Klaus pulled his eyelids down and stuck out his tongue, making a deliberately ridiculous expression.

FLASH!

"Haha! That’s perfect!" the photographer laughed. "And for our final photo, let’s do a romantic one to end on. Stand close together, look toward the camera, but lean against each other like you’re completely comfortable and relaxed!"

Zephyra positioned herself next to Klaus and rested her head on his shoulder, while Klaus placed his arm around her waist naturally.

They both looked toward the camera with gentle expressions.

FLASH!

"Wonderful!" the photographer declared. "All done! Just give me a few moments to develop these using the preservation enchantments!"

She worked quickly with her magical equipment, and within minutes she presented them with a small leather album containing all five photographs, each one magically preserved so they wouldn’t fade or decay over time.

Zephyra immediately opened the album and flipped through the photos with her eyes sparkling with joy.

"These are perfect!" she squealed, hugging the album to her chest. "I’m going to cherish these forever and ever! I’ll look at them every single day while I’m away at the Capital..."

She paused at one particular photo, the one where Klaus had been making a deliberately grumpy, ridiculous face.

"Especially this one!" Zephyra giggled. "This grumpy expression is absolutely adorable! I’m going to treasure this photo most of all!"

"Of course you’d pick that one..." Klaus said with mild exasperation, though he was smiling.

RING RING RING!

Zephyra’s timer went off, signaling the end of her thirty minutes and her expression immediately became sad with her earlier joy fading.

"Already?" she said quietly, looking down at the timer. "But we were just getting started..."

"All good things have to end eventually..." Klaus said gently.

"I know, but..." Zephyra looked up at him, her eyes slightly misty. "I don’t want to end yet."

Before Klaus could respond, the sound of drums suddenly echoed powerfully through the festival grounds.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

All the festival lights dimmed slightly, and the crowd began moving toward a large central stage area that had been cleared earlier in the evening.

Klaus, Zephyra, Taula, Mirela, and Serra all found themselves drawn toward the sound along with hundreds of other festival attendees.

The drums grew louder turning into a steady powerful beat that seemed to sync with everyone’s heartbeat.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Other instruments joined in... flutes, string instruments, and shakers creating a complex, traditional melody that was quite energizing.

Then the dancers appeared.

Men and women dressed in traditional white and red native costumes, with vibrant flower wreaths crowning their heads and colorful ribbons flowing from their arms, moved onto the stage with grace.

The lead dancer... a woman in an elaborate costume with a massive flower headdress took center stage and the music swelled as the dancers began to move.

It was mesmerizing.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized, flowing from one position to the next with fluid precision that could only come from years of dedicated practice.

They danced in circular patterns then linear formations with their ribbons creating beautiful arcs of color in the air.

BOOM!

All the dancers suddenly froze in a dramatic pose at exactly the same moment.

CRACK!

A single firework shot into the night sky and exploded in a burst of golden light and the crowd cheered.

The music resumed, and the dancers moved into a new formation... this time splitting into two groups that mirrored each other’s movements.

BOOM BOOM!

They froze again in perfect unison.

CRACK CRACK!

Two fireworks launched and exploded simultaneously... one was blue and the other one was red creating a beautiful contrast against the dark sky.

The crowd’s cheering grew louder.

"This is amazing!" Taula shouted, hopping up and down excitedly at Klaus’s side. The dance continued, growing more complex and impressive with each passing moment.

The dancers leaped and spun, their costumes creating a whirlwind of red and white and the flower petals from their headdresses scattered into the air, carried by the wind of their movements.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

One final, extended pose with all the dancers spreading their arms wide toward the sky in a gesture of celebration and offering.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!

Multiple fireworks launched all at once, filling the entire night sky with explosions of every color imaginable... red, blue, green, gold, silver, purple creating a spectacular display that illuminated the whole festival.

The crowd erupted in massive cheers and applause.

"WOOOOO!" Taula screamed, jumping and clapping.

"That was beautiful!" Zephyra called out, also cheering enthusiastically. Even normally reserved Mirela and Serra were clapping and smiling brightly.

Klaus watched the fireworks continue to light up the sky above Rivera City with a genuine smile on his face.

