90: Chapter 90 Welcome to My Year-End Performance Review

Overnight, the invitation from Blackstone Territory became the most sought-after topic in the Imperial aristocratic circles.

The invitation itself, written with obsidian powder and mithril ink, was a valuable work of art.

More importantly, it was the signal it sent.

After that subversive victory in the High Court, everyone thought the young border lord would follow through with his victory and use his pervasive business model to devour the last bit of survival space for the old nobility.

However, he did not.

Instead, he chose to hold a grand victory banquet and invited many guests.

To the traditional nobles whose interests had been damaged by the rise of Blackstone Territory, this was undoubtedly a sign of weakness and reconciliation.

An upstart, in the end, still had to seek the recognition of established powers.

Their tensed nerves relaxed, and greed once again took the high ground.

This might be an excellent opportunity—an opportunity to recover losses or even get a piece of the pie in a "decent aristocratic manner" at the banquet table.

For a while, RSVPs confirming attendance flew back to the Duke's mansion in the Imperial Capital like snowflakes.

Inside the study, the fire in the fireplace burned brightly, dyeing the room in a warm layer of orange.

Levi sat behind a large desk, his fingertips lightly tapping on a list.

The dry scent of high-grade parchment mixed with ink permeated the air.

"This is the final list of attendees, Master."

Evelyn's voice carried a hint of the softness unique to a succubus, but her tone was as cold as iron.

She handed a compiled list to Levi. In those violet eyes, there was none of her usual charm, only the absolute focus belonging to an HR director and intelligence chief.

Levi's gaze swept over the list.

Behind every name, the family, fief, and primary industries were noted in elegant handwriting.

Among them, seven names were heavily circled in bright red ink by Evelyn.

His finger lightly brushed over the first circled name—the Third Elder of the Byron Family, Otto Byron.

This old fellow was technically his grand-uncle and the most stubborn conservative in the family.

When Levi first inherited the title of lord, this man was the one who caused the most trouble.

The remaining six red circles on the list belonged to six ancient families that had been incited by Victor and shouted the loudest in court.

Their industries were mostly traditional mines or handicraft workshops, which had been almost completely destroyed under the impact of Blackstone Territory's standardization.

The corner of Levi's mouth curled into an imperceptible cold sneer.

This red-circled list perfectly overlapped with the intelligence Sylvie had previously risked her life to obtain from a "Grey Hand" informant.

To cut off someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents. The ancients did not deceive me.

He put down the list and stood up, the firelight from the fireplace dancing in his pitch-black eyes.

"How is the progress of the banquet hall's renovation?"

"Master Buck is performing the final rune debugging," Evelyn reported as she followed behind him. "As per your request, all modifications are hidden beneath the original decorations. From the surface, there will be no change."

"Let's go see."

Passing through the deep, quiet corridor, a scent mixed with metal dust and the slight heat of magic crystals wafted toward them.

The renovation of the banquet hall was nearing its end.

Buck, the dwarf engineer, was lying under an upturned floorboard, drenched in sweat. He used a special pair of pliers inlaid with a magnifying lens to carefully connect two mithril wires thinner than a strand of hair.

His signature large beard was tied into several strands to avoid interfering with his work.

Seeing Levi enter, he gave a muffled greeting as a salute, but his hands did not pause for a moment.

Levi's gaze did not linger on him but slowly swept across the entire hall.

It remained magnificent, with exquisite mythological reliefs on the walls looking lifelike, recounting the glory of the Byron Family ancestors.

But Levi knew that behind every relief, three-inch-thick magic alloy armor had been installed, enough to withstand a full-strength strike from a Battle Qi Master.

Overhead, the giant chandelier made of thousands of crystal pieces emitted a soft, bright light, illuminating the entire hall like daylight.

Its core, however, had long since been replaced. It was no longer a simple lighting array but a terrifying "Anti-Magic Field Generator."

Once activated, it could drain ninety percent of the free magic elements in the area within three seconds, turning any spell requiring an incantation into a joke.

Beneath the polished marble floor, independent micro-runes were inscribed under every single tile.

