Chapter 7: Report

 

 

That evening around 5 pm…

“I’ve returned.”

Riley walked through the front door of the mansion and announced his presence in a whisper.

“Welcome back,” Simon said from his position on the couch, his nose still in his book.

“Did anything happen while I was away, Simon?”

“Yes, in fact. Assassins came.”

“Assassins? Were they taken care of?” Riley tilted his head with his usual expression.

“There were a lot, but they were nothing special.”

“I see. Is everybody safe?”

“Nobody was injured in the slightest.”

“That’s good.”

As they conversed, loud footsteps could be heard from the second floor growing louder and louder as they reached the staircase. “Is that Master Riley? You’re back!!!”

Riley caught Zaria as she jumped from the top of the stairs all the way to the door. “Yep, all safe and sound,” he replied with a smile.

“Master Riley, listen to this! Some assassins came trying to kill us, so we destroyed them, but they ruined my plans last night! They were so mean! They had some nerve doing this on a special night for me! I made sure to show them what for!”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, yeah! They had no consideration! Also, what happened to your clothes? Why are they ripped on the ends? And why is there a scratch on your ear?”

Zaria was speaking so fast that Riley was having a hard time keeping up. That said, when she asked this, he had her step back so he could look at himself. Even Simon, who heard this, looked up at Riley.

Like Zaria had said, Riley’s clothes were in tatters. The gray cloak he had was gone, and the ends of the sleeves and his pants were shredded. There were also some tears along the rest of his clothes, and his shoes were gone completely. His silver hair was down, his glasses were missing, and there was a scratch on his ear, something most people would overlook.

Fortunately, Riley still had his gun, holstered in the usual spot.

“Master Riley, did you perhaps run into enemies while you were there?” Simon asked as he placed a bookmark in his book.

“I did. It turned out that my suspicions were both correct and incorrect.”

“Then someone was waiting in that town?”

“Yeah. We should have this discussion with everyone. Zaria. Can you gather everyone in the living room for me?”

“Yes, sir!” she saluted with a big grin. Then she ran off as quickly as she could to get everyone else.

“Simon, you can tell me what happened here first once everyone’s arrived.”

“Yes, sir.”

After about ten minutes, everyone was sitting in the living room save for Hombell, Annika, Rosa, Maria, and Marietta. Edna also wasn’t in here, but according to Zaria, she would be making her way here very soon.

Naturally, Sierra, who had finally woken up a short time ago, stood by Riley’s side, wearing the dress she wore before.

“Is this everyone?” Riley looked around the room, but it didn’t take him long to realize that someone was missing. He knew that Marietta was watching over Rosa, and he was aware why Annika and Maria weren’t there, but there was someone else who should have been there. “Where’s Hombell?”

“She’s handling the prisoners,” Silas said.

“You mean the assassins that Simon mentioned?”

“Yep. She insisted that she should be the one to keep them in check.”

“Then I take it that she’s playing around with them right now.” Knowing Hombell, Riley had already guessed she might have decided to use these people as her new victims.

“We separated the surviving assassins between those she could play with and those she shouldn’t touch, but anyone that she captured herself, we couldn’t do anything about,” Simon explained.

“That’s good, but you said surviving? How many died?”

“According to Sierra, 86.”

That was a large number for assassins, Riley thought. For most people, more than five would be overkill, and it was extremely sloppy at that. Still, he didn’t know the situation.

“And the bodies?”

“Sierra took care of them.”

“Sierra slept all day because she exhausted all of her Ether last night,” Silas said. “She just woke up, so she’s probably still a little tired.”

Riley turned to look at Sierra. “Is that so? Are you feeling better now, Sierra?”

Sierra nodded her head to his question signifying that she was okay, but the look on her face clearly showed that she was tired. She really must have exerted herself too much last night.

“Sit down, Sierra. If you feel tired, go ahead and relax. No need to keep standing.”

Sierra’s expression was complex. She wanted to keep standing by his side, being a proper servant to her master, but he was telling her to sit. She felt like this was a breach of protocol. She already felt bad for sleeping most of the day away.

“No need to keep exerting yourself, Sierra. You’re fine to take a seat.” Riley said this with a warm smile and with such kindness that Sierra found it hard to refuse him, so she finally compromised and took a seat beside Simon.

Seeing his interaction with Sierra, Wyatt’s expression hardened, remembering what he’d spoken of earlier with Zara and the others.

“Riley!” From the entrance of the living room, Edna yelled at her brother and stomped her way to him. “It’s about damn time you came back! You left without saying a word to me! How could you not say anything before you left! That’s so rude!”

Riley innocently smiled when he saw her pouty face. “But I did. We talked in the library.”

“That doesn’t count, and you know it! You could have at least told me bye or something! I’m your sister, and I deserve better!”

The others in the room chuckled wryly at their interaction and how he handled his sister.

“If I’d told you I was leaving, you would’ve insisted on coming with me.”

“Grr! So? Even if I did, it’s better than you leaving silently!”

“No, because if you’d persuaded me to bring you with me, I guarantee you would have died.”

“What does that mean?! I can handle myself!”

