101 Chapter 90: Collecting the Prize

"So, who are we even visiting here Ash?" Mudrock looked around the pretty advanced looking city of Columbia.

Though she was getting stared at due to her armor that made her almost as large as Patriot or Ash.

"We're looking for a snake that bit more than it can chew." Ash chuckled and he was quite excited to know what she'll try to slither her way out of the trap she walked into herself.

"Hmmm, so we're going to beat someone up? Okay, my blood is boiling." Hannah smacked her fist on her palm and Vina rolled her eyes.

"If they cooperate, we'll just need to scare them a bit mate. You're too hot headed, that's why I beat you every time." Vina sighed at the leader of her royal guard.

"Ha! Guts is all ya need to beat up pricks." Hannah scoffed and Vina pointed at Ash.

Hannah then started sweating. "I mean, not those kinds. He ain't a prick anyways right? He's our boss, mate." Hannah smiled wryly and Ash raised a brow at their conversation.

"So you want to have a go?" Ash smirked at her and Hannah's fur stood up on end. "No! No! It was her idea! Maybe she wants to spar with you." Hannah threw Vina under the bus immediately.

"Why you bloody wanker!" Vina who was snickering at Hannah earlier suddenly paled and they were ready to throw hands.

Ash was amused by their friendship. "Sorry, but you guys are a bit too lacking to fight with me." He shrugged and the two sighed in relief.

"So I'll let Degenbrecher and Shining train you well." Ash suddenly had a face splitting grin on his face and Mudrock nodded at him.

"Un, Degenbrecher and Shining will shape them up nicely. Ahhh, those were the good days. They beat us up every time back then." Mudrock reminisced.

"Why are you remembering that hellish training like it's a part of your pleasant childhood!?" The two retorted Mudrock who was thinking of her training with them pleasantly.

"Well, when I was young. I had to fight people for food and water. Keep an eye open 24/7 or you'll get killed. And kill people that try to kidnap you or assault you." Mudrock tilted her head.

Compared to her childhood, she liked the training with the elites much better. It was safe, made her stronger, and most of all. They were compensated nicely with leisure days at the massage parlors.

Hannah and Vina went wide eyed at that and their eyes were swimming around. Vina ran away from the royal palace when she was young. But she had Gawain, the lion beast lord to keep her safe.

And while Hannah grew up in the seedier parts of Londinium, she never had to be vigilant all the time or get sexually assaulted, or killed.

"Don't worry, Mudrock isn't offended at all. That's just how you live in Kazdel if you don't have a group you trust. Or born as a noble, you either survive, or die." Ash shrugged and they winced.

They never expected that the soft-spoken and quiet Mudrock was basically a war veteran since she was a kid.

And unlike Yan's civil war that is aimed at the government due to Paradiso's guidance and help. Kazdel's has been pure anarchy for centuries.

"So, is that the reason that most of our troops are Sarkaz?" Vina frowned and thought he was taking advantage of Kazdel.

"Yeah, obviously. If you had to pick, what would you want? A war-torn country where you fight every single day? Or a military base in which you just train and fight from time to time?" Ash sneered.

The duo then had more understanding of Kazdel and why they fought so ferociously even when they were refugees in Paradiso.

"Anyway, this is our target." Ash showed them a picture of a smug looking woman with traits from a Liberi and a Pythia.

"An Elder? And Ash... Why is her tits so bloody large?" Vina squinted her eyes at him suspiciously.

Ash coughed, he definitely wasn't going to Columbia just to meet for pleasantries.

"Why are you asking me that? It's like asking me why I'm so handsome. Simple, I was born this way." Ash shrugged and the two big cats just nodded slowly, suspicion still on their faces.

"Aren't you a bit narcissistic?" Hannah tried to bring him down a peg.

"Well, how many wives do I have?" Ash countered and Hannah almost choked on her spit.

"Exactly, not only am I handsome, I am also awesome and rich. Stop asking useless questions, let's go." Ash started walking while Mudrock nodded.

"Isn't that guy too audacious?" Hannah tried to get some support from her friend.

"Well, he is right. He's rich too Hannah, he's just speaking the truth, whatever." Vina shrugged and started following them.

Ash started sniffing the air nearby the Maylander foundation. And he picked up the scent of a snake. It was masked by the smell of old books and parchment, so he smirked.

"Found you." Ash licked his lips and he opened up a hole in the wall by crashing into it. Though no vibrations or sounds came out.

"Are you crazy? I thought we were supposed to be sneaky?" Hannah was angry at him for blowing their cover.

"Do you hear any alarms or something? You really are slacking Hannah, I have to tell your trainers to kick it up a notch." Ash shook his head with a sigh.

"There was no noise or tremors from what he just did mate. You walked into that." Vina smirked at her and was snickering at her fate.

"Uhhh, where's our target though?" Mudrock wanted to finish the mission immediately due to being a mercenary.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, this is a leisurely mission at best." Ash waved it off nonchalantly.

"It's over there." Ash pointed at a plain looking door. The other two doubted it, but it might be a trick.

"Bust that door open Mudrock." Ash ordered and he stood back.

"Okay." She started to spin, gathering some centrifugal force and she smashed the door into thousands of pieces with her hammer.

"Wha!? Who's there! Intruders!" They heard a woman shout immediately.

"Freeze! You are under arrest by the IRS!" Mudrock shouted the lines that Ash told her earlier.

The IRS kinda are loan sharks after all. The government keeps sucking your money with taxes.

"IRS? No matter, I can't stop here!" Ho'olheyak willed strong wind to push away Mudrock, but it was like a fan when it hit her.

"There's no escaping the IRS." Hannah and Vina entered the room, hiding behind Mudrock due to all the strong winds blowing like a hurricane.

