Chapter 43 : The Dark Guild Master
'[William Hainsbourg] who also also known as [The Dark Guild Master]. He is the one who gathered all the information and use it for his own benefit.'
'In the game, he is the scummiest info broker who puts a ridiculously high cost on what info he has but at the same time, he's also a trustworthy person...'
Iris thought while sitting on the couch with Silvi and Harson standing side by side right behind her while William sat on the couch across them, observing her like a hawk along with his ever present smile.
[Notice!]
[Skill "The Villainess" have been activated]
Calmness washed over her as she stared at the man before her.
'I guess this is the handsome trait from the game huh...one of the secret male target that was going to be revealed on the next update...a mysterious man who exchanged info for money.' Iris mused and narrowed her brows a bit, "Now that I look at it, he looks like an 18 year old guy, much younger than I remembered...i think he was 24 at the original game?'
Iris then shook the thought away.
'Even so, he's still a formidable man...if I ever felt nervous he might strike me with a bunch of sweet words and questiond right now, no wonder many girls loved this male target.' Iris hummed somewhat condenscendingly, 'But still...he's not a match against my Ray-sama~'
Meanwhile on Willam case...
'Who the hell is this little girl...not only she knows the code to meet me...she remained calm in front of me.' William observed closely.
'Hmmm...from appearance...I guess she is around 10 years old or much younger...and the people behind her...I can tell they are experienced with combat and cannot be underestimated.'
William glanced at Silvi and Harson who seemed to be holding onto something on their waist, as if they were ready if something happened.
'So based from the two of them...I can tell she is a high ranked noble's child...interesting.' William smiled wider
Meanwhile, Iris observed his calm behavior and looked rather impressed that the man was still able to smile from all this.
'He won't back out huh...after seeing how strong Silvi and Harson are, he must have known already that I am a noble's child with high-rank...just as expected.' Iris smiled.
William was the first one to break the silence between them by asking her politely, "It seems like we are observing each other too much, shall we start by introducing ourself?"
"Heh, indeed~ I'm getting sick of staring at your boring face."
William's pride suddenly cracked at her sharp words, "B-boring?! That's so mean! Did you know even know that I am quite popular among the girls around here?~" William joked lightly, trying to save himself from that blow.
"Really? I'm not aware~ my apologies, I'm afraid I have...different taste~"
"I-i see." William cleared his throat as he quickly set himself back on track, 'Trying to provoke me huh, nice try young lady.'
'Hmmmm...he's much harder to crack than I thought.' Iris thought while smiling.
'Then how about this.' William thought and then spoke, "Well how about you?~ isn't it quite rude to hide your face towards your potential business partner? Or were you hiding your face on purpose? I know one or two nobles who are not as blessed with good looks." William smirked, provoking her back.
Silvi and Harson suddenly tightened their hold onto but stopped when Iris raised her hand
They clicked their tongue in annoyance, glaring at the boorish man in front of them.
William rejoiced with glee at the back of his mind, obviously having a lot of fun upon seeing such a reaction from the two of them.
"My apologies, that was quite rude of me~"
But in that moment...
*SRUTTT*
William widened his eyes...
After Iris opened her hood, she revealed her smooth and black silky long hair and her sky blue eyes that was gleaming beautifully like a pair of gemstones.
It was a suprising sight for him, but William remained professional and schooled his expression immediately.
"Right...let's try this again" He spoke, "It's a pleasure to meet you...Young lady from The Welford family, or should I call you...Iris May Welford~"
"Ara~ you know me?~"
"Of course I would know, you are the daughter of Duke Welford and your black hair is quite a rare sight in this country~"
"That is true and since you know my name...shouldn't you introduce yourself now~?"
"My apologies, my name is William and you can call me Will to keep things light and friendly with me"
"I see, nice meeting you Will-san and since we are in friendly term now, I would like you to call me Iris as well~"
"As you wish, young lady~"
Now that's out of the way, William raised one of his legs then rest it on top of his knee.
"Well then, Iris-san~ do you need something from me? It's better to not beat around the bushes, I want you to tell me straight about what you need....of course as long as you can pay me~" William proposed, brimming with confidence.
Iris looked straight into his slitted eyes that was opened a bit when he smiled.
"Indeed, I rather not do that and so I will say this...do you have any info regarding about the recent rumor?"
"Recent rumor?" He raised his brows, Hmmmm...I really don't know what you mean, or is it about the commoner boy you befriended?"
"That too, but I was more talking about...the other one." Iris spoke seriously as she kept her calm.
"Hmmmm...Ahhh~ that rumor, If I remember...is about the Welford's family downfall~?"
Iris didn't respond to it but to him, it seemed like he just hit a nerve. Even he could tell that the people behind her started getting anxious and one of them was gritting their teeth to calm down.
