Chapter 85 I suppose that’s one way to keep assassins off you

"That's what I'm curious about." Movim replied. "The only thing I can think of is that she somehow found out that Duke Shag was going to use my authority to remove Glador from power and become the new ruler. However, why would Tinen protect Glador? She hates the man."

"Maybe she intends to claim the throne of the kingdom of Rosk herself?" Ruco suggested.

"No she is not the type to sit on the throne." Movim replied before his eyes widened and he said. "Her daughter Chelna on the other hand is a different story."

"But for Chelna to claim the throne they would have to remove both Glador, Chontu and Mirvef." Ruco said.

"Glador is one thing since aunt Tinen hates him and I'm sure she is not a fan of his bastard son Mirvef. But what about her own son Chontu?"

"You're forgetting that Tinen and Chontu do not have a good relationship with each other. Chontu looks down on Tinen since he knows that one day he will be king and as such has always treated his mother and sister with disrespect." Movim replied.

"You're suggesting that she will have the three of them eliminated, allowing Chelna to take the throne." Ruco asked.

"That's my thinking." Movim confirmed.

"Isn't that bad for us since we wanted Duke Shag to take over the Rosk kingdom since he promised to eliminate the corrupt organizations there and increase the amount of tax we receive from the kingdom?" Ruco asked.

 "If we were looking at this from a stability standpoint and I cared about the common trash that serves me, then I would say that Chelna taking over is indeed a good thing." Movim conceded. "However since I don't care about that trash and want more tax money from the Rosk kingdom for my other projects then I would prefer Duke Shag to take over, however after his fuck up the amount of tax he will have to send me will only increase."

"Then how do you plan to make sure that aunt Tinen's plan fails?" Ruco asked.

"Simple, I will inform Glador as the good emperor that I am that I believe my sister is planning to usurp him and kill his sons." Movim asked.

"Will he believe that?" Ruco asked.

"Perhaps, after all he is well aware that Tinen hates his guts, but honestly it matters not if he does or not since it will make him more wary of her and Chelna making it so they can't complete their plan before Duke Shag takes over the kingdom." Movim answered.

"How do you expect Duke Shag to remove Glador from power and replace him without the dagger bearing your authority." Ruco asked.

"It is something he will have to accomplish on his own since he lost the dagger because of his own incompetence, I only accepted his request for help initially because it only brought me benefits, but after this fuck up he now needs to prove he is worthy of keeping his position, if he can't even manage to replace a useless king like Glador without my help, then my empire does not need him." Movim replied.

***

"So why were you looking for me?" Tommy asked Third.

They had just finished their training session and Tommy was pleasantly surprised by the results. It turned out that all of the women picked up the training far quicker than he anticipated. He had originally only been playing to teach them that one move today since he figured it would take them some time to learn it, however they all picked it up exceptionally quickly so Tommy decided to start teaching them all more forms of self-defense.

After a few hours of hard work they were all tired and sweaty so while Merno, Jue and Tue went to take a bath together, Tommy decided to approach Third and Ninth and ask them about why they came looking for him.

"As you guessed earlier the Nine lives accepted the story I told them regarding the former Eighth and because of that Liza here has now become the new Ninth while you are to be given the entrance test." Third replied.

"Ok so what does the test entail?" Tommy asked.

"It's rather simple really," Third began to explain. "You either have to kill a target that has an assassination contract placed on them or steal something that has an acquisition contract placed on it, or both if possible. The harder the assassination contract or target, the better your result."

"How exactly do I know who or what has a contract when I am not part of Black Noir?" Tommy asked.

"Normally you would be given a selection of three assassination contracts and three theft contracts to choose from, you would only have to kill or steal from one of them, but going more also gives you a better result." Third replied.

"You said normally?" Tommy noticed.

"Correct." Third replied. "While we are trying to get you accepted into Black Noir, we want to do it in such a way that the other members of the Nine Lives will take notice of you and insist on speaking with you."

"So basically my targets have to be so outlandish that they are forced to take notice and question me about it?" Tommy said as he understood what she was getting at.

"That's right." Third nodded.

"So what's a normal target for someone who wants to join Black Noir?" Tommy asked.

"Someone in a position of influence in a town or city, but not very high up." Third replied. "Say a low ranking noble, or a city official in a low position, like the assistant to the assistant of the king's assistant."

"And for the theft target?" Tommy asked.

"Something belonging to an individual on the same level of those mentioned before." Third replied simply.

"Ok, so how about I kill the emperor and steal his crown?" Tommy suggested calmly.

Third and Ninth eyes widened in shock as they heard that before Ninth asked disbelievingly, "Did you just suggest assassinating Emperor Etria?" 

"Yes, is that a problem?" Tommy asked.

"Kinda yeah." Ninth replied. "Emperor Etria is a top level target in Black Noir, in fact anyone on his level is. These are targets that members of the Black Noir have to cooperate to eliminate and even then the majority of the time they get caught and killed themselves."

"There is a reason Emperor Movin Etria, Queen Ameria Elvaris and other leaders are still alive, they are very powerful and too difficult to kill, not to mention all the guards they have stationed around them."

"Queen Ameria Elvaris?" Tommy asked curiously.

"The queen of all elves, don't you know who she is?" Ninth asked as if this was common knowledge.

"Nope, never heard of her before." Tommy replied.

"Seriously?" Ninth asked in surprise. "I mean she and her daughter Fayeth are regarded as two of the two most beautiful women in the world."

((Really now? Kekeke.))

(Well she is definitely the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in two worlds.)

"Who are the others?" Tommy asked curiously."

"Theres….." Ninth because however Third interrupted.

"Perhaps we can get back on topic? Emperor Movin Etria would definitely be a suitable target to get the attention of the other members of the Nine Lives, however I think that would make you stand out too much and make them suspicious, seeing as you can do something even they can not when no one has heard of you before." 

"Ok so if the emperor is too big of a target, how about the king?" Tommy asked.

"You mean King Glador Rosk who rules this kingdom from the castle?" Third asked.

"Yup that's the one." Tommy replied.

(Since I am already planning to kill him soon anyway.)

((Too birds with one stone, kekeke.))

"Hmmm that would work, he does have several assassination contracts out on him already." Third stated.

"Then why is he still alive if Black Noir is so skilled?" Tommy asked.

"Because the reward is shit, the majority of the contracts come from the citizens of his own kingdom, however because he taxes his citizens so much they don't have much money to offer as a reward, and no high level member will accept a contract with such a measly reward." Third explained.

"I suppose that's one way to keep assassins off you, keep those people who want you dead so poor that they can't afford to have you killed." Tommy said with a dark chuckle before asking. "Is there a time limit on how soon I need to do this?" 

"No, the entrance test has no time limit, however I would request you do it sooner rather than later for obvious reasons." Third replied.

Tommy nodded before saying, "Understood, I will get it done as soon as possible. Any suggestions on what to steal from him?"