The assassin shook his head weakly and continued: "An a- assassin... ughh... cough... from khe Dawn Minion. I... ughh... was kold... cough cough... ko abduck... huff... khak woman. I don’k know anykhing else." The assassin spoke. There were more disturbances than information itself.
But Vritra understood it all.
’An assassin from the Dawn Minion and he was told to abduct Mom? I’m sure they were probably kargeking—cough—targeting me. But who could be behind it? The king? Or someone else?’ Vritra wondered. He knew a low level assassin wouldn’t know anything, so he decided not to waste his time on useless things and asked the final question.
"Where is your base?"
"U- Under... cough cough... khe biggesk black markek, away from... cough cough... khe capikal..." the assassin finished this, barely breathing.
"Alright, we are done with him. Throw him down." Vritra ordered as the assassin’s dead and despaired eyes opened wide, but before he could speak, the dark knight let go of his neck as the frail body fell to the ground.
The two watched as the assassin fell to the empty street and died instantly. Vritra looked at the dark knight and ordered:
"I am going to the base of the Dawn Minion. By the time I return, make sure to collect all the guards who had ignored the existence of these assassins. No matter where they are or what they are doing, just abduct them all and bring them to the entrance of the forest towards the labyrinth."
"I understand, master." The dark knight bowed and then faded away, disappearing from sight instantly.
"Bob, go and stay near my mother. Kill anyone if they try to harm her." Vritra ordered, as another shadow flew into the distance at an even faster speed.
Now Vanessa would be much more safe, and he could take his sweet time wiping out the entire Dawn Minion.
"Now, it’s time to head to the biggest black market. From this day forth, the Dawn Minion will cease to exist in this world." Vritra mumbled and flew away. But since he didn’t know the exact location, he had to ask for directions a few times before he was able to arrive at his destination.
While flying there, Vritra felt that now there was a strong need for his soul wraiths to grow. Dark knight, Hellmancer and the chimera, all of them needed to grow stronger and at least become myriad soul wraiths.
And he had a plan for that.
...
Soon Vritra found himself standing in a bustling market. Though most of the people walking on the streets here didn’t look like high class people, most of them looked around to find new targets for stealing or scamming.
Vritra walked calmly on the street while looking around. He had a naïve look on his face that attracted the attention of dozens of people. It wasn’t long before a shady looking man approached him with a smile, while rubbing his palms together.
"Oh young lord, tell me, are you looking for something? I am the best man here to buy information from. Just say the name and you will get it if it exists. Just tell me what it is you seek and I will make it available," said the shady guy, who was rather slim.
Vritra looked left and right, then he took a step closer to the shady guy and spoke in a low voice, as if he was about to speak some secret. His actions greatly intrigued the shady guy, who thought he had caught a big fish.
"Your mother. Is she available?" Vritra asked in all seriousness, even his face was dripping with solemnness.
"..." The shady guy was taken aback. For a few seconds, he stared at Vritra in confusion, then his face twisted in rage. He almost attacked Vritra but held back, speaking through gritted teeth.
"Young lord, let’s not joke around here. Reckless words might cost you your life."
"Hey, I was just joking. Anyway, I want to kill someone and I heard that the Dawn Minion is here. Can you tell me how can I—" Vritra began to speak, maintaining a small smile.
But before he could finish, the slim shady guy hushed him as he looked around carefully before muttering in a low voice.
"Shhh! Don’t you know? You can’t speak out that name or you won’t even know how you’ll die."
"Oh, the Dawn Minion is that dangerous?" Vritra asked, matching his low tone.
"Hah, dangerous? It seems you are really naïve. You don’t even know anything about them? Come to this side. A newbie like you would get killed instantly." The shady guy gestured for Vritra to follow and walked to a rather empty corner of the street.
"Cough... it isn’t easy to find the Dawn Minion, but you’ve come to the right person. I can bring you up to them and you can give your bounty there." After a pause, he added, "Just give me, you know, my cut for bringing you there."
Vritra didn’t want to linger around, so he asked, "How much?"
"Eighty silver coins." The guy replied, gazing at Vritra’s face deeply to see his reaction.
"Whoa, that much? How can I have so much?" he pretended, since he didn’t want another group of greedy men to follow him.
"Tch, fine, just give me ten silver coins and I will bring you there." The shady guy huffed and said it as if making a great loss.
"I can only give you eight. I need some for the bounty." Vritra rummaged through his pocket and took out a few coins from his inventory.
"Sigh... fine, you are a lucky brat that I am in a great mood today. Let’s go," said the shady guy and began to lead Vritra away.
"How many members does it have?" Vritra asked while following behind silently.
"Hmm... should be more than three hundred or maybe four hundred. I’m not sure." The other man replied lazily.
"Oh, and how strong is the leader?" Vritra asked another question, irritating him.
"Tsk. You just paid 8 coins and even want all the intel? Damn it, I’ll make a loss this time. The leader is nearly as strong as the Golden Knight—the one who died recently, you know." The shady guy replied, and entered a rather shabby hotel. Then he sat at the window side table and hit the bell on the table. Then he whispered in a low voice, "He is called Dawn."
"I heard that this group is related to the king himself. Is that true?" Vritra asked.
"Shhh! You can’t say that out loud. Sigh... how can you be so stupid? That is a taboo topic." Shaking his head, he changed the topic.
"Just get your task done and don’t get involved in useless matters. Ahem, waiter, come here." He shouted when no one approached despite ringing the bell.
"Tch! What do you want? Pay the money before you order. I can’t have beggars dining here," a fat man with a big mole on his nose walked towards them. He was sweating heavily.
He first looked at the shady guy and spoke, then glanced at Vritra and was surprised to see someone rich like that in his humble—or rather, shitty—hotel.
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Thanks for reading...