Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 3 Ghost
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"Forgive my intrusion, but the news from the Temple of Sunset... if that news is true," a middle-aged nobleman with graying hair, his right hand trembling slightly, pressed his left chest and bowed deeply:
"Please allow me to go personally and take care of this for you."

“Your information network is truly impressive, old friend,” a robust figure said in a deep voice, lowering his right hand from his chin by the roaring fire. “The latest report: it’s not yet confirmed, but the lamp in the Temple of Sunset is indeed lit, and it looks very close.”

“I have already sent Yodl; he is better suited for covert operations than Ada.”

The gray-haired nobleman paused slightly in surprise.

"Yordl?"

“That’s right,” the robust figure said calmly.
“You know how important this news is. Li Xiya even sealed off the inner altar in the name of divine decree at the first moment, so we can’t risk unnecessary exposure. I will only secretly send you when it is finally confirmed.”

“Of course, of course,” the middle-aged nobleman with gray hair could not hide his excitement. “If that time comes, I will be willing to serve you wholeheartedly.”

“Alas,” the robust figure sighed, “I should have been more excited than you.”

"But for some reason, I am so calm."

----

Rick didn't know how he got back to the Brotherhood headquarters.

The chill on the back of my neck lingered.

But when he saw the Brotherhood's underworld headquarters, saw the two elite thugs playing a game of stabbing their fingers with knives at the entrance, and saw the shadowy sentries outside...

When he entered the main room, he saw Maurice, the boss, carefully examining the accounts behind the iron table...

But when he saw the disdainful look in Belicia's eyes as she leaned against the pillar—presumably because Belicia's proposal to increase funding for the brothel had been rejected again that evening—…

Rick breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, even the assassin Leyok, who had always been at odds with him, appeared kind and approachable in the candlelight at the dinner table.

Unbeknownst to him, the chill on the back of his neck had vanished without a trace, as if it had never been there at all.

Even Rick himself wondered if he was being too nervous.

When he mentioned to Maurice, the head of the human trafficking business, that he suspected someone was following him, Leyok laughed so hard he spat out a mouthful of ale, extinguishing the candlestick on the table. Belicia yawned, tightened her enormous chest, and looked at him with even more disdain.

When Morris saw Rick covered in cold sweat, he looked at him strangely, patted Rick on the shoulder, and told him not to "overwork" himself recently, to watch less of the plays in the Temple of the Underworld, and to ask Dr. Ramon to prescribe some calming medicine when he returned from his business trip.

Damn it!

Rick knew that even the fact that he possessed superpowers was hard for others to believe.

Not to mention a pervert who followed you from an abandoned house to a dark street, for a whole kilometer, without a trace, with no clear purpose and no action—but Rick subconsciously believed that the guy's existence was real!
But when he returned to his room, lay down, and carefully recalled the details of being followed that night, even Rick, who was always suspicious, couldn't help but wonder if he was just being too nervous.
Rick calmed down and tested his ability again. Everything was normal, and his neck, resting on the plush pillow, felt very comfortable.

Okay, maybe I'm just overthinking it.

But the next moment, that chilling coldness returned!

I grass!

I can't sleep now!

Rick suddenly jumped out of bed.

He pulled out a box from under the bed, rummaged through it and found a Siegel VI magic gun so heavy it took two hands to drag it. He pressed himself nervously against the solid wall, then slowly tiptoed out of the corridor, listening intently.

The corridor was brightly lit by lamps burning eternal oil, yet there was still no one there. In the distance, a sentry returned from the toilet, seemingly scratching an itch, tugging at his black and red leather armor at the groin, as he walked past Rick.

From the room at the end of the corridor, as usual, came the wanton and frenzied roars of Leyok and Belicia.

"Damn it, you shameless bastards!" Rick cursed loudly.

"It's best to use too much force and break it off completely!"

The guards who had just passed by turned around and nodded to Rick, sharing the same sentiment.

Their eyes met, and they instantly felt a sense of kinship.

Then, Rick saw the other person painfully scratching at the leather armor in his groin, while the other person looked at him struggling to hold the magic gun against the wall.

Both of them turned away awkwardly, one returning to his post and the other to his room.

Rick touched the back of his neck.

Damn it, it must be that damn superpower malfunctioning.

Besides, if the enemy manages to reach the Brotherhood headquarters, which is full of skilled fighters, and hasn't been discovered by a single person, then having the Fel Gun would be completely useless.

