My laughter lasted a bit longer than the laughter of the boss and his men. He didn't seem to like it. Then his look got serious, and he started massaging his knuckles and rings. Did he think that was intimidating? A fool boss indeed.

Because if he wanted to have me killed, he should've made the call already. He was hesitating. He didn't want to kill a kid. They never did--Duke Viscoti being the one exception.

"Enough," the boss said. "What makes you think I'd want to do business with you anyway?"

I could answer his question seriously. Give some long-winded explanation that relied on rationality and logic--or the semblance of either since I wasn't entirely sure how rational or logical I was personally. But with these types, the straightforward answer usually got better results.

"There's a lot of money in it. In the love potion industry, that is." I narrowed my eyes at the boss and relaxed more into my chair. I gave him a handsome, charming smile because having the youthful face of a blond-haired blue-eyed boy melted a lot of tough exteriors. "Tell me I'm wrong. Ask me my plan. Go ahead. Ask."

"What's your plan then? And what can a kid like you really do? Do you want to die that badly?"

Quite the opposite. I was very tired of dying, but this situation posed no threat to me. Only Duke Viscoti was a threat to me. The only person to have succeeded in having me killed not once but six different times. Spite surged through me.

I sat forward and wiped the youthful look off my face. "My plan is to enter the market and dominate it by destroying the competition. Except that's a lot of work, you know? You supply the brothels with love potions. I'll supply you the love potions. I'll charge you less per bottle than your current supplier, so there's not only money in it for me, but also for you. And otherwise, you'll lose a lot of it. And be dead."

He sneered and stood. He was a bigger man that I'd thought. Overwhelmingly large, with long legs and thick thighs but a disproportionately short torso. Almost like he was straight up missing one.

"I think you're the one who'll be dead after this conversation ends," he said. "I'm about ready to end it. And end you. I don't take kindly to death threats, and even less kindly to threats of theft. What you're talking about here is theft, kid."

"I'd be stealing business from you only if you don't do business with me," I pointed out. "And you can't really steal from a dead man, so that assumes I'd let you live. I won't."

He looked past me and to the two men that'd showed me into the room. "Kill him."

"Fine," I said, not moving even as the two men behind me drew their swords. "You don't believe me. That's fine."

When they lunged for me, I deflected their swords with my knives. The shock of seeing I'd snuck weapons past them sent a thrill down my spine. They were clearly experienced at fighting together and coordinated their attack from either side, but the trick with coordination is that it was easy to read.

I jumped away from them. Their swings hit air. Then I attacked, one knife through one of the men's eyes. His blood splattered across the floor and he dropped with a thud. The man left standing looked apprehensive now, which wouldn't bode well for him because it gave me time to walk over to the first man, grab his sword, and turn to him.

He reacted a second too late. My second attack took off the man's right arm. He screamed, so I sliced through his neck to quiet him. Blood everywhere, but that was why I wore black. I kicked the man onto his back and used his suit jacket to wipe the sword blade.

"So what'll be?" I asked the boss. Outside, the raven didn't flinch, which meant there was no one coming to help the boss out of this situation. Really paid off to be a nobody. "Deal or death?"

"Let me hear the deal," the boss said, suddenly serious. I could also see his hand moving underneath his desk. Maybe a panic button. Or a gun of some sort--they had some magical equivalent though it was expensive. He was buying time either way. How cute.

"I'm assuming you buy all the potions you sell the brothels around here from Roshania and Co. I will beat their price so buy from me instead."

"And who are you?"

The raven tapped at the window. I hurtled over the boss's desk and put the sword to his throat. "You don't need back up if you take the deal. Name's Trygve Teigen. My little brother calls me Tryg."

He nodded. "You've got a deal. I'm not a fool."

"Good. I hate fools. Now tell me about Roshania and Co." I didn't remove the sword.

To the man's credit, he still wasn't even sweating. "About two years ago, Roshania and Co took over all the small potion shops we were getting our stock from for the fifteen years before that. Monopolized the market in just a few months. Then they raised the price. We tried to negotiate many times, but they're not interested and unless we employed a bunch of potion makers with a hefty investment I don't want to make, we're stuck. They also seem protected by the authorities."

So the Triam Drana didn't have the city in their pockets at all. Probably not even more than a handful of banks. Roshania and Co were the big boys here.

"How much do you pay per bottle?" I asked.

"A hundred gold per bottle. Not bad since a bottle will service about a hundred people. But at a brothel, it goes fast. Real fast." He put a fingertip to the blade and pushed.

I relented, pulling it away from his throat. The ingredients hadn't cost even 1 gold altogether. What a great scam. I rounded his desk and took the scabbard from the second mans belt and sheathed the sword. A fine blade. I decided I'd keep it.

Looking back to the boss, I said, "I'll send over five bottles tomorrow for you to test out free of charge. You'll find my potions just as good as theirs. I'll charge you 50 gold. I told you it'd be better to take my deal."

"I don't know how you'll do it," the boss said, "but if you do, you have a deal. Call me Arne." He took off a ring on his finger and set it on his desk. "Wear that and the Triam Drana will leave you alone."

[Notice]

Congratulations! You have completed your Quest [Deal with the Triam Drana]. You have been rewarded a Class change to [Assassin]. Would you like to accept?

Why another Class change? Why did I need to change my class? In the past, it'd changed to Soldier when I enlisted, to Royal Guard once I joined, to Royal Assassin when I was one after that. None of it had done me any good, so I declined again.

"Appreciated, Arne." I pocketed the ring. "I'll have my messenger wear it. Looking forward to doing business with you."

[System Error] A System Error has occurred. Please wait for the System to reconfigure... This may take a moment.

Well, that was a first. What did a System Error even mean? This life had been a lot of firsts with the System so far. My Soul System, aggressive as ever, acted almost like it had as few shits to give as I did at this point. Systems were supposed to be used, and here I was finding no use for mine.

Maybe I'd broken it. That was a nice thought.

I turned my back to Arne, waving over my shoulder with no fear that he'd even dare to retaliate. He had to realize this was too good a deal for him to lose now.

I left the way I came in, cashed out, and headed to Rose's apartment. When I knocked, she didn't answer, so I picked the lock myself. She'd already finished the potions and bottled them, so I took them and headed back to my apartment.