Villain : I reincarnated as a Prince! Shouldn't I have a Harem?

150  Questioning!

"Alright speak, who sent you?"

"Yes yes, I'll speak!" Ji Jun answered in a hurry. "I and Brother Dao Tie, are both mercenaries. We take jobs from the mercenary sect in exchange for rewards. We both needed to buy high-level skills of our paths to become more powerful than our peers. We had been ridiculed for our low-level skills for too long!"

"It was then that a high-paying mission was placed on the mercenary sect's mission board outside the sect. The pay on completion was enough for both of us to buy two high-level skills, however, the mission was to kill a king realm expert."

"Brother Dao Tie thought that we two could easily kill a King realm expert and accepted the mission. After that, you know what happened..."

Ji Jun finished recounting the incidents. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"So you mean to say that you don't know who sent you?" Ashen questioned.

Ji Jun nodded: "Only the mercenary sect itself knows the identity of the customer. Because of this anonymous system, customers rest assured that their name won't be revealed even if the mission fails."

"I see..." Ashen nodded as he rubbed his chin in understanding.

"So does that mean more mercenaries will come to attack her?" he asked.

"Yes. The mercenaries are free to take this mission as long as this mission stays on the mission board." Ji Jun informed. "The mercenary sect only coordinates between the mercenaries and the customers, keeping the customer's identity anonymous."

"Hmm..." Ashen asked. "Then how to stop them?"

If it was like this, didn't it mean that they would hunt Feng Xue forever unless mercenaries went extinct.

Groaning in pain due to his severed foot, Ji Jun answered: "You cannot stop them. The only way to stop them is by making the mercenary sect remove that mission from the mission board."

He then explained: "To do that, you can either use force or pay them sufficient fees. You can never win in force since the mercenary sect is backed by the First Prince of the empire. In terms of money, you'll have to pay protection fees every year and this protection fee will keep you safe from any request of assassination in your name."

"And what is the amount?" Ashen inquired.

"That can only be discussed with the mercenary sect by visiting them." Ji Jun answered honestly.

"Alright, you've been of great help!" Ashen commented. "As a reward, I'll now fulfill your wish!"

A smile appeared on Ji Jun's face as he expressed his gratitude: "Thank you for letting me die in peace!"

Ashen looked at Feng Xue as he instructed: "Take the children inside, I don't want them to see this."

What's the use now? When you arrived you turned a man into a puddle of blood.

You then went on to educate them about various ways of torture... but when it came to the cleanest death, you don't want them to see?

Though these were her real thoughts internally, Feng Xue didn't say a word and quickly took the children away.

After the children had left, Ashen looked at Ji Jun as he asked: "Hey, want to live?"

Ji Jun misunderstood Ashen's intentions as his eyes lost all light in them. "A-Are you really going to torture me even after I told you everything?" He began to cry. "Please let me die! I don't want to endure that hell!"

"I'm asking if you'd like to work for me?" Ashen questioned without caring about his cries.

"Huh? Work for you?" Ji Jun was confused.

"Yes," Ashen nodded. "I feel that it'd be a waste to let a king realm expert die like this. You must've endured a lot of hardships to become this powerful, it'd be a pity for that journey to end like this, don't you think?"

Hearing Ashen's words, memories of his hard life began to flash in his mind. He couldn't help but think about the hardships he had endured for years to advance each realm.

Only he knew how hard it was. Being born into a mortal family without any cultivators felt like a curse. Even after awakening a 5-star spirit, he wasn't really given importance.

Once, he fortuitously found a rare herb that could help him in cultivation, however, even that was taken by the sect and given to a privileged disciple who had connections. It was from then on their hatred for privileged cultivators grew even deeper. Even Dao Tie had suffered a similar fate. If their resources hadn't been taken away, they could've risen to power a lot earlier.

However, even after suffering all those hardships, they were banned by the righteous path when they killed a privileged disciple in defense.

At that time, he and Dao Tie had become friends with a female disciple who was beautiful. They considered her as their sister.

When they heard that this female disciple was being harassed by that privileged male disciple, they couldn't control their anger and confronted him, however, that disciple had friends with him.

That led to a fight in which, by mistake, the privileged disciple died.

After that they both were banned from the righteous path and could never join a sect as an elder even after becoming a powerful King realm cultivators.

Only they knew how hard it had been for them to survive as mercenaries and without the resources from any sect.

Ji Jun couldn't stop the tears that welled in the corners of his eyes.

Ashen's words made him want to live again and continue this journey. If he died like this, what meaning would his life even have?

All that persistence for years would seem like a waste.

A new determination shined in Ji Jun's eyes as he expressed his intentions: "I'll do it! I'll work for you!"

Ashen nodded in appreciation as he presented the scarlet mind schine in his hand before ordering: "Swallow this!"

Without a moment of hesitation, Ji Jun followed Ashen's command.

If Ashen wanted to kill him, he'd have already done so, there was no need to suspect his new lord.

After he was finished swallowing and screaming a bit, Ashen handed him a paper.

"Go to this address, you'll receive a high-level attack skill. Take it and train." He then handed him a token. "Show this and you'll be welcomed. There you'll be trained and made useful to serve me well. I'll call for you when needed, understand?"

Ji Jun received the token with both hands as he nodded: "I understand my lord!"

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(A/N - Thanks for reading. ^..^)