The rebirth of Titus as Titus the Shadow markedly changed how he operated. In many ways, it was a regression back to the time of Titus the Mad. He walked among us, and we had to fear that the [Demon Lord] was our very neighbor.

However, Titus the Shadow had one distinct difference from his predecessor. Under Titus the Mad, harboring such suspicions wasn’t likely to result in a knife in your back.

- Excerpt from “A brief history of [Demon Lords]”

-------

“Theo, are there any parts of the town where the watch doesn’t patrol?” I asked as we headed back to the safe house from our cult meeting. He gave me a confused look, so I elaborated. “I’m looking for any areas where thieves or low-lives might meet. Is there anywhere like that?”

“I suppose there are some,” he answered slowly. “But why?”

“Oh, I’m just working on plan B,” I muttered.

“What was that?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with. Now… directions, please.”

That took a bit of convincing because I only needed directions if Theo wouldn’t be going there with me. And of course, I wasn’t taking the [Watch Officer] to the bad part of town. Not only would that be dangerous for both of us, but it would also ruin my plans.

So, after convincing Theo not to come with me and confirming that he wasn’t aware of any crazy high-level [Rogues] in town, I made my way to the bad part of town.

Honestly, it was pretty easy to tell. Buildings boarded up. No lights to speak of. And not a soul around.

Well, that last part would probably have held in other parts of town with how late it was, but I was hoping that there was at least someone up to notice my presence.

I’m just a poor defenseless old man with millions of gold on him. I sure hope no one comes after me! I thought to myself as I shuffled along with my cane. A real cane this time, one of Theo’s errands had been to pick it up. It was a lot more comfortable than trying to lean on a dragon bone, that was for sure.

Despite how easy of a mark I was making myself out to be, I wandered around long enough that the next monster wave spawned without seeing anyone.

I frowned. This was a bust. I thought. Guess I’ll just have to come back later and-

I turned around and saw a group of five men come out of the shadows.

Excellent.

“You’re out awful late old-timer,” the front man sneered. “Don’t you know that it can be pretty dangerous to be out here alone?”

Meanwhile, I had done a quick round of [Identifies] on him and his men. The leader was level 4, and the others were levels 2 and 3.

Dang, my bait only caught a bunch of minnows.

“Oh, it can?” I asked. “I had no idea.” I deadpanned. Then, I turned and started walking away in disappointment. “Thank you for the tip, youngster.” I gave him a brief wave without looking back.

My complete disregard for their intimidation efforts stunned them for a few moments.

They rallied quickly after.

“Hey! Don’t you get it, you crazy old coot?” the leader called out after me. “We’re the Faroff Thugs, the biggest gang in this city! You think you can just walk away from us on our own turf?”

I turned back around. “You’re in the biggest gang in this city?” I asked with a heaping spoonful of doubt in my voice.

“Yes!” he replied angrily.

“… Are you the plebs on the bottom of the totem pole, or-“

“You’re talking to the leader of the Faroff Thugs!” one of the other men snapped at me before the others quickly hushed him.

I sighed. Well, I guess beggars can’t be choosers.

I [Flash Stepped] forward and hit the leader with an [Air Strike] punch to the gut from my left hand. He went tumbling and then didn’t get up, and I was worried that I’d managed to kill him with a single hit.

Might have to go a bit easier on the others. I thought as they slowly regained their wits.

“Get him!” they shouted as they pulled out knives and charged me.

Five quick thrusts from my cane downed the first one to reach me. Abdomen, abdomen, chest, chest, head. He fell to the street and didn’t get back up.

Yes, I could’ve accomplished that a lot easier with another [Elemental Strike] and just remembered to do non-lethal, but… that was funnier.

Unfortunately, my inefficient takedown gave the biggest thug enough time to get behind me and grab my arms. I tried to shake him off, but I discovered that while my damage numbers didn’t seem to be affected by my old age, my sheer physical strength was.

It was a simple schoolyard bully tactic, but it was disastrous for my 1 v 5… If it had ever actually been a 1 v 5.

I slipped a wand out of my inventory into my left hand and then pressed it against the brute’s side. “[Summon Dave]!” I cast.

