Chapter 38: Dance in the Shadows Part 2
Cass was having a headache recently more so about the cases going on in the royal capital, the cases were the warehouses and their treasuries were being emptied out by someone were increasing to an alarming degree. At this rate bankruptcy amongst nobles would be very common. This had begun to take place nothing short after the prodigies known as the Night Masquerade had situated themselves in the city. A coincidence with no grounds to stand on as they had been busy with their quests, they did any and every job perfectly. It was for this reason alone that made it difficult for anyone including her to believe that it would be them.
The crime scene was one that Cass would call a perfect crime done by someone who knew that there were people who were going to be coming after them. Clothes ripped to shreds, nothing but wraps of skin left behind, the lack of blood on the scene made it all the more difficult to tell whether they were killed by monsters or by swords. Not even the flesh was seen on the scene.
“This is rather strange, just what is killing these gangs?”
Cass asked with no answer being returned to her, she sighed as she had to write this up in her report. The knights who gathered around began to ward the place off so it could be searched thoroughly and cleaned. Her full name was Cassandra Everly Elizabeth, a young and very stubborn knight who felt like it was true might that justice be served to those who deserved it thus getting into trouble with her seniors often.
It was due to her rigid justice filled character that she was stuck in the same position and never any higher that is to say a squire of all sorts but she was a squire with a lot of earned respect from the people and those who worked with her and didn’t dislike her. She had gorgeous blonde hair with blue eyes which were filled with determination, wearing the blue and red knight armor of her nation naturally.
Cass arrives inside of her office and looked into the files of the cases once more and sighed as she reported them back to her superior Sir Harold Kingsley who was lazy, sloven and most to the point unknightly she did feel like he would be better off a merchant than a knight but that was just her complaining due to her being in a lower position than him after all.
She walked towards his office knocking on it before being told to come in, the office was spotless clean but had the scent of a pig inside, Harold although he was fit as a fiddle he was more like a warthog than anything less with a huge bolder like body, his sword skill was more like a barbarian swinging a huge club and had rough thuggish aura overflowing from his body.
“Here are the reports that you asked for, Sir Kingsley”
“Good good, hmmmm well done for your hard work. Do you mind going out for a drink with me Cassandra?”
“I would like to decline the offer there are still some paperwork I have yet to deal with. These all need to be done unless you want to be the one who wants to deal with them yourself Sir Kingsley?”
“I-I would never want to deter you from your work Cassandra. Relaxing is a good thing too!”
She had to lie with a fake business like smile on her face because she saw unbridled lust he was showing, his eyes were directed at her breasts and body, his gaze was licking her up and it disgusted her. Nepotism was a horrible thing, Cass thought as she decided it was time for her to exit the room.
“Excuse me for my callousness proceed to do your job, maybe one day I will take you out as thanks.”
“I am delighted to hear that, Sir Kingsley.”
She was rather not because there had been many events where she was supposed to be drugged and such but she avoided those by declining every single time or going home early to stop any events that might come. As usual today was the same as any day except for the usual headaches of having to shake off pursuers and reach her house without any incident, Cass was tired and looked for any spots for magic gas leaking. Whoever the Abyss’ End were they had shaken up nobility to the extent that they were in panic mode. She fell on her bed sighing as she also had to cook food for the night.
The thoughts were swirling in her head like never before. Just when did all of this hunting begin? Was it when she pushed back against her higher ups who didn’t want her to nose too much into cases they said she should stop looking into because they would leave a bad stink on their public image. Or was it the fact she valued in actually maintaining order instead of just keeping the pockets of nobles lined up? She didn’t quite know. The Abyss’ End did do one thing right, they made sure no one was safe from their theft and bloodshed.
“You are fairly cautious”
She heard an alluring voice come from within the living room, there was a woman sitting on a sofa that wasn’t there before. Everything about her was just so luxurious and excessively proud that she had to commend her effort in style. She was wearing hood which succeeded in wrapping the shadows around her but couldn’t hide her curves as a fine point and crimson eyes that gleamed out of the darkness of that hood. She could see that this woman was more than extraordinary due to her lack of openings holding a book of all things in her right hand and a glass of wine in her other twirling it with satisfaction. Cass reached for her sword and pointed it at the intruder despite her intuition telling her she would not only lose her life but the lives of everyone around her. It didn’t stop her guard from being infinitely raised though.
