Naisike held the note, struggling to control the surge of emotions within him.
What happened?! Why was I discovered as soon as I came in? No... It seems the other party already knew I had accepted the mission to assassinate Yan Xing and knew the plan I had devised. And only my so-called assistant and I knew all of this. Was I betrayed by the Assassin’s Guild?
Naisike could only arrive at this deduction.
But why would the Assassin’s Guild betray me? Aside from damaging the guild’s reputation, what good would it do them? If Yan Xing knew I was coming to kill him, why didn’t he kill me? Why did he want to meet me instead?
As the note said, Naisike’s heart was filled with questions.
To unravel these questions, I must meet Yan Xing.
He knew that choosing to leave immediately might be the correct choice. However, curiosity about the answers behind these questions prompted Naisike to risk meeting Yan Xing.
After all, if he wanted to kill me, he wouldn’t need to send his servant to deliver a note. I’ve already exposed myself and entered his territory. My life is in his hands now.
"All right, I’ll see your master. Please lead the way..."
The servant replied, "Mr. Naisike, please follow me."
Naisike followed the servant from the front courtyard path, taking a small trail that wound around to the side of the main villa building, and entered through a small door.
Soft carpets were laid throughout the villa’s interior, and the gentle lighting made it as bright as day. Paintings he had never seen before hung on the walls. Werewolf Warriors clad in Golden Armor, holding shields and battle axes, loyally stood guard at various posts.
The servant led Naisike up to the third floor of the building. After navigating a zigzagging corridor, they arrived outside a room.
The servant knocked first.
A maid opened the door and said to Naisike, "Mr. Naisike, please come in."
Recognized again with just a glance.
As a relatively successful assassin, Naisike felt as though he had been stripped bare here. But having come this far, uncomfortable or not, he had to see it through.
Naisike walked into the room.
The room was quite spacious. Eight square tables and eight chairs were arranged in the center. At the front was a podium, and on the wall behind it hung a black, flat, crystalline object of unknown purpose.
Two of the eight chairs were already occupied.
As Naisike entered, he immediately drew the attention of those two people. They looked at Naisike, their eyes filled with surprise, incomprehension, bewilderment, and helplessness.
"Mr. Naisike, please take a seat here."
The maid pulled out a chair at an empty spot and invited Naisike to sit down. Then, she retrieved a teapot and cup from a nearby drink station, poured tea for Naisike, and said, "Please wait a moment, Mr. Naisike. As soon as everyone is here, my master will come to meet you all."
Naisike looked at the people in the room and the other five empty seats; a shocking and fearful premonition welled up within him. Even though the autumn air had cooled, Naisike’s forehead was beaded with cold sweat. He glanced again at the open window on the other side of the room, listening to the noisy banquet outside, fighting the urge to jump.
Naisike replied politely, "Thank you for Lord Yan Xing’s hospitality. It seems Lord Yan Xing isn’t worried about me suddenly leaving."
Having followed Yan Xing and witnessed grand scenes in Nuta City, the maids were now quite composed when dealing with such situations.
The maid spoke respectfully, "My master has said that all the guests who come to the embassy today are our honored guests.
"As long as they are guests, they are, of course, free to come and go as they please.
"Lord Yan Xing is a man of his word. Please, Mr. Naisike, don’t be nervous; my master is a very good lord."
"Thank you..." Naisike thanked the maid politely, displaying a refinement somewhat incongruous with his profession.
At that moment, another person was brought into the room by a servant.
The four of them exchanged glances, and Naisike couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
It seems like a complete rout this time. Myself, those who have already arrived, and those who are yet to come—we’re probably all the assassins who planned to assassinate Yan Xing during the banquet. The result, however, is this ridiculous, pathetic, and lamentable scene. If word gets out, it will certainly become a huge laughingstock in the assassin world.
Perhaps out of shock or confusion, all the invited assassins were very cooperative and quiet. Especially in this room, where it seemed they could leave at any moment, everyone sat silently in their assigned seats, waiting for Lord Yan Xing to arrive and dispel their confusion.
Soon, three more people were brought in one after another.
Seven out of eight seats were taken, with only the last one remaining empty for quite some time.
After a while, when the door to the room opened again, the seven assassins saw Yan Xing enter. He seemed not the least bit afraid of the seven assassins in the room who wanted to kill him, and he casually walked to the podium.
At the same time, the black object hanging on the wall behind him lit up.
The seven assassins exchanged glances, then looked at the still-vacant seat, before all redirecting their attention to Yan Xing on the podium.
Yan Xing turned on the large screen display, then stood behind the podium, looking at the assassins he had summoned. A smile inevitably appeared on his face.
With the outbreak of full-scale conflict in the Wildwind Highlands, all sorts of people had gathered within Nuta City. Not just mercenaries. Merchants, farm owners, craftsmen, adventurers, thieves, assassins—everyone unwilling to be caught in the war had poured into Nuta City. At this time, Nuta City was truly a melting pot, teeming with hidden talents.
What’s the most expensive thing in the world? Talent.
Yan Xing knew the total bounty on his head from the Assassin’s Guild amounted to 310,000 Gold Coins. To accept this mission, the deposit alone was 15,500 Gold Coins. This amount of money was a fortune for anyone. For an assassin, money was truly accumulated one mission at a time, and these all had to be high-paying missions. An assassin with 15,500 Gold Coins in hand was definitely among the top assassins. An assassin audacious enough to put down so many Gold Coins as a deposit was the cream of the crop.
Having these top-tier assassins come to his embassy, if he let them slip away, it would indeed be a huge loss. Knowing that attempting to capture them might not succeed in detaining them, Yan Xing had simply revealed their identities and invited them directly. With no defenses in place, their own curiosity would lead them here.
As it turned out, Yan Xing’s deduction was extremely accurate; all who should have arrived did.
As for whether these assassins would act against him here, Yan Xing wasn’t worried. They had been invited here as soon as they entered the embassy. Without their assistants nearby, they had no way to confirm the results of an assassination. Moreover, they almost certainly believed in their hearts that they had been betrayed by the Assassin’s Guild. Attempting an assassination at this point would bring them no benefit whatsoever.