{I want to let everyone know that I have a p-a-t-r-e-o-n with two new exclusive stories on it. One is The Aeternus Universe, and the other is a new story with a basketball system. I hope you guys will give it a chance. The link is https://www.p-a-t-r-e-o-n.com/easyread. Remove the dashes. Webnovel censors the word.}

I stare at Kelly and contemplate if what she said is true. If the things we are looking for are locked in a vault, then we're not equipped to get to them. While there are other methods to get to them, each one takes more time than I'd like. "I can get you into the vault since I'm a James. It recognizes my bloodline. It'll let me in." She's brought up many reasons to keep her alive, and the biggest being that she's been planning to take the barony for herself and kill her brothers. I'd keep her alive, but it's not up to me. It's up to Sally.

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I turn around and look at Sally. She has an expression full of deep thought. "Whatever you decide, Sally. I support you 100 percent." I vocalize my support for her. I don't want my potential choice influencing hers. She folds her arms and stares into Kelly's eyes. Looking for doubt, and I don't think she's going to find any. Kelly seems to have put a lot of time into her plans to kill her brothers and take the barony. You can see the conviction and determination for her plans to succeed in her eyes. While Sally hates the James family, she'll see that keeping her alive is for the greater good.

The greater good in The City of James, that is. As well as the connections it has to the slave market. When those are destroyed by the murder of the James brothers, Kelly can rebuild and make the James Barony great. "You don't know how much I want you dead... But I can see the good of keeping you alive. I want you to remember if you don't do what you say you're going to do, I'll come back, and I'll kill you." I've never heard Sally speak like that. I look at her closely and see she is serious in every word she spoke.

That seals the fate of Kelly James. She'll live and complete her plans. "We should discuss how you're going to get us in a room with all the James brothers. Since they are our goal, and you better get us into the vault. If you don't, you die." Sally lays down the plan and final warning. Sally wants to kill them altogether, in the same room. So there is no risk of any getting away. While I'm worried about Sally's bloodlust, I know it's only exclusive for the people who have wronged her in the past. I look at Hailey, and I can see she's concerned about Sally too.

Kelly looks at me for permission to stand up, and I nod my head. She does it slowly and fixes her modest dress. "You'll never regret this. I've been planning for years to kill my brothers and take the barony. It would've been a few more until I could, but when the rumors of you coming here started to spread. It sped up my timeline. I've been using my brother's fear of you and Saliandra to my advantage. The people are already extremely dissatisfied with my brothers. If they died tomorrow, no one would care." Then that means we should do this tomorrow.

I look at Sally and see if she's okay with doing this as soon as tomorrow. "Now we need to discuss how you'll inform us they are all in the same room and ready to be killed." Sally is the one to start bringing up the intricacies of the plan. That's also a concern that I have. How will we know they're all in one location and we can move in to take care of them. Kelly closes her eyes and thinks deeply. While we could use magical items that might spook the brothers off before getting there, which isn't something we want.

Kelly opens her eyes and takes a small breath. "We can use a magical signal card. I can keep it in my pocket, and once I channel some of my power into it. It'll notify the other card that I'm ready. You'll have the other card, and once your card goes off, you can come. They won't know a thing since they can't see the card." Her idea is sound, but they might be suspicious that she escaped a kidnapping unharmed, which means one of us has to hurt her enough to convince people that she had to escape instead of being let go.

I look at her, and I can tell she's never been in a real fight in her life, which means this is going to suck for her. "Before you can leave, you have to take a serious beating." She looks at me in confusion and fear. "Your brothers will get very suspicious of you if you escape kidnappers without a scratch. You'll need to take a serious beating, and I'd normally do it. However, someone in here will appreciate it more than me." I turn to Sally, and I see her raise her eyebrows in surprise. Kelly looks like she wants to protests, but my words make sense.

Sally's mouth forms into a grin, and she balls her fists as she walks towards Kelly. A sadistic part of Sally is coming out, and I don't know whether I should be impressed or scared. "Wait! Wai-!" Before Kelly can make an argument not to be beaten, Sally crashes her fist against her face, and I watch her teeth fly out her mouth. I cringe at the sight. While I have done much more gruesome things, I've never seen Sally do such a thing. She falls to the ground with blood pouring out her mouth. Before she can try and talk, Sally kicks her hard in the ribs and the liver.

I hear bones crack, and I see Kelly has pissed herself. I look at her face, and she's crying. Sally moves towards her head and punches the back of it. She hits her face on the cold concrete, and I hear some more cracking of bones. I grab Sally by the arm and pull her away before she can continue. We don't want her dead. Sally struggles to get free for a couple of seconds but stops realizing that she needs to. I let her go, and she stands at my side. Kelly groans on the ground, and her body is shaking from the sudden trauma inflicted on it.

We wait a few minutes, and she slowly sits up and stares at us with a swollen face. "Hailey, watch her while I go and get the magical cards. Hopefully, there is a shop willing to serve us right now." I don't indicate to watch Kelly. I indicate to watch Sally. She might try and finish the job while I'm gone. Hailey nods her head, and I make my way towards the exit of the abandoned building we're in. I exit into the outside world, and I know I say a functioning shop back in the direction we came from. I saw it while jumping from building to building.

I leap back onto the buildings and travel towards the shop. I find it, and I land back on the street. I look around and notice there is barely anyone around. I don't let it bother me, and I make my way toward the shop, and I enter. I walk up to the counter and see the middle-aged man stare at me. his face contorts in anger. "Get your ass out of my shop! Filthy new people aren't welcomed here!" I can understand where he's coming from, but I don't have time for this. I take out a gold sack with 20 gold pieces in it from my inventory and lay it on the counter.

I see his conviction waver at the sight of the large sum of money. I take his silence as a go-ahead to talk. "I need two magical signal cards." He hesitates for a brief second, but he takes the gold and heads into the back. He comes back out and hands me the two cards. I say nothing else, and I leave. I start jumping from building to building again and heading back towards the abandoned building. I land in front of it, and I make my way back inside. I head for the back room where they are, and I walk in. Sally and Hailey are having a small conversation while Kelly struggles to stay conscious.

I walk up to Kelly and hand her one of the cards. "Get out of here and get some medical attention. I'm sure you can afford to have the worst of your injuries healed by a magician." She stands up, and wobbly makes her way towards the exit. Now, all we have to do is wait for the signal tomorrow. "Let's find an inn that'll take us and get some rest." Both Sally and Kelly nod their heads. We exit the building and start making our way to the city that is least damaged. I'd stop off at the bank to get some more gold, but it's been destroyed in the battle. I'll use the last of my gold for a room.