But what the Luther family, including Diana, did not know was that the reason behind the new cheerful look of their master wasn't the increasing strength or influence of the family in the city affairs but the restoration of his ability to walk again through Zach's help.
If not for Bruce's wish to keep it a secret, this kind of news would have been enough for a city wide celebration in the name of the Luther family but alas this wasn't the time for that. First Bruce needed revenge for his current condition and the deteriorating state of the Luther family. His sister was working towards that goal in her way as she constantly trained to become stronger. Bruce too needed to put in his part of the effort to save his home and his sister.
Bruce began making friends since the social standing of the Luther family had increased somewhat after the news of the Sosis family's loss at the hands of Luther family was leaked by some trustworthy sources.
Families that previously avoided them like the plague suddenly began to invite him over for luncheons and balls that he had to attend as a goodwill gesture after all he was going to need the support of some of these families if he wanted to regain the lost repute of his family.
Several families raised their doubts about the dark mage that was supporting the Luther family from the shadows but Bruce always explained that Luther family had done no such thing and the rumors were only whispers of the unsatisfied and the jealous who wanted to drag the name of the Luther family through the mud.
Even though Bruce himself didn't believe such a lie, he practically sold his story to everyone he encountered in the city. He told them that Zach was a normal mage whom his sister had fallen for and Zach was only trying to help her out by helping her family.
During such meetings, Bruce even hinted at there being some unknown force behind Zach that he was unwilling to dispense the information about which left the mouths of these vultures hanging dry with anticipation.
…
It wasn't long before the Sosis family finally showed their true colors. It had taken so long that even Zach had started to doubt whether they had any intention of retaliation or not. But a tiger could hardly change its spots.
A visitor arrived at the Sosis family estate who was received by the Sosis family head himself. Frederick led him towards the back room in order to keep the conversation completely private.
ραпdα Йᴏνêl(сòm) He had already instructed all the servants to be away for the entire duration of this conversation. Frederick didn't think that he was being paranoid as he didn't want the news about this conversation to leak to the Luther family no matter what.
He knew that there was always a chance that Zach might have planted some spy in his household. Therefore, he was taking every single precaution.
Once Frederick was completely sure that the environment was perfectly under control and there was no chance of information leakage did he begin to openly discuss the matter with the old man who was his friend.
"I know it's been a long time but the way you are acting is scaring me. Is that man really worth all this effort? Are you sure he is that strong?" asked his old friend whom Frederick had especially invited to help him out of his predicament named Zach.
"I don't know about his true strength but it should be in the B rank. What I am truly afraid of is the force that is capable of nurturing a good seed like him. As you know B rank mage at such an age is truly a terrifying thing. Being the head of the family, it is impossible for me to remain in place after taking care of him. Therefore I thought of you. Since you are practically a nomad, you wouldn't be affected at all. Even if the force behind him wanted to look for you, they wouldn't be able to. You are perfect for this assassination job."
Frederick explained his reasons for calling his friend over to take care of Zach with a cunning look.
"So, how do you want me to do it? Should I just go and challenge him to a duel or should I take care of him in the darkness? Which do you prefer?" asked the old man whose skills seemed to be quite versatile.
"No no, don't try to challenge him out in the open. My reputation in the city is already falling rapidly and if it was heard that I used outside help to take care of the rising Luther family, the vultures would swoop in towards my family as well. There should be minimal interaction between that mage and you and there shouldn't be any mention of my family even by mistake. That will wash my hands off of the entire thing."
"As you wish, I can stay hidden and still use my spiritual animals to take care of that dark mage from the distance. That should keep both you and me safe from the revenge of the force supporting him." The old man looked quite smug as he showed off his capability to his long time friend.
For as long as Frederick could remember, this friend of his had been the same way, a show off and a smug bastard but an effective and powerful one nonetheless. He was after all a B rank Tamer.
Tamers were already quite scarce in the world considering the fact that they used exotic pets and spirit animals to fight. All their magical abilities were related to empowering their beasts to fight opponents.
Although they themselves were usually very weak, their spirit animals were a totally different story. A single Tamer was usually capable of taking down a group all on his own provided that he had sufficiently strong spirit animals in his possession.
This also meant that a Tamer had the potential to have the strength of multiple mages of the same rank.
Some lucky bastards who were able to tame a spirit animal above their rank allowed them to jump ranks to fight mages who were a rank above their own.
It was a unique specialty of the Tamers; you couldn't judge them by the cover. They could have overwhelming strength despite being classified into the same ranks as the mages.
"Do you still have that beast with you?" Frederick asked after hesitating quite a bit. It felt as if he wasn't determined enough to hear the answer to that question.
"If not then how do you think I became a B rank Tamer then? Hahahaha…" laughed the old man as if Frederick had asked a dumb question.
"What rank is it now?" Frederick asked excitedly.
"Still one rank above me."
The old man laughed with a smug look on his face that seemed to be saying, "You can flatter me all you want."
Frederick could rest assured now that he had heard his friend's answer. Since he had an A rank spirit beast in his possession, even if Zach was a B rank of the high reaches, the old man could take care of him without any doubt. At least that was what was going through the head of Frederick when he asked for the details from his friend.
"Do as discussed and you will be paid generously enough. I can assure you that you will not need to worry about wealth in this lifetime if you do this one job right." Frederick laughed excitedly as he looped in his friend in his schemes even further. He was like a roadside vendor trying to make his sale look more attractive by announcing the benefits of his product.
"It will be done just as we have discussed. In fact, I don't want to wait. Let's do it this evening. I need to go complete another job before I return." The old man acted as if the job was nothing to him and he was doing a favor to Frederick just by accepting this kind of job even though they both knew he was in it for the money.
Frederick was satisfied with the conclusion of this deal but what he didn't expect at all was that the target of their assassination attempt had heard every single detail that they had discussed from the strength of the assassin to the time that they had agreed upon for the assassination thanks to the many mechanical dragonflies that he could still operate.
…
Luther Family Mansion
Zach was focused on a holographic screen as he monitored the discussion between the guest and the head of the Sosis family. As soon as he had all the information he closed the screen and looked at Bruce who was sitting alongside him as they tried to come up with countermeasures.
If it had been an assassin like the previous one, Zach might not have bothered about him at all since he still had the automatic weapons acting as the defensive measures. But the opponent this time was a Tamer who was capable of using spirit animals to fight from a distance.
This meant that there was a high chance that the automatic weapons might not be able to target the spirit beasts. Zach had no knowledge about the physiology of these spirit beasts and wondered whether they even had a thermal signature for the automatic weapons to target or not.
Since they couldn't take the risk of spirit beasts crossing over the defensive boundary, it was decided that a preemptive strike was necessary.
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