Chapter 31
36 0 0
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

A short chapter, but I thought I should end it there.

Elven Forest was quite far from the capital.

Hero and his team took a lot of stops.

This small city was one of such.

“We will be staying here for a few days. I heard it’s a great tourist spot and almost no crime even at night.”

The view inside the city looked great.

Streets were clean, buildings seemed new.

“Why haven’t I heard of this city before? This isn’t much different from the capital.”

Agness was quite knowledgeable. She knew almost all the famous cities of not only this kingdom.

“Of this, I’m not sure… I guess it’s a hidden gem.”

Reminiscing, Leon smiled kindly at Agness.

“Or it’s like this because it isn’t famous! But who cares! Let’s go look around!”

Melissa couldn’t take it anymore and took Leon’s hand, she didn’t give him a choice and dragged him away.

Agness could never understand the jealousy behind Melissa’s actions, so she just followed along with a smile. 

Before the rest of the team could split further, Tera turned to Lance and spoke with a somewhat shaky voice.

“...Sh-Shall we go do the same, L-Lance?”

Tera was all red and couldn’t look him straight in the eyes.

Lance didn’t quite get it.

“Hm? Do what?”

*Whack*

“She’s asking you out on a date! You moron!”

“A-A date!? Me!? S-She!? …you?”

Lance’s train of thoughts could be almost visibly seen, he looked at Tera, now all red too.

Instead of giving an answer, Tera just nodded a few times.

“O-Okay… Where should we go?”

“Oh, Goddess! Just go already! I can’t look at you!”

Naty pushed the two in a random direction.

“B-But how about you?”

“I wanted to visit the church anyway! Go!”

And so they did.

Naty sighed with relief and asked for the direction to the church.

The person she asked gave her a weird look but pointed in the church's general direction.

What she did not know, however, was that the church, for some reason, was closed.

Naty would later join Leon in his sightseeing.

But now she was peacefully walking towards the church.

“Ha~. This city is much better than the capital… So quiet… I like here more.”

All Naty could hear were birds, and occasional whispers from far away. She didn’t find noisy capital to be all too pleasant.

Naty swiftly came to the conclusion that this city was great.

.

.

.

Someone else simply could not feel the same.

“...I recognise this atmosphere… Quiet, peace, no crime, great service, small population… Prevention of excessive information spread… I’ve been in such cities quite a lot back in the day… This is never good. Who’s behind this? Demons? No, they couldn’t possibly pull a stunt like this… There is no point in doing something like this in your own kingdom…so spies? However, there is a peace treaty signed between all the Kingdoms of the continent… That must be why they are keeping a low profile, huh.”

Mixen was thinking out loud, Whitey saw him do this a few times before, but still couldn’t get used to this.

“Meow!”

“Um? Oh, sorry. You must be tired from sleeping in the air. Let’s go, I’ll rent us a room.”

“...Meow.”

It sounded like a mockery for a lazy cat and yet Mixen meant it.

After finding a place where they allow pets, Mixen took Whitey there.

Mixen locked the window and placed some food and water on the ground.

“Now, I won’t be back soon, so be free to eat and drink while I’m not here.”

From the looks of it, Mixen wasn’t going to let Whitey roam freely as he usually does.

She too understood that.

“Meow!?”

And didn’t like it one bit.

“Now, now. I know you like the outdoors. But I really can’t trust this city. I worry something bad may happen, so be a good girl and sleep for today, okay?”

“Meow!”

She didn’t want to just sleep all day, after all, she slept all the way here.

“...I’ll pet you as much as you want when I come back.”

“Meow.”

A nod and a complete change of attitude.

She really didn’t behave like a cat sometimes.

“Great! Don’t oversleep or forget to eat! Bye-bye.”

*Click*

He locked the door.

‘Time to find what’s going on.’

Mixen may have encountered such cities before, but never was behind one himself. The experience he has would come in handy nonetheless.