Even Maurice, the boss, couldn't do anything about it.

sleep.

----

Thales' back injury looked bad, but it didn't seem too serious, because he was able to stand up and walk on the third day.

Perhaps... those with lowly fates are just born with hard lives, Thales sighed as he stood in line.

He looked around at the dilapidated houses and broken walls, took the black bread and wild vegetables handed to him by the henchman Pearson, and bit into his mouth.

This damn place.

"There are sharp branches right next to you, you must have secretly cut my hand!"

"It wasn't me! My hand was cut last night too, and I can't 'work' at all!"

"Everyone in our house has cut their hands! It must be the people from the eighth house! They're jealous of our catch yesterday!"

"So it was them! Our people from the fourteenth house were also cut during the night! They didn't want us to go out on the street to 'stole sheep'!"

Thales yawned, listening lazily as several beggars from another room started arguing and escalated into a fight, with the other beggars even egging him on, until the thugs came to stop them.

He sighed, swallowed the last bite of his unpalatable breakfast, clapped his hands, and called over the beggars in the sixth house.

Work has begun.

It was Tuesday, and the begging at the Sixth House went relatively smoothly. In order to do more business, they went directly to the area near the checkpoint at the West Gate. It seemed that the past week had been a festival for the God of Sunset, but it was said that a divine oracle had been issued and the inner altar of the Temple of Sunset had been sealed off, forcing many believers who had come from afar to turn back through the West Gate. At most, they could climb the city wall and pray to the setting sun to make up for the regret of not being able to pray to the first temple of the Goddess of Sunset on earth.

Before the guards could turn their angry glares into physical intervention, Thales, with the help of Ryan and Coria, managed to smuggle a black wood carving of the Moon Goddess from a fat fruit and vegetable vendor.

The vendor was too focused on the wallet in his arms (“Get away from me, you bastards!”), so while Ryan and Coria were haggling with him over a clover, Thales reached for the package behind him.

The worship of the Moon Goddess is not common in the Star Kingdom, let alone in Eternal Star City, where the First Temple of Sunset is located. This makes the Moon Goddess statue even more special. Of course, such stolen goods cannot be exposed to the light of day and can only be sold through the Brotherhood's channels. The Brotherhood's veterans know that they are just beggars and thieves, so they will desperately try to drive down the price. If they find something valuable, they will even rob it. Getting five copper coins is considered good.

But even a small mosquito is still meat.

When Thales and the others returned to the abandoned house, they encountered Rick, who was on patrol as usual. However, Rick was not as kind and calm as he usually was. Instead, he hurriedly gave a few instructions to the thugs and then disappeared from sight.

"Is Mr. Rick in trouble?"

"I'm starving," Coria asked, biting her finger.

They went far and returned late. Fortunately, Thales had a good relationship with Pearson, the thug in charge of delivering food, and often bribed him with small gifts, which is why Pearson agreed to leave food for them.

“It’s probably Quaid, that guy’s the worst troublemaker,” Kelly said, his stomach growling.

Upon hearing the name, both Ned and Ryan shuddered.

"Kids, there's no food tonight." When the six children entered the now empty dining hall, Pearson, who was in charge of serving the food, waved his hand.

“Don’t look at me, I can’t do anything about it either,” Pearson said, shaking his head dismissively in the face of the six children’s angry but somewhat unconvinced questions. “Rick gave the order that we should go to bed early tonight, and the schedule has been moved up.”

Thales frowned, patted his empty stomach, and began to think about whether he should sneak into the thugs' guardhouse that night to find food.

But after glancing at the other five people who were eagerly waiting for food, he sighed and took out the moon statue he had swiped from his pocket.

Finally, after much pleading and bargaining, Thales managed to get back the four and a half loaves of black bread and half a bowl of black pine vegetables from Pearson in exchange for the moon statue, which Pearson had originally intended to steal and keep for his two hunting dogs.

“Rick and Quaid have been acting a bit neurotic lately.”

While the other five children were eating, Pearson, before leaving, revealed some news to Thales:
“Quide’s temper is getting worse and worse, he’s been cursing ‘bald guy’ all day long—but that’s just how he is—but Rick has become very strange, especially in the last couple of days, I heard from people at headquarters…”

At this point, Pearson glanced around and whispered in Thales' ear:
"He's being haunted by a ghost."

ghost?

