The Third Prince Of Darkness

I was sitting alone on the couch in a well-furnished and beautifully decorated room. They had brought me to this room, and it had been about ten minutes with no one coming or going. Frankly, I was starting to get a bit bored, and the truth is, if I stayed outside the palace for too long, someone might notice. I was sneaking out of the palace because it was absolutely necessary to get my tasks done. Thankfully, Emilia had always helped me with this, and so far, I had encountered no problems.

When the door to the room opened, I looked at the lady who had entered. Four women came in, and only one of them had an uncovered face; the others were masked. The woman with the uncovered face could easily be considered among the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Of course, she wasn’t as beautiful as my mother or Isabella, but she had curves that could make a man’s mouth water. Her short red hair touched her shoulders, and her emerald eyes emphasized her beauty.

The woman appeared to be in her forties but had taken very good care of herself. She sat across from me, crossing her long legs, and looked at me with curiosity.

"Do you know that it's very inappropriate to keep a guest waiting?" I said, finally breaking the silence.

"I'm sorry for that, but we had to check on you first" the woman said with a coquettish voice. Honestly, she might have had the sexiest voice I had ever heard, and I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of sounds she would make during a heated “fight.”

"Well then, are you going to fulfill my request now?" I said, pushing aside my immoral thoughts.

"First, may I request proof that you've completed the task?" the woman responded.

I handed her the round bag I had placed beside me and said, "Be careful; it might be a bit disgusting."

The woman took the bag from me and opened it slightly and looked inside. Interestingly, she gave only a slight grimace and handed the bag to the masked woman next to her. Her minimal reaction indicated that she was accustomed to such things. She handled it pretty well, especially considering there was a head covered in blood in the bag.

"Congratulations on completing your mission" she said, and took the documents from another masked woman beside her, handing them to me. "Here is the information on the person you requested."

I took the documents and examined them carefully. The first page had an amateurish hand-drawn sketch of the man, but it at least showed his distinctive features. He had long red hair, black eyes, was tall, and had a handsome face. Then, I looked at the information about him. Most of it was superficial, and frankly, there wasn’t anything of great value. What he liked, what he didn’t like, what he ate, or the current number of soldiers in his army. Aside from his general habits, there wasn't much important information.

"There is nothing here that I want to know. All the information here is the kind I could get from any guild" I said, raising my voice a little.

"Calm down. If you want more detailed information, you need to ask me" the woman said. She didn’t seem to appreciate my raised voice, and a voice inside me said that this woman was stronger than she appeared. So, it would be best if I kept my composure.

"Alright, Miss...?"

"Madeleine" the woman said, revealing her name.

"Miss Madeleine, can you tell me Alpshar's weak point?" I asked.

"We believe he has only one weak point, but we're not entirely sure," she said, then continued, "There is a little girl he visits frequently, and it seems she is quite affectionate towards him, but she is very cold towards anyone else."

"Is that all? What's the girl's name?" I asked.

"We don't know..." she replied.

"Could she be related to him?" I asked another question, still maintaining my Mona Lisa smile.

"We don't know that either. Our branches in the south were destroyed while we were trying to gather information about him" she said, a hint of sorrow briefly appearing on her face.

"Did your guild assassinate him for what he did?" I asked.

"Yes, multiple times, but we never heard from any of the assassins we sent, and the last assassin we sent was the member responsible for the southern region and one of the most skilled women in our guild. When she also failed, we decided to give up on this task and reduce our operations in the south" she said with disappointment.

"I see... Lastly, what do you know about his family?" I asked.

"Ah, what I know about that is limited... or rather, my information about that night is limited."

Madeleine paused for a moment. "Alpshar was the illegitimate child of the heir to the Mountain Tigers Clan, and it was known that his father had a rather twisted personality. But one night, he was seen near his father's palace... That night, screams didn't stop until sunrise in the Mountain Tigers Clan palace, and he killed everyone in the palace. We recently learned this and still don't know how he did it. Moreover, he was only around 13 years old at the time... Anyway, since that day, the leader of the Mountain Tigers Clan, who is also Alpshar's grandfather, has mobilized all his power to kill him" Madeleine said, frowning.

"And then?" I asked curiously.

"The rest is very complicated. Alpshar hired mercenaries with the gold he stole from his father's palace and quickly formed a large force. Even so, his army was nothing compared to his grandfather's army. He quickly retreated to the mountains with his troops and stopped the much larger and more organized Mountain Tigers Clan army for two weeks. The interesting thing is that he did this with mercenaries who could change sides at any moment... Afterwards, he sent a letter to the Mountain Tigers Clan's neighbor and enemy, the Mountain Goats Clan, and within a week, the Mountain Goats Clan attacked enemy."

"The chief, who was obsessed with avenging his son, did not leave the mountain and attacked Alpshar's troops with all his might, but this time he was victorious. However, when he reached the caves in the mountains that Alpshar used as his base with soldiers, Alpshar had already fled, and the Mountain Tigers Clan, exhausted by using all their power, was destroyed by their enemies within a few days," she said, finishing her story.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that..." I said, unable to hide my feelings. It turned out that the man named Alpshar was a bigger threat than I had thought. Undoubtedly, Alpshar was very cunning, and judging by the defense he had made in the mountains, it was clear he was a tactical genius. Although he was far away in the south, he was still a dangerous man.

"I understand but...This information is very valuable, and I think the simple task I performed is not worth this information. Given the valuable information and especially your words about your guild in the south, do you have any plans involving me?" I asked, taking a more relaxed position.

"Hah, you are quite clever, Mr. Arthur, and I like clever men," Madeleine said, smiling slightly with the corners of her lips.

"So, was my guess correct?" I asked, smiling in response to her smile.

"Yes, I want to make a deal with you," she said.

"Oh, what a coincidence, I also wanted to make a deal with you..."