An hour had passed since the triplets had infiltrated Lont and there had been no news of them since. Floyd was already frowning because he thought that it wouldn’t take that long to capture a teenager and a child from within the small Town of Lont.
‘Did something happen?’ Floyd thought as he observed the Giant Golden Ape in the distance.
Floyd’s subordinates, that he had brought along, were also getting impatient. They were among Floyd’s best men and had done many things for him for the past few years. These people had been with him even before he had joined Deus, and always accompanied him during important missions.
Another hour passed and then two.
Finally, Floyd realized that something was terribly wrong with the lack of feedback from his three subordinates.
He was about to send more men to infiltrate the City of Lont when Kell, the oldest of the triplets, emerged from the ground in front of Floyd.
“What happened?” Floyd asked. “Where are your brothers?”
Kell lowered his head in shame before pulling out a letter.
“Sir, Celine asked me to pass you a letter,” Kell said as he handed the letter to Floyd.
Seeing that his subordinate wasn’t planning to answer his inquiry, Floyd took the letter in his hand and read its contents. Perhaps, the letter would give him the reason why his men had failed to abduct the members of the Ainsworth Family to be used as bargaining chips in his negotiation with Celine.
—–
Dear Floyd,
Your subordinates have already told us everything and I got to say, I’m fairly disappointed with how you handled the situation. Conner and I have an agreement that forbids any member of Deus to touch my Disciple.
To think that you would be stupid enough to use the loophole to try and kidnap William’s family members in order to use as hostages against me? Such audacity.
My Disciple holds the people important to him very dearly. Touching them is akin to touching his reverse scale. If you had succeeded in capturing Matthew or Eve, trust me, you would have an enemy that wouldn’t rest until he cut you apart at every joint, healed you repeatedly, and did so again as his beasts feasted on your flesh in front of you.
You are a scholar, and yet, you failed to understand something so simple. Resorting to violence because you couldn’t have your way? Are you a child?
—–
Floyd snorted as he paused his reading of Celine’s letter. He wasn’t scared of William. He was merely a bug he could crush at any time. The fact that Celine was spouting such nonsense only made his irritation and impatience grow exponentially.
After forcing himself to calm down, he continued to read the hateful letter in his hand that had been handwritten personally by the person he idolized the most in the Southern Continent.
—–
I don’t know why you are looking for my Disciple, but he is certainly not here. With that said, why don’t you tell me why you are looking for William? Write a letter and hand it over to your subordinate.
Naturally, you may choose to ignore this letter as well. I already know how many men you have and their abilities. If you still feel like catching the members of the Ainsworth Family under my watch, feel free to send your men.
I have been feeling bored as of late, so having a few idiots to kill will certainly raise my mood.
I look forward to hearing your reply, Celine.
—–
‘Arrogant Elf.’ Floyd muttered. ‘But a genius like you has the right to be arrogant. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I’ll just make you understand that you are wasting your talent by staying in this small town in the countryside, instead of conquering the world by my side.’
Floyd thought that Celine had single handedly caught the triplets that he had ordered to infiltrate Lont. Although he didn’t know how the Dark Sorceress did it, Floyd was convinced that it was not an impossible thing to do.
He then asked Kell several questions, but the latter stayed silent. Even the threat of torture didn’t loosen his subordinate’s lips which convinced Floyd that Celine may have taken Kell’s brothers as hostages to prevent him from saying anything.
Left with no choice, he was faced with two decisions.
‘Should I just brute force my way in?’ Floyd thought. ‘Or should I negotiate?’
Floyd pondered for a full five minutes before making his decision. He wrote a letter and handed it to Kell, who once again merged with the ground to return to Lont.
The scholar had a sneer on his face as he looked at the sun in the sky.
‘Four more hours until sunset,’ Floyd mused. ‘There’s still time. You arrogant woman, you think that just because you know Dark Magic, I will fear you? How naive.’
Floyd had made two plans in his mind. One was to initiate a negotiation with Celine in order to lure her out of the town. As long as the beautiful Elf decided to meet them, he would order his men to capture her at all cost.
He had also considered her to be a bargaining chip to make William submit to him as well. The only reason he had aimed for the Half-Elf’s relatives was due to the fact that Celine had refused his proposal. If things had proceeded smoothly then none of this might have happened.
His second option was to wait for nightfall.
Floyd had made a dozen special artifacts that only worked at night. It allowed them to erase their presence and completely turn invisible. Although it could only accommodate ten people at a time, it was more than enough to create a raiding team that could even bypass a Millennial Beast’s highly sensitive perception.
Floyd was able to create such an artifact from a scroll he had unearthed in a ruined temple found inside a Hidden Domain that he had stumbled upon by chance. Unfortunately, after he took the treasures inside the Temple, the Domain collapsed. Floyd was barely able to leave out of it alive, but the things he gained from it was worth it.
Floyd didn’t believe that Celine would be able to do anything once he and the rest of his subordinates had passed through the Town’s Gates that were being protected by the Giant Golden Ape and the several Wyverns patrolling the sky.
—–
“This Floyd really thinks too highly of himself,” Celine said as she handed the letter to Jekyll who was sitting across from her. “I’m guessing that he’s just using this tactic to delay time. Perhaps he is waiting for nightfall before he goes in for the kill.”
Jekyll took the letter from Celine’s hand and read its contents.
“I expected more from the members of the Organization you joined, but I guess they are feeling too full of themselves from the lack of opposition,” Jekyll commented after reading the letter. “It sure is convenient when anyone that could threaten them has been turned into a crystal statue. They think that they can move unhindered in the Hellan Kingdom.”
Celine nodded her head in agreement.
Kell stood at the side with his head bowed in silence. After his painful experience with the White Goose, the eldest of the triplets was already at the verge of death. Then Jekyll took him back to his laboratory.
Jekyll had made him drink a bottle of Regeneration Potion made from Mountain Troll’s Blood to help regenerate the loss of blood and mend the broken bones in his body.
The Dentist of Lont had tweaked Kell’s body in a way that made him and his two brothers completely subservient to Jekyll, obeying his every command.
“So, what should we do now?” Celine asked as she eyed the smiling Dentist in front of her.
After seeing Jekyll’s true form, Celine felt more at ease about being able to protect Lont because her ally was a force to be reckoned with. If they were to add Vlad into the equation then Floyd’s group was like a group of small puppies facing off against a dinosaur.
“Having more subordinates is always a good thing,” Jekyll replied with an award winning smile. “These triplets are good. Their skills are very unique and are quite useful. If Floyd has more men like them, I would be more than happy to take them all in.”
Jekyll looked at Celine mischievously. He was like a little boy that had been given some toys on his birthday and was on the lookout for more.
Celine gave Jekyll a refreshing smile as she nodded her head in understanding. Although she was a member of The Organization, she didn’t like people barging into her home turf uninvited.
Also, Floyd’s purpose was to make her and her only Disciple submit to him by force. This ticked Celine off. William was her only Disciple and was one of the handful of people she truly cared about.
If the Ainsworth Family was William’s reverse scale, then the Half-Elf was Celine’s reverse scale. No one was allowed to make her, and her Disciple kneel, because that would be a slap to her face as his Master.
‘Floyd, you fool,’ Celine mused. ‘Let me see how fast you will run after you’ve poked this hornet nest. I’m sure that you will not forget this experience for the rest of your life.’
Celine and Jekyll smiled evilly. It was now time to get the freeloader Demigod to do his job. This way, the members of The Organization would experience the worst possible nightmare, while all of them were awake.
