RISE OF EROS

Obviously, losing a job as a manager in an organization like Candice's was a harsh punishment, since not everyone has those opportunities, however, people like him were potential enemies, so leaving them unguarded could lead to future problems and that was what was happening.

Candice didn't give much importance to a small character like Dastan, for her firing was enough and Dastan didn't have the balls to scheme against her, but Andrew was different.

He knew that it had all happened because of Andrew. At least in his head, he had lost everything because of Andrew, he didn't even remember that he was the one who offended Andrew first, but that was normal for arrogant people like him.

While the Cherry Blossom store was preparing for the fashion show, in the slums Dastan approached a seedy tavern. After entering he approached the bar, ordered a beer, and passing an additional coin to the bartender said, "I want to see the captain."

The bartender didn't bother to answer, just took the coin and pointed to a door at the side of the tavern. Dastan understood and downing his beer in one gulp, he got up and headed for the door.

Passing the door he found a room that looked like an office, but it was smoky and five men were jokingly talking to each other. Beyond the men was a desk where sat a middle-aged man with a heavy build.

This was the man known as "Captain" of the beauty hunter group. If Aki saw him, she would be surprised, since she had been looking for information about him without any results.

The man was too discreet and few in his organization knew him, but the reality was that the so-called captain was hiding in plain sight, posing as a common member of the beauty hunters, and since few knew his identity, it was the perfect cover.

For that reason, Aki hadn't found out who he was, since he was posing as a common thug and Aki wouldn't bother to verify the identity of such a character, since someone like that had no value.

When Dastan entered the office, the five men fell silent and glared at him, but said nothing. Dastan was a little nervous, as he had heard about how brutal the members of this organization could be, but he plucked up his courage and said, "I want you to apply for a job."

The captain looked up at Dastan after hearing the words he said, but he didn't answer, just looked at him. After a few seconds of watching him, he made a gesture with his hand inviting him to continue, without saying a word.

Seeing the gesture, Dastan began to speak, "I want a man eliminated." Again the place fell silent and out of nowhere one of the five men sitting in the room said angrily, "We are not hired killers."

Dastan already knew that. Although this organization was infamous, they weren't really murderers, their business was kidnapping girls, but that was precisely the reason why Dastan sought them out.

"I'm aware of that, I just thought you could get two top-quality girls if you kill that man," Dastan said. At that moment all those present were intrigued by Dastan's words and for the first time the captain's voice was heard.

"Who?", then Dastan replied, "In the red light district, there is a brothel called Heavenly Palace, the owner's two wives are great beauties." Dastan was upset about being fired and blamed Carolina and Helena.

He didn't think that insulting them and calling them whores was wrong, because for him that was what they were, but his words caught the attention of the captain of the beauty hunters and he said, "I'll help you if I can, but our priority is the girls. If they are as beautiful as you say, we will do our best to eliminate the man you say, but not without compensation."

Dastan was happy that the captain agreed, but he didn't show it on his face and quickly said, "I'll pay 20 small gold coins", however, the five men laughed out loud.

Although the captain didn't laugh like the others, he had a sneer at the offer and not wanting to extend the meeting he said, "100 small gold coins". Dastan was surprised at the amount, as he could not afford it.

Over the years of working for Candice, he had earned a considerable sum of money, but that was in reference to the common citizen, so 100 small gold coins was more than he could afford.

Seeing that Dastan remained silent, the men in the office understood that Dastan didn't have the money and the disgusted captain said, "Since you gave us information about two beauties, I'll let you go this time, but if the girls don't meet the standards, you'd better hide."

The captain's threat frightened Dastan. His back was drenched in cold sweat and like a frightened mouse, he left the office and the tavern. He ran as hard as he could until he got to his house.

Breathing hard from the run he'd made lay back on the bed and in a few minutes had recovered. Remembering what had happened he breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled.

His smile showed his bad thoughts and it was obvious because although he had not been able to make the beauty hunters kill Andrew, he managed to draw attention to his wives and if they managed to kidnap them, Andrew's pain would be incalculable, just thinking about it made him laugh out loud.

Unfortunately for him, he chose the wrong day to go to that tavern, since Aki had returned to her mission to spy on the beauty hunters and had seen him.

Aki, as the only intelligence member of the Heavenly Palace, knew about what happened between Dastan and her master, so when she saw him enter the beauty hunters' tavern, it caught her attention.

Although she couldn't hear or see what happened in the room, her intuition told her that he was up to no good and she acted on her behalf by following him. She observed the strange behavior of Dastan and that made her feel more distrustful and clenching her teeth she decided to act.

As Dastan laughed his head off, Aki appeared behind him, and placing her dagger in Dastan's back she coldly said, "What were they looking for with the beauty hunters?".

Aki's sudden appearance scared Dastan to death, especially when he felt the sharp dagger in his back and his instinct told him to lie, but Aki anticipating that said, "You better not lie, I have ways to make you talk."

Dastan's back was soaked in cold sweat again. For some reason Aki's threat didn't sound fake, in fact, it reminded him of Andrew's threat when he first met him, but he knew he couldn't tell the truth, so he tried to act cool as he said, "I was just having a beer."

To Dastan's bad luck, Aki was not so naive to believe him and she left him unconscious with a blow to the neck. She pulled out a rope and tied Dastan to a chair. She made sure he was securely bound by the arms and legs, then she woke him up.

When Dastan noticed that he was tied up, he panicked, but when he saw the petite assassin wearing a mask, somehow his fear disappeared, after all, Aki's small figure wasn't intimidating at all.

"Now, answer truthfully, it's your last chance, what were you doing in the beauty hunters' tavern?" Aki asked again, but believing that Aki was just scaring him, he replied arrogantly, "Little girl, drop the act, I already told you I just went in to drink a beer."

Dastan was somewhat confident even in the situation he was in, but Aki wasn't playing around and decisively plunged her dagger into Dastan's thigh, who cried out in pain.

He didn't think Aki was that determined, he really believed that the girl was just scaring him, but now he knew that the matter was serious. Aki withdrew the dagger from Dastan's thigh and asked again, "What were you doing in the beauty hunters' tavern?"

The repetitive question scared Dastan, but he didn't want to say, it because at that moment he thought that Aki was with Candice, so he kept silent, but Aki wouldn't bother and stab Dastan again.

After an hour, Aki left Dastan's house at high speed. In the room, Dastan could be seen covered in blood with many cuts all over his body. The glow of life had left his eyes long ago.

Later in the Heavenly Palace, Andrew was in the office in the company of Carolina and Helena, when Aki appeared unannounced and said, "I have information for the young master."

The talk the three of them were having was interrupted by Aki's arrival and Andrew asked, "What did you find?" Aki then reported everything she had learned from Dastan.

When Andrew found out that Dastan sought out the beauty hunters to kidnap Carolina and Helena boiled with anger and cursed, "That fucking bastard", but before long he calmed down since Aki had already told him that she had killed the man, now he had to deal with the beauty hunters.