Birth Of The Crafts-God

Inside the study of the Mertens family head, Russell Mertens sat behind his study desk as he faced the guest who stood opposite him. It was the director of the Baylands City Patrol Corps' Central Prefecture district branch.

"There's no need to make this difficult for me." The director said. Find more chapters on empire

"The code was decided by ninety percent of major factions on the cabinet, so it is as good as the law."

"Hehe. As good as the law? Is that something someone of your status should be saying?" Russell chuckled.

"Where does your loyalty lie? The city or the major factions?!"

"No need to get worked up about the situation. Just don't interfere and let my men do their job. Regardless of whatever you may think, please understand that interfering with this operation can get you on the wrong side of the law. Even the glory and title of a top family would not be able to save you."

The director remained staunch even with the reproach from Russell. It was quite impressive of him to be able to stand his ground even when facing Russell Mertens, who was both the leader of the Mertens family as well as a ninth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.

"You said not to make this difficult for you, but you force your way into my estate and do as you please. Everyone knows about the unwritten rule and right of the top families, that even the city lord consented to. I wonder how you plan to explain yourself later." Russell said.

The director didn't say anything, but deep down, he let out a sigh of relief. Russell pushing the matter for later meant that he would permit them to carry out the operation.

One should know that even though the director was on the side of the government agency, Russell was more than capable of interfering with the operation. This wasn't just because he was stronger and the leader of a top four family, but it was just as he had said; the director was trespassing. He had defied an unofficial right granted to the top four families by the city lord manor; the faction that served each generation of city lords.

The right gave the acknowledged top four families a semi-autonomous authority within their estates. Unless it was an individual of higher authority like the chief or the commissioner of police, an individual on the level of director and below couldn't just waltz into a top four family's residence as they pleased, even if it were for official matters. This was why the agents had wanted to be done with the operation as quickly as possible.

If they had chosen to wait for Lucas outside instead, Russell would have sensed something fishy and sent Lucas through a secured route. He might have even retained the target within his estate for a while.

Luckily, it seemed like the situation no longer had the risk of being blown out of proportion.

"Thank you for your understanding." The director nodded before turning to leave.

"I want you to understand something. Let this be the first and last time you pull such a trick on my plot. Otherwise, not even that goblin, Fredor, can save you."

Russell abruptly released his aura and assaulted the director.

Although the old man remained standing, a line of blood escaped his lips as he grunted. He then left the room silently, leaving behind the Mertens family head who was frowning in thought.

To Russell, killing a sixth level stellar practitioner like the director was not a difficult thing, but the latter's identity was sensitive. He could at best injure him, using the act of trespassing as an excuse to justify his actions but that was all.

As for why Russell had granted the old man permission, it was a somewhat obvious reason. He couldn't easily interfere because that might create a weakness for the other powerful factions to exploit. After all, even if his actions could be justified, it was no doubt true that Russell would have been guilty of interfering in a security operation.

To the outside world, the top four families were peak organisations that held a ton of wealth, power and influence. However, they had a lot of enemies, as well as envious eyes who lusted after their position. The title of 'top four' was not permanent or immutable.

A clear example of this was the Oder family. Despite being one of the oldest families in Baylands City, they lost out to the rising Ross family and fell from the top four rankings.

As a family head, Russell had to make proper decisions to ensure that his family didn't end up as another Oder family.

'However, something is wrong.' Russell frowned.

. . .

Right after the director had gone into the building, a fight broke out with those outside participating, leaving only eight agents on standby.

The ten agents who were charged with arresting Lucas and Melissa, didn't go all at once at the pair. The group had been hand-chosen by the director to come with him on this operation. So, they had to be quite strong, so as to be able to fend off any possible retaliation from the Mertens family. So, they were all of different strengths, with some being at the third level.

They felt it was shameful for all ten of them to go after one human, who was merely at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. As such, excluding the agent Lucas had already thrown away, only four of the remaining nine men approached him. The strongest of the four was at the second level —two of them—, which the group felt was enough to take on Lucas.

Meanwhile, another two —both at the first level— went towards Melissa.

"Stay away from her!" Lucas yelled as he stood before Melissa.

The six men glanced at each other before coming to the decision to attack together. They first surrounded Lucas, then immediately charged at him.

At first, Lucas froze, but in the next second, didn't hesitate to respond.