There is a reason why he wanted to follow in secret and the very reason for his sneaky trailing just became apparent after a group of people appeared in his view."Bingo!" Aster remarked in his mind as he saw another entourage that greeted Alcor in a hurry. He reigned his killing intent that motivated the snotty youth during his panic run. With another blink, he found a spot on top of an establishment to not be seen and noticed while he toggles his senses to spy at them from afar.
"Little brother!" Another man led the entourage with a bit of a higher quant.i.ty in terms of servants. Aster never really cared to remember his face but he was sure that the siblings are not much different in looks. They even had the same long and well-maintained hair.
The man rushed towards his younger brother before he could experience another face planting fall.
Given the positioning and distance, Aster can"t tell much about Alcor"s current look but it was safe to a.s.sume that the guy"s face or more specifically, his nose would be badly mutilated from all of its continuous abuse.
"What are you fools dawdling around for?! Move and help!" The man yelled from seeing the stationary state of his servants. They functioned in haste as they tried to remedy the situation but they had no background in first aid and stuff, so it was pretty much futile.
The best they could do was help Alcor stand up and wipe something on his face like the dirt and unwanted snots and blood. They could also do another safety carry with their little young master being handled to their home with a stretcher like configuration of their hands but eventually decided against it because they might just die.
Alcor is characteristically short-fused and did not want shame to be connected to him. The poor servants can pretty much imagine Alcor sending them into punishment from having to parade him in the road like some frail princess. Even though they are helping him, they would just be killed to ease his shame.
Their worries were put to naught from hearing Alcor mumble in slight gibberish with the occasional stutter. "Big... nhna... help... mhme! I... dunn... wamma... daai...!"
A servant on the sidelines acting like a freaking genius and reported to his direct superior. "Young Master Velnor, the little young master is mentally unstable right now and he needs medical attention. I can"t be perfectly clear on his words but I can tell that he is afraid."
It was just a narration of the obvious that the one called Velnor slapped the pretentious servant and yelled. "Idiot! Do you think I am dumb and blind to not know what is happening?"
"Carry him home and we will get to the bottom of this after his situation stabilizes." The man was not as impulsive as his little brother and wanted to regroup with his family. He clenched his fist and thought in anger. "Whoever did this is either dumb or powerful but whatever the case, that person must have to pay!"
He did not even stop to think and question about his younger brother"s servants and the hired thugs that were a part of the plan. They were expendables and the safety of his younger brother takes priority.
The servants eventually resorted to the stretcher carry and hoped that Alcor won"t remember their names and faces. Some of them even hoped for the worst and wanted the youth to turn into a vegetable with dumbed-down reasonings.
Aster continued on with his snooping for quite some time and more or less realized their route from his higher perspective. The servants were extra careful with their movements and it just lengthened the duration of their rescue operation.
Taking this chance, Aster found a circular gate with the engraved words on the upper portion that read the surname Dren. Just ahead of the gate is a huge mansion that should be the stop point for the entourage.
This was the upper-cla.s.s neighborhood in the city and the mansion was more or less blending along with all the other luxury suites and establishments around. Even his newly-bought luxury house was a bit lacking in comparison to them.
"Hmm... no formations and whatnot! Time to listen in if they are just as sinister as Alcor." After a while of sending out decoy mana and noticing no adverse reaction, Aster did a quick succession from the high point where he is currently standing on and into a secluded region inside of their gates.
The guards on the gate found nothing much different because of the strategic way that Aster used his s.p.a.ce Skip. The guards were also less attentive because it would only be a seldom chance that troublemakers would rumble in their streets.
Aster was not trained in infiltration but his senses and adaptability allowed him to maneuver through a mult.i.tude of other servants and residents that could pretty much alert the whole establishment if he was seen.
It helped along with how technological advancements such as surveillance cameras were not applied in the mansion.
With careful deliberation and judgment, he eventually arrived in an important room that would answer the question of whether he should be lenient on the Dren family or not.
He registered signatures of people sitting around in a meeting room for the Dren family.
With another s.p.a.ce Skip, he utilized the flawed engineering of the house and listened in from the hollow of the ceiling.
"This is literally the secret of the ninja. I bet they have it harder because they don"t have a s.p.a.ce skill like mine to render walls obsolete." He said in thought as he likened his snooping activities to the ever-mysterious ninja but he broke his thoughts because of the critical information that he is about to know. He even poked a tiny hole to see the people inside the room.
There were about ten people seated on their chairs while a master table was in front of them. Seven of them wore the dirty white clothing of n.o.bility that pretty much told him that they were the seniors of Dren. While the remaining three were a bit eccentric on their clothing and are pretty much leader figures of the Unkillable Rats.
Seated on the most important seat was most likely the father of Alcor and the leader of the Dren family that started the conversation. "I take it that your men would do their job well, Rat."
Opposite to his seat was clearly a man whose cranial features are likened to a rat. His grotesque mouth opened and said. "Gegege! We have done a lot of dirty operations like that before and this time is even much easier with mortal siblings. It is not like the city lord cares about them. We can just pa.s.s the blame to those thugs I have sent for the job if the green-haired man would find fault in our actions."
On his side, was a middle-aged man smoking a bent cigar and followed up his boss"s claim. "Patriarch Alioth, have faith in us will you. Given the high rewards of this deal, it should be us fearing whether your youngest son could pull up the hero stunt."
"Hmmph! My little baby would do no such fault." A mature woman said in discontent and scorn towards the smoker. Alioth stopped his wife from having to nag and uttered his most necessary words at the moment. "We will just wait for the results. However, it was in our deal to be discreet about our connection. What brings you unannounced into our house? This is plain recklessness that would lead my family to ruin."
Rat smiled with his deformed mouth. "Being discreet is just wasted cheese. Anyone with a brain can tell that the event is a set-up. I came here to know the reason for such a brave move on you, n.o.ble a.s.s-licker. Both of us have more of less earned the ire of the city lord. Better fess up the whole point of wooing those useless girls."
Alioth felt offended but he had not much choice. Fighting with the rat-face man would do not much good and just lead to pointless damage. "You sc.u.ms should better keep quiet about what I am to tell you and the rewards might just blossom your delinquent group into splendor."
"Oh my! I am now intrigued." The voice that sounded was weirdly effeminate despite its masculine source. This was the third thug with pink hair extensions. "Go on! We are not stopping you!"
Alioth scowled in dissatisfaction but did not hold back on his enticing explanation. He felt his ego rise from the fact that he knew important information. "If you research deep into those girls, you would already know that they are of royal blood."
"Could it be that those girls are the missing princesses of the previous royal family?!!" The gay thug voiced out in surprise but he stifled the smugness of Alioth by saying with a joking tone. "Hehe, this lady-man already knows that! What we want to know is what benefits do you get from getting to a.s.similate them into your family? Aren"t they just relics of the past?"
The smug leader of the n.o.ble family coughed up from the gay man"s prank. Alioth forgot the offense and said. "Stop with the nonsense. I was just getting to the good part. Yes, their t.i.tles are currently irrelevant but it won"t stay in that way for long."
"Stop with all the pauses and get to the point!" Even Rat was getting impatient with Alioth"s unnecessary speech.
The mature lady took her husband"s chance in the spotlight and said. "We got clues and information that coup is being staged by their relative who has great backings from a powerful figure. What do you think would happen if that person would know that the princesses are being treated like dirt by their distant uncle and conveniently saved by us. Our family would be connected to the kingdom and my sons would have the chance to be its king!"
It was a mystery how he did it but Rat whistled in praise and gave a clap. "Bravo! Nice information and a pleasure doing business with you all! Haha, we are pretty much in a stalemate now and I hope we continue our partners.h.i.+p from this day forward and even after your possible ascension to royalty. I never knew that you were stupid enough to share that with us thugs."
"Tsk! We would have never revealed it if we weren"t too weak at the moment. We would have silenced you after the deed has been done." Alioth and every other Dren member in the room knew the implicit meaning in his act. They became trapped in a deadlock where the critical information might lead to either downfall of their parties.
Before they could continue with their discussions regarding their close secret. The huge door to the room opened and Velnor came rus.h.i.+ng in along with his little brother. "Father! We have got trouble."
All eyes were directed towards them as the entrance was on the side and the chairs of those who were facing behind them could be easily turned due to its rotating function.
"What happened!" The mature woman screamed in anger from seeing her younger son"s state. The tension in the room rose as the two parties were still in deadlock from the sudden development.
Even if they did not know whoever"s side made the fault, a feud would happen if the proper context of the events would not be laid out upon them.
Alcor ran towards his mother in tears and find comfort in her arms. The fuming third party who was listening to their conversation appeared behind him in a blink of an eye. It was a handsome youth that would bring an unforgettable sight in their eyes.
"What" The mother screamed from seeing Aster"s appearance on the back of Alcor. Making use of the group"s stunned state, Aster pointed his index finger on top of Alcor"s head.
"Eh!" Alcor muttered when he felt the sudden feeling in his head. With another brutal use of Blood Bend, certain blood in his body system transformed and merged into a sharp blade that sliced through him.
From the perfect center, the unsuspecting youth had his body split apart into two parts that were somewhat equal.