Calisto Kelvin lay in bed inside his room in the Kelvin family's estate in the capital. Bottles of liquor were scattered on the carpeted floor. His hair was disheveled as he absent-mindedly stared at the ceiling.
The past few weeks had been the worst of his life. He'd never felt so hopeless and insignificant before. Although some minor nobles still followed the Kelvins, it was apparent even to him that their influence had been greatly weakened.
"Damn shits, all of them!" he roared while lying down.
Calisto abruptly stood and stumbled from the sudden dizziness that assaulted him. His head ached and he felt like puking.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" he repeatedly cursed. He uncorked another bottle of wine and chugged down half its contents. "Even that damn Count Sith no longer answers my summons! Even those lowly barons dare to ignore my orders!"
Calisto threw the bottle toward the wall, shattering it into pieces.
"Wine! Where are the damn servants?" Calisto looked like a madman.
"Bring me more liquor!"
The head butler of the estate immediately entered the room, along with several servants.
"Master, you've drunk more than enough today," said the head butler.
He was among the servants who'd been serving the Kelvin family for several decades. It pained him to see one of the three great families reduced to this state.
Calisto hiccupped. His breath stank. He glared at the butler. "If I were Lancaster or Zaask, you wouldn't dare question my orders, you damn servant."
"Your older brothers wouldn't have let themselves wallow in despair in the first place," said the butler. Unlike the servants beside him, he did not cower.
"This damn butle—" "My Lord," said the butler. "Please come to your senses. With Duke Kelvin imprisoned and Masters Lancaster and Zaask dead, you're now the head of the family."
Calisto fell silent. Deep inside, he knew that the butler was right. But what could he do? He was powerless right now.
Calisto spat, "Give me my wine and get out."
The butler sighed. He signaled the servants to give Calisto another bottle of wine.
"I will be here if you need me." The butler bowed his head and left the room.
The door closed and Calisto once again found himself in the darkness of his room.
"Lancaster, Zaask," he mumbled. "Why did you both have to die? If you were in my shoes, what would you do? With the Duchy gone, what can I do?"
Although Duke Kelvin had more than twenty sons, most of them did not know how to properly run the territories. If only Lancaster or Zaask Kelvin were alive, Calisto wouldn't have to bear all of these responsibilities.
"Lord Calisto," a voice was heard inside the room.
Calisto was momentarily surprised to see a figure dressed in black, his face covered by a mask.
"Black Midas," Calisto muttered the name of the group the masked figure belonged to.
"Lark Marcus has arrived at the capital," said the masked figure.
Calisto's face contorted. He scowled. "I'm sure you didn't come here just to tell me that?"
"Of course not, Lord Calisto," said the masked figure. "Duke Kelvin has a task for you."
"From father?" Calisto's mind immediately became clearer hearing those words.
That's right. Although his elder brothers were dead, their father was still alive.
So what if their father had been imprisoned? At the end of the day, he was still the Duke of the Kelvin Family. The absolute master of the Black Midas, the ruler of the largest underworld syndicate of the kingdom.
"We cannot let Lark Marcus ascend the throne. Otherwise, it'll be the end of the Kelvin family," the masked figure repeated the words of Duke Kelvin. "Although it'll be impossible to stop the coronation ceremony, it's still feasible to tarnish Lark Marcus' reputation. The citizens do not trust him yet. Lord Calisto, the duke needs you to spread a rumor."
"A rumor…" muttered Calisto.
Even though their family had been greatly weakened after losing the Duchy, it should still be possible to spread nasty rumors regarding the future monarch.
They still had their estate in the capital, Rock Castle, their gold mine near Quasan, and the largest underworld syndicate—Black Midas.
They could rise again from the ashes, definitely.
"Before Lark Marcus was exiled, he nearly killed a priest of the Water God," said the masked figure.
"Everyone knows that," said Calisto. It was the event that finally led to the banishment of the second son of Duke Drakus to that faraway town.
"And several months before that, Lark Marcus also defiled several virgin women in Yan City."
Calisto whistled. The Marcus brat was a bigger bastard than he'd thought.
"He did that?"
"He didn't. But the truth doesn't matter," said the masked figure. "If the duke says black is white, then it is white. We've already planted several women from Black Midas. We've also procured evidences of human trafficking, drug trades, and prostitution—all of them linked to Lark Marcus. Tomorrow, the rumors will spread throughout the capital."
Calisto rubbed his chin. He nodded in understanding. It would be easy to fabricate everything with the help of the underworld organization.
"Rally the remaining nobles under your banner. Your role is to bring all of these to light, Lord Calisto."
