Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"Mr. Montaigne, you seem to misunderstand the situation. It's not me begging you, but you needing to hand over my belongings in exchange for your life." The woman in black's tone began to turn icy, "If you don't cooperate, I don't mind killing you first and then searching manually. Hand over my dagger!"

With the experience of last time, Winters had no doubt that the woman in black could kill him without hesitation. This woman seemed to have no psychological barrier to taking a life; that night's encounter was filled with strikes aimed directly at Winters's vital points.

But Winters's reason was warning him: even if you return everything to the woman in black, she will still shoot you in the head and then vanish.

The key was what the woman in black truly wanted. Was it the dagger? Obviously not. If she really cared about the dagger, she wouldn't have thrown it away.

Ask for the dagger? Winters shook his head inwardly and muttered, "But I really didn't pick up the dagger... I only picked up something else."

The bait was set.

"What thing?" The woman in black's intonation was very detached.

The fish had taken the bait.

"A small notebook." Winters had seen through the woman in black's intentions—what she truly wanted was that blank notebook.

The dagger was merely a ruse; if Winters obediently handed over the dagger, he wouldn't refuse to hand over another item. The woman in black could just casually mention she wanted the notebook back;

if Winters refused to return the dagger, the woman in black wouldn't expose what she truly sought.

Ignorance isn't the greatest barrier; arrogance is.

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The woman in black underestimated Winters; she thought concealing her real agenda from this naive young man would be effortless, and she would pay the price for it.

"Where is it? Show me." The woman in black's tone was still cool, but Winters heard something different in it.

"It's in the bag on the table behind you," Winters said nonchalantly.

The moment the woman in black heard this, she wanted to turn around to search, but she suddenly hesitated. Her hands remained firmly on the revolver pointed at Winters, giving him no chance to suddenly attack.

She tilted her head to indicate to Winters, "You go get it for me."

"Can't you get it yourself?"

"No nonsense."

Winters reluctantly walked to the desk, dragging his feet, while the woman in black kept the gun trained on him at all times.

But in reality, this was exactly what Winters had hoped for; he never expected to distract her in this manner.

Winters reached his right hand into the bloodstained messenger bag and quickly touched the notebook, but he didn't take it out.

The woman in black, watching Winters reach into the cloth bag then freeze, urged impatiently, "Hurry up and find it."

"Is this what you want?" Winters asked the woman in black with a loud laugh, pulling out the notebook from the messenger bag.

Under the firelight, Winters's smile appeared crazed, accompanied by the smell of burning leather and smoke. The blank notebook that the woman in black risked her life to obtain was blazing fiercely.

The moment Winters got his hands on the notebook, he immediately released his magic without reservation and ignited it with a fire spell.

The woman in black's eyes widened, emitting a shrill scream.

Now was the moment!

Winters crouched and pounced toward the woman in black like an arrow released from its bow.

The woman in black's attention was no longer on Winters. It wasn't until his hand touched the barrel of the gun that the trigger was pulled.

A loud "boom" resounded through the room, and immediately a bullet hole appeared in the wooden ceiling.

At close quarters, Winters pushed the revolver's barrel up and, using the momentum, knocked the woman in black off balance. He used his weight to pin her down, restraining her.

But at this moment, the woman in black had lost her previous ferocity and cruelty; she was like a helpless little girl, struggling, crying, shouting, "Fire... put out the fire..."

Winters, however, had no time to notice the emotional shift in the woman in black. He vividly remembered her sudden murder attempt, so he dared not be careless at all, carefully searching for all the weapons the female assassin had on her.

After searching her, Winters pulled down the bedsheet and tied up the female assassin tightly.

The woman in black let out heartbreaking screams; even Winters could hear the despair and resentment in her voice. She muttered like a madwoman, "I'll kill you... I'm going to kill you..."

Antonio, awakened by the gunshot, hurried to Winters's bedroom with his sword, pushing the door open to see his nephew clutching a bedsheet and riding atop a dark figure, doing who knows what. There was also a fire on the floor, which he quickly stamped out with his foot.

After putting out the fire, he realized that the dark figure on the floor was actually a person.

"What happened?" Antonio asked with uncharacteristic calmness.

A sweat-drenched Winters, panting heavily, said, "A thief, a thief and an assassin, followed me all the way from The Federated Provinces to my home."

The female family members were also awakened by the noise. Elizabeth's eyes widened as she saw her brother carrying a person in black onto the bed, while Tess delayed a bit in lighting a candle.

When Winters's room finally had light, Tess clearly saw the figure of the person in black and exclaimed, "It's a woman!"