’I could get used to this,’ Klaus thought, feeling a strange sense of peace and contentment. ’This kind of simple happiness... I really could get used to it.’

But then his expression hardened slightly as another thought entered his mind.

’However, I need to become even stronger than I am now.’

The fireworks continued to burst overhead.

’Once I get back to Galen Town...’ Klaus thought with cold determination, ’I’m murdering that fucker Marius.’

His hand unconsciously clenched into a fist.

’I won’t forgive what he tried to do and I definitely won’t forget... That man has to die.’

...

A day later, in a distant location on the very edge of Galen Town, Marius The Collector was currently hiding out in a good inn that was his base of operations.

The man stood in front of an expensive mirror in the passage area running a bit of expensive hair cream through his blond hair while looking down at his considerably puffy stomach with disgust. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

’I really need to burn all of this fat off,’ Marius thought with frustration, grabbing a handful of his belly fat. ’This is getting ridiculous.’

Right now he was in hiding... though he wouldn’t say he was in complete, desperate hiding but rather, he was simply taking precautions and defending himself from potential retaliation.

When Klaus and his companions had been leaving Galen Town sometime ago, all of the bandits that Marius had paid good money to hire and send after them had been brutally killed by that blond-haired woman with the massive axe.

Taula, the A-rank Adventurer... That was who Marius was hiding from primarily...

He’d also hired a few C-rank mercenaries to watch over his current location and serve as bodyguards, just in case anyone came looking for him.

’Fucking hell...’ Marius thought bitterly, continuing to stare at his reflection. ’I didn’t want things to turn out this way. Not when I’ve worked so hard to accumulate all this wealth.’

The fat man clapped his palms together twice.

"Slave 02!" he called out. "Get over here immediately!"

A woman with shoulder-length black hair and dull brown eyes entered the room wearing revealing, skimpy clothes that left very little to the imagination.

A metal collar was locked around her neck... the standard slave collar that would cause intense pain if she disobeyed orders or tried to escape.

"Yes, Master Marius." the woman said in a lifeless, monotone voice.

"Take all of those disgusting clothes off and get into the bath," Marius ordered. "Prepare yourself."

The woman’s hands trembled slightly, but she obeyed. She began removing her clothes piece by piece, each garment falling to the floor until she was completely naked then she walked mechanically to the large wooden luxurious bathtub in the corner of the room, placed both hands on the edge of the tub, and bent herself over in a submissive position... prepared for whatever her master intended to do.

’If only I had managed to get that beautiful Serra girl,’ Marius thought with regret as he looked at Slave 02’s body. ’With those big breasts and that round ass of hers, she would have made such a delectable slave. I would have had such a wonderful time breaking her in.’

He licked his lips at the thought, then began removing his own clothes. His considerable belly jiggled as he moved, and he had to struggle slightly to get his pants off over his thick thighs.

Finally naked, Marius waddled toward the bath, ready to get in with his slave and begin his morning entertainment.

But just as he placed one foot into the warm water, he happened to glance upward... and froze completely.

There was someone standing upside-down on the ceiling directly above him. A figure in a black cloak wearing a distinctive white cat mask.

’Shi—’

Marius didn’t even get to finish the thought before the figure dropped from the ceiling and delivered a devastating kick directly to his face.

CRACK!

The impact sent Marius flying backward out of the bath and his considerable weight worked against him as momentum carried his naked body across the room like a ragdoll.

CRASH!

Marius slammed violently into the full-length mirror he’d been admiring himself in just minutes ago and the mirror shattered into hundreds of sharp fragments.

"AHHHHHHH!" Marius screamed as the broken shards rained down onto his exposed back, cutting deep into his flesh. Blood immediately began flowing from dozens of lacerations.

Slave 02 collapsed to her knees in shock and terror, but Klaus... the figure in the cat mask paid her absolutely no attention whatsoever.

Klaus landed smoothly on the ground and began walking calmly toward the naked, bleeding fat man who was currently trying to push himself up off the broken mirror shards.

Marius’s hand frantically reached for his communication device that had fallen nearby.

He grabbed it and screamed into the device.

"WHAT ARE YOU FUCKERS DOING?! GET IN HERE! I’M UNDER ATTACK! I’M HURT! I’M DYING! AHHHHHHHH!"