He screamed in a mixture of surprise and pain as the slimeball appeared and attacked him. He also immediately released the grapple as he tried in vain to get the monster off him.

“Nonlethal!” I ordered the dave.

Then, there were two.

They circled around me, one in front, one behind. Honestly, they could have run at that point, and I was a bit surprised they hadn’t, but I guess they didn’t want to leave their friends behind.

Touching.

But not touching enough for me to stop my attack.

I thrust my cane out at the thug in front of me.

“Ha!” he said as he caught it. He had a nice firm grip on it, but that just made it easier to yank him backward and into his buddy that had rushed me from behind.

I was annoyed, so two non-lethal [Fire Strike] curb stomps sealed the deal on the remaining thugs. The battle was won. Now, I just had to wake them all back up and-

“You’re gonna pay for what you did to my buddies!” the leader shouted as he ran at me with a sword.

I was mildly surprised that my attack hadn’t been enough to down him, but given the limp he had with his run, I wondered if I had given him a status condition instead.

I didn’t think about it too long. [Flash Step] was back up.

I adjusted my grip on my cane and then [Flash Stepped] behind him. He had only a split second to wonder where I went before I hooked his ankle with the crook of the cane and yanked.

He fell to the ground heavily, and his sword clattered to the street.

He went to lift his head, but I slammed it back onto the ground with my cane.

“Disappointing,” I said with a sigh.

“What do you want with us?” the man croaked out.

“Well, I planned to come in here, find some low-lifes and then beat them into submission until I got up to the top of the food chain,” I replied. “But, here we are. You claimed to be at the top of the food chain already. So, instead of going with my original plan of hiring thugs to do my dirty work, I’ll have to do this instead.”

I knelt next to him as I removed my cane from his head. “Congratulations. You and your crew now work for me.”

“And if we refuse?” the man answered through grit teeth.

I chuckled. “Do I really have to spell that out for you?”

He glared at me a moment before deflating. “Okay. The Faroff Thugs now work for you. Mr…?”

“Oh, no, no, no,” I chided. “You are all far too unimportant to get my name. You all can just call me boss.”

“Got it,” he replied. I stared at him. “… Boss.”

“Very good,” I said as I clapped my hands. “Now, first order of business, take me to your safe house, lair, or whatever it is you have. Second order of business, we’ll have to do something about that awful name.”

At least, that was my original agenda. It turned out that I needed a zeroth item for [Healing] and [Restoring] the thugs up to good enough shape so they could all walk back to their hideout.

I sure as heck wasn’t going to carry one of them.

When we arrived at their hideout, I was unimpressed. It was essentially just a basement in one of their houses; even my lackluster cult had managed better than that for a safe house.

However, it was at least a secure enough place to ask some questions, and I had several of them.

First, I asked them about the criminal element of Fort Faroff and why they claimed to be the strongest gang. The answer was that while Fort Faroff was a town, it was also a military installation. The watch and the army cracked down on crime pretty hard, especially since reinforcements had been stationed in the city for the return of the [Demon Lord].

It also turned out that my staying there had led to the partial revival of the criminal underbelly because the watch had its hands full looking for me in another part of town. Well, that and the monster waves they had to help with.

The second question I asked was about hiding my status. Though, I didn’t come out and ask that directly. Instead, I asked the thugs who they went to get their statuses hidden.

The roundabout answer to my real question was the [Forger] basic class. Unfortunately for my newly acquired gang, their [Forger] had been caught a while back, so they had to make do without one. Fortunately for me, there were no specific tools needed to pick up that class, and it gave me the skill I was looking for right at level 1; [Forge Status Information].

That, of course, prompted a follow-up question. I wanted to know why one of them didn’t just pick it up. It didn’t make sense to me that they wouldn’t all have it since people without advanced classes didn’t have limits on their number of basic classes.

Their response was kind of lackluster, but to summarize it, none of them thought they would do a very good job of it. That, and when a [Guard] was looking at your forged status, it was a contest between your [Forger] level and their [Guard] level (or their [Detect] skill if they had that). So, while one of them could have picked up the class easily, it wouldn’t have done them much good since they assumed they would be “capped at 1” for it.

