Ragnar Stenmark

"Ok, your Mo***r F***ing highness. Look here." The black man opens his jacket zip revealing many pieces of equipment that connect to the heart rate monitor on his wrist as he points toward the bomb booby trap hidden in this small alleyway that they had prepared beforehand.

"Now, Are we qualified to negotiate with you yet?" The black man daringly said after all of the bounty hunter mages noticed many booby traps that the two mage hunters prepared in the alley.

"You!" The mage wanted to retort but he knew that even he and his friend are not confident in surviving the blast of many bombs that were set up around here. Especially the bomb that was modified by a veteran Mage Hunter like the duo of black and white in front of him.

Even if he could kill the black guy that was standing near him and could stop the bomb from exploding with his magic to simulate the black guy's heartbeat. His head would have been blown to pieces by a large caliber from sniper rifle from this black guy friend.

"Oh, This place looks lively." A mature and majestic voice of a man resounded throughout the alleyway.

A large figure of a man, his muscular build and large stature and height of nearly 2 meters made him look more like a bear than a man. Especially with the long white hair that looks like a lion's mane rather than hair and his trimmed white beard, make the newcomer look like a beast rather than a man.

Despite his fierce-looking and large structure, his demeanor and how the newcomer walks toward the group that is in the middle of a mind game make him look like an awkward gentleman. His demeanor and decorum sure are from the aristocratic clan but his large stature was so contrasted with his demeanor.

"Lord… Lord Stenmark… Lord Stenmark himself!" One of the mages that surrounded the Mage Hunter duo blurted out the name of the muscular old man who came last.

The bear-like old man wears a black striped formal vest, black tapered pants, and a red necktie with a white shirt and a large black long luxury coat cover over his large body making him look imposing.

He is Ragnar Stenmark, The patriarch of the Stenmark clan. A large mage clan in the USA. The Stenmark clan is famous for their rune magic, the heritage from their nordic origin dates back to the first group of Norsemen that landed in North America.

Despite being a mage and a patriarch of a family that usually needs to have some degree of deceit, but Ragnar Stenmark took pride in his nordic origin as a warrior. He never deceives anyone, not even once and everything he promises would be set in stone, unless he dies, his promises will never be broken.

The reason why Ragnar could live an honorable life without fail was because of his overwhelming strength. He could be regarded as one of the top five strongest mages in the Hightower council.

"Good evening gentlemen, may I suggest a solution?" The muscular lord starts his suggestion. His gentlemanly demeanor was clear to see.

"Yes, Mr. Stenmark. Please speak./Fire away big boss, let's hear what you have to offer." Both the mage and the black Mage Hunter said nearly the same time. Of course, the most respectful one came from the mage.

The mages all glared at the black mage hunter who dared to speak in a disrespectful tone toward their Lord. Unknown to them that was the most respectful that the loudmouth black guy could give. He didn't even speak a single F word since the moment the muscular lord appeared here.

"Ha ha ha, You Mage Hunters are a bunch of interesting kids." The muscular lord let out a good nature laugh and then continued.

"That guy in the taxi should have a very high bounty on his head, right? That's why you two are here." The muscular lord points at Edwin's headless corpse in the taxi.

"Yeah, that's right boss." The black guy nods.

The muscular lord smiled and then offered.

"That's good, Here's the deal. You can receive that guy's kill mark from his corpses to cash in the bounty and I'll also buy the briefcase that guy carries from you. Also, whether you decide to sell it or not, I'll guarantee your safety until you enter the plane. How about it?"

Hearing a generous offer from the muscular lord, the duo of black and white looked at each other before the sniper nodded at his friend who stayed on the ground.

The black guy sees his friend accept the offer from the muscular lord and remembers the reputation of the muscular old man in front of him; he also decides to accept the offer.

"How much do you offer, big boss?" The black guy asks.

"Hmmm ... how about ..." The muscular lord thought for a moment before raising his index finger.

"100,000 Origold?"

"What!?" All the mages cringed when they heard the number.

