Chapter 008:

Sweat dripped down Kiara’s brow as she thought of what to do. Obviously, they could fight, but to what end? Disregarding the fact that they might not win, even if they did somehow succeed in killing him, they for sure wouldn’t be able to survive the persecution to follow.

Of course, there was also the chance that the man was not actually a noble as any pauper would be able to don expensive clothes and play pretend for a day but Kiara doubted that this was the case. His bearing seemed genuine.

“Kiara…” Rafiel’s hesitant voice sounded behind her and it was then that she realised that the choice wasn’t difficult. Taking her brother’s hand, she began running away.

“Don’t bother,” But before they could get far, a flippant voice interrupted her and her body froze; a terrifying killing intent locked her in place and she could even swear that her heart stopped beating. Beside her, she could feel Rafiel freeze too.

‘W-what’s he going to do to us?’ Kiara couldn’t help but grow concerned over what this perverse noble had in store for them.

“Just hand over the bag and no one gets hurt,”

Immediately, relief washed over Kiara as a bitter smile spread across her face. ‘So it turns out he is just robbing us, karmic justice I guess. That aside, he might not be a noble after all,’ She thought to herself as she held her hand out toward Raf, wanting to take the bag.

“No fucking way, get your own mark!” Her brother unexpectedly replied with an unhappy expression.

At this, Kiara turned toward him with equal parts irritation and surprise. But before she could retort, he had already passed her, lunging toward the hooded noble.

Kiara stood numb in place as her brother’s half-assed punch was caught easily mid-air.

If that wasn’t enough, with swift movements, the hooded figure tossed Raf to the side and

his body smashed heavily into a wall. As it slid down, a trail of blood followed.

‘Rafiel…’ Kiara couldn’t help but stare at the red mark on the brick wall and soon, all she could see was red. Before she knew it, her body had already flung itself toward the hooded noble; at hand, she brandished the knife she had kept hidden.

‘Bastard!’ She thought angrily.

Despite her gut telling her that this was a mistake, she no longer cared, the tragic sight of her brother clutching his head in pain brought back unwanted memories, and even though she was just as powerless now as she was then, she now had a knife.

She put her all into the attack and though she wouldn’t admit it out loud, a small part of her felt confident.

Unfortunately, reality was cruel and her blood-lusted attack was easily caught mid-trajectory with the knife sliding uselessly between the man’s fingers as his hand enclosed hers.

Fighting back feelings of despair she threw her other hand toward the man’s face but was caught off guard when his foot struck hers causing her to trip into his embrace.

She wanted to continue resisting but his cold voice squashed all will. “Stop struggling,”

In despair, she finally gave in; her eyes dulled and her body went limp. “J-just let him go, I’ll do anyt-” But before she could continue, an intense wave of heat appeared behind them.

“Raf, NO!” she screamed.

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At first, Alexander had just wanted to tease them a bit, however, upon seeing the frightened looks on their young faces, he couldn’t help but indulge himself a little.

‘Let’s push them a bit more~’ He thought with a sweet smile, while also surprised by how vicious he was being.

That being said, when Raf initially struck out, Alexander was shocked to discover that the boy was stronger than he thought. Luckily, he still managed to use Raf’s own strength against him as he tossed him toward some random wall.

‘But now what the fuck is this?’ He thought as watched the sparks of fire appear around the boy.

‘That’s a Wisker!’ He realised excitedly as he saw a ball of red light hovering meekly above the boy’s head.

He tightened his hold over the girl who had begun to struggle fiercely.

“Let go of her!” Rafiel screamed as he outstretched his hand, soon after, fire accumulated and an arrow made of flames materialised.

“Fire Wisker…” Alexander muttered, under his arm, the girl’s struggling grew more violent. ‘What an interesting power. It’s not Mana, Qi, Aether, nor is it Aura; hell it’s not even Origin…’

After the arrow fully came into being, it shot forward with unprecedented speed. Alexander instinctively knew that even if he invested his remaining bonus stats on agility, Timmy’s body would still not be able to dodge.

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‘Its power is pretty decent too. Still not using any magic though. It’s almost as if it’s…. divine?’

The arrow was now inches away from him.

Interestingly, the girl was not struggling as much anymore and she even seemed relieved.

‘So she’s suicidal, makes sense’

A distance away, the boy now seemed to realise the consequences of his actions. He had a stupid expression on his face as he watched his attack about to incinerate his own sister.

Fortunately, such a scene would not appear.

With all the listlessness of a napping cat, Alexander swatted the air in front of him and as if it were a lie, the attack disappeared into smoke; not leaving a trace behind.

A bizarre silence overtook the alley after the fact; Rafiel stood, still clutching his head, mouth agape in shock. His sister was no better as she even forgot to breathe for a moment.

Alexander was surprised himself reading the message his system sent.

………………………………………………..

