The Discarded Son's Skill Market

"Really?" Zaid asked immediately, and after receiving confirmation—though still skeptical—he decided to give it a try.

"Let’s negotiate."

Alice looked up at him, in shock... Her body tensed and her heart clenched. However, Zaid chose to ignore her.

The rival leader nodded. "All right. Get as far away as you can," he ordered his men.

Zaid did the same with Alice—though he didn’t ask her to step back, he simply positioned her where he could react in time if the negotiations went south.

They both walked off, and among the trees in the forest, they began to talk.

"Just name your price, mercenary. And that of your entire group. We’re willing to pay it to avoid a head-on battle against such a strong group."

"Our group isn’t that expensive for any kind of job; we have a reputation for doing work at a low cost."

"I’m not familiar with your reputation, and honestly, I don’t think it matters," said the leader. "I want to hire you, not hear your story. Besides, my contract could be worth as much as several million dollars—I doubt you’ll be able to turn it down."

Zaid shrugged. "Certainly, turning down a million-dollar contract isn’t an easy task. Especially these days."

The leader knew that, so he didn’t bother to reply. He waited for Zaid to speak.

"But there’s always a first time."

The leader laughed. "Do you think this will be the first time?"

"We have a code in our group." Zaid ignored the leader’s words and continued speaking. "Once you accept a mission, you can’t accept another one until it’s over. The mission leader will be your supreme commander until the mission is complete. Killing or betraying him is just as horrible as killing innocent people."

Zaid spoke eloquently, trying to think quickly about what to say and put it into words. He even went so far as to invent a supposed group code that, obviously, didn’t exist.

But it was enough to make the opposing leader understand his words.

"But the millions are still too tempting to pass up, so we want to negotiate."

"Actually, I’m more interested in your identity. There aren’t many forces capable of doing what you’re doing right under the academy’s nose... I’ve come up with some wild theories about who you are, and I think I’ve admired you for a long time."

"Oh?" The leader’s interest was immediately piqued. "Who do you think we are?"

Zaid swallowed imperceptibly and smiled beneath his mask. "Since you said you wanted to invite us to join you, I’d like to hear that proposal. We’re numerous, but we’re all capable."

"You won’t get any information out of me that way, mercenary." The leader was blunt.

"If I could do that, you wouldn’t be the leader," Zaid joked. "But I’ve always been interested in joining an Order... You know?" His words slowed as he reached the end, but he made it look as if he were having trouble swallowing so he could keep talking.

However, this man’s gesture—though subtle—did not escape Zaid’s keen senses and perception.

’I’ve got it,’ Zaid smiled inwardly.

"The Order of Silence—I’ve heard they’re highly prestigious. Am I wrong?" This time, Zaid spoke without fear of making a mistake.

There weren’t many organizations powerful enough to operate in plain sight of the academy’s professors; he was able to filter them out from the top. Among the organizations he’d filtered out, most were guilds.

The guilds would never oppose an academy sponsored by the system itself, much less try to kill its students.

That left various families—who did have a bit more freedom—as prime suspects. However, most of them, including Zachary, tried to stay out of academic affairs to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves.

This left only a very few organizations bold enough to do so, and from what little Zaid knew of the Order of Silence, it was one of them. Their audacity is so great that they tend to violate the rules of the system, the government, and even the Zacharys, who have the person closest to occupying one of the two Empty Thrones.

And this was the only organization whose name began with "Order," so he just had to quickly rule out the others and arrived at it immediately thanks to a mistake by his rival.

The leader nodded slightly in approval. "Not bad. You guessed it right. No doubt about it. We’re from that place. Do you want to join us?"

"As long as it’s not as an assassin." Zaid laughed.

"Well, there are several groups. But I can’t take you myself. You’ll have to talk to my leader."

’The Red Lord?’ Zaid thought, though he didn’t voice his question—that would be too obvious.

"Well, for now you just want that girl, right? I can give her to you. I want 1.5 million to break our code." He replied.