‘Huh. It’s the first time the things I learned for father might actually be useful…Not the best of memories… Why did I remember it now of all times?... Even though it’s one of those things I tried to forget…’

Mixen’s mood got suddenly sour.

His destination was close, right around the corner.

A building with a suspiciously large basement.

There was an open window, but Mixen didn’t go in yet.

‘There are three men inside, two seem to be guards… what is the chance they’ll just start talking about their plans? Do they even know it?... I guess I’ll wait for now.’

Mixen waited. Waited for something to happen. Waited for them to speak of something useful… Nothing.

It was thirty minutes and he find out nothing.

‘...Won’t work this time around… Gonna have to do it the old-fashioned way.’

.

.

.

*Knock!**Knock!**Knock!*

Violent knocking surprised the guards.

“Who’s there!?”

“Oh! Great! You haven’t left! I wasn’t given the keys! Please open the door!”

“What!? Who are you!? State the password!”

‘Of course, they have a password, dammit.’

“Huh? Are you serious right now? Were you not told?”

“Told what!?”

“I’m your replacement! Doesn’t your shift end in like 20 minutes?”

Mixen tried to use the information he got whole those 2 casually chatted.

“...We cannot let you in without a password!”

“Ah, c’mon, you think some random guy will just come and try to take your job? I was told to replace Jim and Curt on their shift… Or do you doubt the words of our Boss?”

The door opened.

And immediately a sword was placed on Mixen’s neck.

“Why would Boss himself send you here? Speak your name!”

‘...You’re lucky that you aren’t really that threatening to me.’

“Whoa! I’m Jack. A new guy. Boss sent me here because he was the one who hired me just yesterday. They said this will be a great starter.”

Mixen was holding his hands up but was smiling brightly. This annoyed the guard holding the sword.

“Do you think this is funny?! Why are you here alone?!”

“Oh, that… You see-”

*Thud*

Mixen hit the guard in the solar plexus. 

All they saw was a flash.

“Boss wouldn’t hire a weakling personally, don’t you think?”

“Gha-”

Jim was gasping for breath. Curt saw that and rushed to his side.

“Jim! Are you okay?!”

“He’ll be fine after a couple of minutes.”

“You! You bast-”

Mixen interrupted the man before he could make a huge mistake.

“Look, I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

For some reason, both guards expected something else.

“I have a bit of a nasty character… But I don’t want to get fired on the first day… so can you not tell on me?”

“What the hell are you-”

“And of course, as a junior, I prepared a small gift.”

Seemingly out of nowhere, Mixen took out two bottles of alcohol. It was a famous brand that was pretty expensive and didn’t sell in this town.

At this point, Jim could somewhat stand straight.

“...It was partly my fault too.”

“Haha, it’s all good now!”

Both of them took a bottle in a hurry.

“Glad you understand… I’ll also treat you guys to a bear later. You can be on your way, I’ll take it from here.”

While they were taking their stuff, Mixen asked them a few casual questions to not seem suspicious.

“Oh, and before you go… It’s my first day, so is there something I should know… about this place in particular?”

Two of them looked at each other.

Curt then said.

“Don’t piss off Johna.”

“Better not bother him at all.”

Judging from their expressions, they were scared of him.

‘Must be the guy downstairs.’

“Got it, thanks.”

“Good luck.”

Soon after they left, Mixen proceeded downstairs.

*Knock-Knock*

This time he knocked politely.

“Come in.”

Soon after Mixen came in, Johna looked at him and let out a bit of Killing Intent.

“I’m Jack, here as a replacement for guards’ shift.”

Johna suddenly launched something in Mixen’s direction.

*Thuk*

A dagger was stuck inside a wall.

It was easy for him to dodge, but he pretended to be surprised and a bit scared.

“W-What was that for!?”

Johna jumped out of his chair and rushed at Mixen.

For his disguise, Mixen had his old sword, because Dragon’s Pride doesn’t have a scabbard.