His voice was absolutely hysterical with panic and pain. Klaus listened patiently to the man’s desperate screaming for several seconds before speaking.

"I don’t think they’ll be hearing you," Klaus said calmly with his voice slightly muffled by the mask. "I already killed all of your guards before I came in here... They were quite weak for C-ranks, honestly."

Marius’s eyes shrank to pinpoints as terror replaced his pain.

"You... you’re a monster!" Marius accused as his voice broke.

Klaus scoffed. "Excuse me? I did an honest business transaction with you... I paid you the agreed-upon price and you gave me what I asked for. But then not only did you send bandits after me to try and steal my money back, you also broke the trust between us."

Klaus tilted his head slightly. "Not that I had any trust in you to begin with, obviously but still... The principle of the matter."

The man started crying, actual tears streaming down his fat cheeks and mixing with the blood from his cuts.

"02!" Marius suddenly screamed desperately. "ATTACK HIM! He won’t hurt a woman! He’s too honorable for that!"

Though Slave 02 clearly didn’t want to follow this suicidal order, the collar around her neck began to heat up painfully, forcing her to obey.

She stood on shaking legs and rushed forward at Klaus, her fist raised despite having no combat training whatsoever and Klaus’s hand moved in a blur.

*SMACK*

He backhanded her casually across the face—not with his full strength, but hard enough to instantly knock her unconscious.

Slave 02’s eyes rolled back and she crumpled to the ground, completely unconscious. Klaus turned back to Marius with complete indifference and smiled behind his mask.

"Well, you see..." Klaus said pleasantly, "if you show me where you keep all of your money... your vault, your hidden stash or wherever you store your wealth. I might consider leaving you alive afterward."

Marius’s survival instincts kicked in immediately.

"I will! I’ll show you! I’ll show you everything!" he babbled desperately, blood still running down his back. The fat man reached toward his discarded trousers nearby.

SLASH!

In a flash of silver, Klaus’s sword appeared in his hand and cut the trousers cleanly in half before Marius could reach them.

"Start walking," Klaus said coldly. "Who cares if you’re naked? What exactly are you trying to hide... that small peanut between your legs?"

Klaus immediately hated himself for that particular insult... it felt too crude even for him but it had the desired effect.

Marius’s face went bright red with humiliation, but he started walking immediately, leaving bloody footprints as he moved toward a particular wall in the basement area of the inn.

Klaus followed closely behind with his sword held ready.

Twice during the walk, Marius tried to subtly reach for his storage ring that he’d managed to slip onto his finger.

The first time, Klaus cut three of his fingers off.

SLICE!

"AHHHHHHHH!" Marius screamed, clutching his mutilated hand and the second time he tried, Klaus cut off two more fingers.

SLICE!

"STOP! PLEASE STOP!" Marius begged through tears and snot.

"Then stop trying to pull weapons or defensive items from your storage ring... It’s gone now too so," Klaus said matter-of-factly. "Keep walking."

Marius stumbled forward, leaving a trail of blood from both his lacerated back and his severed fingers, until they reached a particular section of the basement wall that looked completely ordinary and unremarkable.

With his remaining intact hand, Marius placed his palm flat against the stone.

Immediately, a complex magical circle spread outward from the point of contact, glowing with blue light as it traced intricate patterns across the entire wall surface.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

Multiple hidden locks disengaged.

The wall split down the middle and swung open like a massive door, revealing a hidden vault room beyond.

Klaus’s eyes widened slightly behind his mask... The room was filled with money. Not just a little bit of money... an absolutely massive amount of wealth.

Piles of silver coins stacked waist-high. Gold coins overflowing from multiple chests and even several scattered more coins glinting in the magical light. Copper coins were literally scattered on the floor like trash because they were worth so little in comparison.

’This bastard has been hoarding a fortune...’ Klaus thought with genuine surprise.

There had to be at least several thousand gold coins worth of currency in this vault, probably accumulated through years of scams, theft, and extortion.

Klaus walked into the vault room, his attention momentarily focused on calculating the approximate value of everything he was seeing which is exactly what Marius had been waiting for.