"1.5 million... it’s expensive, but for breaking a spell, I think that’s very little. You’ll have to help me, at least."

Zaid thought about it for a moment and nodded. "You’re right. For breaking the spell, that’s cheap... How about 2 million?"

This time, the leader did frown. "Don’t overstep your limits."

"I’m not." Zaid replied immediately. "I’m just open to accepting your suggestions."

"Ugh..."

Well, that’s what he got for opening his mouth.

"All right... I understand. 2 million is a good price." Before Zaid could say another word, he handed him the debit card. "Exactly 2 million—the PIN is..."

After giving him the bank details, Zaid logged in on his cell phone using the card number, and within seconds the money was transferred to his bank account.

Such an astronomical sum... Had he just won it like that, out of the blue? Two million dollars just for this?

Although saying "just for this" wasn’t exactly the best thing for him to say... we were talking about a betrayal here, you know?

"Do it now." Zaid gave Valia a mental command, and within seconds, both he and the leader of the other team heard a scream.

"G-Gio, how dare you do this to me!" It was a hysterical, fear-filled scream from Alice. "H-how dare you betray me?!" It was a genuinely tearful voice...

Zaid smiled at the leader and held out his hand. "I’m Gio. I look forward to working very well with you all from now on."

The leader couldn’t see what had happened, but he heard it, and his allies were in shock because they saw something he didn’t...

Had this man done it that quickly?

The leader didn’t even tell Gio his name before rushing forward and finding Alice sobbing at the feet of a beautiful woman wearing loose, men’s-style clothing and a winter hat, who was staring at him.

That woman’s eyes were strange... Did they have a triangle in them? What shape is that?

"What a beautiful woman... she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Those eyes shaped like..."

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Valia. "I’ve done the job, Mr. Gio," she said.

Zaid patted the leader on the shoulder from behind. "Go ahead... She’s all yours."

For two million dollars, many people would surely do the impossible.

Although prices for everything have skyrocketed—especially in recent years, as humanity continues to lose ground to the beasts—these two million dollars are still very valuable.

There are houses available at lower prices in good neighborhoods, but the best part is that there are plenty of magical tools for hunters to use that can be purchased for a few hundred thousand dollars or even a few million—and those were really good ones.

If he could get his hands on one, his power would skyrocket...

The leader made his decision too late, as his subordinates had already acted first, rushing forward to grab that filthy woman who had slipped away from them. They knew the negotiations had gone well for them, so it was time to turn that investment into a handsome profit...

However, something was wrong. At least in the leader’s heart, something was wrong.

He looked from side to side, not understanding the unease. His subordinates were discussing whether to capture her and bring her before the top leader or simply kill her, weighing their best options...

But he wasn’t there.

Suddenly, he decided to look behind him. His armor hadn’t activated, which meant he hadn’t been attacked from behind with murderous intent... Was he really just going to sell out his client like that? Sure, it was 2 million, but contracts for people that powerful are usually sky-high.

"Well, he’s a mercenary..." he told himself, but when he looked back, he froze.

The guy wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

In fact... her card wasn’t in her hand either... The woman on top of that other woman wasn’t there either...

That woman wasn’t there at all!

And her subordinates were running, but not to catch Alice—they were running to tell her to follow them!

"Leader, what the hell are you standing there for?! Those bastards got away right under your nose, and you didn’t do a thing!"

Some equally powerful people complained about what they’d just seen and wanted to reprimand him—and even curse him.

However, the leader shook his head. "Huh? Are you an idiot? Clearly...!"

Suddenly, his body jerked as he remembered the woman on top of Alice, holding her down. Wait... Was what he’d just seen human?

He had a strange feeling that he had seen a beast recently... His mind was confused, and he didn’t understand why.

"SIR!" His subordinates had to call out to him.

When he came to his senses, those who had been chasing him were no longer there. His mind cleared, and he realized that, in fact, the negotiation—hadn’t it even taken place?

’What the hell just happened?’

Just then...

"Hey, hey... Can I join the party, little friends?"

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!