I'm a Immortal Tavernkeeper, But My S-Rank Daughter Doesn't Know That!

"Foosh!" Victor took a long breath upon his return, as if he had been underwater for a long time.

His heart was racing, and he put his right hand on his chest to measure it. At the same time, he looked around. He was in a dark and dirty hallway between two buildings. He could hear the sound of the sea in the distance and some of the noise of the harbor not far away. He was back in the alley from where he had spotted Garret Darksoul’s warehouse.

Victor then sighed in relief and quickly started to look for something on the ground, something in which he could see his own reflection.

As luck would have it, there was a metal cup lying among all the other trash. Victor picked it up, wiped the surface with the sleeve of his tunic, and checked the reflection of his own face.

His hair was as white as ever. It was almost one of his most distinguishing features at this stage of his life. Where one could see a slight difference was in his beard, which was no longer as long.

That meant he was right, his plan had worked, he had rejuvenated. The problem was to find out how long it had been and why he had this ’extra ability’.

Victor never rejuvenated so much that others noticed, and the amount of time he rejuvenated seemed very close to the time he ’lost’ when using black magic. Of course, there were powerful black spells that required a lot of his life span, but most of them only took him between four weeks and three months.

Thinking from this perspective, the reason for Victor to rejuvenate when he died seemed to be a message for Victor to use more black magic and solve all his problems much faster.

Victor clenched his right fist in uncertainty. These new thoughts distracted him when he suddenly heard the sound of a glass bottle rolling behind him.

Victor felt his heart race for a moment as he heard the sound. He quickly turned around, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, only to be surprised to see Bel Selvarum behind him. The young apprentice had been spying on his master and had followed him there.

Bel, with his wide eyes and panting breath, was obviously nervous about being discovered. He was dressed in dark clothing, suitable for nighttime infiltration, but his posture and movements betrayed his lack of experience.

Victor felt a mixture of surprise and irritation at seeing the boy there, just like the first time. He stood up and slowly approached the young man, who instinctively explained himself:

"I... I only want to help, Master. I know this mission is important and dangerous, and I couldn’t stand by and watch you..."

A firm hug from Victor interrupted Bel’s explanations.

"Master?"

Victor pulled away and kept his hands on Bel’s shoulders. "Look, this isn’t training. This is a real mission and any mistake could cost us both our lives." He said in a stern tone. "Normally I’d let you help me, but the thing is, there are some pretty powerful people in there, at least rank B Renegade Hunters. You’ll be more of a hindrance than a help."

Hearing these words was hard for young Bel Selvarum, especially since it was his master telling him that no matter how much progress he had made, he was still not good enough to walk side by side with his master. But Bel could also sense that Victor was serious, and that this was a critical situation.

"Stay out here as backup and be ready to warn your aunt about anything. If I manage to get what I’m after, I’ll leave here quickly and you should do the same".

Bel’s eyes widened, surprised that he still had something to contribute.

"Thank you, Master. I promise I won’t let you down." Bel said.

Victor put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair, even though Bel had long since turned eighteen and was no longer a child.

"Now I’m leaving."

"Good luck, master."

"Thank you."

Victor walked to the end of the alley, where he spotted the large wooden warehouse again. The main entrance was just as busy as the last time, which meant that the loophole he had used was still there. He walked up to the high iron fence, looked both ways, and silently jumped into the building. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Now, Victor could use the same plan as before, tie a hook to the rope on his belt and throw it through a second-story window. However, Victor wanted to change his approach a bit.

The first time he had only fought to a limited extent in such confined spaces inside the warehouse, and he had only done so because he had also stayed away from where the black sword was, but this time he would be the one who had to retrieve the sword on his own, and a new approach proved necessary, even if the results were a little unpredictable.

Victor positioned himself behind a column of crates piled next to the high iron fence. He waited for the right moment, the exact second when the distraction of a few guards would create the perfect breach for his entry.

He picked up a small pebble from the ground and threw it in the opposite direction. The sound of the impact was soft, but enough to attract the attention of one guard.

The man stopped for a moment, frowned, and began to walk in the direction of the sound, curious and suspicious.

Victor, crouching in the darkness, put his hand on his right ankle, where he hid his knife.

When the guard was close enough, Victor moved quickly, covering the guard’s mouth with a firm hand as he struck him square in the neck. The guard fell instantly into Victor’s arms, who gently laid him on the ground so as not to make a sound and pulled him into the darkness.

One of the guards in the guardhouse looked at his companions, counted them and saw that one was missing. There were six and now there were only five. He was sure it wasn’t shift change time yet, so he asked:

"Hey, did Caio go to get the water off his knee?"

Two guards looked at each other and denied hearing Caio say anything. Then the guard in the guardhouse said he would check if Caio was in the back and slowly started to approach where Victor was. This was perfect for the plan Victor had in mind.