Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 445 A Necessary Evil
"That's so convenient."

The journey back was much easier than the journey down.

Teleportation deep within the maze requires overcoming interference from beasts and consumes an exceptionally high amount of resources, so it can basically only be used for combat force teleportation and emergency support.

After returning to the town of Dania, Rean could go directly back to the surface without disturbing the increasingly prosperous daily life of the town. As the local lord, his visit was enough to bring chaos to the entire region.

After emerging from the Mirror Demon's dimensional portal, Rean felt the eager gazes around him.
"Lord Rean."

"Sir, you are truly amazing."

“We’ve seen you. You held them off all by yourself for so long. Even that giant stone monster was no match for you.”

The soldiers' flattery was blunt and lacked fancy words and rhetoric, but their respect for and even admiration for the strong was pure.

Their worship and joy are genuine.

This is Rean's doorstep, and also the new city center of the dock district. Warriors and onlookers come and go in front of a large number of Mirror Demons.

However, compared to the other two entrance areas, the basic hardware, average level of warriors, and shop resources here are much worse. The main force is actually ordinary mercenaries from commoner backgrounds, new knights of the Weaver Knights Order, and pastors of the Church of Light and Joy.

Data shows that the average level of entry-level warriors in the Radiant Zone is 3.7, while that in the Dock Zone is only 2.2. This is partly because those who are qualified to enter the Dimensional Gate and are included in the statistics are basically recognized veteran warriors, and partly because the great mages and great warriors in the Radiant Zone raise the evaluation.

The numerical difference isn't significant, but in reality, the effectiveness of a high-level professional of rank seven or above exceeds that of ten rank five, especially spellcasters.
“This is Rean Sudar, our lord.”

Rean, a quasi-commoner knight of "fallen noble" origin and local lord, naturally attracted the attention of the local warriors.

His resilience, his strength, and his bloody killings left a deep impression on the locals.

This was probably his first time fighting with all his might on camera, and his tenacious and unyielding figure was perhaps more trustworthy and even admirable than mere strength.

Knights are never the most powerful profession, but they are the most trustworthy. And the only responsibility of a lord who rises from knight is probably to protect his land and people.

Rean himself never expected that his casual stroll would inexplicably boost his reputation so much.

"Rean."

The first person to come and greet us was both unexpected and perfectly reasonable.

"Talia, it's been a long time, both in real life and in reality."

Upon hearing this, the leopard woman gave a wry smile.

After most of the security work in the dock area was outsourced to the Knights of the Weavers, she was working overtime like crazy. Larry and she were busy reorganizing the local security forces, starting with the selection and training of new recruits.

The Knights Weavers are very useful, but they are still "mercenaries" in nature. In addition, with the influence of the Church of the New Gods, they may be just in themselves, but their political stance is questionable.

When the will of the gods clashes with the will of the local lords, as both a warrior of the gods and a local sheriff, whose will should take precedence? Can the gods guarantee that their high-ranking followers will not sin or be corrupted?
After the "Rean forces" gradually gained a foothold, reorganizing the local sheriffs and city guards (lords' guards) was basically a necessary step. It was also possible to select some rejected members or converts from the Weaver Knights, but this process was mandatory and their identities had to be changed.

Talia played a crucial role in this process, and her dual identity was recognized by both sides.

After some thought, "Lord" realized that as Rean's de facto "subordinate," she also had to maintain respect.

"Don't do that, I don't have any official position right now. Just call me Rean, you're older than me, Sister Talia."

Seeing that Rean remained calm, Talia breathed a sigh of relief. The screen still showed Rean from last night, and he seemed somewhat unfamiliar to her, even making her wonder if he was possessed.

"You wanted to talk to me about the Hunters' Guild?"

"Yes and no." Rean had also heard about what Talia had been busy with lately. Among the many evils in this world, there are always some that are legal and cannot be prosecuted.

The most obvious examples are the privileged and sinful acts of the nobles and the legal transactions in the slave market.

In the dock area, there are always some people who go too far, and the locals are unable to deal with them. For example, recently, during the current period of unrest, some businessmen have been taking advantage of the situation to legally acquire properties with their money.

If it weren't for their schemes, spreading rumors, and even arson that caused ordinary people to lose their homes and land, Rean wouldn't have considered them a thorn in his side that he had to deal with as soon as possible, even if it meant taking drastic measures.

These are the kinds of things that even the paladins come to, and they don't know who to deal with. The merchants who are taking over the houses and the gangs that are causing trouble are not in contact with each other, but the boss behind them is the same person.

Finding evidence is time-consuming and laborious. Everyone knows he did it, but we just can't find any evidence.

"Should I have approved the hunting party? Are there enough people?"

“It takes some time to train someone from scratch.”

At abnormal times, extraordinary measures must be taken. There are some "masterminds" behind the scenes, and warnings are meaningless.

Talia then decided to use her old skills. Generally speaking, murder is a crime, and even "just murder" should not be accepted by paladins.

But clearly, neither Rean nor Talia are normal people.

After gaining control of the local area, Rean only cared about the outcome and did not care whether the means were in accordance with the law, while Talia had also suffered too much "legal powerlessness".

In this era that demands efficiency, a group of assassins, or rather, an anti-traitor squad, might not be unacceptable.

“Under normal circumstances, as the ruler of the lord, I should reject this proposal, but these ‘vampires’ will never bring any positive benefits in the first place. Those unscrupulous merchants will only drive up the price of rice. Let’s kill them all.”

Petty and wicked nobles and unscrupulous merchants will become the main targets of illegal means, and Rean can only feel at ease if this matter is entrusted to Talia.

The goal is not to kill off all those who cross the line, but to provide a deterrent, making them think carefully before acting recklessly.

You can make a small list, and immediately remove any instance that crosses the line a certain number of times or is extremely serious, while only issuing a warning for an instance that slightly crosses the line once.

"The assassin training I received didn't yield a high survival rate, but in that heroic spirit, I sensed the scent of a nighttime killer."

Uh, Talia's sense of smell is really sharp. Rean glanced at "Assassin" on his job list. Wu must have been an assassin before.

Monks and thieves are actually quite compatible. Many fallen monks eventually become killers in the shadows. The Shadow Dancer (an advanced thief) who manipulates the power of shadows and the Shadow Sect of monks share many similar or even overlapping abilities. Even their fighting style of ambushing in the shadows is very similar.

Even their attribute requirements are similar, with agility being the top priority for all types of characters, which means that excellent talents can cultivate both.

"You mean, you want me to find Wu, that heroic spirit, and get a training method, or even pass it down?"

Rean frowned. Although it was quite difficult, the rewards would be substantial if he succeeded.

There are precedents for this; the Weaver Knights and Larry's Law Knights are both descendants of heroes.

Talia's training of new recruits is probably not going very well. After all, she's just an elite assassin trained by an assassination organization. She's good at killing, but not necessarily at high-level combat.

Considering the long-term development of the newcomers, and thinking about obtaining a more suitable heroic spirit inheritance, Wu probably not only has the martial monk inheritance, but also the training method of the shadow assassin.

"Alright, give it a try. I'll teach you a part of that hero's legacy first. Your competitors are really not weak either." If the situation allows, Rean naturally hopes that Talia will be the winner of this competition.

(End of this chapter)