It was the perfect opportunity.

 I selected one of my men to mess with the food. Out of all 11 of us, he was the stealthiest, he was specially selected for being stealthy in the first place.  

With the further help of a stealth spell from our Class 2 mage, I was sure only the leader who was furthest from the kitchen would be able to sense him.  

Now all he needed to do was sneak in and mix a strong sleeping powder in the pot.

By now, the food was almost complete and only 3 have remained in the kitchen. 

Some of us went near the bushes of the kitchen and with the help of mages, it was easy enough to create a distraction for some bandits who weren't even in their peak states. 

As soon as the bandits were distracted a little the previous person who was selected sneaked into the kitchen and mixed a strong sleeping powder in the food. 

We wanted to directly poison the food but this food may have been also meant for those women caged nearby. We wouldn't want to kill them, so the sleeping powder. 

After about an hour, all of them had already eaten the food and most of them were sleeping soundly.   

They were already drunk and with the additional assistance of sleeping powder, there was no way they were going to wake up. 

Even the leader was sleeping. 

We killed all the remaining bandits who were still awake probably because they hadn't eaten the food yet. We sneaked upon them and killed them easily. After that what followed was a bloodbath. 

We put fire on all the houses and the sleeping bandits. Soon they woke up from the burning pain and screamed at the top of their lungs but they couldn't do anything since the fire had already spread out of control. 

We had already rescued the women and killed all the Class 2 and the leader in their sleep since they would have a chance to escape the fire. 

All of them died a horrible and painful death which was a fitting end for them. 

I returned victorious with all the members of my team alive and in less than 2 months. The time it took was only because the base of the bandits was far from the territory. 

After returning I gave all the details about the mission to the noble. The noble was pleased and gave me a new position. 

My position was to become the head of a secret agency that directly served the noble. The agency was responsible for spying, collecting information, espionage and in some cases even assassination. 

That was the start of my career. I scouted many talented individuals for various missions. 

I collected information by spying on other nobles. Even the information of commoners was included. With my help, the noble was able to invest in many talented individuals before anybody else and earn big money when they make it big. 

We even spied on the Counts of the Kingdom and found out that one of the Counts was showing signs of rebellion and was doing many things that opposed the Kingdom's rules and laws. 

By reporting this information above the noble was successfully able to get promoted to a count from a viscount after the confirmation of the information. 

We grew and became one of the best in the kingdom but one day I accidentally discovered the noble's secrets. 

I didn't want to believe them so I decided to spy on the noble to confirm. That was my biggest mistake and the beginning of my downfall. 

After spying a little I confirmed my suspicions and discovered some nasty habits and secrets of the noble but the noble also found out that I spied on him. 

The name of the noble was Samuel Stark. 

Samuel had gained much influence and prestige in the royal circle as a count. He couldn't let it all go to ruin by leaving a potential threat like me alive and so ordered the knights to kill me and my every subordinate to get rid of any potential threat. 

I was lucky to be able to escape but all my subordinates died. 

I have been on the run ever since, I came to this remote border area for safety. 

I had to travel through the many cities constantly being chased by Samuel's men. 

Samuel was a count and had a large influence, only the slums of the most remote territory like this were safe, at least that's what I thought until now. 

But I don't know anymore. Maybe that kid recognised me and asking me to follow him is a trap. 

"But what if, this is a real opportunity, the opportunity I so needed? Maybe this is it. Even if it's a trap so what, at most I will be killed. I have nothing to lose and now that I think about it, dying is better than my current life." Nathan muttered and got up from his seat. 

He looked around and started moving in the direction where the kid had walked towards. 

He still couldn't bring himself to believe a kid who was more than a decade younger than him to give him any real life-changing opportunities. 

But he knew that he was special among all the beggars living here. He knew that he had talent that others didn't. 

The fact that the boy who was casually walking among the slums, just staring at all the people without saying anything came up to Nathan and said that he doesn't belong in this place was something truly shocking. 

'What if that boy was speaking the truth? What if that boy was actually able to recognise I am different and special? Even if he wasn't able to figure out my exact talent, just the fact that he was able to seek me out among all the people here means he may really give me a life-changing opportunity. '

But the look he saw in Alex's eyes attracted him towards Alex and he eventually decided to follow him. 

( To be continued )