Jared and his companions were moving to an abandoned mansion located near the Alway Ducal Family Villa.
Agitated from his unexpected reunion with Luzer, Jared immediately turned to Rosa and Pfeil and roared, “Explain yourselves!”
“Calm down, Jared Murphy. We will explain everything.”
“Of course you have to explain! Luzer is the benefactor I’ve been searching for! Also, don’t tell Olivier and the others about this. I don’t want them involved!”
“Jared… is that really okay?”
In response to Pfeil’s question, Jared raised his voice. “Of course it is! Olivier and the others still have unresolved issues. I can’t possibly involve them in something like this, something I can’t even understand myself! I don’t want them to worry unnecessarily.”
It was undesirable to have so many problems arising one after another while Cornelia Alway had yet to be apprehended. He had already caused them considerable worry during his recent battle with Barnabas Kaif.
Since he had told Olivier about Luzer, he didn’t want her to know that Luzer was hostile to Pfeil and the others. He didn’t want to cause her any more worry. While not telling her might pose a risk, there was also the possibility that telling her would put her in danger. Therefore, even if it seemed arrogant, he wanted Olivier and the others to remain ignorant of things they didn’t need to know.
“However…”
As Pfeil hesitated, Jared bowed his head deeply.
“Please.”
“…Understood. I promise I won’t say anything. However, if you decide it’s necessary to tell them, you must tell them yourself. Alright?”
“Understood.”
“Rosa, you mustn’t tell them either.”
“I don’t bother talking to that guy’s fiancé about trivial matters.”
Thanks to Pfeil and Rosa’s promise not to speak of the Luzer incident, Jared managed to regain some composure. However, he was still shaken. He was simply bewildered by a situation he couldn’t comprehend.
“Setting aside the man from earlier, to explain the current situation – we need to talk about Waalthe.”
“Is it alright to tell an outsider like me that?”
He wouldn’t be able to accept it if they refused to speak, but he hadn’t expected to hear information about the continent’s foremost assassination organization from someone considered its successor.
“It’s a bit late for that, considering you’ve been living with Pfeil. Besides, strictly speaking, you’re not an outsider.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’ll understand that later, so let’s leave it for now.”
While Rosa’s remark piqued his curiosity, understanding the situation concerning Luzer and the others was the priority.
“I’ll explain briefly. Waalthe was made into an assassination organization not by Wahash, but by the great-grandfather of a man named Dolf Ein.”
Dolf Ein. The man Luzer served, and the one who betrayed Waalthe.
“I’ve heard his great-grandfather, Brol Ein, was a capable man. My father, Wahash, was engrossed in training and gathering excellent fighters at the time, but he wasn’t adept at creating and managing an organization. It was then that he entrusted the management to Brol, who had been a comrade for a long time.”
In other words, Waalthe was not originally an assassination organization. Although he didn’t know how long ago this was, the history of the continent’s foremost assassination organization was apparently not very old.
“The Ein family had been loyal retainers even before Wahash formed the organization. My father trusted the Ein family and valued them as advisors, keeping them by his side for generations. Waalthe at the time was akin to a mercenary group. Managing an organization requires funds, and more funds are always better for training personnel. It was thought that hiring mercenaries was a good way to kill two birds with one stone since they could fight, but I’ve heard it wasn’t so in reality.”
“It must have been over a century ago, but mercenaries never make good money, no matter the era.”
It would be a different story in a major war, but mercenaries have always been unpopular. Tracing history back hundreds of years, there were rare instances like a mercenary king who rose to rule a kingdom, but such figures were exceptions. Especially in earlier times, when magic was more developed. Few people would favor a group of ragtag mercenaries, essentially failed magicians or those who could only swing a weapon. While he didn’t intend to dismiss Waalthe as a group of brutes, society would likely have viewed them that way if they called themselves mercenaries.
“At the time, the demand for mercenaries was not high, and even in times of war, magicians were preferred.”
“I suppose so.”
“Monster extermination in villages was handled by the kingdom or adventurers, so it was troublesome to specifically request mercenaries. Gradually, Waalthe began to face financial difficulties.”
It was understandable. Wars required soldiers, and mercenaries could be gathered in large numbers, but it was said that one powerful magician could accomplish the work of over a dozen mercenaries. In actual battlefield combat, magicians were far superior as a fighting force. Not only in wars but also in monster subjugation, hiring a few magicians, even at a higher cost, was more economical than hiring dozens of mercenaries. Magicians were valued in every era.
“Of course, they had supporters, so they never truly suffered from lack of food, but Wahash was dissatisfied with the lack of battles. No matter how much training one accumulated, it couldn’t compare to the experience gained in actual combat. It was then that Brol Ein, of the Ein family at the time, brought them an assassination request, marking the beginning of Waalthe as an assassination organization.”
The first request for Waalthe was the assassination of a villain who could not be brought to justice by any. Wahash himself, the leader of the organization, carried out this request and completed it. After that, requests began to pour in, one after another. It wasn’t long before the mercenary group transformed into an assassination organization.
“What my father Wahash desired was battle and training. It didn’t matter to him whether the organization was mercenaries or assassins.”
Jared was also curious as to why Wahash was so intent on training fighters, but he continued listening to Rosa’s explanation without interruption.
“Consequently, the organization operated smoothly. Personnel increased, and Wahash was satisfied. Although ultimately an assassination organization, their targets were power-holders who threatened the populace, or corrupt nobles and royalty. Targeting key figures meant fighting their guards. The more powerful the target, the more battles against skilled individuals they faced, and they were able to develop capable personnel.”
“To be frank, I find it hard to believe you, considering you targeted Hannelore.”
“I understand. However, though we were an assassination organization, Waalthe was not inherently evil. The change occurred when Dolf Ein took over.”