“What is your intention in coming here?Who are you”
“Mine identity is something thou is very familiar with.”
“Abyss’ End”
“Precisely”
She replied with an oozing confidence rather proud of her identity of the person solely responsible for terrorizing both nobility and the underworld. For brevity’s sake Cass was going to refer to this person as Abyss, this person was rather really lax for coming to the house of a squire who was capable of arresting her. But then again Abyss was infinitely more powerful than her and she could cause a scene like the one she was now getting used to seeing at the criminal organization bases.
“The reason why I came here is to tell thee, how long will your luck last at this rate? One day thou will surely loosen thoust guard. And those who want to have their way with thou will have thou in their terrible hands.”
The truth had laid itself bare in front of Cass, she couldn’t keep running away forever. One day she had to come face to face with the nation’s overwhelming corruption and whatever she did it had to matter. After a brief silence she had to enquire about it.
“What are you talking about? What do you even mean”
“The day when thou shall lose everything is nigh, when the time comes thou will know what to do. This bell will be here for that event.”
Abyss disappeared just as she came without a trace that it felt like she was never in the house in the first place. This warning as well as this bell meant something big was going to happen rather soon. She had to keep it in her heart and be very careful on how she was going to walk from this point forward.
🌹
“They are running scared aren’t they?”
“Of course they are, these um Dark Matter are the perfect alibi. Mother is rather unique”
“You can say weird and strange we don’t mind. You shouldn’t too”
The Dark Matter were completing a multitude of quests for them, making things simpler for them. They could focus on terrorizing nobility until they found their person, the underworld was stirring in fear as it was now troubled by a new threat that could expose all of it like an old log being lifted up. The trio were with Liz, Beth and Wynter who were with their Dark Matter counterparts which made things a tad awkward.
“These past few days were a lot of work”
“………….agreed”
This all began because they were eavesdropping and now they were dropped into a world of shadows and power that they couldn’t have imagined if they went alone by themselves then they could have been dead in the woods or slaves. They begun their operations about five days ago which made it all the more clear just how much work they were putting in on covering up for the trio.
“All this for ice cream”
“………..for pudding”
The only thing pushing them forwards was food. Yes, they were impressed by anything else other than the food they were introduced to such treats by Kuroe and Shiro. Arisa enjoyed chocolate bars, the Dark Matter who had managed to recreate these had entranced all of them with these heavenly snacks were praised greatly by Yukiyo, her family and the twins.
“So what is the next plan?”
“We may need to help our little investigator knight”
“Why?”
Liz answered honestly because to her it didn’t make sense why they would need to do that. In the first place they didn’t feel a sense of obligation to even committing to helping her out.
“With how much we stirring up the underworld, the corrupt idiots will try to sweep the good people under the rug because it is easier to blame someone. And like that we gain a new comrade, I am pretty sure you know what I mean”
“We don’t”
“Allow me to elaborate”
Arisa puffed up her chest with a smile on her face. Liz and Beth cutely tilted their heads to the side, Wynter remarked in her head that they looked like dogs which were slightly confused about something.
“The corrupt nobles and knights are going to use Cassandra as a scapegoat and she will be executed for crimes she didn’t commit to divert the attention away from them and to her. They will say all of the theft and bloodshed we are doing is done by her and her family.”
“How cruel”
“Humans are very ruthless sweetie, don’t worry I have already somewhat moved her family elsewhere.”
Beth breathed a sigh of relief whilst Liz who asked the question in the first place relaxed knowing that the people she didn’t initially care about were safe with Arisa. With a smug expression she folds her hands and leans in forward.
“I want to do it in the most flashy way possible to send a message”
“What do you have in mind Arisa-oneechan?”
“We may need those Dark Matter after all”
Arisa was enjoying herself thoroughly more than she initially had when she was the ruler of the vampires and now she knew exactly how to lure out their prey by using this knight.
♘
Something was rather off about today, it felt very ominous as she walked down the hallway with her heart beating in a slow drum like fashion. She held her sword with a firm grip and began to pass everyone who was giving her death stares. Harold had called her up for something, she didn’t go investigate anything nor have any documents she needed to submit to him which made it all the more suspicious. Cass opened the door and checked around for her fat superior who was just stood by the window looking at the street below.
“Beautiful isn’t it?”
“Yes it is, you called me here for what reason I may ask?”
