"Speak!" Gustavo drove a red hot rod against the thigh of the assassin he had captured, causing the man to writhe in pain, but still, the assassin refused to speak. Upon seeing this, Gustavo sighed.
"Fine, then. You leave me no choice." He turned to the soldiers at the side. "Prepare a cloth, a steel pipe, an unsharpened blade, and a sharp knife. He shall receive no sleep, and food, he shall have plenty, but from the bottom." Gustavo said in a deep, emotionless voice. The soldiers involuntarily clenched their cheeks upon hearing the form of torture that the assassin was about to endure.
"Are you willing to speak?" He turned back to the man who now had uncertain eyes. He was an assassin, and they had an unspoken rule. To never sell out their employers.
However, he had been caught, and would be killed eventually. Would it not be better to die without going through such inhumane torture methods?
"I... My name is Rudolf." The assassin whispered, but Gustavo heard him clearly.
"Yes?" Gustavo leaned in closer.
"My assassin group was contacted a month ago by an unknown employer. The job was to kill the city lord of the Blazing Sun City. Our leader sent my team to handle the job, with me being the strongest. I don't know anything else!" The assassin quickly divulged all the details he knew.
Gustavo could tell that the assassin was speaking the truth and let out a sigh. "Fine, then. Your death will be swift." He said and unsheathed his scimitar. The assassin closed his eyes with a resigned but grateful expression on his face. He was glad that he would not have to suffer.
Swish!
Thud!
With a swift swing of his hand, Gustavo easily severed the head of the assassin from his body and turned around to the last soldier that was there.
"Clean up the place." He said and walked away.
Indeed, it was just as he had suspected. The powers that the former city lord had provoked had hired these assassins. And this was just a small detachment from the main assassin guild. However, they had completed their objective, so it was unlikely that they would send more assassins.
Gustavo felt a pang of helplessness in his chest. If only he had been with the city lord when the assassins struck, then he would have been able to prevent all this from happening. As a four star martial artist, he was confident in his strength. After all, in the world, he would be regarded as an Expert that was just a step away from becoming a Master.
In this world, there were different gradings of strength. Mages used Tiers or Circles, while martial artists used Stars.
Martial artists below five stars were abundant in the world, but in a remote place like the Sand Sea where the late city lord had founded his city, an Expert was a valuable combatant that would be treated nicely by those in that region. Gustavo had received many offers when he was younger, and his talent was still budding before he had pledged his loyalty to the late city lord. Even now, he was still growing, and he could see the boundary that separated him from the fifth star.
Gustavo quickly returned to the safe room, but when he opened the door, he found that the young master was already sleeping. He sighed and turned away, as there were many other matters that needed his attention. He needed to make sure that he was able to get a handle on any infighting that might occur as people struggled to take the title of city lord for themselves.
.
.
Eugene sighed as the door to the safe room closed and he was left alone. He had sent away the guards that hovered protectively around him under the excuse that he would not be able to rest if there were people hovering around him.
"Father was killed." Eugene whispered to himself, as if he still could not believe it.
His father, Gabriel Sandwall, was an ambitious man. However, even Eugene realized that sometimes, having ambitions that were too high blinded even the most powerful men. Now, because of his overachieving tendencies and unrestrained ambition, the man had gotten himself killed.
Gabriel and Eugene were not on the best of terms, even though they were father and son. Ever since Eugene's mother had passed away when giving birth to Eugene, their relationship had been somewhat strained and impersonal, although Gabriel did not treat Eugene like a stranger. It was hard to describe for Eugene.
Eugene held up his hand sadly as a silver light swirled around his palm. "I wanted to show this to you, father. Maybe you would have been proud of me then." He sighed sadly.
The silver power swirling around Eugene's palm was mana. Eugene, a young man thought to have no magical talent, had awakened the ability to control mana all of a sudden!
Eugene's lacking magical aptitude was a topic that Gabriel had always avoided. He was a tier four mage with talent predicted to be around tier six, while his wife had talent of tier five. But the son that his wife had died giving birth to was without any talent in magic?! It was a shame to his name!
Because of this, whenever Gabriel had entertained guests from other places, he tended to avoid the topic of his son unless it was something unavoidable. Many people had also picked up on this tendency, and Eugene was rarely brought up as a topic during dinners with guests. In fact, Eugene actively stayed away from such events.
It was only a few days ago that Eugene had discovered this power of his. He had taken the time to make sure it was all real, and when he was finally ready to tell his father, the man had been assassinated.
Eugene clenched his fist as he felt his throat tighten and his chest feel stuffy.
"Father... I'll avenge you. I will take revenge!"