The Devil’s Cage

Wearing a loose red official suit with golden linings, the attendant had a layer of powder on his face and showed a flattering smile when he met Kieran. The yellowish and blackish stains in between his teeth were obvious under the light from the front torch of the hotel.

“My lord, this is your conferring letter.”

The attendant passed the letter to Kieran with both hands as he voiced his following reminder. “Inside the letter you will find the acknowledgement of your dukeship and proof of your own land—it’s located not far away from Edatine Castle, a quite wealthy town. Now all you need is a family emblem and you are all done.”

“May I ask if you are choosing an emblem from the list or seeking the aid of a professional?”

“Is there a difference?” Kieran asked.

“Of course there is. If you choose from the list, the list would consist of all the family emblems that once shone in this land. They had fallen alright, but they are still respected by people, therefore you would have to pay extra Gold Purton…”

“Second one, I’ll design myself.”

Kieran stopped the attendant before he could even finish.

Paying Gold Purton was impossible for Kieran, not even in an alternate reality or a different dungeon world.

Kieran knew what the king, Edatine VI, sought and he was also glad that the king did.

Still, that didn’t mean he would pay extra on top of the heavy lifting in all this.

The base of a trade was fairness, wasn’t it?

As for the land granted to him, it was a reward for all the hard work.

The attendant showed his rotten yellowish teeth, the smile seeming a little forced this time.

He knew the Demon Hunters were a bunch of people who lived by their own rules, but he didn’t know the Demon Hunters were this stingy.

One thing worth taking note was that as an attendant, he earned most of his income through selling the emblem of the old glorious families and getting commissions from the designers that he introduced.

Now Kieran said that he would design the emblem himself, hence his income instantly flew away.

It was rather aggravating for the attendant. He ought to deliver his sales pitch and work with his silver tongue, but Kieran didn’t give him the chance to by walking into the hotel.

Looking at the shut door, the smile on the attendant froze.

He really wanted to teach Kieran a lesson but thinking about the temper and personality of the Demon Hunters, he carefully hid away his true thoughts. He stomped on the ground angrily and left.

He didn’t want to die.

Sitting in Room 203 and watching the attendant board the wagon going away, Borl looked at Kieran, who just came in, with utmost envy.

Kieran didn’t actually do anything yet he acquired the entire progress of Borl’s man mission line, what else could Borl be envious about?

It would be the progress escalating to a whole new level.

One thing worth taking note was that Borl’s main mission required him to acquire the status of noble and have land under his name.

The status could be the lowest ranks among all the dukeship and the land could simply be a village, that was the basic requirements.

Kieran easily completed all of that.

And him? Still a work in progress and somewhat rough.

Many more competitors came into play, even more than he initially expected.

3000 Gold Purton was not enough in the current stage, he had to bring some of his plans forward.

However, before he did, he had to discuss it with Kieran, it was the base that their cooperation was built on.

“Sir Colin… Ugh, my lord, congratulations,” Borl joked in a friendly way.

As the time he spent with Kieran got longer, Borl slowly got a grasp of Kieran’s personality. If things didn’t cross the bottom line, the Flaming Devil would not mind joking or harmless ridicules.

He wasn’t the capricious killing machine that people claimed he was.

“You need to be careful in the upcoming days,” Kieran stated the reason why he came to visit.

Borl immediately looked serious.

“You mean…”

Kieran wasn’t being obvious but Borl had a vague guess.

“Yes, it’s what you think. You better keep Aschen with you 24/7 and that talisman, bring it with you at all times,” Kieran nodded.

“Understood! Thanks to Father Mona, this talisman has helped me more than once.”

As he explained, Borl brought his blessing talisman that looked like a cobblestone out again. The talisman with many lines on it was placed in between his palm while he thanked the father with a grateful look.

When the cobblestone talisman came into sight, the uneasy feeling appeared again.

He subtly moved backwards and kept his distance. If he wasn’t waiting for Borl’s status report, he would have gone out of the room.

Thankfully, Borl realized the situation quickly enough.

“I’ve run into some problems but it’s still under control. I have to gather more Gold Purton to reach my original goal. More competitors means higher prices. That seller isn’t a gentleman, so raising the price on the spot is almost certain,” Borl sighed.

