Chapter 54: Katsuragi Family
Two days later, in the Katsuragi family's abode.
Many people gathered in one big room where they sat down respectfully on the floor, waiting for their leader to come.
Not long after, the leader of the Katsuragi family came into the room. He was a middle-aged man with silver hair. He was wearing a white suit that complimented his hair. In his black eyes was a trace of killing intent that slowly spread in the room.
He came to the room with an old man. He had black hair with a portion turned white. There was a sword mark stretching from under his right eye toward the right side of his lips and ending just above his chin.
He also wore a white suit. Unlike the middle-aged man beside him, he had a warm expression on his face. However, it still couldn't hide his fierce aura, which instilled fear in them just by looking at him.
They were respectively Katsuragi Akagi and Ikeda Kenzo. Even though Ikeda Kenzo was like Akagi's subordinate, their status in this meeting was equal.
"So, I heard that our plan in assassinating the south prince, Inshov Tanas Georgiy, was found out by the army. Where are our assassins?" He asked his secretary.
She was a beautiful woman equipped with strength and intellect. She fixed her glasses a bit before answering, "We found out that our assassins had died. According to our spies, they didn't know how the first one died, but the second one died after getting tortured by the army.
"However, she didn't say anything about us. They found out that Tasha Carter managed to decode the clue from the south prince before he died."
"A clue?"
"Yes. The south prince left a message saying 'KT' before he died, which referred to Young Lord Katsuragi Takaki. Back then, because of the rain, it became 1H, but somehow, she was able to decode it, and this happened," she explained.
Katsuragi Akagi closed his eyes for a bit, weighing something in his mind. "Even though she's not a pure Japanese, she's indeed talented. How is the progress of my son and her? I heard he came back to this house yesterday night."
"This…" His secretary looked at him with a complicated expression. She was a bit troubled in explaining this, not because of Tasha Carter, but because of Katsuragi Takaki.
"What?"
"We've lost contact with Kiya from the front lines. And after several investigations, we found out that the young lord recalled him back to Kanggye Stadium, where the practical class took place."
"So, why are you bringing up his name?" Katsuragi Akagi asked with a relaxed tone, not caring about the person named Kiya.
"He had brought a few hundred flying magical beasts to the practice test side and killed two students. After that, he died," she told him.
"What?! Who… who ordered him to do that?" Katsuragi Akagi flared up. The battle between the north and the south started years ago, while the real battle would be in months or years from now. It was just they had yet to know the real plan.
But because of George's case, the real battle needed to be rescheduled. And with this news, there was a chance for their big plan to be found out by their enemy. That was why he was so infuriated the moment he heard it.
"This…"
"What?! Hurry up and say it!" Katsuragi Akagi roared.
"The young lord was the one who asked him to bring those magical beasts."
"What? He did?" Katsuragi Akagi was baffled. He looked at his assistant. "Why? Call that brat here!"
"Ye-yes!" She immediately left the room.
Meanwhile, Katsuragi Akagi glared at his secretary. "Why would he do that?"
"The young lord… he… he wanted to kill Kai Carter, Tasha Carter's younger brother," the secretary answered.
"What!" Katsuragi Akagi opened his eyes wide. Even Ikeda Kenzo beside him frowned. He remembered the case where Kai and Tasha came to this place because Kai was targeted by someone who seemed to be from the Katsuragi family.
At first, he thought it was a bluff as their intention was somewhere else, so he had hidden this from Katsuragi Akagi since he wanted to have talented people from the younger generation like them to prosper, even if it meant to prosper in another base.
Still, after hearing this report, he immediately frowned because he realized Kai and Tasha were right. They were indeed targeted, and it turned out that the one who targeted them was Katsuragi Takaki.
He didn't know why Katsuragi Takaki wanted to kill Kai, but this was really troublesome. After all, in their big plan, they wanted to make Tasha Carter fall in love with Katsuragi Takaki. That way, she would be able to help them in fighting the south's family.
