"See! I still have all the information that I collected about the experiments run by the Azure Lion Clan. The White Dragon's teeth was just a mistake; a miscalculation on my part. I promise that I'll make up for it. My men are already tracking the person who stole it down as we speak."

ZAP!

At that moment, Endre suddenly froze. His eyes trembled, looking at the figure in front of him, who simply sighed in response. "It's such a shame. I thought you'd be different from the rest. Oh well.."

Slash!

A slicing sound resonated out as Endre's head was separated from his body, the terror he felt still evident in his eyes. "I guess that's why you don't trust trash to do your job for you!"

Thud!

Endre's head dropped to the floor, and his lifeless body slouched down onto the table as blood began to rapidly pour out from the cut open neck, covering the entire tabletop.

The man clicked his tongue with disgust and pulled out a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped off the few droplets of blood that had splashed onto his cheeks, speaking with a dissatisfied tone, "Every single time I assign trash to missions, this happens…." After he finished wiping his face, he pulled back the handkerchief and looked at the crimson coloured blood smear on the white cloth, and continued. "I really should stop hoping for a miracle."

He let out a sigh as he massaged his temple, and after a brief period of silence, he whispered softly, "Leif…"

Whoosh!

All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind began to blow, and a middle aged man appeared in front of him, who was kneeling on one leg with his head lowered.

"Master Darius," The middle aged man, Leif, spoke as he raised his head, looking at the man in front of him with great respect. "May I ask, for what reason did you summon me?"

"Leif, do you know anything about the people whom Endre entrusted the mission to retrieve the White Dragon's tooth to?" The man, whose name was Darius, asked Leif as he stood up from his seat and walked towards the entrance of the restaurant, forcing Leif to follow him close behind.

 "It appears that he has a few contractors under him whom he has given the mission to. A pair of cultivators who used to be contractors for Azure Lion Clan a few years ago." Leif bowed his head as he informed his master Darius about his findings. Darius nodded his head, and then spoke softly, "And? Do you know where those two contractors currently are? Do you have their locations?"

Leif shook his head as he replied, "I'm afraid not, master. It appears that the two contractors were under the orders of Endre to find and retrieve the White Dragon's teeth, only after which they were supposed to meet up. But fortunately, my men were able to figure out when and where the meet up was supposed to be when they rummaged through the room in which Endre was staying in today."

"Oh? That's great news," Darius turned his gaze towards Leif and spoke with a smile on his face. "And where are they supposed to meet?"

"Gryfino forest," Leif answered truthfully. "One week from now."

"That's perfect," Darius nodded his head, satisfied with Leif's answer and he rubbed his chin as he began thinking. "Prepare an ambush at the meeting place. Wait for the contractors to appear at the specified location and then once you make sure that they have retrieved the object, take them out."

"And what if they haven't been successful at their attempt at retrieving the object, master?" Leif asked as he glanced at his master's face.

"Well if that's the case, then interrogate them and figure out what they have figured out so far. And afterwards, you can simply terminate them," Darius looked at Leif and said with a sinister smile. "I shouldn't have entrusted this mission to the trash. I do not need him anymore, nor do I need his contractors. Make sure you get rid of them."

"Understood, master!" Leif nodded his head, and within milliseconds, disappeared from his master's view, leaving Darius alone at the entrance of the restaurant.

"Hmph! Those Azure Lion Clan elders!" Darius let out a dissatisfied grunt as he walked out of the restaurant. "To think they were planning all of this in secret. I can't believe I actually believed the farce that they put on to fool everybody. I guess they were simply hiding their true intentions all this time."

"But you should've been more careful Azure Lion Clan!" He then looked at the sky, and with an evil smile plastered across his handsome face, he muttered softly, "Because a secret is only a secret if it stays at the hands of those loyal to you!"

*******************

The Azure Lion Clan Mansion, Soderberg city.

"Just a little more… just a little more…."

From one of the Garderobes inside the mansion came a small whimper, as a short and slim figure emerged from one of the holes, gasping for air as soon as he exited the hole.

"Gah! Finally! I'm free!" The figure whispered softly with glee in the middle of him trying to catch his breath, and raised his balled fists up in the air as if to signal victory.

This person was, of course, Gaston the contractor, who had just climbed through a literal sh*thole to get to the inside of the Azure Lion Clan Mansion.

"Hah… I am never doing that again in my life!" Exhausted and scarred by what he just went through, Gaston turned back and looked at the hole that he emerged from, and he couldn't help but shudder.

This was easily the most traumatizing incident that he had ever gone through, and he wanted to block this out from his memory at whatever cost. 

"Calm down, my heart..." He muttered to himself as he tightly clenched his c.h.e.s.t, and he let out a sigh. He then turned his gaze towards the doorway and cleared his mind. "I need to focus on finding out whether or not the person who stole the White Dragon's teeth also entered the Azure Lion Clan."

He then let out a few breaths, and he stealthily stepped out of the restroom, looking around to find the building where Elizabeth's room was situated.

"If I remember correctly, it was building number twenty three, was it not…" Gaston looked around, trying to find building number twenty three.

 From what it seemed like, Gaston already knew about Elizabeth's room and building, meaning he had gathered information about the young girl. 

His eyes wandered the surroundings until it landed on a building that was about a hundred metres from where he was currently standing, and his eyes widened.

Bingo! Number twenty three!

"Found you!" He muttered softly as he walked towards the building, stealthily avoiding the guards who were patrolling the surrounding area and knelt right behind one of the windows of the building.

Clack!

Gaston looked around to make sure no one was watching him and slowly pulled up the window without making any noise, jumped inside the building through the window and closed it from the inside.

He then headed toward the stairs, careful to keep out of the sight lines from the nearest windows.

Within seconds, he climbed up the stairs and arrived at the third floor, before making his way towards Elizabeth's room.

"I sure hope that he did in fact enter Elizabeth's room. Otherwise, I'd have gone through all that sh*t for nothing!" As he stood in front of Elizabeth Carter's door, Gaston muttered to himself as he lowered his hand into his pockets, and took out a small golden key!

He then inserted the key into the keyhole of the door and turned the doorknob, opening it without any difficulty at all.

Clang!

The door swung open and Gaston entered the room, silently scanning the interior of the room as he studied the surroundings. 

All of a sudden, he closed his eyes and began inhaling. His facial expression began to change as the various odours from the room entered into his nostrils. 

BAM!

Suddenly, his eyes opened with surprise visible in them. He had noticed something!

He then turned his head towards the cupboard, which had a portrait of a girl, most likely that of Elizabeth's, on it, and he slowly began walking towards it.

"Well, well, well… Look what we have here!" He stood in front of the cupboard and grabbed the portrait with his hands, and pulled it closer to his face as he began inhaling once again.

As the air surrounding the portrait entered into his nostrils, Gaston could identify various types of odour that were present on this picture. There was odour from the marketplace in Soderberg, body odour of Elizabeth herself, as well as someone else's…. Someone who's odour was fairly recent.

A devious smile appeared on Gaston's face as he muttered to himself, "Found you!"