“Not this time.” 

This time, Riley’s expression became serious. Edna took note of this and sat down beside him, relaxing her arm on the arm of the couch and sitting with one leg over the other. “What do you mean?”

The sudden shift in Edna caught the others by surprise. They all expected her to keep nagging at him and argue back that she was strong. Instead, she seemed to realize that Riley went up against something strange. Considering how long she knew Riley, perhaps she knew when to take him seriously, but even so, the change was still so sudden to the others.

“Now that you mention it, Big Brother, what happened to your clothes?”

“She’s right, Master Riley. You seem fine like usual, but it looks like you had quite the encounter.”

“Since you look like that, then that means there was somebody at Nearbran then?”

“Did you walk into a trap?”

Elice, Zara, Elijah, and Joy asked these questions one after another, but Riley merely raised his hands as if holding them off.

“Hold on, I’ll tell you what happened in just a moment.”

Riley held out one of his hands in front of him, his palm aimed at the ground. “Shadow Casting: Schattenrede.”

From the floor, his shadow grew in a cone shape before rounding out like an orb at the top.

“Aah! Aah! Aah! Stop! Please! I beg you!”

“Oh, shut up! Take it like a man! Don’t be a bitch!”

As soon as the spell was completed, though, questionable sounds came from the other side of the shadow, leaving everyone in the room thoroughly disturbed..

“Was that… Hombell?”

“What exactly is she… doing?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s for the better that you don’t know…”

Wyatt and Rain both asked rather dubiously, while Silas scratched his temple and responded to them.

“I don’t know if I should feel bad for those guys or not…”

“Mmm…” Meanwhile, Elice’s and Joy’s faces were an unbelievably deep red as they heard these sounds.

“Definitely sounds like she’s having herself some fun.”

“Sounds like she’s happy.”

“Haah.”

“I feel terrible for whoever she’s got her hands on…”

“…”

Edna seemed rather indifferent while Zaria seemed disgruntled and Simon sighed. Elijah also commented on his pity and disgust, and Zara could feel a nervous bead of sweat roll down his forehead.

“You let someone like that serve you?!”

“…”

“Isn’t she just a child?”

“Forget that, what exactly is she doing to them?!”

For the first time since they’d arrived, Stefan and Blanch both seemed completely terrified. Naturally, Sierra was silent, but she was trying to hide the small grin forming from the sides of her lips. Darius, naturally, was the one who asked the important question.

Having decided he’d heard enough from both Hombell’s side and the peanut gallery, Riley spoke. “Hombell.”

“Ah, Riley, are you back?!”

“Gah!”

The sound of the man on the other side being tossed aside like trash seemed to resonate poorly with the people in the room as they all had strange expressions.

“U-Umm, please don’t tell me you… h-heard that?”

“…I did,” Riley replied awkwardly.

How the hell can this man keep a straight face? the others wondered.

“No! I didn’t want you to hear that! Please forget you heard anything! Please, please, please, please!” she begged frantically.

“…Look, Michaela. We’ll agree that we heard nothing.”

We all clearly did! everyone else thought.

“Oh, thank you!”

“That aside, I am back. I’ve heard that some assassins-”

“Yep. There were a bunch of them, so I got new toys!”

“…I can tell.”

Toys, the others thought in terror.

“Go ahead and come back up here. Bring anyone you think would be willing to answer my questions.”

“Yes, sir! I know two such people! I’ll get us ready, and then we’ll be right up!”

“We’ll be waiting in the living room.”

“Right!”

With their conversation over, Riley canceled the spell, leaving the shadow to return to the ground. When Riley looked at the others, he could see that they still couldn’t quite get over what they’d just heard.

“I’m so glad that that was sound only. I couldn’t imagine how much pain we’d be in if we saw what she was doing to them.”

“““Agreed.”””

All of the guys seemed to agree with Silas’ sentiment. All the women in the room couldn’t even bring themselves to face any of the men after hearing that.

“Well, that aside,” Riley said, changing the topic, “why don’t you all tell me what went down while I was gone.”

After that, his servants and Darius explained the whole thing. Summarized, Simon and Silas heard from Jensen that assassins were planning to attack. When he heard that, Simon came up with a plan to divide and conquer the enemy, using Hombell as bait and by having everyone spread out across every floor. In under half an hour, everyone was either killed or captured.

“Intriguing,” Riley muttered. “It’s not surprising that I’ve got enemies, but targeting the people around me is a death sentence. Were you able to learn anything from the men you defeated?”

“Yeah, actually.” Silas leaned forward. “Before I confronted my batch of losers, they were saying how they weren’t here because they wanted to be. Apparently, they were there to keep an eye on the others from going overboard. But apparently, they were seen as troublesome and were grouped together.”

“Hmm.” If that was the case, then Riley concluded that this may not have been a hired job but a personal one. It may have just been a gathering of like-minded people who wanted to get rid of him and his friends for one reason or another. If so, then he could leave whoever started it to Hombell and be done with it.

Still, he didn’t believe it to be so simple. He had plenty of experience to know that nothing was as simple as it seemed.

