In a mansion near the border of Soran, three old men were drinking some wine as they chatted a bit.
“Why don’t you tell us why we have gathered here, Darren?” Another old man laughingly said while looking at the man sitting in the middle.
Although it took months, Darren had arranged this secret meeting about 8 months ago.
“Ah- Nothing much, I wanted to introduce both of you to a new friend.” Darren replied as he kept tapping his feet on the ground.
He looked like a man in his late 40s, and all the other men gathered here were of a similar age as well.
“New friend? Hahaha, does he have similar tastes like us?” The man laughed as he lifted his glass.
“Yeah, that’s why I invited him to our club,” Darren said.
“But, it was surprising that you told us to meet in Soran. All our meetings happened outside of Somaria,” the man said.
Judging by the accessories in their hands, all three of them appeared to be people with fairly rich backgrounds.
“When will this new friend arrive?” The man who asked Darren previously spoke out.
“Soon,” Darren said with a straight face.
“That’s a shame, I wanted to introduce a new product I got my hands on,” another old man spoke out as he pulled a syringe from his coat.
“Is that the new drug you told me about, Gemard?” The third man asked.
“Yeah, apparently it’s a booster, and it’s going to land in the market soon.” Gemard replied with a smirk.
“Guess who is behind this, Robert,” Gemard asked.
“Who?” Robert asked with a curious look on his face.
“There are rumors that some higher-ups of the World Association are involved, but it was quite hard for me to get my hands on this,” Gemard said with a smirk on his face.
“But why bring it here?” Darren asked, as this was supposed to be a casual meeting.
“Actually, I received a little news a week ago,” Gemard started speaking.
“As you all know, most of us are somehow related to the Abyss Corporation, and they have no competition in Somaria,” His words made Darren frown.
“What if you switch sides next year? This product will take over the market in the next few years, and we can ride on this train early and make big money,” Gemard said with a confident look on his face.
“Have you gone mad, you bastard?” Darren shouted, making everyone look at him.
“Do you know what will happen if what you said leaks?” Darren’s reaction made others a bit surprised.
Most of them were already involved in shady stuff, and that was the reason they all were rich.
“Calm down, Darren, I’m just suggesting an idea, don’t make a big deal out of it,” Gemard replied, but he was also surprised by Darren’s sudden actions.
“And when did you, the most corrupt bastard among us, become such a loyal dog?” He asked, and Robert laughed as well.
“Give up on-” Darren was speaking when the doors to the room opened.
“Oh, did the new member you were speaking about arrive?” Robert asked, but his eyes went wide when a handsome-looking young man entered the room.
His crimson eyes drifted to see the people present in this room.
“Red eyes, no way,” Gemard’s eyes went wide as he realized the identity of the young man.
Others did as well and stood up from their seats immediately.
“What is the meaning of this, Darren?!” Robert shouted but stopped when he saw Darren, who was shaking in front of the young man who walked and took a seat on the empty sofa.
“Why stop, continue your fun meeting,” Asher said, but nobody stopped.
“Young Master, I—” Darren tried to speak but stopped as Asher looked towards him.
“Is the job done?” Asher asked Darren.
“Yeah, I have done as you said, just spare my son,” Darren fell to his knees in front of Asher.
“What is happening? Why is the heir of the Greville family here?” Gemard got nervous, as did Robert.
Both of them didn’t know what was happening, but seeing Darren kneeling, they could guess the situation was not good.
Although all three of them were C to B Rank hunters themselves, knowing the identity of the man sitting in front of them, they didn’t dare to move.
“Sit down, Mr. Darren. Why don’t you explain what you have done for me?” Asher said as Darren, whose hands were shaking, got up.
His heartbeat was going crazy, but he looked around him.
“I have poisoned both of them as you wanted,” Darren looked at Asher as he replied.
“I have done it, please spare my son,” Darren begged in front of Asher.
Tom, who was behind Asher, kept looking at the scene in front of him. A guy who looked like a 16-year-old was making a man more than twice his age tremble in fear against him.
“What? What do you mean by poison, you bastard?” Robert dropped his glass to the floor.
