Back at the Faeleaf, it seemed the town had regained its long-lost liveness as the crowd once again filled the streets. But not the kind that one would expect, as most of them were from the security division of the alliance. The armed anti-terror specialist unit, with their signature dark and light blue shades, adorned their robes and armour. They have turned the Faeleaf into the command centre for the forward base for their operations. The city hall was naturally turned into the control HQ and part of the hospital. In one of its rooms, Everard looked at Leo with closed eyes being checked by a guy in white robes. His face was stern but constantly tapping his left foot betrayed his anxiousness.
“ How is he? When would he wake up?” He asked the middle-aged man. It was already two days since Leo was brought back, but he still hadn't opened his eyes.
“ Don’t worry.” The man replied. His name was Max and he had black hair with some strands of white mixed in. He was the senior head of the medical team under the anti-terror unit. He mopped up his final spell from his ring-shaped anchor and looked at Everard with a reassuring smile. “ As I said, because we already expected the soul inside him years ago, we came prepared for this operation. And Leo was treated at the time so he didn’t suffer any long-lasting damage. Though there could be some side effects.”
“He would not become an idiot, would he?” Everard said and almost clenched his hands into a fist.
“No, no, nothing serious like that.” Max shook his head and said with the air of dismissal. “ Just that there are some remains of consciousness from the evil spirit. It might have left some influence on him.”
“What!!?”
“ Shhh… Don’t shout in front of the patient.” Max put his index finger on his lips. “ And no, it's not that. Just might make him more mature, if I have to put it in better ways. That’s it.” Everard released a breath of relief. As long as it was not making his son evil or leaving behind any major injury, he didn’t mind. For him, it was better than having an evil spirit live inside Leo. “ By the way, mind if I ask something personal?” Max said suddenly.
“ Is it related to Leo?”
“ Kinda. There seemed to be some kind of trouble between you and him?”
Everard fell silent. It had some truth to it. Whenever he looked at Leo, it always reminded him of his wife, especially those eyes, they were the exact copy of Elowen, the deep violet purple. They always reminded him of the last day when his wife begged him to save the child and not her. And whenever he remembers the evil spirit responsible for her death living inside Leo, he can’t help it. His eyes would just turn cold and before he knew it, his heart was too closed for Leo. Such that he rarely met Leo unless it was time for his training. Never asked him about his day or ate with him.
“Listen I understand your circumstance a little, so I would not say much, but it’s still not too late to correct the past mistakes,” Max said as Everard didn’t reply. He stood up from his stool and tapped his shoulder before walking away. Outside, two guards stood guard and he turned to the one on the left and said “ If there is nothing serious, don’t disturb them.” Having received a nod from him, Max turned to walk again. He didn’t stop until he stood at the front of the city lord’s office. After passing through the guards outside, he walked in to find two men inside, one with short red hair with robes of the anti-terror unit, the regional Deputy head, Jim. Besides him was an old man, the butler, Orlaith.
“ Ah, Max, you are here. So how serious was it?” Jim said after seeing Max. He already captured the main evil spirit that they came for, and all that was left was to take care of the remnants and Leo.
“ It is nothing serious… for now.” Max's fair face turned serious, unlike when he was talking with Everard.
“ You mean it would require attention in the future?” Jim caught the words in between. And Max nodded at that.
“ Yes, the evil spirit left some seeds in Leo’s consciousness.”
“ You meant those things that allow them to take over the host?” It was Orlaith who asked him. He has worked at the administrative level of Alliance for years. He knew some things about the not-so-publicly available information. “ But I remember it as a treatable problem, no?”
“I have destroyed the seeds, but the traces remain.”
“ So, of what type?” Jim asked with thoughtful eyes. When the seeds are destroyed, they always leave behind some unnecessary things, mostly memories, sometimes made of useless memories and other times, some forbidden spells. The specific value depended on the level of the being that left the seeds in the first place.
“ Two Stars,” Max said his rough guess. The alliance even had a designated star system for such cases. One start meant to indicate some memories with minimal alteration in personality, while Five starts meant almost complete knowledge of spells and fully altered personality. He couldn’t tell the specifics as it would require a deeper dive into Leo’s consciousness, which he can’t do here and also it might need some permissions to check one’s soul. A forbidden endorsement which was difficult to get.
“ Well, this looks like a small problem. Given that it was just a tiny part of the evil spirit, rather than the main body.” Jim thought for some time before he said that. “ How much did Everard know?”
