Currently in the Black Manor, two men were standing at the entrance to the Master Bedroom staring at the soundly sleeping siblings.

Wesley was standing next to Neal who just stood there staring at the kids with a red face full of tears and smiles. In any other occasion, Wesley would have let him stand there alone, but Wesley still had reservations regarding this mysterious visitor.

After standing there for more than five minutes without either of them uttering a single word, Wesley was the first to break the silence as he spoke in a whisper so as to not wake the children:

"Neal...Let us head back to the study. We still have some things to discuss."

Neal turned his head to look at Wesley then looked at the sleeping children once more before nodding his head and closing the door. A few moments later, Wesley and Neal were both sitting in the study, staring at each other motionlessly. Once again Wesley was the first to speak:

"Tell me Neal. Why would the four great families bother with your Black Family. If I heard correctly your Black Family was neither involved in politics nor had any great wealth."

Wesley's extremely blunt question made Neal shake his head with an embarrassed yet resigned smile creeping on his lips. He looked at Wesley as if trying to see through his emotionless yet youthful face, but after a few breaths he spoke:

"Before I answer that, Who are you? How do you know about what happened to my family, and why are you sheltering my nephews. Also, what was it that you were practicing in the basement?"

Neal showered Wesley with a barrage of questions. Up until this point Wesley was the one doing the interrogating, So Neal had no idea who this mysterious youth in front of him was, in fact if it weren't for the fact that he felt Wesley's power when he first entered the basement, he would not have taken him seriously.

Wesley just stared at the questioning Neal. In any other occasion, Wesley would ignore those questions but he realized that he needed to know what this man knew. Although a year has passed since Wesley killed the Shorn Family and nothing happened that, that did not mean that those four families were not planning something. Wesley knew that those who had more information had an advantage, and right now, he was in too much of a disadvantage.

"Like I said my name is Wesley. I am a student at the Four Moons Academy. I bought this Manor a year ago, where I met Lane and the others. They told me everything that happened and pledged and oath of service to me if I killed the Shorn Family, which I did. As for what I was practicing...."

Wesley paused for a moment thinking what he should say, he didn’t want to defy his master's commands but he needed Neal's information. But before he could say anything else, Neal spoke up:

"No need to say if you don't want to. However, I would like you to release my nephews from their oath. I would like to take them away from here."

Wesley hearing Neal's initial words felt relieved he didn’t have to say anymore, he knew Neal realized that it was darkness but Wesley chose to ignore this as well. However, as soon as he heard Neal's next words about releasing them from their oath, Wesley couldn’t help but become anxious again:

"I will not do that."

Wesley emphasized the not in that sentence as if telling Neal that there was no way this was going to happen. Neal just stared at Wesley, his head rumbling with thousands of thoughts. Should he kill him, beg him, or pay him. But seeing the resolve in Wesley's eyes and remembering his odd power, he sighed inwardly and spoke:

"I see. If you are unwilling then we'll need to modify the terms of your agreement with the children."

Wesley felt like he knew what this Neal was going to say. But he nonetheless asked:

"How do you suggest we do that."

"You will have to kill the four families. The Shorn family were nothing more than lackeys, the true perpetrators of my families murder were the four families."

Wesley felt his heart clench. Kill the four families, how hard was that going to be. The four families combined are comparable to any of the monarch families of the four kingdoms, killing them was not only hard but close to impossible. Thousands of ideas were rushing allover Wesley's mind regarding how to go about this. The worst case scenario is his death while the least worst is his escape from the County, but even with the worst case scenario, he could at most kill of one or two of the families, no way to kill all four. Wesley looked at Neal and spoke hesitantly:

"First you will tell me what I need to know. Why are the four families trying to kill of your Black Family."

Neal who was expecting Wesley to resign and release the oath was stupefied by Wesley's question. There is no way any sane person would try to kill off the four families, it was practically impossible. Neal looked at Wesley with a complicated look and spoke:

"If you want to understand the grudge the four families have against our Black Family, then you need to go back to thousand years ago. Thousand years ago, our Black family were the rulers of this Blackreach County and we were direct subjects of the Royaume Empire. However, we were not a simple family, in fact we were the Intelligence Corp of the empire, and Blackreach county was our domain because of its central location allowing to better conduct operations and collect information from all corners of the world."