My ignorance wasn’t exactly feigned when it came to that phrase. I had vaguely remembered hearing it before during one of my stints traipsing around the world as a cured madman, but I had never heard the straight definition.

A part of me wished I didn’t press the gang to give it to me. It was a bit depressing to find out.

“Capped at 1” meant that someone was incapable of getting a basic class past level 1. The reason was that basic classes weren’t just simple cases of “I chopped this many logs; therefore I’m at [Lumberjack] 10.” No, it turned out that each individual had different talents for any given job, which often determined what you were capped at.

Honestly, that explained quite a bit when it came to my subclasses. The most glaring one was that I was still a level 1 [Priest] despite nearly single-handedly healing an entire city of its wounded. Taking the innate talent bit into that, it made a bit more sense. Even if it was just System shenanigans that made my [Priest] “talent” super low since I was the [Demon Lord].

I also realized that I had a decent talent for many other classes. [General], [Actor], [Magical Resarcher], [Spell Tutor]… and then there were the ones that I sort of wished I didn’t have an affinity for. [Miner] and… [Barber].

I grumbled for quite a bit that I got that last class to level 2 once I had that newfound knowledge. I didn’t want to be a [Barber].

However, after all of my questions, they had a simple one for me. What was I going to do with their gang?

The answer to that… took quite a bit of thought. I had initially planned to roll my new gang into my cult, but that seemed like a bad idea as soon as I gave it even a modicum of thought. The cult was marked by their unwavering, and frankly creepy, devotion to me, while I only had control of the gang through fear.

That put me in the somewhat annoying position of having two fledgling organizations I would have to feed and take care of, but I didn’t complain about that too long. If there was one thing that Pride had gotten right, it was that having subordinates is good. He would have never gotten close to making the ritual without them, and I was sure I wouldn’t survive this life without having at least a few people under me.

Since my most pressing problem at the moment was a Dave one, I sort of floated that past them to see how they would respond to an order to get rid of someone.

Yeah, it turned out murder was a bit much for that band of “hardened” criminals, so I had to table that idea. Even more so once I casually mentioned that the man in question was a level 10 member of the [Hero’s] party.

With how white they went, I think I would have scared them less if I had revealed that I was the [Demon Lord].

I learned a lot, but I had a new conundrum to deal with. I simply told them I would be in touch with their next orders and to continue business like normal until I gave them.

Then, I realized a problem just before I left. I would be able to get in to my safe house, but without Theo, I wouldn’t have anyone to put the crates back into position. I tried to figure out some way that I could finagle it to happen, but even if [Port] worked on the crates, one foot of movement wasn’t enough.

Then I had an idea.

“Give me the room for a minute,” I told the thugs. They looked at each other and then left and closed the door.

Meanwhile, I walked right up to the door.

[Flash Step] functions more like a short-range teleport than anything. I readied myself while looking at the door. The other side of the door is definitely in range, so I should be able to just do this and-

I attempted to [Flash Step] past the door.

Expectation: I would reappear on the other side of the door to the shock and amazement of my newfound gang.

Reality: I reappeared and slammed face-first into the door before falling down several of the basement steps.

“Uhh, boss? Is everything okay in there?” the leader asked.

[Actor] skills activate!

“Of course, simply… testing the strength of your basement door,” I lied. “It will do nicely.”

I heard some confused and slightly upset murmuring from the other room, but I had bigger problems to deal with.

[Flash Stepping] into my safe house is out. I groaned. Okay, I guess it’s time for plan B… I pulled out a wand.

“[Message] Theo Blair,” I cast. “Finally finished with my business. When are you free to meet at the safe house?”

Theo Blair: Your lordship!? Where are you!?

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

There was a brief pause as I assumed he was counting out words.

Theo Blair: Safe house found. Don’t return. Hero and watch patrolling area

“Frick. Dodged a bullet there,” I muttered. Unless me leaving the safe house had somehow given them the means to find it, that meant that I had just lucked out that I decided to take over a gang that night.