“I’m glad you all left some to be set away from Hombell. I can handle those guys later. But what about the guys who died?”

“I killed one because he crossed a line. Many of the others were just unfortunate…”

They were warned.

“They were intruding, so I handled them accordingly.”

“Hey, I was just protecting your house. They chose to die when they busted in.”

“Those assholes interrupted my plans last night! So I had to reschedule! I made sure they knew what they did wrong before they died!”

Riley’s servants and Edna gave the honest truth. They were just doing what they felt was right. …Except for Zaria.

“Reschedule?”

“Ah! Forget I said that, please!” Zaria yelled, flustered.

“I-I’m back. S-Sorry it took s-so long.”

Behind Riley, a mass of darkness rose from the ground, revealing Hombell with a shy grin with two others. As soon as she appeared, there was an awkward silence in the room as everyone turned away from her.

How can you come up here looking like a porcelain doll that just got cleaned after we heard all that?! everyone thought. Aside from the grin, her skin was practically glistening as if she’d just washed herself off.

“I take it that you’ve been… busy?” Riley asked.

“Yep. I-I’ve finally gotten new toys after so long!”

“…Well I guess it’s better than your wandering around town at night.”

Hombell walked forward with the two people she brought with her. As she sat down comfortably, Riley got a good look at the two.

These two were a pair of ladies dressed in gowns. Knowing Hombell, Riley guessed she’d put them in them. I guess these two were no exception to Hombell’s toys.

Riley looked over them properly. The slightly taller and more endowed one had fair skin and long blue hair that was tied in a braid, hanging over her shoulder. Though, it looked rather messier than it should have been. Her face also looked like it was somewhat dignified, but her expression was that of a broken person. Her eyes were practically dead, she was barely holding herself up, and she was trembling in fear, her head pointed down.

The other girl was slightly smaller than her and looked very dirty. She had a full head of really long hair. Most of it was a darker shade of pink that faded into purple from just above her shoulders and on. Most of her face was hidden by her hair, too, aside from a small sliver that let her closed eye become visible. Similar to the blue-haired girl, she was also shivering in fear, her eyes clamped shut and her hands held to her chest.

Poor girl. Riley felt a sense of pity for her. She’d likely had a rough life, but now Hombell had her?

Still, when he saw her, Riley thought something was off about her. He couldn’t place it, but he knew that there was something strange.

“So Hombell, who are these ladies?”

As soon as Riley spoke, both of them jumped. He could even hear one of them whimper. I guess it makes sense for them to be afraid of me. If they came here to kill him, fail miserably, then get toyed with by only one of his subordinates, and then they were suddenly brought before the boss, their original target? How else should they have reacted?

“Oh, well they were part of the group that came after me. I don’t know their names. I played around with the taller one, but I figured you’d want to take a look at the other one, so I haven’t touched her.”

“Oh? Gah!”

Nearby, Silas let out a strange sound of interest, only to be smacked upside the head by Simon.

“Okay, I understand, but if that’s the case, why did you bring them both?”

“This one apparently came as her guardian or something. These two may be connected to someone important, so I figured both of them should be here.”

Someone important? “So they’re important. Are either of them the leader of the group?”

“No, I doubt it. Especially not the dirty one. I think you’ll understand why.”

The way Hombell was talking, it made it sound like the one girl wasn’t capable of leading the group. As they were now, that may indeed have been true, but Hombell seemed to think it was for another reason.

“Okay then.” Riley stood up and turned to the young women. “You two, come here please.”

Reluctantly, the two obeyed and stood in front of Riley. First, he observed the taller one, but there didn’t seem to be anything strange about her. Her eyes seemed dead, but that was probably because of Hombell.

Riley turned his attention to the other girl instead. She was dirty, that much was true, but aside from that, there didn’t seem to be-

Wait a minute…

Riley looked closer at the girl’s face. He could barely see past her hair, but had a suspicion that he could confirm with a closer look. He raised his hand and brought it up to the girl, yet in response, she jerked backwards instinctively. This is more than just fear. She’s been traumatized.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said gently. “I just want to get a better look at your face.”

Before she could respond to him, Riley used his hand to gently move her bangs aside, getting a good look at her face.

So cute!

She’s quite the looker!

Grr, I’m so jealous!

The other all had thoughts along this line, and none of them were wrong. Though her expression was still caked in fear, she looked like an idol. Even the Summons agreed that if this was their world that she would be on the fronts of magazines.

“Open your eyes, please,” he requested.

Hesitantly, the girl opened her eyes, looking directly at the man before her. So I was right. They were Ruby red. She’s cursed.

“You weren’t here because you wanted to be,” Riley muttered, causing the girl’s expression to somewhat lighten and tears to form in the corners of her eyes. But because of her trauma, she wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t speak. She was still afraid that if she did, she would feel pain. That she would be beaten.

“~~~~, Reveal.”

This spell was a derivative of Peering Conjuring. Ordinarily, Peering allows a person to see the Ether that flows in the world and in another person. However, this spell brought to light the effects of conjurings. For example, as soon as Riley activated the spell, the girl’s eyes glowed for a moment, and black markings reminiscent of Annika’s suddenly appeared on her face and forehead.

