The Heretic’s Guise and a Desperate Gamble

What a hellish world!

This was the only thought that occupied Ark’s mind.

All his previous conjectures about Rehn Rheinhebo remained unconfirmed in this moment. He now realized that even the identity of the Witches’ Council’s secret financier was far from Rehn Rheinhebo’s true depths.

Heretics could not be killed; even in wars between heretics, they could only be sealed. This was because, fundamentally, heretics had no concept of life or death.

Yet, just moments ago, he had witnessed the ethereal phantom completely merge into Rehn Rheinhebo’s body. Even if it was merely an avatar of a fraction of the Old Man in the Mountain’s power, not the entity’s full descent, it had utterly shattered Ark’s understanding of reality.

Rehn Rheinhebo was, at the very least, a heretic cloaked in human skin. Perhaps he even possessed the ability to kill other heretics!

However, Ark could not confirm this latter speculation. Currently, humanity’s understanding of heretics was merely the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps Rehn Rheinhebo had simply devoured the phantom, an act that might not significantly impact the Old Man in the Mountain’s true form.

“Ark, we should go.”

Hearing Rehn’s call beside him, Ark immediately snapped back to attention. “Yes, Patriarch.”

Rehn’s expression was grim, tinged with a subtle gloom. The ritual’s failure meant he couldn’t acquire new strength to confront the looming situation. His own magical power wasn’t extensive; his status as an illegitimate son had denied him the qualification to enter the Magic Tower for systematic study, leaving him to self-educate through the Rheinhebo family’s collected ancient texts.

His personal strength was merely D-rank, the equivalent of an ordinary enforcer. If Karl Rogers truly had connections with a certain noble within the Magic Tower, then with the enforcers and the Blackwing Knights trapped in the casino, the only external force he could rely on were heretics.

Now, the path involving the Old Man in the Mountain was blocked. Among the heretics active in this territory, the Voice of the Dead had been targeting him from the start. The Gluttony Witch had consecutively killed his three elder brothers, and the Wrath Witch had cleared out the dream chasers in the lower district overnight. While their direct target wasn’t him, this didn’t mean they harbored no ill will towards him.

Crucially, he couldn’t even locate these two witches who had already appeared in the territory; he had no clue about their whereabouts.

Only one option remained for him.

Victoria Michelle.

Rehn bit his lip. Even though the esteemed lady had displayed sufficient goodwill, rumors about her suggested she was never a benevolent soul. He hadn’t dared to rashly accept the funds she had proactively sponsored, let alone ask her to help maintain order in the territory.

Once this decision was made, the territory’s dominion would fall into someone else’s hands, leaving him a mere titular earl.

Rehn took a deep breath, making a solemn decision. “Ark, how many Blackwing Knights can still be rallied?”

Ark replied, “Nearly half of the Blackwing Knights are at the newly constructed prison in the mines. If needed—”

Rehn immediately cut him off. “No! The mine prison must have enough personnel to maintain order; I can’t trust outsiders. What about the others?”

“One hundred and thirty-one Blackwing Knights are trapped inside the casino. The remaining Blackwing Knights are primarily responsible for maintaining order in the upper and lower districts.”

Rehn frowned. “Has the new security bureau not been established yet?”

Ark lowered his head and replied, “Patriarch, please forgive my incompetence. It’s simply difficult to find suitable people in the territory. Now, with the upper district in such a state, anyone could be our enemy, and we can’t possibly recruit from the lower district.”

Rehn fell silent. His planned reforms were bound to harm the interests of a minority. And in this world, that minority represented humanity’s true power.

‘It was a mistake from the very beginning…’

He whispered softly.

The earl’s position was never meant for him to inherit. He was merely a fortunate illegitimate son after his three elder brothers met with successive accidental deaths.

His mother was just a courtesan from the lower district, unlike his deceased three brothers whose maternal families were influential and powerful nobles.

He could only rely on himself. And this system, which could only provide a meager increase in magical power.

Rehn suddenly turned his head, his gaze calm as he looked at Ark. He spoke softly, “I’m sorry, Ark. I truly… can’t become a competent lord. Despite being so weak, I greedily desire more.”

Ark’s heart tightened, and he said in a low voice, “You… need not speak so. Your existence is the meaning of my birth.”

Rehn paused, then offered a faint smile. “Let’s go. We’ll head to the casino.”

Two hours later, Rehn’s carriage halted before the casino’s grand entrance. The street remained peaceful, as if tonight’s extensive search had left no impact.

As he approached the casino’s main doors, they opened automatically, like a colossal beast hidden in the darkness, devouring every prey that walked into its trap.

Rehn slowly stepped inside the casino, and the doors behind him instantly shut. A young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses approached with a cheerful stride, bowing deeply and obsequiously to him. “Oh, it’s the esteemed Earl Rheinhebo. So late, what brings you here?”

Rehn’s gaze briefly lingered on him before sweeping across the other areas. The trapped enforcers were seated at the gambling tables, their faces etched with unease and fear.

Rehn’s eyes locked onto one face, and he gradually revealed an expression of disbelief. He quickly walked over to the middle-aged woman. “Are you… Enforcer Louise Christian?”

Louise, who seemed to have aged twenty years overnight, sharply turned her head. Upon seeing Rehn, her previously dim eyes brightened once more. She uncharacteristically gripped Rehn’s wrist tightly, her voice desolate. “Please! Take us out of here!”

At that moment, a young man gambling opposite her smiled and said, “Enforcer Louise Christian, our game hasn’t ended yet, has it?”

Louise’s body trembled violently, her bloodshot eyes staring in terror at the young man, as she frantically shook her head. “I don’t want to gamble anymore! I don’t want to gamble anymore!”

The young man sighed softly, then his gaze playfully shifted to Rehn, though he spoke to Louise. “Is that so? But if you don’t sit at the table, your time will be consumed at an alarming rate. You still have plenty of time left, and you’ve played quite rationally, unlike others who ran out of chips in just a few rounds. Do you really want to waste it?”

Rehn felt Louise’s body trembling in his arms from fear. He narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice cold. “Was this your doing?”

The young man smiled faintly. “Earl Rehn Rheinhebo, you’ve offended too many people. However, I can offer you a chance. During the time you gamble against me, I won’t take anyone else’s time. If you win back all the time everyone has lost, I’ll let you all go. How does that sound?”

Rehn stared coldly at the young man. “I never gamble. If the rules of the game are too complex, I won’t play.”

The young man chuckled lightly. “Then let’s keep it simple: higher or lower.”

This was undoubtedly a trap.

Rehn knew this well, but he was already deep in the tiger’s den, with no power to refuse.

He took a deep breath, his voice trầm, “Very well.”