Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

"He has managed to win the love of everyone in less than a week and with that stupid guy providing him with food supply, he will win their love even more. I have to find a way to steal that ring," he continued, his tone becoming deeper with frustration.

"Where is that stupid son of mine? I need him right now."

Saying this, he increased his walking pace and took long strides toward his home. As he stormed to his home, he maintained a calm smile on his face. If one saw him, they would find it hard to believe he could harbor hateful thoughts.

Sadly, unbeknownst to Oliver, he was being followed and his identity as the Judas had already been discovered.

Far away from him, cloaked magically away from the eyes of passersby, D'andre and Elara followed him cautiously. D'andre had his usual aloof expression while Elara looked worried.

"That guy is really crafty, no wonder Rowan couldn't catch him," D'andre turned and said to Elara.

"Keep your voice low, he might hear us. We need to follow him and know what his next steps are," Elara elbowed D'andre and cautioned.

"Hehe, even if we scream at the top of our lungs, he wouldn't be able to hear us," he explained the nature of the magic he was using to her.

"Keep quiet," Elara shut him up again as her eyes focused on the man who has been endangering the life of her people by feeding information to their enemies.

Seeing that Elara wasn't in the mood for a conversation, D'andre kept quiet, and both of them walked faster. Though, he couldn't help but wonder why she was so tough with him but very gentle with Rowan.

Both of them followed Oliver for a few more minutes and saw him arrive inside a small mound house.

Seeing that, both of them sneaked closer to the building without entering.

"What happened to your face, Judus? Who did this to you?" They could hear Oliver's confused voice as he seemed to be speaking with someone.

"Stanis did this," the voice of a young man replied. They could hear the sound of the young man gritting his teeth as he spoke, his hatred evident in his voice.

Hearing the name 'Stanis' made Elara's eyes widen, and she shivered with anger.

"You know that person?" D'andre asked, seeing her reaction.

"Yes, he is one of the strongest captains in Glenwood and is extremely wicked," she replied immediately.

"That means that geezer is not alone, he has another accomplice," D'andre noted and returned his attention to the conversation.

"Stanis? How the heck did you meet with Stanis? Did you travel to Glenwood despite all my warnings? What if Lord Rowan found out?" Oliver berated Judus.

"I did not leave Winterseed; that bastard came here at night while you guys were having a meeting. He asked me the whereabouts of five Winterseed women who escaped from their village after killing three of their soldiers. I tried to explain that there had been a misunderstanding, but he beat me instead and even tried to destroy my balls. My balls are still hurting right now, father.

I am not sure I will be able to give you a grandchild," Judus explained, anguish clear in his voice.

Oliver reacted immediately, really worried about Stanis coming to Winterseed as he understood his bad temperament — it wasn't in their agreements at all.

Nevertheless, after ranting and consoling Judus, he told him about his plans, "Try to steal the ring from Lord Rowan while I escape to inform Lord Fagin. Can you do that for me?"

"I will, father, as long as it helps you achieve your goal of leading the village and I become your next in line," Judus replied immediately.

A few minutes later, both of them walked out of the hut and left for their separate missions, believing their discussion had been a secret.

"Those bastards really have balls of steel to try and challenge Rowan," D'andre chuckled amusingly.

On the other hand, Elara became restless, "We have to act immediately; you can use magic, take care of them for the sake of our village," she pleaded.

But D'andre refused.

"Why don't you want to help?" Elara was confused, tears on the verge of dropping from her eyes.

"Rowan has to take care of this himself. I have already overstepped my boundaries by helping him, and I did that because of you, Elara," he flashed her a smile, trying to charm her.

But she wasn't fazed, "Let us go to Lord Rowan immediately!" she requested, not reacting to his statement.

D'andre felt bad that she was giving him the cold shoulder but he had no choice and quickly activated a portal that sent him back to Rowan who was waiting in the meeting hall.

When Rowan saw both of them appear, he immediately inquired about the details of their mission.

"It went just as you predicted; he has an accomplice who is also his son," D'andre was the one who replied first.

"The son is on his way here right now to steal the ring while the father is trying to escape the village and leave for Glenwood," he paused before adding, "Also, based on their conversations, one of the captains of Glenwood's army is somewhere around your territory."

When Rowan heard the last part his eyes widened, "Why didn't you mention this part earlier!" he yelled at D'andre, who only reacted with a shrug.

"Lord Rowan, we have to act fast; the captain they mentioned is very powerful and with a lot of battle experience. He is famous in Glenwood as the best swordsman," Elara spoke with worries in her tone.

She told Rowan more about Stanis. She even told him about how he has been lusting after them and his plot to take down Lord Fagin and become the ruler of Glenwood.

When Rowan asked how she knew, she answered that he always boasted about it to them.

Hearing more about this character, Rowan couldn't help but have the sudden urge to kill him.

His crazy ambition made him an easy target to manipulate, but his strength and nature made it difficult.

"Thank you for your help, Elara. I am so sorry you and your friends have not been introduced to the village yet; when I return from the war, I promise to throw a big party for you all alongside one for our village becoming a free land again," Rowan expressed his gratitude and made a promise.

Elara nodded with understanding.

"Have you guys eaten?" Rowan asked, recalling that he hadn't provided them with food.

"Rowan, I am a merchant for crying out loud. Do you expect me to travel without food? There's plenty in the carriage—it might even be more than what you distributed today," D'andre boasted, flashing Elara a smile.

Rowan scoffed at D'andre for trying to impress his follower in front of him. On the other hand, he was glad she gave him the cold shoulder.

Nevertheless, he also wondered how such a small carriage could contain the women and such a large amount of food and he couldn't help but ask.

Elara explained to them how big the room was and the amount of food inside it.

After hearing her explanation, Rowan was shocked and wanted to get one but his hope died when D'andre mentioned the price.

Now that he was assured that the women were okay, he bade her farewell and D'andre opened the Portal as usual.

After she left, Rowan discussed with D'andre and made a few new additions to the supplies he had bought earlier.

This time he purchased a few building materials like wood, iron ores, galvanized steel, gravels, and others. He also added more weapons to his collection, some skills, and more food supplies.

Sadly, he couldn't purchase any blueprint as he had already purchased some of them earlier.

But he wasn't sad about that.

After winning this war, he would be able to purchase more goods as he would finally evolve his territory!!

But that hope was quickly shattered as D'andre let out a frustrated "Fuck" as he stared at midair, seemingly interacting with his system.

"The tournament of Merchants is starting now!!"