Rivers of the Night - Chapter 713
Chapter 713: End
Theron took the lack of response from the female assassin as confirmation. She had, indeed, not succeeded yet.
His smile deepened.
“And what if I helped you with your quest?”
The female assassin’s expression gave nothing but coldness away.
“This isn’t allowed, and these aren’t people who can be fooled by a few cute tricks. As clever as you think you are, does it matter when a god can wave a hand and reverse the stream of time to see what happened?”
Theron’s gaze flickered. This was a very clear warning from the female assassin, but it also revealed something else. This wasn’t the fact that the people of the Demon Corps would grow so powerful, but instead that she was familiar with how little he knew.
The question was… was she assuming he knew so little because there were no such experts here, or was it because she knew more about him than even Theron was willing to consider?
The problem was… how would she possibly know so much about him?
It was rare that Theron had a conversation with someone that truly felt like a back-and-forth game of chess. This woman wasn’t simple.
After a long while of thought, Theron pulled his fingers out of her body, leaving her heart intact.
The female assassin’s expression finally showed the slightest shift. She wasn’t sure why Theron would do this. The advantage he had gained just now wasn’t one that was easy to overlook.
“You want the formula, right?”
Her pupils constricted into pinholes.
“I can get it,” Theron said calmly. “The problem is that if I put myself in the shoes of those trying to use it as bait, they’re almost certainly monitoring a few of the key ingredients.”
“You have the formula.”
Theron’s smile didn’t fade. It seemed he was correct—this was all connected. What he didn’t understand just yet was why she would be targeting Chen for assassination. The formula was in his own hands, so what did the Shonagh Clan have to do with it?
But something also told Theron that he might gain that answer the moment he opened up the spatial ring that was practically burning a hole through his hidden stores.
“I believe I just said that I can get it, not that I have it.”
“You have it,” she repeated.
“If you believe that, you’re free to try and take it.” Theron rubbed his thumb along the pad of his fore and middle fingers, both of them still slick with the female assassin’s blood.
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t move.
There was another reason she was being so cautious, and both of them knew it without speaking it aloud. They were both aware that Theron had lured her into a trap she barely escaped from the first time.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had been outsmarted in her life, but Theron had already done it thrice. Of course, that was because he had the advantage of playing a game she didn’t even know she was a part of, and she felt like it would be different now that she was paying keen attention to him. But…
There was absolutely no way she would be underestimating him.
“What do you want?”
“Well, like I said, we have a few enemies in the dark who are probably controlling the supply of very specific items. Unfortunately for them, it’s quite foolish to do so, because the moment they do, they’ll be leaving traces that can be unearthed.
“Tomorrow, I have a date with the Mercenary Guild and won’t be able to handle things. I only need you to scope out the city and figure out who’s restricting the flow of Twin Seed Poppy. We’ll meet tomorrow, same time, same location, and depending on the information you gather, I’ll give you more information.”
“Are you under the impression that I’m your henchman?”
Theron shrugged. “I thought you said I wasn’t allowed to help. I’m just doing my best for your sake.”
The female assassin fell into silence. If she did everything herself, it would be easier to get away with things should these matters be investigated. In addition, even if it was exposed, Theron was obviously an unexpected variable.
Everything she needed should have been with the Shonagh Clan, but something told her that even the Demon Corps wasn’t aware of how complicated everything had become.
Some of these missions were selected from piles of tips and pot shots in the dark, and many of them had been sitting undisturbed for countless generations.
However, there were extra points to be gained for clearing missions like these, so she had ended up overextending herself a bit. She hadn’t been here for long, but she had already almost died—something she had rarely experienced before.
The trouble was that she didn’t even really almost die due to the mission. Every failure was because of this unwanted variable… Theron.
If not for him, Chen’s spatial ring would already be in her hands and she would be well on her way to solving this mystery.
But if this variable wanted to help, then maybe this was an opportunity.
“And what are you offering? What do you want in return?”
“Well, other than giving you targets to hit, I just want to be introduced to the Demon Corps. I’m sure you’ll be in good standing after all of this, no?”
The female assassin looked at Theron deeply for a long while.
“… You’re misunderstanding something.”
“Oh? Please enlighten me.”
“I am not aiming to be under Demon Nobility. My goal is Demon Royalty. The Demon Duke mission is nothing more than a foothold. I will need to complete three of them just for the opportunity to complete a Demon Prince mission, and I will need to complete three of those to see a Demon King.
“This is nothing more than my first Duke Mission. You won’t get what you want out of this alone, because I won’t allow it. If I turn in the mission like this, my path will end.”