The moment Klaus’s back was turned, Marius’s remaining good hand shot toward the wall beside the vault entrance where he’d hidden an emergency weapon.

His fingers wrapped around the handle of a poisoned dagger that had been mounted on a concealed hook.

’Gotcha, you cocky bastard!’ Marius thought triumphantly and with the last of his strength, the fat man lunged forward and thrust the poisoned dagger directly at Klaus’s exposed back, aiming for the kidney.

"HEHEHE!" Marius let out a crazed laugh. "DIE, YOU—"

Klaus didn’t even turn around.

PULSE!

His Magnetic Field spread outward invisibly, creating a sphere of magnetic influence that encompassed Marius’s entire body then Klaus’s hand made a subtle twisting motion.

Marius’s own hand... still gripping the dagger suddenly jerked upward against his will and plunged the blade directly into his own chest.

STAB!

"HHHKK—!" Marius’s eyes went wide with shock and pain but Klaus wasn’t finished.

Using the Magnetic Field to control the metal dagger like a puppet string, Klaus made Marius stab himself again.

STAB!

... And again.

STAB!

... And again.

STAB! STAB! STAB!

Each thrust was precise, puncturing different parts of Marius’s chest cavity as blood poured from the multiple wounds, soaking his naked body and pooling on the floor.

Marius tried to scream, tried to beg for mercy, but blood was filling his lungs and all that came out were wet, gurgling sounds.

His legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees, still holding the dagger that had just murdered him.

"You brought this on yourself," Klaus said quietly, finally turning to look at the dying man. "You got greedy. You couldn’t just take your payment and move on... You had to try and steal from me."

Klaus made one final magnetic gesture.

Marius’s hand jerked upward one last time and drew the dagger across his own throat in a deep, brutal slash.

SLICE!

Blood sprayed from the severed arteries in his neck.

Marius’s eyes went glassy as he toppled forward onto his face, twitching once, twice, then going completely still.

The large pool of blood spreading from his body confirmed what was obvious: Marius The Collector was dead.

Klaus stared at the corpse for a moment, feeling nothing in particular then he turned his attention back to the vault full of money.

’Once I take all of this,’ Klaus thought while pulling out several empty storage pouches from his own storage ring, ’I’ll probably never need to worry about money again for the rest of my life.’

He began systematically collecting every single coin in the vault... gold, silver and even the copper coins on the floor.

It took several minutes to gather everything, but eventually Klaus had transferred the entire fortune into his storage ring.

He stepped over Marius’s cooling corpse without a second glance and walked back upstairs. When he reached the main living room, he found several women huddled together near the entrance... Marius’s other slaves who’d been living in the inn.

Their slave collars had all broken apart and fallen to the ground.

Apparently, when a slave owner died, any slave collars they’d personally registered would automatically deactivate.

It was a safety feature built into the magic to prevent slaves from being permanently trapped if their master died unexpectedly.

The women were crying tears of joy, touching their necks in disbelief that the collars were actually gone.

"Here," Klaus said, drawing their attention.

He reached into his storage and pulled out a moderate-sized pouch, then poured out a small pile of gold coins onto a nearby table.

"Take the woman in the bathroom with you... Slave 02..." Klaus instructed. "Then all of you should leave this place immediately before the Adventurer’s Guild shows up to investigate. Use this money to start new lives somewhere far from here."

The women stared at the gold in shock, it was probably more money than they’d ever owned in their lives and Klaus walked toward the door to leave.

"Sir!" one of the women called out with her voice shaking. "What can we call you? You saved us... we should at least know your name!"

Klaus stopped right in front of the door with his hand on the handle. He was silent for a moment, then spoke without turning around.

"You may refer to me as Heavenly Commoner."

Without waiting for any confirmation or thanks, Klaus opened the door and stepped outside into the night then he channeled mana into his legs and shot into the air, disappearing into the darkness above in a burst of speed.

The freed slave women stood in the doorway, watching the spot where their savior had vanished.

"Heavenly Commoner..." one of them whispered with a gentle smile. "What a wonderful name."

Another woman clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

"May the Goddess bless you, Heavenly Commoner," she said softly. "May you always find happiness wherever your path leads."