In the central region of the Rukon district.. A big godown was engulfed in fire and smoke. This 1 kilometer wide storage facility was burned to crisps and thousands of onlookers were discussing the sudden fire that broke in this facility.
Over 20 mages who were part of the fire control department of this region named Area 69, were putting off the fire with their various magic artifacts, water & frost spells.
There were hundreds of foot soldiers surrounding the burning building and prohibiting people from coming close to it. There was a separate group of people who were using different types of formations, barriers and scrolls to stop the spreading fire lest it affects the other surrounding buildings and housings. A proper way to control a fire breakout.
Flap! Flap!
A sound of multiple flapping wings filled the area and suddenly, 3 flying winged lion beasts that were used as modes of traveling in the capital by the truly wealthy came in sight.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The 5 meter tall and majestic lions with silver feathery wings landed on the ground.
Soon, 3 figures climbed down from these regal creatures. It was Kahn, Omega and Armin who were using these highly sought-after monster steeds to travel. These were the monsters Kahn bought last week because he had to travel long distances often and magic trains were no longer convenient for him at this point.
Plus he had the money so he didn't think twice before he bought these beasts, a million gold coins for each of them.
The trio soon stood in front of the smoldering fire and introduced themselves as the owners of this burning building.
After an hour of joint effort.. The fire was finally subdued and the building was safe enough to enter.
After doing the paperwork and counting the number of the dead.. It was registered as an accident by the authorities and a case was filed.
Kahn filled in all the required information & documents for further investigation.
But during his own visit inside the site.. His Hunter's Intent was working at full capacity. His eyes registering minute details one wouldn't generally notice.
After his investigation.. Kahn concluded that although the bodies burned under this fire; In reality.. The forty-two people who died in this tragic incident were actually murdered.
The swift swings and thrusts that cut the necks and broke the skulls were not easy to notice after how only a few of their bones remained. The rest of the facility was burned to ashes and all the stockpile of material this warehouse had was completely ransacked.
Whoever did this.. were all trained killers.
Kahn concluded that these killers first took down all the security & workers here. And then they ransacked the entire godown full of finished products that would soon be sold in shops. This facility was used to store them here and then distribute the stock in the nearby shops owned by Kahn's company. To save time and money of course.
And after killing these innocent workers, they put the entire place on fire.
"This.. Is because of me.." said Kahn as he tightly clenched his fist.
At the end of the day.. Every single one of the victims was just collateral damage. Kahn understood that he was the main cause of these innocent workers getting killed only because he had garnered the ire of the truly powerful people.
And since they couldn't even hope to put a scratch on him because of Omega & Jugram.. They went after the people who worked for him.
Xander told Kahn that he survived because of a protection artifact he had on him which saved his life in the last moment from a fireball spell that was used in order to kill him.
Xander barely escaped from the clutches of these killers via using a teleportation scroll and appeared close to their main headquarters.
He was now the only survivor of this massacre and was currently taken care of by Armin.
After dealing with the aftermath and agreeing to comply with the investigations.. Kahn returned at evening to the main headquarters. This time.. He quickly made an announcement in the main meeting hall about the incident and how the families of the deceased workers will be fairly compensated for the loss of their loved ones.
The main purpose of this meeting wasn't only to show that how they cared about the lives of their employees.. But also for Kahn to plant over 60 of his Assassin subordinates in the shadows of some of the employees.
Kahn knew that this won't be the final attack. Because this was again.. targeted killing. And he already had a hint of who were the real culprits behind these attacks.
Kahn was barely holding back his anger and wanted to hunt down these killers but the fire didn't leave any traces behind.. No smell or footsteps that he could use to track these killers.
But at the same time.. He couldn't even reveal the truth behind that fire and how basically everyone's life was in grave danger. Otherwise, it will cause a panic & he won't be able to catch the killers either.
So only hiding his assassin subordinates to protect these people and getting informed in case any of them were under an attack was the best choice for him to find the killers.
On the same night.. 3 of his shops were burned to the ground and 12 guards on night duty also died. His subordinates hidden between the normal guards couldn't even inform Kahn through Hive Mind because all these shops were placed farther than 10 kilometers.
Amongst the dead, 8 of his master rank warriors also died.
The next day, 4 more of his transportations carriages were attacked and looted. Since Omega was guarding other shipments and couldn't always be present everywhere.. The guards protecting these shipments barely managed to keep their lives in a clash.
From the survivors, he learned that it was a group of killers which had a well-organized style of attacking the targets like a trained battalion itself. Some survivors even said that the attackers let them live on purpose.
After the same incident happened the next day.. Kahn finally lost it!
For the first time in his new life.. He truly felt helpless. It was one thing if the enemies came after him.. He could still fight and protect himself but nearly 4 thousand people who worked for were left defenseless and prone to get attacked when Kahn wasn't present.
Even the subordinates he had were limited and all the security he hired were at best were at Peak Master Rank. But in front the grandmaster rank attackers.. There was so little they could.
Kahn didn't want to gather unnecessary attention on himself in this new place.
But the innocent people who worked for him were being killed by these enemies he made.
He had shown his enemies the kindness of giving a warning because he didn't want to kill innocents who didn't know anything about the enmity..
Just that this time, they weren't using normal people to defame his company.. But hired professionals to kill his people.
"This is all on me.. I made the mistake of sparing those bastards that day.
My people are also my responsibility." spoke Kahn as he saw half a dozen dead bodies being carried away from the most recent attack on a shipment carriage of his company.
At that very moment, Kahn decided that it was finally time to take matters into his own hands. The official investigation will never yield a proper result or the killers will even be found.
At night, he stood in his bedroom in front of the dressing table as he looked in the mirror..
His eyes were full of wrath and his body barely contained his murderous and chaotic aura as he spoke in a vengeful tone..
"You bastards wanted a war... You've got one now!"