Ajax dragged the woman to the gates of the Pendergast family estate and when they arrived he threw her in front of the guards and said"Get the leader of this family out here now our II will slay this stupid bitch were she belongs, in the dirt. You have two minutes to get his ass out here, just so you know I'm a grimoire user and a strong one at that, if either of you move towards me in any way, the young woman will die."
Before the guards could take a step forward a strong sense of danger overcame Ajax and he immediately grabbed the woman and retreated backwards. When he felt like he was at a safe enough distance he summoned his pistol and placed it against the woman's temple. He then smiled and shouted" Old man I know you are there and that you could kill me easily with your skill with the bow however are you confident enough to guarantee that I wouldn't kill her first? If you would like to talk about terms for her release then step out of the shadows, we can test whether a level 8 bowman is faster than a level one grimoire user."
A loud sigh was heard from on top of the estate palisade and an old man jumped down from it, he looked Ajax in the eyes before saying"You seem to have changed Alexander, your sudden gain in strength makes you think you are invincible however you will die by my families hands if you harm Catherine anymore than you already have. Tell me what you want and give my granddaughter back to me before things go too far."
Ajax smiled at the old man's threats before he grabbed Catherine by the throat and began to choke her slowly, when she began to desperately gasp for breath, he lowered her back down and placed the pistol back at her temple. The old man drew his bow at the sight of his granddaughter being choked and was about to pull the trigger when Ajax placed her back on he floor.
Turning to the old man he said"Overconfident I maybe but I'm not called Alexander, he is long dead, I'm just using his body to get around with. My name is Ajax and if I don't get enough money to leave this shity city in 10 minutes, this young lady will be dying by my hand. Actually forget that, give me the amount that you value her life at, If it is too low she dies regardless of the amount offered. The time limit of 10 minutes still stands, for every minute I don't have the money she will lose a part of her body, if she is still alive after 10 minutes I will put her out of her misery"
The old man smiled and said to the guards"Go and collect a third of the treasury and bring it here, this young man seems to be serious about crossing us and I refuse to let this charade last any longer. When you have collected the money put it in an unclaimed storage ring and bring it back to us, if your tardiness causes any harm to my granddaughter I will have your heads"
The guards immediately ran towards the treasury and used basic acceleration magic to increase their speed as much as possible while Ajax turned his attention back towards the old man in front of him and said"What is your name? I need to know the name of the leader of this pathetic family before I depart the city, will need to report your granddaughter's actions to the grimoire faction as he should know assaulting a grimoire user is a serious crime in this kingdom, I may need extra payment to keep my mouth closed."
The old man laughed at Ajax's commands as he knew he was strong enough to kill him here and he held enough influence in the capital to pressure the King to look the other way. He looked Ajax in the eye and said"You will take what I'm willing to give you and you will run as fast as you can because if I ever see you again after this I will kill you on sight, grimoire user or not."
A minute had passed since the guards had left and Ajax grabbed the young woman's hand and said"I'm sorry that the guards are so slow, this will hurt a lot but it will not be permanent damage if you are lucky"He then proceeded to rip Catherine's nail off of her finger and throw it at the old man, he smiled at him and said"We will be starting small and working our way towards more serious damage depending on how long they take" As Ajax was speaking Catherine was thrashing around in his arms in extreme pain, until now she had only suffered minor pain and humiliation however this was a turning point for her going forwards in her life...