The practical exercise.
Looking at Cecilia smiling so innocently before him, his heart constricted.
What did she want?
In front of everyone, before all the teachers and students—what kind of game was she playing now?
Bell didn't answer. He simply nodded, then grabbed the confused Kyle by the arm and turned to leave.
“Brother?”
Cecilia’s voice came from behind, tinged with a perfect touch of confusion.
Bell didn’t look back; instead, he quickened his pace.
He had to get away from her.
He pulled Kyle all the way to the other end of the teaching building before suddenly letting go.
“First,” Bell panted, staring into Kyle’s eyes with an unprecedented level of seriousness. “Absolutely do not come looking for me ever again.”
Kyle was stunned by his behavior.
“Second,” Bell’s voice carried a faint, barely perceptible tremor. “Stay away from Cecilia. As far as possible. She is a monster.”
With that, he didn't give Kyle any chance to ask questions and walked away quickly.
“Hey! Bell!” Kyle shouted from behind. “What do you mean, monster? Wait up!”
Bell turned a deaf ear.
He just wanted to escape this place, to escape everyone.
At the very least, he couldn't let that demon hurt any more innocent people.
Kyle was the first warning.
After leaving the academy, Bell didn't return to the dormitory.
“I have to fight back!”
Keeping his head down, he walked through the bustling streets of the capital, turning into one secluded, dark alley after another.
The air was thick with the smell of damp mold and the stench of rotting garbage.
This was the underworld, the filthy reality hidden beneath the capital’s polished exterior.
He finally stopped in front of a stall with a tattered cloth banner.
The stall owner was a one eye man with a face full of scars and muscle, reeking of alcohol and blood. He leaned back lazily in his chair and only lifted an eyelid when he saw a kid like Bell in an academy uniform.
“Beat it, kid. This isn't a place for someone like you.”
Bell said nothing.
He pulled a heavy coin purse from his coat and dropped it directly onto the wooden table in front of the man.
“I want to hire a killer.”
The purse hit the table with the crisp clinking of gold coins.
One eye sat up straight. A flash of greed crossed his cloudy eye, but it quickly turned into impatience.
“Get lost!” He waved his hand as if shooing a fly. “I don't deal in business that gets people executed! Don't come here making trouble, brat!”
Bell stared at him, his hollow eyes devoid of any emotion a child should have.
One eye felt a bit unnerved by the gaze.
This kid... something was wrong with him.
He hesitated, then seemed to soften his tone for the sake of the gold coins.
“I don't have any killers for hire. But...” He rubbed his stubbly beard. “I do have a new shipment of goods—slaves. If you have enough money, buy one and train it yourself. If you train them well, aren't they just ready made assassins?”
Slaves.
Bell’s heart stirred.
A tool that would only follow his orders, someone who could use any means necessary without regard for the consequences.
“Show me.”
“Heh, that's the spirit!” The man’s face twisted into a grotesque smile. He stood up and led Bell into a dark shack behind the stall.
An even heavier stench—a mixture of waste and the smell of rotting wounds—hit him.
Inside the shack were iron cages of various sizes.
Various “goods” were locked inside.
Most were sickly beastmen, along with a few elves who were missing limbs and looked numb.
Bell scanned the room, his heart unmoved.
“Is this it?” he asked coldly. “What use are these half dead things?”
“Hey, little guest, don't be in such a hurry!” One eye rushed to stop him when he saw him leaving. “The goods might not look like much, but the price is negotiable!”
Bell’s gaze swept the room once more.
This time, he noticed the smallest, darkest cage in the corner.
A small figure was curled up inside.
Long, silvery white hair was matted into clumps by filth.
Her skin was a sickly pale, and her lips were cracked; she looked like she hadn't eaten in a long time.
A vampire.
And a starving one at that.
“How much for this one?” Bell pointed at the cage.
One eye was overjoyed.
As expected, just a brat who didn't know anything. Vampires were pretty, sure, but as slaves, they were the biggest headache in the world. They needed blood, they feared the sun, and they could go berserk at any moment.
“Oh! You certainly have a good eye, guest!” One eye immediately adopted the face of a shady merchant and began to boast. “This is a pureblood vampire! Extremely noble! If she hadn't fallen on hard times, she’d never end up in a small place like this!”
“How much.” Bell interrupted him impatiently.
One eye held up five thick fingers.
“Fifty gold coins!”
“Forget it.”
Bell turned to leave without hesitation.
“Wait, wait! Don't go, guest!” One eye panicked and grabbed him. “We can talk about the price! Thirty! How about thirty gold coins? I can't go any lower!”
Bell stopped.
He turned back and looked at the dying vampire girl in the cage.
Then, he looked at One eye.
“Thirty gold coins,” Bell said slowly, stating his terms. “In addition, give me ten bags of fresh blood and information on how to hire a top tier assassin.”
One eye’s single eye widened.
This kid was even shadier than he was!
But he looked at the bag of gold coins Bell had dropped on the table, then at the half dead vampire in the cage.
No matter how he calculated it, this was a profitable deal.
“Deal!”
Rate on N.U.
