So it is done

Realpolitik

Jacques Schnee, Remnant's richest man and, in his own opinion, its greatest businessman, was irritably swirling the glass of cognac in his hand, letting its contents swirl freely. The few drops that had already spilled from his glass fell on his snow-white clothes, in his personal opinion perfectly matching his appearance, or spilled onto the expensive Vacuo carpet on the floor. Greatly spoiling the appearance and diminishing their value. But unlike other circumstances in which Jacques would be enraged by such circumstances, right now something else is occupying his mind for him to care.

The thing being the news report currently broadcasted on the huge screen that hung before him.

"...so far, the identity of yesterday's attacker has finally been confirmed as Marcus Black, a well-known assassin for hire..." Jacques was in such a bad mood that he had no desire to even drink the alcohol in his hand right now, continuing to simply twirl the glass, as if in an effort to reduce his stress. "... the motive and client are still under investigation by the Glenn police..."

Grimm-fucked Marcus Black... Fuckin' failure of an assassin...

Marcus Black... Jacques had spent years, burning various favors in his circle of 'acquaintances', spending an innumerable amount of sums of lien to find the best assassin for his job.

And he had believed that he had.

Marcus Black is perhaps Remnant's most famous and successful assassin, as oxymoronic as that might sound. Politicians, activists, businessmen, all sorts of inconveniences, almost two hundred confirmed assassination were under his belt.

He charges quite the exorbitant sum for his services, but the price was always worth it. The most paranoid, the most protected, the most powerful, in their secret hideouts, in locked rooms, behind a dozen security cordons, no targets could escape him. There were rumors, ideas as to why Marcus Black could pull such feats off, but Marcus had kept any information about his abilities firmly to himself.

Some said he was a Hunter, and there were uncountable speculations about his Semblance, the supposed secret to his success. There was even speculation that Marcus Black was not a single person at all, but instead multiple assassins using the same moniker. Or simply that Marcus Black was just a simple facade for yet another arm of Aifal's organization.

Whatever the rumors might be, one thing was certain.

Marcus Black had always completed his job successfully.

Not always flawlessly, as Marcus did not take any further instructions on exactly how the target was to be eliminated. He worked only on his terms, and therefore sometimes the client for a specific assassination could be traced or found without much trouble. Which is not ideal, but then again, if only one person could benefit from someone exiting the mortal coil so suddenly, an investigation was perhaps nothing more than a formality.

But Marcus himself, his work and more importantly, his results, were never in doubt. Marcus always killed his target.

Jacques had to spend a lot of time and money to eventually secure his services, for the sake of killing Osmond he was prepared even to go to such an expense.

No, Jacques was not an insane maniac who hired elite assassins to eliminate all those who crossed his path. Jacques Schnee had a knack, if nothing else, for saving money by cutting off unnecessary expenses, like safety equipment for his mines. If he personally acquired the expenses of the most expensive assassins in killing every thief who ever thought of stealing anything from his shops, he would quickly go bankrupt.

And besides, why else would he need internal security if not to deal with such matters?

But Jonathan, Osmond Vale the Third, was a different beast altogether. Never mind the fact he's the teleporter who had robbed Jacques' bank of millions of lien, he was dangerous either way, but what was even more important was that he had crossed the line.