“This is a Slave Brand.” 

Except for Hombell, Simon, and Elice, everyone was surprised to learn this.

“Wait, like Annika?” Elijah asked.

“So she was forced to come here then,” Joy muttered.

“Jeez, talk about some bad luck,” Silas spoke casually.

“That really is rather bad for her,” Darius said.

Riley took a step backward and held up his hand. “Space Casting: Pocket Dimension.”

When the small crack in space suddenly appeared above his hand, he slightly startled the girls. Paying them no mind, he pulled out his glasses. Swiping his hair back so that it wasn’t hanging in his face, he put on his glasses and observed the girl.

“I see. You’re very fortunate. It seems your curse is weaker than mine is, though only ever so slightly.” I probably wouldn’t be able to do anything if I hadn’t taken Queen Isabelle’s curse.

They were confused by what he meant, but when Elice heard it, she immediately knew what was coming. Just like with my mother?

Riley stepped to the side and offered the girl his seat. “Please, sit down.”

Naturally, she reluctantly obeyed. The girl with the dead eyes suddenly regained some light when she saw this and suddenly felt like something bad was coming. “W-What are… you doing?” she asked fearfully.

“I’m going to free her from her curse.”

Their eyes widened greatly at his words. “W-What?”

“Y-You can free her?!” The girl reacted much more at this statement and stepped forward, hope having refilled her eyes.

“I can.” The two felt relieved, but that was promptly replaced by worry. “However, the process may be painful for you.” The dirty girl stiffened up. “If you’re willing to push through the pain, I can release you from your slavery.”

The dirty girl looked perplexed. Should she have him release her from her slavery? It was ideal, and she always hated it, so that was the answer she wanted to say. She wanted to say yes.

But she was afraid of pain. She grew up with it, and it always tormented her. If it would follow her even should she be given a chance to be free, was it worth it? She wanted to say yes, but the words weren’t coming to her mouth.

“I-I…”

Riley seemed to see her confliction and turned to the other girl. “What do you think she should do?”

“She should say yes! Please, free her! I beg you!”

She didn’t hesitate to answer or throw herself to the floor and bow her head.

“Her family is worthless scum who turned her into a slave because they thought of her as a failure! Because she was a woman, because she wasn’t as smart as them, because she wasn’t as strong as them, because she couldn’t keep up with them! Those bastards beat her relentlessly! She still has bruises all over her body!”

Riley turned back to look at the girl. Though it was well hidden by the gown she was wearing, he could faintly see the edges of bruises on her arms and legs. What scum…

“They hired me to make sure nobody knew about her, and then they tossed her into this mission as a way to make her useful or to kill her! They even wanted me to teach her how to kill! I hate those bastards! I’m even willing to slaughter the whole family myself! So please! Set her free! Even if it hurts, if she can be free, it will be worth it!”

The woman’s words seemed to resonate with most of the people in the room. It was all so familiar to them. Undeserved suffering.

Riley smiled at the girl. “I am perfectly willing to release her,” he said, turning his head to her friend. “But it’s up to her if she wants to be free.”

The dirty girl stared at the bowing woman with a look of both despair and hope, watching as she shed tears and begged Riley to help her. How, she thought, could she be worrying about pain at a time like this when she was being given a choice to be free? Hesitating like this was like an insult.

Building up her courage, the dirty girl squeezed her fists tightly together, allowed her tears to fall, and looked up at Riley. “Please! Please free me!”

Riley smiled like a Saint as he looked into her eyes. Seeing this made the girl feel warmth again. The fear she had of the man was gone. Like she had thought, this man was a saint.

“As you wish.” Riley placed his hand on her shoulder. “Brace yourself. This will hurt.”

“I-I’m ready!” she declared, gripping tightly to the couch she was sitting on, clamping her eyes shut, and turning her head away from Riley.

Taking this as his sign to begin, Riley released a black goop from his hand and let it wrap itself around most of her torso.

“What the hell?”

“What is that supposed to be?!”

Stefan and Blanch both showed their surprise visibly.

The blue-haired girl raised her head and showed equal surprise. Though she was confused, she didn’t dare question his methods. If he was confident this would work, then she had every faith that he knew what he was doing.

“Aah!” And so it began. The black goop emanated a red glow, squeezing onto the girl and causing her to moan in pain. She couldn’t help but feel a stabbing pain, as if something was being torn from inside of her.

“That’s our Master’s curse at work!” Zaria explained cheerfully. “He can eat other curses!”

“Eat?” Wyatt asked dubiously.

“That’s a rather vile way of describing it, Zaria.”

“Oh shut up! I don’t want to hear that from you!”

“Perhaps, but you can’t deny that you could have said it a little better than that.”

“I can say it however I want to say it! You don’t have any right to correct me, brother!”

Zaria spat her words with spite, causing Zara to seem hurt by her words. She didn’t want his opinion at all. This left an odd impression on both Elice and Elijah.

“Knock it off, you two. Master Riley needs to concentrate,” Simon chided.

“…Fine.”

“Right.”

