Imperial Throne

Chapter 130: Raven

“Leo, back so late?”

Responding to his neighbor’s greeting, Leo, who was over thirty but still maintained a strong physique, smiled and waved. “Yeah, there was that big magical beast causing trouble recently, so I stayed at the quarry with the others for a while.”

“Ha, lucky you,” the neighbor laughed. “Old Hawk, remember him?”

“Limping Hawk?” Leo nodded. “What happened to him?”

“He’s dead.” The neighbor sighed slightly. “A while back, he took some black bread and entered the mine. He actually dug up a ‘red stone’—its quality and value were high, worth a full hundred gold coins! That price was unheard of.”

“He got targeted?”

The neighbor nodded. “Right after he dug it up, the temperature in the tunnel rose immediately, couldn’t be hidden at all. Then he was beaten to death. ... That old dog, we told him not to be a lone wolf, but he wouldn’t listen. That’s the fate of the greedy.”

Leo understood.

Limping Hawk had found a gemstone, and then he had been murdered. Naturally, the gemstone ended up in someone else’s hands and was sold by them.

Over at the quarry, incidents like this were typically ignored.

So, those one hundred gold coins—surely a portion of that served as hush money to smooth over the aftermath of Limping Hawk’s murder. In the report to the lord, it probably amounted to something like “another corpse at the quarry.” As long as it wasn’t a major incident, the City Lord's Manor wouldn’t send anyone to investigate.

Leo shook his head and sighed. “Life’s not easy for anyone.”

“Isn’t that the truth.”

Leo didn’t say more and carried his pickhammer as he walked toward his home.

Along the way, acquaintances kept greeting Leo, and he responded to each one.

He had lived in Ruby Village for almost five years, and many people there knew him. Naturally, they also knew some of his quirks—like his consistent distrust of the lord, his dissatisfaction with the merchant guilds, especially his deep dislike for the major ones. He’d rather spend more money than deal with them.

Many said Leo was stubborn.

But aside from that, he had no other flaws. In fact, he was quite kind-hearted, which earned him a lot of goodwill.

“Leo! I knew you weren’t so easy to kill.” Another neighbor was delighted to see Leo and called out. “Looks like some folks are going to be disappointed.”

“What happened?” Leo sensed something off and asked.

“Plenty of people died recently. The City Lord's Manor sent people to register and investigate.” The neighbor sighed softly. “If the deceased had family, they could receive a decent compensation payment. But if they had no family, the houses would be reclaimed by the lord for reallocation.”

“The Village Chief didn’t stop it?” Leo was surprised and asked.

Normally, the Village Chief was the actual authority in a village. After all, the lord couldn’t live in the village full-time.

So, the Village Chief had considerable power—enough to determine the lives of the villagers.

However, Ruby Village was somewhat special, with large merchant guilds stationed there, so the Village Chief’s power was limited. Still, as the de facto manager, he could easily pull some strings if he wanted. Especially with control over empty house allocation, a lucrative privilege, Leo didn’t think the Village Chief would give that up easily.

“He tried, but what good did it do?” The neighbor shook his head. “A few knights were put in charge of this matter, and the Village Chief had no say. He nearly got into trouble himself. Still, compared to the previous lord, our new lord is merciful. At least they’re actually providing compensation. If the Village Chief had handled it, the money would’ve vanished.”

Leo nodded and said nothing further.

“We managed to keep your house safe for you—don’t forget to treat us later.”

“Alright.”

Leo smiled and nodded, then bid the neighbor farewell and continued home.

His expression remained calm, showing no unusual change.

Not until he reached his doorstep did the smile fade from his face, his expression turning grim.

Because he sensed a Bloodline User inside his home.

Leo stood still, silently focusing his perception. He detected only one Bloodline User inside his home. Over the years, through gradual testing, Leo had discovered that his perception range surpassed that of most Bloodline Users. At most, he could detect up to twenty-five meters, and at minimum, around fifteen meters.

He hadn’t figured out why his perception fluctuated, but he knew his ability was stronger than most.

His house wasn’t large. Every corner of the room was within twenty-five meters from the door, so by standing outside, Leo could easily sense the intruder.

After a brief hesitation, he opened the door and entered as if nothing were amiss.

