Gato approached the gate again, Cart empty.
From the flushed cheeks of the soldiers, it was clear that they had been enjoying the wine.
One of them opened the gate, and Gato left the place waving at them.
They closed it behind him.
"You idiots, you dare obstruct my path." A voice came from behind Gato. He paused, and turned to watch.
Behind the closed gate stood Cornerstone—hands resting casually behind his back.
The soldiers froze. "Eh Captain Cornerstone... How... How did you get there?"
"How did I get here? You baffoons ask such an obvious question knowing you are drunk!" Cornerstone’s gaze was fierce.
"Or did you drink so much that you forgot i walked through these gates only recently."
The soldiers looked at each other, confusion obvious on their embarrassed faces.
"Are you still going to stand there like statures!?" Cornerstone backed again.
The soldiers immediately hurried to open the gate, and Cornerstone strolled out.
"Cough...You are lucky I am in such a good mood or else I would have reported your behavior to Baron Bones myself."
Hearing Baron Bones’s name, the soldiers began to visibly sweat.
Cornerstone shook his head and walked away.
It was only when he was a distance away did they suddenly breath in relief.
Cornerstone caught up Gato, smiling at him.
And before Gato’s stunned gaze, Cornerstone’s face began to move, much like an artisan molding clay, becoming Xander’s face again.
"Fascinating." Gato leaned in to examine Xander’s face. "You mean to tell me that the system gave you such an incredible skill?"
Xander nodded.
This skill was known as The Nameless Mask. It was the new skill he had been gifted after the physical connection depth with the Assassin reached 100%.
It was the same skill the assassin used to change face to Cornerstone.
But the truly amazing part of this skill was the fact that it not only masked his face, and body appearance, but also his Profession.
This was the reason the guards did not raise their weapons against him.
Even now, Gato could no longer see the red triangular icon above his head that marked him as a negative profession.
However, Xander suddenly staggered. Gato leaned over to help, catching him. "Xander, are you okay?"
"Yeah. It’s just that the skill takes up too much mana."
Xander slumped backwards, eyes becoming dark with fatigue.
"Xander... Xan—" he heard the Gato calling his name, but it only echoed in his mind, unable to respond.
....
Little Alex ran down the long winding corridors. "Big brother Leopold." He called, smiling happily.
Leopold turned, a malicious grin on his bloody face. "I am no brother to a Negative Profession." Leopold stated as a long broad sword suddenly appeared in his hand.
Little Alex panicked, stepping back.
Leopold swung the big sword, nearly cleanly cutting off his head. But he managed to barely dodge as he ran.
A door ahead, he pushed it open. The king was here. "Father. I need your help. Brother, I don’t know what’s wrong with..."
The king turned. That same bloody persona.
"Negative profession. Hang him in the gallows..." King Polymer ordered fiercely.
And then he turned, only to be met with the swung broad sword of Leopold.
...
Xander opened his eyes—breathing heavy, he was met with the sight of the familiar ceiling he had been waking up to for months.
And then a familar face leaned over him.
Levi.
"You are awake." The boy’s face brightened into a smile, slamming into Xander’s chest.
Xander COUGHED in a mix of pain and shock. But Xander did not stop him.
He patted Levi’s head gently.
The boy began to sob. "When you did not wake up, I feared the worst."
Xander suddenly had a thought. "How long was I out?"
"Two days."
"Two days!?" Xander leaped upright. But a headache sent him back to the bed.
He groaned.
Levi immediately went to a corner of the room, and brought over a wooden bucket and little pail.
Xander took the pail, greedily drinking from it.
"Grandpa went to town to sell the harvested produce. He said to make sure you drink plenty of water when you wake up.
A depletion of mana usually makes the body dehydrated and—"
"I’m so hungry."
Levi smiled. "Hold on. I left some meat from the goat leg the other day. Let me fix it up for you."
He hurried out of the room.
After drinking more water, Xander felt much better.
He laid against the wall, catching his breath consciously.
He did not know that the Skill; Nameless Mask, had such a huge draw back when it came to mana.
But still, such a skill was most useful to him as a negative profession.
With it, he could walk amongst people without fearing for his life.
There was a lot of things he needed to review.
First, was the fight with the assassin.
Xander willed in his mind and the alerts he had ignored for so long rushed before his eyes.
[Congratulations on Punishing a Negative profession +2 points]
[+2 points]
[+2 points]
[+2 points]
[+2 points]
These points were the reward he got for ripping out the tongue of the assassin and then dumping her to suffer in the pit of the Scavengers.
Clearly, it was nothing compared to what she got from just stabbing his arm.
In all honesty, it did not feel fair. Apparently, his royal bloodline might have something to do with the kind of reward people got from hurting him.
They were more alerts.
[Intelligence 15]
[Strength 9]
These ones had increased during the battle with the Assassin. Since he had five points to spare, he had sent two to Intelligence and three to Strength.
If had not done this, he would not have been able to pull off such an unbelievable come back.
[Congratulations, You have defeated a Level 5 Assassin]
[Congratulations, Level upgrade]
[Level 2]
[+1 to all Body Stats]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked Mana]
[Mana 1]
[Note; Host is doing the impossible. We are impressed]