Thales watched Pearson walk away, took a bite of the black bread that was usually unpalatable but tasted especially good when he was hungry, and pondered silently.

I don't know what happened to Rick that caused him to encounter a ghost.

But what's making Quaid's temper worse and worse...?

Thales swallowed a bite of bread.

It seems I need to keep a low profile lately.

----

Rick tensed up again.

Two days ago, he thought his superpower had malfunctioned.

But it wasn't until this morning, when he was preparing supplies for the next batch of beggars and flipping through the roster, that he truly confirmed:
There's nothing wrong with my special ability.

Rick is a very ambitious man, and he believes that to realize his ambitions, he must start with small things: for example, he never writes down his schedule and plans on paper; he always puts a few strands of hair in inconspicuous places in drawers, boxes, and important documents to prevent them from being stolen or spied on; and he never hides his money in one place, etc.

He always took pride in his caution and believed that one day he would reap the rewards for such caution.

For example, right now. Rick opened the register of beggars.

On the roster, the hair clipped to each page was in the same position.

This should have been a good thing, meaning the roster would remain untouched.

But Rick is the son of the clerk.

His father had taught him that if one is willing, any good thief can easily bypass this kind of "hair-clamping" secrecy method and open the documents he wants without anyone noticing.

So Rick got a more cautious approach from his father.

The quickest way to flip through a document without anyone noticing if there's hair stuck in the pages is to hold the hair in place while turning the page, and then use your hands to hold the top and bottom pages together to keep the hair in place.

How can this method be cracked?
Like nobles, sealing it directly with sealing wax is the fastest and safest method.

But Rick had a light, dry gel made from porcupine oil that his father used exclusively.

This is a gel specifically for poor people living by the river. The characteristic (disadvantage?) of this dry gel is that its adhesive strength is not strong. Unless the book is too heavy, after applying the gel to the pages, even if the book is closed, the glued area will not stick together. You have to press the two sides of the glued area firmly for a short time before the pages will stick together.

When Rick opened the roster, he found that all the hair was still in place, except for a little bit.

These strands of hair were stuck tightly to the pages of the book.

Without external force, his inferior gel could not have done this.

Someone saw his own beggar's register and even discovered his "anti-theft hair," which he used to flip through the pages by holding the hair between his fingers.

Rick felt a chill run down his spine.

The other person must be an expert to be able to leave four different but inconspicuous hairs on the pages of the book in their original positions without any deviation.

Fortunately, I had the secret passed down from my father, which enabled me to discover it.

A dozen days ago, I saw Thales's begging scene and looked through the roster in order to find the house where the boy Thales lived.

Everything was normal back then.

But in the ten days or so that have passed, someone has come to my room and looked through the list of beggars.

Rick felt a chill run down his spine.

He suddenly realized that this was not the most important thing.

Rick then scrambled to open the hidden compartment of the drawer.

He pulled out the most important ledger of human transactions, as well as his secret deposit book in the Royal Bank.

The ledgers and deposit books were safe, with no signs of being tampered with, and the hair in the pages had fallen naturally.

Rick breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the contents of these hidden compartments haven't been—wait a minute.

If someone is an expert, how could they miss the hidden compartment?
Rick trembled as he pulled out the entire hidden compartment, disassembled it, and reached for the spot where the hair should have been clipped.

He then slumped into the chair.

hair.

They were being firmly attached to the seams of the hidden compartments by the Tariq family's unique, non-sticky, light-drying gel.

When Rick walked into the restaurant looking dejected, ignoring Leyok and Belicia who were flirting, it was Leyok, who had always been at odds with Rick, who called out to him gleefully.

"Accountant, I heard you've been seeing ghosts lately?"

Rick ignored him and simply sat down with a blank expression.

In a daze, he grabbed a bottle of ink used for accounting from the table, mistook it for sauce, and poured it over his steak.

“Ignore him,” Belicia said with a smile, sitting in Leyok’s lap. She glanced at the assassin with a flirtatious look and fed him a glass of red wine. “Are you coming to my room again tonight?”

“Of course, of course,” Leyok replied hastily before even swallowing his wine. “I only found out today that the boss moved all the outposts outside a week ago, so why don’t we… hehe… go a little crazy tonight?”

"Oh, you're so naughty..."

We moved all the guard posts outside a week ago...