“Sit down, all of you,” Asher said as his killing intent took over the room.
Only Tom was fine right now, but others’ faces went pale as they faced a thick killing intent.
They quietly sat down, but Gemard was trembling the most here.
“What is the meaning of all this?” Gemard decided to speak out as he looked at Asher.
Asher looked at all three of their faces and smirked in his mind. All of them were fairly rich people with connections spread all over the world, but here they were sitting without any security.
“It’s bold of you to assume that you can ask me questions,” Asher’s indifferent face made Gemard nervous.
“You bastard, tell me what you have done,” Robert shouted at Darren, who was not looking at them.
“Tom, give them the documents,” Asher said as Tom moved and passed a single sheet of paper.
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Darren was a person who was one of the executives for the Abyss Corporation.
“You cannot do this to us, Asher Greville. We have our connections as well,” Gemard tried to threaten Asher.
“Wait, Gemard. Young Master, can you spare us? We were not involved with him,” Robert stopped Gemard from doing something stupid.
But in a second, Gemard started to feel a strong burn around his heart, and so did Robert.
“Aargh, what is happening?” Both of them grabbed their chests as the pain grew bigger.
“Well, let’s get down to business,” Seeing that the effects were kicking in, Asher decided to talk finally.
“I know that you are working with the Allister family,” Asher said as Gemard’s face went pale.
‘Did the information get leaked?’ Despite the pain he was experiencing, Asher’s words shocked him.
“You want us to work for you, right?” Robert asked.
“I will betray the Rothschild family as well, just give me the antidote,” Robert was smart enough to understand the meaning behind Asher’s words.
‘Poor old man,’ Tom pitied the man in front of him.
“I need time, argh, but I will give you the information you need,” Gemard said as he tried to look up.
Both Gemard and Robert were involved with shady stuff that could damage the business of both the Rothschild and Allister families.
“Mir Steps,” Asher disappeared from his seat.
He appeared behind Darren, who was surprised by his speed.
“You want your son alive, right?” Asher asked Darren.
“Yeah, please, he is innocent,” Darren pleaded, but Tom’s face changed.
‘Your son is innocent?’ Tom got disgusted by Darren’s blatant lie.
“Kill both of them and I will spare your son,” Asher said to Darren, who was a B Rank hunter.
“W-What, what the hell, bastard, arggg—” Gemard tried to speak, but the poison was making it harder for him to breathe.
“I will do a mana oath, spare me, I have a family, they will die without me,” Robert pleaded while barely looking up.
‘Family, what a joke,’ Tom looked at Robert.
All three of them were nothing more than human scum in Tom’s eyes.
“I-I can’t—” Darren stuttered, but Asher brought out a hologram screen that showed his son sitting in an empty room.
“Well, then he will have to die,” Asher said, but Darren stood up immediately.
“No, no, I will do it,” Darren said again as he turned to face Robert and Gemard.
“Wait, why kill us? We can have a deal,” Robert shouted with tears in his eyes.
Asher’s eyes looked at the two men pleading at him.
A certain face of a man popped into his head.
“You are not worth it,” Asher said as Darren moved with his trembling hands.
“No, no, Darren. Stop, don’t kill me. We have been friends for years,” Robert said.
“So-Sorry, I can’t let my son die,” Darren said while his hands were trembling.
“Darren, you bastard!!,” Gemard shouted as Darren plunged the dagger into Robert’s chest multiple times.
**************************
Asher came out of the mansion while none of the security that worked for Darren stopped him.
Tom looked at Asher with a strange look on his face. He couldn’t believe that a young man like him could witness a murder so calmly as before.
‘But those men deserved it, so it doesn’t matter to me,’ Tom said to himself.
“Boss, should we go meet those guys?” Tom asked Asher.
“Yeah, we have prepared the gift already,” Asher said with a smirk as he sat in his car with Tom.
In another city in Somaria, two men were moving as they ran away from a bunch of people.
“Damn it, I told you that it was not a good idea to kill that guy,” one of the two men shouted.
“Shut up, just keep running,” the other replied as he smiled.