The Price of Greed

“Is the intelligence from your Golden Cross Society truly reliable?” the Finance Minister asked, his face a livid shade of purple, as he addressed a black-clad figure with an icy gaze.

“Last year, you embezzled a total of four hundred seventy-eight million, three hundred twenty thousand gold coins,” the black-clad figure replied, her voice devoid of warmth.

“This…” The Finance Minister stammered, his words trailing off.

“You spent eighty million gold coins constructing your mansion, seventy-two million on bribes, and three million seven hundred eighty thousand to keep three mistresses…” The black-clad figure recited the Finance Minister’s transgressions in a cold, dispassionate tone.

“Stop, stop, don’t say another word!” The Finance Minister immediately tried to cover the figure’s mouth with his sweaty, corpulent hand.

The black-clad figure promptly swatted his hand away.

“This is your last chance. Are you buying the information or not?” It was evident that the black-clad figure was growing visibly impatient.

The Finance Minister hesitated for a long moment, then finally steeled his resolve.

“I’ll buy it!”

He produced a large, crimson crystal, worth one hundred million gold coins, and handed it to the cloaked figure.

“An assassin will come for you tonight.”

“What?” The Finance Minister froze, utterly dumbfounded.

“Here’s a free piece of advice: you still have time to prepare for your demise.” The black-clad figure cast him a glance that saw him as already dead, then vanished into the labyrinthine streets.

“Prepare for my demise? Heh, hahahahaha…” The Finance Minister burst into maniacal laughter.

Kill him? He had an abundance of money; who could possibly kill him? He believed himself to be one of the most difficult people in the world to kill, precisely because he was one of the wealthiest.

He first visited the Adventurers’ Guild. Although most adventurers were unwilling to work for such a corrupt official, the exorbitant price eventually swayed one Mithril-rank adventurer and two Platinum-rank adventurers to protect him.

Subsequently, he went to the various mercenary guilds, spending a fortune to hire the Crimson Scorpions mercenary group—a force once capable of fighting the Imperial Magic Corps to a one-to-one casualty ratio.

“This is merely a deposit. As long as I survive tonight, there will be even more generous rewards awaiting you,” the Finance Minister declared to a room full of fierce-looking, burly men.

The warriors cheered loudly, as if they were about to attend a festive party.

The Finance Minister commanded them not to underestimate the enemy, as his very life hung in the balance.

“Don’t worry. Not just one assassin—even if a high-ranking demon were to appear, we could ensure your safe retreat.”

The mercenaries pushed the Finance Minister’s furniture into the mansion’s corridors, creating a series of barricades and sealed-off spaces. At this point, the mansion resembled a fortified trench more than a residence.

The mercenary group surrounded the mansion in three concentric layers. The Finance Minister’s family, along with their butler, had already departed the estate.

Only he and the three high-ranking adventurers remained, hiding in the basement.

The basement was his final stronghold, and he was confident that no one knew about the secret passage within his home. Not a soul, not even his own family. After all, he had embezzled so much money; he needed a contingency plan.

As night deepened, a black-clad figure with beautiful, ruby-like crimson eyes slowly approached the mansion.

At that moment, a man in a butler’s uniform blocked the black-clad figure’s path. Near a tree beside the butler lay three corpses—the Finance Minister’s family.

The butler said nothing, merely producing a golden crucifix-shaped dagger pendant and showing it to the black-clad figure. After their identities were confirmed, he pulled out a detailed map of the Finance Minister’s mansion, clearly marking the mercenary defense positions with red dots.

Most terrifyingly, he had even pinpointed the location of the basement, which the Finance Minister believed only he knew about.

Taking the map, the black-clad figure nodded. When she looked up again, the butler had already vanished into the night.

The mercenary commander was currently playing a harmonica. For him, assassins merely created opportunities to earn easy money. He even wondered if he should grant the assassin a quick death once they were captured.

After a patrol, the commander saw his squad members still gathered, playing cards.

“Hey, idiots, stop messing around and pay attention!” he barked, though his own tone was perhaps the least serious of all.

However, the card-playing squad members ignored him.