"Clang!" Rick's ink bottle slammed onto the table, the ink spreading across the surface and flowing in front of the couple on the other side.

He looked up, pale-faced, at Leyok and Belicia, who both looked displeased.

"A week ago? A week ago, weren't there any guards at the main building at headquarters?"

“Nonsense,” Leyok brushed the ink off his clothes and threw a piece of bread at Rick’s face in annoyance.

"Regarding the recent major operation against the Blood Bottle Gang, the boss said it needs to be kept secret and the fewer people involved, the better, so all the checkpoints have been moved outdoors—but don't worry, you still have a ghost that's always by your side protecting you."

“Then, in the corridor,” Rick didn’t realize his voice was trembling, “there won’t be any checkpoints in the corridor, right?”

But Leyok and Belicia had already forgotten about him and were kissing each other without a care in the world.

Rick took a deep breath.

The day before yesterday, I was inexplicably followed in the abandoned house. That night, there were sentry brothers who shouldn't have been there in the headquarters corridor, and the beggar's roster in the room was carefully examined.

Great, everything makes sense now.

Now, Narrick, he said to his trembling self:

You're being watched.

The opponent may be very strong.

So powerful that he could move freely in the heavily guarded Black Street headquarters, so powerful that even a terrifying assassin like Lyok didn't notice him, and an experienced superhuman warrior like Boss Morris was completely unaware.

I was lucky enough to discover this thanks to my deceased father.

He might be right behind me.

I must save myself, save myself!

I need to find out his purpose!

Rick's brain started working frantically.

In the past two days, the other party must have turned his room upside down, but he only carefully looked at the list of beggars.

They discarded the more important ledgers like worn-out shoes.

Rick had a sudden thought: What the other party was looking for was in the beggars' register!

Oh right, I was targeted near the abandoned house, which happens to be where the beggars live!

He was looking for a beggar!
However, Rick was troubled, thinking that he had dozens of beggars under his command!
Next month, Beth will send another batch of children, all of unknown origin or without any future trouble (important and valuable children, such as the descendants of certain powerful people or the children of certain wealthy merchants, have long been either redeemed or killed). Which beggar do they want?
With such superb skills and terrifying strength, why doesn't he openly and honestly make demands of the Brotherhood?

We'll just give it to you directly!
She would rather cooperate with him one by one, even if all the hundred-plus beggars were dragged out one by one, stripped naked and searched, or even killed and dissected, than live in constant fear, being kept at a distance by a "ghost"!

and many more.

I think I've figured out the key point.

Why doesn't he make his demands on the Brotherhood openly and honestly?

Rick blinked.

Of course, this matter must not be known to anyone, not even the Black Street Brotherhood!
Are they rivals of the Brotherhood?

No, if the Blood Bottle Gang had that kind of strength, the Black Street Brotherhood would have been wiped out dozens of times over.

That means the other party may not use formal channels, or may disdain dealing with the underworld brotherhood in the lower city!
Such a terrifying figure would certainly not be so low-level as to associate with gangsters from the slums.

Why would he be interested in these orphans who have been lost to the world for many years?
Why can't we just report a missing child to the police station directly?

Moreover, the Guard Bureau dares not neglect figures and forces of this caliber. Even the seemingly arrogant Brotherhood can only bow their heads in the face of the authorities.

and many more!

Rick had a sudden inspiration, feeling that he had grasped the key point.

Highly skilled, elusive, and secretive, he is interested in the origins of a certain child and is unwilling to deal with the Black Street Brotherhood.

Strength is built with money and resources; he keeps it a secret because making it public would be detrimental to him; he doesn't deal with the Brotherhood because he's already at a very high level.

As for their interest in children from different backgrounds that the fraternity collects from various sources...
and many more.

Behind him must be a powerful and wealthy figure, yet he avoids all eyes and ears from the fraternity to the guardhouse, secretly searching for an important child—the child?
I grass!

Rick slapped his thigh hard, a thought suddenly striking him.

He's gotten himself into a succession struggle within some powerful families!

Rick glared at Leyok and Belicia, who were acting as if no one else was around and had already started to physically assault each other.

However, his thoughts had long since drifted away from the couple in front of him.

Perhaps none of the fifteen million people in the entire Star Kingdom knew that one day, a secret truth powerful enough to shake the entire kingdom and reverberate across the eastern and western continents was once so close to an insignificant gang leader.

(End of this chapter)