Everything is going according to plan

- KAI POV-

Everything was going just as I planned.

From using a rich merchant's fear of a nobleman, to raise funds for future plans.

A man's loyalty to his lord, plus his concern for his son's future, led him to work as an administrator for my organization.

Until recruiting members of all professions within the city, mainly those who were not doing well in life, they would be the people who urgently needed help and could help others with their various skills.

In addition, I had created a reward system for recruiting more members for the organization, so I wouldn't have to look for new members, it would be the existing members who, following a method I gave them, could notify me that they wanted to talk to me to introduce me to someone; if they joined, I would reward them with ten silver coins.

I would use the fortune generously donated by our first member to join the cause, to reward them.

Now, to give members credibility over other members.

I decided to follow up on Edmund's request, I didn't want the member who could create the most requests to die because of the carelessness of a few idiots.

Here I was, eavesdropping in the shadows on the discussion of the guy who accepted the request to kill the Marquis and his partners in crime.

"First of all, we must investigate when Marquis Starling will next enter deep into the forest and the number of his attendants."

"It's not a problem, boss. I have an acquaintance who works at the brothel your men frequent. We just have to bribe him so that one of the prostitutes they use will get the information from them."

"Perfect, you take care of it, the sooner the better, we only have a week to complete the mission or we won't get paid."

"Second, I want you to get me 'Dust of Fury', the more the merrier."

"That will be a bit difficult boss, the city lord's guards strictly control the materials entering the city, the materials to craft it are considered highly prohibited."

"I know, find that bastard Silas, if anyone can get contraband it's that guy, give him double the price, but he must keep his mouth shut about the purchase."

"The most important thing about this operation is discretion. If anyone is discovered, a painful death awaits us all, so don't do anything stupid."

"When we have the information about the Marquis, we will meet again to plan the specific details. For now, retreat, gather equipment and prepare. When we lure the monsters out, we may find ourselves engaged in combat with them. We must be prepared for a confrontation while making sure we are not discovered by the Marquis' men. We must make sure some of them escape and serve as witnesses. Let the death be judged as a monster attack. Everyone, disperse."

"Understood".

"Understood, boss."

I could see more than a dozen men retreating to do their things, while my organization member and Celdric stayed to discuss boring things.

'It's not a bad plan, using something to lead a stampede of monsters to the Marquis's location, then the only problem is ensuring that some of the Marquis's attendants survive and the request will be completed, as Celdric mentioned, the biggest problem would be the possible confrontation with the monsters they attract, but I can help them behind the scenes with that.'

'It's funny that they're after that guy Silas, he was one of my main recruiting targets, what better than a big dealer to bring into your organization, not only can he use his products to reward requests, he can also help members get illegal materials, thus expanding his business.'

I will continue to keep an eye on my adventurer member until he completes the mission, I don't want him to die and damage my organization's reputation on the first task, who knows when someone else will accept it.

-Silas POV-

'Damn the city lord, why can't he let an honest dealer work in peace in his business? My business helps many people get what they need, some things may be prohibited by law, but that's no reason to target me. I know he buys my products through his men, what double standards.'

I complained about that hypocritical guy, I was in one of my hideouts, after being raided by the city lord's guards, aiming to catch me. Luckily for me, when I was desperate, I had help from a shady guy to escape.

He invited me to his underground organization, which he called a community of help, apparently he opened a branch in this city and was recruiting new members. He offered me to join it, or rather he threatened me to join or he would kill me, I could only reluctantly accept.

According to him, I could use the organization to sell my products, all anonymously, and I could hire others to do all kinds of things for me, I just had to offer the right price.

After spending four days in my hiding place to let things calm down, I decided to take a look at the supposed organization.

I waited until nightfall to head to Ronin's cantina, obviously disguising my identity, I didn't want those bastards looking for me to discover me or I would end up in a dungeon.

Following the directions I had been given, I was able to go up to the second floor and see the notice board.

In it I could see various requests for help, from trivial things like the parts of a specific monster, to obtaining illegal drugs and attempted assassinations of influential merchants.

There were a lot, it seems that this guy was not lying about helping himself to do illegal things.

One caught my attention, apparently someone needed help getting "Fury Powder", the request mentioned that the purchase price was double that of the black market and they would buy everything you had up to a kilogram.

'I remember I had some in the warehouse at the second stash, it would be a waste not to sell at such a good price.'