“Damn it, I’m talking to you!” The commander felt a surge of irritation. How dare a mere squad member ignore him? He stepped forward and slapped the man forcefully.

Struck by the blow, the squad member toppled over.

It was then that the commander saw it clearly: though the man’s expression still held a playful smirk, he had stopped breathing. He glanced at the other squad members; they, too, had become motionless statues.

They had not realized they were dead until their very last moment.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the commander instantly tried to scream. Yet, he found he couldn’t make a sound.

‘Oh, so I’m dead too.’ The commander immediately understood why he couldn’t speak.

He mustered his last reserves of strength and slammed his sword onto the ground, hoping to signal that something was amiss.

Then, he saw the black-clad figure’s crimson eyes, like those of a monster ravenously devouring humans. But he was no longer afraid, for he had already become a cold corpse.

Sounds from outside the basement door drifted in. The adventurers didn’t even dare to breathe, and the Finance Minister was so terrified he curled into a ball in the corner, resembling a fleshy sphere.

They understood that the Crimson Scorpions mercenary group was finished.

Clearly, this assassin far exceeded anything they could have imagined. What kind of entity could annihilate the Crimson Scorpions?

Dragons? Vampires? High-ranking demons? They piled countless possibilities together. If it were truly one of those…

The adventurers dared not continue their thoughts. While their adventurer ranks were considered top-tier combat power in the human world, it didn’t mean they were at the pinnacle of this world.

‘This time, we were truly blinded by money. Damnation.’

Footsteps approached the basement door, one by one. Though they held their breath, their heartbeats quickened with each passing second.

Then, the sounds began to recede.

‘Phew… they didn’t find us. It seems we’re safe.’

However, just as they let out a collective sigh of relief, the basement ceiling collapsed with a thunderous roar. Three flame-shaped throwing knives flew simultaneously towards the three adventurers.

The two Platinum-rank adventurers had no time to react before the knives pierced their hearts, sending them crashing to the ground.

Even surviving didn’t mean the Mithril-rank adventurer could contend with the assassin. When a dagger flew towards his heart, he reacted a mere zero-point-zero-three seconds faster, causing the blade to embed itself less than two millimeters from his heart.

‘Tsk, did I miss?’

The black-clad figure clicked her tongue.

‘No matter. No one will survive tonight anyway.’

The next moment, the Mithril-rank adventurer didn’t even have a chance to use his renowned skill, ‘Flame Slash,’ before his body, like those of the Platinum-rank adventurers, softly slumped to the ground.

The entire process took less than five seconds. By the way, the price for a Mithril-rank adventurer was five times that of a Platinum-rank.

Now, only the utterly defenseless Finance Minister remained.

The assassin regarded the Finance Minister with a mocking gaze.

“How much money do you want? I can give you everything. Please, spare my life,” the Finance Minister suddenly pleaded, dropping to his knees.

“Forty silver coins,” the assassin’s voice was remarkably pleasant, yet utterly devoid of emotion. Clearly, the assassin was a young woman.

“That’s all?” The Finance Minister shook his head, as if uneasy about such a paltry sum buying his life. “I’ll give you four hundred million gold coins, as long as you don’t kill me.”

“You seem to have misunderstood something. Forty silver coins is the labor fee for burying your corpse.”

“What…”

The Finance Minister wanted to say more, but as he looked pitifully at the assassin and saw her resolute eyes, he finally realized that he couldn’t escape death today. Suddenly, he burst into tears, weeping like a two-hundred-pound child. After crying for a long time, he meekly asked, “Um, could you… could you make my death less painful? I… I’m afraid of pain. You won’t make it too painful, will you?”

The usually aloof black-clad figure smiled, a laugh as melodious as silver bells, like a sound from paradise. She asked playfully, “What do you think?”

In that moment, the Finance Minister felt as if he saw heaven.

The next day, Villager A said to Villager B, “Did you hear? The Finance Minister died yesterday.”

“I heard, I heard! They say he died a particularly gruesome death, stabbed over a hundred times, like a beehive.”

“Serves him right.”