A deep grayish smoke wafted out of the steam locomotive's smokestack and engulfed the surroundings in a thick cloud.

Standing outside, the black-suited men held on to the leashes of the hungry-looking dogs and coldly gazed at the train staff.

The locomotive staff was just nervously waiting for permission to move the locomotive again, as they were starting to become quite nervous about the potential danger posed by the surrounding wildlife.

Whenever they were back at Kornacis, sitting in the locomotive station's break room, they read the daily news of the Whitesky.

It seemed like every day there were more and more reports of people vanishing just outside the main cities.

"When can we leave…"

"I don't like this…"

The steam locomotive staff kept pacing back and forth. Some started smoking cigarettes, and others nervously checked their timepieces.

"Bark! Bark!"

At that moment, the dogs started barking loudly, trying to break free from their leashes, and the locomotive staff almost pissed their pants at the sight of that.

Crack! Crash!

Through one of the windows of the locomotive, a man jumped out, landed on the grass, and after rolling back to his feet, he started running towards the forest.

"It's him!"

"Chase after him!"

The black-suited men of the Magisterial Yard mounted their horses and let go of the leashes of the dogs to hunt down the fugitive.

The dogs sprinted ahead, chasing after the man, and they were soon right on his heels while Alan, the one running, was looking very desperate.

"Shit! Shit! Oh my god!"

Alan looked over his shoulder at the dogs, who looked like they wanted to take a bite off his arms.

In one of the sleeping car rooms, Kael watched through the window at the chase scene, shook his head, and lit up a cigarette.

"It doesn't look like he will get very far."

"Oh my goodness!"

Dorian also watched through the window, shuddering slightly at the thought of getting bitten by those dogs.

At that moment, Alan stopped running, turned around to face the dogs, and pulled out hard-looking cards from his breast pockets.

"Sleep!"

He threw the cards at the dogs, landing at their long snouts, and the dogs instantly slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

At that moment, the horses came running, and one of the black-suited men threw a rope, wrapped it around Alan's right arm, and started dragging him across the ground.

"Aaargh!"

Alan snapped his fingers—a card appeared between his fingers—and he then used it to cut off the rope that was tied around his arm.

He got free, but before he could even climb to his feet, about seven horses circled around him with their riders looking at him sinisterly.

"Alan Ionescu, you're under arrest for theft and murder!"

A black-suited man shouted.

In the sleeping car, Kael curiously tapped his forehead, quite curious about Alan's pathway and class.

Despite Alan being quite far, he was still able to check his Mind Image and saw the words hovering in the air as well.

[Name: Alan Ionescu]

[Pathway: Magician]

[Level: 5]

[Class: Arcane Wizard]

'It looks like he mostly specializes in card magic. It seems that he carried some cards that can put people to sleep in him, but only a few, and the rest he has to summon, like I do with Black Revolver.

'It means that for every card he summons, he spends more divinity, but I think level 5 Magicians should have plenty of divinity to spend…

'Unless he already spent some before taking a trip at the locomotive.'

Kael thought.

Alan looked around at the black-suited men, gritted his teeth, and dark thoughts swirled inside his mind.

If he just surrendered, he was still going to spend many years behind bars, and that was not what he wanted.

'I'd rather try to run away!'

He thought.

With a snap of his finger, a smoking card appeared between his fingers, and the black-suited men tensed up.

Alan threw the smoking card at the ground between his feet, and a smoke cloud exploded outwards, enveloping him in a thick cover.

"Agility!"

Two more cards appeared between his fingers—they were agility cards—and he touched his legs with them.

It increased the flexibility and strength of his leg muscles—he felt like he could leap across whole canyons now—and he immediately tested that theory.

He jumped out of the smoke cloud, towards the dark forest in the distance, and felt the wind rush past his face as he soared through the air.

"Stop right there!"

At that moment, a booming voice echoed through the dark night, and Alan could feel his body and thoughts turn more sluggish.

It felt like he was trying to soar through an air that was thick as mud.

'Lea…der!'

Alan thought, and at that moment, a blue-steel chain wrapped around his chest, very tightly, and brought him crashing back on the ground.

Where he landed, a small crater formed, but Alan was already back on his feet, and he sliced through the blue-steel chain with his cutting card!

"Hmm…"

A black-suited man looked at his blue-steel chain, which was effortlessly slashed through, and just sighed.

"Bark! Bark!"

At that moment, another dog came running from behind Alan, drooling through his teeth, and chased after Alan's heels.

"Shit!"

Alan hurled the cutting card at the dog, slicing through the throat of the creature, and the dog fell to the ground with a thud.

Bang!

At that moment, the tree-shaking sound of a bang came, and before Alan could do anything, a bullet pierced through his forehead, and he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

With a smoking barrel, a cold-looking man stood in the distance, the black overcoat swirling around him, and he then holstered the gun.

The other black-suited men looked at him, tipped their fedoras, and went to pick up Alan's corpse.

"No mercy for the wicked."

The cold-looking man said.

"T-they killed him!"

Dorian said in shock and hid under the window, because he was afraid that they might go after him next, even though he had done nothing wrong.

"This is Magisterial Yard, huh? I think they could've captured him without killing, but I guess this is justice to them."

Kael said, curious about the person who killed Alan, and tapped his forehead.

[Name: Chase Lavigne]

[Pathway: Outlaw]

[Level: 6]

[Class: Piece of Shit]

'What an interesting… class name.'