Given that I had also lucked out on finding a Demon Lord faction zone east of Faroff and then the one [Watch Officer] who was sympathetic to my cause, I was starting to worry that my luck would run out soon.

Time to stop relying on luck. Time to make a plan.

I ordered Theo to meet me at my new safe house in a couple of days while I figured out how to work my new [Forger] skill. Then, after informing my thugs that I was using the safe house to “lay low for a bit,” I rested through the night before waking up and activating my [Scry].

I did order my cult to take care of the [Son of Dave]. I thought. Might as well see how they do.

However, I was doing my best to be pragmatic. I knew they didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in a [Hell Blaze].

------

Dave [Son of Dave] woke to the expected incessant pinging from the [Hero’s] [Enhanced Party] perk.

He groaned, sat up on the edge of his bed, and then rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he looked at his small room at their inn.

I expected hunting down the [Demon Lord] would be… different. He thought as he pulled on his clothes and armor and joined the party down in the main hall for breakfast.

At least being with the [Hero] meant their accommodations weren’t as bad as he’d expected. Dave had heard horror stories about what food and board looked like at military sites, and he was grateful that they were at least willing to put the [Hero] and his party up for free.

“You’re the [Hero], aren’t you?” an older woman asked as she approached the party.

“That I am, ma’am,” he replied. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Dave thought he caught a flash of… something… across her face, but whatever emotion it was, it was gone just as quickly.

“Oh, no, no,” she replied. “I just wanted to thank you for your hard work in protecting our town!”

She pulled out some freshly baked pastries and passed one out to each party member.

She stopped when she came to him.

“And you must be… Dave, [Son of Dave], correct?” she asked.

Dave’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Yes. Yes, I am. How’d you know?”

“Oh, I’ve heard a lot about you!” she replied with a satisfied nod. “I have something extra special for you!”

She pulled out yet another pastry, but this one was leaking… something. She handed it to Dave and then looked at him expectantly.

It didn’t look appetizing at all, but what was Dave going to do? Say no thank you to the old woman who had made something special just for him?

He took a small bite.

“Mmm, delicious,” he lied. He was hoping that would appease the woman, but she kept looking at him. Nothing for it. He scarfed down the rest of the pastry quickly so he wouldn’t have to taste whatever vile concoction the woman’s “special” experiments had led to. “It was great,” he lied again. “Thanks.”

“Oh, no,” the woman replied. “It was my pleasure. Now, I must be off!”

She took off at a suspiciously fast pace. Then, it hit.

Dave clutched his stomach and fell from his chair to the floor.

What’s happening? He thought as he felt pain radiate through him.

“Quickly! Drink this!” he vaguely heard Dalyor, the party’s [Ranger], call to him as something was pressed to his lips.

He needed no second prompt. He gulped down the potion, and the pain receded.

“What happened?” Samson asked Dalyor.

“It was poison,” the elf replied gravely. “Fortunately, I still had a leftover antidote in my inventory from when my old party cleared a cave. Spider poison can quickly overwhelm you without one.”

“Poison? That means…” Samson replied. Then, without another word, he took off like a shot, chasing after the woman who had done it.

He came back in just another minute.

“She got away,” he said with a frown.

Meanwhile, Dave regained his seat and looked at his breakfast with a bit of trepidation.

“Are you okay, boy?” Samson asked. “HP-wise, I can see that you’re fine, but I can imagine that was quite a shock. Do you want to visit a healer before we go out searching today?”

Dave shook his head. “No, we’re getting closer. I can feel it. In fact, the [Demon Lord] must be getting desperate if he’s sending old women to poison me.” Dave chuckled lightly, and the party followed along.

“So, let’s get going. I have a good feeling about today’s search,” he said.

He would come to regret his optimism. Unfortunately, it would seem the [Demon Lord] was one step ahead of them, and since the [Demon Lord] had moved out of his hideout, Dave’s [Path To Vengeance] skill needed more time before it would be helpful again.

So, the day was filled with unfruitful searching… and strange encounters.

His first one was an “urgent message” relayed to him. His father supposedly told him that he needed to come home immediately because his mother was sick.