“ I told him Leo might become mature after walking up, but nothing serious.”
“Hmm…Keep it at that. Orlaith, you are close to him so keep an eye on Leo. If he doesn’t do anything against the alliance. We are all good to let him go free.” Jim had no problem saying this to Orlaith because despite him being called a butler in name, he didn’t report or work for Everard. That’s just the acting for the people to see. Instead, he reports directly to the Alliance and runs the bureaucracy, the real power lies with him and in the fine print of the Alliance’s constitution, the City Lord was bound to follow his advice. For the Alliance had learnt over the years, to make their rule lasting, trusting the many individual city lords was not the wisest of choice. Orlaith rubbed his right hand with another. Below the white cotton glove, was an intricate magic circle with densely packed lines, pulsating with palatable magic.
***
The west side of the Southern Continent holds the city which was once hailed as the biggest and richest city of Thar. Built along the coastal blue waters, the city holds the deep sea ports which handle the majority of cargo ships of Thar. Thus, despite being dethroned by Esparton from being the richest, it could still hold its other title, the logistic hub of Thar. Thus it was named, Saharahub. It’s from that cargo that got loaded into the back of the Scavengers, the giant centipede-type beasts which act as the means of transporting things as well people across the vastness of the Thar. But the city also had one more thing that made a heartful contribution to its riches. Away from the bustling city of Saharahub, into the blue waters of the Ocean. Some Six hundred kilometres away from the shores, was the series of long chains of islands. When looked from above, they form a rough outline of Six–head hydra. But if one strained his eyes enough, then he could also see the vague outlines of three more heads on the southern side, just not above water. Those were the heads that got sunk into the depths of the sea when Thar asked the mermaid race to hand it over to them.
Now, these islands as well as their bloody history had long been washed away by the waves. Only that remained was the unquestionable importance of these islands for Thar. For it was the perfect place for them to do what they could never do on the mainland, building an industry. Even the most staunched ruler of Thar, with the firm belief in survival of the fittest, could peek at the not-so-far-distant future of Thar of slowly withering away due to constant wars and beast tides. They needed a place which could offset their biggest flaw of not being able to build anything on the mainland. These islands were the things that ticked all the boxes for them to avoid their demise, proximity to the Southern continent, blessed with spacious land among thousands of islands and most of all, lack of beast tide. The last one was the main important one as it allowed Thar to turn these relatively barren islands into a giant economic zone that produced everything Thar could ever need. All connected with a dense web of bridges and ports, these islands make things ranging from clothes to armour, food to potions, kitchen knives to swords and everything in between. It was the land that fed the hungry beast called Thar.
The only thing that these islands required was manpower, a total of Fifteen million men and women, ranging from workers to mages, alchemists to enchanters, which rotated every three years. Without these islands and their constant war supplies, the war-hungry beast would have collapsed long ago, far from the power that they enjoy today. On one of the large ports on the middle hydra head, a strange group of six was present. With their green skin and deep bluish-orange pupils without the presence of eyelids. The side of their neck had deep cuts from where the red gills and ears looked no different than the sharp fin-shaped hands on their forearms. Instead of legs, they had the long tail of fish. The very mermaid race whom the island once belonged to with their signature fishy smell that reeked out from their skin oil that oozes itself out from the glands of their skin.
“All right, that’s all there is to it. Ten thousand tonnes of wet ores.” The man in front of them said as he wrote something in his book. Dressed in the standard pale white and navy blue uniform. He had loosely tied black hairs and sharp light green eyes. A little darker tone to his skin and a well-built figure. He smiled towards the leader of the mermaid, the one that had a slightly transparent green bead on his head. “ You guys sure worked hard for this delivery. I was surprised when you delivered everything on time.”
“ I am always on time,” His words came in a slightly rougher tone. He then turned his pupil behind the human where a series of large wooden boxes were placed and said, “ Besides, you offered something big this time.”
“ You bet.” The man, Charl’s smile got even bigger and he released a small laugh. “ Here let me show you. It’s the latest of the anchor series we are making to date.” He opened the box next and picked a metal gauntlet with a thin blue line running through it. “ We call it Model No. 3301-N. Navy variant. The first mass-produced anchor that could fire Ten, Three-star level spells at the same time. While also working as a part of a bigger group spell. I tell you, if it reached the open market of Terralea, it would create a frenzy.” There were many ways a spell could be cast and many ways to increase its strength. It could be cast by a single strong person or a group of weak but many people. “ Here, give it a little try.”
