Chapter 370: Chapter 368 – Taking Out A Goon.

‘I should be able to take out a few petty criminals, without anyone getting hurt…’

Roland tried to pump himself up while slowly walking with around fifty armored men behind him. This would be his first actual time leading a larger group of people that wasn’t composed of wood. They weren’t going to war but anything could happen. Even though they were against untrained forces he needed to account for their levels.

Normally this would be a job he’d push into Gareth’s or Morien’s lap but at the moment the two weren’t ready yet. Mary would soon begin their training and show them the ropes to get their levels up. Before that happened his responsibilities would continue. Showing the underground bosses that the city was not theirs was something only he could achieve. After defeating one head knight and easily taking out five platinum adventurers, Roland’s morale was high and he wanted to keep the ball rolling.

‘The Commander was right, they can’t see us…’

'Hey, keep your voice down! What if he overhears you? Do you want us to spend the rest of the night running around the field?'

One of the soldiers whispered, cautioning the other.

‘Ah, shit…’

The other soldier replied, realizing the importance of maintaining their stealth. The group of fifty knights made considerable noise, but the sound was contained within an invisible barrier. Furthermore, their presence was veiled by a mysterious, shadowy haze. Two soldiers who were whispering couldn't believe that the people they passed by seemed completely oblivious to their presence. No one reacted or caused any commotion, which was highly unusual given the circumstances.

‘Those guys need more training. I need to design a portable cloaking unit so they can use it by themselves…’

A lot of crimes happened when the city guards weren’t looking. It was normal for them to not be able to be everywhere and thieves usually implemented lookouts that warned whenever a patrol approached. With the help of a few spells, it was possible to shroud his people in shadows and silence their footsteps. Even if there was a lookout it would make discovering them quite hard. For the time being he was producing his own runic effect but this test was a success.

“Mary, how does it look?”

“I had to take care of another person, I think that we don’t have much time before they discover that something is wrong.”

“I’ll be right there, the gambling house should be around the corner. I bet some of the important clients or associates will try to flee in the middle of our raid. I’ll leave it to you to take care of that…”

‘That’s easier said than done but fine.’

Roland cut off the connection to Mary as he approached their target. The building started coming into view and it was becoming hard to hide the large group of soldiers. They were now in the pleasure district and it was around one hour after midnight. Many people flocked to this area of pleasure and he wouldn’t even be surprised if one of the people from the crowd was Armand.

“Huh?”

“What the…?”

“Listen up everyone, we will do as we discussed earlier. Keep to your Squad, surround the building, and don’t let anyone suspicious escape. We aren’t here for blood but protect yourself if you have to.”

“Yes Sir!’

People that were in the pleasure district were astonished by a dual line of armored men suddenly walking out of an alleyway. There was no indication of them rummaging through the streets but now their footsteps started echoing throughout the neighborhood. Usually, city guards didn’t reach this area which allowed for the seedy element to prosper. From this day forth people would know that that was going to change.

“What are they doing? Are they going to arrest someone?”

“Isn’t that the new knight leader or what you call it?”

“Hey, aren’t they headed in the direction of that gambling house?”

“Yeah, that’s where the Lucky Goblin is… Did something happen there?”

“Beats me… but how about we check it out?”

A crowd began to form as the people formulated their theories about the large group of armored soldiers. Most of them knew that the gambling dens had their share of illicit activities but usually something like this was cleared up by bribes. In their eyes, either the city lord was trying to make some kind of example or was trying to force the gambling boss to pay a steep sum. Most of them believed that the nobles were all greedy bastards so the thought of this just being a raid to help the common people, was usually thrown out instantly.

‘Just as expected, the peanut gallery is assembling, I hope that they will be smart enough to keep their distance. I wonder how those guys will do…’

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“Mary, we are going to start the operation, your squad should be there soon, coordinate with them at your leisure.”

“Finally.”

Before he contacted Mary, a small squadron of eight people that were hiding in the shadows split away from the main group. These people belonged to a special unit that Mary was assembling and was composed of people with more agile classes. They could use their nimbleness to move through the rooftops without making much sound. This group didn’t answer his call as they had been a special unit created by Mary herself. Probably if he ever came to blows with this maid, her small group of assassins would be after him.

‘Should I make my own special unit?’

The thought of creating his personal army had crossed his mind. Having a whole faction with many soldiers was quite enticing. Even if he reached the levels of tier 4 he would still probably not be able to go against a whole country. There were many boons when acting together within an organization and even more if you were the person on top. While thinking about creating his own special Runic Knight regiment, he and his current troops finally arrived at the destination.

“Ignore the people that are on the outside but don’t let anyone else escape, especially if they come from that building.”

“Yes, Commander!”

The fifty men shouted out and instantly brought everyone's attention to one side. The people waiting outside the gambling building started quickly scattering. On the other hand, the doorman and the bouncers that kept people from entering started backing away. At this point, the bosses on the inside were probably already informed as more of these bodyguards came pouring out.

It was quite the spectacle and not something Roland had imagined ever doing. His life of keeping a low profile was now over and his name was already being circulated in various intelligence guilds around the island. After this event was over there was a high probability of some animosity getting directed at him. When that time came, he needed to be ready and preparing for the future was something he was good at.

“Stop, you are in violation of the city law. Do not resist, you will be granted some liberties and a reduced sentence if found guilty of crimes against the Valerian House. We are here to apprehend the owner of this establishment. Anyone that is not directly involved in this case will be able to go home. Do not resist and allow the soldiers to confirm your identities if you do not wish to be persecuted...”

Roland used his runes to enhance his voice. It sounded like he was talking through a microphone at a large concert. Even people that weren’t involved in the raid could easily hear what he was saying. The message was clear, the people that were involved with the crime den were to be apprehended while the customers would not.

While there were fifty guards to round everyone up, the number of people on the inside was still larger. They estimated that even two hundred people could have gathered there with perhaps more criminals rushing to this location to help their boss escape. He did not believe that they would lay down their weapons and surrender but continue to stall instead.

“What are you doing, the Knight Commander gave you an order!”

“Screw yourself, who do you think that we are? Just wait for the boss to arrive, we rule this city and not you fucking nobles!”

The guard captain was with him for this mission. He shouted at the person that was the main doorman but as expected he did not want to surrender. This complicated things as Roland did not actually wish for this to turn into a bloodbath. It would be easy to defeat these people if he activated his spells but there were a lot of people watching. Arthur would start looking like a bloodthirsty maniac if he just allowed his soldiers to slaughter people.

“What’s with all this noise?”

“It’s the big Boss! Now you are in for it!”

Not soon after he asked for a full surrender one of the bosses of this business appeared. There was a reason why he chose to attack this place he was trying to kill two birds with one stone. The man that appeared before him looked confident and was the man responsible for the ‘security’ in this place.

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