There were several issues with that. First, there was no way his father, who was also Dave [Son of Dave], would ever call him home when he was on the trail of the [Demon Lord]. Second, his mother hadn’t been in the picture for quite some time, so that would have been a highly odd set of circumstances.

Either way, since he was in the [Hero’s] party, he got to send a priority [Message] to his father just to check things out, and sure enough, he hadn’t sent anything.

That wasn’t an end to the oddities. They also received anonymous “tips” that the [Demon Lord] had been seen in another section of the city… that even a weakened [Path To Vengeance] could tell was false.

However, not every encounter was an unpleasant one.

His final one was when he rounded a corner and accidentally bowled over a young woman with long blonde hair.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Dave said as he reached out a hand to help her up. “Are you alright?”

She nodded before coyly accepting the hand.

“I’m fine,” she replied. “But I do think that you should pay for the inconvenience.”

He frowned. Great a con artist now?

She gave him a sly smile. “Maybe with dinner?”

Dave [Son of Dave] froze for several seconds.

“Why, he’d love to! Wouldn’t he!” Brady, the [Battlemage] said as he nudged Dave. “Wouldn’t ya?”

“What? I mean, yes, I would, but-“ Dave replied as he looked over at Samson.

“Miss,” Samson said gently. “We’re on an urgent and dangerous mission to go after the [Demon Lord]. I’m afraid that none of us-“ he gave a severe look to the party. “-have the time to go on a date.”

“I’m surprised you even know what a date is,” Brady murmured.

“Oh, come on,” Daylor, the elf, replied. “The boy’s young! Besides, it will be a while before his skill can narrow things down anyway. Why not let the kid have a break?”

I’m 22. Not exactly a kid. Dave thought sourly. However, he was comparing himself to a rather aged [Hero] and elf, so he supposed that comparatively, he was a kid.

The woman shot a pleading look at the [Hero], and he withstood her puppy-dog eyes for only a few seconds.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Assuming the lad wants to go in the first place.”

“Of-of course!” Dave replied as he locked eyes with the young woman.

“Yes!” the woman cheered to herself. “Meet you in two hours at your inn?” she asked.

“Sure?” Dave replied. And then, she was gone.

He watched her go for a bit before having a thought.

Wait… How did she know which inn I was staying at?

That was his first red flag, but it was easy enough to find an explanation for.

This town isn’t that big, and I’m sure most people know where the [Hero’s] staying by now. He justified to himself.

He searched with the party for about another hour before they kicked him out to get ready for his date.

And that was how he found himself lamenting that his father’s training had covered situational awareness, the sword, and the preparations needed to travel through every biome in Placeholder… but not how to dress or act on a date.

He eventually decided just to keep it simple. And that was for both his dress and how to act. He would enjoy the date but make it clear he wasn’t interested in a long-term relationship. With how cowardly the current [Demon Lord] was, there was every chance they would flush him out and then have to chase him down again.

That, and he wasn’t sure he could make a long-distance relationship work.

So, as he headed to the front of the inn, he resolved to turn her down gently. He would tell her that it wouldn’t work out now. He would say that-

The inn’s door opened, and a goddess walked in.

She was wearing a beautiful purple dress that accentuated her… womanly figure.

Dave was broken out of his slack-jawed staring by her soft giggle.

“I take it you like the dress?” she asked as she twirled in place.

“I- err, yes. I think it looks great- no, beautiful! You look beautiful!” Dave blurted out. He then internally screamed at himself for messing up even such a basic compliment.

“Thanks,” she said with another giggle. “Well, shall we get some food?” she asked as she went and took a seat in the inn’s dining room.

Dave was confused. “I thought I was taking you out somewhere?” he asked.

She laughed. “This inn has the best food in Fort Faroff,” she said. “There are a few other places you could go to get a bite to eat, but none are as good as here anyway.”

And so, in an awkward twist, Dave wasn’t the one who wasn’t really dressed for his surroundings. She looked like a diamond in a pigsty. A [Queen] at a countryside ball. She was-

Dave realized something. “You know, I never did get your name,” he said.

