Maria frowned as she glanced up at the cellar door... Her annoyance becoming more apparent by the minute.

The idiot Jack had finally woken up and was causing a ruckus.

"Let me out of here!" he shouted as he slammed on the door.

It was obvious that the alcohol in him was not helping him think straight... Otherwise, he would have used his strength to try to get free.

His hazy, drunk mind must have unconsciously concluded that he was locked in a mana dampening cage.

Talia glanced at the Basic Herald standing by the door and sent it a command. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The thrall turned around and opened the door.

"Finally... Just let me out. I will tell you—" Jack let out a breath of relief, but the moment he recognized who he was facing, all colour drained from his face.

He knew in that moment that his fate would be worse than death.

He had known from the moment he made his decision that he was putting his life in danger by leaking the information however he thought he could manage it but it seemed he had thought wrong.

His plan was to take whatever money was left and lay low for a while... Or even leave the town completely but that was out of the picture completely, now.

"Wait! I can explain!" Jack shouted, raising his hands toward the thrall hoping to stop it.

However there was not a single thing he could say to stop it.

It had already received its order.

Before the next word could leave Jack’s mouth, a full uppercut traveled vertically upward through the centre of his guard.

It snapped his head violently upward and backward causing his brain to make impact with the inside of his skull, knocking him out.

His body dropped like a sack of potatoes that lost an important piece.

This time, the Basic Herald did not leave... It simply shut the door behind itself and stood over Jack.

***

Back in the sitting room, the ladies finally seemed satisfied so they m

"How did you even know he would be the perfect target?" Maria asked. "I thought you wanted to find a blabbermouth or something."

They were all there and remembered the first conversation Talia had with Jensen.

"I was actually going with that plan," Talia began. "But the blabbermouth I was banking on was one of the few people who successfully found something. Not to mention she was already scared of the Level 3 Heralds."

She continued, "If she still gossiped about it, she would have definitely mentioned them and that would have reduced the number of people coming."

Talia paused. "With our current numbers, the blood energy would not be enough to cultivate and create more thralls."

"You plan to send them to their deaths?" Maria frowned.

"Not all of them... After all there is a limit to how many we can send to their deaths without the government geting involved but that limit increases with the number," Talia explained calmly.

"Why?" Lily asked.

"Lord Jensen is not satisfied with just this town. Neither am I and I know it is true for most of us. We will be expanding and challenging powers that have existed for decades so we have to be as strong as possible...There is no other way." Talia shook her head.

Maria sighed... She knew Talia was right.

Talia focused on Maria. "This way, we can also reduce the number of children we have to kill... We can blame their parents’ deaths on the adventurers and protect them from the adventurers... We will be their saviours."

This seemed to calm Maria down a bit.

"We can also loot the dead mercenaries as well," Lily nodded. "Increasing our profit margin by a lot."

Maria was not surprised by Lily’s thought process.

Although Lily had never killed anyone before, the idea of killing was not exactly frowned upon around here.

Either way, Maria immediately changed the topic.

"So, why did you choose him?" She nodded her head toward the cellar door.

"When I first met him, I chastised him and I could immediately tell he held grudges for it," Talia said. "I observed him for a while and realized he seemed to enjoy talking about himself... He feared being seen as insignificant so all I had to do was play on that enough that he snapped."

"What did you do?" Lily asked, now interested. Business was also a game of psychology.

"I did not have to do much... I just asked my brother to show preferential treatment to anyone he had an issue with." Talia shrugged. "Seeing ge wasn’t very liked by their boss everyone distanced themselves from him. Come to find out, he tried to goad someone into killing my brother. So, fair game."

She smiled.

"Who do you think he told?" Maria asked.

"Most likely his criminal friends... Probably paid them to spread it or something." Talia said. "According to the information I bought on him, he hangs out with lowlifes. Sacrificing such people for our growth would be a service to the town."

Maria nodded in agreement.

"What if he sold it to the highest bidder?" Lily asked. "Maybe one of the powerful gangs... What do you plan to do?"

Talia paused and thought about it... In truth, she had considered such a thing happening, man’s greed could never be underestimated.

She was prepared for that as well.

"If the presence of two Level 3s does not deter them, we offer them a working relationship in our favour... If that does not work, then we go the nuclear option and ask Lord Jensen for help."

Lily nodded.

But Talia was not done. "But we will only get help from Lord Jensen if it becomes critical."

Both Maria and Lily agreed. The plan seemed sound to them.

"So what do you plan to do with him?" Lily gestured at the cellar. "I am certain you asked Lord Jensen for help catching him."

"Even though everything is going according to my plan, Iwill still make an example of him." Talia’s voice hardened. "Whether I tricked him or not, it was still his choice to break the contract."

***

Jack’s eyes opened. He groaned and raised his head just in time to see the thrall’s fist coming at him.

The fist collided with his jaw, sending him right back to sleep.