The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 156

Before Aden became the Mercenary King’s apprentice, he spent his childhood in the slums, living as a pickpocket.

He had some talent for it and managed to scrape by each day.

There was even a time he thought it was his calling.

How else could he have half-succeeded in stealing the coin purse of his future master, the then Mercenary King, Balkan, who had already reached the rank of Master?

“Thanks to that, I got kidnapped and became that old man’s apprentice.”

Remembering the subsequent hellish training, he regretted that choice countless times.

In any case, what this meant was that Aden had been an outstanding pickpocket, one who could even target the Mercenary King’s coin purse, and he couldn’t be caught by some petty pickpocket.

“There are quite a few of these petty thieves in Ternian.”

With so many wealthy people visiting, it was common for thieves to target their pockets.

However, maintaining public order and catching all those petty criminals required a lot of manpower and money.

The priests of the Sacred Law Order, busy filling their own bellies, would never spend money on such matters.

But that didn’t mean they ignored the criminals caught.

“Let go! I said let go!”

The pickpocket boy tried to run, but his arm was firmly caught by Aden.

He struggled to break free, but there was no way he could escape the grip of Aden, who had reached the level of a superhuman.

Aden looked at the pickpocket boy with a kind smile—a smile that seemed extremely sinister to the boy—and shrugged.

“Well, that’s difficult. My sense of lawfulness is too strong to just ignore a petty thief. Don’t you think I should take you to the patrol?”

At the mention of the patrol, the boy’s face turned pale.

And for good reason.

“Cut off the hand that steals.”

That was the law of the Sacred Law Order.

In the Sacred Law Order, which held its laws sacred, this rule was absolute, and they didn’t make exceptions for children.

The boy, faced with the prospect of living as a cripple without a hand, had only one choice.

Thud, the boy fell to his knees and begged desperately, his hands and feet trembling.

“I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, please, just this once…!”

“Hmmm, what should I do?”

“Please…!”

“If you beg that much, I suppose I have no choice. I’ll let it slide this time.”

“Really? Thank you…!”

“But only if you tell me one thing.”

Aden interrupted the boy and spoke.

“Take me to the cartel, the thieves’ guild you belong to.”

“…!”

The boy’s face, which had brightened at the prospect of mercy, stiffened once again.

The thieves’ guild.

Or “cartel,” as it was also called, was a sort of shadow guild formed by beggars, pickpockets, and other back-alley vagrants.

“And no matter how young they are, those living in the back alleys all belong to some group.”

Otherwise, they wouldn’t survive.

They wouldn’t be able to protect the money or items they had stolen and would be beaten and robbed by other groups or stronger individuals.

That’s why it was essential to belong to a cartel to survive in the back alleys.

Aden decided to visit this thieves’ guild.

“There’s no better place to gather information than the local thieves’ guild.”

As the saying goes, “Birds hear what is said in the day, and mice hear what is said at night.”

The thieves’ guild is a gathering of those night-listening mice, and if they didn’t know something, practically no one did.

“In other words, to truly understand Ternian’s situation, the thieves’ guild is the answer.”

The only problem was that it was an unwritten rule that they, being a criminal guild, hid their headquarters and didn’t reveal it to outsiders.

The boy’s eyes trembled violently, and he shook his head, stammering.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“If you don’t talk, I’ll just throw you to the patrol. Your hands must not be that important to you?”

“No! Even if I lose my hands, I can’t tell!”

The boy shouted.

There were rare, but occasional guilds where members felt a sense of belonging and loyalty.

It seemed the thieves’ guild this pickpocket boy belonged to was one such case.

“No matter how much of a pickpocket I am, I can’t betray the trust and loyalty of my brothers!”

The boy’s face, which had wavered for a moment, showed firm determination.

Seeing the boy’s noble and resolute expression, Aden…

“Is this enough?”

Clink.

He pulled out a pouch filled with dozens of gold coins from his subspace pouch and dropped it.

The boy’s gaze slowly lowered and fixed on the pouch.

“That’s… too much money.”

The boy quickly gathered up the pouch of gold coins.

“I’ll take you there, follow me quickly!”

A quick change of stance.

“What about the loyalty and trust of your brothers?”

“Well, for this amount of money, I’m sure my brothers would understand. They’d act just like me.”

Negotiation was easy.

Even in a guild with a strong sense of belonging, it was ultimately a group of back-alley thugs and pickpockets.

They would easily succumb to the money in front of them. The heavier their wallets, the quicker they would.

* * *

The pickpocket boy’s name was Maromel.

As Aden was guided by Maromel, he learned a few things.

The cartel Maromel belonged to was called “Nameless.”

According to him, Nameless was a thieves’ guild that had rapidly grown in recent times, now being the only one of its kind in the Holy Kingdom of Ternian.

“There used to be so many cartels I couldn’t even count them. Now, all of them have been either dismantled or absorbed by the leader of Nameless, Kelid.”

“Kelid, the leader of Nameless…”

It was a name he hadn’t heard before, but he didn’t find it strange.

Leaders of the underworld existed in every city and changed frequently, so Aden didn’t bother to remember all their names.

“What kind of person is this Kelid?”

Maromel answered Aden’s question in an enthusiastic voice, as if he had been waiting for it.

