Aldred scanned the area with his godly eyes, and saw no more suspicious people around him. But he sent his undead out to patrol just in case.
"How is it?" Mary asked.
"They seem to be retreating. My undead have scared them."
"How many are there?"
"Around 40 assassins retreated. Most of them are 2 to 4 kilometers away from us."
"So many… and how did you see that far?" Mary asked a little bit surprised though she shouldn't be surprised by his ability anymore.
"I have good eyes," Aldred said with a smile.
Stella gave Aldred a glance. She could also detect all those assassins from far away without even using her magic mirror. But it wasn't as effective as Aldred's eyes.
All of Aldred's victories against stronger enemies were the merit of his godly eyes. Not only could it predict the trajectory, it could tell him the weight, speed, and even power of an attack. In high speed battle, the eyes could give him valuable information such as weak spots, imperfect technique, and can even suggest something to counter the enemy.
"Those 40 assassins are a threat to our territory," Mary said. "If they can put more than 40 men in our turf then there must be more."
"We should inform the Phoenix," Bartrem said.
"Don't worry. I already did," Aldred said.
"What do you mean?" Bartrem asked.
"I told my undead to kidnap those assassins, then my undead tied them up before throwing them on the Phoenix's feet."
"That's a good move. They will obtain some information about the Dragon that way," Mary said.
The Phoenix would probably look further into this matter. The competition between the emperor and the empress was very fierce after all. Though the surface of this city seemed calm, there was major unrest within the shadow.
Suddenly, Ivette stopped walking and looked at a big stuffed bear being sold at a toys' stall.
"Do you want that bear, Ivette?" Aldred asked.
Ivette was silent for a moment, and Aldred looked at her for confirmation, but to his shock, he saw her crying instead.
"Why are you crying?" Aldred asked.
The other girls also approached her and tried to calm her down?
"When I was a child. I used to have a stuffed bear like that, but to get money I had to sell it."
"Alright, let me buy the whole store for you."
Ivette shook her head. "That was me in the past. I am all grown up now. The bear just reminded me of terrible memories, that's all."
"Then let me buy all the stuffed bears in this city and destroy them."
Ivette laughed. "You don't have to. I will get used to it eventually."
"By the way, now that you mention it. Isn't your home in this city?"
"Yes. I told you that my grandparents migrated here, but the house is already sold. My brother and I were planning to leave this city after paying the debt."
"Where did you plan to go?"
"Montcresia."
"Eh, why?"
"The priest that gave my brother and I power told us to visit Ocray, the capital of Montcresia."
"I see," Aldred said as his mind wandered into thoughts. The priest that gave Ivette power probably knew that she had the potential to become a hero.
There was no way a priest would randomly go to a pair of siblings and just give them power. But Aldred was more surprised that a priest could enter this city. Montcresia was currently at war with the Ceraisian empire, so the priest would be apprehended immediately if he was found out.
The fact that a priest could enter the capital of Ceraisian spoke volumes of their infiltration skill.
Aldred even suspected that these priests go all over the continent to spread their power and gospel.
He then widened his eyes at that realization. Back in modern earth, Aldred read a lot of conspiracy theories to pass time. One such theory was the concept of proxy war. It was said that powerful world leaders use religion or ideologies to influence people in other nations and gather them in a group. These groups would then wreak havoc within the country and try to take control, effectively making them a puppet state of the one who spread the ideologies.
Was it possible that Montcresia was planning to do this? During his travels, the concept of angels and heroes of montcresia was very common for all the people he met.
That meant their religion spread far and wide although it wasn't very influential currently.
But a single unrest could create chaos, and chaos could destroy lives.
At that point in time, if a religion said they could give the people hope, who would refuse?
But most countries are protected by their own god, so this theory was hardly correct.
Or maybe they simply wanted to find potential heroes to add to their ranks.
Ivette was one example. They did not tell her to stay here, but instead told her to go to Montcresia. This confirmed his suspicion that they might be recruiting talented people all over the continent.
Well, he didn't have any problem with that. As long as both Ceraisian and Montcresia did not enter a full-out war, he would be fine with it. After all, when he became emperor he would make peace with Montcresia.
As for satisfying the God of War in Ceraisian, he would just wage war on other hostile nations or even go beyond this continent.
Aldred and his girls continued to walk in the streets. There were some guards with armor and uniform. On their chest was an insignia of a phoenix.
They nodded with respect when they saw Aldred.
Aldred simply nodded back with a smile.
And these people were immediately amazed by his small gesture. They were informed that dozens of spies were being beaten up and tied like pigs. And the culprit of that was Aldred.
This made people talk about him and his nickname 'Death Lord' even came out in the conversation.
For a man to have the title 'Death Lord' nodding and smiling at them… they didn't expect someone like that to be so humble.
As Aldred walked passed, the guards talked with each other.
"We're lucky to have someone like that on our side."
"Yeah. Most of the Empress' high ranking soldiers are nice and humble. This is why I sided with her. I feel more accepted."
"Yes, the Dragon's work environment is very toxic. Everyone is holding their chin to the sky. They really embodied the arrogance of a dragon."
"But to catch more than 30 spies in less than a day… don't you think that Death Lord is too amazing?"
"He is. I even heard the empress herself once visited him in Ruandeurtin."
"Damn. Who is he to enjoy such a visit?"
