Chapter 160: Mission One (2)

Standing near the edge of the central square, Filmos pulled his dark hood low over his forehead, his heart sinking into his stomach as he watched the scene unfold outside the Beast Shop.

It was pure, unfiltered corruption playing out right in broad daylight.

You see, the way these three city administrators pulled this off was as dirty as it gets. Suran City, Hibiscus City, and the Hanging City had been eyeing the shop’s massive daily revenue for months with greedy, drooling mouths. But they were too terrified to do anything while the legendary owner, Terrence, was around. The guy was simply too powerful.

So, what did they do the moment Terrence went missing? They struck like vultures.

They didn’t even bother shutting the business down—no, that would mean losing all that sweet, flowing gold. Instead, the administrators forged a joint political decree behind closed doors. They slapped false charges of treason and illegal monster trafficking on the original manager, Stan Visor, and had him dragged away in broad daylight in heavy magic chains. All the loyal, hardworking shop staff who tried to speak up for Stan or protect Terrence’s rules were violently suppressed, beaten, and thrown into underground dungeons.

In their place, the Suran City Administrator installed his own personal thugs—rough, corrupt enforcers disguised in expensive silk vests and polished leather armor.

Within less than a week, they completely flipped the script. The shop that Terrence built as a sanctuary of opportunity for everyday tamers was stripped of its soul. The new management jacked up the prices by tenfold, instituted mandatory "noble entry fees," and started bowing like obedient dogs to wealthy aristocrats while physically kicking poor, desperate tamers into the dirty gutter. They turned the whole place into an exclusive, elitist playground just to line the pockets of the three corrupt cities.

Filmos gripped the wooden railing of the alleyway so hard his knuckles turned ghostly white.

He watched a young, poorly dressed tamer—someone who looked just as desperate as Filmos had been two months ago—get shoved down the stone steps by a cackling guard. The boy’s meager savings were scattered across the dirt, and when he tried to pick them up, a guard stomped right on his hand.

"Get your filthy hands off the pavement, peasant!" the guard sneered, his voice carrying across the quiet street. "This shop is for high-class citizens now! Scum like you don’t deserve a contract!"

Filmos took a sharp, reflexive step forward, his hand dropping instinctively toward his waist where his Green Anaconda resided. His blood was boiling, every nerve in his body screaming at him to intervene.

Before he could take a second step, Trillo’s rough hand clamped down like an iron vise on his shoulder, yanking him back into the shadows of the alley.

"Don’t even think about it," Trillo whispered, his voice tense and low right against Filmos’s ear. "Remember Nair’s strict order. We are observers. If you pick a fight with the city administrator’s guards right now, our fake identities are blown, and the whole mission fails before it even starts."

Filmos trembled, staring at the crying boy picking up his bruised fingers from the cobblestone floor. He swallowed the bitter, metallic taste of anger rising in his throat, forced to stand by and watch the injustice take over the very place that had once given him a second chance at life.

The next day, Filmos noticed a chaotic situation unfolding at the Beast Shop. He was just passing by, but someone had entered the building with immense commotion.

The newcomer looked rough, unwashed, and wore tattered mountain robes. Yet, the moment he pulled out a glowing, master control crystal, the arrogant guards froze in sheer terror. Before Filmos could even process the sight, those same guards rushed away in total humiliation, their magical uniforms stripped from their bodies on the spot.

Filmos continued to observe from a safe distance, his heart pounding in his chest as he asked himself who the hell that man could possibly be.

And soon enough, that very same man flipped the entire Beast Shop upside down. Within minutes, the heavy, arrogant manager was on his knees, weeping in pain as his arm was pinned helplessly behind his back.

’Should I report this right now?’ Filmos thought frantically, taking a quick step backward.

He recalled the specific task given by Nair. Aside from observing, they had to report whatever they noticed that was confusing, dangerous, or completely out of order.

Just as Filmos turned around with every intention of delivering an immediate report, a loud crash echoed through the air. A heavily armored body came flying out the shop’s grand glass entrance, landing hard on the cobblestone pavement just a few feet behind him with a sickening thud and groaning in agonizing pain.

Filmos whipped his head back toward the Beast Shop. Standing at the top of the marble steps was the rough young man who had entered earlier, now looking infinitely angrier than before.

"Listen!" the young man shouted, his voice ringing across the entire central square like thunder. "This shop is mine and mine alone. Whoever has their greedy eyes on my beasts will have to kneel before me!"

It was an open, absolute declaration of war.

As the young man stood there in cold silence, the thunder of heavy boots echoed down every surrounding avenue. Swarms of heavily armed city guards and elite enforcement squads flooded out from every corner, weapons drawn as they locked down the perimeter around the Beast Shop.

"Surrender now, or we will apprehend you by force!"

His lingering silence only drove the guards further onto edge. Even though he looked ragged and battered, his mere presence radiated a suffocating, commanding aura.

It didn’t take long for the officers to realize they weren’t dealing with a common rogue—he was either someone of immense status, or this shop held deep importance to him.

Could it be...?

"Are you Terrence?" A senior officer stepped forward, pressing the tip of his spear outward as the built-in laser emitter aimed straight at the young man’s chest.

At the sound of that name, Filmos strode forward, eager to hear the response. Terrence was a name he knew all too well.

"I am."