Martis’s Secret Meeting Room, Stone Town.
Martis sat in his ornate head chair. His fingers tapped an impatient rhythm on the wooden surface.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound was quiet andclear in the silent room. His usually calm face had hardened.
Around the table, his illegal allies sat in a tense silence. A pale-faced Vampire noble swirled a goblet filled with a thick red liquid. In another chair, a 000 Commander stood silently, encased in black armor and a black mask. At the end of the table, an Emissary from the Rituk Kingdom, a burly man with sharp yellow eyes, stood with his arms crossed.
Nila and Wilas stood tensely behind Martis’s chair.
The 000 Commander was the first to speak. His voice was hoarse and muffled from behind his helmet. "I did not expect you to be in this kind of situation, Martis."
Martis turned to the 000 commander. He was silent for a moment before replying, "The situation is still under control."
The 000 Commander gave a hoarse laugh. "Under control.., You know, they now have a perfect reason to come here and fuck you up."
"They are only coming here to find Starfall," Martis countered.
"Oh, is that so?" said the Emissary from the Rituk Kingdom. "When they arrive here, Martis, I think they will also be coming for you."
"Before, the Kingdom had no good reason to come here. They couldn’t even come because of your agreement with the King." The burly man laughed lightly, his voice low. "Mass murder, the deaths of dozens of adventurers, and an attack on the Association. Oh, they have a very good and strong reason to come here. Of course, the first person they will suspect is you."
Martis was silent. He just listened as the Rituk emissary stated his opinion.
The emissary continued, "They will look for any way to exploit this situation. To be able to capture you."
Once again, Martis did not react. He stared sharply at the Rituk emissary.
The emissary smirked. "And when... when they torture all your men, or even your lackeys, and make them give testimony or even evidence... you’re finished, my friend. There is nothing you can do."
"Is that so?" Martis smiled faintly.
The emissary just raised both his shoulders. "Who knows. I’m just voicing my theory."
"We will be pulling back for now, Martis. You were supposed to keep Tyelven stable. You failed. Your name is probably ruined now for letting this chaos happen. People no longer trust your protection... Additionally, the presence of Guardians in this city will endanger us," said the 000 Commander.
"This is only a temporary chaos," Martis replied, his voice still calm. "It can still be fixed. We will..."
"Unfortunately, we don’t care," the 000 Commander cut in. "This city is now locked down by Royal Guardians. This draws attention we do not want. 000 will pull all of its assets from Tyelven. Our agreement is done. For now. We will return if everything goes back to normal."
The 000 Commander stood from his chair. He bowed slightly, then walked out of the room without waiting for a reply. The heavy wooden door closed with a soft sound.
Martis stared at the closed door. His expression remained calm. He then turned to the Rituk Emissary. "Will you be doing the same as that coward?"
The Rituk Emissary snorted. "Our business depends on secrecy. Now, the Guardians or the Kingdom’s forces will easily tear apart Dark Town. Our routes will likely be exposed as well."
He also stood from his chair.
"Good luck."
The emissary walked out, leaving Martis.
Martis now looked at the Vampire.
The Vampire noble chuckled softly. He stood from his seat and smoothed his expensive robes. "Human organizations. Always so full of drama."
He sipped his drink. "We will make another deal with you after the situation is normal. If that ever happens."
The Vampire also left, walking out of the room.
Martis was now alone in his room, with only Wilas and Nila. He had been abandoned by all his major allies in a matter of minutes.
Nila stepped forward. In her hand was a small, white-sealed scroll. "A reply message from the Whitening Organization has just arrived."
"Say it," Martis said.
Nila opened the message. "Contract for ’Starfall’ is rejected. Reason: Risk not aligned. Down payment will not be returned. Business concluded."
BRAK!
Martis slammed his fist on the table. The glasses on it vibrated. He slowly became unable to hold back his laughter. His laugh filled the empty room. Nila and Wilas just stood silently, not commenting.
"This fate. It’s truly unpredictable," Martis said.
"I am truly amazed by what is happening now... Everything is so unexpected." Martis now realized: His clients were gone. His hired assassins had fled. The Guardians were now possibly hunting him. And Starfall was still uncaught. He was cornered from every side.
He looked at Wilas. He put his calm expression back on. "Do you think he’s the same person?"
"From the reports I read, this Starfall has assassin abilities. But from what I saw, he is a Hunter," Wilas replied.
Martis chuckled. "This is truly unexpected, isn’t it, Wilas?" Martis said. "I was sure I almost had him. But suddenly someone else joined and turned the tables."
Martis leaned back in his chair and drank his wine. After being silent for a long time, Martis finally spoke again.
"I’m sorry... This is purely my mistake for framing him so hastily. I should have investigated the situation more deeply. I was truly foolish."
Martis chuckled. "I won’t blame you if you want to leave. It’s fine if I get caught, as long as you two are safe."
"No, Martis." Nila finally spoke. "This was indeed an unexpected event. I don’t think you made a mistake. You, at that time, only did what you thought was right. You cannot see the future, Martis. Don’t blame yourself."
Nila walked a few steps forward until she was close to Martis. She then touched both of Martis’s cheeks with her hands.
"Please don’t give up. I’m sure this can still be fixed."
The girl then smiled. "And don’t expect me to leave just because you’re cornered."
Martis couldn’t hold back the smile on his cheeks. "Is that so."
He looked at Wilas.
"We succeed together, and we die together," Wilas said. "We just need to make a plan, like always."
"You are both fools," Martis muttered.