There were only three S-rank magicians, and if two of them, including him, were on the Katsuragi family's side, it would be an easy win against the south. So, Katsuragi Akagi really wanted to possess Tasha Carter as his pawn.
When they heard about how smart Tasha Carter was, her value suddenly rose in Katsuragi Akagi's eyes. However, the moment he heard that Katsuragi Takaki wanted to kill her younger brother, Kai Carter, that value immediately shook. It might become higher or lower in just a moment after he heard Katsuragi Takaki's reason.
"Master…" The secretary suddenly called Akagi again with a troubled expression.
"What? Do you have something more?"
"Ye-yes." She nodded. She took a deep breath to calm herself down first. "Because of this matter, we decided to investigate the young lord's recent activity without Master's permission."
"Ho… Do you want to die?"
"I will accept any punishment, but I need to inform Master of another incident," she said.
"What is it? Spill it!"
"A few weeks ago, the young lord used the family's background to send a sniper to kill Kai Carter too. However, at that time, he failed, and the sniper was killed. Because of that, Kai Carter started to become wary of us.
"After several more investigations, it turned out that they visited this island a week ago. It's just that, we have yet to find out the reason they went back to Tokyo without doing anything."
'They've done quite a number of things here. I was the one who drove them away, after all. Not that I can say it,' Ikeda Kenzo harrumphed inwardly. He suddenly remembered how troublesome the two were. If they truly became first-rate magicians, then even he would die under their blade.
"What?!" Katsuragi Akagi was thoroughly angered by the situation. The reports for the past few days were normal, as everything went according to plan. And when it suddenly went to his son, Katsuragi Takaki, there were so many troublesome situations. It was only a month after he transferred to Genesis Magical Academy, and he already made so many troubles.
"What should we do about this, Akagi-dono?" Ikeda Kenzo finally opened his mouth.
"..." Katsuragi Akagi furrowed his eyebrows, trying to calm himself down while thinking about their next move. "Are the south and the army the only ones trying to investigate us?"
He asked that first. Since the south's family was too far away, almost everything should be delayed, and they could buy time against them. As for the army, they were too powerless to go against them.
"No, there's one more family investigating us."
"Who?"
"Gunma's Yajima family. According to our report, Yajima Haruko, the heiress of the Yajima family, is the student council president of Genesis Magical Academy. Because of the pressure from the south's family and the army, she was forced to use her family influence too," she answered.
"Hmph. It's only a small family from Gunma. They might be mighty in Gunma, but it's still too early for them to challenge us. Pressure them first and make them stop their investigation. That way, we can stop the army's advance as well as buy time from the south's family. We will then reschedule our plan to suit our current situation."
"I will try to talk with the Yajima family, Akagi-dono." Ikeda Kenzo said.
"Oh. If Kenzo-dono makes a move, then I will be grateful." Akagi nodded.
"By the way, what will you do to Kai Carter and Tasha Carter after this?"
"..." Katsuragi Akagi was also perplexed as to what to do about them. "Since they are wary against us, we won't approach them for the time being until they start dropping their guard against us.
"I wonder if we should use women to seduce Kai Carter so he will forget about it. But if we send my daughters or granddaughters, I'm sure they will be warier of us, so we should wait and see first. If they can be persuaded to join this family, it will be okay. However, if they can't, then I will kill them first before our confrontation with the south's family."
"I see. I understand why you want to kill them first." Ikeda Kenzo sighed. If Tasha Carter and Kai Carter were to join their side, it would be good. But if they joined the south's family instead of theirs, then the balance would be broken, and they might lose this battle. That must be the reason why he wanted to eliminate Kai Carter and Tasha Carter first before they clashed with south's family.
It was a shame that two talented people of the younger generation were about to be killed, but he couldn't do anything. He had warned them about this, but they had yet to move out after so long. Of course, if he knew that the reason they couldn't go to the US base was that they had no money, who knew what kind of expression he would make at that time.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone