NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 79 Too late for regrets now
"Liza Lezdikt I am First, welcome to your first meeting of the nine lives and congratulations on completing your test to join us as one of the nine lives." First stated.
"Thank you very much First, it's an honor." Liza replied politely.
"Ninth, because of the death of Eighth you are hereby automatically promoted to the new Eighth, congratulations." First declared.
"Thank you." Eighth replied.
"Liza Lezdikt, you are hereby given the title of Ninth of the nine lives and with it you will from this point on be addressed as Ninth by all members of Black Noir unless you are replaced by someone else and drop out of the nine lives, congratulations." First Declared.
"Congratulations." The other members of the nine lives repeated, some louder and with more enthusiasm than others.
"Thank you very much, members of the nine lives." Liza now Ninth replied.
"Don't you mean fellow members of the nine lives." The female voice responded with a giggle.
"Of course Fourth." Ninth replied.
"Good." First said. "Third, since you will be staying in the region of Oakforest City to test this new candidate, you should conduct an investigation to see if you can find out any more information as to how the former Eighth, Neisud Buhei died and who his killer might be."
"Of course First." Third replied.
"Ninth, you remain there and assist Third in her investigation while she teaches you more about being a member of the nine lives." First ordered.
"Of course First." Ninth replied.
"Very good, with that I call this meeting of the nine lives to a close." First declared as all the projections vanished one after another.
Once all the magic circles had stopped Third sighed before turning to Ninth with a smile and saying, "Congratulations, you are officially a member of the nine lives."
"Thank you very much, big sister Third." Ninth replied while smiling.
"You deserve it, you have worked towards this for many years." Third replied.
"Now what?" Ninth asked.
"Now go speak to Tommy Smith again and inform him that the nine lives have accepted his right to take the test." Third answered.
"Was it difficult to persuade them?" Ninth asked.
"No persuasion was necessary, I only told him that I needed to inform the nine lives to buy time as well as allow the nine lives an idea of who to investigate should Tommy Smith betray and kill us also." Third replied.
"Do you suspect such a thing can happen?" Ninth asked in surprise.
"Honestly I don't think it will as he seems like a professional when it comes to his work, however he killed Neisud Buhei without much concern or effort so making some countermeasures is never a bad idea, even if those countermeasures are just allowing our fellow nine lives to try and exact vengeance for us." Third explained.
"You honestly have no way to defend against that weapon of his?" Ninth asked.
"Honestly I'm not sure, normal magic barriers can protect against one of two arrows or crossbow bolts before the barrier shatters and fails, however what Tommy Smith used was smaller and moved so fast my eyes couldn't see it. Without testing I can't say if barriers would protect against his weapon and personally I would rather not have to find out." Third answered.
"Agreed." Ninth said with a nod.
"Then let us be off to discuss our next steps with him." Third said before both women left the room while closing the door behind them.
***
Tommy walked through the castle corridors like he owned the place.
It wasn't hard for him to infiltrate the castle with how crap the guards were in this city, all he had to do was find one taking a piss somewhere and knock him unconscious before stealing his uniform.
Tinen had been kind enough to inform Tommy of exactly where Erden was staying inside the castle and he was heading in that direction now.
Along the way he heard random conversations about what had been happening recently in the city and how the king had yet to put a stop to it; it seemed that even the servants didn't respect Glador since they were talking shit about him in his own castle.
Tommy soon heard the angry cry of a man whose voice was familiar to him, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN MY FORGE HAS BEEN DESTROYED."
"It's as I said master Erden, somehow your forge was destroyed in a recent explosion." A voice Tommy didn't recognize replied.
"WHAT SORT OF FUCKING KING ARE YOU WHEN YOU CAN'T EVEN CATCH ONE MURDERER" Erden roared in anger.
"Please calm yourself master Erden, I assure you I have the city guards out conducting a thorough search." Glador replied.
"Are you that idiotic that you don't even know that your own city guards don't do squat unless they are getting something out of it?" Erden asked in return.
"What?" Glador asked in confusion.
"My god it's true," Erden replied in bewilderment. "You really had no idea, are you that full of yourself that you think no one would dare do anything behind your back while your busy fucking your latest concubine?" Erden asked.
"No one in this damn city respects you as their king, the only reason you're even in power still is because you were useful to the leaders of the criminal organizations since you didn't interfere with their businesses in any major way."
"How do you know this?" Glador asked in shock.
"It's fucking common knowledge you idiot, I bet the only person who doesn't know is you because you rely to much on your assistant for information, the assistant you most likely selected based on what benefits they gave you at the time."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Glador asked in anger.
"I'm saying that no one around you is loyal to you and they are using their position for their own benefits, take your assistant for example, he regularly sold information regarding your plans for the city to whoever paid enough." Erden replied.
"What! How could you possibly know this?" Glador asked in anger.
"I'm one of the few master blacksmiths in the empire, you idiot, people will do anything to get on my good side so that I will agree to make them something, even giving information." Erden scoffed in reply.
"You mean to say you also purchased information about what I discussed." Glador asked in anger.
"Fuck no." Erden replied, "I didn't need to purchase anything, people traded it with me for my goods, weren't you listening."
"I should fucking kill you." Glador said angrily.
"Bah." Erden scoffed. "Go ahead if you dare, however we both know you won't. You're too much of a spineless wimp as you, you fear the emperor's wrath once he learns that you killed one of the few master blacksmiths in the empire."
"Fuck." Glador cursed as he stormed out of the room past the disguised Tommy who was pretending to be on guard while listening in to the conversation.
"Fucking retard," Erden cursed. "I should never have put my trust in that useless king, but what could I do since he is the most powerful force in the city now the leaders are dead. I'm starting to regret stabbing that brat in the back."
"Too late for regrets now." Tommy said as he entered the room before shutting the door.
"Who the hell are you?" Erden asked in shock as he saw the guard entering the room while closing the door.
"I thought that would be obvious." Tommy said as he took off the guard's helmet he was wearing.
Erden stared in shock at the young man before him before quickly recovering and saying, "What do you want, brat?"
"Oh didn't they pass my message onto you?" Tommy asked curiously.
"What message?" Erden asked.
"It seems someone didn't think it was important to pass along." Tommy sighed. "Oh well, since I'm here I will tell it to you personally."
"I'm here to punish you for going back on our deal and even backstabbing me by having the guards try and arrest me."
Erden gaped at Tommy before laughing after which he said, "Oh and what do you plan to do brat? If you even dare to touch me the emperor will hunt you down."
"Oh you mean because you're one of the few master blacksmiths in the empire?" Tommy asked.
"Exactly." Erden said proudly.
"If that's the case why did you bother fleeing your forge only to come hide in this castle like a rat?" Tommy asked.
"Who are you calling a rat you brat, I simply came here to negotiate with King Glador." Erden replied with false bravado.
"Oh yes, I heard how those negotiations were going as I was standing outside." Tommy replied. "It's a shame they won't be necessary after today."
"You can't seriously be suggesting that you plan to kill me brat." Erden scoffed in reply.
"I did consider it, but then I figured there was a better way to punish you, one that may lead you to take your own life in the future." Tommy replied with a dark smile.