Kieran didn’t ask about the sigh. Both of them exchanged information from what they had gathered and a while later, Kieran stood up and headed to Room 205.

His own room was 204; 205 was the room Anderson rented.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come in.” A firm reply from the old hunter later, Kieran went in.

The moment the door opened, a heavy herbal smell entered his nose. Kieran glanced over the mystical writings on the inner frame of the door, Pro level [Mystical Knowledge] allowing him to know that these writings were used to isolate smell, but as for how it was activated and operated, Kieran’s skill level was still unable to decipher it.

After going in, in order to contain the smell in the room and not attract attention from the hotel owner, Kieran quickly closed the door.

Old Hank was a decent man, Kieran would not want to involve him in the vortex of trouble.

It was definitely not because the hotel owner left him supper.

Standing at the door, Kieran scanned around Room 205.

Similar to other rooms, it was a small contained unit with an independent washroom, mini parlour, and sleeping area.

The old hunter was sitting in the mini parlour.

On top of the short tea table were many bottles and vials.

The old Demon Hunter put a dried lizard into a beaker with black liquid. When it touched the liquid, it started to melt exponentially. The old Demon Hunter shook the beaker skillfully and when he stopped, the black liquid inside had transformed into deep blue liquid with shards of crystalite, looking very beautiful.

The old Demon Hunter then cocked his head backwards, pouring the entire beaker into his mouth and swallowing it.

Judging from his expression, Kieran could tell the potion that he crafted seemed effective but the taste was not something to expect.

“I’ve suffered some inhuman torture back in the dungeon, I need something special to treat my body. And these are all the basics of a Demon Hunter, most I got accidentally,” explained Anderson.

Though he didn’t seem to linger on the topic ‘accidentally’ for he switched the topic right away.

“That king has made his move?” asked Anderson.

“Mm. He says that I am credited to the elimination of the pagans, he conferred me as duke. The land that I am granted is not far away from Edatine Castle, a quite wealthy town,” Kieran explained as he tossed his conferring letter on the tea table.

The old Demon Hunter stared at the letter in silence for quite some time.

In the end, he asked “What do you want?”

Anderson was perfectly clear what Kieran meant by revealing the letter.

He believed Kieran must have noticed his desperate situation.

If Wolf Sect had to rest and recuperate, a turf of their own was a must.

Anderson planned to search for one around Sicar initially but now with the land around Edatine Castle… better!

No one could deny how prosperous the capital was, not even a lonely, independent Demon Hunter.

The Demon Hunters lived by their own rules but they were not blind.

Being near the capital, they had easier access to weapons and herbs plus many more resources that they required. Should they rebuild in the aforementioned town, it would take 5 years… No! 3 years! And the Wolf Sect would be alive again.

If things progressed smoothly, 10 years later, when the new generation of Wolf Sect Demon Hunter were born, they would probably return to their prime!

However, there are no free lunches in this world, Anderson understood it well enough, hence the direct question.

“What do you have?” Kieran asked.

Anderson got stunned.

Yeah, what does he have?

He wasn’t the famous Hunting Knife anymore. He had no honor, no savings, not even his old collections.

Given such a desperate situation, what else could he offer?

Offering help to exterminate the pagans in Edatine Castle?

No!

Andersoon shook his head slightly.

He wasn’t that low to trade his specialty for a chance.

Then, what else did he have in his possession?

Intuitively, the old hunter looked down to his own boots, or more precisely, the dagger sheathed beside his boots.

“You want to learn some dagger skills?” asked Anderson.”

“Sure. I’ll draw an area outside the town for you to use it as you wish,” Kieran nodded after some thoughts.

He had seen Anderson’s dagger techniques, it wasn’t just any flying dagger techniques, it had reached a whole new level.

To Kieran, who kept perfecting and enhancing his offensive means, it was quite a deal for him, especially since the technique was exchanged for literally no cost.

The old Demon Hunter smiled widely. He was perceptive enough to not ask Kieran what he would do with the town he got.

Aside from the original residence there, the people from the Mist religious sect alone were enough for Anderson to understand that town would surely be the base of operation for the religious sect.

As for if the king would plant his men in the down beforehand?

Anderson thought it wasn’t his problem, the people in the Mist religious sect would surely be able to overcome it.

A religious sect with their own God, what would they be skilled at?

Searching the ‘deviants’ among them, including traitors.

Though another question popped up: what were those two doing?

The rebellion was all too obvious yet they did not notice it and put a stop to it?

Those two Gods might be cautious against each other, but what about Edatine VI?

As a king, he remained stagnant.

Was he terrorized by those two?

No, not right!

If he was deterred, he should have turned a blind eye and deaf ear to it, not confer Colin a dukeship.

Neither would he mention the so-called ‘eliminating the pagans’ out loud. His actions were like stomping the two Gods’ faces onto the ground.

A shameful matter would incite rage in people, let alone Gods.

Based on Anderson’s understanding of those two Gods, sometimes their faces were enough to incite a divine war. Yet they kept quiet now.

‘Could it be… the king has some powers that I don’t know of?’

After completing his initial plan, the old Demon Hunter couldn’t help but expand his thoughts. Kieran didn’t interrupt him, sitting there quietly and waiting until the old Demon Hunter came back to his senses.

“I’m sorry. This might be a trauma left by those bastards in the dungeon. What do you think about Edatine VI?”

Anderson looked at Kieran apologetically before he went straight to the point.

Kieran was very fond of this way of conversing.

Anderson wasn’t fond of covering stuff up, neither was Kieran.

“Strange. He’s able to achieve balance in between those two Gods. At first I thought it was some skillful manipulation, but the scene earlier told me… the king is not as simple as we thought. I am quite interested in his new ‘royal decree’,” Kieran expressed his honest thoughts.

In Kieran’s initial thoughts, Edatine VI would have swirled around God of War and Lady Calamity, maintaining the very last dignity of a king and keeping a subtle balance between things.

However, the conferring that just happened inserted other thoughts in Kieran’s mind.

There weren’t just two forces confronting each other in Edatine Castle, there were three!

A three-way battle!

The God of War, Lady Calamity, and Edatine VI!

Mortal versus Gods!

It was natural that Kieran suspected Edatine VI of being the spy of Broker since things had unfolded this way, but he quickly denied his own thoughts.

If Broker had a spy like Edatine VI, he wouldn’t have gone after Borl, so Edatine VI couldn’t have been one. Still, his true motives and identity was something worthwhile to ridicule with.

The old Demon Hunter smiled and exchanged a gaze with Kieran before he continued, “About this Edatine VI, I don’t know a great deal about him. When I was active, most of the people cared more about Edatine V.”

“Edatine V? What was he like?”

Kieran didn’t mind knowing more about the king through these smaller routes, the king’s father would be a very good entry point.

“Greedy and smart. Overambitious and powerful. Loved glamorous dresses and food but not women. After his queen died, he never had another woman in his life, not even getting close to one,” said the old Demon Hunter after some thoughts.

“Powerful? To what extent?” Kieran asked for the key point.

“Similar to the light sword that you just unleashed, it’s almost on the same level,” replied Anderson.

Rank V? Kieran squinted his eyes.

“If I remember correctly, the king fell ill and passed away in the end, right?” Kieran asked.

“Mm. He did fall ill, the true cause of death was Silent Night Secret Society. They used the pagans to snatch the king’s life—it was because of this revelation that we went after Silent Night Secret Society. Then… it’s the prelude of the Black Cataclysm and I’m sure you’ve heard of what happened next.”

Anderson paused for a while to suck in a deep breath before continuing.

On his face, there was a complicated countenance, a mix of rage and pain.

Kieran paid attention to the expressions, only speaking when the expressions faded away.

“What did the Demon Hunter do to the Calamity? What was their backup plan?”

Holuff, the hotel owner back in Sicar, once frankly revealed that the reason why Lady Calamity didn’t truly become a God was because of what the Demon Hunters did to her, setting her up.

Holuff didn’t finish the story that time, so Kieran hoped to get the answer from Anderson. For the sake of safety, he purposely opted out Lady and avoided mentioning her full name, only mentioned Calamity.

To his disappointment, Anderson shook his head.

“I don’t know. I did participate in that war but I didn’t reach the end of it. I stayed back to buy time for my friends but when I woke up, I was imprisoned in the dungeon. I have no idea what happened after that,” Anderson said apologetically.

“Is that so…” Kieran muttered in disappointment.

Right before they continued conversing, a loud thud came from the sleeping area.

Bang!

It was the noise of something heavy falling to the ground.