48 Hours a Day

“Why do you want to throw me into the river?”

“Your teacher told you that I am Kreis’s priestess, right? And I don’t like people who are disrespectful to Kreis,” said the person with an ice-cold tone.

“If that’s the case, you might need to kill everyone in Rome because not many people who believe in Kreis in this city.”

“Don’t quibble. They are not our men, but you are. Or maybe you will eventually belong to us in the future… Your teacher has chosen you as his successor. Not only do you need to inherit his skills, but you’ll need to take over his goal. You are supposed to maintain the balance of everything in this world.” The priestess stroked the edge of the carriage with her fingers.

“Otherwise, why do you think I took so much effort to approach Commodus? To contribute to the prosperity and stability of Rome?” Zhang Heng, in the carriage, asked rhetorically.

“Don’t try to deceive me. I know that you joined the Balance Blade to read books about assassins in the library. No matter how powerful you are, you will eventually become someone that everyone despises if you do not have faith and belief. Maybe I should kill you right here to prevent you from bringing trouble to our world in the future.”

“Maybe you should do that. By then, no one would be able to give you the whereabouts of Altrus.” Zhang Heng said lightly.

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, you are the one who threatened me first.”

Zhang Heng did not retreat in the face of the intense pressure of the priestess. Instead, he went against her courageously, and he had no intention to give in. It seemed he wasn’t bothered the slightest by the consequences of offending the priestess. If Dadatis were here, he would have probably rolled his eyes in fury because Zhang Heng did not listen to his advice when they talked earlier on the bridge.

But after Zhang Heng finished speaking, there was a long silence outside the carriage.

The priestess outside seemed to be considering whether to ask someone to throw Zhang Heng into the river. But after a while, the cover on top of Zhang Heng’s head was removed.

He heard the priestess say in an ice-cold voice again, “You can come out now.”

Zhang Heng crawled out of the cramped carriage and then pointed to the black cloth on his face, “What about this thing?”

“Stop your demanding. If you don’t want to die, you’d better keep it on.”

“It appears you guys have been facing some problems recently. Otherwise, it would be pointless to live if you have to live so carefully all the time.”

The black cloth did not completely block off Zhang Heng’s vision. The light from outside could penetrate it, and Zhang Heng could also see a vague silhouette of the person that stood in front of him. It looked like the person was the priestess. However, the priestess was wearing a mask as well. In other words, even if he suddenly took off the black cloth covering his face, he still could not see how the priestess looked like.

The true purpose of the black cloth was to test his loyalty.

The priestess was noncommittal. She said, “We don’t need to live purposefully. As long as we remember the meaning of each person’s existence, that’s more than enough.”

“This is pure faith, and it’s admirable.” Zhang Heng paused, “But if this is true, why do you want to see me privately without telling other people?”

The priestess smiled, her laughter as cold as her voice.

“You think you know everything, don’t you?”

“I have never said something like this before,” Zhang Heng said calmly.

“It seems the rumor is right about you. You are an extremely arrogant man. You think that you have won the championship at the Amphitheatrum Flavium and unexpectedly regained your freedom, and now you are going to disrespect the Balance Blade.”

“I don’t think it was an accident that I regained my freedom,” Zhang Heng said frankly.

“At least you are not that stupid. If we can give you back your freedom, we can reclaim the freedom from you anytime we want. This is a fact that will not change even if you have Commodus on your side,” the priestess said coldly.

“It sounds like your political allies are quite strong. In that case, I can stop worrying. What do you want me to do?”

The priestess snorted, “We need you to complete something for us.”

“Is this an oracle?”

“No.” The priestess said after a long silence.

“Is that an order from the Assassin Council, with the consent of more than half of the assassins?”

“Neither.”

“Heh… why should I listen to your order then?” Zhang Heng said.

While he was on the way here, Zhang Heng wondered why the priestess wanted to meet him suddenly. With her current position, it was not necessary for her to do such a risky thing. And, she also had to hide this meetup from all the other assassins from Balance Blade. The two had just met, but she seemed very hostile towards Zhang Heng. It was a little abnormal.

Zhang Heng carefully recalled that he had done nothing that would offend her before. Hence, there was only one possibility for her to treat him in such a rude manner.

She needed Zhang Heng to help her with something, but she did not want him to spot her weakness. That was why she came up with such a plan. As soon as Zhang Heng showed up, she started to threaten him and tried to dominate the conversation. This was indeed a very clever political skill.

However, this method usually worked on those assassins who were relatively innocent and had very little political experience. When Zhang Heng was at Nassau, he managed to handle the complicated political environment on Nassau Island with ease. That was why Zhang Heng was not scared so easily by her.

The conversation between the two people when they first met was a powderkeg. They were arguing the whole time, and neither of them was willing to take a step back. And in the end, it was a draw.

Unfortunately, the priestess’s plan did not work as intended because she was the one that needed Zhang Heng to help her with something. Once she lost the dominating role, she lost most of her bargaining power in the next negotiation.

However, Zhang Heng decided not to push her to the corner. After all, he wanted to listen to what the priestess had to offer him. So he said afterward, “First, tell me what you want me to do.”

“I hope you don’t kill Altrus right after you find his whereabouts,” the priestess said.

Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows when he heard what she said, “Wait, did I hear that right? You, the priestess of Kreis, are asking me not to kill the target given by the oracle?”

“No, I’m not asking you to spare Altrus. I’m telling you not to kill him so quickly when you find him,” the priestess emphasized, “The situation has changed during this period. I need to find out something from him. So I hope that you will inform me when you locate him. I will send someone to talk with him first. But don’t you worry, I will leave him to you after I talk to him. You will be able to complete your test, and you will not lose anything.”

“It seems the gods you believe in are not looking at the bigger picture here. After that?”

“Don’t you want to enter the library? Due to your beliefs, other assassins in the organization may not agree to let you enter, but I can grant you access right now, bypassing the vote of the Assassin Council. I help you, and you help me. What do you think about helping each other out to get what we need?” The priestess finally threw out her bargaining chip.