A dull light glimmered from Jin's palms. The object curved like a scimitar was at least two and a half hand spans long. Its tip was as sharp as a needle.
The entire thing didn't fit inside his hand. It was eerily cold to the touch and very heavy.
'A silver dragon's claw…! He had that! How?!'
Owal gulped. Yona's questioning glare flickered with anger and embarrassment.
"What do you mean you didn't do anything?! How in the world did Jin get his hands on such a valuable item? The main house in no way would have supplied him with it! The Runcandel Clan's storage wouldn't even have that!"
If the Runcandels already had such an item in stock, then they would've already sold it to the Leader of Nameless.
Defeated, Owal shook his head.
"I swear that it was not me. As you know, we only have two claws in our secret storage. And apart from that one in his hand, ours are broken."
A dragon's claw was a material that blacksmiths and artifact craftsmen could only dream of obtaining. Any equipment that used a part of a dragon's body inherited a miniscule fraction of the dragon's god's ability.
As such, scales, teeth, bones, and insides; anything part of a dragon was valuable.
Obtaining such material was like catching a shooting star in the first place. Even though items from lesser dragons were considered luxuries due to its lack of usefulness, the demand for equipment from a dragon's corpse never stopped.
However, to Nameless, a silver dragon's claw was considered and valued far beyond any 'valuable material'. This was very classified information that even the most knowledgeable dragon corpse traders didn't know.
"Then how did the youngest obtain…?"
"We'll find out soon enough. First, it seems I have won the bet. Since your brother has revealed that thing, this assassination is a failure."
"Erk…"
"I'm sure it's disappointing and aggravating, but you have lost. And I'm sure you wouldn't think that killing them is more important than a silver dragon's claw? I know who you are, but I'm sure you wouldn't…"
"...I know, I know! But it's not done yet. Jin might not give it to us."
"If that were the case, then he wouldn't have taken it out. Let's go see him."
With the claw in his hand, Jin walked to the window and teasingly shook it in their view. He didn't know where they were, but he knew they were watching.
'I didn't kick out Dante and Beradin, but I saved them. So I've won our bet, Leader of Nameless.'
After thirty seconds, Jin turned around. Yona and Owal were standing across the room. If he didn't expect it, Jin would've fainted from surprise.
'I get goosebumps every time I experience it. How can you silence your footsteps like that?'
However, it wasn't the same as before.
He slightly 'felt' it when the two jumped down from the roof across the street. If he hadn't trained his Mind's Eye, he would've been oblivious.
Jin maintained a calm expression and bowed.
"Nice to meet you for the first time, 85th Leader of Nameless. And long time no see, Elder Sister Yona."
Jin answered as if he had never met Owal, and Yona let out a cough behind her leader. She didn't want to confront Jin.
"Where did you get a silver dragon's claw?"
Owal directly dove into the interrogation. Jin instinctively looked at Beradin and Dante.
'And he finished them off with paralysis, preventing them from listening in like last time.'
A bitter cold climbed up his spine, but he didn't need to be scared anymore.
"I can't tell you. However, please just think of it as a present received from a silver dragon that I came to know throughout my journey."
Despite the disrespectful response, Owal couldn't say anything. In fact, his eyes actually glimmered in interest.
"It seems that you not only received it, but also heard how we use it."
"That's right. I was told that I would be spared in any scenario if I showed this…"
—The executioners of Nameless consider our type's claws more valuable than any divine artifact.
—Why is that?
—If you use it well, you can even kill someone who's impossible to assassinate. They have their method of using it: they can stop the victim's time for a blink.
—Executioners at the highest level only need that much time. Then there's no one they can't kill. A human toying with time… It's that simple?
—I mean, it's even hard for Olta to do it. It's very limited. And their method seems to require a sacrifice.
Essentially, the claw bought an 'instant' of time for the Nameless Assassins.
'For an assassin like Elder Sister Yona or Leader Owal, that split second would be the game-ender. Not just for assassinations, but for fights as well.'
Even if it were Luna or Talaris, they stood no chance against Owal who owned about four claws.
And in a position where almost nobody was aware of Nameless utilizing the claw, then it would be more effective.
However, making an opportunity for an assassination even with the claw would still be difficult.
"It's just as you said. If you hand that to me, I will dismiss all of your misdeeds."
