Lara who had just killed all the assassins that came to kill her, took all their bodies, piled them up in one spot, and then burned them into ashes. Hilda just watched as Lara did her thing. Lara as usual showed no emotions as she killed, without mercy.
"Why did you kill them all? You should've left one alive, so that we could've gotten some sort of information from them, or you could have left a body intact and we could have inspected it to see if we can get any clues."
"It doesn't matter, as long as they direct killing intent my way, I will kill them." Lara with her cold indifferent tone answered Hilda, who hearing what Lara said sighed. Unlike Ren who enjoyed fighting, Lara was a like a weapon who kills with nothing but efficiency in mind.
The reason for this was back when they were young, Ren would bring Lara along as he looked for bandits that were near the village. Of course, he would kill them all without mercy, and he taught Lara to do so as well. He brought Valdel sometimes as well, but he had more difficulty taking a human life than Lara. Also, he had difficulty killing things that had a humanoid shape, or a monster that could talk and has intelligence.
With that kind of training, both Lara and Valdel had strengthened their tolerance for killing another human being. Especially Lara who practically has a scary level of trust in whatever Ren says.
Hilda looked at Lara's emotionless eyes and sighed once more. Still unlike a few days ago, at least now Lara was actually having a conversation with Hilda, instead of just nodding or shaking her head.
"So what will you do now?"
"I'm going to do the things written on this list." Lara pointed at the list Ren gave her.
"I see do you need my help?"
"No." After saying this, Lara immediately jumped onto a nearby roof and left Hilda.
Hilda looked at the fading figure of Lara. She knew that even without her heavy equipment weighing her down, she would still be unable to catch up to Lara.
'Those two still don't trust me, even though we are supposedly party members... Well, I can't really blame them, I don't trust them that much either, especially Ren. Every time I look at him, it feels like he's scheming something... Well, he did save me when we faced off against that Elder Lich. I know how much he wanted to stay and fight, but he decided to save us instead... He might not be all bad, but still, I need to keep an eye on him whenever I can.'
While Hilda was thinking about Ren, she headed to the adventurers guild to do a solo quest.
...
Lara who left Hilda moments ago went straight to the Northern District where both Iselv and Kithra were located. In this place, Kithra still continued her business of prostitution, but they no longer sold drugs but information, and because Iselv's men have become bodyguards for the brothels, the district felt a bit safer.
Lara landed on the roof of Kithra's office and then entered through the window.
"You do know that you could enter through the front entrance." Kithra who already noticed Lara's arrival the moment she stepped foot on the roof, spoke with a seductive smile on her face. Iselv was also with her and she looked at Lara with a little glare.
Ever since they agreed to become Ren's subordinates, they haven't seen him. Ren who promised Iselv that he would improve his mana capacity hasn't done anything yet. This made Iselv kind of grumpy.
"So what do you want?" Iselv spoke with a tinge of irritation in his voice.
"Ren asked if you already sent some men to Carto Village?"
"I already did that." Hearing Iselv's irritated answer, Lara nodded her head.
"Ren also wanted to say, once he returns from his trip he would begin trying to raise your mana capacity." When Iselv heard this, his eyes opened wide but afterward he simply nodded his head.
"Kithra, Ren said that you need to gather all the information you can about the underground businesses of the neighboring cities."
"Why?" Kithra asked, even though she already has an idea as to why they needed to do this. Still, she wanted to hear it from the other person's mouth.
"Ren said that we should conquer the underworld societies of the nearby cities, and we should do it within two months."
Iselv who heard this had his blood boiling with anticipation. On the other hand, Kithra was also having goosebumps. She had a tiny understanding of what kind of person Ren was. Seeing his mana wanting to devour everything, it felt like he too was like that. A person that wanted to devour everything. Kithra smiled a very seductive smile as he thought of the young boy, with such great ambition.
"Very well, I will do as he says." Seeing Kithra's seductive smile made Lara very angry deep inside.
'This d*mn b*tch is thinking about Ren, isn't she! If Ren didn't need you I would have pierced your head with an arrow!'
Of course, Lara didn't say any of this out loud and remained ever stoic. Once she was done with that, she was about to leave through the window but was interrupted by Kithra speaking.
"Wait, that's all you wanted? Aren't you going to get your share of the profit?" Kithra asked. Hearing this question Lara remembered something, but she didn't turn her head as she answered.
"Ren said just use that money to buy more information. The more information we have to sell the better... Oh, I forgot to say, any information you acquire about noble houses with the ranks of Earl and above, we'll be keeping those for ourselves, and inform Ren once he comes by." Without waiting for a reply Lara jumped down the window.
Seeing the fading figure of Lara, Kithra wryly smiled. "Like I said you could've just used the front entrance."
...
Lara's next destination was the office space Gregory uses. The moment she stepped into the premise a single candle lit inside the dark room.
"Oh, it's you, what do you want?" From within the shadows, Gregory appeared looking a bit sullen.
"Ren has a task for you."
"What is it?"
"Ren wants you to kill the marquis that owns the lands to the south." When Lara said this her ever indifferent voice almost trembled. This marquis that Ren wanted dead, was none other than the marquis they heard rumors off as children in Carto Village. This man was a pig that would steal married women for fun.
Lara understood why Ren wanted him dead, seeing as he could be a threat to the village. Gregory feeling the rising bloodlust from Lara, felt that this mission wasn't as simple as it seems.
'Well when it comes to that guy nothing is simple'
"As you wish." Hearing Gregory's answer Lara nodded in response and left the room. Once she stepped outside the candlelight was gone, as the room returned to darkness, Gregory's presence disappeared as well.
Lara then continued to do things that were written on the list. The next thing on the list, find an alchemist.