The Greatest Sinner

In these two years, Evan had explored the city inside and out. He knew every store, every blacksmith and alchemist, everyone who could be useful for him. Thus, Evan tried to find a way into the dark side of this city, a way to an informant who could give him the information he needed.

However, to Evan's shock, this city had no dark side. He could find no "entrance" to the black market or contact with any criminal personalities. Of course, it was hard for an ordinary guy to stumble across such people, but Evan had two years and knew the right places where to look for.

<But this city is controlled by the Academy of Magic, where there are hundreds of magicians capable of destroying almost any enemy. I should have expected something like this>, Evan thought. 

He was left with no other options but to admit that he couldn't find any informant in this city.

Now Evan was going to take one task and leave the Academy indefinitely. This task was no ordinary one. Its difficulty was 6 stars, which was strange because Evan had never seen a task with difficulty more serious than 5 stars before. Until now, he had been sure that 5 stars task was the maximum possible difficulty, but it turned out that such special tasks sometimes appeared, too.

Evan decided to choose it, not because of the difficulty but because of the task itself. First of all, the deadline for its completion was ten years. Secondly, as part of the task, Evan had to go to a remote area to investigate it, make a report, and try to understand what caused the strange changes that were taking place there.

It was a simple but very time-consuming task. Perhaps that's why it had such a high level of difficulty. If Evan had time, he was going to take it on since the reward was pretty good.

Evan took the task and thought to himself, <The task says that the changes in this area could be caused by the ancient ruins there. They also fall under my list of places where members of the "Demonic Tree" can appear. I should definitely check this place out.>

Taking the task, Evan quickly prepared himself by moving a huge amount of food and water into the spatial ring and set off.

If he didn't complete the task, there was nothing wrong with it. The penalty was relatively small.

He was going to a place called - "The Hills of Bloody Falls." The name was intimidating, but in fact, it was a quiet and peaceful place.

The area got its name because of the many waterfalls of deep red color. Initially, people thought it was blood, and that's why they gave it such a name, but the reality wasn't so terrific.

Unique underwater plants grew in this area, the petals of these plants were used as a red dye. It was because of these plants that almost all the water in this area was red.

Evan had a long way to go, about two weeks, but he was not going there only because of the task and the strange ruins, which could be absolutely useless.

There was a rather large city next to the "Hills of Bloody Falls," called Inlas. After Evan realized that he could not find an informant in the Academy City, he decided to go to one of the most violent cities in the entire kingdom.

Inlas was one of those cities. If Academy City didn't have a dark side, Inlas didn't have a light one. This city was full of criminals, they were both ordinary people and magicians. Illegal trade, the slave trade, beatings, and clashes between gangs were commonplace here.

Some Light organizations tried to fix the situation in this city, but they failed, their power was not enough.  The "Tears of Light" and other powerful Light organizations were not interested in Inlas since this city was not under the patronage of the "Demonic Tree" or "Merciful Death."

  This city was the perfect place for Evan. He felt like a fish in water in such places. Of course, he had to hold back in part. Earlier, he had had too little information, he needed to get used to this world and understand its rules.

Now Evan was ready to make his own rules.

In fact, Inlas was a gigantic city, larger than Mossy Vulture and the Academy city combined. But, such size was not due to its immense wealth but, on the contrary, to the poverty of many areas.

Leaving aside the numerous slums, the city's center, which was indeed rich, was not that big. But we should not forget that the whole essence of this city was not on the surface, you needed to dig a little deeper to get to its darkest corners.

In a place like Inlas, only two things mattered: power and money, especially money.

Evan couldn't trade the "Moon Coins" for gold ones, but he had prepared for it. He had recently gone to the "Half-Dead Forest" and killed dozens of monsters there. Now his spatial ring could hold that many carcasses.

Then he had traveled to Mossy Vulture where he had sold all those carcasses for a tidy sum, namely 50,000 gold coins. Evan wasn't sure how long this amount would last him, but it should be enough for a start.

Staying in Mossy Vulture, he had been spending a lot of time with Zak and Marcel. Evan was glad to see them after two years. These two were the first people in the world who supported him.

...

Fourteen days later, Evan had already reached Inlas.

"Huh, this town is exactly the place I was looking for, I can see it even from this distance." Evan grinned and headed towards the entrance of the city.

Mossy vulture and the Academy city were true examples to follow. Beautiful architecture and infrastructure, nice streets, and not a single ruined or abandoned building.

But, as soon as Evan looked at Inlas, he saw massive slums, ruined towers, and dilapidated city walls. However, it was precisely these details that suited a city like this, creating the right atmosphere.

Evan approached the gate leading to the entrance of the slums. He was immediately stopped by two guards, though they looked more like ordinary bandits.

"Wait! Entry price - one gold coin, pay or get out while you're still intact," The man dressed in leather armor said gruffly.

Evan looked at him coldly and pulled a single gold coin from his pocket.

The guard smiled and quickly took the coin and said: "Hey, guy, Inlas is a pretty big city, would you like a tour for just a few gold coins?"

He thought Evan was an excellent target on which to make good money.

Evan stepped closer to him and, with a smile on his face, said: "I usually like to travel around town on my own, but now I really need to find out where one place is."

The man smirked: "And what is that place?"

"A cemetery."

Whoosh.

Evan lightning-quickly thrust his palm into the man's chest and pulled his heart out the back of his hand, and crushed it.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, well, it's time for a cultural rest."