The Northvale Key

Episode 18

The fire devoured Dock 9 greedily, sending orange flames licking at the thick night sky. Cassian Northvale stood at the edge of the vibrating deck, his eyes narrowing through the lung-choking black smoke. Amidst the blaze, he saw the bound silhouette of Mr. Breyer, his head hanging weakly as the seawater began to creep up his legs.

Secure the left side! Don't let the flames touch the fuel tanks! Cassian shouted through his earpiece.

Sir, the area is unstable! You have to get out now! Agent D’s voice sounded panicked in his ear.

Not without Breyer! Cassian lunged into the curtain of fire. His skin felt like it was roasting, but the anger in his chest burned much hotter. With one powerful jerk, he severed the chains binding Breyer using a small laser cutter from his pocket. The old man’s body went limp in Cassian’s arms.

You... Cassian? Breyer murmured, his voice hoarse from the smoke.

Don't talk. We're getting out of here, Cassian hissed. He carried Breyer and leaped toward the emergency lifeboat just as a massive explosion collapsed the dock's main structure behind them.

Twelve hours later.

The Grand Ballroom of Northvale City sparkled under the glow of crystal chandeliers. Hundreds of high-class entrepreneurs, government officials, and global investors gathered for the City Leadership Conference. The scent of expensive perfume and high-quality cigars filled the air, creating an atmosphere of arrogant prosperity.

Behind the stage, Lianna Ashworth looked pale. Her cold fingers repeatedly squeezed the tablet containing her presentation draft. The sapphire blue dress she wore made her look like a queen, but her swollen eyes could not hide the emotional exhaustion she carried.

Lianna, you're shaking, Cassian whispered, standing right behind her. He wore a neat black suit, though a hint of redness remained in his eyes from lack of sleep and the smoke from Dock 9.

I'm afraid, Cassian. If this presentation fails, the Valerian Group won't have a second chance in the eyes of the city council, Lianna looked at her husband in despair. Everyone is waiting for me to fall. Grandmother, Stark... they're all out there.

Cassian held his wife's shoulders, applying gentle pressure that conveyed calmness. You've practiced a thousand times. The numbers on that tablet are a truth they cannot deny. I will be standing right there in front of you.

But what if the technical side glitches again like yesterday?

I've checked everything, Cassian lied to calm Lianna. He knew Kenneth Stark would not remain idle, but he had already set the Syndicate's cyber team to stand guard. Go on. Show them who the real CEO of Valerian is.

Lianna took a deep breath, gave a small nod, and stepped out as the host called her name. The applause that followed felt cold and formal. In the front row, Kenneth Stark sat with a sickening smirk, while Old Madam Ashworth watched with a judgmental gaze from a distance.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Lianna began, her voice trembling slightly but remaining clear. Today, the Valerian Group will present the future of our port infrastructure...

Lianna touched her tablet to display the first slide. However, what happened was unexpected. The giant projector screen behind her flickered violently. Instead of growth charts, rows of red error codes filled the entire screen.

I'm sorry, it seems there is a technical glitch, Lianna said, trying to remain calm. She tried again, but the screen suddenly displayed photos of the burning Valerian buildings at Dock 9 from last night, accompanied by large text: FAILED COMPANY, ZERO SECURITY.

The hall suddenly erupted with insulting whispers.

What is this? A presentation or an accident report? shouted one of the investors from the middle row.

Valerian is truly ruined! another chimed in.

Lianna froze in place. Her face turned pale, and her eyes welled up as she stared at the photos of the dock's destruction, which were supposed to be internal company secrets. She turned toward the operator, but the man there looked panicked and helpless. Stark's sabotage had breached the physical defenses of the stage system.

Kenneth Stark laughed softly, loud enough to be heard by those around him. Truly embarrassing. The Ashworths have really lost their edge.

Old Madam Ashworth covered her eyes with her hand, looking deeply ashamed in front of the city's elite. Get her off the stage now! she hissed to the assistant beside her.

Lianna looked toward Cassian standing at the edge of the stage. She sought refuge in her husband's eyes, but overwhelming shame made her want to disappear immediately. Just as Lianna was about to put down her microphone and run, Cassian Northvale stepped forward.

He did not walk with his head bowed as he usually did. His stride was firm, and his aura had completely changed. Cassian stepped onto the stage, walked past a stunned Lianna, and stood directly in front of the microphone.

Ten billion dollars, Cassian's voice thundered, cutting through all the noise in the room.

The hall instantly fell silent. Hundreds of eyes were now fixed on the man who had long been known only as a useless note-taker.

That is the amount of loss this city will suffer in the next five minutes if you all remain stuck in a 19th-century mindset, Cassian continued. His voice was flat but contained such sharp authority that it silenced everyone.

Who is this man? How dare he speak! exclaimed one of the city council members.

Cassian didn't care. He didn't use a tablet. He didn't use a projector. He stood there, looking directly at the crowd of power brokers.