With that, their attention returned to Riley, who was silently using his power. The girl’s eyes were pouring tears as he worked to break the curse, releasing painful moans.

“Nngh!”

“…Those moans sound so good…” Hombell muttered.

The blue-haired girl backed away from her when she heard this, only vaguely remembering the pain and emotions she had experienced for hours that morning.

“Enough out of you, Hombell,” Silas said with a sigh. You’re making me think terrible and wonderful thoughts.

“This one’s a strong curse, but… There!”

With one last effort, the goop from Riley’s hand squeezed much harder.

“Aah!” The wail of pain was half silenced as the goop finally began pulling away from her body. When it finally returned to Riley’s hand, the girl slumped to the ground and fainted.

“Sophia!”

The blue-haired girl rushed to the other girl’s, Sophia’s, side and held up her head. She had fainted, but she quickly regained consciousness and slowly opened her eyes. For a moment, the mark that stained her face appeared before practically peeling away, turning into red Ether particles.

And when the blue-haired girl stared into Sophia’s Ruby red eyes, she watched as the red faded away and changed to light pink.

“…You’re free,” she whispered.

“I-I… am?”

“You’re free. You’re free!”

“Nngh!”

The girl wrapped her arms around Sophia and squeezed her tightly, knocking the wind out of her and causing her pain.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“T-Too tight!”

Riley watched with a smile and let them be for just a moment. 

“He really freed her of the curse.”

“Amazing!”

“So this is how he cured our mother…”

“Eerie, yet impressive.”

Those who had never seen this before were astounded to see his curse in action. Even Stefan and Blanch were speechless.

After a few minutes, Sophia spoke up.

“Miss Josephine… I… want to stand,” Sophia grunted out. It was clear that she would remain sore after that whole ordeal. She’ll have to rest for a few days.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, please.”

The blue-haired girl, Josephine, took Sophia by the hand and helped her to her feet. Though thanks to the pain, Josephine had to pull her arm over her shoulder to help her up.

Now, Sophia and Josephine were standing face to face with Riley. Sophia’s hair still fell back in front of her face, so only the one eye was visible. Still, Sophia made sure not to avert her eyes. After all… This man is my savior. My hero.

“Miss Josephine, help me bow.” The two bowed deeply before him. “Thank you so very much for freeing me! I can’t tell you how happy this makes me!”

“No, it’s no trouble at all.”

The two straightened out again.

“Go ahead and take a seat.”

“B-But wouldn’t that be rude to you?” Sophia asked worriedly.

“Not at all. I can’t imagine how much pain you’re in, but I imagine that it would be quite the struggle to remain standing as you are now.”

Though she agreed, she was reluctant to do so. Still, since he offered, Josephine helped her sit down, and she sat beside her in the last remaining seat.

With no seats remaining, Riley sat down on the arm of one of the couches opposite to them.

Still, one person in the room seemed decidedly bored. “Okay, welp. I guess that’s all you’ll need out of me,” Hombell said, standing from her own seat. “I’m going to go back and play now, so please don’t disturb me.” Yet again, her mood seemed to change. She wasn’t timid now. She was ready to have fun.

Hearing her like this made Sophia and Josephine extremely nervous, and they both jumped backward.

“Oh, you two. No need to fret. If you ever want to have fun with me again, just ask!” She winked at them, causing them to shiver in fear. Especially Josephine.

“Hehe. Shadow Casting: Dark Embrace.”

With a cute yet creepy giggle, Hombell surrounded herself with the shadows and allowed it to swallow her into the floor.

The room was left in an awkward silence after that, but fortunately it didn’t last long.

“All right then,” Riley began. “How about you tell me your names?”

“U-Umm, okay then.” Clearing her throat, Sophia introduced herself and Josephine. “My name is Sophia Baham, the only daughter of Marquis Baham. This is Josephine de Peur of the fallen Viscount de Peur family.”

As soon as he heard these names, Riley immediately recognized them. “Baham and de Peur from Keres Kingdom’s nobility?”

“Y-Yes, that’s right.”

“Huh…” That tells me all I need to know, but I may as well have them give me the whole story. “Okay then. How did you two end up on an assassination mission?”

“I, uh…”

“Don’t worry, Sophia. Let me answer the questions.”

“O-Okay.”

“As you may know, the de Peur family fell from grace nearly twenty years ago.”

It was common knowledge that the de Peur family in Keres Kingdom was a supporter of the old king. Before his reign came to an end, he had many followers that had all kinds of cruel streaks.

“Right.”

“Well, shortly after the family was executed, a servant of the family found me and ran away with me. She was eventually caught by the kingdom’s forces and killed, but not before she could hand me off to someone else. This person raised me as a member of the Assassin’s Guild and hid me from the kingdom.”

The Assassin’s Guild? They were behind this? But shouldn’t a job like this be against their codes and standards?

“As I grew, I became an integral member of the guild, and I was responsible for many deaths. Suffice it to say that I was making up for all of my family’s mistakes by ending anyone who abused their power to make others suffer.”

What motives, Riley thought sarcastically.

