At the center of Durnholde Keep.
An exceedingly lavish mansion stood there. Although the restoration of Durnholde Keep was still unfinished, construction of this mansion had been completed long ago.
Durnholde Keep was one of the few human cities in the Alterac Mountains.
Many humans lived there, and the people standing inside the mansion now were lavishly dressed leaders of the Syndicate.
Outside, these people were vicious thieves. There was no evil they would not commit, no crime they had not committed. As long as they could gain something from it, they would do anything.
But within Durnholde Keep, inside their own mansion, they shed their usual leather armor, put down their daggers, and donned magnificent robes. Their icy expressions were replaced by kindly smiles.
At this moment, they were nobles.
As everyone waited, an old man slowly emerged from the rear of the mansion.
The old man was thin and not particularly tall. Wrinkles covered his face, and his silver hair shimmered with an indescribable radiance in the sunlight.
His frail build and snowy hair made him look like a feeble old man, as though a gust of wind could blow him away.
Anyone could have pushed this old man around.
Yet not a single person present dared to do so.
This was not because those present were kindhearted or understood the virtue of respecting the elderly and caring for the young. These people were nobles at home and thieves outside, each burdened with countless blood debts. They had slaughtered people without number. Expecting them to suddenly discover their consciences and start respecting the elderly and caring for the young was utterly impossible.
There could be only one reason they were so quiet and respectful now: beneath this old man's kindly face, he was even fiercer and more vicious