that?"

"No. Well, yes, but it's because I still don't want to get married."

"Get married?"

"My mom thinks my skills are already good enough to find me a husband, but I told her I still want to improve my skills. That's why my dad said he would build me this shop so I could practice until I was ready. "

"Then the clothes you lent me that day were for your brother. Did you do it?"

"Well, hehe, yes"

Thanatos felt like a horrible man when he insulted her tears, and the fact was that, because of him, that suit was unusable now.

"Sorry for ruining it."

"You don't have to ask for forgiveness; you saved my life. That suit is not enough to show my appreciation." Her smile was pure and innocent. She didn't really hold grudges.

Is that why you've been giving me all these clothes? More importantly, maybe I can make a living doing tailoring. I don't have any kind of manual skill. Or maybe now I do? or maybe a spell in the book. Those questions came up in his mind as they continued touring the store.

It was a huge, two-story building with an underground level. Although at this moment, it was mainly empty since Lia had all the fabrics in her huge room. It was noticeable that it had been built to store products and create garments in large quantities. At that instant, he came up with an idea.

"Adel, since you were a member of the Red Dragon, what do you think of using this place as headquarters to form a new group?"

"A new organization? In that case, the size is perfect for setting up barracks. In the future, we would need something bigger, but it would certainly be the largest barracks in this city."

"I have decided. Lia, I won't work for you."

"I understand you probably want to leave."

"I will rent you the entire first floor and basement. Every week I will pay you a portion of our earnings."

"But I don't need you to pay me if you want to-"

"I will not accept a no as an answer. We are here and you are in your office. I want to see how your skills improve even more." He gave her a smile that this time was genuine.

"I understand." She smiled back at him.

"Do you have the slightest idea how to lead an operation like a syndicate?" Castess who had been quiet, asked.

"No, but my second-in-command does." He pointed his finger at Adel. "Tell me which operations were the ones the Red Dragon was doing and what we need first."

He took a moment to think. "We need more men."