Origold is a currency used in mage society. It takes the form of a coin made from a mixture of Orichalcum and gold, as it is the magical metal most sensitive to magic. It is equivalent to the US dollar in the Curtained World. Its exchange rate was around 30 US dollars to 1 Origold.

"How about 200,000, boss? After all, This is the Witch of the Wrath blood and magic essence we are talking about." The black guy counter-offered.

"150,000 and a 20% discount voucher from me when you buy runestone from us." Countered the muscular lord.

"Deal!" The black guy shook hands with Ragnar and quickly processed the deal as Ragnar quickly transferred the money to the mage hunter's account.

Ragnar walked toward the taxi and took out a briefcase from Edwin's cold hand. He opens the briefcase and checks the content before nodding in satisfaction.

"By the way, I guess all of you must be here near the airport because of the special auction in the Tessia Kingdom." The muscular old man lord asks the people who are here.

A few days ago, the Montgomery auction house in the Kingdom of Tessia began advertising that they had gotten their hands on five artifact weapons made with the Atlantean artificing technique that everyone knows was lost along with the continent of Atlantis if they have some basic understanding of artifacts.

This means that they either found this artifact in a forgotten ruin underwater or it was sold by a desperate noble family. There is another reason, namely that there was an artificer who mastered the Atlantean technique, but this possibility is very unlikely.

"Yes, Lord Stenmark. Even though I think it's just a scam, on the off chance that Mr.Montgomery gets his hand on the Artifact made by Atlantean technique was real. If I were to miss this, it would be very unfortunate for us." One of the mages said.

"Montgomery never messed around with his auction house reputation. If he said he got his hand on something exotic, that means he stored it safely in his auction house vault." Ragnar said with a smile then walked toward the alleyway exit.

"Mage hunter! Please quickly clear the area. I don't want to keep my pilot waiting for long." Ragnar said to the duo of Mage hunters who quickly clear their booby trap and disarm all of the hidden traps they'd placed around the alleyway.

The black guy went to Edwin's headless corpses and placed a metal emblem on the corpses. In a moment that emblem glows white and a silhouette of Edwin's soul appears above the car as if trying to flee but can't as he got trapped by an invisible barrier that has been set up beforehand.

Edwin's soul turns toward Ragnar and immediately pleads.

"Lord Stenmark! Please help me! The Willow family will owe you a favor! I don't want to be ransomed back like this!"

What Edwin pleased was the normal thing in the mage society. As the death of the body or the destruction of the body was not the end. It could only bring major inconvenience to that mage life who had lost their birth body.

What was important was, if the mage who lost his birth body had no resources to spare to use the service from the Hightower they would be forced to choose one of the two options.

First is to subject themselves to work for the Hightower as puppet combatant who needs to do everything they command for at least ten years or let their soul out and enter the realm of the death of their god or get reincarnated as they should be.

As for the heir of a large enough family, their problem was that their standing in their respective family or clan will be greatly reduced after they got ransomed back to their family and put their soul into an appropriate vessel, the chance of them inheriting the throne could be said to be nigh impossible.

Ragnar can only smile and refuse.

"Sorry kid, but your main house, the Alchimont, was not on friendly terms with us, the Stenmark. You should know this."

The Alchimont was at odds with the Stenmark family was the common knowledge of the Curtained World. They have been at each other's throats since the late renaissance, and the reason for the conflict was not privy to anyone other than their patriarch.

In a moment, Edwin's soul got sucked into the emblem. That emblem was the kill mark used by many bounty hunters to store their target soul to be used as evidence when they cash in their bounty with the Syndicate Union or the Hightower.

"Thank you, big boss, shall we go?" The black guy asked Ragnar after he and his friend finished clearing the area and got his kill mark confirmed.

Ragnar nodded in satisfaction and led the way out of the dark alley followed by the group of mages who come in the hope to get their hand on the Witch of Wrath's blood and magic essence but can only return empty hand after Ragnar had intervened.

Now they only hope that they could get their hands on the Artifact in the auction house in the Tessia Kingdom no matter the cost.