“Angela. Angela Townsend,” she said. “And you’re Dave [Son of Dave], correct?” she asked.

Dave ran his hand through his hair sheepishly. “Uh, yeah. There’s a whole story about that…”

“Really? I would love to hear it!”

And that was how Dave, [Son of Dave] ended up recounting the story of his lineage to a young woman who listened in rapt attention. However, that wasn’t the second red flag. No, the second red flag was that she deflected most of the questions Dave asked her and continued asking him personal things about himself.

That was easily explained away as her just being shy about sharing her past. However, the third red flag was blatant enough that Dave immediately caught it.

“This was fun,” Dave said as the date wrapped up. “We should do this again sometime, my treat, of course. When is-“

Angela stood up. “Dave, I love you. Run away with me!” she said with a somewhat frantic energy about her.

“I’m… flattered,” Dave replied slowly as he internally panicked and tried to think of the best response. “But, this is just our first date. I don’t think I’ve had enough time to fall in love with you. Besides, I couldn’t run away if I wanted to. I’m duty-bound to go after the [Demon Lord].”

Angela started tearing up. “You’d pick your hunt for the [Demon Lord]… over me?” she asked.

Dave hesitated. “Yes.”

She started sniffing and then buried her face in her hands.

Dave got up, went around the table, and then put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I have no idea what you see in me, but if you’re still interested, maybe I can come back after we take care of the [Demon Lord]?” he offered. Yes, he was reasonably sure the woman was crazy, so he was still 50/50 on whether he would follow through.

However, he didn’t need to worry long.

“In that case,” Angela’s crying came to a stop. “DIE!”

Dave had to admit, of all the things that he expected today, being stabbed in the chest by a beautiful woman was pretty much on the bottom.

Fortunately, he had plenty of HP to take that hit and her follow-up stab.

“[Guards]! [Guards]!” Dave bellowed as he wrestled the knife from the woman’s hands.

Fortunately, some were nearby and rushed into the inn to help deal with the madwoman.

----

Meanwhile, I’d been watching the whole thing via [Scry]. I had been sort of morbidly curious how my cult was going to try to take out the [Son of Dave] like I’d ordered.

“Honestly, they got closer than I expected,” I muttered.

However, we had a problem. The young [Cultist] was going to be arrested, which could cause some issues if they figured out that the [Demon Lord] cult was going strong in Fort Faroff.

Fortunately, the young woman seemed to be a phenomenal actor, and she had even introduced herself to Dave, so I knew her name.

Just need to give her a bit of a hand. I thought.

“[Message] Angela Townsend,” I cast. I had to be a bit careful with my mana expenditures, so my [Scry] didn’t cut out, but this was also no time to be stingy. “I will kill you unless you kill Dave [Son of Dave]. That’s a lie, but you can now claim I told you that. I recommend crying.”

There was a slight delay because she had to read my [Message], but the disarmed and bound woman started blubbering.

“He said he would kill me if I didn’t!” she said through tears.

With that handily confirmed via truth stone, she went from being a prime suspect of aiding the [Demon Lord] to… well, someone who was confirmed to be aiding the [Demon Lord], but who at least appeared to be doing so unwillingly.

In other words, she was locked up for her protection more than as a form of punishment.

The downside to all of that was that I had revealed too much of my hand. An increased guard presence was set up for the inn, and there were going to be some guards specifically posted outside of Dave’s room to protect him while he slept.

As for the other parts of the day, they didn’t need to bother. After all, he spent most of his time with a level 25 [Hero], and if the dwarf couldn’t save him, then a few extra guards wouldn’t help.

To put it another way, plan A of getting my cult to take care of Dave was a bust. Plan B to recruit some low-lives to do it instead was also mostly a bust. That left plan C.

If you want something done right. I thought.

And so, plan C, do it myself, was a go. It would be challenging to maneuver around the town, but that was why I needed a new identity with an alibi.

Despite plan C being for me to do it myself, Theo ended up getting much more work dumped on him than I initially expected. He had to help me with dry runs of the questions I would face when I entered town (along with checking my forged status), get me a copy of the guard roster for the outer walls along with his recommendation for when to go, and also relay my orders to the cult to stand down on the attempts on Dave’s life.