Before I left I decided to fill out some requests, so they would get rid of those bastards that were following me, and as a reward I would use some of my remaining products.

I then went to my second hiding place to find the "Dust of Fury" and returned to complete the request.

"Here you go, check the merchandise," I said to the manager.

"No need, you should know the consequences of using fake products in this organization," the manager said in a serious tone.

Yeah, who wants to provoke guys like Night for a few profits.

He handed me a bag full of coins, following his example, I didn't check how many he had.

I left the place and went to prepare the products of the rewards for the missions I ordered.

It would take some time, as I had stored them in several places for safety.

-KAI POV-

He continued to watch the operation to kill the Marquis unfold from the shadows.

There is only one day left until the mission expires.

So the group of boys was desperate, luckily for them, they had gotten the information they were looking for, apparently today Marquis Starling would go with twenty knights to the forest to hunt a Direwolf, apparently he wanted to use its fur to make a cape to show off.

The boys even bribed one of the knights to tell them the area where they would search; in exchange, he would be one of those who would survive as a witness, as well as receiving a generous amount of silver coins.

Their plan was almost ruined when they couldn't find Silas to sell them "Fury Dust." It was to be expected; that guy was being sought, so he would naturally go into hiding. Luckily for them, my adventurer member remembered what my organization was for, so he went and posted a request. It didn't take long for someone (who I'm sure was Silas) to complete it.

So, with preparations ready, today would be the day of the operation.

I even invited Mira to join me to watch the fun.

I had told her about my new organization, as well as how I would use it to help us grow stronger.

She liked the idea of playing with humans, a cat thing.

I honestly didn't expect the bulletin board to fill up so quickly in just one week - I thought it would take a while for things to ferment, but I guess I underestimated how desperate the members I recruited were.

That made me happy, it meant I did a good job.

Returning to the operation "kill the marquis".

The boys, with the information at hand, had prepared in advance at the target location, to set up ambushes in case anyone who was not designated to escape managed to escape from the monsters.

They had already selected some monsters to lure, they would just wait for the Marquis and his group to enter the encirclement and lead them to their location.

To prevent any accidents, they were all fully equipped with bows and poisoned arrows. If they couldn't carry out the operation without being discovered, they would make sure that no one came out alive to tell the tale - although they would lose the rewards for the request, they wouldn't lose their lives for killing a noble.

There was little time left for the show to begin.

-Celdric POV-

"Remember, guys, only when the last of them enters the encirclement will we act. We'll first discreetly release the 'Fury Dust' in the surroundings of the encirclement to attract nearby monsters as a distraction. Only when they're busy with them will we start luring out the big guys we marked. After that, we'll move away and make sure only those we designated as survivors escape, we'll even help them from the shadows. Make sure to kill that traitor, I don't want anyone besides us to know about this," I said in a serious tone.

The boys all nodded with sinister smiles.

-KAI POV-

Mira and I were able to see how the operation was carried out according to their plan. From how they used the fury powder to attract a few small monsters, which served as a distraction and to prevent them from running away. Afterwards, they attracted several large monsters such as giant ants, leech lizards, sword tigers, sword bears; I don't know how they attracted them without dying in the attempt.

When Marquis Starling saw that the situation was not good, he ordered a retreat, being the first to run.

Unfortunately, he was the target of this operation. When they saw the Marquis escaping, one of the boys discreetly used more Fury Powder in his direction, to draw the monsters' attention. Before long, he was overwhelmed with his men unable to prevent his death. When they saw that the Marquis was dead, they decided to escape in different directions to have a better chance.

Bad decision, since that only made it easier for the guys in the dark to kill them more easily.

After finishing the job, the boys hurriedly ran away so as not to be killed by the monsters. Seeing them escape, the monsters wanted to chase them; knowing that they would have no escape, I decided to intervene at that moment.

I unleashed my killer instinct, something I cultivated after months in this world, to scare them and make them run away. And so it happened: they scattered before me, not wanting to have any trouble with me.

Then, I discreetly eliminated the last humans to flee; after all, it would be unreasonable for anyone to die in such a dangerous operation.

And so, Operation Kill the Marquis was a success.

-Edmund POV-

Today was a happy day; one of the worries I had had all week finally disappeared.

I had returned to the cantina a day later to see if anyone had taken the quest I requested. To my pleasant surprise, someone had already accepted it, I just had to wait.