Calisto grinned broadly. As expected of his father. Even though he'd been locked up in the dungeons, he still came up with countermeasures to prevent Lark from ascending the throne.
So what if King Alvis favors Lark Marcus? At the end of the day, if the citizens of the kingdom saw the new monarch as the demon incarnate, the coronation ceremony wouldn't end well.
This was not the empire where the emperor's words were absolute.
"Amusing." Calisto chuckled. "I can't wait to see their faces once the rumor starts to spread."
"The duke expect great things from you, My Lord."
"Of course."
The masked figure placed his right hand on his chest, bowed his head, and slowly disappeared into the darkness.
"He's probably one of the leaders," said Calisto as he picked up a wine bottle.
Although he was now the temporary head of the Kelvin family, Calisto still did not have a full grasp of how Black Midas worked, who their leaders were, and how many men were under their command. All that he knew was that the organization controlled almost all of the underworld syndicates of the kingdom.
A knock was heard on the door.
"Who is it?" said Calisto.
Several seconds passed before there was a response.
"B-Brother?" said a meek voice.
"Kalavinka?" said Calisto, his voice clearer than before despite being intoxicated by alcohol. "What are you doing outside my room at this hour?
Come in."
The door opened, and a boy whose face was half-covered by his hair entered.
Kalavinka looked at the broken shards of glass and at the empty bottles of liquor on the ground.
"I heard from the butler," said Kalavinka, his voice full of hesitation.
"D-Drinking this much is bad for your health, brother."
Calisto studied the boy trembling before him. He sighed then put down the bottle in his hand.
"Come here," said Calisto, his voice a lot gentler than before.
Kalavinka nodded and slowly walked toward his older brother.
"I stopped drinking, see?" said Calisto, his breath stinking with alcohol.
"Now go to sleep."
Kalavinka mustered the courage to look his older brother in the eyes.
"You should sleep too, brother. I… I've asked the butler to prepare the guest room next to mine."
Calisto smiled. He stroked the boy's hair. "You want me to sleep there?"
Kalavinka slowly nodded. "This… place is dirty."
Calisto chuckled. "Then, let's go."
As expected, nothing beats the warmth of a family. Calisto vowed to protect his remaining brothers, no matter what. Especially this boy, Kalavinka.
Calisto stood up and together with Kalavinka, left the room. In the hallway, they passed the butler and several maids.
"Clean my room," Calisto said in a cold voice. "And prepare the bath for me. I'm sleeping in the guest room next to my little brother's."
The butler looked relieved that Calisto had finally left that dark place.
"As you wish, My Lord."
*** The next day, King Alvis and Lark's group were caught off guard by the rumors that suddenly spread throughout the capital.
Inside one of the sitting rooms in the king's castle, King Alvis and Lark's group gathered.
"Lord Lark." King Alvis was frowning. "We've received reports. You probably heard from the Grand Chamberlain this morning…" King Alvis rubbed his brows. His head ached just thinking about it.
"More and more citizens of the capital are gathering and protesting outside the castle right now. There are rumors," King Alvis carefully said his next few words, "…and evidence of Lord Lark sexually assaulting several virgin women, a few years ago in Yan City. There is also evidence of Lord Lark being involved in smuggling drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, and the ordering of the assassination of priests from the temple."
Lark remained calm despite the number of crimes and accusations thrown at him by the citizens of the kingdom.
Honestly, he did not have any way of knowing if all of these were true.
Judging by the dream he'd had more than a year ago, the original owner of his body was a bastard who killed small animals for entertainment. He wouldn't be surprised if the original owner of the body did all of these things.
Big Mona frowned, clearly displeased by what he'd heard. "It's no coincidence that these things popped up now, a day before the coronation ceremony," said Big Mona. "Don't you think so, partner?"
Big Mona's eyes glimmered dangerously for a moment.
"It's no coincidence," Lark said calmly. "Your Majesty, you said there is evidence?"
King Alvis nodded. "That's right." He looked at the retired General Carlos and said, "Give him the documents."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
General Carlos handed Lark several documents. Written on it was the list of crimes Lark had supposedly committed. The details and evidence presented were so concise and detailed that even Lark doubted if they were fabricated.
This was the problem of not inheriting the memories of the original owner of his body. He did not know if the original Lark actually committed all of these crimes.
"The citizens of the kingdom are demanding we postpone the coronation ceremony," said King Alvis. "Even the Mercenary Guild, the Alchemists Guild, and the Merchants Guild, are demanding the stance of the royal family regarding this matter."
"And the temple?" said Lark.
