Fraid looked up at him from below, his legs trembling. Although he was armed, his head was just as vulnerable as everyone else's. What good was his armor? If he got an accurate shot to the head, he would still die.
Somehow, he was more afraid because of what had happened to Sir Brandiel.
"...You don't know who you've murdered..." Fraid replied, trembling.
Louis pressed his pistol to his head and put his hand firmly on the trigger.
"You want me to push you, then?"
Louis aimed at the knee and fired...or so he wanted to.
"I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU!" Fraid shouted just before it happened.
"Pretty quick. You look like you're afraid of pain." Louis scoffed and bent down. "If so, then get them out."
Fraid quickly reached into his pockets and pulled out some money cards containing different amounts.
From 10 thousand, all the way up to 100 thousand.
Each of them was placed in his hand.
The number of cards quickly grew, until finally the amount yielded 3 million Jens.
Fraid felt his face twitch with rage and helplessness. But there was nothing he could do.
He had witnessed the power of the man in front of him. Even the mighty Sir Brandiel was shot dead.
As a mobster, he never thought a man with the same inclinations would rob him. Being one of the House of Shadows leaders, who among the mobsters or organized crime leaders would mess with him?
There might be a few in Velharthe and throughout the Southern territory, but he was sure there were not many.
And among those, there wasn't a single young man who could compel him in such a way. His reputation wasn't there just for nothing.
They called him Hawkeye because of his two snipers, who had a reputation for never missing a shot. With such great effectiveness, no one had ever humiliated him in this way.
But the time had come.
And when it came... he could only stare at the floor, feeling the humiliation he had caused to many of his victims, now hitting him.
Louis smiled as he counted all the money, which he then handed to Jessy.
"Now this is yours. Take it as an apology from me."
"Huh?" Jessy was speechless, but he didn't let her react.
He looked at Fraid again, causing Fraid to shiver.
"W-what is it now?" he asked, stammering.
"I have an offer for you, Lord Fraid."
"O-o-offer?"
"Yes. One you won't be able to refuse."
That sly, sinister smile on such a young face clenched his heart. He felt like he was in the lion's den once again.
"Y-you... I've already given you the 3 million you asked for. That's all I have!" he shouted, desperate and trying to leave.
But Louis stepped on his leg and pinned him to the ground.
"Tell all these idiots to get out. We'll have a private talk." Afterward, he turned around, grabbed a chair, and sat down.
When he saw that he had turned away from him, Fraid tried to get up to run away, but Louis scoffed. "Do that and you'll die."
He had no choice but to stand still and nod. The powers were too different from one another.
So he sent his followers out.
Soon, there were only three left in the room. Louis, Fraid, and Jessy.
The latter looked at Louis. "Should I leave too?" he asked.
"No." Louis denied. "You can listen if you want to. Going out alone isn't good for you right now."
She nodded and decided then to stay close to him.
Louis looked at Fraid, still kneeling, and motioned for him to get up.
"Mr. Fraid, you don't need to show yourself so submissive. I won't kill you just because. Laws must be respected, right?" He smiled.
"Just get up and sit down; we need to discuss something." With his foot, he pushed one of the chairs towards Fraid so that he could sit down, though for some reason, it was very close to the chair where he was sitting.
Although Fraid thought this was weird, he didn't like sitting on the floor like a dog, so he grabbed the chair and quickly sat down.
"What do you want to talk to me about?" he asked carefully.
"It's simple, Mr. Fraid." He smiled softly and stepped a little closer. "I'm buying you the entire share of the House of Shadows that belongs to you."
"Oh?" Fraid looked at him as if he were stupid. "Who told you I was selling something that has taken me dozens of years to build?" He felt annoyed at this guy's guts to ask him something like that.
But Louis widened his smile.
"You're not selling it? That's weird. I thought everything was for sale today."
"None of what I built with...!" He suddenly went silent, having a gun pointed directly at his mouth. His body trembled, and his spirit shook with fear.
Suddenly, he remembered the type of person he was dealing with...
"Mr. Fraid, I'm not here to negotiate with you."
"You..."
"I'm ordering you to sell me what you have."
Louis laughed coldly and threw a money card on the floor. "100 million Jens for the 25% you own of the House of Shadows."
"How dare you? That's worth at least a billion...!"
BAM*
A shot rang out right in Mr. Fraid's ear. It thoroughly combed his hair and grazed his ear, causing it to start bleeding, and he fell silent.
After that, Louis took out the magazine he was using and put in a new one. At the same time, he dropped another ten magazines full of magic bullets and leaned back in his chair.
"Do I care?" Sneered.
Fraid couldn't find something to say. His body went stiff as ice. He was shaking inside. The fear of death had struck him.
It was a brief moment, but he saw his death cross in front of his eyes.
It made a great mental and physical impact on him.
The man in front of him was not unarmed. He was an awakened man with a magical firearm, extremely powerful and dangerous, that not even his snipers, who were surely watching this from afar, could cope with.
He was just a normal person whose monetary power allowed him to rule over mafias and criminal gangs. He used different methods to rise in society.
With his power and that of his snipers, he could fight and kill some awakened, but at best, it was a very low-level one.
What could he do against a man as powerful as this?
But...
Selling his share of the House of Shadows for a measly 100 million... What was the point? Where would his 20+ years of work go then?
It would all be over.
So he refused to give it up and, though he felt fear, prepared to speak again.
"If you're going to speak to say something foolish, stop it." Louis finally put on a serious expression. "I don't want to listen to your bullshit. Is your life worth less than a billion Jens? I'm giving you 100 million Jens in exchange for 25% because I'm generous. But the real payment is your life. You give it to me, you live. If you don't, then..."
Louis tightened his grip on his gun and readied it to fire, aiming for his heart.
He didn't need to say anything else.