(New months Guys, I once again call for you help to climb the Golden Rankings)
During the Great War, the entire Far West/Human domain had been left in devastation. Millions of commoners died, and thousands of nobles perished.
It was the darkest era in the Human domain, especially for the Vermilion kingdom. Starvation ran rampant everywhere. The commoners went hungry for numerous days, while the nobles could barely afford to eat once daily.
The situation was so bad that some corrupt nobles took advantage of the period to commit heinous crimes: stealing, turning commoners into their personal slaves, and more, with too many incidents to account for.
Because of the ongoing war, the king at the time, King Cedric Vermilion IV, hadn't paid much attention to them, though he was greatly disgusted.
But driving the invaders back was much more important.
After several losses and a decade of intense fighting, the Humans were finally able to drive the invaders back to their world. After the war ended, it took a few more years before things slightly improved, and the Vermilion kingdom began to prosper once more.
It was then that the king decided to discard the corrupt moles who had taken advantage of the ongoing wars. But doing this was easier said than done.
These nobles were high-ranking officials and Awakened in the military, the kingdom's treasury, and logistics. They had amassed wealth by plundering the royal treasury during the war.
Therefore, they were very wealthy and even had private forces under their command. The king eventually discovered that these nobles were secretly planning a coup to take over the throne.
The kingdom had already suffered a lot, and the citizens were only starting to recover. King Cedric was a man who had the welfare of his kingdom at heart. The last thing he wanted was for a full-blown civil war to occur.
The best approach was to deal with the threat swiftly without the public knowing about it... He turned to two of his most trusted generals, who had contributed greatly in the war: Nathan Aegis Cromwell and Brawn Collins.
Among everyone in his cabinet, it could be argued that these two were the ones the king trusted the most, and he didn't hide it, making them the envy of the others.
Together, the two founded the Silent Whisper Assassination Guild, recruiting promising Awakened who would assist them in cleaning up the filth that had tainted their once noble kingdom.
The Silent Whisper followed a hierarchy. That hierarchy was the Spider, the Web, the Silken Thread, and the Shadows.
The Web consisted of senior members overseeing operations and strategies. The Shadows were made up of new recruits in training, while the Silken Thread were skilled assassins who had undergone rigorous training during the Shadow stage and were tasked with carrying out contract hits.
They were powerful Awakened and nightmares to their victims; since their creation, only a few people had survived them once. However, those people were later dealt with by even more powerful assassins, earning the guild a terrifying reputation that spread like wildfire throughout the Far West and even into neighboring kingdoms.
And lastly, the Spiders... this was the Guild Leader and Vice Leader. They were the most powerful individuals in the organization and were respected by everyone.
With the help of the Silent Whispers, King Cedric was able to eliminate all the nobles who had their eyes on the throne. Major nobles that could've been too troublesome for the current king were dealt with.
If those nobles were still alive today, they'd have probably snatched the throne from Aldric. Unfortunately, in the following years, the noble king passed away, and now his power-hungry son, obsessed with making everyone submit to him at all costs, reigns.
After the passing of the king, the new King Aldric disbanded the Silent Whispers, stating that they were putting holes in the kingdom's treasury. He gave them two ultimate choices: to disband or fund their own operations.
Naturally, they went with the latter, while imposing their own condition—that they would no longer be employees of the royal family but an independent assassin guild.
The king agreed without hesitation.
Since then, the Silent Whisper was no longer limited to killing only those who sought to usurp the throne. They descended into the underworld, carrying out hit jobs for the highest bidder.
Nathan had cut all ties with the Guild because of the hundreds of innocent lives on his hands. But he no longer had any choice; he had to seek the help of the Guild once more if he wanted to take care of the growing unrest in the western region.
Inside this dimension, in a building constructed out of sturdy materials, Nathan and Brawn Collins were staring at each other.
Nathan had just narrated everything to the Guild Leader of the Silent Whispers, who had a thoughtful expression on his face as he pondered this great dilemma.
After a while, he spoke: "There are two likely scenarios," he said, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Nathan listened with a serious expression. He had long since cut ties with the Silent Whispers, so most of the information he had was outdated, but Brawn Collins had fresh information. While Nathan was busy in his barony, running the town, his old friend had been occupied with running one of the most powerful guilds that were even feared by the Adventure Guild.
Surely, he must have some information. The Silent Whispers also had countless spies placed all over the world.
"It's either the beasts have found a way to evolve through unconventional methods or..." Brawn narrowed his eyes, a sharp flash flickering in them as his tone became more certain towards the end. "Or it could be the handiwork of someone... someone who wants to destroy the Vermilion kingdom."
Nathan's eyes widened, then dimmed as a sense of realization washed over him. "I should've noticed," he muttered in a low voice. From the look of things, it seemed whatever these people were planning, they had decided to start in the western region.
Brawn Collins adopted an even more serious expression. "I personally think it's the latter."
Nathan leaned forward, eyes narrowing in suspicion, his hands clasped together: "Who could be behind this? Someone from the nobility?"
"I doubt it." Brawn shook his head as he leaned back in his seat. "Foreign..."
This was much more serious than Nathan had thought.
"To be specific," Brawn's eyes locked onto Nathan's. "My major suspects are the Lich Court, the Order of the Flaming Rose, or... the Church of False Hope."
50 Golden Tickets: 1 extra chapter
500 power stones for 2 chapters
100 Golden Tickets 2 chapters
200 Golden Tickets 4 Extra chapters
Castle For 5 extra chapters