Gaston's image shifted in the scrawny woman's eyes, transforming into that of an ugly demon as his steps echoed in the mud. She shivered, an icy dread caressing her spin in the chilly night.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME! I'LL GIVE YOU THE BABY! TAKE IT, TAKE IT! I DON'T NEED ANY MONEY! PLEASE, DON'T KILL ME!"
As her desperate screams echoed, the trembling couple followed her example. Tears rolled down their distorted cheeks as they pleaded for their lives, prostrating before Gaston and the officer.
However, their only hope of surviving the madman's onslaught turned his head to the side. The officer acted blind and deaf despite their situation.
Worse, their actions only fueled Gaston's demented smile.
In a flash, he appeared in front of the couple, his stick raised and his blue eyes glinting with amusement. He swung it twice, causing the wind to roar angrily behind his strikes as they connected with the couple's soft bodies.
Horrifying cracking noises resounded as bones snapped and blood spattered through the air. The sickening plop of bodies collapsing to the ground followed as the scent of death permeated the courtyard.
A scene of pure horror registered in the scrawny woman's eyes as she witnessed the murderer's satisfied smile. An icy shiver ran down her spine as terror crashed into her unstable mind. Death wouldn't merely remain a scent. It would come to reap her soul using its champion... Gaston.
Tears of despair rolled down her cheeks as she pleaded with more fervor, striking her head against the muddy ground as regret gnawed at her heart.
Why was she greedy during the negotiation, asking for such an unreasonable price? Why not accept the silver coins offered and live her life in much better conditions?
As despair tightened around her chest, a sudden voice ignited a glimmer of hope in the darkness.
"What's your name ?"
The officer's rough and manly voice sounded nothing but angelic in her ears as she witnessed his authority. With a single gesture, he stopped Gaston's advance, making hope burn brighter in her terrorized heart.
"Rachelle. P-P-Please, sir, please. Help me."
She sobbed, uncaring about her muddied and snot-covered face. Surviving was all that mattered, no matter the method.
"Tell me, Rachelle. How did you know your baby was special?"
The officer asked, genuinely interested in the answer. With her method to differentiate the babies, he would save time while carrying his mission.
"I-I'm not sure. I just knew... I know! I felt it in my guts!" Rachel answered, her trembling voice laced with terror as she noticed the officer's frown deepen. She had to say something, anything that might interest him to escape death.
Then, she remembered the peculiar sensation she felt above a particular baby. She knew he was special, too. But somehow, the detecting gem didn't react. At the time she gloated the poor mother, feeling that she must have used all her luck to inherit a house in the suburb. Now, she understood that she was the one out of luck. Well, maybe not. Maybe she could avoid this disaster by stealing her fortune!
She drew a deep breath, a surge of hope filling her heart as she said, "I have an information you need! Please, promise... promise me you won't kill me after I share it."
"Speak. If it is useful, I can let you live," the officer answered, curious about what a wretched like her could tell him.
Elated by the answer and the prospect of salvation, her mouth came to life as she started.
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"You missed a baby! I felt it, there were three! The last one was with that yo..."
Unfortunately, Gaston's voice cut her off mid-sentence. His mocking tone cut through her hope like a dark blade.
"She's just trying to bullshit her way out with nonsense. Her method isn't reliable. You know that."
The officer pondered for a second before nodding. Despite her potentially strange ability, how reliable could a gut feeling be compared to their detecting device? Keeping her alive was a waste of time, especially considering how annoying she had been in their earlier negotiation. Upon remembering her bold demands, his veins throbbed, and his blood boiled.
He delivered his decision with a snort, his firm voice echoing against the calm night.
"Don't kill her too fast. She needs to learn her place before dying."
Rachelle's mind failed to register his words correctly. Wasn't he going to save her? Why was he allowing murder in the station? What did she do to deserve this?
Her hands powerlessly fell to the ground as she lamented her fate in silence, waiting for the familiar sensation of pain to assault her in resignation.
*****
For the next three minutes, Rachelle's painful screams echoed in the courtyard as Gaston mercilessly tormented her until she breathed her last. Done with his work, he retrieved his bloodied stick and gazed at the officer with a satisfied smile, yet his eyes glinted with mockery.
"What refreshing work! Thank you for hiring me, sir Max, knight of the noble barony of Riverwoods. Are your hands so precious that you refuse to dirty them?"
In response, Sir Max's eyes narrowed menacingly before responding in kind. "You are one to talk, Gaston Riverwoods, bastard son of the baron. Are you enjoying your life as a nameless commoner in this poor village suburb? You seem to adapt quite well, considering where you came from."
Gaston clenched his teeth, glaring at Max with bloodshot eyes at the mention of this accursed name.
"Never call me by that name again. I would hate to have to make the body count turn to six."
Max smirked, a momentary sense of victory washing over him before remembering who he was dealing with. His face turned somber as he remembered Gaston's story and how he came to be known as a madman.
In his youth, the baron fathered a bastard son with a maid. Rather than concealing the matter, as was often done, he accepted responsibility. He treated both her and Gaston fairly, acknowledging them as genuine family members.
As his firstborn, the baron had high expectations for the boy, especially after noticing his outstanding talent since childhood. After a few years of silent assessment, he decided to make him his legal inheritor.
To prepare him, he taught Gaston politics, mathematics, and combat. He even resolved to invest heavily to unlock a top talent for the boy before he entered one of the nine magic academies.
Unfortunately, the situation took a turn for the worse nine years ago.
For political reasons and benefits, he eventually ended up marrying a noblewoman.
The boy wasn't against it... at first. The problems started when the lady became pregnant.
Young Gaston probably thought that his position in the family was at risk and that he would lose his opportunity to unlock a talent to the official son of the barony. Max lingered on this part of the story for a moment. Gaston never directly stated his reasons, so they were only speculations. Not that they mattered to him in the first place.
Like a snake coiling in the shadows, Gaston had waited until the child was born and, in the middle of the night... attempted to end his life.
Fortunately for the baron, the assassination attempt failed. But he got a glimpse at how ugly his firstborn son's true face was. At just eleven, Gaston's devious and cruel nature frightened him, threatening the family's future.
In fear, the baron banished Gaston from his domain, forcing him to live amidst the village's commoners after stripping him of his family's name and rights. Additionally, he sentenced Gaston's mother to death for her inadequate education, erasing all traces of this scourge from the barony.
But the thing causing Max's frown to deepen was the reason Gaston came to hate his father. It wasn't because he executed his mother or because of his striped rights. No. He hated him for denying him his talent-unlocking ceremony and the chance to learn magic.
In that twisted mind of his, despite what he had done, his father stole his birthright from him.
Max refocused on Gaston, knowing better than to provoke that madman further, and threw him a pouch that clinked with the sound of coins before answering his earlier question.
"We can't take any risk when these babies are involved. What if they investigate their parents' deaths in the future? That's why the kingdom and nobles can't be linked to their disappearance."