As I expected, he is Aiden, the vigilante.
It was true...
The only place he hadn't visited yet was this one.
With his strength, he must have sensed my Spatial Isolation and come here.
However...
How is it possible for him to have that kind of power?
In a place like this, where just finding enough to eat is a struggle, reaching even mid-level should be almost impossible.
But that's not all.
He's a very strong rank 3, on par with Alice and me, and he looks just a couple of years older than us.
Even in the Evans clan, with all its resources, he would be considered a prodigy.
But achieving this... here?
Either he was trained by a very powerful master... or he's the genius of the millennium.
Also, he seems to specialize in light-based skills. That's the Morgan clan specialty; the Evans aren't usually good at that kind of ability.
What the hell is going on?
He kept looking at me with those cold eyes, showing no emotion at all.
It was as if he was waiting for me to act.
Should Alice and I try to capture him?
No.
Between the 300 mana for Spatial Isolation, teleportation, illusion, and body reinforcement, I've spent 450 mana units. I have 350 left. Less than half of my reserve.
Alice is in better shape, since she didn't use any skills while waiting for Mason to bleed out. That gave her time to recharge a bit.
Judging by my senses, Aiden's mana reserves are somewhere between 800 and 900 units. And despite using some mid-level skills, his reserves still exceed mine.
Besides, in the brief exchange we had, I noticed , he's an excellent fighter, almost on Alice's level... and she inherited her combat sense from her father, who is considered one of the best fighters in the galaxy.
I think if Alice and I go all out, we might be able to take him down.
But I highly doubt we would come out of it unharmed. We'd be injured and exhausted. We wouldn't have enough reserves left to teleport to the frontier.
Which means that even if we won, we wouldn't be able to escape. Plus, there's a real chance Oscar and the rest of the Iron Jackals might show up in the middle of the fight.
If they teamed up with Aiden to finish us off, we would be in serious trouble.
The only option left would be to contact our parents and have them teleport here immediately.
The problem is, if we did that, it would automatically be considered a failed mission.
And the extremists wouldn't let it slide. Failing, even if it was due to the unexpected appearance of a rank 3, considering that we are two would be seen as incompetence.
They would use it to punish us, sending us on low-level missions, delaying our growth and reputation. They would also take away resources like manuals, preventing us from learning new skills.
Our parents wouldn't be able to do much about it, because it's strictly forbidden for a clan member to teach high-level skills by himself. even to their own children.
The clan is the only one authorized to provide manuals for high-level skills, and those are granted based on performance and contributions.
This system exists to prevent powerful techniques from leaving the clan, or reckless parents from teaching overly complex abilities to unprepared son, which could result in death or crippling injuries.
Moreover, even if they mastered them, becoming too powerful too young could cause social issues that would endanger the individual... and the clan as a whole.
That's why granting a skill manual requires a council decision.
The only other way to learn new skills is by creating them yourself, or discovering them.
The point is...
If we fail this mission, our development and rise to higher levels could be stalled for years, maybe even decades.
I won't let that happen...
"I don't want to fight. I'd like to talk peacefully with you," I said, waiting for his reaction.
He nodded in response.
It seemed there was still hope to settle this without too much trouble.
"Look, our clash must have drawn a lot of attention. The Iron Jackals will be here any moment. We need to get out of here if we want to talk calmly," I said evenly.
He nodded again, then turned and said,
"Follow me."
With that, he took off at high speed.
I motioned to Alice, and we followed him.
Two minutes later, we were standing in a secluded alley. The area was deserted; we didn't have to worry about being detected, since we had stopped concealing our power.
We faced each other again. Alice stood right behind me, her spear ready, alert to any movement.
Aiden was the first to speak.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
He didn't know why we were here...
His question seemed honest.
Could it be that he wasn't the killer?
With his strength and speed, it would have been easy for him to take down the novice, so logically he was our main suspect.
However...
Something told me otherwise.
"A novice-ranked member of the Evans was killed in the frontier. We came to find the culprits," I answered.
When he heard this, I caught a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
It seemed genuine.
"I see..." he said thoughtfully.
"You weren't the one who killed him?" Alice asked this time, raising an eyebrow.
"No," he replied coldly.
Just as I was about to open my mouth, he spoke again.
"It was Jacob," he said with certainty.
Jacob... the leader of the Shadow Fangs. The strongest man in the slums.
Wait...
Is he stronger than Aiden? That's impossible.
That would mean he's stronger than Alice or me.
"Is Jacob stronger than you?" I asked nervously.
"No. I'm a little stronger than him... just a little," he said seriously.
That means Jacob is also rank 3.
What the hell is going on here?
How did these people manage to gain so much power in a place like this?
Alice looked surprised too.
Then she turned to Aiden and said,
"Why are you so sure it was Jacob? And why are you cooperating with us? Don't you hate us?"
"I have no grudge against you. I only take down evil guys, like the one you killed."
"Mason?" I asked.
"Yes. I had been watching him during my previous visits. He seemed to have bad intentions toward a mother and her daughter, but I never saw anything that could confirm it"
"I just...could see the fear in the mother's eyes, and the disgust in the daughter's."
"I was planning to interrogate him and take him down in a few days... but you got there first."
"Besides..." he said, pausing for a moment.
"Your eyes..." he murmured.
"My eyes?" I asked, confused.
"They're just like hers."
"Her?"
"The priestess."
Mother...
He must have seen the surprise on my face, realizing that I knew exactly who he was talking about.
"She was... my mother," I said, showing more emotion than I would have liked.
He nodded slowly, as if confirming his suspicions.
"I figured you might be related. Those blue eyes, so full of life... I hadn't seen them again until today," he said.
"How did you know her?" I asked.
He looked at me intently.
"I'll tell you later... but first, I want to know if you'll help me," he said.
"Help you?" Alice asked this time, raising an eyebrow.
"I want you to help me destroy the Shadow Fang."