The rumors festered for six days. They spread through w******p groups like harmattan dust, settling into every corner of Lagos's professional community. They were discussed in boardrooms and bus stops, in exclusive golf clubs and crowded buka joints. Each retelling added a new layer of venom. Elian Athen, the so-called man of integrity, was exposed as a fraud. A failure. A hypocrite whose principles had crumbled the moment they were tested.
Elian did nothing.
He woke each morning, completed his System quests, mentored his small circle of followers, and continued his work mediating disputes for those who still trusted him. But the numbers dwindled. Clients who had been eager faded into silence. The market traders, loyal but fearful, grew cautious in their greetings. The only constant was
