Inside one of the luxurious guest rooms in the City Lord's residence, Thirteen sat on the bed while twirling a Five-Leaf Clover in his hands.
He was looking at the space in front of him and checking the information on his Status Screen.
< Unique Quest! >
Quest Category: Chain Quest
Quest Name: The Thirteen Trials
< First Trial Completed! >
— Escape the Houdini Desert!
< Second Trial Completed!>
— Find a Five Leaf Clover
Note: Well, not bad. You remind me of myself when I was your age. But, you still have a long way to go if you want to come home.
Thirteen rolled his eyes after seeing the message from his Old Man after he completed his second trial.
Now that his second mission was over, it was now time for him to see what the Old Fart had prepared for him next.
< Third Trial>
— Make the Purple-Furred Honey Badger your ally!
Thirteen snorted after reading his Third Trial.
If he received this quest a week ago, then he would have cursed the System God for giving him another unreasonable quest.
But, it just so happened that this quest aligned with what Thirteen had planned to do.
The City Lord had come clean and told him everything he knew.
Of course, Thirteen already knew whom he was dealing with, but Paven made sure to report everything he had done for that Being over the past few years.
This included the handful of exchanges he had with his counterpart in the Barbarian Lands, saving Thirteen the trouble of needing to uncover the Barbarian's identity.
Also, Thirteen had chosen his battlefield.
The fight would be waged on the Warsor Plains, and what better ally to have than the Purple-Furred Honey Badger, who was currently in a territorial war with the Diabolical Hyena, which was slightly stronger than it.
Thirteen wanted to eliminate the Rank 6 Overlord, who now lorded over the Furvus Grasslands.
He understood that the Diabolical Hyena would order his subordinates to increase their numbers so that they would become the strongest force in the Warsor Plains.
Once that happened, it would then actively hunt the Purple-Furred Honey Badger and raise its rank to a Pseudo-Rank 7 Overlord, which could only be defeated by dozens of Champions working together.
The boy was certain that the Third Party would use the Diabolical Hyena as his lackey, further boosting his army.
Thirteen would not allow such a thing to come to pass, so he would definitely get rid of the Jinn before it joined hands with his enemy.
For that to happen, he would need the cooperation of the Purple-Furred Honey Badger, who was still recovering from its injuries.
While he was thinking of the best approach to handle the situation, someone knocked in his room, breaking his concentration.
But, Thirteen didn't mind.
There were only a handful of people who might come looking for him at this point in time, and all of them were his allies.
"Come in," Thirteen said.
A moment later, the door opened, and Paven walked inside the room alongside Rafiki.
"I have done as you ask of me," Paven reported. "But, I can't believe that you targeted two other cities. You are very ruthless, Zion."
"Thank you for the praise." Thirteen smirked. "When will they arrive?"
"Three days from now," Paven answered. "Some of them will be coming from the Capital, so it will take a while for them to arrive. Also, I discovered something else that happened in Dunn City."
"And that is?" Thirteen asked.
"Brigham is missing," Paven replied. "According to my spy, this happened while the granary and garrison in Dunn City were burning. Rumors are circulating that the Barbarians have kidnapped him and used the commotion to escape the city."
Thirteen frowned after hearing the news.
He had assigned Anwir to implement the Operation in Dunn City, and he had told the Tigerkin that he shouldn't touch Brigham at this point in time because he didn't have enough manpower to succeed in capturing him.
His Third-Rate Villain only had four Assassins accompanying him. One of them was a Champion, and the remaining three were Grandmasters.
It was an elite unit that could easily accomplish their mission, but they were not strong enough to face the City Lord in a confrontation.
'Could it be?' Thirteen entertained the idea of Anwir taking a gamble to kidnap Brigham as they fled the city after finishing their mission.
It was a very big gamble, and one mistake could cost them their lives.
This was something not for the faint of heart, and only crazy people would attempt such a thing.
"Do you have any leads as to where Brigham might have hidden or where he could have been taken?" Thirteen inquired.
Paven shook his head. "He fancied himself as the puppeteer behind the Radical Faction, but he was also a decent fighter. It would not be easy to capture him unless someone laid out a meticulous trap for him.
"Zion, I don't know if your people in Dunn City succeeded or not, but if they did, this incident will not die down anytime soon—
especially since the three main granaries of the Kingdom were compromised. The only saving grace was that people didn't think too highly of Brigham since only the inner circle of the Radical Faction knew of his machinations."
Thirteen nodded his head in understanding. "Is there anything else that I should know?"
"Yes. The whole nation is in an uproar, and as we speak, messenger birds are flying to every city in the Sumatran Kingdom, informing them of the events that transpired several hours ago. I believe that the King is already aware of the things that happened here, Dunn City, and Rosenda City.
"It is only a matter of time before he personally sends his retinue to assess the damages that we received during this attack. Fortunately, you had the foresight to also attack a member of the Conservative Faction. If not, things might have escalated into a civil war between two factions."
Thirteen smiled faintly after hearing the relief in Paven's voice.
"For now, act like you usually do and maintain contact with you-know-who," Thirteen ordered. "I will be leaving the city after I've talked to your subordinates and head back to the Barbarian Lands. I need to ensure that your counterpart is also brought down a peg and see to it that the Barbarians will not attack anytime soon either."
Paven nodded his head in understanding.
"Zion, I will be returning to the General's residence to tell him everything that has happened," Rafiki stated. "Is there something that you wish to pass on to him?"
"Yes," Thirteen replied. "Tell him that I will still be borrowing Dixon and his Scouting Party for a while. We will go to the Barbarian Lands in a few days to do an undercover mission. Also, no matter what happens, he should stick to the plan and not contact Paven in order to avoid suspicions."
The corner of Rafiki's lips curled up into a smirk. "Are you sure you don't want me to keep the fact that you turned a few Tigerkins into your slaves a secret?"
"Even if I didn't tell you, you would still keep it a secret from him, right?" Thirteen answered with a smirk of his own.
The boy and the Shaman stared at each other for half a minute before chuckling at the same time.
"Zion, you should consider accepting Briella's offer to become her adoptive son," Rafiki stated. "I don't want you as my enemy."
"Even if I don't accept her offer, I will still not be your enemy, Rafiki. Rest assured, I am on your side."
"And I wish for it to stay that way. After all, killing you will be a shame."
The Shaman winked at the seven-year-old before leaving the room.
Although he hadn't turned Paven into his slave in the end, all of the City Lord's personal guards and servants had been enslaved by Norris, and their ownership had been handed over to Zion.
This was to ensure that none of them would be able to jeopardize his plans.
He had no intention of leaving any witnesses inside Parania City.
No. He planned to take them all back to the Barbarian Lands and make them part of his armed forces.
Thirteen was certain that General Stark wouldn't like the idea of Tigerkins becoming his slaves, so for his peace of mind, he truly hoped that Rafiki would keep his lips shut tight.
But even if the Shaman told the General, the seven-year-old would just casually shrug because whatever the General thought or did afterward was no longer his concern.
The only people who knew the identity of the Third Party were him and Paven, and he wanted to keep it that way.
The fewer people who knew about this secret, the safer they would be.
After Paven left the room, Thirteen called out to Vassago and ordered him to find Anwir to confirm their situation.
He didn't know if his Sworn Brother had succeeded in his showdown with Brigham, but if he really did, then that meant that Anwir was more capable than he originally gave him credit for.