The leading mermaid caught the gauntlet, it was light, around half a kilo but he found the problem when he saw it up close. His hand was bigger than the size. He looked at Charl’s smile and looked back to examine it again. He knew the human front of them was waiting for him to ask for help, but he would not give him this chance today. The gauntlet itself looked nothing special, with the lines of formation being hidden from the naked eyes, a special way for protecting the magical circle beneath it. With no headway, he tried to put it on his left and finally found a reaction from what he was looking at. The gauntlet produced a small suction force and the mermaid quickly realised something and released his own. The next thing he knew was the gauntlet increased in size to match perfectly in the hand. “ Whoa! That's unexpected.”
“ I know right? They are said to have enough room for improving the comfort of military-grade anchors. What do you say, wanna try its power next?”
“ No.”
“What? Why not?”
“ You have that terrible smile on you which says I am waiting for a person to make a fool of himself.” When he said that, Charl’s smile crumbled into a disappointing face. He asked. “ So, is it related to the sudden shifting of port?” They were initially supposed to meet at a port in the leftmost Hydra head, but suddenly they were asked to come here. He also found that many of the ships from not only their races but also from humans got shifted to other ports today.
“ Well, some big shots seemed to have come to these islands. They didn’t tell me who though.” Charles said. “ But man, the convoy was big enough.”
“ Why do you say such?”
“ You see, the mansion on the left most of Hydra Island has been completely shut and almost the whole Island is being overrun with knights and mages. And for the remaining islands, the cats are deployed to keep watch for trouble.”
“Cats?” If he could have raised his eyes, the mermaid would but he lacks the eyebrows for it. It couldn’t be helped, the cats that Charles just mentioned were the short form for the most infamous agency of Thar, SableClaws. Which made him ask another question. “ Why are you making me create trouble then? You are not afraid of getting picked up by those cats?”
“ About that.” Charles rubbed his head as his smile returned to his face. “ You see, I happened to see a glimpse of the cat who was in charge of this area. And I tell you, she was as hot as one could get.”
“ Huh?”
“So I tried to hit a convo with her, but she turned me down with a cold voice. And then, you came, so I thought to use your help and have her come to me.” As Charles finished his words he found no reply from the mermaid. So when he looked at the front, he found every single mermaid giving him a dead fish stare. “ What?”
“Nothing.”
“ Why do I feel you are being disrespectful towards me in your head?”
***
On the leftmost Hydra head, the one facing towards Thar, a big Mansion was built. Made of completely white walls with a spacious garden filled with different flowers. Passing through the fountain with a big centipede statue in the middle, one could see two people, one male and one female entering through the door. Precisely Badar and Cellia.
“ Has everyone arrived?” Badar asked the guard at the door.
“ Yes, my lord. They are waiting for you in the conference room.” Guard said with a nod. Bardar then turned to Cellia who was wearing her blue dress with a silk mask and entered. The conference room was built on the east of the mansion, second floor. And everywhere on the way, they found many people walking here and there. Many bowed as they saw them, and gave way for them to pass before walking away in a hurry.
“ People are very busy here,” Cellia asked as they walked. She watched as the knights and mages seemed to be semi-panicked as they all ran towards the west side of the building.
“ My lord, I think you should wait a little.” At this time, a knight with four stars came to them and said with a respectful bow. “ For some reason, we have lost contact with the western part of the mansion. Please leave this place with guards till we find out what happened.”
“ Don’t worry, I already know why they are not replying to you. You need not worry about that. Just try to be at ease.” Badar said without explaining. Knight was confused but couldn’t ask more as Bardar and Cellia soon arrived at the conference hall. The guards saluted them and then opened the door for them. When they entered they were greeted with sight of a spacious hall with a large U-shaped table placed in the middle. The arrangement of chairs seemed a little strange as not all chairs were placed near the U-shaped table. There were nine chairs in total directly at the table, while the other ten were positioned behind the five tables. In the middle of the table were chairs with a dark golden colour, while the other eight had the same golden colour but were lighter than the one in the middle. The chairs behind all had silver colours. On them, a group of people were already sitting beforehand. But they all stood up when they found the duo walking in. With almost the same synergy, they gave a salute. “ Hail the Future lord and Madam.”
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Bardar and Cellia returned the salute for the first time. They seemed not informed about the chaos outside or probably they did but it didn’t cause any worry. The reason was the presence of three people who had their chairs near the middle. Each one of them was in almost the same deep khaki suit and with a golden badge on their chest. Each badge depicted some insects: a wasp, a centipede, and a beetle, matched with five stars above them. Behind them, other people were sitting, but the colour of their uniforms was not as dark, and their badges, like their chairs, were silver with the same insect as the person in the front. The strongest of Thar gathered here, there were not many things that could make others worry about intruders.
