The old man had promised him that not even her full corpse would make it back home. And yet the girl had returned home safe and sound without a scratch. Not even her party had suffered any kind of losses. They had sauntered into the city as if coming back from a morning walk.
Nelson was unable to understand how the little girl of the Windsor family could have come back alive after all the preparations he had made. The old Tamer had promised him that getting rid of Clara was child's play for him. But in the end, Nelson was smacked in the face with no results at all. It was as if Clara hadn't even encountered any trouble along the path.
Nelson grew uncertain about the Tamer. He even felt that the Tamer might have changed his mind midway and had never tried to seriously attack Clara during the journey. Otherwise, there should have been at least some losses even with her power.
As the situation made him increasingly furious by the second, Nelson called for the old Tamer he had hired in order to inquire about the situation.
But the moment that Class A Tamer came face to face with him, Nelson began to shout and scream as he blamed the old Tamer for his incompetence. He cursed the Tamer for being a weakling and a braggart without even listening to a single word from the old man.
"How dare you show your face in front of me? After bragging so much, the only thing you managed to do was to tear off the clothes of some of her underlings. I doubt you managed to do that either. It must have been some other accident otherwise they wouldn't have come back with a smile on their faces.
He had assumed that the old man was the one at fault and didn't even stop to consider that Clara might have had someone more powerful than the Tamer by her side because he had already assessed the strength of the group that Clara had taken with her this time. Logically, he deduced that there was no one capable of averting such a disaster amongst Clara's group. Even the strongest out of her group, Grace wasn't enough to give a tough time to Clara let alone the assassin he had sent.
"Do you think that I didn't try my best? The information you gave me wasn't complete enough. There was someone protecting that girl. His methods were too strange for me to handle. Even my strongest beasts were taken care of so easily that I didn't dare to bring out more of them so as to not arouse more suspicion. You were the one who told me to keep a low profile and to make it look like an accident but even if I had done my best, I believe I would have failed just as badly. That person alone managed to sabotage two of my attacks. He even took care of a dozen Iron Mantises that I had reared with so much difficulty. Do you think you can compensate me for that? Do you dare to tell me that you can find me more Iron Mantis younglings to tame?"
Nelson was a little dumbfounded. He hadn't expected that the old Tamer would dare to retort after failing so spectacularly. So, he was at a loss for words when the old Tamer blamed him in return for his failure.
The old Tamer took this silence as the opportunity to speak more and continued to lash out his grievances. Even though he was fully prepared, a mysterious man came out of nowhere to push him into the ground.
"I have heard a rumor since then that the person who sabotaged both my attempts to kill that little girl is an SS rank Water mage who single handedly caused rainfall on a bright sunny day with not a single cloud in sight. How can I or my beasts possibly take on such a powerful mage and still come out unscathed. It was that little girl's luck to acquire that mysterious man's help; otherwise, she wouldn't have made it back alive. All of her group together couldn't even take down one of my Iron Mantises. If you still want to blame me then go ahead. I won't stop you. But you should know that I am not guilty of being weak but of being unlucky."
Nelson had since them calmed down a little. Despite knowing that the old Tamer was not the one at fault, he had vented out all his anger and frustration at him.
As for the SS rank Water mage that the old Tamer mentioned, Nelson had heard of him as well. He even knew the name of the mage. He was supposedly called Mr. Smith and had just arrived as the guest of the Windsor family along with Clara's entourage.
Based on his investigation, this Mr. Smith had been residing in the house by the lake that was maintained by the Windsor family to house their most prestigious guests. Not only this Mr. Smith but the people along with him had all been given residence in the Lake house as if it was some common inn. Just by looking at this, Nelson could estimate the importance of this guest. He concluded that this mysterious man must have some close relationship with the Windsor family to be treated with so much protocol.
When Nelson delved further into the matter in order to understand the kind of enemy he was facing, what came to light as a result shocked him quite heavily.
Based on several rumors, this Mr. Smith was supposedly some close relative of that notorious dark mage Wood Smith who was the terror of Byzantium city back when his father was still young and had not taken over the Hunter family.
Although their last names were the same, Nelson couldn't deduce the exact relationship that Mr. Smith had with the dark mage but he didn't take him seriously at all. He believed that the old man Marico was going through his last death throes and would pass on very soon. Therefore, no matter how strong this Mr. Smith could be, there was no way that the Windsor family would be able to survive even with his support.
Since Marico's death was predetermined, Nelson was sure that the ultimate fruit would belong to the Hunter family after his demise. Even if Mr. Smith was a man of godly strength and could bring about rainfall with a wave of his hand, there was no way that he would be able to reverse death.
There was one other goal that Nelson had in his mind that he hadn't yet shared with anyone. He didn't tell anyone about what he felt about the eldest daughter of Marico. He always felt that Violet was too ladylike and elegant. Her feminine charm and her inherent grace were evident in all her actions. No matter what she did, Nelson couldn't help but admire her. She was like a flawless angel in his heart whom nobody else but him could touch. The idol and the beauty he admired was just a step away from him but the step was proving to be a little too high. Every time Nelson felt that he was close to taking over the Windsor family, something got in his way. Previously, it had been the doctor who kept treating that old dog of the Windsor family and now this mysterious Mr. Smith had come out of nowhere.
Nelson wanted the leader of the family dead as soon as possible so that he could take over the Windsor family and lay claim to the goddess in his heart. He wanted to keep Violet by his side and make her his little bitch. She was just the type of woman with oozing feminine charm that he liked.
But there was one person who was aware of his evil intentions from the get go and did everything in order to prevent Nelson from approaching Violet. He had attempted to get in Violet's good graces many times but every single time he was thwarted by the little bitch Clara. She barely reached his chest when he stood straight but her attitude and the confident demeanor always made her seem taller than she actually was.
Nelson hated her guts. He hated everything about the little bitch. He hated how perceptive she could be and how she managed to reach Violet in time every single time he tried to approach her alone.
The old Tamer noticed the changes that took place in Nelson's expressions within the few minutes and deduced that this was his opportunity to earn himself a chance to try again. He didn't want to drop the assassination mission for which he had already paid too much. If he let go of it at such a time, it would surely be too huge a loss for him to bear easily.
"I only failed last time because that man came out of nowhere and I wasn't prepared enough to counter him. I had no estimate as to how strong that man was or the strength that little girl was packing. Now that I have experienced both of them, I believe that I can handle them easily the next time. You can rest assured that I won't let you down this time. Instead of saving my power, I will unleash hell onto them before they even figure out what hit them."
Since it wasn't entirely the old Tamer's fault, Nelson didn't continue blaming him and decided to give him another chance. Still his anger hadn't faded yet so the harshness in his words was still there too.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m