Eli showed his hand right away. Considering the Duchess's meticulousness — or rather, Edmond's attempt to appease her with a flawless plan — the hush money to these intelligence services was a predictable move.
But of course, knowing the story beforehand, Eli expected a third party to broker a deal with Black Rose Florentine's branch.
Gillian shifted in his seat, his index finger tapping on wood.
"That's a rather derogatory word, Miss Elise. There's no such thing as being paid to stay quiet. We call it non-disclosure, and our rates are quite hefty."
'Damn… good comeback.'
Poor Eli… He still had so much more to learn about negotiations. However, it would take much more for him to be discouraged. Even if one hand failed to capture, he would just use another, and another. Information was the one aspect he did not lack.
"Non-disclosure, huh… I can match that and give you some more to play with."
Gillian snorted, leaning heavily into his chair, and crossed his arms tight.
"I apologize, but we doubt House Lagranche has the means to afford this. We deal strictly in upfront payments… especially when the client's reliability is in question."
"Why, of course," Eli willingly admitted.
Black Rose investigated every notable House before any contact was established, in hopes they would gain an upper hand in these price negotiations, so there was no advantage of hiding the House's issues.
Eli wasn't bothered; in fact, he'd predicted every bit of it. He just needed to follow the script.
"We cannot pay however much they paid you. That's a fact I'm unable to deny. But what I do have is information as payment."
Gillian tilted his head in amusement.
"Information? For us? Did you forget where we are, Miss Elise?"
Eli shook his head.
"Of course not. I'm confident this information is something Black Rose would die for."
Gillian clenched his fist on the table.
"If you don't have the means to pay, it's best you don't joke about such matters and leave this—"
"The Master of Black Rose."
Gillian froze at those five words. His eyes twitched uncontrollably than ever, the scar across the left eye pulsed.
"The whereabouts of Black Rose's Master. That's my commission fee."
As soon as he finished his sentence, the shadows moved.
Two, three — no, four points of steel slid out of the shadows along the walls. One from behind the ledger shelves, one from the panel beside the second door, and two from the corners behind Gillian. Every single one of them aimed for Eli's throat.
'Hm—'
Eli didn't even finish the thought.
Juli was already moving.
One step, and she was between him and the first blade. The flat of her sword caught it mid-thrust and turned it aside with a clean ring. Before the sound even reached their ears, she had already pivoted on her heel and met the second. Her wrist rolled as she turned, throwing the incoming blade wide into the wall behind her with an upward slash.
The third came in from the right where the ledger shelves were. Juli didn't turn her head and let the blade do the work. Its spine deflected the dagger, guiding it past Eli's shoulder by a hair's breadth, before she grabbed the attacker's forearm and smashed the body downward onto the floorboards.
The last came from the panel. She let the attacker's momentum carry him past her, bringing the pommel down hard against the back of his hand until the blade came free. Reversing her grip, she smashed the pommel under his chin, knocking him out cold.
It took maybe two seconds.
Juli straightened slowly as she stood beside Eli. She pointed her blade vaguely at everyone in the room at once, then let the point drift toward Gillian.
"Anyone else still in the walls, Gillian? Call them out now, or the next thing I go through is you."
'Juli! You're so cool!'
If HOTA did one thing right, it was this: every heroine got to be sharp, capable, and undeniably cool. Aura farming at its peak!
Still, Eli had to control the situation.
"Stand down, Juli."
She huffed, unsheathing her sword before returning to the door.
"Judging from your guys' aggressive behavior, I believe we can broker a deal."
Gillian had not moved since the sudden ambush. Eli knew they weren't going to kill him, and he had already pinpointed their locations beforehand.
After a long silence, Gillian leaned forward.
"How do you know that?"
'Because I played the game, duh.'
The disappearance of the Master of Black Rose was a sensitive matter not even the top brass of the organization knew about. Gillian, a long time business partner of the Master, was one of the select few to be looped in on this.
"Why do you need to know? Isn't it more important that I have the information you desire?"
Gillian tapped his fingers.
"If you have information of that caliber, coming to Black Rose is unnecessary. House Lagranche has its own information network. So why?"
'Because I don't want them to find out House Lagranche has caught on.'
Eli kept that thought in his mind.
"Monsieur Gillian. I'm not here to talk riddles."
Gillian narrowed his eyes.
"How can I trust your information in the first place?"
"Did you forget the basics of information trading? Trust-basis. Which means I don't trust you, and you don't trust me. That's for us to figure out."
'Grandpa Roy, I'm doing a good job, right!'
Eli continued, spewing whatever came to his mind in the most surgical way possible.
"And you're in no position to be picky, Monsieur Gillian. I came to Black Rose for its reputation and because of the Marchioness's referral, but I have many other choices."
Gillian's jaw tightened. His left hand slid off the table into his lap.
After a long moment, he exhaled through his nose.
"…What is it you want, exactly?"
"You know exactly what I want."
Gillian blinked, rubbing his nose.
"It is as you've said. Some cloaked individuals bought our silence for a fortune. But it wasn't anything that special to begin with. They just told us to turn a blind eye to any suspicious movement we come across."
Eli let the silence sit before he pressed.
"And? What did you find?"
"I'll send the documents over to you by midnight."
Eli nodded.
"Good."
Gillian's jaw shifted. He was waiting for what came next.
"Your Master is alive, but not within the Latia Kingdom. That's all I will be telling you until I receive my end of the deal."
Eli stood, brushing dust off his clothes.
"I'll be sending you a letter along with the payment."
Gillian reluctantly nodded.
Eli turned for the door without looking back. Juli fell in behind him, her hand still resting near her hilt until the splintered door closed.
The last thing Eli caught, out of the corner of his eye, was Gillian still sitting at the table, staring at the fourth blade.