"Heh, you'll never catch me! I'm so close to a breakthrough!" Ho'olheyak looked at the window and she enhanced her speed with a tailwind.

But when she hit the window, it was rock solid and a loud thud made the girls flinch when Ho'olheyak crash.

She then dropped on the ground, the air in her lungs escaping as she rebounded.

Groaning in pain, she held her broken nose and forehead that hit the seemingly indestructible window first.

"Heh, did you like the strengthened window?" Ash chuckled. He enhanced the integrity of it after all.

Ho'olheyak who was still in a daze remembered that deep voice. "N-no... W-why are you here? Everything was perfect!" She craned her neck towards Ash and she was in shock.

"Kukuku~ It seemed so, right? Vina! Hannah! Go on! The criminal is resisting arrest!" Ash tossed them some batons and they looked at it apprehensively.

Ho'olheyak tried to form a tornado to distract them and run, but she suddenly groaned when Vina and Hannah started hitting her a bit more softly with their batons.

"This is police brutality innit? Damn, I never thought I'll be like a cop." Hannah chuckled and she smacked Ho'olheyak who tried to hit them with her whip-like tail.

"Yeah, remember back in Londinium when the cops would come? We would run away, this was exactly what they did to who was caught, good times." Vina reminisced as they continued hitting Ho'olheyak who was still resisting.

"Ash, shouldn't you just take her instead of staying here longer?" Mudrock tilted her head and thought that was more efficient.

"That's true, but isn't this more fun? Look, she's struggling so hard. There is nothing better than to see someone who thinks their plan is perfect crumble to the ground." Ash licked his lips and had a twisted grin on his face.

He got a bit of a mean streak in him. Instead of rampaging and killing everything in sight that he still craves somewhat due to his deep seated rage against the world, he diverts it to being a sadist.

"Tie her up." Ash ordered and the two pretend cops saluted. They tied her with some thick wire and seated Ho'olheyak on a chair.

"You... This is a violation of our agreement!" Ho'olheyak still tried to slither her way out of the situation she was in.

"That would be true, if your service wasn't defective." Ash tossed her the correct translation of the parchment he received from her and she didn't react.

'Good, this won't be fun if she wasn't good at acting at least.' Ash chuckled at her good poker face. But her heart was racing and she was sweating.

Ash licked his lips as he waited for her to dig a deeper grave.

"What are you talking about! I will report you to the authorities! I demand a lawyer, this is illegal detention and physical assault!" Ho'olheyak struggled against her bindings without luck.

"Ahhh, our mistake. We should just leave and pay you for the mess. Is that what you expected for us to do?" Ash smirked at her and she squinted her eyes.

"Hmm, what did you say back then? Ahhh, you translated it yourself? But you see, my friend is a historian too." Ash tapped on his arm rest rhythmically.

Ho'olheyak was breathing more heavily. 'Shit, is that true? This bastard is real crafty... But he still can't do this, his name will be dragged into the mud.'

She thought she still had the upper hand. She is the president of the astrological research association. And Maylander would definitely back her up.

"So, you think that our contract will help you huh? Imagine what Columbia and the rest of the world would say when they learn that you trespassed here and attacked me?" Ho'olheyak grinned and Ash laughed.

Surprising her, she did not understand and thought that he would still need to learn more about his ancestors through her. She doesn't know any more, but Ho'olheyak thought he didn't know that.

"Hmm, have you forgotten something?" Ash took out their contract and she squinted her eyes when Mudrock shoved it to her face.

"Impossible!" She hissed. Clause 13, both parties have to help each other. Failure to do so means that all the money she got from Ash had to be paid back triple.

"You tricked us, there are two versions of the translation. And you gave me the fake one. Ahhh, let's see. Please hand me the expenditure of our associate here." Ash put his hand out and Ho'olheyak's eyes bulged.

'No! I bought and paid everything anonymously!' She was sweating bullets, not really knowing that his ghosts were of course jotting down everything she did.

From every loaf of bread she ate, to the color and design of her panties. Everything was revealed to Ash.

"Now, you were wearing black lace panties a few months ago... Sorry, wrong one." Ash coughed. Vina and Hannah glared at him.

"You started a company with a puppet chairman that is focused on mining and excavation. Buying equipment that cost hundreds of millions. You're quite daring aren't you?" Ash started listing all her expenditures and Ho'olheyak's eyes were bloodshot due to anger.

"How!? How can you monitor me like that when you are going around the world!" She was about to cough up blood due to anger.

"Heh, are you looking down on me? Courting death. As someone that has reached the apex, there is nothing I cannot see." Ash sneered at her.

"Shut up... Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! I was close! So close! I was about to unearth the secrets of an ancient civilization from times past! And you ruined everything!" Ho'olheyak roared.

"Wow, she's crazy alright. Instead of being scared or something, she's getting so angry that she's about to have a stroke." Hannah commented and Ho'olheyak glared at her.

If looks could kill, Hannah would be dead ten times over.

"Kukuku, and let's see here. Your bank account... Is sadly missing a bit of money. According to my calculations, you would need at least two billion more LMD to pay me back." Ash shook his head wistfully.

Ho'olheyak coughed up blood due to her anger and it started trickling at the side of her mouth.

"So how about you pay me back another way?" Ash lifted her chin and she gnashed her teeth so hard it almost shattered.

"You'll be my little employee until you can pay back your debt. I'll even give you a salary of one million LMD a month. Starting now, you would need two thousand more months before you can pay me back." Ash cackled, a face splitting grin on his face.

"Wow, you're ruthless... That's like, more than a century right?" Hannah started counting, using her fingers as support.

"You're embarrassing me mate..." Vina facepalmed.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.