Merchant Of Yliaster

Travelling through an incredibly crowded city while looking like a demon was not a very good experience, Maxwell realized again, as he walked through the streets. Wherever he passed, people either sent him fearful or suspicious glances.

It was starting to get old, as Maxwell didn't like drawing so much attention. Choosing to create a persona had been the right call, but it being this terrifying was definitely overkill.

After feeling incredulous for some time, he finally reached the gate between the inner and outer city. He supposed he could always fly here, but that felt like it would definitely break some law. He had seen no one flying since he came here, and he doubted that there wouldn't be people who could.

The gate was small, as such gates existed around the walls at intervals. They were guarded heavily, as in all societies, the rich feared that the poor would somehow overthrow them. Well, they are right most of the time, Maxwell smiled.

They walked calmly as the soldiers guarding the gate stared at him as if they had seen an invader. He could see that most of their hands were reaching for their weapons, but he hoped they would be able to control themselves.

Fortunately, the leader seemed to be composed enough to ask questions before doing anything.

"Halt! What's your purpose?" a man wearing a full suit of metal armor shouted, his voice sounding like he was forcefully making it not quiver.

"Passage," Maxwell said, and his creepy voice made the situation only worse. Even the soldiers who were composed before now seemed like they could attack at any time.

"Ehem, who are you?" The leader stammered after hearing his voice. It was apparent that the man did not want conflict if he could avoid it.

Maxwell was holding the emblem he got from Dave the whole time, as this was the situation he wanted to avoid in the first place, but his look was too eerie for the guards to notice the small symbol on first glance. Now, though, he showed it clearly, holding it out before him.

"A Mercenary," he said. He thought about saying Drakhabgar, but that would be looking for trouble, considering the name's effects on the world.

"You are a guest of House Leyn?" The guard seemed stunned by the revelation. No matter how he looked, he couldn't see why a prestigious family like Leyn's would invite such a person inside. Did they want everyone to think they were going to assassinate someone? He did a hand movement tiredly, and Maxwell watched as the guards made way reluctantly.

"You can pass," the guard said, not looking at his face. What a job to have, Maxwell thought. The man definitely thought he was a source of danger, but due to the rules, he admitted him to the inner city himself.

Maxwell walked with his silent steps and passed through the gate. He had expected to see some difference before seeing the inner city, but even he was not prepared to see the real difference.

Is that a fucking subway? He almost couldn't believe his eyes, but a steam train was moving in the city at a moderate speed, like it truly belonged in a medieval world. Yes, the tech was old, but it was still modern technology, and Maxwell found the scene absurd.

This was not all, as he could see signs of technology all around him. The city was too packed for cars, but it didn't seem crowded. All in all, the inner city was around three kilometers in diameter, so cars would be pointless anyway.

There was a small detail, though, and it didn't make him very happy. His appearance seemed to be affecting these nobles much worse than the hardened people outside the walls. Some even screamed when he passed by them, and he started to feel incredulous when a woman fainted like she was in some sort of play.

He managed to find the mission location soon, but he was pretty sure that he had traumatized at least a quarter of the whole inner city population. I need to find a way to travel without being seen, he thought. As it was, this was just ridiculous. Using darkness mana to hide shouldn't be too hard anyway.

The location had not been hard to discern, as House Leyn seemed to own a bigass mansion in the middle of the city. It was guarded even better than the inner walls, and this made Maxwell question whether Darve was just being a teenager.

He supposed that being a bit concerned about the new uncontrollable changes when you were in a position of absolute power made sense, but the situation was definitely not as dire as the young man made it out to be.

He approached the gates of the mansion, and he was immediately stopped by a guard. This time, though, the guard didn't seem to be terrified.

"How can I help you?" the man asked, shocking Maxwell with his manners. So they are careful not to offend anyone important, he thought.

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"I have a mission from the mercenary guild," Maxwell said, showing the man the symbol. The guard briefly glanced at the symbol before turning and starting to walk.

"Follow me, please," he said, and they started to walk through numerous corridors before reaching an elevator. The design was similar to the one in the nest, and the guard inserted a key similar to his into a slot near the door, making it open with a soft ding.

They got in, and to Maxwell's surprise, the elevator started moving downwards. It wasn't even a short distance, as they continued to travel for some time. Maxwell could easily measure the distance using his dominion, and he was pretty sure that they were almost two hundred meters below the ground.

Digging like this must have cost a lot, but somehow, Maxwell doubted that such a thing would be a problem for the family. Soon, the elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened to the big room.

With a simple glance, Maxwell could see that this was a training room, littered with different training gear. Weights, ropes, and parkour covered the walls, and in the middle of the room, a young man stood. Maxwell observed the familiar man.

