"Come now, my friend," Aldric said cheerfully, his tone as warm and persuasive as an old companion's. He pulled up a chair beside the shadow assassin and continued with a friendly smile.
"Once you're gone—say, a month or two from now, who's really going to bother tracking down a witcher just because of a former shadow assassin? There are no eternal enemies in this world, only eternal interests. Before long, Antoine's treasure vault will be refilled again—you know as well as I do how quickly this city gathers wealth."
While he spoke, Aldric's hand moved subtly behind the assassin's back, tracing a complex sigil in the air—the Axii Sign. In truth, he had been preparing it since the very start of their conversation. The Axii Sign consisted of three intricate rune gestures, woven together to affect the target's mind.
An experienced witcher could cast it with a single hand movement, effortlessly charming or pacifying his target. But Aldric was still a novice. He needed to build up emotional groundwork first—shaping the target's mood, carefully drawing each of the three hand seals, and most importantly, maintaining steady eye contact throughout.
At last, the sign was complete. The flow of mental energy settled into the assassin's thoughts like a whisper. The effect was subtle but effective.
Colin, blinked slowly. As he mulled over the apprentice's words, they began to sound more and more reasonable. Indeed, after thinking about it, he was just a small fry now, hardly worth chasing down. Bitter as it was to admit, this outcome might actually be the best he could hope for.
"Fine," he finally muttered. "I'll tell you the password to the spatial pouch now. But once you've done your business, you must put me on a ship immediately! And… you'd better find me a skilled doctor to look after my wounds."
"Of course," Aldric replied soothingly. "You'll have an excellent doctor attending to you. After all, I'm about to become a man as wealthy as Antoine himself—how could I possibly be stingy with my allies?"
By now, Aldric was certain—the Axii Sign had taken full effect. The assassin wouldn't recover his clarity of mind anytime soon.
He couldn't simply use Axii to directly force the man into revealing the password that would trigger the target's mental defenses instantly. So Aldric had adopted a roundabout approach. First, he implanted the idea that Colin's "safe window" was rapidly closing. Then, he subtly inflated his own image—an influential, soon-to-be-rich partner. Finally, he planted the notion that the assassin himself was an insignificant pawn, no longer important in the grand scheme of things.
Step by step, he led the assassin straight into his psychological snare.
Of course, had Colin not been gravely wounded, Aldric would never have succeeded in using a freshly learned Axii Sign to sway a transcendent. Nor would it have worked if he hadn't first saved Colin's life through modern medical techniques—softening his defenses and lowering his guard.
Regardless, Aldric's plan had worked beautifully.
But just as the assassin was about to utter the long-awaited password, something changed.
"You make a lot of sense," Colin said suddenly, a spark of calculation flickering in his eyes. After thinking quietly for a moment, he smiled slyly. "I want in. I want thirty percent of the shares in your shipping venture. I'm willing to invest half the money from the treasury. Unless you agree, I won't tell you the password to the spatial pouch."
Aldric blinked. Sometimes, it seemed, being too persuasive could backfire spectacularly.
Suppressing a laugh, he agreed to the terms. The two began another round of negotiation, eventually settling on an annual dividend payout. Colin, it seemed, was quite confident he'd live long enough and healthy enough—to collect his share.
Finally, after much back-and-forth, Aldric got what he wanted: the all-important password. For fairness' sake and to prevent any potential disputes he immediately sent a message to Vittoria, asking her to return at once to witness the "treasure-opening ceremony."
As expected, Vittoria burst into the dwarf's workshop like a storm the moment she received his message. Ignoring the curious looks from the dwarves, she pushed straight into Aldric's room.
"So, that salted fish finally cracked, huh? As expected of our dear commissar," she quipped the moment she entered, her tone teasing and unrestrained.
Aldric cleared his throat. "Ahem. The situation's changed a little. We're… business partners now." He gestured at the shadow assassin lying on the table, his eyes rolled back, barely conscious.
Vittoria's large bronze-colored eyes widened, then she rolled them dramatically. "What's that supposed to mean? He's one of us now?"
"There's a fully loaded ship in the harbor," Aldric explained. "I plan to buy it. The captain I rescued earlier intends to join me as well. When we eventually establish a warband, we'll need a stable source of income. So, I figured we could use part of Antoine's treasure to kickstart the operation."
Vittoria crossed her arms, thinking for a moment. "Hmm. If you think the deal's worth it, I won't object. But what's the deal with that half dead assassin? He wants in too?"
"Uh, yes," Aldric admitted awkwardly. "He insisted on joining. Said he wants a share of the business." He looked at Colin, still groggy, and forced a smile. "Why don't you introduce yourself properly? Since we're all on the same boat now, we can't keep calling you 'the shadow assassin,' can we?"
At the same time, Aldric discreetly sent Vittoria a private message:
"Keep an eye on him for now. See if he's still useful. But if things change, if the lord's men come sniffing around, or if anything unexpected happens kill him."
In general, Aldric preferred that everything proceed smoothly. If it did, he intended to let the assassin leave with a tidy pension. Aldric didn't divide people by good or evil—he divided them into the smart and the stupid.
And Colin was definitely one of the smart ones. He never sought unnecessary grudges, never wasted words or effort unless it served his interests.
Smart people were always rare, no matter where you went. Aldric wanted to see just how much more he could squeeze out of this one. And besides his personal preference, he also had to consider Vittoria's stance. As a disciplined soldier, she was used to following orders—but that obedience depended on their interests remaining aligned.
"My name's Colin," the former assassin said simply. "Ex–shadow assassin."
Whether that was his real name or not, it didn't matter. That was the name he would go by from now on.
Deep down, Colin would never place his life in someone else's hands out of trust or mercy. He wasn't sure what madness had made him agree to the witcher apprentice's terms earlier—but now, a new path lay before him. One that aligned their interests perfectly.
"I know the New World and the Old World's black markets," Colin continued, his tone regaining confidence. "I can find trade routes others can't. I can gather intel on competitors or eliminate them outright. I'm serious about joining you."
He wanted to prove, through usefulness, that keeping him alive was more profitable than killing him.
What he didn't realize, however, was that deep within his mind, the thought of dying with the spatial bag's secret had already vanished—wiped away completely by the lingering influence of the Axii Sign.
(End of Chapter)