Chapter 128: Book 5: Chapter 2 – First Branch Destroyed
"Where are we going?" Killian asked from beside Leo as they followed Ace.
"I can sense that there's a decent-sized town a few kilometres away from here," Ace replied. "If we're lucky, they might have a sabre detachment stationed there for us to get some answers."
The moment Killian stated how he wanted to speak to Alissa, Ace immediately spread his [Observation] as far as possible, which was when he managed to sense a large town with several relatively powerful auras, the strongest of which was at the seventh rank.
Although someone at that level couldn't pose the slightest threat to their group, it was still relatively strong for their Yulan plane.
In the town, there were only two warriors in the seventh rank. The one that caught Ace's eye, though, was that of the two, one of them radiated a hint of killing intent. It was so faint that not many would be able to sense it at all, but with his [Observation Haki], it may as well have a beacon of light signalling him.
Now this didn't mean that said warrior was with Sabre, but with his experience, Ace knew that ordinarily, only killers were that proficient at hiding their killing intent.
Even if they weren't from Sabre, as a killer themselves, they would likely know where they could find their closest Sabre branch. As such, Ace calmly led Killian and Leo in the warrior's direction.
About 30 minutes later, Ace led Kil and Leo into Jiscal Town. It was a relatively large town on the edge of the Rohault Empire and led by Conrad Jiscal – one of its two seventh-rank warriors – who resided in a small castle in the centre of the town.
Ace and his group, though, walked straight past the castle, heading towards the commercial district, filled with bars, inns, and various other shops and stalls.
The trio, understandably, received a lot of stares. After all, it wasn't every day they saw two teens walking around with a horse-sized, black-furred lion, but none of the three seemed to care.
It was only when Killian saw a small shop at the end of the street sporting a familiar logo that he understood exactly where they were going.
Ever since they met, Alissa had always wielded a pair of daggers, but the most iconic thing about them was the carving of a sabre in the centre of a black ring etched into its handle.
Although he had never asked what it was, with how much time they spent together, saying he was familiar with it was an understatement. So as soon as he saw the familiar dark ring around a sabre in the centre of the shop's banner, despite the fact that there were no words, he instantly knew that they were in the right place.
"What's the plan?" Killian asked, his otherwise calm voice portraying a hint of nervousness as the idea of getting news on Alissa excited him.
"Plan?" Ace asked as a mischievous smirk formed on his face. "We go in and ask for some information, of course."
As innocent as Ace's plan sounded, upon seeing the expression on Ace's face, Killian could only sigh as he understood that things were unlikely to proceed so simply.
It may sound foolish to go into the lair full of highly trained assassins to ask for information on one of their own with no plan, but Ace could sense that the strongest person inside was only at the seventh rank. A level that, forget Ace and Leo, even Killian could manage on his own.
As such, he felt absolutely no way about strolling inside and walking up to the woman by the front desk, who, like the trio, was also at the fifth rank.
Considering that she only appeared to be in her early twenties, it was actually a pretty impressive feat. After all, not everyone could be as talented as those in the Yin-Yang Pavilion.
As the emerald green eyes of the blonde behind the desk fell on the trio, it took all of her willpower to hide her shock.
Saber wasn't like other assassin organisations. As their head was an all-powerful prime saint, they weren't forced to operate in the shadows. Instead, they were able to brazenly set up shop in the territory of every major faction on the continent.
But even though everyone knew how and where to find them, their customers tended to be adults. Still, the young woman smiled enticingly as she greeted the two boys as she could tell from a glance that they were anything but your ordinairy teens.
Though she wasn't able to sense their respective levels just by looking at them, from all her time as a trained killer, her instincts told her that both boys were dangerous, and that was ignoring the giant threatening lion standing with them.
Like the two boys, she couldn't tell exactly what level it was at, but from the savage, unrestrained aura it was radiating, she knew she was far from a match for it. Still, her training as an assassin allowed her to keep her calm.
"Good evening, young masters. My name is Gernelia," The beautiful young woman said calmly. "Would you like to buy information, or would you perhaps like to purchase one of our other services?"
Although she didn't say it in so many words, it didn't take a genius to figure out she was referring to assassination.
"Information, please," Ace calmly replied with a light smile hanging on his lips.
"Of course, young master," Gernelia replied. "If you tell us what you wish to know, as long as we have it, I'll have someone get the information from our archives, and you can come and collect it in an hour."
"Perfect," Ace replied warmly. "My brother and I are looking for information on one of your assassins – her name is Alissa. As far as we're aware, there is no last na…"
"Is this some kind of a joke?" Gernelia asked, her bright green eyes frosting over as her tone cooled.