I almost felt bad for running my cult’s current number 2 member ragged.

Almost.

Soon enough, the window came. I donned my new disguise, escaped from town, and approached the gates one fine morning.

-----

“[Halt]!” the [Guards] called as I approached the gate with ramrod-straight posture and no cane in sight.

I dutifully stopped. “Something the matter?” I asked as I adjusted my hat over my greying hair.

“Where is your military escort?” they asked. Then, just as Theo predicted, they immediately pulled out truth stones.

Looks like we’re telling the truth right out the gate. I thought.

“Didn’t need one,” I replied. “I used to be an adventurer.”

The truth stones verified that, so they moved on to the next question.

“Where are you coming from, and what business do you have at Fort Faroff?”

“Well, I’m a Besti-trained [Martial Artist], I traveled across the deathlands, and I’m here because I need some supplies before I continue my travels.” All true. Technically, not the answer to his question, but they aren’t “did he correctly answer my question” stones.

“Across the deathlands?” the second [Guard] asked.

I headed off his next question. “Yup, I’m a bit farther south than I meant to be.” That one was true because I would have chosen a more northern obelisk if I had a choice when I got kicked out of the tutorial.

The [Guards] looked at each other, murmured a bit too soft for me to hear, and then nodded.

“The town is currently under partial lockdown due to the appearance of the [Demon Lord]. Are you, or anyone you know, an associate of the [Demon Lord]?” they asked.

And this was where it got tricky. And where I would have been sunk without my aura.

“Can’t you tell?” I asked sarcastically. “I’m associated with the [Demon Lord]. No, I’ll do one better. I am the [Demon Lord]. I’m here to corrupt the people of your city and bring them over to my side.”

As for why I wasn’t faced with wide-eyed [Guards] frantically calling for backup? The truth stone registered all of those as lies, a handy trick Theo and I figured out when we did my dry runs. I was hoping that my aura would interact with the truth stones by making things out to be true when they weren’t, but apparently, it did the opposite. Dose a truth stone with enough deception aura, and it will register anything and everything as an untruth.

So, by this point, they were reasonably sure I wasn’t associated with the cult, but I dispelled my aura and finished it with another true statement.

“If I came from Besti… I couldn’t possibly have anything to do with your [Demon Lord] problems,” I stated.

And the truth stone shone once more.

Eat conditionals, stupid rock. I thought as the [Guards] discussed a bit more.

“Well, as long as you’re aware of the dangers and still plan to visit…” they started. I replied with a nod. “Then, we’ll need to see your name, class, and race for ID purposes.”

“Of course,” I said as I flipped open my status and then flicked over the forged information to them.

“Mr. Jacob… Jacobson?” the first [Guard] asked.

“Yup, the man who named me had a real sense of humor,” I replied. Which was also true. I’m hilarious.

“Beastborn… level 10 [Retired Adventurer]… Everything seems to be in order,” they replied as they closed out of the status interface.

They waved me passed, and I gave a slight tip of my hat.

Infiltration successful.

And so, as Jacob Jacobson, I lived a fairly mundane life for the next few days. I went shopping for supplies for my next trip. I played a bit with some of the children that were running around. I generally tried to conduct myself as a helpful and cheerful older gentleman to keep up that façade.

Then, the night was reserved for my meetings with the cult or taking over more and more of the city’s underbelly. The “Faroff Thugs,” who I had yet to rename, were not the only criminal element in town after all.

Once I was ready, I began my preparations for the real mission.

Theo managed to secure a spot as one of the two [Guards] watching Dave’s door at night. That was step 1.

For step 2, I managed to hire a [Thief] to [Steal] the key off Dave, get a copy made, and then return it. He was none the wiser.

For step 3, I tried to spread the [Guard] a bit thinner by having more of my cult members “turn themselves in” as people I had threatened to kill if they didn’t do what I told them to. However, I added a twist where I told them different targets like the [Mayor] or certain [Watch Officers] to hopefully muddy the waters.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like it decreased Dave’s guard presence.

Then it was step 4. Do the deed.