Kiara’s point of view:

‘What. The. Fuck’ The sentence kept repeating itself in her mind. Were Wiskers really so weak? So weak as to be swatted away like a fly?

Where was the majesty of Wiskers? Where was the strength? Why did people kill each other over such a seemingly useless power?

‘No...it’s not that Raf’s Wisker is weak, rather it is this man being too outrageously strong,’

Her skin broke into goosebumps as she recalled wanting to actually fight this monster.

Despair settled in again as this was the worst outcome; not only were they under his whim, but even their biggest secret was exposed.

‘There’s only one thing I can do now…’ Kiara thought to herself as she glanced toward her brother.

“Please! Sir noble, let my brother go!” She pleaded, tears streaming down her face, “You can have me, I’ll do anything willingly. I’ll serve you for life!”

………………………………………………..

Currently, Alexander was feeling...awkward.

under his arm, a girl, far too young, was crying while confessing her love for him.

‘Unfortunately for you, I’m no kiddy-fiddler,’ Alexander thought to himself as he snorted. ‘Also what is all this about releasing your brother? When did I say I’d take him? I don’t swing that way either,’

He was full of retorts but just as he was about to voice them out, a loud voice interrupted him.

“No! Sir noble, please don’t take my sister away,” Raf said, crying audibly. “Take me instead, I am stronger. And I’ve got a Wisker too!”

And if that weren’t embarrassing enough, he even began to slam his head onto the ground while kneeling.

‘Oi, oi, you probably already have a concussion! You sure you wanna be slamming your head like that?’

Alexander stood there, between the two crying children, with his mouth twitching non-stop.

‘I just wanted to tease them a bit...’

………………………………………………..

After a few minutes of Coaxing, things had finally settled down.

“So your names are Kiara and Rafiel,” Alexander muttered as he played with the coin sack stolen by the two. “And I understand you two are looking for work,”

Kiara had a wry smile on her face as she thought to herself ‘We just told you our names, you were the one who assumed we needed work, but well, you aren’t wrong,’

“But you two are still punks, where are your parents?”

Kiara grit her teeth after hearing that question while her brother’s eyes grew sad. Reluctantly, she began to answer “After Rafiel’s Wisker awakened ou-”

“Wait wait, let me guess the rest,” Alexander interrupted rudely as he began counting the coins in the pouch. “Your father, after having discovered your brother’s new-found powers, decided to sell him off,”

“Not exactly,” Kiara said, wanting to object but she couldn’t find any real faults with what he said.

“So you two ran away. Real question is…” He drew closer to the two. “Did you kill him?”

Rafial’s eyes shook and he was immediately going to answer but his sister interrupted him. “Not yet,” she replied with venom in her voice.

“Oho, that’s gonna have to be resolved later. Whatever, it might be fun. So, are you two interested in working for me?”

Kiara rolled her eyes ‘Do we even have a choice in the matter?’ She thought to herself but she agreed verbally; beside her, Raf nodded as well.

“Good, I’ll have you know I treat my people well. Here, consider this a signing bonus,” Alexander said magnanimously as he tossed them the coin pouch back.

At this, the two siblings exchanged exasperated looks stealthily. It was then that Kiara noticed that the pouch seemed…lighter.

‘No way…his clothes are too high quality for him to care for such a meager sum. It must be a lesson of some kind, yes,’ She said to herself. To the side, Rafiel seemed not to have noticed and was content with just having his loot back.

Alexander turned away from the children while whistling awkwardly. ‘Sorry chaps, but the Baek manor has fallen on hard times, I think,’

“By the way, you can call me-” He paused in hesitation before continuing “Alexander, or Boss, take your pick,”

““Yes, Boss”” The two replied obediently.

Despite herself, Kiara couldn’t help but grow excited, ‘Finally, we’re somewhat more normal and have gotten ourselves a job,’

Truth was, they never got to enjoy the stable comfort of a job before so this promised to be a nice change of pace.

"What'll our jobs be exactly?" Rafiel asked brazenly.

In her head, Kiara pictured herself as a maid and her brother as a cook or butler. It wasn’t the most luxurious of lives but it was stable; something they sorely needed.

"Easy," Replied their new boss casually before pointing toward their unconscious victim "Strip him,"

"Strip what now?" Kiara blurted out in an incredulous tone.

“I think it’s who not what, sis,”

"You took his coin pouch but is that enough? What about his weapon or clothes? Take them if you like them and sell them if you don't," Alexander spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kiara turned toward her brother who had a stupid look on his face. He looked like he had achieved enlightenment.

"Ah! I get it, right away boss!” He said as he eagerly unbuttoned the man’s clothes.

Kiara stood to the side, face red with embarrassment as she watched her new boss and her brother strip an innocent man clean; thankfully, they still had enough decency to leave the man’s underwear.

“Leave the shorts, no one will want to buy them anyway”

She pretended not to hear Alexander say that.

‘What’s going to happen to us now…’ She thought dejectedly.

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