Godfather's System

Once I was convinced that the flames wouldn't suddenly turn into a portal, it was easy to ignore the spread of the cursed flames. After my Charisma-backed order, people ran away faster than the flames could spread. The property damage to the city was for the city lord to worry about.

Instead, I paid attention to the approaching forces. A dozen cloaked figures. Nine of them moved openly, wearing the armor of the city guards. Six had melee weapons, while three had arrows. Their weapons were glowing as they ran forward toward me, ignoring everything else. "You're under arrest," their leader shouted, even using Charisma to reinforce it.

He was strong, easily level seventy, with a good class.

"You are arresting me, right now?" I asked as I turned toward them, my blade glowing golden to contrast the dark red of the spreading fire. I acted like I hadn't noticed the three concealed figures approaching from my blind spot, relying on concealment to keep themselves hidden as they moved through the shadows. "Where's your army, dog?!"

"How dare you challenge the authority of the city lord," he shouted, trying to act like he was angry, but he wasn't good enough of an actor to make it believable. "Kill him," he ordered. Nine of them moved toward me as a unit, while the three assassins approached me from behind, ready to pounce when I was most distracted.

I had to admit, it wasn't a bad plan. Agility might be fascinating to move between attacks, but it wouldn't help if I was flanked perfectly by a group that could coordinate efficiently. Clearly, they had done their homework.

I moved toward the nine of them to meet their charge, not giving the assassins a chance to complete the envelopment.

I needed an excuse to notice their presence.

As I rushed forward, I continued paying attention to my observers. Once they acted, the allegiance of my observers turned more obvious. Other than my attackers, there were four other groups. One of them — the most crowded one — ignored everything else to move toward the flames, doing their best to control the spread. They were most likely the real city guards.

Groups two and three were fighting against each other. More accurately, group two, with a dozen people, was blocking the path of group three, who had only five. I didn't recognize group two, group three had two familiar faces that I had seen escorting the princess.

Then, there was group four. At least with eight people, but they chose to just observe from a great distance rather than joining the fun.

As usual, a pointlessly complicated world. Five different groups — including the cultists — for poor old me.

The nine in front of me spread in a defensive line, while the three assassins continued to close the distance, still ready to act. They were too professional to make a mistake. I decided to cheat. A careful string of Charisma, targeting one of the Assassins with pure fury to make him act.

He attacked, his blade matte until it was inches away from my skin. I didn't react until it was almost too late, then I moved, once again showing my competency with Agility. The assassin collapsed with a gurgle as I reversed my direction.

With one of their compatriots dead, the other two assassins revealed their flaws as well. They tried to defend themselves, but they had two huge disadvantages. They were too focused on the idea of attacking me to reverse their direction. And, their biggest advantage, their high Agility, didn't help the slightest when pitted against mine.

Before the nine could catch up with me, three assassins were dead. Considering the rarity and the importance of the class, an incredible loss regardless of their destination. Speaking of it, I could see the other nine already losing their confidence after their trump card had misfired.

I pounced forward before they could surrender. "I wonder how the Marquis would react once he realizes you cost him three assassins," I said, using my Perception to read his expression. Eight of the fighters looked just surprised, but the leader had an expression of shock. He tried to keep it covered, enough that he might even be successful if he hadn't watched three assassins die in my hands seconds ago.

He opened his mouth. I could see that he was ready to surrender. A smart idea. The complicated relationship between Somaton and Ratum meant there was a high likelihood that they would be ransomed back.

I kicked a rock, and it hit his mouth, preventing him from speaking. I didn't like letting assassins live after making an attempt at my life. It would give the wrong message. I might not take down all of them once they inevitably escaped without revealing my Speed, but I wanted to take down the leader.

Before he could recover from the attack — more due to the unexpected nature of it than the damage it caused — I closed in the distance and took him down, leaving eight. A good number, but they didn't feel secure after losing their leader and their trump card.

"Disperse," one of them shouted, and, just like I expected, they started running away.

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I glanced around, taking note of the situation. The fourth group was still watching from a distance, while the princess' agents were already retreating as they realized their help was not needed. The second group turned and started attending the fire.

I thought about confronting them, but decided against it. They could claim that they were afraid that the princess' agents were another group of assassins, and they helped me by blocking them. It would be nonsense, but it would be reasonable nonsense.

Instead, I decided to follow my attackers. Not to whittle their number even further — as the idea was tempting — but to create an excuse for the future smuggling operation. I paused for a moment, remembering the discussions I had with Zolast about the companies responsible for the trade, and which ones would make a believable foil.

In the end, I decided to target two, the local chapter of Royal Chamber of Commerce, which was supposed to support the princess but was giving a lot of excuses not to; and a company called Invincible Arsenal, which was a spy for Somatons.