"The temple hasn't issued its statement yet," said King Alvis. "I'm sure Lady Ropianna is pulling some strings."
The temple assuming a neutral stance was fortunate. Out of all organizations, the temple probably had the strongest influence over the people. If the temple declared that they deemed Lark as a heretic, a criminal, the capital and its citizens would be in uproar. No one would want such a demon to ascend the throne.
A soldier whispered something to General Carlos. The retired general frowned.
"Your Majesty, the number of people protesting at the castle gates has reached a thousand," said General Carlos. "They are demanding that we postpone the coronation ceremony until the truth comes to light."
King Alvis sighed. "I know that you only recently took over that body, but Lord Lark… Just in case, do you have an idea if those crimes were really committed by its original owner?"
"I do not know," said Lark. He remained unperturbed despite the sudden turn of events. Looking from a wider perspective, such trivial things did not really matter compared to the impending invasion of demons. "But it wouldn't surprise me if the original owner of this body did all of those things. Based on what I've heard, he was a real bastard, after all."
King Alvis and the Grand Chamberlain looked at each other.
They knew that they had to find a way to fix this mess, if they wanted the coronation ceremony to proceed smoothly. After all, a monarch without the support of its people was like a parched, barren land. You can plant the seeds, but they would not grow no matter how long you waited. There was a limit on what a king could do without the support of his subjects.
"Partner, can I look at those documents?" said Big Mona.
Lark nodded. "Go ahead." He handed him the documents.
Big Mona quickly read everything. He put the documents down and sneered. As someone who frequently schemed to reach where he was now, the way the evidence had been presented screamed of the word 'fabricated.' Big Mona could smell cheap tricks from a mile away.
"Partner, give me a few days," said Big Mona, his voice confident. "It should be possible for me to fix this mess."
"Then the coronation ceremony?" said Lark.
"It'll be better to move it to a later date. Say… a week from now," said the fat merchant.
Move it, not postpone it.
Lark, King Alvis, and everyone in the room understood the implications of the fat merchant's words. He was telling them that he could reverse everything during that short period of time.
King Alvis stroked his ashen beard. "We can move the date to a week from now. It should be possible to appease the nobles who've arrived at the capital for a short period of time."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Lark. He turned to Big Mona. "Can I leave this matter to you, Mona?"
Big Mona grinned. It was a perfect opportunity to show his worth to this legendary magician. "You can leave it to me," said Big Mona. "Even if everything written in here is true, there are ways to twist reality. Everything is possible with money, power, and the right connections."
Although he'd known Big Mona for less than two years, Lark knew the fat merchant wasn't someone who would carelessly blabber about such things if he wasn't confident of achieving the results he wanted. This was the same man who mobilized the Pollux Tower, gathered the mercenaries, and initiated the creation of the Magic Towers in Lion City. Although he was greedy and ruthless, he was one of the most competent merchants he knew of, even in his past life.
"But before that, can I borrow one of them?" Big Mona pointed at the large man standing behind Lark Marcus. His hair had hints of silver, and one of his eyes was blue.
For a moment, there was a look of amusement in Lark's eyes as he looked at the Arzomos.
"What do you need them for?" Lark asked curiously.
"Bodyguards," said Big Mona. "I haven't seen them fight, but they're probably freakishly strong, isn't that right, partner?"
It was spot on. Lark was amazed by the fat merchant's intuition.
"How many do you need?" said Lark.
"Even two would be fine, but please make sure they will listen to my orders, no matter what."
Lark looked over his shoulder. "You heard him. What do you think, Kel?"
"I don't mind," said Kel' Vual. "I can send him two of my people if he wants."
Big Mona grinned.
*** After the meeting with Lark and King Alvis, Big Mona left the king's castle. The guards ended up forcing the angry citizens gathered in front of the gates to disperse, otherwise, it would have been impossible for Big Mona's carriage to pass through.
"Lark Marcus, show yourself!" shouted one of the angry citizens.
"Because of the drugs you smuggled into the city, my son fell into debt and lost his sanity! You damn demon!"
"You enslaved my daughter and sold her to the Red Light District!"
shouted another.
"Come out! You don't deserve to become the next king of this nation!"
"The rumor that he erected the barrier isn't true anyway! That damn lying bastard!"
"He even killed the two priests who used to feed the slum people!"
"He's probably in cahoots with the demons!"
"Show yourself, Lark Marcus! Come out!"
"Come out!"
The shouts filled with accusations overlapped with each other and reached Big Mona's ears inside the carriage.
Big Mona smirked.