I summoned 5 daves, bundled them all up in a blanket to make them easier to carry, and then steeled myself for the upcoming part.

It is either him or you. I told myself. And if you die here, everything up to this point was for nothing.

Counting Pride, my body count was already astronomical. However, if you counted the number of times I had murdered someone in cold blood when I was completely in my right mind… that number was either 0 or 1, depending on whether you counted Faylen.

And so, with [Sneak] active, I made my way through the unlocked window on the inn’s first floor in between [Guard] patrols. Then, I snuck up the stairs to the hallway with my target and [Messaged] Theo.

“[Message] Theo Blair,” I cast quietly. “In position.”

“Did you hear that?” Theo asked from down the hall.

He, of course, turned the wrong direction from me, and the lowly [Guard] next to him followed suit.

That gave me time to [Flash Step] up behind the poor [Guard] and take him down with a single [Fire Strike] chop to the neck.

It didn’t have to be a karate chop to the neck, but all of the Mission Impossible BS I’d been going through must have put my mind in “movie action-hero” mode or something.

I caught the man’s body and laid him down gently. Theo and I held our breath for a few moments, but no one stirred.

“You next,” I said softly. “Sorry, Theo.”

“No, my lord,” he replied. “I am sorry we were too weak to handle this ourselves.”

While he was still turned around (so that he could legitimately say that he never saw me and that I had attacked him from behind), I knocked him out with a flurry of [Fire Strikes] as well.

Then, I opened the door with my copy of Dave’s key and walked into his sparse room.

I was in [Sneak], so I hovered above his bed. Then, just like I expected, I waffled.

Is this really the only way? A part of me asked. Yes. I firmly replied.

Isn’t this cold-blooded murder? The same part of me pressed on. It’s self-defense. He would kill me if he got the chance. I shot back.

Do you really want to go down this road? It begged. No. I replied. I never wanted any of this.

With no further hesitation, I dumped the daves out on the man’s body.

There were a few reasons that I had brought along that number of daves. It was around the maximum I could carry, and they would be vital to grappling Dave into place.

However, the most important fact was time. 12 damage a second times 5 is 60 damage a second. Add that to whatever additional damage I could tack on, and that meant I could kill a level 10 [Son of Dave] in just a few seconds… and a few seconds is all I had.

He woke as soon as the daves hit his body, and my [Fire Strike] punch also hit him in the face. He began screaming for help and thrashing against the daves, but my monsters and I held him down as I punched him twice and then a third time.

By the time the party’s yells replied to him, he was no longer struggling, and by the time I heard them racing down the hallway, he was… dead.

Or at least, mostly. I completely forgot about the curse that was riding around on me, and I jolted away in panic as his corpse suddenly stirred and tried to fight off the daves.

Fortunately, I still managed to stick to the plan and enter [Sneak] by the time the [Hero] burst into the room. [Sneak] was all I needed since none of the remaining members of their party had [Detect]. In fact, even if they had that skill, I’m not sure it would have helped them. Seeing a zombified version of your party member fighting a group of daves is incredibly distracting.

I [Flash Stepped] past them and out the door, snuck back downstairs, and made my way out the window while the entire tavern slowly converted to a swarm of watch activity.

It got a bit dicey at times because they brought in [Watch Officers] and [Guards] who would be able to see me even with level 6 [Sneak], but as I worked my way farther and farther from the inn, the sounds of pursuit faded.

I was safe. Which meant the emotions I put on hold all hit me at once.

I killed him. I thought as I sagged to the ground in a dark alley. No. I murdered him. I murdered him in cold blood with my own hands.

The worst part was the predominant emotion I was feeling was relief. I was relieved that I could avoid the [Hero] much easier now. I was relieved that the [Son of Dave] was gone along with his skill. I was relieved that I didn’t have to keep plotting his murder.

And that terrified me more than anything.

“I’m not a monster,” I whispered to myself. “It was him or me. It was self-defense. I’m not a monster.”

That was my mantra. The lies I told myself to keep myself sane. I don’t know how often I whispered it to myself as I waited for the coming dawn.

Not even my aura was enough to make me believe it.