The Young Master in the Shadows

“You heard him… He has no idea if he can be a man or not…” Elise blushed, “I don’t think a man would find this hard to figure that out… He is definitely an imposter! He wouldn’t have run away like this otherwise.”

“Um…” Alice frowned. She was a little convinced. “Was what Margret said true?”

“Duh! Of course not!” Elise said blushing again, knowing what Alice meant. “She said it to make that guy not dare to make trouble here in the mansion!”

“...” Alice sighed with a very dangerous glint in her eyes.

“I won the bet!” Elise said noticing it.

“What do you want…” Alice asked absentmindedly.

“Keep the fact that this Victor is an imposter a secret!” Elise said. “We can use, and monitor him at the same time to know who is behind him!”

“...” Alice frowned. “Fine, I will play along,” she said. “But if he dares to do anything to mother or father, I will not hesitate to kill him.”

“Ah… Don’t forget… The paternity test…” Elise quickly reminded her. “This guy might be your half-brother…”

“AH….Hsss….” Alice gasped. Now she understood why Elise reacted in shock earlier, whoever was behind this imposter was definitely someone who was preparing for ages! This was way bigger than she could handle. “We should tell grandma…”

“NO! You promised!” Elise quickly stopped her. “The family is compromised, we don’t know who to trust!”

“...”

“This was Victor’s original plan, if you don’t trust me, at least have some faith in him!” Elise said. “Just give us a few months...”

Alice sighed, looking suspiciously at Elise. If this was a plan by Von Geldstadt or someone else she wouldn’t have told her. “Fine…” she finally said as she stood up. “I will need to go check on a few things on my own anyway, be sure to keep an eye on him…”

“AH! What do you wanna do?” Elise asked as she watched Alice walk out.

“Don’t worry, I will keep my promise and be discreet!” Alice replied as she left.

Elise frowned, she really didn’t want to tell Alice, but this was the best course of action at the moment.

She sighed…

“Already left?” Margret asked as she entered the room and looked around for Alice.

“Yeah… Troublesome…”

“I think it is ok… Alice is someone Victor trusts...” Margret sighed as she threw herself on the couch beside Elise, took a pillow, and began to bite at it angrily.

“Why did you go with plan 9 all of a sudden?” Elise asked.

“He is a Scion… I had no choice,” Margret grumbled.

“What? A scion? How sure are you?” Elise exclaimed. This would ruin most of her plans.

“99%... No make it 97%...” Margret said throwing random numbers according to her intuition.

“Explain!” Elise frowned.

“He escaped my trap 5... No 6 times!” Margret said. “First he didn't agree to go upstairs where I prepared the SM kit in the bedroom, secondly when I wanted to make the chicks kidnap him in the garage, the door of their truck got stuck… In the basement, he refused to go into the cell room where I planned to make him enter one of the cells and then fake the door getting stuck. He went straight for the study. Then the soul wine glass, getting knocked out twice!” she complained.

“You said 6…”

“Right, right... The car… He picked the only one that didn’t have tracking devices on it… It had just been delivered this morning and I didn’t have time to install those!” Margret said. “Damn it… I haven't even had a chance to test drive it yet!” she complained.

“Still… This might all be a coincidence…” Elise frowned, looking at Axel’s character sheet that she got from appraising him earlier.

; ;

LEVEL : 5

CLASS : DIRTY DEALER, B

AUTHORITY: 5

Strength: 30

Agility: 34

Intelligence: 44

Luck: 11

Charm: 22

Order: 11

SKILLS :

SYSTEM Store Access (LEVEL 0)

PLAYER Market Access (LEVEL 0) ƒгeewebnovёl.com

Item Appraisal, B

Charm, B

Boxing, C

Camouflage, D

Scamming, E

Theft, E

Basic shield, E

Theft, F

His luck was normal, and his authority was not that high, he shouldn’t have been able to discover that something was wrong with the wine which didn’t display anything wrong with its description.

“I am telling you...This piece of shit is a scion… My intuition is never wrong… He has the same filthy air Tom has around him!” Margret spat. “And I also think he is one of the time travelers we have been searching for!” she added.

“What? Why… Crypto coins?” Elise asked.

“Yeah… Other than knowing that Black Leopard Coin, one of the highest valued ones, was going to crash very soon. He wanted to buy a GreenSun coin… In the paper he read, there was no mention of it… Only a few people remember that one nowadays… He is definitely a time traveler!”

“What about it anyway? I remember Lin saying that the fake lawyer who was with Abe had something to do with it…” Elise asked.

“It started about 3 years ago… Just a minor coin that was used as a part of a cam then went into obscurity after the first crypto crash…” Margret said. “In a year or so, however, there will be a phenomenon where the sun will turn green for an entire week… A cult will form and the GreenSun coin will skyrocket, achieving a 1,000,000X growth after some claimed it can be used to buy some miraculous medicine… The GreenSun pill!” Margret said.

