Nobility

Deep within Presto Fortress.

A certain elegant and tranquil room.

A withered old man lay on the bed, his eyes half-open, his lips moving slowly, uttering weak and intermittent sounds: "What does the Holy See say..."

"There are still many Cardinals who oppose the new marriage and inheritance bill, we may need to wait a little longer." The speaker was an old man in an ochre linen robe.

He was disheveled, his hair sparse, with an unkempt beard on his chin, and his clothes were dirty and torn, looking like a beggar, completely out of place with the elegant decorations of the room.

"But I don't have much time left." The old man on the bed sighed, though it sounded more like a groan, "Perhaps I really am cursed."

The beggar-like old man took out several bottles of shimmering white potions from somewhere and placed them aside: "These few Elder Elixirs will keep you going for a while longer."

"I've already drunk eight Elder Elixirs, they're almost useless to me now." The old man on the sickbed was silent for a moment, hesitation in his weak voice, "Maybe, you could help me get rid of Yuris, and then..."

"Impossible." The beggar-like old man refused flatly, frowning, "I can't kill a Mosa Follower."

The air was quiet for a moment.

Perhaps feeling that his tone had been a little harsh, he added: "Besides, even if I were willing to do so, who can guarantee that the truth won't be found out by the College of Cardinals? Even without an investigation, at least three Cardinals would be eager to accuse me of being the 'most suspicious murderer' at the first opportunity."

"You should understand the ways of these people who claim to be 'pure,' wasn't your title of 'Schemer' bestowed upon you by them?" he added.

After another moment of silence, the old man on the bed asked, "I want to know, will the Holy See attend my funeral?"

"It is very busy, but it has already appointed me as its special envoy, and I will attend your funeral in the image of the Holy See itself through the 'Papal Envoy Scroll.'"

"Alright..."

"Knock, knock." At this moment, a knock sounded on the door, "Earl Presto, it's time for your meal."

"I'll be going now." The beggar-like old man said, then walked towards the door, his figure gradually fading, becoming completely transparent after a few steps.

When the door opened, the two servants who came to deliver the meal didn't notice at all that a transparent figure brushed past them and quietly left the room.

At the entrance of the town, the Gray Eagle Mercenaries received a warm welcome.

Earl Presto's daughter, Lena, came in person, wearing a gorgeous golden dress the same color as her hair, and looked up at the statuesque Cassandra, unable to help but exclaim sincerely: "Oh my goodness, you're so tall!"

"Thank you, ma'am." Cassandra responded politely.

Lena wanted to say more, but it was clear that a pampered noble and a brave and skilled mercenary had little in common.

After making some polite small talk, she finally realized that gender might be a good topic to start with, and began chatting about women's secrets.

This trick worked well.

Before long, the three women—and Sister Deran—were laughing together like sisters.

Gagnor, who was watching from a distance, found this scene amusing, after all, the three women's smiles were so different.

Lena's smile was very standard, almost always showing exactly eight teeth, displaying good aristocratic manners.

Sister Deran was like the other extreme, she always couldn't help herself, laughing so hard that she leaned back and forth, and even shed some Tears of Holy Light at the end, which was very in line with the innocence that her big eyes gave her.

Cassandra's smile was somewhere in between, neither as innocent and carefree as Sister Deran, nor as unchanging as Lena.

At the same time, Commander Lucius also appeared in everyone's sight, directing a group of mercenaries to the camp, reassigning the teams, and arranging the defensive positions in advance.

As Ryan had said before, almost all the captains of the combat squads were warriors.

The captain of Gagnor's team was also an acquaintance, the warrior who had led the team to the Tidal Lands a year ago.

As for the defensive position of this squad, it was a section of the city wall near the fortress.

Of course, as an alchemist, Gagnor was not a combatant, so his identity in this squad should be considered an "extra member," whether or not he assisted in the defense was entirely up to him.

His official task was still to make potions.

However, he had purchased a large number of various potions in South Sea Town in advance, which he not only couldn't use up himself, but also had more than enough to complete the potion-making tasks, which allowed him to be in a state of complete leisure and freedom.

According to Gagnor's estimation, even if the war situation became more severe later on, he probably wouldn't be able to use up all the potions he had bought.

So it would be best to sell some of them.

Sell all the materials provided by the mercenary group as well, anyway, he was too lazy to make Healing Stones and other potions, which had no economic benefits and did little to improve his level four Herbalism.

Considering the high market prices, he should be able to make a lot of money after selling these things.

Of course, there was bound to be risk in such war-time profiteering, and normal sales channels were definitely not an option.

It had to be the black market.

The current Gagnor was no longer the newbie who had just left Driftwood Town, after a year of black market dealings, he had roughly figured out the various routines of the black market.

The black markets of the Falaro Continent were basically based on the Thieves' Guild.

It could almost be said that the Thieves' Guild was a black market franchise chain that covered Falaro.

So after some inquiries, after learning the location of the Presto Fortress Thieves' Guild, Gagnor decided to explore the local black market.

One quiet night.

Gagnor put on a loose, dark-colored robe, then took out human blood from his storage ring, dipped his finger in it, and drew a few symbols on his face.

After the Blood Disguise spell was completed, Gagnor's image changed accordingly.

He took out a mirror and looked at himself, feeling that this face was neither handsome nor ugly, lacking any unique features, and was extremely ordinary.

The reason wasn't hard to understand.

He was using a mixture of blood from multiple people, so the appearance after the Blood Disguise was naturally a blend of many individuals, resulting in such an extremely generic face.

Often, mediocrity surpasses any mask.

Afterward, Gagnor, sporting this ordinary face, arrived at the Thieves' Guild in Presto Fortress.

Like the one in South Sea Town, the Thieves' Guild here was also a dilapidated inn on the surface. The air was filled with a similar odor, a mixture of body odor and cheap ale.

Entering the inn, Gagnor scanned the room and quickly spotted a thin young man drinking in the corner. He walked over and said, "One silver coin to take me to the underground, how about it?"

The thin young man didn't speak, but held up two fingers.

Gagnor tossed out two silver coins.

The thin young man accepted the coins, stood up, and said, "Follow me."