NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 20: Sabre
"Isn't that the Dragonblood Warrior from the Baruch Family?" A man said, grabbing everyone's attention before Ace could respond.
Turning, they noticed Lina and Wharton leading the rest of their entourage to the table where the priests were sitting.
After they finished paying, the Baruchs were about to find somewhere to wait patiently when they noticed Ace and his group.
The looks that they received were anything but pleasant, but Ace merely smiled happily and waved as if he was greeting an old friend. The only thing Ace was slightly surprised about was how Wharton's arm seemed completely fine. However, with the Baruch family's resources, paying someone to heal his formerly broken arm would likely be as easy as clicking a finger.
The thoroughly enraged Wharton was about to dash straight at Ace when the sound of a warm and gentle voice stopped him in his tracks.
"The assessment ceremony is about to commence. All of the recruiters for the various major magus and warrior academies are inside, waiting. Everyone here for the test, follow me into the main hall." It was unclear when, but a white-robed official had appeared between the now-opened cathedral doors.
The odd thing was that despite the voice sounding so gentle, everyone, including the people at the back, heard it as if he was standing right in front of them.
'That aura…
He must be a mage as well. Much stronger than that assassin from before, though.' Ace thought as he used his haki to observe him.
Under the guidance of the church official, each of the youngsters and their families in the square were led into the cathedral's main hall.
The floor of the great hall was paved with marble, and hanging above was a massive crystal chandelier. It could easily fit the hundreds of people who entered yet still feel spacious.
At the very front of the hall was a line of chairs. Seated on those chairs were representatives and recruiters of several of the great magus and warrior academies throughout the continent. Directly in the middle of the great hall was the testing location.
The white-robed church official smiled and said in a clear voice, "The testing location is right here in the centre. All testees, please get in line. Family and friends, please step to one side. Other than the applicants, no one else can enter the circle in the centre."
"Kil, you go ahead. I'll catch up. There's something I need to check." Ace said to Killian before walking off in the opposite direction
"Killian, don't worry about Ace; I'm sure he knows what he's doing. Just focus on the test for now." Lance said, urging Killian to take his place in the queue.
Ace walked up to a young silver-haired girl his age. The girl glanced coldly at him before ignoring him and making her way to the back of the queue.
"What do you want?" She asked icily, noticing she was still being followed.
"Who hired you to kill us?" Ace asked with a smile on his face.
The question alone was enough to shock her but seeing the smile on his face made her tremble uncontrollably. Although it looked warm to others who saw it, as soon as she saw it, she felt as if she'd been thrown headfirst into a river of ice.
"As a trained assassin, you're probably unable to come right out and say who your employers are, so I'll guess, and you tell me if I'm right or wrong.
Hmm, was it the Holy Emperor?" Ace asked happily.
When she heard that, the girl scrunched her eyebrows as if to ask why one of the most powerful men alive would want him dead.
"No? You're right; why would the Holy Emperor want me dead? How about…
Lina Baruch?" Ace asked with a playful smirk hanging on his lips.
Hearing Ace's next guess, the little girl's face turned utterly indifferent, almost as if she hadn't heard his question.
"Ooh, so it really was that old wench! Thanks for the information." Ace said, still smiling as calmly as ever.
"I didn't…"
"Sometimes a lack of response is more informative than a formal answer." Ace explained, pre-empting the silver-haired girl's inevitable denial. "One more question. Will your organisation try again after failing last time?"
Ace sighed at the girl's lack of response. "Ooh, come on, aren't we friends now? You tried to kill us; I'm allowing you to live now…
See friends!"
Hearing Ace's veiled threat, the young girl wanted to respond that he wouldn't dare kill her here, but when she turned to look at his face, she realised his smile had long since vanished. Staring into his eyes, she felt like she was staring into an abyss. She couldn't help but wonder who was the killer of the two of them.
Whilst Ace wasn't considered a ruthless killer in his last life, as a powerful pirate belonging to what could be regarded as the strongest crew in the world at the time, he'd killed his fair share of opponents. His killing intent was far superior to a little girl, even if she was from an organisation of killers.
'He wouldn't…
There's no way…
We're in public…
There's no way he'd kill me here!' She tried her best to convince herself he was just bluffing, but the more she studied his expression, the more she doubted herself.
Taking a deep breath to calm her emotions, the young assassin finally answered. "The client lied to us. They told us you were only a rank one warrior, and that man with you was a rank three warrior. Due to their negligence, we lost three of our people.
Lina Baruch has officially been blacklisted from Saber, meaning we won't take requests from her from here on out."
"Saber, huh? Pretty scary sounding name!" Ace said as his cheery smile returned.
Realising she messed up when giving her organisation's name, she wanted to slap herself for making such a simple mistake, but there was nothing she could do at this point. Instead, she decided to just ignore the boy beside her, hoping he wouldn't ask any more questions, but she was destined to be disappointed.
"So…
How does the testing work?" Ace asked as he watched the first child go up.