These runes were connected to the hall's central control hub, allowing real-time monitoring of pressure data and vital signs under every dining table.

Whose weight was abnormal, whose heart rate accelerated, or whose internal energy showed abnormal fluctuations would all be fed back to his terminal in the form of data at the first opportunity.

This was no longer a banquet hall.

It was a meticulously disguised, digitized slaughterhouse.

Levi walked to the opening in the floor, his voice calm. "Master Buck, I want to ensure that when the gates drop, not even a fly can get out."

"Rest assured, Boss," Buck said without looking up, his movements as steady as a mountain. "I'm using the highest standards of our dwarf vaults. Once these adamantine gates drop, unless a dragon rams them, no one is getting out. Oh, right," he seemed to remember something and poked half his head out of the hole, a smug, cruel smile on his face. "As per your instructions, the inner side of the gates also comes with the latest 'Silence Runes' for free. I guarantee that even if the world inside is turned upside down, all those outside will hear is your toast speech."

Levi nodded in satisfaction.

This was what he liked about dwarves: professional and creative.

Just then, Evelyn walked over quickly with silent steps. She handed over an urgent report that had just arrived via magic messenger, her brow slightly furrowed. "Master, there has been a slight accident."

Levi took the report and scanned it quickly.

The content of the report was simple: a lady named Caroline had also obtained an invitation through her connection with the Third Imperial Princess, Ella Radiant.

"Caroline?" Levi had some impression of this name.

In the Imperial Capital's social circles recently, this name had appeared with high frequency.

It was said she was a distant relative of a fallen count's family from the south, possessing stunning beauty, impeccable manners, and an extraordinary appreciation for art and luxury goods. She had quickly become a new favorite in the noble ladies' salons.

Evelyn retrieved all the intelligence about her.

The background check was as clean as a blank sheet of paper. Whether it was her birthplace, family genealogy, or upbringing records, everything was perfect, with no flaws to be found.

"My intuition tells me she is very dangerous," Evelyn's voice was very low, a hint of imperceptible wariness flashing in her violet eyes. "Her disguise is too perfect—so perfect that it's as if she was 'manufactured' specifically for a certain purpose. I can smell the scent of my own kind on her, but it's even... colder."

The scent of her own kind?

A thought flashed through Levi's mind.

Evelyn was a succubus, skilled in seduction and disguise.

For her to say such things, the person was certainly no ordinary individual.

A top-tier spy? Or... an assassin?

Levi pondered for a moment, his gaze falling on the information about Caroline's "extraordinary appreciation for luxury goods."

"Evelyn," he suddenly spoke, "go send a message to Duke Dupont."

Duke Dupont, a bloated old-school noble, was one of Blackstone Territory's largest distributors in the Imperial Capital and a notorious old lecher.

"At your command."

"Have the Duke find an opportunity before tonight's banquet begins to 'accidentally' leak some news. As for Levi's profits... just say it's at least this much every year." He held up five fingers.

Evelyn understood instantly. "Five hundred thousand Gold Lion Coin?"

"No," Levi shook his head, a wicked smile playing on his lips, "it's a fifty percent share of the net profit."

Evelyn's breath hitched for a moment.

That was a number enough to make any king envious.

"Also, tell him," Levi added, "that I haven't decided on the candidate for this agent yet. But I have one small requirement: the other party must possess 'impeccable aesthetic taste and a noble background.' Only then can we guarantee the style of our Blackstone Territory brand."

Evelyn's...

Night fell, and the lights were lit.

Traffic bustled in front of the Duke's mansion as one ornately decorated carriage after another stopped. Glamorous noble men and women, led by attendants and wearing polite yet hypocritical smiles, stepped onto the stage that belonged to Levi tonight.

The Empire's Chief Investigator, Sorenson, was the first to arrive.

He was still in that unremarkable deep grey uniform, his face devoid of expression, like a walking stone statue.

He refused all pleasantries and was respectfully invited by a waiter into an independent private box on the second floor.

The view from here was the best in the entire banquet hall, allowing everything below to be seen at a glance.