“Eventually, a friend of the de Peur family, the current head of the Baham family, found me and paid me to “bodyguard” their daughter, as they put it. I didn’t like any of them, but they offered me a lot of money, so I ended up accepting their offer. This was almost half a year ago.

“I ended up discovering the real meaning of bodyguarding their daughter when I stumbled into her room. They wanted me to keep an eye on her and make sure nobody found out she existed. They didn’t want any blemishes on their name, like say enslaving and abusing their only daughter, one they deemed a failure. At the time, I couldn’t do anything because I was afraid of what would happen if they activated her curse. They could use that against me if I were to try anything against them. So I intended to wait for an opportune time so that I could kill them all myself.”

This was definitely quite the tale, but some of the people in the room were starting to think the same thing. What does this story have to do with the assassination attempt last night?

“I waited for six months until my opportunity finally arrived. Marquis Baham had a very hostile view towards one of the country’s margraves.”

Riley quickly put together what she was implying. “So Marquis Baham posted an assignment with the Assassin’s Guild?”

“Yes, sir. He had me send a request to the guild since he knew I was technically a member when he hired me. I was against it since I had heard nothing particularly bad about you, and I knew that the Assassin’s Guild would never take the assignment… Or at least I thought they wouldn’t.

“Apparently, Margrave Murus was a member of the guild. Though you never gave your name, people recognized you as one of the most dangerous members as well as a personal friend to the guildmaster. Myself aside, most of the guild knew you as The Nonexistent.”

“The Nonexistent…?” Riley found himself nonplussed by yet another nickname. Why do I keep getting called such stupid and pretentious names?

“So Riley, you’re also an assassin are you…” Edna snuck up behind Riley with an evil aura.

“…I needed the connections.”

“Sure, sure, sure. That’s why you couldn’t come visit your sister in Crestfall.”

The evil grin planted on Edna’s face managed to intimidate some of the others, but fortunately, the story was able to continue as Edna used a claw-like grip to squeeze Riley’s head.

“I brought a letter to the guild where it was immediately snatched by an old veteran member. It took no time at all for him to accept it. I was shocked that he took it, but I figured that the guildmaster would eventually hear of it. Either way, I returned to Marquis Baham and told him the request was accepted. As soon as I did, he told me to go help and to bring Sophia with me. He wanted her to learn how to kill for the family or die like a dog. Either would have worked.”

Sophia’s eyes were tinged with pain and sadness and loathing. She could easily imagine her father saying such a thing.

“What a scumbag.”

“…”

“This sounds all too familiar.”

The Gagnon siblings all had sour expressions. As did most of the rest of the room, aside from Stefan who didn’t seem to care.

“If this were Caera, we would have held this man in a public execution, no questions asked.”

“I agree. This man deserves no sympathy.”

Elice and Elijah as former royals felt much more anger than anyone else in the room. They wanted justice to be served, whether or not this was their kingdom.

“I was angry, but I saw this as an opportunity. Once the job was done, I intended to fake Sophia’s death, report back to her family, and kill them all while they slept. So I didn’t argue, and I brought her with me here. It was only when we got here that we realized it wouldn’t be so easy.”

Josephine shivered as she remembered what she experienced.

“Most of the assassins that were sent here were persuaded by the one who took the letter. Apparently, most of them seemed to be jealous of you while others were dragged along or were there to keep things from getting out of hand. Though clearly, that didn’t seem to matter, seeing as nobody here seems to even have a scratch.”

Josephine chuckled mildly as she observed the crowd.

“Me and Sophia didn’t have anything against you at all. I only saw this job as a stepping stone towards gaining her freedom while she wanted no part in this. Even if I did… there’s no way I would ever raise my arms against you after you saved Sophia. …And there’s no way I would ever do so towards your servants ever again. I never want that woman near me ever again! And that little girl is too sick to be some child!” Tears were streaming down her face as her body remembered what that woman did to her in that room. Naturally, both Josephine and Sophia clenched up in fear even worse than when Hombell was in the room.

“Woman?” the other questioned. Riley seemed to know who Josephine was referring to, so he kept quiet.

Still, now Riley had his answer. “So in summary: The Baham family was an old friend of the corrupted de Peur family from the old king’s era. He didn’t like that I became a noble of this country and sent assassins after me, including someone he was paying off and his daughter. The assassins accepted the offer due to jealousy, ultimately ignoring the moral code they were supposed to stand by. Finally, they were easily crushed by my servants.”

“…Yes, sir.” Josephine wiped her eyes and straightened herself up.

“Haah… Looks like I’m going to have to have a talk with the queen and the guildmaster,” Riley complained, leaning himself against the back of the couch.

For a long moment, Riley silently thought to himself about the situation, making sure to get his facts straight. This was going to be a hassle taking care of. He already had to talk with the queen about the Caera Kingdom, but having to deal with internal politics at the same time? I’d call it a pain, but I don’t know what that feels like.

Riley looked again towards Sophia and Josephine. “Now that you have your freedom, do you have any plans?”

Both of the girls looked at him in puzzlement.

“Well, I was going to request that she stay at the Assassin’s Guild while I went to take care of her family. But beyond that, no.”

“I see. Miss Sophia, what do you want to do?”

