After pulling on the gray coat Hagart had given him, Rhode felt like his stats had shot up on the spot.

If he went home now to look for his mother, he would definitely find her.

He was brimming with momentum, ready to storm out of Hagart's house. But the old man forcibly pulled him back.

"Teacher Hagart?" Rhode had no idea why Hagart was stopping him, so he looked at the old man in confusion.

"Don't be in such a rush." Hagart sounded helpless. He hadn't even finished speaking, and the kid already looked like he was about to run off.

Hagart knew the situation was grave right now, but this child was just too hasty.

"Don't rush things. Being too anxious won't help. It'll only make things worse," Hagart said.

"If you walk out through the front door, won't you be spotted?" The old man led Rhode to a certain spot and opened a hidden passage. "Go through here, and you'll reach the sewers."

"After that, you're on your own."

"And one more thing. Besides the coat, I have something else to give you." As if noticing something again, Hagart spoke to Rhode.

Rhode currently had a dagger as a weapon. It looked fairly safe.

But Hagart had already imagined the kinds of things Rhode might run into later. A dagger wouldn't be enough.

"You should learn how to use a firearm too." The old man casually handed Rhode the sidearm he used for self-defense.

"Six bullets. Use them sparingly."

Rhode fumbled as he caught the gun, a little stunned.

This was the first time in the boy's life he had ever touched a firearm. Guns weren't restricted, and anyone with a permit could own one.

But children basically had no chance of getting one.

Hagart gave Rhode a very simple lesson on how to use it, and one bullet was wasted in the process.

Now there were only five left.

"Teacher, there isn't anything else, right?" After putting the gun away, Rhode asked cautiously. He was afraid Hagart would stop him again just as he was about to leave.

Hagart shook his head. This time, he didn't hold Rhode back. He only gave him a light push.

"When you're alone, be careful. You must be careful." The old man spoke in the tone of someone talking to his grandson.

But Rhode didn't answer, because by the time he entered the hidden passage, he could no longer hear Hagart's words.

"I hope there never comes a time when you need to use that gun." Hagart closed the hidden door and let out a long sigh.

"Caw!" Black Raven stood on Hagart's shoulder, cried out once, then spat out a scroll only half the size of a little finger.

Hagart opened the scroll, and his gaze instantly sharpened.

"The Church of Lightsen Gate... what a hateful bunch." The old man pulled open the curtain and looked toward the distant sky.

Although Rhode's family had been put on the wanted list, Clinton still looked peaceful, as if nothing had been affected.

But the old man knew the sky would soon be covered in dark clouds.

Rhode had no idea what kind of scheme lay behind his family's wanted status.

Because he knew nothing. He was muddleheaded, like a fool.

But he did know the facts before him. Shilo and his father were trapped in the Imperial Capital, and his mother was nowhere to be found.

From this moment on, he too would have to live in hiding.

But first, he had to find his mother.

Rhode ran through the sewers like a wolf, accompanied by countless filthy rats.

Their sparse rustling mixed with dripping water and the sound of his footsteps.

Every strand of their fur, every claw, carried the stench of the sewer. It was revolting.

And Rhode, once a noble, was now stained with that same smell.

But Rhode didn't care about any of it. He only silently made his way beneath a manhole cover, then quietly pushed it open.

Along the way, he had opened many manhole covers. Most of them were in the middle of the road, so they weren't suitable exits.

This time, though, his luck was finally not so bad. At last, he found one inside an alley.

He laboriously shifted the manhole cover aside, then climbed out of the sewer.

The air on the street couldn't be called fresh, but it was far better than the smell down below.

"The smell is weird. I'm really not used to it," Rhode muttered.

Well, no matter what, Rhode had been born a noble. It was only natural that he had never experienced crawling through sewers.

But after that one murmur, Rhode shut his mouth.

He pulled up his collar, leaving only his eyes and black hair exposed.

Everyone knew Shilo Carasco and Rhode Carasco were twin brothers.

But compared to that, almost no one knew that this elder twin brother had dyed his hair black not long ago.

Even if a small number of the people hunting him knew, the majority definitely didn't.

To be safe, Rhode still chose not to walk on the main roads. Instead, he planned to move across the rooftops.

Using those long-unused iron ladders, now rusted over, Rhode climbed up with ease.

The sky gradually darkened. Many crows wheeled through the air, searching the city for carrion and garbage.

Beneath those black wings, Rhode moved across the city above like a black panther, swift and light.

He kept his body pressed as low as possible, so people in the distance wouldn't notice him moving across the rooftops.

There was still a long way from Hagart's place to his home, so Rhode couldn't let his guard down for even a moment.

"Did someone just run across the rooftops?" A sharp-eyed guard noticed a faint figure flash past on a distant roof and couldn't help nudging his companion with an elbow.

"What are you talking about? There's no one there." His companion looked in the direction the guard was pointing, but didn't see anyone.

"Meow~" At that moment, a cat beside them let out a lazy cry.

"Maybe it was just a cat," the companion said, even laughing at the guard for being too sensitive.

"Yeah... probably a cat." The guard was persuaded too, and scratched the back of his head.

That figure on the roof had been very low to the ground. It hadn't looked like a person running.

Maybe it really was just a cat.