At first glance, his room looked completely normal, showing no signs of being searched. However, Leo was no novice. Without thoroughly checking, he knew this appearance could also mean the other party had already searched through everything and put it all back after failing to find what they wanted.

At the moment, because there was no lamp lit in the room and only moonlight shone in from the window, Leo saw no sign of the Bloodline User. Yet, with perception far surpassing that of ordinary Bloodline Users, Leo knew the intruder was sitting beside a table in the room—at a spot hidden from the moonlight's angle, making it hard to notice without illumination.

He acted as if nothing was amiss and began his routine preparations as usual.

The other party simply observed silently.

Not until Leo removed the lamp cover and was about to light it did a voice finally sound within the room.

“Leo.”

“Who!?” Leo feigned shock, quickly placing down the unlit lamp and turning around to grab his pickhammer.

He had deliberately not lit the lamp to avoid revealing both parties’ identities.

Leo understood well that some people enjoyed creating an air of mystery to heighten pressure. In such situations, as long as he didn’t see the person’s face, he could always make excuses later. Since the distance between them was not close, as long as he managed it carefully, the other person would not easily realize he was also a Bloodline User. That would preserve more room for maneuver.

But when Leo picked up his pickhammer and the Bloodline User still didn’t speak to stop him, Leo’s heart sank.

If the person had only come to issue a warning or threat, they would have prevented him from reaching his weapon after creating their mysterious atmosphere—perhaps even showing off an “ability” to intimidate.

Leo called such antics bluffing, usually harmless.

But if the opponent allowed him to take up his weapon, then the situation likely wouldn’t end peacefully.

“Who are you!?”

“You’re still the same, always playing tricks, Raven.” Ion, seated at the table, leaned forward, letting his figure fully appear under the moonlight. “You’ve gotten fatter. Looks like these eight years have treated you well.”

“Ion?”

Leo—or rather, Raven—showed a surprised expression.

“Old buddy! You’re alive? You escaped too? That’s great!”

Seeing Raven’s delighted expression, Ion sighed. “You’re disappointed I survived, aren’t you? After all, wasn’t it you who led that Bloodline Knight to our family’s escape route?”

Raven’s face turned incredulous. “What are you talking about? How could I have done that?”

“Sigh.” Ion had already stood up. “You panicked, Raven. You forgot all the things our instructor taught us. You instinctively denied my words, but didn’t realize the trap within them... If you truly didn’t do it, you would’ve asked me what I meant, not just blindly denied it.”

Ion’s eyes grew sharper, his face grim. “These years of comfort have clearly made you forget many things. Raven, I’m very disappointed in you. You were the godfather of Arsen, Yam, and Akar! Even if Arsen died, Yam and Akar were still alive then, and Akar was only thirteen!”

“Listen, old friend, calm down! Things aren’t how you think!” Raven quickly said.

“You killed Arsen too, didn’t you?”

“What? No!” Raven replied sternly. “How could I kill Arsen!”

“I met Barney.”

Ion’s expression turned cold. From the beginning, he had realized Raven hadn’t spoken a single truth. This filled Ion with burning rage.

Perhaps before, he had still held out hope that Raven would offer some denial, believing there might be unknown truths or hidden reasons behind it all. But Raven’s repeated deceit had finally exhausted Ion’s patience. He now understood clearly that the man before him was no longer the comrade who once stood shoulder to shoulder with him in life and death, but had become a selfish, despicable traitor.

“He’s told me everything you said.”

Ion spoke each word with weight. “It was all for the ruin, wasn’t it?”

Raven’s expression finally lost its calm.

He glanced at Ion’s empty left sleeve. A flicker of hesitation passed through his eyes before he suddenly grabbed the pickhammer beside him and charged toward the door.

But just as he pulled it open, a piercing whistle cut through the air.

A fire arrow shot toward him.

The moment Raven heard the whistling, he realized something was wrong and quickly turned his head to dodge, barely evading the arrow aimed directly at his forehead—had he not moved, it would have pierced him right between the eyes.

The fire arrow entered the house and struck the wall, scattering in an explosive burst.

Instantly, the fire source ignited rapidly.

But Raven had no time to pay attention to the flames. He turned and glanced at the fire arrow that had turned into a stream of flame, his expression shifting uncertainly. “Flame Stream? ...Arsen gave the Bourbon Bloodline to you!?”