The Martial Unity

"Damn it!" A curse echoed through the room.

Had Feron Lowminer known the Hier girl was as slippery as she was, he would have been much more careful than he already was. But he didn't, and here he was.

He had a bad feeling in his gut when he heard that Bella Hier was not at her personal home, and that she had hastily departed once she had learnt of her father's death. It was odd behaviour, what kind of daughter hastily ran away from home without announcing her destination after learning of her father's death?

Why wasn't there a period of mourning? Rather than grief, her behavior indicated fear.

All this strongly suggested that she had already figured out her predicament, and had taken pre-emptive measures to protect herself.

And she had surpassed his expectations, she managed to escape immediate capture and had remained hidden well enough and long enough to hire a Martial Apprentice from the Martial Union, remarkably raising the difficulty of her capture.

Martial Apprentices could not be defeated by ordinary men, not without a huge numeric advantage, and even then, it would require truly remarkable and advantageous circumstances to succeed.

"Only Martial Artists can defeat Martial Artists..." Feron grunted, before glancing at a dark figure at the corner of the room. "Isn't that right, Azazel?"

The shadowy figure nodded mildly, not saying a word.

"Remain on standby, if and when the girl slips up, I expect you to finish the job." Feron coldly stated. "Kill her and the pesky Martial Apprentice."

* * * * * * *

knew he was dealing with powerful third parties with whom he had a strong conflict of interest. He was not going to take any chances, a single blunder may very well

pricked as he heard some noises come from

he was about to open the bathroom, when he

realized, as he heard her muffled

He wasn't sure what to do, he wasn't close to her, he didn't know her whatsoever, he was here to complete a job and would leave once

he had never consoled anyone before, on anything, especially a teenager.

a big fuss as he was about to open the door, making a lot of noise with something or the other, giving her enough of a forewarning that he was

pretending as if he knew nothing. She nodded with a steeled expression;

pulled herself

core of the planning to her, if her emotional state was too unreliable, he might decide to take matters into his

next district, we'll have to change our clothes once again, just to be safe." She

nodded. "The next district is district fourteen,

is a disproportionately commercial compared to other outer districts of Hajin, there's a huge influx and outflux of traders, merchants, suppliers, transporters and consumers. The two of us won't stand out in anyway, and as long as we keep our heads low, the

"You mentioned your connection to the director of a small-scale goods

district twenty-three, a district in the outermost layer of the town of

you trust him?"

my entire life, my father and him went

she thought he was