"This is a very difficult situation. If anybody has any great ideas, I hope you can share them with us," Jacob said, leaning back heavily in his chair.
"..."
There was only a suffocating silence in the room. The Elders looked at each other, but no one dared to say a single word.
’I could just stand up right now and tell them that we can get powerful in the future through my Cultivation techniques, so there is no need to fear those powerful nobles,’ Ian thought, observing the terrified faces of the old n. ’But I just don’t trust them enough yet to let them know my secrets. For now, let just focus on gathering trusted people for now and watch quietly.’
"Well, since there are no ideas, let’s just skip this issue for now. Maybe sothing will change in the future; it’s not like the King has passed away yet anyway," Jacob sighed, breaking the silence. "So, what is the second issue, now that we know we aren’t allowed to develop our territory?"
"Well, Family Head... it is about the Eden Guild," Martha said, her tone growing cold.
"And what about them?" Jacob asked, his eyes narrowing at the ntion of the assassin organization.
"Since the last attempt on Ian’s life, they have been suspiciously quiet. So, I reached out to an informant I made a deal with," Martha explained, making sure everyone was listening. "Although he holds no real position in the guild and is only a regular rank-and-file mber, any news he provides us at this ti is crucial. In his latest letter, he stated that the contract on Ian’s head had been officially terminated recently." She offered Ian a small, reassuring smile.
"Really? That is incredibly good to hear. At least his life is finally out of harm’s way," Jacob said, a genuine smile of relief forming on his tired face.
"But... there is sothing deeply concerning about what he said next," Martha added, erasing the brief mont of relief in the room.
"What is it?"
"Well, maybe it doesn’t affect us directly, but he said that it wasn’t just Ian’s contract that was removed. The guild cancelled every other mission. They are actively calling back all their assassins from across the kingdom, and no one is allowed to leave the guild’s headquarters until further notice," Martha said.
"Mmmm, this is highly suspicious, but maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with us. For all we know, maybe they are having so sort of internal strife. From your last report, it sounded like their Vice Guild Master was quite an ambitious and ruthless person," the Second Elder said, stroking his white beard thoughtfully.
"He is right, Martha. You don’t have to worry too much. For all we know, they are just fighting amongst themselves for control. All we should care about right now is that they no longer have a bounty on Ian’s head," Jacob agreed.
Ian sat completely quiet, listening to them talk. But deep inside, a fiery rage was rapidly building in his chest as he processed their words.
BANG!
Ian slamd his hand onto the heavy wooden table, the sound echoing like a gunshot. He suddenly stood up, his chair scraping violently against the floor.
"What the hell are you people talking about?!" Ian snarled, his golden eyes blazing with fury. "Maybe I didn’t hear you clearly just now. You guys know the location of the guild that murdered my father... and you are sitting here saying you feel relieved that we are not on their list anymore?! Is this how our family operates?! Gathering crucial information just to cower in a corner and do absolutely nothing with it?!"
"Ian, that is enou—!" the Third Elder barked, rising to scold him.
But Ian instantly shouted back, cutting him off completely.
"Enough what?! Do you think I didn’t hear what you said about my father an hour ago?! Don’t act like you are my superior just because you are old and were born early!" Ian roared, staring daggers at the Third Elder.
Driven by his intense anger. When the Third Elder t Ian’s ferocious gaze, the old man suddenly shivered, instinctually shrinking back down into his seat in fear.
"What did you expect us to do?!" Martha fired back, her own expression turning angry. She had not expected Ian to outburst like this. "You know we are not strong enough! We can’t just blindly waltz into an assassin’s den without knowing what we are up against!"
"We don’t need strength! We just need to stop acting so damn cautious and actually use what we have!" Ian yelled.
"...?" Everyone in the room looked at Ian in complete confusion.
"Do I have to spell it out for you guys? Money," Ian said, his voice dropping to a deadly serious tone. "Money can drive anyone to do our bidding. I know that in the world, money can buy a person’s life, or even make people slaughter each other if the price is right. If we don’t have the martial strength to wipe them out, we should have hired soone to do it for us!"
"Do you think we haven’t tried using our wealth long ago? At the ti, we couldn’t even find one Mage willing to help your cousin," Jacob argued gently.
"If Mages didn’t want to do a job, it just ans you didn’t offer the right amount. And from what I heard Mages mainly use Magic Stones to exchange for goods, so of course they won’t find basic gold attractive. But it is completely different for rcenaries," Ian explained, laying out a ruthless, tactical plan. "You could have sent a powerhouse like Vincent anonymously to a high-ranking rcenary group with an offer they couldn’t refuse. An offer so large they could retire for the rest of their lives. For example lets just say like... five Platinum Coins. Since Vincent would be sent alone and anonymously, they wouldn’t even need to know it was the Thorne Family hiring them. And since Vincent is a Fifth-Stage Aura User, he could have accompanied them just to ensure the extermination was done properly."
"Whaattt?! Do you know how much five Platinum Coins are?!" the Second Elder gasped, his eyes bulging out of his head.
"Of course I do. It’s five hundred gold coins," Ian said coldly. "But that is absolutely nothing compared to my father’s life. Money is just an object. We can always make more money in the future."
Ian stepped away from the table, walking purposefully toward the grand double doors.
"If you guys had actually used your brains and done this, we wouldn’t be sitting here discussing them as a ’problem’ right now. We would be celebrating that they were completely wiped out," Ian said in disgust.
"And just where do you think you are going?! The eting is not over!" the Fourth Elder yelled.
Ian paused at the door, glancing back over his shoulder with a look of pure disappointnt.
"I just don’t feel like this so-called ’Family eting’ is worth my ti. All I’ve heard is you guys complaining about your problems without taking a single decisive action to solve them," Ian said coldly. "Now I finally see why my father hated coming to these things. It’s just a waste of ti."
Without looking back, Ian pushed the heavy doors open and walked out.
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