--Preevow Secret Base, Arcadina--
.
The bare trees danced as the slightly chilly air blew past them, and the heavy rainfall just added to how chilling the place was.
"Young master..... Mr. You-know-who has arrived."
William pushed the red window curtains to the side and immediately spotted several men getting off their horses.
And once they did, they immediately made their way towards the building where he was at.
Their leader was all dressed in black and also wore a black mask on his face as well.
William smiled slightly, before turning to his aides who seemed to be frightened by the black-masked leader below.
"Let"s go!"
With that, he made his way down floor.... and finally came face to face with the masked leader.
Upon seeing William, the leader and his immediately went down on bended knees.
"We greet the Young master."
Collins and McCain who were always terrified of the masked man, were shocked at how this scary man could lower himself before the young master.
Well, this wasn"t the first time that they had seen the man kneel or show his adoration or respect for the young master.
But it was just that every time he did it, it would make them scared silly, as they knew how terrifying and frightening the man was.
.
"You may rise!"
With that, the masked man rose up, looked at William and sighed.
"Sigh... young master, you look more and more like your father every day." The masked man asked, before removing his mask.
And who was Mr. You-know-who?
Well..... it was someone who had been working with William"s father Odin for more than 20 years now.
This person was actually very popular and well known all across Arcadina.
But many people didn"t know that he had another ident.i.ty.
Or rather, many people didn"t know that such an arrogant, overpowered, and overbearing man could have a leader..... one that was at least 15 years younger than him for that matter.
And who was this famous man, of course..... it was none other than Mr. DEATH... A.K.A You-know-who.
Well, Mr. Death had become a folk tale that brought fear amongst many n.o.bles and common folks.
Only those who hired his services called him Mr. Death, but many called him Mr. You-know-who instead.
And all this was because of the games he liked playing with his victims, as well as the way he killed them.
What sort of sick person would lock an entire family in a house and ask them to kill each other?
The funny thing was, Mr. Death had freed up all the children.... as he said that they were too weak to give him a proper show.
In short, the only people that he involved in these games were the adult n.o.bles and the guards.
So the 5-year-olds and even 8-year-olds were immediately sent out of the house, as well as the maids and butlers
.
There was a famous incident where such a thing had happened.
And then the entire family killed each other nonstop, with the only survivor being the 22-year-old man.
From that day, even though many people knew that maybe the man killed to survive.... they still branded him as an outcast, as no one wanted to allow their daughters to marry such a man even though they knew that he was still a n.o.ble.
And so the man stayed his entire life in that entire estate all alone.
No servant wanted to work under him, and even thieves were afraid to rob the estate... as Mr. Death had left a very deadly message before he left.
Mr. Death had promised the winner of his compet.i.tion survival, as well as his protection.
So that meant that those who wanted to harm or steal from the man would face Mr. Death"s wrath.
And so the man was safe within his city.
He learned how to farm and did other basic things as well.
But going to the markets or any other place was truly hard since no one wanted to stand anywhere close to him.
In the end, some of them said that they saw the man leave along with the children that Mr. Death had spared.
It was said that the man would probably go to a faraway city to start his life anew.
.
Just with how Mr. Death operated, many n.o.bles were afraid to even say his name out loud except they wanted his services.
It was even believed that saying his name 4 times in a row could make the man magically appear and target them.
So they called him you-know-who instead.
As for how Mr. Death had ended up working for William, all this would be traced way back when Odin was still the Crown Prince.
At that time, the young Odin had seen a boy who was 3 years younger than him..... crying and wailing at the top of his lungs.
The boy had just lost his parents, and their house had burnt down because of debt collectors.
Odin of course took pity on the child and took him in.
The child wanted to be strong, so the child worked hard and started taking a.s.sa.s.sination missions on his own without telling Odin.
At the time he only used the skills that the Odin had taught him during knight training.
But as time went on, the boy grew more powerful and made some new comrades who called him boss along the way.
Long story short, the boy was out on a mission when Alec decided to play a fast one on Odin.
And by the time he came back, he heard that Odin had died.
Of course without seeing Odin"s body, he searched day and night until he finally found Odin again.
From there, the rest was history.
So unbeknownst to many people, Mr. Death had always been working for William"s family from the get-go.
And once William came of age, Odin made William to be Mr. Death"s boss.
.
Thinking about it now, the a.s.sa.s.sination thing was also a way of collecting information as well.
Everyone believed that he was the boss, so no one would suspect anything at all.
How else would Cary Barn and the rest of the Barns tell him their plans and secrets?
Of course he also had his ways to know their plans even without them telling him.
But wasn"t it way better to get info straight out the horse"s mouth?
In short, James Barn was now dead..... but he had died thinking that Eli was responsible for that little game that he had previously set up.
Hahaha..... even Cary Barn had also invited a wild like him into her home.
Tsk!
As for William"s guards and men, they were scared of Mr. Death because of his training methods.
The man had a weird way of training them, that made them feel worse than death.
So when it concerned anything about this, they immediately took it seriously.
Even the folk tales about calling his name 4 times.
In their minds, calling his name would make him appear and train them even harder.
So they also called him Mr. You-know-who too.
Better to be safe than sorry.
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"Little Brats....it"s really been a long time.
Now that I"m here, I"ll have to take advantage of this time and give you all more training." Mr. Death said while flas.h.i.+ng Collins and McCain a very mysterious smile.
Hearing this, both of them started to tremble slightly while looking at William pitifully.
"Young master... please save us."
William shook his head wryly, as he really couldn"t help them in this matter.
"Uncle, how was your trip here?"
"Young master.... it was fine.
I"ve also finished the mission you last gave me
And within a month, we should see the effect of it all."
"Good!
Thank you uncle.
But in the meantime, let"s go to my study first."
"Yes, young master!"
They walked and talked about other matters of importance until they arrived at William"s study.
3 minutes later, Mr. Death burst out in crazed laughter, while gripping the letters in his hands tightly.
"Hahahahahahhaha!"
Collins and McCain immediately jumped up from fright and took several steps back.
Mr. Death dropped his head for a bit after laughing, and soon.... his entire aura turned scary.
"Young master... I will leave immediately!"
"Eh!
But, I want him brought here alive!
For touching my mother, I"ll make him wish that he were dead!
Now go."
"As you wish young master!"
With that, Mr. Death left the study..... and William walked towards his window instead.
He looked at the moody outdoors and silently watched the heavy rain trickle down his window.
"Slytherin Cord... Your time is finally up."