The mont Renard stepped into the waiting room, he activated his Prajna ability. Less than a minute later, while scanning his surroundings, he spotted the assassin hiding in camouflage.
It was impressive stealth—Renard never would have sensed him at his current level without the ability.
’This could be really useful!’
He’d just discovered another way to use Prajna, and the ability kept proving itself more powerful than he’d thought.
When he first awakened, he’d assud Devour was the stronger skill since it let him steal other people’s abilities. Now he wasn’t so sure.
Sure, Prajna didn’t boost his combat power directly, but the knowledge and information it provided was invaluable. It could save his life soday.
He’d been watching the assassin for a while now, and there was sothing else he’d noticed.
[Na: Jamad]
[Zone: Master Zone]
[Crest ability: Ghost Root]
[Crest abilities: ????]
He could now see partial information about Master Zone individuals—sothing that used to be completely blocked by question marks before!
That was definitely an upgrade. Co to think of it, even his Devour ability was showing more slots for stolen skills now.
It seed like the abilities from Devourer’s Legacy evolved as he climbed to higher zones. That was completely different from other blood crests, which required endless practice to improve.
’Well, I can think about that later.’
Focusing on the present, Renard looked down at the corpse of the master realm fighter.
The assassin had charged at him without any caution, acting like he could kill Renard in one strike. Thanks to that overconfidence, Renard had finished him with a single move.
Close-range battles really did co down to individual skill. The man hadn’t even gotten a chance to use his crest abilities as Renard slit his throat.
Too bad for him.
"You... H-how... how could you...?"
Eleanor stamred, not believing what she was seeing.
The dead man had been a skilled fighter capable of handling multiple opponents—certainly more than enough to deal with soone like Renard, who had awakened just a few days ago. Yet there he lay, defeated by that very person. Eleanor couldn’t begin to understand what had just happened.
Eleanor’s mind raced, trying to make sense of what she’d witnessed. She’d seen the assassin move with deadly precision, his camouflage ability making him nearly invisible. For a split second, she’d thought it was over—that Renard would be dead before he even knew what hit him.
She was already thinking about how to cover up the whole thing, but sohow, impossibly, the tables had turned in an instant.
’How did he even....? And that speed...’
Bang!
"My lady, what’s happening?!"
The two guards stationed outside burst through the door like they were ready to break it down.
"What the—?!"
Seeing Renard standing over the corpse with a bloodied sword, they gasped and imdiately drew their blades, surrounding him with practiced efficiency.
Eleanor’s mind snapped back to the present danger. If word of this got out—if anyone discovered what had happened here—everything would be ruined. Her family’s reputation, their business dealings, her own future... it would all crumble.
"Kill him! Kill him now!"
"You an... the Young Master?" one guard hesitated.
"Do it before anyone else arrives!"
The guards were clearly reluctant—killing the heir of another great house would have serious political consequences. But if they disobeyed Eleanor’s direct orders, their lives would be forfeit right here and now.
"You guys really think you’ll be fine drawing your swords against the heir of House Grim?"
Renard’s voice cut through the tension like a blade, calm and almost conversational. He hadn’t even bothered to raise his weapon, standing there as if he were discussing the weather.
The guards winced at his words. They were caught between a knife and a hard place—they couldn’t disobey Eleanor, but they couldn’t fight Renard either.
They were seriously questioning their choice to barge in at this mont.
"Well, it’s your choice. Besides, do you really think you can kill ?"
Renard glanced at the corpse beside him, as if indicating they’d be next if they ca any closer.
"My lady, why don’t we handle this like civilized people?" Renard said, his voice taking on an almost mocking politeness.
Eleanor’s jaw clenched at his audacity. Here he was, standing over a corpse in her private chambers, acting as if nothing had happened.
"Small disagreents happen between young couples. You know how these business negotiations can get heated."
His words were starting to irritate Eleanor.
"Everyone goes through rough patches when they’re young. It’s all about learning to compromise."
He then swung his sword in a clean arc, flicking off the assassin’s blood using the montum.
"Still, I think we can have a proper conversation now, right, Lady Eleanor?"
Renard took a step toward her, and imdiately the guards tensed. But they remained frozen, acutely aware that any sudden movent might seal their fate.
Eleanor found herself backing up a half-step before catching herself. She wouldn’t show weakness, not in front of her own guards, not in her own domain.
Looking directly into Eleanor’s eyes—which now blazed with fury and sothing else, perhaps fear—Renard couldn’t help but let his smile widen. The rage burning in her gaze was almost amusing to him.
"You see, if you’d just handed over the money when I asked nicely, things wouldn’t have gotten to this point. It’s really just pocket change for soone with your resources. Why make everything so difficult?"
"You..." Eleanor began, her voice shaking—whether from fury or fear, she couldn’t tell anymore.
"Well, since things have gotten a bit more complicated now," Renard interrupted smoothly, gesturing toward the corpse with his now-clean blade, "I can’t just let this slide with the original terms, can I?"
He said, pointing toward the corpse.
Though he said this, Renard had never really expected Eleanor to give in easily from the start. In fact, the way things had played out was exactly as he’d expected, and he found the whole situation rather entertaining.
With a smile still on his lips, Renard delivered the final blow.
"Let share so unfortunate news with you, Lady Eleanor. The price just went up—it’s now 20,000 gold. The extra 10,000 is for the ntal damage you’ve inflicted on this poor soul by forcing to defend myself."
He paused, letting the outrageous sum sink in before adding with mock sympathy, "I do hope this whole ordeal hasn’t been too traumatic for you. Violence is so... unpleasant, don’t you think?"
---****---
Reviews
All reviews (0)