"Of course not," Ace replied just as calmly as ever, as though he couldn't sense the woman's change of tone or the 'hidden' presence of several other warriors. "Alissa is a very good friend of ours, and we just want to make sure she's o…"
Before he could finish his sentence, a cold voice interrupted him. "Get lost, brat!"
"We're not asking for much," Ace said, his calm and polite demeanour never shifting, despite the fact that the branch head had made his appearance, stepping out from the door behind Gernelia. "If you don't have the information we need, just say that, and point us in the direction of…"
"I guess we're doing this the hard way then," Ace sighed as he calmly coated his right hand in haki and pinched the throwing knife, darting straight for his eye with his index finger and thumb. "I actually expected more from your little 'saber' organisation."
The branch head grit his teeth in anger and frustration, believing Ace was looking down on his strength, having casually stopped the hidden weapon attack with such ease.
Whilst it was true, Ace wasn't faking his disappointment; it wasn't because the man was so much weaker than him. Instead, it was because after the final battle against the O'Brien Empire, as he hadn't hidden his face, he expected 'Sabre', the continent's leading assassination and intelligence gathering organisation, to have recognised him. After all, he was well aware of how incredible the ability he showed should've been.
Even if they didn't know everything about him, they still would've at least had an image of him to go off. And even if the ordinairy foot soldiers didn't recognise him, the head of a branch surely would.
'If their intelligence gathering is this poor, then I doubt they'll have any of the more personal information on O'Brien,' Ace sighed helplessly once more, not realising how grating the sound of his sigh was on the branch head.
There were three reasons for Ace deciding to use such a direct approach:
First, as they didn't know where Alissa was, he was hoping that if they created enough turmoil amongst the ranks of the infamous assassin organisation, word would get back to Alissa, and she could then come and find them.
Second, he wanted to see exactly how extensive their intelligence-gathering capabilities were.
And the third, final, and arguably most important reason was simply that he was done hiding his edge.
He was Gol D. Ace, son of Gol D. Roger. There was no man or organisation capable of forcing him to bow his head.
Still, the branch head had no idea the actual reason behind Ace's disappointment, and as such, he was pushed to boiling point.
If it weren't for the bestial aura of the beast beside Ace, which seemed to even threaten him, he would've long since attacked seriously.
The man had just opened his mouth to say something else when Killian summoned his battle axe from his storage ring. "He's mine!"
Whilst Ace wasn't that bothered by the assassin's sneak attack, the same couldn't be said for his 'little' brother. The moment the man attacked Ace with intent to kill, the way Killian looked at him was as though he were looking at a corpse.
"As you wish." Ace casually shrugged. "Just make sure you don't kill him."
Since the man was only at the seventh rank, Ace felt no way about leaving him the stoic axe-wielding teen. Despite only being at the fifth himself, Killian was more than capable of dealing with him. Plus, Ace would derive no pleasure from bullying someone so much weaker than himself.
Seeing how he was being spoken about but not to by two teens who were only a fraction of his age only served to further enrage the branch head. Still, the presence of the lion kept him on edge. As a result, all he could do was summon all the assassins present in the building to deal with their intruders by pressing the hidden button under the counter before him.
Even if the lion was superior to him, he refused to believe that their group could handle so many highly trained assassins.
"Kill them!" The man voiced icily as he shot towards Killian with every intention of making quick work of the youth before aiding his men in their attack on the magical beast.
Unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed. The moment the man darted forth, Killian's legs bulged as he used [Soru] to intercept him, splintering the wooden floor beneath his feet as he stepped off.
"Movement technique?" The branch manager muttered in surprise when the youngster used a movement technique without the assistance of battle-qi.
Still, as Killian was only at the fifth rank, his speed was far from unreasonable, but when he saw the speed of his axe, his eyes couldn't help but widen in disbelief. "Wielding heavy as though it were light?!"
"[Supergravity Field.]" Killian voiced indifferently as the two warriors were only meters away from each other, causing the gravity the man was under to suddenly multiply.
"Who are you two exactly?" The man asked in shock as he barely blocked the unforgiving blade of his opponent's axe, knowing if he had been any weaker, he would've definitely lost his head in their first exchange.
At the same time, all the other assassins that had been hiding in the other rooms came flooding forward, preparing to encircle Ace and Leo, who looked more bored than anything else.
But before they could make their move, all of them suddenly lost consciousness.
"I don't think I'll ever get tired of that," Ace said as the corners of his mouth crept up to form a smirk that looked like it belonged on the devil to the branch manager, who was the only assassin left standing.
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Book 6: Chapter 40 – Aiden's Shocking Might
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