Sneaking into their buildings to plant some evidence about their betrayal was supposed to be a very difficult mission with the city wards tracking my location through their endless checkpoints, constant presence of observers and spies around me, and several other little challenges.

Until the overlapping assassination attempts from Somatons and cultists removed those challenges. The cursed fire was radiating destruction mana, which ruined any mana-based detection method. My observers had been pulled back to allow the assassination attempt to occur, making it easier to ditch them.

Ironically, even my assassins helped. Had they stayed and fought, I wouldn't have the excuse to chase them through the dark streets.

Once I reached a spot I wasn't being observed, I kicked a wall, letting it collapse. The sole attacker I had been chasing looked shocked at that choice, but that expression didn't survive for long when he realized I had already thrown my sword.

He didn't survive either.

"Time to work," I murmured as I let the Concealment cover me as I moved at full speed. The collapsed building gave me an excuse to disappear for a minute, and I wanted to push that to the limit.

I had picked that attacker to chase deliberately. He was near an office of the Royal Chamber of Commerce — not the headquarters, which was at the inner city — and the headquarters of the Invincible Arsenal wasn't too far away either.

I visited Invincible Arsenal first. Their wards were strong, but they were not designed to keep someone with Concealment, Speed, and Intelligence at the same time. I touched the alarm ward, and a gap had been created, one that I passed through in a fraction of a second, barely a blip.

Once I was at the main office, I paused for a second, stretching my senses to find a hidden safe, which was inevitable. I found one spot that was not commonly used, and placed some documents that reported the delivery of weapons to the princess … ones that they received in the middle of the sea.

Then, I placed two Ability Stones before sealing the safe. Their presence would make the betrayal even more convincing.

After all, who would sacrifice two Ability Stones just to create a fake betrayal, when it was enough to purchase a real one.

As a finishing touch, I had hit several of their workers with a focused burst of Charisma, triggering an intense panic. It was always better to have a few people running away suspiciously during an investigation to create more misunderstandings. I even managed to steal some boring documents that no one would miss, but still had dates and content of the future deliveries.

The whole operation didn't even take twenty seconds, allowing me to slip out of the office, and repeat the same with the Royal Chamber of Commerce, breaking into a seldom-used safe and placing both the bribe and the incriminating forgeries, completing the first stage of my fake smuggling operation.

Once that was completed, I rushed back to the building I had demolished, dug through the debris with my real Strength, then suppressed my Concealment.

I started pushing and cursing at the same time, making a show of digging myself out from the debris. "Sir, we're the city guards, we're here to help you," one of them said.

"Anyone that approaches me, I will treat as an enemy," I answered. "Stay away!"

The guards didn't even answer. They were likely not aware of the true nature of the assassination attempts — as only a moron would inform every single soldier under them about such a thing. From their perspective, my caution was understandable.

I continued to curse as I pushed the last piece of marble off myself and shook the dust. I looked at the guards. "Excellent protection. Tell the city lord just how much I enjoyed his hospitality," I said even as I walked toward the body of the assassin, and pulled off my sword from his lifeless body.

The guards didn't say anything as I walked away, and instead went to help the others to suppress the fire, treating the issue as something above their pay grade.

Smart.

I started walking toward the city gates, ignoring the fire and the guards. I was stopped at the gate. "Sir, the gates are closed until the emergency is handled. Please wait," said the knight that was responsible for the night shift.

It was a reasonable, respectful answer. However, I had an excuse not to listen to it. I flared my Charisma up hard enough to make them take a step back in fear. "Two options," I declared with a cold, threatening voice. "Open the gates, or accept the declaration of war between my church and your pathetic kingdom!" I shouted, making sure everyone heard it.

It was an excessive declaration, but the fact that I had been attacked in their territory gave me some leeway. I wanted to get out of the city. I didn't fear a second attempt, but I had already completed my mission in the city. There was no point wasting time while the city lord dragged me to several pointless parties while trying to show that he had no part in the assassination.

The knight was afraid to say anything, afraid of the implications. I pulled my sword, which glowed bright gold, contrasting the red light from the fires.

"Open the gate," he called, and his soldiers followed.

A smart idea. After all, I had another gate to pass, and if the city lord wanted to stop me, he could stop me there.

As I walked forward, I kept my sword out and glowing, knowing that the city lord would take it as a naked threat. No one stopped me at the outer gate, which was expected. The city lord pushed his hand with the assassination. He could have covered the situation up if it worked. Success had a way of covering up faults.

Failure was a magnifying glass.

I was barely ten minutes away from the city, when the flying cart arrived, driven personally by Zolast.

"Busy night?" he asked as I entered.

"Unfortunately, it's just starting," I answered.