Artusdeireair-Desa was shaping up to be a peaceful and mundane day. Compared to the one before that had 669 spending an all-nighter resealing the protection array to a posh man's mansion.
The chirping of gorgeous blue sparrows flying past his bedroom carried serenity to his ears and accentuated the simplistic and lavish vibe of his bedroom, which was an entire level of a pillar tower.
Filled weapons and armory racks were neatly laid out at one corner of the circular room. Next to an oak writing desk and leather high back chair.
Wall bookshelves were stocked with thick volumes and scrolls on organism magic specializing in field medicine and scouting.
One side of the floor had been converted to a walk-in-wardrobe and change area, behind double mirror doors trimmed in frilly gold.
Furthest from the entrance and closest to the windows was the luxury king four-poster that was a gift from one of his suitors who had come and gone from his life. He was comfortable having nothing more than flings. But, as much as he liked his life now, he couldn't help but feel there was a void in his heart that wanted to be filled no matter how much he chose to ignore it.
Regardless, the morning was still young, so he decided to go back to sleep. But…
“Run away!” Violet screamed as she burst into his room like she was escaping from some terror.
And the reason for her mad plight was the trailing smoke cloud and blue flames blowing past his opened door. She blew a sigh of relief when the flames and cloud exploded to make the tower quake and eventually go silent.
“Violet! I'm trying to sleep.” 669 growled through gritted teeth.
His crankiness was interrupted when purple rain started filling the bedroom to soak his belongings. His brows twitched with irritation. He jumped out of bed, hastily dressed in pants and tunic and smashed through his door for the corridors to 789's laboratory chamber, two floors below his room.
Along the way down the winding stairway, he experienced four seasons in four minute blocks. Making him near frozen, overheating and feverish by the time he entered the gray stone corridor to the laboratory floor. His hand trembled with weakness as he reached for the ring door knob, but he was still furious enough to keep up his fight.
“Damn it! One more time. ONE MORE.” 789 cried out from the other side.
669 yelped when the door flung wide and off the hinges with a strong force that hurled him across the other end of the corridor. “7... 8.... 9! GET OUT HERE NOW!”
789 yawned as she casually stepped out and saw him panting for breath on the floor, half naked with his hair a weird shade of purple and bits and pieces of the broken door on his head, which was flaring up with a burning red color.
“Oh, it's you. Hmm, well. Looks like I may need to revise the virya refining pill process a bit more. But at least this was a success.” She mused, unfazed by his distress and purple hair. She tossed a purple pill in her hand, looking impressed with her test result.
“How many times I have to tell you, do your experiments in the barn. My room needs fixing!” 669 ranted and raged before her.
“I'll fix your room, no problems.” Reddy chirped as he shoved his pheasant head into his view with a wide grin.
Reddy was middle brother of the three pheasants hanging about the headquarter's monastery towers and buildings. Their Grand Demon Overload had saved the bird brothers during his earlier years, and eventually come to realize their usefulness. With their Majestic Wills protected by the Shiya Blood Gem power, they were assigned to the company for building and logistic operations. Unlike Peacock who was foolishly arrogant but great at being an administrator, and Fat Monk who was an excellent foodie and their cook. He even ate chicken: the little cannibal. Reddy was the gentle-nature bird who enjoyed his domestic work and was a jack-of-all tradesman.
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The headquarter's three pillar towers and old monastery buildings could continue to exist because of them, even if 789's experiments keep breaking things.
She had a natural talent for making things. Although, her pill refining was limited to poisons, bombs and first aid healing fit for soldiers due to the Majestic Will. And her inventions could only be related to weapons and armor. But it didn't stop her from testing the medicine and invention boundaries, even if the consequence amounted to explosions, unstable virya reactions and pestilence.
Fortunately, she kept within her will boundaries although pushed to the max. Should the High Magistrates discover her attempts to break her Majestic Will, she would be eradicated in both body and soul with timelines altered to compensate the erasure. Such was the price of breaking the order and balance of the universe by going against your fate. Unlike the bird brothers: neither of them were protected by cosmic powers. So they had to tread the thread of destiny carefully.
“Here.” She tossed a pill into his 669's opened mouth.
He swallowed with one gulp and felt too 'meh' to be angry. “Right, well, I'll go back to bed.”
777 groaned when he saw 669's hair go from purple to his natural color. He had calmly descended the stairway from the top of the tower, where his sleeping quarters were, to see the fuss: suspecting that the woman was up to her experiments again. He was dressed in dark navy leather armor and boots that were stamped with the scorpion insignia identifying them as henchmen for their order.
“Are you going shopping?” 669 blurted at the sight of their senior dressed for an outing.
“No. Both of you get dressed in henchmen gear, we have a gig from the royal guard.” 777 turned and continued his way down the tower stairway to the ground area.
“Gig, already?” 669 scratched his head.
But he didn't wait for an answer, rather rose and headed for his bedroom to ready himself for an outing.
An hour later, everyone was assembled at the barroom of the main old monastery brick building. 669 was dressed in the armor he had worn during the Poirot protection formation resealing. The scorpion emblem was obvious on the right side of his chest plate, shoulders and side of his belt.
The room had once served as a vestibule for the connecting single story chapel with a steeple roof. It was instantly outfitted to be a bar lounge, and the chapel was converted into the main office and guest reception area.
Fat Monk flew behind the bar counter and muttered a spell, which transformed his image into the likeness of a chubby human with a shaved head, goatee and chef apron over a brown tunic and pants. He began serving drinks.
“So what does the Salem Royal Guard want with domination henchmen?” 669 soberly stared at 777 as he leaned against the wall with his arms folded over his chest.
“To help them solve a murder. Detective Morse requested we provide escort while they do some investigations near Greendale Village border on the Holy Order side.”
It made sense if they had to travel across Holy Order country. One of the perks for being a henchman was the justified reason to cross over borders, mostly for skirmishes or scouting purposes. But no one would question why an enemy henchman was on the other side, since most would assume they were there to carry out orders for espionage, scouting and the likes. So being an escort wouldn't raise brows.
“But why would they need to enter Holy Order country?”
777 lightly flicked 669's forehead. “Idiot. We're henchmen, do we need to know these answers.”
He leaned back on the edge of the bar counter. “We have our orders and the royal guard is compensating… well.”
Everyone groaned when they imaged shiny gold coins reeling through 777's eyes.
“How many credits are we looking at here for the job?” Indigo excitedly asked.
777 chuckled with a smug grin when he flashed ten figures before them.
“A thousand credit chips!”
Sure enough that figure had everyone buzzing with excitement and wishful fantasies.
“Right. 669, 789, let's move out! They rest of you manage the house and don't break anything.” 777 clapped to draw everyone's attention to him.
The pixies and pheasants had their fingers and claws crossed when they watched the three humans leave the premise.