Swoosh!
A man pushed aside the tent flap and walked into the massive interior of the tent, where he found a white-haired man sitting on a wooden chair with a glass cup filled halfway with almond-colored wine.
“My old friend,” the man, who was the count that spoke with the Archduke over a month ago, said while smiling from ear to ear.
Count William’s eyes regained light upon seeing Count Naaman, the Watchman of Archduke Nubis, which was even in his house name: House Ira!
(A/N: Ira means watchful.)
“Naaman. You came.”
Count Namman chuckled. “It took me a week to get here. And why are you in the territory of those savage barbarians? You might have an army full of them, but this land ultimately cannot be conquered in your current position.”
Count William sighed heavily. “So has my fate become.”
“Not for long.” Count Naaman suddenly said, and William lifted up his head.
“What do you mean?”
“The Archduke has stretched his hand into the wasteland.”
Count William’s eyes widened. “He sent troops!”
“Troops? That would be playing a lion playing with a small, wretched rat. He simply sent what would get rid of it neatly and quickly. An assassin and not just any assassin.”
Count Naaman crackled as he sat, poured himself a cup full of wine, and gulped down half its content in one go.
“He sent an assassin! Which one?” Count William rose from his seat.
Naaman chuckled.
“Naaman. Speak!”
Naaman looked at Count William from the corner of his left eye. “Black Rose. Ranked 113 out of the 120 assassins in the continent.”
Count William was first shocked, but his shoulders began to tremble in the next moment as he laughed.
“You mean to tell me… the Archduke sent THE Black Rose of the Sea of Vipers to this small northern region?”
“Of course. And this is just him being lenient. Unfortunately, even that is like a mountain upon a small rock. The young lord can be considered dead.”
Upon hearing that, Count William’s eyes flashed with a murderous glint. He felt so much satisfaction that his very soul was filled with bliss.
Usually, assassins were kept in hiding, but these top 120 assassins had their names known, but it still didn’t reduce their kill count.
In fact, each of them has their signature mark that allows people to know who performed the kill.
Even though you knew them or not, it could not hinder their mission. Kill!
Even Titled Knights were not as fearsome as they were. To train a good assassin, one would have to allocate the resources of a company to just one man, and yet most of them failed!
Black Rose, the woman whose tales have been sung in the regions of the Dukedom of Nubis, the Dukedom of Mormonts, and the southern part of the Intis kingdom.
She had killed nobles, merchants, and officials of great authority and left the scene with her signature, yet the nations couldn’t do a thing.
Instead, they hired her to do their dirty work. This was the level this assassin had achieved, and yet she was just 113!
“So you mean, as we speak, Black Rose has been hired.”
Naaman looked at Count William with dissatisfaction. “I mean, as we speak, she has eyes on her prey. You know she enjoys the hunt, and as always, the blood of the prey kisses her blade.”
“She’s already in the wasteland!”
…
Currently, Asher sat on horseback with Sirius, Kelvin, Alex, and Simon, the captain of the winter guards, with him inside a sparse forest.
Everything and everywhere they looked at was covered in thick snow.
“You just returned. What is the situation in Winter Stronghold?” Asher asked Simon. After Simon first arrived in Ashkelon and was moving about like a man who moved from a town to a city, it still didn’t stop him from making sure Asher knew of Winter Stronghold’s plight.
Because of this, Asher sent him back with some men and discovered Bashan was much bigger than he thought!
He shared a border with a land known as Edom! A large piece of land ruled by rat beastmen, and one thing about rats was their numbers!
Not just that, but the armor technology of the rats was also stunning. Had it not been for the system’s new legion armor, Asher would have been more apprehensive than he already was.
These rats had formed a more complex clan system, and beyond their large territory was the territory of Dothan.
Another domain ruled by descendants of the giant race. Asher first thought they were gigantic, but according to Simon, their height wasn’t too abnormal, but their strength was abnormally horrifying!
Not even the rat beastmen’s heavy cavalry could achieve a victory against the Dothan barbarians unassembled infantry!
What this all meant was that there was a battle ahead for the young Ashbourne lord. Battles that he might likely lose because he had no advantage in numbers nor in actual power because inhabitants of Bashan made up for their lack of ranks with special powers or unique traits.
“It’s stable, but those people will soon come for another tax, and though you gave us food, we don’t know what they will demand.”
Asher sighed at Simon’s reply.
When he stopped his horse, others stopped. They looked at the vast plain from the edge of the cliff. This was a place Simon had to climb to get into Ashkelon.
Meaning, this cliff that differentiated the high land from the low plains filled with snow was the border!
What Asher gazed at was Edom!
“We shall head for your stronghold soon, but there are matters to handle here for now. Especially the matter of the beast that has been on a rampage.”
Asher’s eyes flickered.
That unknown beast had killed more abyss groups and also killed a hunting group made up of gold-ranked members with a diamond-ranked leader.
And according to his scouts, the hunting party made up of mercenaries couldn’t put up a fight against that beast.
It also stayed away from Nineveh, so the extra defense seemed meaningless, but Asher wasn’t willing to relent.
That beast must be found!