The butler turned his head in confusion and stared at Troys, his eyes full of incomprehension.
"Sorry, Findelter," he said.
"I didn't want to either."
"But your existence could affect us, so we had no choice but to ask you to die—of course, we won't let you die in vain, your death will certainly be valuable, just like Emod's, after all, the one who killed you is an assassin sent by Pang'er, and Pang'er is Dodd's butler, yes, just as you're thinking, our target has always been that Dodd."
Troys spoke with apparent regret, but his face showed not the slightest hint of it, only smug satisfaction.
However, at this moment, the old butler was not paying attention to what Troys said, murmuring incessantly to himself.
"Did you say Edward?"
"Of course, we don't know where Edward is, he disappeared so bizarrely."
"Who could know where he is?"
"All this was to deceive you, to make you our pawn."
He didn't mind elaborating a bit more to a dead man.
Or rather... he was bragging.
After all, this was his plan--devised after learning about Findelter, the fool who earnestly sought his missing former employer although their contract had ended.
A plan that would allow them to get rid of Dodd and rid themselves of Emod at the same time.
The former was a major adversary of his older brother 'Todini.'
A street thug who aspired to climb the ranks?
He had hoped the opponent could deal with some matters they couldn't handle openly, but since the opponent was so ungrateful, naturally, he became a target to be eliminated.
Of course, they absolutely could not act personally.
His brother 'Todini' was already a Councilor in the assembly, and could not afford such a tarnished reputation.
He was about to become a Councilor himself—taking over Emod's spot, an arrangement already set in motion.
Without Dodd's interference, success was almost certain.
For this, he was truly grateful to the idiot Findelter.
Troys looked down at the butler, who, upon hearing of the deception, had a momentary resurgence, struggling ceaselessly. Troys twisted his wrist, the dagger plunged into the butler's body immediately slashing through his kidneys.
Then, he pulled it out and stabbed again.
This time, into the back of the heart.
The butler's body trembled, the light fading from his eyes.
As Troys released his grip, the butler collapsed, crashing onto the thick carpet.
Troys checked for breath, pulse, heartbeat to confirm the butler's death, then delivered another stab to the chest for good measure.
Afterward, he wrapped the butler's body in the thick carpet on the floor, carried it out of the house, and dumped it into the pickup truck.
The pickup started up again.
And once more headed to the outskirts.
At a location previously selected, Troys placed the butler in the driver's seat, adjusted his position, buckled the seatbelt, and then pressed the lifeless foot onto the still-running pickup's accelerator.
Amid the engine's roar, the pickup smashed through the guardrail and plummeted down the cliff.
After several impacts, the pickup crashed at the bottom of the ravine.
Troys looked briefly at the flaming pickup, then turned and walked away.
This sinister man pulled out his phone as he walked and dialed a number.
As soon as the phone connected, Troys stated bluntly.
"You didn't leave any clues, did you?" the voice on the other end asked.
"I handled everything very carefully, especially the biggest loophole—Findelter. That guy, until his death, kept thinking about finding his former employer, that fellow named Edward."
"I really don't know if this guy was dumb or just stupid."
Troys let out a scornful chuckle.
"But doesn't that work out perfectly for us?" the other voice also began to laugh.
"It's a pity there's only one such useful pawn."
"If we had a few more, all of Cherry City would be ours."
"One day, Cherry City will be ours!" said the voice on the other end with conviction, and just at that moment—
An explosion sounded from below the cliff.
"That's applause for our imminent victory."
Troys said, a smirk forming on his lips.
"Get back to your place quickly, and don't slip up; that guy is not easy to fool," the voice on the other end reminded.
"Understood!" Troys responded.
He never complained about his brother's caution.
Because he was the same.
In fact, during their calls, they would never use any personal names, and moreover, his brother would always use a voice changer.
Troys picked up the pace. After a bend in the road, he dived into the woods beside him.
Moments later, Troys appeared, riding on a motorcycle.
The motorcycle had been placed in advance, specifically for this moment.
When he rode back into the city area on the motorcycle, Troys crushed the phone under his foot, tossed the pieces into different trash cans, and his last bit of worry vanished.
In an hour, the trash would be collected by garbage trucks and taken to the waste station for sorting and destruction.
Everything was done without anyone being the wiser!
Troys thought this, an unwitting smile of pride forming on his face yet again.
And this self-satisfied middle-aged man did not realize that a pair of eyes had been watching him all along.