“W-Wha! M-M-Me?!” She seemed startled by the question. “I… I don’t know. Now that I’m free, I have no idea what I want to do.”

She turned her gaze towards the window nearby, watching as the sun set over the watery lake. “I’ve been locked away in my house for so long that I don’t know what the world is like. And… I’m almost afraid to find out. People like my father, like my family do exist. And while I want to believe that there are other people out there who aren’t so cruel, I’m too afraid to find out for myself.”

Her head went downcast as she spoke.

She’s been a slave to her family for so long that she’s afraid of the world. I’m amazed that her mind hasn’t twisted with hatred instead of fear.

“B-But… if I could do anything, then…” Sophia looked up at Riley and everyone else in the room. “Could I please stay here and serve you?” she asked suddenly.

Her request seemed to catch the others off guard, even Josephine.

“You want to… serve me?”

“Yes, sir! It may be presumptuous of me after you saved my life, but I feel I owe you nothing less than my life!” Sophia stood on her feet, struggling to balance. Josephine immediately jumped up to help her. “I can see that you are a wonderful person. A Saint even! You’ve got so many people here who stand with you, and now that you’ve saved my life, I want to stand beside you too. I want to stand with the person who represents goodness.”

Sophia let go of Josephine and let herself fall to the floor on her hands and knees, grunting in pain from the bruises on her body. “Sophia!” Josephine cried worriedly.

Even Edna jumped up to say something. “Hey! What are you doing?! You’re going to hurt yourself!”

Still, Sophia lowered her head to the ground, struggling in spite of the pain. “I’ll do anything!”

Simon and the other servants looked at her in surprise at first, but each of them, including Simon, gave a light-hearted smile.

“I don’t see why not.”

“It looks like Master Riley has stolen yet another heart!”

“Looks like you’ve got another one of us, Master Riley.”

“No arguments here.”

“…”

All the servants agreed with Sierra finalizing the decision by nodding in approval.

“Jeez, Riley. I’d call you Silver Tongued, but you haven’t even barely said two words to them!”

“You’ve barely said two words and you’ve got this girl wanting to serve you? What is it about you that people want to follow?”

“Big Brother has always been like that, hasn’t he?”

Edna, Elijah, and Elice all seemed rather exasperated by the whole mess.

Sophia, however, was still on the floor, awaiting her answer. Even though she had approval from the other servants, Hombell aside, she wanted Riley to answer. Naturally, he gave the same response as he did to every other person who served him.

“Well, I never really wanted a servant to begin with, but if you want to, then I guess that’s fine with me.”

His response filled Sophia with joy, enough that she started to cry.

“And what about you, Miss Josephine?” he asked.

“…I’ve taken it upon myself to save Sophia, and I intend to stick with her. My only request is that I still be allowed to come back once I have finished settling my debts with her family.”

Josephine seemed determined. Even though she went through a traumatic experience earlier that day, one that left her in a practically broken state when she first appeared in here, it seemed she was able to put that behind her if it meant she could accomplish her goals and stay with her friend.

“Actually, I already know, Miss Josephine, as to how to deal with the Baham family.”

“You do?!”

“Would you like to hear?” he asked with his usual innocent smile.

With her approval, he revealed his plan to everyone, leaving most of them, as former royals or nobles, in agreement.

“Would that really work?”

“I have a friendly relationship with the queen. In fact, she seems to favor me. There’s not a doubt in my mind that it would work.”

“If you think so, then yes! I will gladly leave it in your hands.”

Josephine kneeled as she gave her response.

“Okay then. Now, Simon. Could you show them to an empty room? Preferably on the third floor?”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, Simon escorted them away.

“I don’t think they were lying after all that, but Zaria…?” Riley looked in Zaria’s direction, and she merely smiled. “Yeah, it was mostly frustration and gratitude. Not a hint of a lie.”

“I see.”

This left Riley feeling somewhat annoyed, thinking that someone like they were describing was living in the very same kingdom as him.

“You know, Big Brother, you’ll have to make her presentable if that’s what you want to do.”

“I know. That’s why I’ll leave that task in Sierra’s hands.”

Sierra nodded her head in response, but Elice seemed to be somewhat conflicted.

“I trust that she’s capable, but don’t you think she should be given a break? She did sleep all day after all that work cleaning up last night.”

“That’s true, she did overwork herself last night, didn’t she?”

Sierra seemed not to mind though, shaking her head in protest.

“Believe me, princess. She’ll be perfectly fine. She’s more diligent than anyone here when it comes to her work,” Silas said, leaning back against the couch like it wasn’t his problem. “Besides, she’s the only one here qualified to upgrade someone’s appearance.”

“What does that mean?” Joy asked.

“Well, first off, most of us here are men. Should a guy really be picking out clothes that would suit a woman? Especially in a formal setting? I highly doubt it.”

“That may be true, but what about Zaria or Edna?” Rain asked.

“Oh, you want me to help in this, shorty? Ha! As if. Besides, something basic oughta do. Definitely ain’t something I need to help with.” Edna quickly denied the request, waving her hand like it wasn’t her business.