However, the giant floor-to-ceiling crystal windows of the box were enchanted with one-way observation spells; from the outside, only a blurred shadow of light could be seen.

The edges of the window frames were also inscribed with imperceptible recording arrays, faithfully documenting everything that happened here, including sound and images.

Levi had indeed arranged the best "observation seat" for him.

Sorenson sat on the sofa in the box, his gaze like a hawk's as he began to scrutinize every "sample" entering the hall below.

Soon, Levi also noticed the woman named Caroline.

She wore a moon-white long dress and no overly flashy jewelry, yet the moment she walked into the hall, she attracted everyone's gaze.

Her beauty was not the aggressive kind of glamour, but an exquisite and elegant beauty like a classical sculpture.

Her every smile and every toast seemed to have undergone the most precise calculation, so perfect that not a single flaw could be found.

She successfully caught Duke Dupont's attention.

Levi saw the fat Duke holding a wine glass, leaning in close to Caroline, boasting about something with spit flying.

Caroline, meanwhile, maintained a polite smile, nodding in agreement from time to time and showing a perfectly measured amount of deep interest.

It was done.

The fish was beginning to bite.

Levi withdrew his gaze, picked up a glass of fruit wine, and moved among the guests who harbored their own ulterior motives, clinking glasses and chatting merrily as if he were truly hosting a harmonious victory banquet.

Time passed minute by minute.

When the last name circled in red on the list—a baron of the Dracula Family, a mine owner known for his ruthlessness—was grumblingly led to his seat by a waiter, Levi knew that all the actors were in place.

He slowly walked onto the high platform at the front of the banquet hall. The entire hall instantly fell silent, and all eyes focused on him.

He raised the golden wine cup in his hand, the clear liquid reflecting a charming halo under the light of the crystal lamps.

"I thank you all for gracing us with your presence as winter approaches." His voice, clear and magnetic, spread through every corner of the hall via an amplification array.

The moment the first syllable left his lips, a sudden change occurred!

Boom—!

Amidst a heavy, tooth-aching sound of metal grinding, all the exits of the banquet hall, including the giant floor-to-ceiling windows that looked like decorations, were slammed shut by thick adamantine gates shimmering with magic runes!

The sudden turn of events caused all the guests' faces to change drastically, and cries of alarm rose everywhere.

"What's going on?"

"Levi! What do you want to do!"

Immediately following, the exquisite reliefs on the walls, the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, and even the edges of every dining table lit up with ghostly blue rune lights in sequence.

A wave of cold and oppressive energy swept through the entire hall like a tide.

Shadow Warrior Zero, hidden in the Shadow Plane, felt alarm bells ringing in his heart.

He was lurking like a ghost in the shadow layer behind the platform Levi stood on, waiting for the optimal moment for assassination.

As one of the continent's top assassins, the Shadow Plane was his backyard, where he could come and go as he pleased.

However, at this moment, he discovered to his horror that the spatial laws around him seemed to have turned into a pot of boiling porridge, becoming viscous and chaotic.

An irresistible and massive repulsive force squeezed in from all directions, as if the entire space was rejecting him, the "foreign object."

Pfft!

Before he could even react, he was violently ejected from his hiding place in the Shadow Plane by this wild spatial force, crashing awkwardly onto the platform at Levi's feet.

The entire room went dead silent.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at this suddenly appearing masked man in black night-gear.

Levi, however, merely glanced down at the legendary chief assassin at his feet as if he were looking at a gecko that had accidentally fallen from the ceiling.

The smile on his face remained unchanged, but the warmth in his eyes had faded, replaced by an absolute, icy indifference.

He ignored the commotion of the crowd and the terrified gazes below, raised his wine glass again, and continued his unfinished toast in a tone so calm it was hair-raising.

An icy, emotionless mechanical synthesized voice echoed through every corner of the hall via the amplification array, crushing everyone's terror and clamor into dust.

"Honored guests, welcome to the Blackstone Territory Annual Summary Meeting and the Bottom-Out Elimination Ceremony. Now, the assessment begins."