But days passed and it was not completed. That damn Marquis Starling kept pressuring me to compensate him for the mistake, even when I handed over all the equipment I had previously ordered. But the bastard wasn't happy with that; he wanted me to sign a supplier contract with him, where I would sell him my products at half price.

It was unacceptable, it would lead me to great financial losses.

With just one day left before the application expired, I was preparing to request his death again.

But it was unnecessary.

In the evening I learned from one of my informants among the guards on the walls that he had seen some of Marquis Starling's men return wounded and without the Marquis, after having gone into the woods.

Only later in the day did news break that the Marquis had been killed in a stampede of monsters during his hunt. With the possibility of monsters emerging from the forest and attacking the city, martial law was imposed and entry or exit from the city was prohibited.

While most of the citizens were worried about a monster attack, I was partying in my mansion with my maids.

At last, my troubles were over.

That showed me that the members of this organization were capable.

While I was having fun, I was already thinking about what new help requests to order.

-KAI POV-

After seeing Edmund celebrate at his mansion, I knew this organization was fully established.

He should just support it a little behind the scenes and recruit new members to make it bigger.

Who knows, perhaps in a few years, its influence could spread throughout the West.

Naaa, I wouldn't allow it to grow too much, it would be uncontrollable, I currently lack loyal subordinates who can help me manage it, for a while I will limit myself to just this city, perhaps some other cities surrounding the western part of the Jura Forest.

That would allow me to intercept information about dragons heading west from the Canaat Mountains, I could use shadow movement to shorten the journey between cities and establish some branches in other cities.

But always keeping each branch separate from other branches.

Only then would they be easier to control.

For the moment I would let this branch of my organization grow on its own, only when I considered that the organization was big and strong enough, I would start using it for my plans.

The next period of time, he planned to learn from Mira her uses of shadows.

Since I had gained a certain affinity thanks to Mira, I thought it would be a waste of me not to improve my control over them, who knows, maybe I could do the Shadow Monarch's tricks in the future.

But I would do that while I continued on with my next mission.

Did you know that knowledge is power?

Exactly, having knowledge can help you in many occasions, but this is why it becomes a highly valued asset, especially in this world where knowledge of magic could create very powerful individuals who do not respect the status quo.

That is why most people in power, specifically the human kingdoms, had long ago established strict control over who was allowed to systematically learn this knowledge. If outsiders were found to be making use of this power, they would be under strict scrutiny until it was decided what to do with them.

It was thanks to this control that the development of the human race was always behind other races.

While I can't see a problem with this, as a ruler, I wouldn't want random people to have the ability to destroy my own territory, plus this control also partly helped keep humans from becoming extinct from this world.

You should already know what happens if a race like the human race was given great power, exactly, war, it's always war, humans with their insatiable greed, would use magic to kill each other more easily for personal benefit.

At least remaining weak compared to other races allowed them to work together in order to survive, rather than constantly infighting.

Why am I talking about knowledge?

Because it was time for me to look for it, my goal, the place with the largest collection of knowledge, at least in the kingdom I am in, whose name is the Eldoreth Kingdom, that place was none other than the king's own castle in the capital.

Yes, the castle, it has always been the custom of rulers to leave the best things for themselves.

I had heard about the royal library from a magician adventurer in town, apparently the academy where he studied magic had some copies of the royal library's books.

That made me assume that the largest collection of books would be under the watchful eye of the royal family.

But I had some problems I needed to solve first, although I can understand what people say thanks to the magical sense that allows me to understand their intentions when speaking, I did not know the written language.

Something essential for reading books, so I had to learn, but already fed up with the atmosphere of this city, I decided to solve it on the way.

Capital city, here I come!

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Author's notes:

Now, the journey begins. With the foundations of the organization established, it is time for Kai to look for opportunities to grow, not only physically, but mentally.

The next chapters will be my first attempt at a journey of discovery and relaxation. I am looking for something like when we go out for a walk with our relatives through a country we do not know, from the initial curiosity for new things, getting used to local customs, rejecting things we dislike, but most importantly, getting a change of scenery and having fun.

PS: Last week I tried to post a chapter from Monday to Friday (GMT-6), but I was really rushed with work.

So starting today I'll post a chapter every other day.

Maybe if I accumulate more chapters, I can post an extra chapter per week.