Wesley was startled as he heard Neal's words. Direct subjects of the empire, intelligence Corp, he was actually rather surprised that they survived for this long. Neal simply continued with his explanation:

"Our family's wealth was immeasurable, so even when the Empire fell, we used our wealth and spy networks to ward of all attacks on us. However, as the years went on, with the demise of our paymasters, our wealth decreased exponentially, and we had to strip down our networks to their skeletons. The Family elders decided that we could not continue along this path, so we started to withdraw from politics in the hope that we might be forgotten some day. This plan seems to work great to some extent, only we weren't completely forgotten. The Four Families were our vassals when we ruled the County, there is no way they could be fooled by our ruse, so they spent as much effort as possible to wipe us out, but we always persevered with the help of our networks. But as our power decayed thier's grew, and you know the rest."

Neal having finished his talking, looked at Wesley to gauge his reaction. Wesley's brows were furrowed as he thought about what he heard. The implications of being associated with the Royaume Empire were dire in all four kingdoms, even his Holt Family that has astonishing wealth and power still tries their best to distance themselves from the Royaume family they are descended from. However, Wesley was astonished by something else, he looked up at Neal and said:

"There is one thing I don’t understand. Where were you, that you needed three years to return."

Neal just looked at Wesley with some thoughtfulness. He somewhat expected this youth to panic or at least show some form of awe or surprise, but aside from becoming more thoughtful, he was as stoic as a rock.

"Around four years ago, my brother and I noticed that the four families were getting more aggressive so my brother and I came up with a solution. I would abolish our remaining networks that were scattered throughout the four kingdoms and have them converge on Blackreach City, that way we could increase our power. Only, neither of us expected them to make their move so quickly. I returned today, only to find strangers living in our Manor."

Wesley's mind was thinking up a storm as he tried to find a way to deal with this situation. He somehow felt that the four families were aware of his connection to the Black Family, he also felt that they knew of his killing the Shorn Family, making his options clear, either kill them or run. Only he had no idea how to go about killing them, but as soon as he heard Neal's last words, he saw a way. Wesley's eyes suddenly lit up as he looked at Neal.

"Neal, how did your assignment go. Are you able to set up those networks in the city."

Wesley's excited tone and the odd glittering of his eyes startled Neal greatly. He hadn't expected that anyone would have such an expression after having heard his words.

"Uhmm....Yes, It is possible to set up the networks in the city, only now that my brother is dead and our remaining wealth gone, it is impossible to set them up."

"How much is needed?"

Neal still has not recovered from his initial surprise when he heard Wesley's questions, causing him to further feel lost. He just stared at Wesley as if trying to see if perhaps Wesley was joking with him, or if he simply didn’t fully understand the situation.

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"Around two hundred thousand gold for the initial set up. Then we'll need around one hundred thousand gold each year for maintenance and collection of information."

Three hundred thousand gold was not a small amount. This was about the total revenue of some small cities, and could be used to fund an entire army of ten thousand for about two months. This was not the amount of gold one would expect anyone to easily give out, in fact Neal was even skeptical his Family's entire wealth was enough to cover this for long, let alone this little juvenile kid in front of him. But Wesley's next words shook him to his core:

"That is acceptable. Start setting up the networks as soon as possible. If things go like I hope they would, we should be able to deal with these four families."

Wesley's words showed his clear relief. The prospect of facing off against the powerful four families alone was virtually impossible, however, if there was an information network in place that enabled Wesley to observe and plan then the difficulty would be extremely lower, even bordering on manageable. Wesley's idea was not too different from the one Neal and his brother came up with, only he was planning on using it offensively while they were going to using defensively.

Across from Wesley, Neal still couldn’t believe his ears. Producing three hundred thousand gold as if it were nothing is not something a normal person can do. He was really interested in knowing this Wesley's identity and since Wesley purposefully left out his Family name Neal couldn’t help but grow weary of this mysterious person. After almost five breaths of silence, Neal once again spoke up, his voice somewhat shaky:

"Why.....Why are you going through so much effort for people you don't even know?"

Neal was worried that Wesley had some hidden agenda. After all spending such a wealth instead of just letting the children go meant that Wesley saw the kids to be worth more than gold, but Neal simply couldn’t see how. Wesley on the other hand having guessed Neal's thoughts let out a dry laugh for the first time during this encounter:

"Haha Neal, no need to be so paranoid. I believe that since the siblings and I had an agreement, it is only fair that I keep my end of the deal, also..."

Wesley's eyes suddenly turned sharp and a gloomy dreadful feeling emanated from him:

"After I killed the Shorn Family, there is a chance I might be targeted by the four families. I am simply clearing any potential sources of danger in the future."

