"Deal! Let's go then."

Velmara said, surprising Lucien.

"That's it?"

He couldn't help but ask, finding the situation weird. Just a flimsy promise that he might not even remember, and he agreed directly.

"Otherwise? Didn't you say there is nothing worthy you can give me right now?"

Velmara rolled his big owl eyes and suddenly flapped his wings, floating right in front of Lucien.

"Okay, go to the side and let me return to my true form."

He ordered Lucien, who slowly walked to the side. To be honest, he was also curious how Velmara looked in his true form, as right now, he looked nothing unique.

"Swish!"

As soon as Lucien stood at the side of the garden, he felt the mana in the entire garden begin to squirm restlessly. No, not only the garden, he felt mana around the entire mansion was getting sucked forcefully.

And all of them were pouring right at the center where Velmara was floating leisurely.

It didn't take long for the small figure to expand rapidly, increasing in size exponentially. Before Lucien could even blink, the entire garden was filled with a massive bird with sleek white feathers.

Finally, Lucien could clearly see the true form of the ordinary owl that liked to perch atop his shoulder.

Velmara's true form was that of a giant owl and, surprisingly, a sleek one. His body was broad and powerful, covered in bright white feathers that gleamed faintly under the moonlight.

His wings stretched so wide that they nearly brushed the edges of the mansion walls, each flap sending out a heavy gust of wind.

Moreover, Lucien could see that his eyes looked golden and sharp, unlike earlier. They no longer looked playful but instead carried a pressure that made one's chest tighten.

Even just standing there, his presence alone was enough to make the whole place feel smaller.

"What are you looking at, kid? Let's go. I might get noticed if I stay in this form longer."

He said to Lucien through mana link, asking Lucien to climb. If he wanted to help Lucien travel to the Viremond Duchy at extreme speed, his usual smaller form wasn't enough.

And using this form, his stealth ability was greatly compromised. Hence, rushing Lucien was a necessity.

"Oh? Okay."

Lucien was just admiring the biggest Owl he had ever seen in his two lifetimes and almost forgot his purpose.

With Velmara's permission, he immediately jumped high, directly landing atop his body.

"Swish!"

The moment he landed on the back, he felt the whole surface soft and fluffy with feathers, as if he had sunk into a thick white cloud.

But before he could think more, suddenly, he felt the entire body of Velmara being covered in a thick mana shield conjured with a thought.

"Brace yourself. We are living. Malcolm has been ordered to return before nightfall."

Velmara's voice sounded once again, this time a little solemn. However, the content really surprised Lucien before he realized what it meant.

'Tch… it seems I forgot Velmara is my grandfather's pet. How could he leave silently without his knowledge? Fortunately, he didn't stop me.'

He thought when suddenly a strong lift pushed him back with speed. The wind roared against his face as Velmara shot upward, fast enough to make the world blur.

In a blink, they were already rising toward the top of the sky, overlooking the Bellenford capital.

From above, the city looked completely different. The tall walls that once seemed so imposing now appeared like nothing more than lines drawn on the ground.

Countless rooftops stretched out in neat patches, glowing faintly under scattered lantern lights, while the main streets shone brighter like glowing veins running through the heart of the city.

The rivers cutting across the land shimmered like strands of silver under the moonlight, giving the whole capital a faint, dream-like beauty.

But that sight didn't last long as the moment Velmara beat his massive wings, the capital below began shrinking at a shocking speed.

The wide streets, the palace towers, even the entire city wall, all of it blurred and disappeared behind them in just a matter of breaths.

It was so fast that Lucien felt as if the city had simply vanished from existence, leaving only the vast night sky and the endless land stretching out ahead.

The speed was so fierce that before he knew it, his body was being pressed hard by the rushing wind.

Fortunately, the mana shield around him managed to hold on, keeping him from being blown away.

"Tell me where to go once we reach Viremond. It should be within an hour."

Then he once again heard the voice of Velmara, who was now traveling above the vast clouds at a rapid speed. But what shocked Lucien even more was the silence. It was like an assassin moving in the dark; despite such terrifying speed, there was no sound at all.

"Okay."

Lucien answered and directly sat on his fluffy body, giving an order to the system in his mind.

'System, use the debt marker feature on the debtors who are in the Viremond Duchy, and show me their realm and location live.'

---

[Hidden Debt Marker:

→ Use this feature to secretly mark your debtors, tracking their location and growth within the system.

→ Max Limit: 50 marks.]

---

This was the feature he got from the system, before which he had already marked 10 debtors from the list. He still had forty markers left, which he was now going to use to locate all those targets that he was going to harvest.

'Tsk, there are so many people who stole my thing? Tch...tch...it seems I shouldn't feel guilty for collecting the debt.'

When Lucien gave the order to his system, he immediately saw a virtual map in his mind showing him the live map of the Viremond duchy.

Of course, the map wasn't detailed like the real world; it was just useful enough to show the location.

And the most glaring things Lucien noticed as soon as he focused on them were the multiple bright points showing the location of the debtors that owed him.

From their location, they all seemed to be concentrated in the major cities of the Viremond Duchy.

It made sense since their business also flourished in places with a high density of people.

However, he never thought that all forty debt markers would light up on the map simultaneously.

You had to know, the debtor that his system assigned was always the main one who gave the order… not the one who simply carried out the looting.

The forty marks lighting up clearly meant forty different people were orchestrating the loot simultaneously throughout the duchy.

No wonder he felt his wealth was dropping so fast. These bastards were clearly taking advantage of the chaos.

'But it is good this way,'

Lucien thought with glee, already anticipating how strong he would become after extracting from every single one of them.

"Velmara, head that way."

Feeling a rush of excitement, Lucien immediately gave the order to the owl, his eyes locking onto the closest red mark on the map.

The hunt had finally begun.

...

"Boom!"

"Are you guys nuts? This caravan belongs to the Goldveil family. Do you have no fear?"

On a barren mountain path, a luxurious line of caravans had been stopped by a horde of bandits in the middle of the road.

At the front stood a tall, burly man with a jagged scar running across his face and a tattoo curling up his neck, his hideous smile stretching wider with ferocity.

His eyes were fixed on the caravan, filled with extreme greed. After all, he had already looted one of them before and knew just how delicious the fortune inside was.

It wasn't without reason that he and his ten men had managed to surround the caravan with such ease. Not to mention, the bodies of a few fallen guards were already scattered across the dirt road.

They were experienced.

And with the leader at the early stage of the Invoker realm, while his subordinates lingered around the Apprentice realm, it was more than enough to overwhelm an ordinary caravan with ease.

If it had been before, they would never have dared to lay their hands on the Goldveil family's assets. After all, they knew how fearsome the retaliation would be if such a thing happened.

But with the rumors spreading around and the dire situation they were facing, fear no longer held them back.

Instead, greed had already clouded their reason. All they wanted now was to kill the guards, snatch the wealth, and flee as fast as possible.

After all, they still had to intercept another caravan today, right?

"Hehe… no need to boast the name of Goldveil. We already know who this caravan belongs to. Otherwise, do you think we'd be wasting our time here?"

The leader licked his lips in greed, speaking faintly with a smile, clearly enjoying the desperation on the guard captain's face.

Unfortunately, the captain of this caravan was only at the peak of the Apprentice realm and stood no chance against him.

For now, he was letting them live for his own amusement. But not for long.