“Will the sun turn green?” Elise frowned. First a red moon now a green sun? What was this? a cartoon?

“Victor told me it is the jade dungeon or something appearing in the sky making the sun change color as it passes in front of it… But someone used the opportunity to slip diluted healing pills into the market at the same time, claiming that they fell from the green sun and using this crypto as a currency to sell it to keep anonymous!” Margret said. “By the time the player council that was occupied with the mess after the dungeon noticed what was going on, the culprits were long gone!” Margret explained, remembering how Victor and Lily explained it. “The few smart ones who knew how to invest became billionaires overnight! And this finally led to the player council allowing diluted healing pills to be used for the public under certain rules…”

“Oh…” Elise frowned. “You are planning to join this…” Finally realizing why Victor told Aria and Margret to stock up on low-quality pills. He planned to enter the market.

“Yeah…Don’t worry about it, Victor already prepared everything…”Margret said, “The problem now is the imposter…”

“Yeah… He is troublesome!”

“Um…” Margret sighed. “At least, the imposter would not dare touch any of the girls now, fearing he would be delivered, but this is only a temporary solution.

“Let’s wait for Victor… I think we can hold on for a month or so… “ Elise sighed. “We need to change the plans… Call Lara and tell her not to tell Theodore, tell her to discuss things with Alice if needed!”

“Ok…” Margret sighed again. “Did Lin find anything about that Lawyer and Abe?”

“No, the lawyer returned to his office and went about his day as usual, it is just that at some point we couldn’t identify that he was switched with the real one!” Elise frowned. “ Abe didn’t move at all after he went to that hotel and rented a room…”

“Oh… If my intuition is correct, the police are going to find him dead in a few days with a suicide note giving all his fortunes and the rights to his works to some trust!” Margret sighed. Abe was clearly already dead, and someone had turned him into some kind of a doll using an artifact.

“No…” Elise frowned, “I bet they want those, so most likely they might make a deal with his sister before finishing him off… “

“Oh… Then we better send someone to tail her!” Margret spat. “That bitch Lulu can be easily scammed!”

“Already did!” Elise sighed. Those guys were very careful, so it was extra hard to catch them while remaining in the shadows. All they had to do now was to wait until Lin finished with her summoning ritual to know what transpired with Abe.

…

“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!” Victor cursed loudly as he landed on the ground.

Moments earlier, he watched through Lin’s eyes as Margret briefed the girls about her encounter with the imposter and showed them the video recording of her encounter with him.

“Damn it… This is ridiculous!” he flared. A scion and a time traveler? Why did this guy have to come to impersonate him of all the people in the damn world! Did he have a target on his back or something? Or was the world treating him like a daycare center like before?

No, the real important question was if this guy was really a time traveler like Margret, how the fuck did he end up getting his soul extracted as a talisman, to begin with? Wasn’t he a Scion? or could it be that he was a dark scion before... Possible.

But even so... Wasn't the world big enough for scions to roam? Did he have an imaginary sign with the words 'SCION'S WHORE' written on it? Why do they keep appearing next to him!

At first, Victor thought the world might be against him for fucking with Tom, Sebastian, and those scions, but this imposter relationship with him should have started from the past life…

Victor was getting a headache. Lately, he had the feeling that he must be a part of something really big as the incidents around him couldn’t be all coincidences. Especially with most of his wives at the moment having some deep back story. Even the twins whom he just liked in his previous life, turned out to have a scion Sister Damn it!

He couldn't tell what was going on. He couldn’t even tell who his enemies were!

His best theory at the moment was that it was all Lily's fate affecting him in some sort, but with all the trouble following him around even here in another world, he was beginning to doubt it.

Damn it!

There were too many unknowns. He really felt that he needed to return fast to Trilaria and then prepare more….

Sighing he looked around him to assert his situation.

He was no longer in the elven forests but in a peaceful countryside with a wide stone road under his feet and sparse green trees on the sides. Although Victor had no idea where the road led, he decided to follow it, since one of the fate threads pointed directly toward the direction it was heading in.

Just as he was planning to fly again he paused, as from behind him he could hear the sound of a wagon approaching.

Thinking for a moment, he decided not to appear as an old man, but as his usual self as he needed to meet his family members. He just put on a tattered coat, dusted his hair, and made himself appear like a weary traveler as he began walking while looking tired.

He needed to appear a little lost to milk some information from whoever was coming.

The carriage appeared behind him 10 Minutes later, making him look back.

It was an old creaky wagon pulled by two donkeys. It was being driven by a white-bearded kind looking old man who wore simple gray robes, and put a straw hat on his head. Beside him, there was an ugly old woman who had a huge mole on her nose and covered her head with a simple white cloth. Behind them in the wagon’s box, they had all kinds of fresh vegetables stacked into wooden crates. Clearly, simple farmers going to the market.