And now Mixen was blocking Johna’s attacks with the sheath for his Magic Sword.

“Why are you doing this!?”

“There isn’t supposed to be a replacement today.”

“This again! I was placed hurriedly!”

“Do not lie! I would be told via a Magic Letter!”

Things were looking bad.

However, there was no need for Mixen to panic, as he already knew what to say.

“And I also need to relay an important message from Boss to Johnatan!”

Attacks stopped.

Mixen was lucky to see Johna’s signature from the reflection on the cupboard.

It was an important letter it seems.

“...My real name is only known among higher-ups… It seems that you aren’t lying.”

Although Johna put his daggers away, he did not fully trust Jack, and Mixen knew that too.

“Phew. Do you attack every newbie like that?”

“...What is the message, speak.”

There was still some doubt in Johna’s eyes.

“...Boss simply wants you to take care of me.”

“What?”

Johna’s cold face finally showed some reaction.

It was easy to tell that the Boss in question would not say something like that.

“To be exact, he said that I have potential. And that I was too oblivious as to how things work in here… So he sent me to you.”

Johna nodded as if to himself, it made a lot more sense to him now.

‘...I can guess what kind of a person this Boss is.’

“...You do have talent… But why would the Boss recruit you himself? He never does that.”

A sharp glance. Mixen knew he was close to getting Johna’s trust.

‘This is a risk, but if my guess is correct…’

“It’s because of my passion.”

“Passion?”

“For the things we do. After all, Boss took me in after he saw that passion… I was lucky to meet him.”

Johna got touched by Mixen's words, by his deep look and by remembering the passion the Boss showed him.

“I see… To think there were believers outside our church…”

‘Got him…But religious fanatics? Really? Which god is it?’

“But… How did you come to become one? There are not many who know of our God.”

The question was similar to those he asked before, and yet the tone and atmosphere were different.

‘A forgotten god then? There were few cases I heard of, and the way they became believers…’

“A Revelation. Of course, I didn’t become an apostle… but he did take interest in me.”

After saying those words Johna opened his eyes wide.

“I… I didn’t know!”

He got on his knee and bowed.

Mixen was surprised.

Both inside and outside.

“Young Master!”

‘...This is weird.’

“Ah, no, no, stand up, please. There is no need for that. I’m a believer just like you.”

It felt strangely familiar for Mixen… He liked that he got so much trust so easily.

“No, don’t be humble, you aren’t the same as me, I don’t understand why you’re here at all.”

Before Johna started giving him more questions, he talked.

“I’m nobody’s Young Master, how can someone just turn up and get such an important position?”

Mixen smiled kindly while helping him up.

Soon after, Johna gasped.

“Then… Are you starting from the bottom to get our respect!? That’s so smart… as expected of our Boss.”

‘...This Boss must be a man full of ambitions. It’s hard to make such loyal subordinates without a strong character… But what is his goal? To establish a church? That would be hard, especially among humans…’

“Young Master?”

“Ah? Sorry, spaced out for a moment… and don’t call me that.”

“Then… Oh, considering our religion it would be better to call you Big Brother, right?”

.

.

.

What did you call me?

Johna felt a chill go down his spine.

Jack changed right in front of him.

“B-Big B-Brother?”

It was a surprise attack for Mixen.

He wasn't prepared.

Moreover, he was relaxed.

Everything was so peaceful lately, everything went his way... Or maybe he simply forgot.

Forgot to put up his defence.

...and as a result...

He remembered something he should’ve forgotten a long time ago…

No... it was forgotten... and yet... 

Now he remembers... again.

Never. call. me. that.

Everything about him changed at this moment.

His stare could pierce your soul.

His words came out as twisted… demonic.

And his face… it’s… It’s as if there was no face.

Just an endless abyss.

.

.

.

It was the first time in this world.

.

.

That **** truly lost hold of himself.

0