"Isn't killing me, stealing it, and destroying my body more effective? The silver dragon told me it was the most clandestine secret of Nameless."
"If you were not a Runcandel, or if those two were normal people, I wouldn't have hesitated to make such a decision."
"I hated my background ever since I was born, but today I feel thankful for it."
Jin displayed Quikantel's claw to Owal.
"Before I offer this to you, I would like to ask something."
"Speak."
"I wonder why real executioners instead of cadets targeted me today. Was Elder Sister Yona keeping me in check or were you testing me?"
Owal smiled and looked down at Jin. He knew that Jin was forcing a question that he already knew the answer to.
'I'm losing to this kid twice in four days. Is he asking me to say that I made a bet with Yona with my own mouth?'
It was a threat.
If he didn't answer truthfully, then he would blow off their secret.
Yet it was also to keep his side of the deal.
"Yona and I made a bet. I bet that you would survive, and Yona did the opposite. Since I won and obtained a silver dragon's claw thanks to you, I'll offer you a prize."
"Thank you."
"Then I'll take my leave. I'm sure you two have some catching up to do. Once you finish, come to the Nameless Manor."
"So I don't need to feel threatened by executioners anymore?"
"That includes me and Yona. No assassin of Nameless will try to kill you. This will go on for ten years after you leave. So long as your clan doesn't invade us, this promise will stand."
Jin's eyes widened.
'Ten years…!'
Jin never expected his name to be off the hit list for that long.
'That's good to hear. Then if I go to war with my siblings, I won't need to worry about Nameless.'
Between flag-bearers, using external help was laughable.
However, Jin thought that Joshua, Myu, or Anne would definitely commit something like that. At this point, even Jin would really want to get rid of himself.
Owal left the room, and Yona pressed her fingertips togethers.
Then, she spun her hair with her index finger and swayed between a frown and smile.
"Ehhh… My youngest brother."
"Yes, Elder Sister?"
Jin's response radiated coldness.
Yona grew desperate.
"I had no intention to keep you in check. Really! I just really want you to grow."
"So you sent a dozen professional executioners on top of stalking me every day?"
"I did…"
"I had no other alternative analyses of your behavior other than competition for the throne."
"Alrighty, then. Who are those two?"
Showing interest, Yona looked at Dante and Beradin, paralyzed. She didn't know who they were.
"It's Beradin Zipfel and Dante Hairan."
"Ehhh… I see."
"You failed to kill me, and the leader guaranteed my safety, so you wouldn't kill me now either. Now, all you need to do is to tell everyone that I'm accompanied by those guys."
"Uhhh, why do you think that? Then the probability of your death will skyrocket!"
"Because you hate me. If it weren't for that, you wouldn't have sent planned attacks with executioners to me. Our reunion doesn't even break the rules of flag-bearers, so why did you attack me?"
A bit of genuine anger was fused into his words.
Jin didn't really know who Yona was.
However, because of her, he dealt with the threat of extremely talented assassins on him, so he couldn't just gloss over it. His pain was worth far greater than the Thousand-Poison Antidote.
"I just wanted to play with you… I even wrote it on the—"
"You treated me like a toy."
"No! I would never!"
'I didn't even feel a hint of regret from her earlier. What is this? Did she really think she was only playing with me?'
Yona's eyes watered, and Jin could only feel sorry.
"I mean, you were the one who tried to kill me, so why are you crying?"
"I don't know. Tears are flooding my eyes, so what else am I supposed to do?"
"Are you not the best Nameless Executioner? What happened to the emotion suppression training…"
"I didn't do such a thing, since I could kill people so well without it when Mother first introduced me to Leader Owal."
Jin's face grew dim.
'What…?'
Yona was introduced to the organization at the age of 12.
Even if she was a Runcandel, she was still too young to be treated like an emotionless killing machine. Still, their mother…
Jin would've never known.
Yona's first murder was when she was 8 years old. The victim was a cousin who visited her at the Storm Castle.
Yona never had a nanny. Neither did she go through cadet training.
On top of that, she never had a meal with her siblings in the two years she stayed in the main house.
All because of Cyron's decree.
The Battle for Hegemony was important, but he couldn't let all of his children die before they left the Storm Castle.
Sniff, sniff.
Giggle.
Jin felt a chill as he watched his sister sniffle and giggle simultaneously.
A big and heavy weight pressed on his chest.
—————