Having made up his mind, Jiro put away his smile and said firmly, "Since you lords already know, there's no point in hiding it. I did tell Lord Baran about your conspiracy. Lord Baran will be here soon, so I advise you all to submit to him. He's a Jonin and the leader appointed by the Consortium!" By the end, Jiro was grinning smugly, as if to say, What can you do to me?
Nawaki, however, laughed happily at this. "In that case, that's wonderful. We really must thank you properly! Zhixin, I'll leave this Mr. Jiro to you. Be sure to 'thank' him on our behalf, and don't let anyone else see. His 'identity' could still be useful to us!"
"Thank you, Clan Head. I'll make sure to give this traitor a proper welcome!" Zhixin bowed to Nawaki, then walked toward Jiro with a sinister grin.
"Lord Zhixin! Think this through! I'm one of Lord Baran's men. If you kill me, Lord Baran won't let you get away with it!" Jiro had evidently realized something was wrong, but he still clung to Baran as his lifeline, threatening Zhixin.
"Heh. If Baran really does come, he'll probably have enough trouble saving his own skin. Worry about yourself instead. I learned a few tricks from the Clan Head today, and I've been looking for someone to try them on. Too bad you're worthless, so you don't even get the chance to surrender. You'll just have to enjoy it slowly..." As he spoke, Zhixin grabbed Jiro by the back of the neck and dragged him toward the door.
"You can't kill me! Lord Baran will be here any moment! Mmph, mmph..." Jiro still tried to struggle, but Zhixin found him too noisy and simply gagged him.
It seemed Zhixin planned to put