Chapter 148 - I Should Pay Them A Visit
When the group got out of the pub the first thing they did was head towards Hilda's place. While they were walking Valdel asked the question he wanted to ask Ren since he received the demon's horn from Shin.
"Ren I wanted to ask this for some time now, how do you know Shin? Why does he feel like he was someone that knows you from a long time ago? Also, what does that message mean? Who is the fourth hero and why was he grateful to a demon lord?"
Valdel was pretty sure that Shin was this supposed fourth hero, but he wondered who the demon lord was in the story. Based on what he heard and assuming Shin really was the fourth hero, then that would mean Ren was the demon lord. But that shouldn't be possible, the demon lord the fourth hero knew should be as ancient as him. Ren was someone from the same village, and he was born from two human parents, how could he be related to a demon lord.
"I don't know a thing." Ren didn't even bother to look at Valdel as he answered. When he learned from Leo that the fourth hero was still alive, Ren felt shocked and excited. He couldn't believe it at first since no normal human could live for so long, but at this point, the current fourth hero wasn't a normal human any longer. This new information just made Ren excited. The fourth hero was already someone that could actually fight him at his peak, but now that very same hero was stronger than before.
Ren wanted to meet the fourth hero as soon as possible, but not in his current state. Ren wanted to first get stronger, it would be boring if he meets the fourth hero and he with his current body can't put up a decent fight. He wanted to fight the fourth hero as equals the same as before.
...
Valdel hearing Ren's answer knew that his best friend was lying to him. How could someone unrelated to the topic be able to use the horn of a demon to enhance his power? Valdel wanted to push some more to get answers, but seeing how Ren was acting Valdel knew that he wouldn't tell him anything. So for the remainder of the trip Valdel was silent.
Kuro who was watching the interaction between the two found the whole conversation strange, but as a servant, she had no right to intervene. Still, she at least wanted to somehow help her master in convincing Ren to tell his secret or if possible comfort him. But she didn't know how to do either.
...
Hilda who was walking behind Ren and the others, couldn't help but stare at the man Ren apprehended. She wasn't told why they took him but based on recent events she had a few guesses as to who the man was. Unfortunately, she wasn't that sure, so she couldn't do anything at the moment.
...
Once the group were inside Hilda's home, Valdel started to ask questions about what happened. While Hilda was explaining to Valdel the current situation, Ren woke up the assassin.
Upon waking up the first thing the assassin did was look around confused. When he saw the smiling Ren in front of him, he remembered what happened a few minutes ago. The assassin trembled as he watched the demon that would take his life.
"So Mr. Assassin what choice do you pick? Number one or number two? I'm giving you three seconds to decide."
"Wait! I can-"
"One." The assassin felt terror creep into his very soul when he heard Ren start to count.
"Two." When Ren says, three, his fate would be sealed. The assassin decided that if he were to die, better bring the b*stards that put him into this situation down with him.
"Alright! I pick choice number one."
"Nice choice, then go ahead lift the curse." The assassin approached the two little sisters of Hilda and placed his hand on top of their heads. He started to chant something, he then lifted his hands took out a dagger and cut himself. A tiny cut was made and with the blood that was flowing out, the assassin made the two girls drink his blood. After doing that, black smoke came out of the little sisters' mouths. When Hilda saw this she was about to charge forth and kill the man doing this to her sisters, but Ren stopped her.
A moment later the assassin told Ren it was done. When Ren heard that, he negated the sleeping spell the two little girls were under. Upon removing the spell, the two girls started to slowly open their eyes. Ren was ready to move if any mishap were to happen.
The two little girls who had opened their eyes looked around and when they spotted Hilda they spoke in unison.
"Big Sis?"
When Hilda heard her two little sisters call out to her, she immediately sprung into action and hugged her sister while crying.
"Big sis, why are you crying?" Nina looked worried as she hugged Hilda back.
"Big sis, what happened?" Karla asked confused and feeling groggy.
Hilda hearing her little sisters' questions couldn't help herself as she started to tear up, even more, making her hug Nina and Karla even tighter. While the siblings were having their family moment, Valdel and Kuro were watching them with warm eyes.
Seeing that the curse was lifted properly Ren looked at the assassin and guided him outside of the house.
"Alright then, tell me who hired you?"
"It was a member of the Resteti family." Ren was surprised to hear that the Restetis were somehow involved in this. He was just made aware of them this morning, now another link to them appeared. Was he getting lucky, or was Valdel's luck affecting him?
"Why would the Restetis hire you to curse Hilda's family?"
"I really don't know, I just did as I was told."
"Then were you the one who killed Hilda's father?"
"No, that wasn't me. I'm not really good at fighting directly, someone else did that. Don't ask who it was, cause I don't really know."
"Then tell me who among the Restetis hired you. Was it the patriarch of the family? Was it someone in a lower position? Who was it?"
"I don't know either. Some guy from their estate just gave me the contents of the mission. I was supposed to curse every living member of the Kirche family in Grenton. But the mother was able to somehow take all the curses meant for the whole family to only affect her. So I needed to wait for her to die to be able to curse the others. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't kill her directly because of Hilda's strength and connections. So I waited here for a few years to see if I can get the chance to kill the mother."
"Was the pay worth all this trouble?"
"They gave me an exuberant amount of money for a downpayment. They promised to give me twice as much if I was able to complete the mission. With that much money, it could've made me live a life of luxury until the day I die."
"I see... I hope you enjoyed the money you got. Well then, do you have anything else to say?" Hearing Ren's question the assassin knew that Ren needed him no longer. He was still afraid of the coming death, but he had no other choice. If he was going to die either way, better die with a bit of dignity. At least he was going to be killed by someone as powerful as Ren, who will surely become a legend. He might become a minor story as a part of Ren's legend.
The assassin looked at Ren and shook his head. The moment he did so Ren's hand slashed through the assassin's neck, it was instant death. Ren then engulfed the dead body in a black space, which made the body disappear.
'The Restetis... Hmm, I was planning to gain information about them first, before I start moving. But it seems like they're more dangerous than I thought. If this was part of a bigger plan, then they already started a few years ago. They might be on the verge of doing something big. I guess waiting for news about them will take too long. I guess now is a good time as any to pay them a visit.'
...
While Ren was happily planing what to do next, Nezzard who was sleeping all this time finally woke up.