An hour had passed since Thirteen closed his eyes while lying on top of a rooftop.
The City Lord's residence was only two hundred meters away from where he was, but he didn't dare go any nearer.
After spending thousands of years as a System, he had his fair share of infiltrating enemy strongholds, palaces, and Holy Sites alongside his Hosts.
Thirteen couldn't tell whether Arthas had noticed the faint fluctuation of the rune magic he had inscribed on the jar that contained the Five Leaf Clover, but the latter had prepared to capture the thief who would try to steal it.
But Thirteen was not an ordinary thief.
Since he already knew that a trap had been laid out at his destination, he decided to change his strategy.
Instead of being baited into the trap, he would lure the one who set up the trap to come to him.
The reason he came close to the City Lord's Residence was to let the City Lord see him.
Thirteen was certain that, as a Champion expecting a thief to enter his household, Arthas was paying close attention to his surroundings.
Since that was the case, he decided to let the City Lord focus his attention on him.
The City Lord might become suspicious of him, but as long as he didn't enter the Residence, Arthas wouldn't be able to accuse him of anything.
In short, he was doing this to purposely annoy the City Lord!
The most frustrating thing for a Hunter was seeing their prey dangling right in front of them but not being able to do anything about it.
In short, Arthas could stare at Thirteen for as long as he wanted, but he couldn't harm the boy because he was innocent until proven guilty!
'This is payback for bullying me,' Thirteen mused as he continued to pretend that he was resting on top of the rooftop. 'I can do this all night.'
The boy could feel the City Lord's gaze boring into his body, but he didn't give a hoot about it.
Two hours later, Thirteen decided to just literally sleep on the rooftop.
The night was cold, but he was already prepared for a long stakeout.
Because of this, he took a blanket out of the bag he was carrying and covered his body to keep him nice and warm.
Tiona poked her head out of the blanket before once again resting it on Thirteen's neck.
She liked being this close to him because it made her feel at ease.
As the two were comfortably snuggling to sleep for the night, Arthas' gaze was locked on the seven-year-old's body.
He was expecting that a guest would come, but he didn't expect the boy, whom he had bullied at the auction, would make an appearance.
Truth be told, he was truly surprised and even doubted his eyes when he first saw Zion. But after confirming that it was indeed the boy that he saw in the auction, he paid extra attention to his movements.
'Is he sleeping?' Arthas frowned. 'Is he not the one who placed a tracking spell on the Five Leaf Clover?'
Just like Thirteen had expected, the City Lord started to have doubts after seeing his actions.
All the boy needed to do was enter the residence, and Arthas would immediately move to apprehend him.
He didn't care if he was really the one who planned to steal the Five Leaf Clover or not.
Since the boy had entered his property, he had every right to seize him for trespassing.
But the boy didn't do that.
He only laid down on top of the roof that was a distance away from his residence.
There was no way that Arthas could apprehend him without a valid excuse.
Even if he was the City Lord, his reputation would take a hit.
It was also possible that the City Lords of the other Barbarian Cities would catch wind of what had happened, making him the laughingstock of their circle.
If this matter escalated and reached the Barbarian King's ears, there was a possibility that he would be kicked out of his position for abusing his power.
Of course, the Barbarian King stripping him of his position was a very far-fetched consequence.
However, he was aware that there was never a lack of opportunistic people who wished to gain power. No matter how trivial it was, they could definitely make a big deal out of a minor offense, which would cause him a lot of headaches in the future.
Also, Arthas had only been the City Lord of Gronar City for ten years after his father's death.
There were many people who opposed his inheritance, but the Barbarian King silenced them.
However, the King also told Arthas that he must be very careful, for one small spark was all it would take for the hearts of people to move and rise up to challenge his rule.
Suddenly, he felt a faint fluctuation of power in the distance, making him temporarily avert his gaze away from the sleeping boy.
Although it only lasted for a fraction of a second, Arthas was able to sense a power that rivaled his own, making him wary.
Whoever that presence belonged to definitely didn't plan to catch his attention whatsoever.
Arthas was only able to detect it because he was one of the best trackers of the Barbarian Race, so he was very sensitive to the presence of others even if they were over a thousand meters away from him.
But before he could start to spread his presence in the direction where he felt the fluctuation, his body stiffened after he sensed a few more presences in the surroundings.
'Just what is going on here?!' Arthas face became solemn because he felt at least six Champions sneaking near his property. 'Are they all in the same group?!'
Thirteen, who was sleeping soundly earlier, suddenly woke up when his sixth sense sent alarm bells ringing inside his head.
A moment later, something or someone landed beside him, making his body stiffen.
"Don't move."
A familiar voice reached Thirteen's ears.
With the moonlight illuminating his surroundings, the boy stared at the Drow, Adira, who had crouched down to look at him.
"This is not a good place to take a nap, Zion," Adira stated. "Soon, a battle will break out. If you don't want to get involved in the aftermath, you should just come with me."
Thirteen frowned before glancing at the residence in the distance.
He was still too weak to sense the presence of the six experts, who had surrounded the City Lord's Residence.
But Adira had detected them right away, so before they could move to harm the boy she had set her sights on, she took the initiative to approach him in order to deter the other people who seemed to be targeting the place that Thirteen had intended to infiltrate earlier.
"Let's go," Adira said as she picked up the seven-year-old like a princess. "We're getting out of here."
The Drow then leaped from roof to roof, moving as far away from the residence as possible.
Thirteen threw the City Lord's Residence one last glance, not knowing what would happen next.
But since he was still too weak to participate in a battle of this level, he simply behaved and allowed Adira to take him to the Slave Market, where she planned to ask him the questions that she didn't have time to ask when they were still in the Auction House.
