All Good Things

Click.

Lude pressed his lighter, lit a cigarette for himself, and sat down opposite Sally with his legs crossed. He chuckled, "Miss Sally, if you want to pull the trigger, you have to pull back the hammer first."

Sally held the gun with trembling hands. Upon hearing this, she resentfully yanked the hammer back, then gasped out, "So, Mr. Hastings, you are from the Obsidian Hall, aren't you?"

"Interesting." Lude watched the muzzle of Sally's gun with amusement. "What makes you think I'm from the Obsidian Hall?"

Sally bit her lip at the question. "That uniform—I will never forget it as long as I live!"

"I see." Lude watched the gun barrel with keen interest. "Then why aren't you pulling the trigger?"

"Because..."

Sally fell silent for a moment, her expression complex. "Because I don't think you're like the people from the Obsidian Hall."

This actually made Lude pause for a second. Had his acting been so transparent that he'd blown his cover?

He asked, "Miss Sally, I'm curious—what exactly gave you that impression?"

"You're too polite," Sally said, looking at Lude. "People from the Obsidian Hall rarely address anyone as 'Mr.' or 'Miss.' When they took my parents away, they referred to my parents and all the onlookers simply as 'swine' or 'vermin'."

"If you were here for me, you would never have called me 'Miss Sally'."

"..." Lude rubbed his temples. So, being polite was a mistake, was it?

In truth, he had been quite convincing at the very beginning, back when he first boarded the train.

But after arriving in Blackwater Town, he had shed his Obsidian Hall disguise, naturally reverting to his usual way of interacting with people—a demeanor that was clearly worlds apart from the Obsidian Hall's style.

"So," Sally stared at Lude, "are you from the Obsidian Hall or not?"

Lude rubbed his temples with his eyes closed, pulled a black cowhide-wrapped ID card from his coat, and tossed it in front of Sally. "See for yourself. It's the real deal, no fakes here."

Sally pursed her lips. Gripping the gun with her right hand, she picked up the ID with her left. "So, what are you doing in Blackwater Town? If you're here for my parents' inheritance, you've got the wrong idea. Their estate was long since... hm?"

Sally looked at the photo on the ID and blinked. Then, she looked at Lude sitting before her, frowning in confusion.

"Is this you?"

"It is," Lude replied with a smile. "I was quite thin back then."

Sally's expression twisted visibly. She flipped through the ID twice more before turning it over to reveal the photo: the silver-haired, blue-eyed, effeminate, and ruthless Aleppo.

She glared indignantly at the blond-haired, red-eyed, handsome, and rugged Lude. "This isn't you at all!"

"Correct!" Lude clapped his hands. "I don't think it's me either!"

Sally took a deep breath and slammed both the pistol and the ID onto the table. "Then why did you say it was the real deal..."

"It is the real deal!"

Lude laughed. "Don't tell me you were expecting me to go get you a real Obsidian Hall agent!"

"You..." Sally was nearly driven to the point of fainting. Lude watched her, amused, feeling like he was missing a bag of melon seeds to snack on.

Only at this moment did Lude feel that this breakfast treat had been well worth the price.

All living things suffer, and the suffering is beyond words.

If one cannot find a bit of amusement in this life, one is bound to go mad sooner or later.

Teasing a pretty girl was a fine form of entertainment, and that was one of the reasons—

...one of them—why Lude had deliberately kept the Obsidian Hall uniform.

Lude was actually a man who hated trouble, so he liked to combine several tasks into one.

"So," Sally asked curiously, "where did you get this Obsidian Hall uniform?"

Lude tilted his chin upward. "Whose else could it be? Aleppo's, of course."

"Aleppo..." Sally flipped through the ID. "Aleppo Hernandez Bescher? So you stole his clothes and his ID? He must be in terrible trouble; I've heard the Obsidian Hall is just as cruel to its own as it is to outsiders."

Lude chuckled at this. "He's actually quite lucky, because he no longer has to face the cruel methods of the Obsidian Hall."

"...What does that mean?" The young girl paused, seemingly guessing something but unable to believe it.

"He's dead."

Lude stated it plainly. "I took him out. Remember what I said? Some people you are very familiar with are hunting me. I took out two before coming to Blackwater Town, and I just took out two more since arriving here."

Hiss—

Sally drew a sharp breath. She stammered, "But, but those are people from the Obsidian Hall..."

Lude spread his hands. "You said it yourself, they are 'people' from the Obsidian Hall. People die when they are killed; it's not like the people in the Obsidian Hall are actually made of obsidian. Besides, even obsidian can't withstand a hammer strike."

"No, I mean..."

At this moment, Sally felt her emotions teetering on the brink of collapse from the sudden highs and lows.

After a long silence, she asked cautiously, "Did you really... kill an Obsidian Hall agent?"

"Five of them." Lude held up five fingers.

Besides, since the Obsidian Hall had already been infiltrated by the Black Tide Society, it didn't really make much difference which side he killed.

Sally felt as if something within her heart had collapsed in that instant.

So, there really was someone capable of taking down several members of the Obsidian Hall in a row!

So, there really was someone who could remain completely unscathed after killing several members of the Obsidian Hall!

Sally did not doubt Lude for a second, as she had heard the commotion of the battle downstairs, and she had even seen the people sprawled across the floor—that was definitely not a scene that could be created by the combat of ordinary people.

The members of the Obsidian Hall were no ordinary individuals; only their specialized equipment could create such a scene—this was the common understanding among the citizens of the Rhine Kingdom, and Sally was no exception.

Thinking of this, a trace of worship and longing unconsciously surfaced in Sally's eyes.

If she possessed such power, would she have had to sit by and watch as her mother and father were taken away that night?

If she possessed such power, would she be able to take revenge on the Obsidian Hall?

If she possessed such power... would she be able to storm the Obsidian Hall, to gamble on the chance that her parents hadn't been executed yet, to gamble on the chance that they were still alive in some prison cell somewhere?

How wonderful that would be...

Watching Sally's gaze, Lude knew clearly that his secondary objective had been achieved.

Lude had his own grand designs; he was confident that he could start from nothing in this world and build a great career.

But no matter what kind of career he wanted to build, there was one issue he could not avoid—

He lacked manpower.

Lude intended to establish a secret society—a collective term for all organizations involved in the hidden world—to recruit people who could become his assets, so as to avoid wasting his time being bogged down by trivial matters.

However, a cult with only one member was merely a personal eccentricity; he needed more hands.

It just so happened that at this moment, Sally and her two companions caught Lude's eye.

Silverback's physique, Crow's low presence, and Sally's sixth sense and unscarred skin—these signs all confirmed that they possessed unique talents in the extraordinary realm.

This was also the reason why, upon first meeting Silverback, Lude had chosen to subdue him in the area of strength where he was most confident.

They were people who could work with Lude, but recruiting capable subordinates was no easy task; one had to offer something worth following, or possess a temperament sufficient to command their loyalty.

Lude had never trusted in ethereal things, so he prepared to offer something substantial.

Although encountering Sally today was an accident, it was a pleasant surprise for Lude, as Sally was clearly the one calling the shots among the three, allowing him to formulate a plan in just a few minutes.

Although the plan had to be altered later due to the intervention of the Black Tide Society, it was a positive change.

Taking out two spellcasters on the spot—the power displayed by this was far more impactful than dryly claiming he had killed a member of the Obsidian Hall and stolen his clothes.

Good things, Lude thought with a smile, all good things.