This was too organized to be a mere coincidence. The fat merchant was sure that among those shouting in anger were people from the organization who orchestrated this mess.
He knew these petty tricks too well.
Big Mona had used a similar tactic before, when he ousted one of his competitors for the Merchants Guild head position in Lion City.
"The question is who," Big Mona muttered softly to himself as he leaned on the couch. He said to the coachman, "You're driving too slow.
Speed up!"
"Yes, sir!"
They left the angry mob and entered the main road of the capital.
Big Mona's goal today was to meet with an old partner. The leader of one of the three information guilds headquartered in the capital. Although this Information Guild was located near the slums, it was probably the most reliable among the three right now.
"Hey, where are you going?" said Big Mona to the coachman. He realized they were going to a different location. The coachman didn't answer and just continued driving the carriage.
Soon, they came to a stop.
The coachman disembarked, opened the door of the carriage, and said to Big Mona, "Come with us quietly, if you value your life."
Alone inside the carriage, Big Mona scanned his surroundings. From the alleyways, several men clad in black appeared and surrounded the carriage.
Big Mona snorted. "So, who was it? Who leaked the information of my destination?"
Lark, King Alvis and his men aside, there were only three other people in the room that time.
"Is it the guard? Or is it the maids who served us?" Big Mona snorted, as though he found everything amusing. "Of course, you damn lot have infiltrated even the ranks of the royal servants."
Big Mona exited the carriage, fixed his bowtie, and looked at the masked figures in front of him. Contrary to the masked figures' expectations, the fat merchant remained composed despite the perilous situation.
"They're desperate enough to mobilize assassins, huh?" said Big Mona.
Big Mona looked at the coachman. "And that face you're wearing. It's fake, isn't that right?"
The coachman didn't answer, but Big Mona knew that his conjecture was spot on.
"Why capture me?" said Big Mona. "You could just kill me. I didn't bring any guards with me, after all."
"We're not here to answer your questions," said the coachman.
The masked figures unsheathed their swords and threateningly closed in the distance.
"Knock him out," said the coachman. "We still need to capture Lark Marcus' disciples after this one."
Without uttering a word, one of the masked figures shot toward Big Mona. He was about to punch the fat merchant right in the abdomen when suddenly, two large men appeared right in front of them.
"W-What?" muttered the coachman.
All of the masked figures halted in their tracks.
"So, this is why you wanted us to discreetly follow the carriage," said one of the members of the Arzomos Tribe.
Big Mona grinned broadly. He hadn't shown fear since he knew that these two were following him from a distance, all along.
"Have you killed humans before?" Big Mona said to the two Arzomos.
"We can kill anything," said the Arzomos. "Even demons."
Big Mona shivered in delight. What a satisfactory answer.
Big Mona was thrilled he had such powerful guards protecting him.
Although the shadows serving his Merchant Guild in Lion City were strong, Big Mona was uncertain they would be a match with their current enemies.
"The coachman seems to be their leader. Including him, leave four of them alive," said Big Mona.
"And the remaining ones?"
"Kill them."
For a moment, the fat merchant felt uncomfortable ordering around these monsters. But to his relief, the two nodded and proceeded to slaughter the assassins.
The bodies of the two Arzomos disappeared in the blink of an eye, before reappearing right in front of the assassins. Judging by the way they moved around, Big Mona realized they were probably stronger than a high-ranking royal knight.
"Wow!" squeaked the fat merchant.
Big Mona shivered upon seeing his two guards kill the assassins in mere seconds, before knocking the coachman and three others unconscious.
The assassins couldn't even scream or run away. Everything happened in a flash.
Big Mona wondered where Lark found these men. They were insanely strong to the point that it felt absurd.
"What should we do with them?" said the Arzomos.
"Throw the four of them inside the carriage. Make sure they won't be able to lift even a finger if they wake up," said Big Mona. "The Information Guild is nearby. I will drive."
The two Arzomos silently entered the carriage, along with the four unconscious bodies.
Although he found it distasteful, Big Mona sat on the driver's seat and drove all the way to a small building near the slums.
"One of you, follow me," said Big Mona. One of the Arzomos wordlessly followed the fat merchant inside the building. The other stayed behind to watch over their captives.
The guards at the entrance immediately recognized Big Mona and gave them a free pass. Big Mona approached the counter together with Arzomos.
"What brings you here, Sir Mona?" said the clerk.
"I'm here to use a token."
Big Mona placed a golden token on the counter and slid it toward the clerk. The clerk's expression quickly transitioned from curiosity to surprise.
She nodded her head. "Of course. I shall inform the leader right away."