“Sir Kelid is amazing! He’s truly the best! When he swings his sword, enemies fall like dominoes, crash, bang! He’s incredibly strong! He may seem stern, but he’s kind to his subordinates. Yet, when necessary, he’s extremely ruthless, which just shows how charismatic he is…!”

Maromel continued to praise the leader of Nameless without pause.

The light in his eyes as he spoke indicated a deep respect for this Kelid.

“Well, it’s quite an accomplishment to unify all the cartels.”

Even though Ternian was a small kingdom, it was still a country.

Conquering and unifying the shadow guilds of such a wide area was no easy feat.

“It requires not only personal strength but also skill and loyal subordinates.”

In that sense, if Ternian’s underworld had been unified under the name “Nameless,” then Kelid was certainly a remarkable figure.

It wasn’t strange for a young boy to idolize him.

Maromel mentioned that Kelid and his key executives always wore masks, so no one knew their true faces.

“Sir Kelid is incredible, but the executives who work with him are also extremely powerful. If it weren’t for those damn gamblers, Sir Kelid would have completely taken over the underworld of Ternian. Those damn gamblers!”

The boy gritted his teeth in genuine frustration.

“Gamblers?”

“The back alleys of Ternian are basically divided into two factions: the gamblers and Nameless.”

As previously mentioned, Ternian was well-developed in the entertainment industry.

Because of that, the power of the gambling dens, which thrived on illegal activities, was immense, and many cartels had connections with and loyalty to them.

The emerging force Nameless had rapidly risen, dismantling and absorbing the old cartels.

In response, some of the old cartels, unable to submit, gathered under the power of the gambling dens.

Thus, the dark side of Ternian had split into two factions, both eager to devour each other.

Listening to this, Aden pondered carefully.

“The gambling dens and Nameless, both are suspicious. Very suspicious.”

A powerful figure doesn’t just appear out of nowhere.

If the Warlocks were behind Nameless, it would make sense.

Among their various sinister black magics, there were methods that provided great power, albeit with severe side effects.

The chimera-turned guild leader of Umbra in Kartan City was one such example.

“But I can’t ignore the gambling dens either.”

The gambling dens of Ternian were like cancer cells slowly eating away at the kingdom’s order and power.

There was a chance that Chaos was behind them as well.

“Either Nameless or the gambling dens are involved with Chaos. If not…”

Then both could be in league with each other.

Aden’s eyes turned cold.

* * *

A little later.

Aden arrived at “Nameless,” Ternian’s only thieves’ guild.

The headquarters of Nameless was a large but rundown tavern in a deserted alley.

Upon arriving at the tavern, a rough-looking man with a scarred face stood guard at the entrance.

Maromel bowed deeply to the burly doorman.

“Ah, another hard day’s work! Brother Truman!”

“Hm? Ah, it’s the little pickpocket. What’s your name again…?”

“Maromel. I’ve told you several times; it’s Maromel.”

“Oh, right. Quick Maromel. Now I remember.”

The doorman recognizing the boy indicated he was quite a notorious pickpocket.

“But Maromel, who’s this guy?”

The doorman, named Truman, eyed Aden warily.

“I’ve never seen him around here before.”

“Well, I ran into him by chance, haha…”

“Did you reveal the guild’s location to an outsider? Are you crazy?”

As Truman’s face twisted with rage, Maromel hastily explained.

“But how could I refuse a pouch full of gold coins! Look, see!”

“…It’s too much money to punish.”

“Right?”

“Just make sure to pay the fine later. Otherwise, I won’t be able to help you.”

After giving Maromel a light warning, the doorman, Truman, turned to Aden.

“So, who are you? What brings you here?”

“I’m Aden Remes. I want to buy information from your thieves’ guild. I want to meet the leader of Nameless.”

“Sir Kelid isn’t someone you can just…”

Truman fell silent as Aden drew his sword, releasing a blue Aura Blade.

“Will this be enough for a meeting?”

Truman’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of Aden’s Aura Blade.

“A-An Aura Blade!”

“…A Sword Master?”

Truman was stunned, and the pickpocket boy, Maromel, was speechless.

* * *

At Aden’s age, producing an Aura Blade was an undeniable proof of identity.

“…Sir Kelid has requested you come inside.”

Caught off guard by the sudden visit of a Sword Master, the doorman quickly contacted the leader of Nameless, and permission was granted in less than a minute.

Thus, Aden arrived at the office of Kelid, the leader of the thieves’ guild Nameless.

Creeeak.

As a subordinate of Nameless opened the door, the old hinges creaked.

Sitting at the center table of the office was a man waiting for Aden.

– I apologize for the lack of hospitality due to the sudden visit.

A man wearing a white mask.

Kelid.

The one who had swiftly built a power base in the Holy Kingdom of Ternian and the leader of the thieves’ guild “Nameless.”

– My name is Kelid. I lead this “Nameless.”

Aden had vaguely imagined a burly giant, but the man he met was smaller than the average person.

However, at a glance, it was clear that his body was that of a well-trained warrior.

His voice, modulated through the mask, had a neutral tone.

‘Hmm?’

Aden’s eyes widened slightly as he faced him directly.