God of Systems: Maker of Heroes and Villains

While Keith was busy with Barbos, a beggar rushed towards a huge gate and stopped in front of two guards.

"Here," he said and showed them a bronze badge.

Seeing the badge, the guards looked at each other's faces and immediately opened the gate without a word.

The beggar walked in and went straight to the mansion of the Marquess. The people there recognised him and escorted him to the study room of the noble.

"Marquess Hamstero, I'm here with an important piece of news for you." the beggar said as he walked into the study.

Hamstero was a short man, but he had a mysterious sort of activeness within him. He nodded and looked at his servants who immediately left the room.

He then stood up from his chair and began to walk across the room as he spoke, "Tell me."

"An inquisitor named Keith Zenister came to the Barbarosa Estate and publicly executed the lady. There is a high chance that he might come to us next, but there is also a chance of him going to Countess Wisteria first."

Hamstero shook his head, "No, he'll most probably come here next if you consider the distance. Lady Wisteria has taken a neutral stance in the succession wars and this inquisitor seems to have some bad blood with the second prince.

On top of that, he has also sided with the third prince. If he attacks the people under his opponent, then it'll be easy for the third prince to win."

"But sire... there's more." the beggar said as he took out a few small scrolls from his pockets and gave them to the Marquess, "My brother has been sending me these through pigeons and apparently, the viscount gave a hundred soldiers to Keith.

On top of that... I forgot to mention the fourth princess. She's been traveling with Keith and it looks like she might accompany him if he does plan on coming here."

"I see." the nobleman said as he began to read the letters one by one.

Two minutes later, he nodded as he crumpled all the letters and tossed them into the trash bin.

"Feel free to go back to your family and spend some time with them. Things might get a little heated in a few days..." he said and pointed at the door, "As you leave, tell the knight to come in."

"As you wish, sire."

The beggar left and soon after, a muscular man walked into the room, "You needed me?"

Hamstero nodded and smiled, "How's your wife doing? She gave birth a few months ago, right?"

The knight's expression turned serious immediately, "You... usually don't ask about her... are we in some sort of emergency situation?"

"My sister is the concubine of the second prince, so we didn't really have much of a choice but to side with him and now it's biting us in the back. There's an inquisitor who is out for the blood of everyone who's on the second prince's side and it looks like we're his next target."

The knight smirked and flexed his muscled, "Heh, don't worry. You know how strong I am, right?"

Hamstero kicked the knight's thigh before clicking his tongue, "Tch, it still feels like I'm kicking a rock. But even then, you won't be able to beat that man. You weren't allowed to attend the coming of age ceremony so you don't know much about him, but...

You know Max right? Max Von Cruz, the unfortunate child of the Von Cruz family?"

"Yeah... he's an extremely talented swordsman and he can actually kill me if he wanted... He's so young, but so damn strong."

"You're just one year older than him." Hamstero commented before giving him a wry smile, "Keith absolutely humiliated him in during the event. It felt like he was playing with Max like he was some sort of toy."

The knight stared at the Marquess, absolutely speechless due to the words he had just heard.

He blinked a few times and shook his head, "Wait.. what?"

"You heard right. I saw him completely suppress the grand duke's son, like with almost no effort. In a way, it felt like I was watching Duke Arthur fight... haaaa, I really don't want to go against him since I don't really know the full extent of his powers."

"Well, we can always use a revolver to get his ass, right? What's the big deal?" the knight asked, but this time, Hamstero genuinely felt like slapping him.

He clenched his fists a few times to calm down before nodding, "Sure, we can use revolvers but we only have four with us. We don't know how the awakened abilities of his teammates work. He's not the only mysterious person in the group."

"Then what's the plan? Are you just going to sit here and cry like a bitch?"

Hamstero looked at the knight and clicked his tongue, "You should be glad that you're my friend. If someone finds out that a knight called me a bitch, they'd be shocked to death."

"Yeah yeah, stop exaggerating. Anyways, you have a plan right? You always do..." the knight asked, feeling slightly under-confident.

The Marquess sighed, "We stand our ground and we'll not allow them into the city. That's the best option at this moment since we can bit our time and ask for help from our neighbors and the second prince.

We can technically use this to scare him but I doubt it'll work. We don't know what his plans are, so all we can do is wait and watch."

"Can you tell me what in the hell is going on? We can't be that helpless right?" The knight grumbled as he punched the wall with frustration.

Hamstero shrugged, "Like I said, I don't know. It depends on what that inquisitor wants from us."

He saw his friend's expression and then sighed before sitting down on his chair, "Alright, listen. I'll tell you everything I know."

He then shared everything he found out from the letters and once he was done, his friend frowned, "Looks like he wants soldiers... we have a lot of them, so can't we just give some of our men to him?

Also, it's a good thing that bitch died. I can't believe she did things like that.... ugh, evil witch."

"They're my people, Romano... I can't just hand them over to some random guy and expect him to treat them well. Why do you think my grandfather build this great wall? It's so that he could protect the lives of his people better.

I don't think I'll be able to forgive myself if I just give them to him.... never..."

Romano stared at his friend and sighed, "Listen, if that inquisitor does plan on attacking, then it's not like you have a choice. You'll probably end up seeing more than thousand of your people dead if he's as great as you portray him to be."

"I.... I know..." Hamstero sighed as he pushed his hair backwards, "I just, I'm just so confused right now."

"Sometimes, you gotta be flexible my friend." Romano said as he patted the Marquess's shoulder, "Why don't you talk to him first before seeing what he wants? Then it'll be easier to make a decision. There's no point in assuming things and beating yourself over them."

"Right.... thanks."

*******

Two days later, Keith's two carriages stopped a few meters away from the gate. The group climbed out and saw soldiers standing on the wall with their crossbows loaded.

"Hmm, such a nice welcome." Keith said and chuckled. The rest of his team felt a slight annoyance with their current situation, but Keith silently waited as he kept an eye on his system screen.

'Four... three... two and... hmm? Yeah one.' he thought and right at that moment, a rope was dropped from the wall and a guy climbed down before walking towards Keith's group.

Once he got close, he nervously pulled out a scroll from his pocket and began to read the contents inside.

"Arh, Ahem." he coughed to clear his throat and began, "I've received news that you caused chaos in Viscount Barbarosa's territory and due to this, I wish to not have any troubles brewing in my territory.

It would be great if you tell us what you want and we will do our best to accommodate as long as it isn't something excessive.

As the Marquess who is in charge of this territory, I do not wish to get into a confrontation and I really hope that I wouldn't have to see any blood spilled. If you need something, we can talk."

Keith silently listened at he stared at the messenger and once he was done, he smiled at the guy.

"Go tell your Marquess that I'm willing to talk peacefully over lunch. We didn't come here with aggressive intentions either. The wife of Viscount Barbarosa was criminal, so we had to take action but I don't see any serious problems with your territory." he said and the messenger nodded before running back towards the wall.

Once he climbed back up, he let out a heavy sigh of relief before rushing towards the Marquess who was on the other side of the wall.

"Marquess, the inquisitor..." he began and once he was done relaying the message, he saw the nobleman in front of him visibly relax.

"Oh good lord... but we can't take his words at face value so stay alert. Go and tell him that he's invited to join me at my mansion but only he's allowed. No wait... ugh, I don't wanna piss him off." Hamstero said and sighed before continuing.

"Just tell him that he's invited to join me with his team..."