You see the photo of that burning dock and feel afraid, Cassian pointed to the screen still displaying the smoke. But I see opportunity. In the 21st-century global economy, physical assets are no longer everything. True power lies in data liquidity and market decentralization. What the Valerian Group offers is not just a concrete dock, but an integrated digital logistics network that cannot be consumed by any fire.

Cassian walked slowly across the stage, his eyes now locked on Kenneth Stark, who was beginning to look uneasy.

Kenneth Stark thought he could paralyze a company by destroying a few tons of steel. But he forgot one thing, Cassian paused for a moment, a thin, lethal smile appearing at the corner of his lips. The world is no longer driven by gold in vaults, but by the speed of invisible information flows. The Valerian Group has secured cyber trade routes whose value you cannot even imagine. If you withdraw your investment today, you're not just leaving Valerian. You're leaving history.

Right then, on the projector screen that had been showing errors, a graph of global fund flows moving in real-time suddenly appeared. It wasn't from the stage system, but from the Syndicate system Cassian had activated through his watch.

Look at the numbers, Cassian commanded. That is the volume of trade that just passed through our digital gateway in the last sixty seconds. It is larger than this city's entire annual budget.

Major investors in the room began to stand up. They stared at the screen with their mouths open. The numbers were real, verified by international exchanges that could not be faked.

I have thirty seconds left, Cassian glanced at his watch. The future does not wait for the hesitant. The Valerian Group is no longer a fragile family business. We are the gateway to the Northvale Syndicate.

The choice is yours: Become a global player, or remain a spectator in this dying small town.

Cassian set down the microphone. He turned, took Lianna's hand—she was still frozen in place—and led her off the stage.

A dead silence enveloped the hall for a few seconds. Not a single breath could be heard. No whispers. Kenneth Stark looked deathly pale, his eyes bulging as he stared at the cyber-graphics on the screen, which were now beginning to fade.

Then, suddenly, Mr. Chen stood up from his front-row seat and began to clap loudly. "Incredible! Absolutely revolutionary!"

Within seconds, the entire hall erupted into deafening applause. The wealthy entrepreneurs who had been mocking them moments ago were now scrambling to their feet. They no longer looked at Lianna with pity, but with profound respect, and their gaze toward Cassian was filled with immense curiosity.

"Cassian... what did you just do?" Lianna whispered once they were off the stage. Tears of emotion welled in her eyes. "You saved me."

"I only told them what they needed to hear, Lianna," Cassian replied softly, his aura fading back into that of a calm and humble man.

However, before they could reach the exit, a group of men in expensive suits surrounded them.

"Mr. Northvale! I'm from Global Trust, could we talk for a moment about that network integration?" an enthusiastic middle-aged man asked.

"Sir! I want to increase my investment in the Valerian project! Please, give me ten minutes!" another shouted.

Old Madam Ashworth stood in the distance, frozen as she watched the crowd. She had never seen anything like it. The city's entire elite, the very people she usually groveled to for investment, were now lining up just to shake hands with her "useless" son-in-law.

"Grandmother, look at that," whispered Viona, standing beside her with undisguised envy. "Who is Cassian, really? There is no way he is just a clerk."

Old Madam didn't answer. Her hand clutching the cane trembled violently. She realized one terrifying thing: she had been harboring a dragon in her home for three years without ever knowing it.

Surrounded by the swarm of investors, Cassian remained polite yet firm. He looked at Lianna, signaling for his wife to take over the conversation. He didn't want this stage to belong entirely to him.

"Please speak with our CEO, Madam Lianna," Cassian said, stepping back into the shadows. "I am merely her assistant."

Lianna smiled, her confidence fully restored. She began handling the investors' questions with the poise of a true leader. Yet, her eyes kept drifting toward Cassian, who stood in the corner of the room, calmly sipping a glass of water as if he hadn't just shaken the foundations of the city's financial world.

Suddenly, a waiter approached Cassian discreetly. He wasn't carrying a drink, but a small, neatly folded note.

"From someone upstairs, sir," the waiter whispered before quickly disappearing.

Cassian opened the letter. There was only one short sentence written in gold ink: You have just lit a beacon in the middle of a storm, Mr. North. The Coven has seen you. Now, let us see if you can keep your wife alive while the world hunts you down.

Cassian’s jaw tightened. He glanced toward the second-floor balcony of the ballroom, where he caught sight of a figure in a black cloak staring at him for a split second before vanishing behind the curtains.

Stark is not the only threat, Cassian thought. He glanced at Lianna, who was still laughing with the investors. The security he had just built for his wife had now made her an even bigger target.

Cassian reached for his phone and sent a quick message to Agent D: Activate Protocol Steel Shield. The real war has just begun.

Just as he was about to step toward Lianna, the ballroom lights suddenly cut out completely. The atmosphere, once filled with laughter, turned into screams of panic amidst the harrowing darkness.

"Lianna! Where are you?!" Cassian shouted, his voice piercing through the chaos as he felt a cold gust of wind from someone moving rapidly past him.