The man who had so brazenly entered the heavily guarded room of Count Nathan was none other than the master of Nora who had taught her the way of the assassins.
He was the branch manager with the responsibility of finding young blood and send them to the headquarters of the Three Fanged Shadow Hall after they pass their test.
He also had the responsibility of taking kill orders and espionage task from customers that are able to pay them.
Since the branch manager has so many responsibilities, it's natural he should also be strong enough to manage it without problems.
Nora's Master strength was at the Peak Stage of Elemental Gathering Realm. As for his attribute, other than his comrades and superiors, only the people that he had killed knew about it. He never let any third party stay alive after knowing it.
"Mr. Nathan, are you going to compensate for our losses or not?"
"But I said his strength was only at the Late stage of Dantian Formation realm, how can he defeat your assassins if the strongest has the strength of Early-stage of Elementary gathering Realm," Nathan said not happy how the other person was talking down o him. But at least thanks to him, Nathan was able to calm himself down after losing his mind in anger.
Nathan had been thinking lately if he should run to his previous Sect where he had studied when he was young but had to leave it after the death of his father to take over the responsibility as a Count. Butler Francis was no more to take care of him. His wealth should be enough to cultivate further, become strong, and then come back to take his revenge.
"Are you saying its the fault of my men for not being able to kill someone weaker than them?"
"Isn't that so? Or you tell how they lost. What's the real strength of Alex Mordrake? I didn't lie to you." Nathan rebuked.
"... I have sent a man to investigate what happened but you know that if an assassin sent by us dies during a mission its the customer's responsibility to compensate for the loss. We will further investigate the target and see what it takes to kill him and then send you the price. You can be assured that we will not charge you anything after that even if we failed the mission after that. If we really fail again I will go the third time personally to bring you the head of the target for free that I can guarantee you."
Nathan knew it was better not to argue about the compensation rule which was totally unfavorable to customers. Why would they have to pay more when your employees couldn't complete the task and got themself killed? But the last sentence made Nathan's eyes shine.
"You.. you can also be hired?" Nathan asked hopefully. He could feel the person was stronger than his butler.
"Yes, but my price is quite high. You won't be able to pay."
"No! I can pay. How much is it? Tell me?" Nathan was happy. He also told the man about changing the target from Alex to Danny. If he can hire him to kill Danny and Viscount Bardrick then most of his problems will be solved. He can wait for his revenge on Alex once he slowly recovers from his losses.
As for the fees, Butler Francis had many good things collected by him for his research, and now that he died, he can use those items to pay the compensation and the fees for hiring the Branch head of the assassins.
The wealth of Butler Francis was almost equal to what his father had gathered all his life. He was after all a late-stage Elementary gathering Realm cultivator.
The branch head thought for a moment before saying out his price.
"What! Are you joking? I can hire five thousand elite soldiers with that kind of money."
"Can five thousand elite soldiers do your task? Also, I heard, that your Butler was killed by him, I'm sure you know how strong he should be to do that. You don't have to pay full fees, only pay the advance money and I will come to collect the rest after the completion of the task." the branch head had full confidence in his ability.
"... Alright, but can you add another person in this money, I'm sure you can kill him without breaking a sweat. The person I'm talking about is Viscount Badrick. I will pay the compensation for your assassins that died during the mission, right away."
"No, Viscount Bardrick is an Early-stage Elemental Gathering Realm cultivator. Even if I can kill him easily, you still have to pay for killing him." The branch head refused flatly.
Nathan was a little disappointed but he stood up and went to bring the money and the stuff of Butler Francis.
Thud!
Shing!
Nathan put the money bag filled with gold coins on the table in front of the Branch Head of the Three Fanged Shadow Hall.
"Here, choose anything from this stuff that can make up for the rest of the fees," Nathan said. He had already taken away any treasure or pill that was too precious to be given just like that.
"Two Demon Beast core of Early-stage Rank 3 Demon Beast with fire and wind attribute. The market price is thirty thousand gold coins each. High-grade Black ranked Dagger... Price eleven thousand gold coins. A bottle of Rank 3 Element replenishing pill but it's only useful for people having water attributes, the market price is... "
The branch head wasn't shy in picking up items and speaking out their market value before deciding whether to take it or not.
"Hm? What is this?" The branch head asked curiously when he saw a rusty bronze Key falling from inside of the research books of the Butler Francis that he had picked from the table. It was carved with silver runes but the lines are not clearly visible. It seemed to be a relic. But the branch head wasn't able to see its use or value at all.
Nathan had his eyes glued to the key in the assassin's hand. He felt like ten thousand horses were running in circles inside his heart when he saw the key.
