Black Dahlia Inn is one of the many inns in the kingdom of Athea, where the underworld often meets. It’s their safe haven.
It is said that when a criminal enters this place, not even the king can force them out, as doing so would expose the underworld to the entire world, which will incur their wrath on whoever dares expose them.
Of course, there are only a few knew of this shady place, but to the criminals, this place is their haven—the only place they feel at home and free from all kinds of trouble.
Inside this inn, dozens of people could be seen doing all kinds of things people do in inns. Some were drinking, chatting, eating, and so on.
“Have you heard? The Ashland and Alderford families seem to have offended somebody they shouldn’t have,” a figure in black said to his friends.
“I know, right? To have your entire family wiped from the face of the world… who had the Ashland family offended to meet this fate?” another commented.
“You’re asking the wrong question,” another chimed in. “Since the Ashland family is a noble family, who and what has the audacity to go after them? I know we all have our issues with them, but going against an entire noble family… That is just—”
“Maybe the two families were in cahoots with someone they shouldn’t have messed with. I mean, although the Alderford merchant family isn’t that widely known, it’s still one of the top five families in Caprath City.
Maybe they bit off more than they could chew, and it choked them in ways they never expected,” a new person joined in on the conversation.
“You all might be wrong,” another person, a young man clad in dark green clothes with a hood covering his face, said from the corner.
“What do you mean?” the first person to speak asked.
“Can’t you all see it? One died overnight from a silent assassination, and another died from extreme combat. I don’t think the same people are after them. This might just be a big coincidence.”
It had been 12 hours since the incident with the Alderford family. And since both incidents involving the Ashland and Alderford families were identical, everyone called them the same.
The underworld was also calling them the same. They all believed the same fate had befallen both families.
However, they were all wrong. The incident wasn’t something anyone could easily comprehend.
The reason was simple: the two incidents stemmed from two different factions of the underworld, a revelation that would soon ignite conflict between them.
Inside a private room in the inn, three figures—whose presence alone identified them as significant underworld members—could be seen sipping wine.
“What do you all think? Do you believe there’s a new force trying to sabotage us?” the first man asked.
These three were the Root Great Sages sent by the Dark Devil Church to investigate Lady Sandra’s death and the sudden appearance of the Atomic Divine Body.
They had arrived two days ago and immediately interrogated the Ashland noble family.
However, Daisy and John had lied to them and manipulated the situation, redirecting their attention to the Makoso Prison, where they discovered the mutilated remains of one of their members.
This discovery enraged them, so they immediately returned to the Ashland family estate. Overnight, they slaughtered dozens of its members, including John and his wives.
The reason for this swift retribution was simple: one of the sages possessed a strange ability to discern lies. In truth, it was as though he could read minds. Because of this, Daisy’s carefully crafted scheme was stopped overnight.
However, after killing every last one of them, they failed to discover any information about the Atomic Divine Body. They had already killed all those who knew anything about it.
Still, they were aware of the connection between the Ashlands and the Alderfords, so they moved to investigate the latter.
But that was when they witnessed the one-sided massacre of the Alderfords by an organization that called itself the Hand.
In fact, while they were in hiding, they saw how the group entered and came out within ten minutes before vanishing entirely.
Witnessing this, they decided to assess the situation and understand what was happening before making any subtle moves.
So they waited for four hours after the battle, and just as the sky was turning dark, they prepared to make their move.
However, something strange happened before they could get within 20 meters of the Alderford Mansion.
A portal opened, and a hooded figure on a dark, eerie horse appeared. Within a minute, this figure slaughtered four Root Sages and six Root Saints.
The three Root Great Sages fled in a panic, abandoning their men. In fact, they left everything behind and bolted. Since then, they have holed up inside Black Dahlia to re-strategize.
“I think there is a new force at play. The fact that they were able to unleash that kind of power to subdue the Merchants means they are a force we can’t ignore,” one of them said.
“I think we should hurry back. Although the Atomic Divine Body is important, a new faction in the underworld that can command such strength threatens us. The leader must be informed,” the third person added.
“I mean, the fact that they noticed us and even sent that figure on the horse tells us everything we need to know.”
After the incident, they immediately linked the dark-hooded figure to the strange organization known as The Hand.
“We have to retreat for now. We must inform the leader, and this can’t be done over communication crystals. We’ll have to abandon the pursuit of the Atomic Divine Body for now.
This new threat must be addressed first.”
And so, the three figures abandoned their mission to pursue the Atomic Divine Body, at least for now.
Had it not been for such a fatal blow from the dark-hooded figure, they would have continued their search for the Atomic Divine Body and likely stumbled upon Li Hua, whose unique nature would have undoubtedly piqued their curiosity.
Fortunately, Kent’s First Rider, the captain of the Night Riders, intervened before they could act.
They were utterly terrified when Uncle Drew made his appearance. Because of this, Kent, who would have been backed into a corner, now had a few more days to take care of matters before everything turned upside down.
The three figures left and headed to their headquarters to report the recent developments.
Meanwhile, three days after the incident involving the Alderford and Ashland families, the twelve major merchant families from the twelve cities in the Athea Kingdom convened to discuss their next course of action.
Now that a noble family had fallen, they needed to select a replacement.
In fact, this was an outcome many had been waiting for years to see. Each family wanted to ascend to the rank of nobility, but none had dared to challenge the Ashlands directly due to their power.
However, the situation had changed. One could inherit the Ashland businesses and their army if they played their cards right.
This was the rule set by the king: if a merchant family manages to inherit a noble family’s position, they take everything the noble family owns.
And so, the twelve families were all vying to become the next Lords of Caprath City.