Darve- Swordsman - Level 27

He leveled a lot, Maxwell thought. It was respectable that a normal man like Darve could level fast enough to compete with veteran mercenaries.

Darve turned towards them, hearing the elevator stop. Maxwell could see a confused look on the young man's face before understanding dawned on him.

"You are the mercenary father hired?" he said, sounding like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Considering Maxwell's looks, it was a normal reaction, as Maxwell hardly looked reliable.

Maxwell immediately felt an observation. It was not surprising, as one would want to know who his bodyguard would be. Unfortunately for Darve, though, he would hardly learn anything from his observation.

Unsurprisingly, his eyes widened in surprise as he checked Maxwell's level. "Woah, I can see why the old geezer didn't bother with the screening," Darve said. For some reason, he looked unhappy due to Maxwell's level. The reason was immediately revealed.

"I don't want a bodyguard, and I won't accept one if I can beat them. Are you up for a spar?" Darve said, and Maxwell could feel panic radiating from the guard beside him.

"Young master! Please-" The guard started, but he was interrupted by Darve. "Gary, you can be the judge," the young man said, and unsheathed his sword, holding it to his side.

Maxwell didn't know how to feel about this. This thing happens way too often, he thought. He supposed accepting wouldn't be bad, but he was not sure what he would use to beat the guy. He would need to figure out a new darkness skill, as only draining people using his mental energy was just boring.

"We fight here?" he asked. Fighting below your house seemed like a pretty bad idea, considering that you would just damage your own house if things got out of hand.

"Sure, this place is reinforced for my training; you don't need to worry about it collapsing," Darve said, and his aura changed as he focused on Maxwell like a hunter preparing to hunt prey. "Gary, count from three," he said, and Maxwell amusedly watched the guard look at his master in desperation, before accepting his fate.

He dejectedly started counting. "3.. 2.. 1.. Start," he said, and Darve immediately acted. There was a short, sharp sound of metal cutting through the air, and Maxwell was surprised to feel the need to actually use his mind to follow the attack.

Darve swung his sword, and similar to the skill he showed Maxwell before, a wind blade shot out from his sword, travelling with a truly astonishing speed. It moved through the air with finesse, naturally like wind, and arrived in front of Maxwell in an instant.

Unfortunately for Darve, the speed was only decently fast for Maxwell. The man watched in suspense as his attack travelled through the air, and just before it reached Maxwell, a wall of shadows formed immediately in front of Maxwell.

The attack impacted the wall, but it was like throwing a stone into the ocean. Wind blade disappeared into the wall as it was absorbed by the darkness mana, like it was something completely harmless. Immediately after absorbing the mana, darkness started to flow and took the shape of a ball before floating back to Maxwell's hand.

Darve watched the phenomenon dumbfoundedly before smiling like an idiot. "So you are not only for show, huh? I won't give up that easily," he said, and started to perform a complicated sword dance. All of his individual swings sent out wind blades, and they converged on Maxwell's location.

Maxwell, meanwhile, was examining the construct he was holding in his palm. He definitely didn't expect shadow constructs to be useful to this degree. The construct before not only completely absorbed the wind blade, but it actually gained some size after blocking the attack. This meant that as long as the integrity was undamaged enough, he could use this to block without using a single shred of extra mana.

He glanced at the coming salvo of wind blades. It would be a bad idea to try to block them with the same darkness construct, as the attacks had an amazing technique behind them. The first wind blades were launched in curved paths, and if Maxwell was seeing them right, they would reach him at the same time.

This guy would make a much better archer, Maxwell thought, as he visualized eight blades of shadow manifest behind him. His visualization rapidly turned into reality, and the blades shot out, meeting the blades of wind in the air silently, absorbing them without much trouble. Darve, though, still seemed in high spirits.

Maxwell's eyes widened as his opponent reached the end of his dance, unleashing one final attack. Maxwell could immediately see that this attack was boosted by the sword he had improved, and the blade was truly formidable.

He summoned back the newly created darkness constructs and the construct from before, and commanded them to fuse before him. The blade reached him while a shield once again formed before him, looking like it was made from pure darkness.

However, this time, there was something different. The blade immediately cut through the darkness when he reached it, immediately shattering the construct's limitations as it contained way too much mana.

Maxwell watched as the blade slowly got close to him in his perception. He was truly surprised that the blade managed to cut through the wall, but he was by no means helpless.

He held out a palm, and with a mental command, more than a thousand mana burned, and a mass of pure darkness was released from Maxwell's palm, immediately covering the whole room in darkness as a mask smiled.