The question he had as he stepped to the side of the road was, if those two were farmers, why were there malice threads connecting them to him? They appeared as soon as those two noticed him. Those were not death threads, but just malice. Lately, he began to see such things very frequently, clearly a sign of his Fate Weaver class getting stronger.

; ;

Class : Thief

SubClass: Cannibal

Bloodline: Human

Fate : D

; ;

Class : Grave Digger

SubClass: Cannibal

Bloodline: Human

Fate : E

Shit… Those two were too strong to be farmers, even stronger than many of the elves he had seen before.

Reading their description Victor began to wonder. Why did he always have to encounter those kinds of scum on the road, couldn’t he really meet some nice people?

No… This might also be connected to the strange things around him… Maybe it had nothing to do with the world, but himself!

As he was lost in thoughts the wagon finally reached his side and slowed down.

“Young man… Are you headed to the city?” the old man asked in a kind tone.

“? ???'? ?????????? ???? ??? ??? ??????…” Victor replied using the language of Trilaria as he acted dumb.

“Oh… A foreigner eh…” The old man smiled harder, “Come on up!” he said, patting the seat and gesturing to Victor to sit beside him.

“Ah…” Victor frowned first then smiled like a gullible kid as he jumped onto the wagon and sat right next to the old man.

WARNING… AN <APPRAISE TYPE> ARTIFACT IS TRYING TO ACCESS YOUR SYSTEM DATA…

DO YOU WANT TO ALLOW?

A sudden notification alerted him, making him notice the bracelet in the old woman’s hand.

; ;

Victor quickly disguised his details and pressed <YES>

Moments later the old woman smirked, patting the old man’s thigh secretly.

The old man said nothing as he took a carrot and offered it to Victor.

“EAT! GOOD CARROT!” he said loudly, smiling and revealing his mouth that only had 2 broken teeth.

Victor smiled as he took it, thanking the man before biting on it.

Moments later he collapsed.

“What an idiot…” the old man said.

“Let’s quickly stop nearby and cook him good, once we are near the city, we won’t be able to do that…” the old woman said.

“Well said woman…” the old man nodded.“Too bad our teeth are not what they used to be… or we would have cut him and eaten him on the road.” he sighed as he directed the wagon to a nearby grove.

There, they found a well-hidden spot where they unpacked their cooking gear which was composed of a large pot and a group of some very sharp bone saws.

They quickly got to business with the old man brandishing his knife.

“Don’t kill him fast… take his organs out before you kill him!” the old woman scolded. “You don’t want to spoil the taste!”

“Right… Right…” The old man nodded, carefully cutting Victor open before beginning to take out his organs one by one and throwing them into the pot to simmer.

The process went on smoothly and after three hours, the meal was done so the couple sat on a log, enjoying the meal as they watched the sunset.

“What a pretty sunset…”

“Yeah… Reminds me of the day we got the cannibal subclass…”

“True… That was the luckiest day of our life!” the old man nodded.

“Remind me… What was the name of that place again?”

“The Black temple…” the old man sighed. “Right in the middle of the mirage jungle… Who could have guessed we would find a ruin belonging to the mythical age… If it were not for this subclass we could have really died…”

“Yeah…”

“But I have to say… The children we ate that time were amazing… Too bad it is getting hard getting young ones these days…”

“Maybe we can find some in the city…”

“Ha… We are heading to the capital Ishmar... We better not risk it!… Remember, our purpose here is to find the Immortal recipe book. It is definitely in the Imperial Library! We finally tack it here after all these years, it might have the key to unlocking our class’s real potential!” he said with clear passion in his eyes.

“Yeah… Butt… how can we find it between all the other books…”

“Idiot! You just need to ask to borrow it to make a copy… Although it might cost a few gold coins, it is not a forbidden book. Those idiots think it is a normal cookbook! Calling it the Master chef's cookbook of the old days,” he said with a sarcastic voice. “Just wait… We only need to boil it in demon blood to reveal its real content! Then we will be able to eat all the babies we want and no one will be able to stop us…”

“Yeah… ”

“Do you have anything else to say about it?”

“Ah…no… Why?” The old man's thoughts were cut as Victor slit his throat, before kicking his corpse to the side of his already dead wife.

“Damn disgusting…” he cursed, giving the pot of over-boiled vegetable soup a look before starting to search the couple for their belongings.

Suddenly, 11 threads of pure malice surrounded him making him look up...

Again?

Damn it... It was too late to escape.

“STOP RIGHT THERE! MURDERER!”

Right then, out of nowhere, a pretty 14-year-old girl in a knight suit of armor screamed as she fell from the sky, landing in front of him with ease, with her thin crystal sword aimed at his neck.

Moments later, 10 knights riding dragons landed around, surrounding him as they drew their lances. Their eyes looked at him with disgust.