"Don't be so tense~ I wasn't the one who spread those rumors and besides, I have nothing to gain for doing something as useless as that~ unless..."
"Unless??"
"Unless...I am a low-rank noble that desire your family's wealth." William spoke as if he knew something more about the ongoing rumor.
"I see...but aren't you also one of those people? I mean who loves money?"
"Yes, I do love money~ but I am not a bastard who would extort someone who has done nothing wrong, moreover, towards someone who had done so many things for our kingdom, just like your family's ancestor~" William smiled, he might not seem like it but he's telling nothing but the truth.
'That is true...William isn't someone who would do that...even though he loves money more than anything else. In the his summary, it is said that the money he took is from the bad noble who had done something terrible outside of the society's prying eyes and used that money to donate to the orphanage around here.' Iris hummed, gaining a newfound respect towards William.
"Well I guess you are right."
"Thank you for your understanding, and so let's go back to the business...what do you need me to do?"
"Well you already know what I want, don't you?~"
"Hahaha~ true~ I can tell where this is going~ you want me to get an info about the one who spread the rumor, am i right?"
"Correct, and additionally, I want you to get another info."
"Hmm? Tell me."
"I want you to get more info about the Allura family."
"You mean the Baron Allura? The noble who suddenly popped out of nowhere and raised up recently in the noble society?."
"Do you know them?"
"Of course, they are the popular news these days...I heard they found a sponsor who backed their business recently and because of that, they became like what they are now."
"I see."
'Is that why that pink hair girl have so many jewelry despite having a father who are still Baron titles? And sponsor huh...there's something fishy about it but I can't quite lay my finger on it...' Iris chewed her lip a bit after hearing his explanation before looking back at him.
"So can you do it?"
"Hmmmm...I need to think about it first and it depends on how much you are willing to pay."
"How much do I pay? Is it that hard?"
"Of course! It's really hard to infiltrate their family, even though they have the title of a Baron...they are still noble and I don't want to risk myself...especially when they also have the unknown sponsor who we don't know yet."
"It's like going to a cage filled with hungry tiger in it."
"I see...but still...I'll pay as much as you want, so don't worry."
William sighed, "Fine."
"Thank you~ and how long does it take for you to finish it?"
"Hmmm...the fastest maybe around 5 days I think."
"Five days, I see..."
"And the longest, maybe...around 2 weeks–"
"Too long." Iris frowned.
"Huh??"
"Make it 3 days." Iris demanded, folding her hands to her chest.
"W-wha–?! Didn't you hear what I said?! The fastest are–"
*THUD* *CLINK*
Suddenly Iris put a large pouch filled to the brim with something inside.
"100 gold...in 3 days."
William widened his eyes when he heard her offer.
"B-but still...Three da–?!"
"Not enough? Then~"
*THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD*
Iris throw out more pouch from her [Inventory] as her smile grew even wider.
"1000 gold, make it 2 days."
"1000?! Not only that, but the day is decreased?!" William felt his jaws almost reached the ground after seeing the piles of gold pouches before him and hearing her request, trying to gulp with much difficulty.
'What kind of little girl have that much money to begin with?!' William yelled in his head.
Iris smiled upon him and folded her legs, "So?~ is there a deal or not?"
'Ughhh...being played by a little girl isn't my thing...the only choice to win over this conversation is...'
Eventually, William gave up and sighed as he smirked.
"Thank you for choosing our service...dear customer...I, William shall deliver the information that you want...in..." He lifted his chin a bit, "...a single day."
Silvi and Harson widened their eyes in surprise when they found out the day got decreased a lot more than they thought.
'Aha~ got you~'
Meanwhile, Iris smiled at him triumphantly, as if she was expecting him to say that, "Then I will look forward to it...and what time do you prefer for me to come here?"
William sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "You can come here at night at this time again."
"Then I'll be here tomorrow again~"
"Okay then, it seems we had conclude our meeting...I will meet you next time."
"Indeed." Iris put her hood back on and stood up from her seat.
William stood up as well and bowed at her.
Before they leave, Iris stopped at the door and turned around a bit to look at him.
"Aahhh~ before that, I'm gonna warn you this one time."
"Hmm? What is it about?" William blinked for a moment as he straightened himself to look at her.
"I hope you don't try to spy on me~"
William didn't flinch yet somehow he reacted towards her words a bit. "I can promise you that I won't do that."
"Good~ cause at this situation I can't tell who's the enemy around me and since I am a people from Welford...My parents once told me...that if somebody try to mess with me, I shall use all my force to make them bend to their knees."
"O-okay?"
"So~ if you try or thought of trying to spy on me or my family..."
*CLINK*
Silvi and Harson showed their blade behind those cloak they used. Meanwhile, Iris eyes glinted for a moment as she regarded him coldly.
William who noticed it, could feel a small sweat trailed down his face.