“Well it is unfortunate to say that the investigation concerning the murders of the criminal organizations have been put on hold until further notice”
“What? Why? Abyss’ End is still out there masquerading as a hero and they are going to do even more than this!”
Harold breathed a sigh as he turned around to stare at her with a rather pleased expression on his face.
“You were always so oblivious to your surroundings and quite a pain in the ass for everyone involved Cassandra. A rough woman with a rather high sense of values even those who sit in bigger places see you as dangerous. Really I do not know what more I can ask for.”
Cass’ face tensed up as soon as he made such remarks about her. The question wasn’t even why he was saying this but what had occurred for him to come out with his desires in full display like this. He was barely containing his lust at this point.
“Now then I will be clear. My superiors have decided to separate Abyss’ End into two crimes, theft and murder within the capital. We are placing the crime of theft on you.”
Cass could feel the pit of her stomach fall, the silence was so powerful one could hear a needle drop in the next room. Those corrupt bastards were going to make her into a scapegoat for the crimes they couldn’t keep up with. They chose to sacrifice her and she knew exactly what that meant for her.
“As of right now you have two options: 1. Go on all fours and lick my boots declaring you are my slave. I cannot guarantee the lives of your family, we still need to make an example out of someone obviously. 2. Get executed as soon as you leave that door. Choose but I know that the earlier is the best choice for the both of us really hehehehehehehehe”
Under his expectations Cass walked towards him and submitted her body to the action of kneeling, he could imagine it vividly how he was going to enjoy her at night time, humiliate her, break that firm pride of hers and turn her into a pitiful sow. This very hard to get bitch was going to be his, but he soon asked himself why his body was now higher than him as blood was spurting from the neck as it twitched in utter fear with Cass smiling as she crushed his face in with her heel. Due to his large amount of life force he could feel every bit of it and he watched his headless body hobble forward for a moment before being splattered on the ground.
Cass would rather die than become this man’s plaything. She decided to search his office for documents that she could then use against nobility and the higher ups. And rightfully with the correct amount of time she had gathered all of them. They were well hidden using magic and secret compartments. Her following actions were all done in quick succession after another. She throws the body of the pig out of the window, sprinting out of the office decapitating Harold’s goons, in full speed she continues to cut down all of those who are in her way, finally in the reception area she smiles as she knows that this was going to be breeze as all she had to do was vanish from the face of the world. The walls of the room change and appear to trap her as the door disappears with the windows being left behind but they too were protected by the golem knights who secured them, several elite knights emerged from the ground with swords pointing at Cass.
“Give up Cassandra Everly Elizabeth you are under arrest for actions that worthy for instant execution, do anymore and-“
Cass took the moment to ring the bell given to her by Abyss and surely enough the sound of something roaring could be heard from that instant as one of the elites stopped talking just to hear what it was. The wall shatters into pieces along with the golem knights installed there, much to her riding on top of some kind of two wheeled magic vehicle is the lady who told her of this very event, Abyss. With the constant growling of this item she rides she pulls out another item that reduces the golems into rubble and the elite knights into minced making just enough room to make a gap for Cass.
“I, thoust knight in blackest armor has come to deliver thou from thine troubles”
“Abyss!”
“Hop on we don’t have much time”
She jumped onto the magic vehicle that began to roar again as Abyss made it charge out of the building through the window with incredible speed. Cass doesn’t know how long it was with her hugging her back, it was to the extent she fell asleep the rapidly changing environment was so beautiful she fell softly into dreamland.
“So that’s what you meant by flashy.”
“Yes.”
“You just wanted to play a knight in shining armor didn’t you?”
“S-Such falsehood! Tis all a part of the plan! Mother please believe me!”
“Nah you wanted to look cool, hence why all of the shadow organization shit. I get it the sense of chuunibyo hit hard. My daughter I am so proud that you too have gone through this phase.”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I WISH I DIDN’T COME UP WITH THIS PLAN AND JUST MURDERED EVERYONE IN MINE WAY!”
“I AM PROUD OF YOU!”
She could hear voices but she wasn’t clear on who was talking. It was a wonderful conversation between mother and child. But she couldn’t quite understand the emotions behind it all, feeling that this might be very awkward Cass kept on sleeping. And just like that Arisa avoided being very very embarrassed for a very long time.
Well it's fixed now