Neal seeing Wesley's change of attitude and feeling the oppressive atmosphere that surrounded him, felt a cold sweat run down his back. Wesley didn’t wait for Neal to say anymore and continued speaking:

"Now, tell me how this network of yours will be set up. I need to know what its capabilities are and see if it can be traced back to me."

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Around six in the morning, the sounds outside the study where Wesley and Neal were increased as the maids were preparing for the day, and the guards were changing shifts. Wesley and Neal's discussion continued for five hours, and although Neal felt some reservations regarding Wesley, He knew that if he was to safeguard the safety of his remaining family, Wesley was his best option.

The plan that Neal and his brother devised was simple. Collect people from the four kingdoms that are loyal to the Black Family and have them reside in Blackreach City while working in different places such as pubs, stores or as guards. Then simply collect information regarding the movement of the four families and plan countermeasures accordingly. This plan was not very comprehensive since the Black Family did not have a lot of gold.

After hearing the details of the plan, Wesley realized that this entire plan was more like a dying struggle than an actual plan. The plan would have only allowed the Black Family to see glimpses of whatever the four families were planning, and although these glimpses might have allowed them to escape one or two plots, it would have eventually failed.

After discussing his thoughts with Neal, they decided on a way to improve the plan. Using Wesley's tremendous Wealth, they could now not only place people in pubs and stores but also in the government offices, and perhaps even as servants to the four families. Placing people in government positions not only allowed Wesley to have a better glimpse at what the four families were planning but also enabled him to slow or hinder them to some extent.

At the end of their planning, the initial cost which was around three hundred thousand almost doubled. Neal was worried that Wesley might not be able to cover the cost because of the increase, but Wesley assured him that such a thing was not a problem which surprised Neal slightly.

"When do you think everything will be set up?"

"The initial plan was going to take a little more than two weeks, but now it should take no less than two months considering we have to infiltrate the government offices and the families."

"Good. Also remember to make sure that your people are insulated from one another. It would be troublesome if one person's failure causes the entire network to crumple."

"Don't worry, our family has done this for far more than thousand years."

"I see, also ........"

Before Wesley could even finish his words, a knock on the door interrupted him. Wesley looked up at the door and a faint smile crept on his lips as he spoke:

"Come"

As soon as the words left Wesley's lips, the door was opened and pushed in. A slender youth with dark hair walked in. This youth was not too tall, around five feet four at most, but his neatly cut hair, strong jaw and sharp eyes gave him a cool demeanor.

As soon as Lane walked in, his eyes drifted to the dark robed person who sat across from his master with his back facing the entrance. What surprised him was not the fact that his master had a guest, rather it was because he was told that nothing was out of the ordinary by the guards, yet there is a person sitting in front of his master whose arrival was not reported. Lane was greatly alarmed but seeing his master smiling face he decided to put it aside and spoke after bowing slightly:

"Good Morning Master"

"Haha Lane. Good Morning. Are all your siblings awake."

Wesley purposefully spoke Lane's words out loud, and as soon as he did that, the quiet Neal who was sitting in front of him opened his eyes wide with a multitude of emotions flashing across his face. Lane didn’t see this since Neal had his back towards him so he just spoke:

"Yes Master."

"Good. Bring them here, I have someone for all of you to meet."

Lane's eyes once more drifted towards the back of the dark clothed man who sat in front of his master. Who could this man be that his master would want him and his siblings to meet him and how did he manage to enter the Manor without anyone noticing.

"Yes Master."

Lane immediately turned back and exited the study. Wesley looked at Neal and spoke:

"Haha, what is wrong Neal, I thought you would be more excited to see your nephews."

Neal didn’t even look at Wesley anymore and simply looked at the ground with tears streaming down his face. His brother, his wife, his uncles, they are all dead. His only remaining relatives in this world are those children. Neal couldn’t help but cry for those who died but he also cried for those children, those children who now carry the remainder of his family's legacy and future.

Wesley simply sat there with a smile on his face, he has never experienced what Neal is going through, but he knew that Neal's tears were those of Joy. After a few minutes, Lane returned with his four siblings in tow.

As soon as they entered the room, Neal immediately stood up and looked at them with his eyes teary and his cheeks red, his eyes swept across the five siblings one by one. The siblings stood there motionlessly staring at the sobbing man in front of them not realizing what was going on. Neal's eyes finally rested on the giggling Sala, then he spoke:

"Y...you look just like your mother."

Hearing Neal's words, all the children had their jaws drop. What did it mean for someone to know their parents. But before they could say anything, Wesley stood up and walked towards the exit with a wide grin on his face and simply left the room.

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