“…Now I get it. You’re just not enough of a woman to care about clothes. I bet you’re afraid you’d look fat in a dress, so you put on that tight fighting thing you’re wearing now.”

With a vein visibly bulging not just in her forehead but all across her head, Edna jumped up and got into Rain’s face. “What did you say, shrimp?! What about not enough of a woman?! And did you seriously just call me fat you punk?!”

“So what if I did? Why don’t you show a little bit of care about this situation? Or is what I said right, and you’re just tossing this aside because you know I’m right?!”

“You wanna fight punk?!” Edna picked Rain up by the collar of his shirt.

“Bring it on! You’ll only be proving me right!!!”

“Grr! Let’s go!”

“That’s enough.”

Before Edna could proceed in thrashing Rain, Riley stepped between them and took the strike to the chest. Even Rain, who had his fist ready, slammed his hand into his back.

“Ah! Shit!”

“God! Dammit!”

Even though they couldn’t feel him, the two still felt the pain of their hands smashing into steel and quickly backed away from him, holding and shaking their hands in pain.

“Dammit Riley! Let me crush him! And also, that really fucking hurt!”

“There’s no need for that, Edna.”

“Oh, come on! Are you going to stand there and let him call me fat and not womanly?!”

“Well, it is true that you’re more boyish than womanly.”

“You too?!”

“See?” Rain goaded.

Naturally, Edna sneered at him. “You shut your mouth!”

“What? I’m not wrong, clearly!”

“I said enough.” With an exasperated sigh, Riley flicked both Rain and Edna in the foreheads, knocking them both backwards.

“W-What was that for?” Edna asked dizzily. Rain also seemed rather confused and dizzy.

Stefan being the only one here who had never seen Riley’s strength could only stare in awe. What kind of strength was that in his fingers?!

Deciding to return to the topic, Riley sat down and allowed Silas to continue. “Well… I won’t say anything about Master Riley’s sister, but Zaria is a disaster when it comes to fashion.”

“True. She never had much sense when it came to clothes. Even when we were young, she always wore something outrageous for a girl her age.”

“Shut up, Zara! Not another word! My fashion is top notch! Look at my clothes now!”

Zaria attempted to show off her outfit by standing and posing, but it didn’t take long for someone to correct her. “Zaria, didn’t you only wear those clothes because you saw Simon wearing it and thought it was cool?”

“Eh!” Zaria froze at hearing Silas’s words.

“Not to mention that you’re wearing that mantle for the same reason. You saw it in my clothes and said ‘I must have it!’”

Zaria’s face heated up and turned bright red quickly, embarrassed that she was called out. Then she puffed out her cheeks and veered her gaze off to the side. “It looked cool,” she muttered.

Silas chuckled and continued. “Clothing aside, that girl is going to need washed up. It would be better to let Sierra clean her up. Plus, she’s definitely going to need a haircut, and Sierra is the only one here we trust with scissors.”

Sierra nodded in agreement. Elice looked at everyone and seemed to understand, but she felt like Sierra needed a break.

Suddenly, she had an idea. “Then why don’t you leave that to me then?”

Riley looked at her and waited for her to finish her proposal. “Being a princess, I was raised to know how to dress for political meetings and social outings. Not to mention that my father also had me cut his hair often. And since I am also a woman, wouldn’t it be fine for me to help clean her up?”

Riley thought for a moment. “Are you sure? After all, you don’t have to help if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine. I want to help. Due to the way I was raised, I’m more than capable of doing this, and Sierra can take a break.”

Sierra looked at her conflicted, but she realized that she was doing this for her. With a small smile, she sat back.

“Is that alright, Sierra?” she asked.

And Sierra nodded her head in agreement.

“Okay then. Little Elly, I’ll leave her care in your hands.”

“Thank you.”

Creak.

As they reached this agreement, Simon entered the room and returned to his seat.

“They both passed out as soon as they touched the beds.”

“Sounds like they’ll be sleeping peacefully. We can leave cleaning her up for tomorrow morning, and then we’ll visit the queen tomorrow afternoon. As for the guildmaster of the Assassin’s Guild, I can take care of that tomorrow evening by myself.”

“““Understood.”””

With that out of the way, Riley decided to discuss what went down in Caera.

“Moving on, it’s time to talk about Nearbran.”

“Oh right, you never did say why you came back with ratty clothes.”

“Don’t be rude, Silas.”

“What, I wasn’t! It was just a passing comment!”

“Also, Big Brother has a scratch on his ear.”

“Huh, you’re right. What’s with that, Riley?”

“Even when I couldn’t pierce him with my arrow, someone was able to hurt him even that much. It’s hard to believe.”

The others discussed amongst themselves the possibilities for a moment, but Riley quieted the chatter.

“Don’t worry. I won’t leave out a single detail.”

And with that, Riley began his explanation.

I forgot to mention this before when I was writing this originally, but Josephine’s lackluster reactions are because her memory is hazy. Her body remembers, but her mind is somewhat fuzzy. Sophia clearly remembers 😅. If I said anything otherwise in the previous chapters, please tell me so I can go correct it.

Either way, next chapter will be Saturday, February 17.