Months ago, Mais and the Sages had reached an agreement. Faced with low-level energy crystals, Mais did not ask them for any items. Instead, he asked for soldiers. Three hundred soldiers for each crystal. All these lords had their own military units. While the City Lord hosted a large army, the other two were members of noble houses. Even while residing as branches, they had several thousand soldiers at their disposal. To protect the interests of their clans.
Mais took 300 soldiers from each of them, but beyond all this, he had asked Baro for something else in exchange for the energy crystals.
The death of those who knew about these crystals.
Mais had underestimated the crystals' effect. He didn't expect the Sages to be so passionately drawn to them, and as a result, these Sages knew he had more than one crystal. They could even guess he had a spatial ring. That's why Mais needed these men dead.
He hired Baro like a hitman. He offered three low-level energy crystals for every Sage who died in the city this year.
He knew what a huge offer this was. Baro didn't refuse. Mais would rather have one enemy than many potential enemies.
He could have asked him to kill only the other two Sages, but Baro wouldn't risk provoking the families behind these Sages for such a small amount. Mais had wanted more Sages to die, paying a high price for them instead of paying a high price for just two. Of course, he had told Baro that the real targets were Yahut and Sufkro.
All these deaths, Wuma going into the forest and causing this massacre, the deaths of the city's three Sages, were the result of Mais's offer to Baro.
And then Sufkro's death. Mais didn't know how determined three low-level crystals could make Baro. Now he owed this man nine low-level energy crystals.
"Maybe I should have paid Wuma instead of you. Making you the middleman was my amateurism."
Baro shook his head. He smiled.
"That decision alone was good enough. You're only ten years old. Even so, you knew that when your fortune was discovered, the first thing you had to do was get rid of these greedy old men. You used a bigger sword to get rid of the small knives. That was a smart move."
At that moment, a glow began to form in Mais's hand. As Mais waved his hand, nine bright crystals flew from his palm toward Baro. Baro extended his hand, and the crystals vanished before him.
Baro's spatial ring was there on his fingers, though it didn't attract much attention.
"Still, you're alive. The guillotine is still at my neck."
"Well, what can you do about it?"
He was the Origin Heart Lord. Moreover, how could Mais kill Baro when Baro was aware of everything?
The tension grew within the calm. Mais frowned, but Baro was still calmly looking out the window. He didn't seem stressed at all amid all this tension. Contrary to Mais's fears, he didn't seem like he was about to suddenly kill Mais and take all his wealth.
But looking that way wasn't that important anyway. No one could know what was in someone else's mind.
"I see your soldiers gathering, Lord Baro. I don't think all these soldiers are for me. You don't need them. Besides, you can't publicly execute me. I'm only a 10-year-old child, after all."
Baro chuckled. Mais felt his provocative words instantly stick in his throat. What a condescending laugh! With just that smile, Mais understood many things. Baro didn't really care about him that much.
"You think too highly of yourself, Mais. To catch you or seize the treasures in that ring, I only need to extend my arm. Despite that, I am not a child killer. Besides, I have no need for your wealth. Anyone in my place would have been drawn to your crystals. You're lucky I'm the one standing before you."
Mais clenched his staff. Even though his face was as still as stone, this old fool feeling superior to him was extremely irritating. Who was Baro to be superior to him! He was just a Lord!
"So you're giving up my fortune just because you're merciful to children? You expect me to believe that?! Don't you need the crystals?! You killed three Sages for a few crystals! You provoked figures from two great houses! Even if you're not directly branded as the killer, you're still the number one suspect. Maybe the Navan Family won't care, but can you say the same to Sufkro's mother?"
As Mais's disrespectful attitude became more apparent, Baro frowned as if annoyed. Mais finally kept his mouth shut. But that little brain of his couldn't stand being belittled.
"I didn't kill Sufkro."
"Then give me back my crystals."
"I killed him."
"Didn't you say you didn't care about the money?"
"Maybe I do care. Should I kill you now?"
Mais was really digging his own grave. Realizing he should stop talking, he said no more. Baro grumbled a little and then snapped his fingers.
DING...!
A sound that shook the entire tavern echoed through the room. Mais's expression changed.
'What the hell was that?'
The mere snap of a finger creating such an effect was absurd even in the Origin Heart Realm.
It was just a gesture to call the waiter, but it completely changed Mais's thoughts about Baro. He knew how powerful the Origin Heart Realm had to be. So why was Baro so powerful?
All this reaction worried Mais. He needed to be more careful. He had plenty of opportunities to protect himself, but he had ended up in this situation simply because he had underestimated Baro. He realized this as he sat tensely in his chair.
He had made a mistake.
And he had been in a position to fall into a single mistake from the very beginning.
Baro ordered another coffee, and Mais asked for green tea. Baro's soldiers were indeed marching in military order within the city. For most of the year, a significant portion of his army was responsible for control and military movements in the towns surrounding the Yellow City. Monsters terrorizing villages, or more often, intelligence work. They hunted bandits and reined in wild beasts. They also acted as a police force in the region. Actually, it wasn't the right time for them to be called back to the city. It wasn't surprising that even the people were feeling tense right now. An army of thousands of cultivators was roaming the city.
Not only that. The army of this branch of the Meng family was also roaming the city in the same way. They couldn't compete with Baro's army. While Baro's army had 18,000 people, the Meng family's military unit only had a thousand. For a city of hundreds of thousands, this was really a small amount, but the Meng family wasn't the rulers of this city and were only here for trade.
Despite all this army, it wasn't strong enough to stop the approaching danger. They were quite capable of stopping a Sage, but what about the Lords?
"What about your soldiers? What do you plan to use them for? If you're not going to use them, it would be good to call them to the city for the upcoming battle," said Baro. Now Mais had 900 soldiers at his disposal. The combined power of that many soldiers could approach the power of the Sage Realm. Of course, if the entire army's power could be concentrated in a single person with the right formation. Still, it might not be necessary for 900 people to unite in formation.
"I have my own plans for them."
Besides, why should he help Baro?
"BARO!!!!"