"We won't hesitate...to kill them~" Iris spoke with her cute smile as if she just said something less than a threat.
William couldn't utter any words from what he heard and instead he bowed once again,
"Understood." and answered.
Meanwhile Iris continue put up her smile.
"Oh also, one more thing."
"Yes?"
"If you did finish it in one day, I shall pay you extra 1000 gold coin...and think the money I gave you now as the down payment for the trouble."
William widened his eyes as if he was struck by something that made him froze.
"Now then, I shall take my leave~ see you later~ William~"
Iris said as she showed a glimpse of her wicked smile before she left the room and left the pub together with her followers.
*CREAK*
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*THUD*
******
*THUD*
Alone in the room, William rested his body on his chair with a heavily sigh.
"What a rough day." He mumbled.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
"it's me, Will." A voice came out from the door in front of him.
"Ahhh...Jeff huh, come on in."
*CREAK*
A large and muscular bald man with dark skin came into the room.
"Yo, Wanna have some drink?"
"You do know I don't drink...Jeff."
"Hahaha, true–hmm? is there something bothering you? you seems having a hard time tonight." Jeff guessed as he noticed William sat there, looking thoroughly exhausted.
"You could tell?"
"Hey...we've been working together for so long, of course I would notice."
"Well...that's true."
"Anyway, is it about those customer that I just encounter down there?"
"Yepp."
"Huh, it's pretty weird to see a little girl like her would come to this kind of place with two guards." Jeff said as recognized them purely based on their appearance alone.
William sighed again and rubbed his forehead. "Yeah...but you shouldn't judge them based on their looks."
"And then? What is it they request us to do?"
"Well listen here...it was pretty crazy."
"How crazy?"
"It seems they want us to gather some info about some rumors and investigate the current rising noble."
Jeff laughed while walking to a side table and made a cup of coffee,
"Hahaha, isn't that what we always do? What's so crazy about it?"
William rubbed his face, "No, you don't understand, do you even know how many days they want us to get those info?"
"Stop talking in riddles and just spit it out" Jeff scoffed, starting to get impatient as he drank his coffee.
"One day."
*BBBFTTT*
Jeff suddenly spit it out as soon as he heard it, "What?! Are you out of your damn mind?!"
"And guess what, I was the one who proposed it to be one day."
"Wha–?! Why?!"
"Well...at first she offered me 3 days with a down payment up front and when she increased the stake, it became 2 days."
The man put the cup and couldn't even understand what just happen.
"And you think proposed her with one day is a good idea?! She's just a kid."
"You think I'm that stupid? Her guards are strong, if I make a mistake...my head will be rolling on the ground and besides! The payment is worth it."
"How much does she pay anyway? 50? or maybe 100 gold? a little kid like her won't have that much money to begin with." Jeff grumbled in annoyance as he drank his coffee again.
William sighed and begin to answer him again, "1000 gold."
*BBBFFTTT*
Jeff spit out his coffee the second time.
"A-a-a thousand?!"
"That was the down payment and if we did finish it...we will get another 1000."
The man's face was suddenly drained out of all colors as his legs lose their strength.
"T-t-two thousand....Hahaha...w-who is that girl...how did she have that much money."
"She is a noble child from that prestigious family that have been protecting our kingdom for ages."
"That family? Huh?! Y-you don't mean?!"
"Yes...Iris May Welford."
"What?! Wait...I heard she's only 8?!"
"Yeah, from the info we have about her."
"I really don't understand her...with that much money, she can buy a castle for herself!"
"That is true...but her words seems to have a meaning behind it and she seems to be suspicious about this Allura family too."
"You mean Baron Allura?"
"Yeah, she's curious about this rising noble."
"Hmmm...i guess there's some truth to that"
"Well that doesn't change the fact we have to finish the job tomorrow."
Jeff sighed, "Yeah...I guess overtime, it is...dammit, just what are we getting ourselves into..."
William sighed once again, 'I could ask the same to myself...it makes me think that...we are dealing with a devil in a little girl's skin.'
'Honestly, I really don't know what is she thinking, and that smile...' as he remembered the smile she made before leaving, it gave him a shudder down his spine
But even so, that seemed to invite a smile to his face
"Hmph, but why should I care? Goodness, this isn't me at all~" William chuckled to himself, "These days have been rather boring for me anyway, I should take on her challenge."
As William stood up from his seat, he looked at his window to see the beautiful moon up ahead in the night sky.
As William stood up from his seat, he looked at his window to see the beautiful moon up ahead in the night sky.
"I shall look forward to meet you again..."
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"Iris May Welford."
Only a few days left before the event took place...
*TICK*
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*TACK*
As the countdown had begun ticking...
*TICK*
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*TOCK*
*CLICK*
Another new gear of fate...had finally moved.
To be continue...