"Stand down. Tell the butler of House Julius to relay the message."
The master of the dark guild Sanctum issued the order to his subordinate.
Six.
That was the number of subordinates who had become useless ever since accepting the commission to steal the heirloom from an adventurer named Alan.
What they all had in common was that their right hand and left foot had been sliced off.
And that their [Assassin]-type skills had been lost.
It didn't matter whether they were men, women, old, or young—every subordinate he sent was repelled all the same.
He had healed the first one with an Elixir, but the skill never returned.
For a small fry dark guild like ours, Elixirs weren't exactly easy to come by.
The fact that their skills were gone—if the skill simply inflicted skill loss, that would be one thing, but if it was the type that could steal a skill and make it his own, then Alan might be getting stronger with every person he defeated.
According to the subordinates who had been repelled, all of their moves had been seen through—but they only realized that after they'd already been cut down.
Despite being fully aware of them, he gave no indication of it and played the part of an ordinary adventurer flawlessly.
Even though he'd been attacked six times, this adventurer named Alan hadn't interrogated a single one of them.
He had simply brushed aside the sparks raining down on him, methodically slicing off limbs with an air of total indifference.
In other words, as long as they didn't do anything else, no further damage should occur.
And that kind of composed behavior was something typically seen in beings of absolute power.
He suddenly recalled something.
A few months ago, it had been a topic of conversation that the Momentum branch of one of the largest dark guilds had been massacred by someone.
Could it be... that it was Alan?
Anyway, I can't keep going like this.
I'll have to shut down for a while.
I need to get my hands on an elixir to heal my subordinates' injuries.
I also need to find a way to get my skills back.
I can't abandon the comrades I've been scraping by with all this time.
I'll need to make some money running the tavern as my front business, while also taking on reliable commissions to earn more.
But I probably won't be getting any dark guild commissions for a while.
The master of Sanctum decided to consider himself lucky that his base hadn't been found and everyone massacred — and leave it at that.
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After turning back six assassins in a row, they suddenly stopped coming.
He had wondered how long it would take them to give up.
Even dark guilds had a line where things stopped being profitable.
So he figured once they crossed that line, they'd give up.
Which meant the next people to come would be…
"Lord Alan, I've come to speak with you."
Sure enough, here they were.
It was the butler of Count Julius's household — the one he'd met before.
He had come to the inn where Alan was staying.
"What can I do for you?"
"I have come once again regarding the family heirloom. Given the count's current financial situation, we would like to arrange payment in installments of the twelve hundred gold coins. This time, I have brought one hundred gold coins as the first installment."
"1800 gold coins."
"Huh!?"
"After that, I was attacked by six assassins, so that's an additional 600 coins. That family heirloom must be worth quite a lot, huh?"
"There's no way I can pay that much..."
"Oh, and installments are not an option. Please pay the full amount in one lump sum. It's a trick nobles like to pull on people they know can't refuse — set up an installment plan, pay for the first few rounds, then leave the rest unresolved and make the other party give up trying to collect."
"How do you know about such a thing? Don't tell me..."
"It's best not to ask unnecessary questions."
"Ggh... Can't you at least lower it a little? My family could put in a word to help promote your adventurer rank."
In truth, the butler had no such authority, and would have to persuade the head of the household upon returning.
But...
"There's no need for that. Also, you just tried to haggle, so I'm increasing the price to 2000 gold coins."
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Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Phantom Thief Gentleman] [Dark Magic] [Rock-Iron Magic] [Holy Magic]
Rank: Bronze
Thank you as always for reading!