“Here, let me introduce them to you,” Bardar said as he introduced the people one by one to Cellia.. “ The person on your right, with a centipede on his badge, is Xandriel, The city lord of the Western port city, Saharahub.”
“It's my pleasure to meet you, if you ever feel the need to deliver something please do tell me, our centipedes are unmatched in terms of reliability,” Xandriel said with a respectful greeting. He had a slightly dark skin tone with medium-length blonde hair with a messy textured layer atop and looked as if he tousled them somehow.
“ The person on his left with a wasp badge is called Lirien, the city lord from the southern region and was also responsible for wasp division”
“It's a great day meeting you, though I didn’t bring my beautiful friends with me, I assure you, the sound they make is mesmerising,” Liriens said with a small regret. He had dark green hair with a textured crop top and seemed to have used some kind of wax to keep his hair in a twist. He had pale skin with light green eyes and on his right hand was a brown wood flute. He wanted to say something more but Bardar hurriedly moved to the next person “The person you see with a Beetle on his chest, is called Galadrielle, he leads the northern region of Thar”
“ You should call me uncle.” Galadrielle had yellow hairs with a crew cut style coupled with tapered sides. With wine-red eyes, his overall body was well-toned and maintained a proper straight posture as he moved. “ Besides, I am wondering why you suddenly called us in a hurry.”
“ For celebration, of course,” Lirien said from the side. And then the next moment he brought his flute up to his chest. “ And the moment I heard he was going to marry a beautiful lady, I didn’t take even a wink to write the best notes for the occasion. Here, let me give you a small taste of what is to come.”
“ Hey, hold your dangerous thoughts right there. Do you want to scare away our soon-to-be family member?” Xandriel was quicker than most as he tried to take the flute away from Lirien but he failed.
Cellia’s eyes twitched as she watched two men with high esteem strangle each other like some kids and when she looked beside her, she found some sweat beads atop Bardar. And the sweat always increases whenever Lirien comes close to blowing the flute. ‘Is it so bad?’ She thought to herself and thus asked Bardar in a low voice. “ You don’t like his music?”
“ It’s not about liking,” Bardar said to her without taking his eyes away from the duo. “ It’s about surviving.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“ Stop both of you. Can you see where we are?” She didn’t get her answer as Galadrielle decided to intervene between his brothers to stop the embarrassment. His words seemed to work as both Xandriel and Lirien stopped their struggle. He then said to Lirien. “ We are here to work. No music in between.” Lirien looked a little down but didn’t bring his flute up, but he vowed to play it after the meeting. Galadrielle then looked back to Bardar and Cellia and said with a cough. “ So, why did you call us on such short notice?”
“Well…” Bardar's face slowly became serious which made the other three knit his brows. But Bardar didn’t get to finish his words as the door opened again, and a voice reached their ears. The voice was so cold that it dropped the temperature of the room and into complete silence.
“ He didn’t call you. I did.”
***
Some ten minutes before Bardar and Cellia entered the mansion. Another person was walking in the hallway on the western side of the mansion. Dressed in a pure white long-sleeve attire, was Bella. She had well-combed hair but without any jewellery. Her face was cold and static which didn’t allow one to peer into her thoughts. Her eyes looked straight on her way. On the red carpet floor, her low heels shoes made an undulating sound with each step that reverted throughout the hallway. The reason for such an occurrence was the presence of absolute silence across the hallway. That despite her being not alone in the room. There were many people across the hallway. Everyone lined up sideways on her path and kneeled without raising their head even though she had passed them. Doesn’t matter whether they were knights, mages or otherwise. Their bodies froze like an ice sculpture the moment their retinas first registered her presence and their hearts slowed down the moment their brains confirmed her presence as not just an illusion but a real entity. With a jerked motion, they bowed down with their bodies which refused to stand up again unless she said so. But she didn’t say a thing nor spare a glance as she passed by them.
“ HAIL THE GREAT MOTHER!! VICTORY TO THE GODDESS OF WAR!!” shouted the four-star knight who told Bardar to leave the mansion some time ago. He too was on the ground. With him as the lead, it was like a spell was cast on everyone, as the whole mansion became filled with shouts of the same words. “HAIL THE GREAT MOTHER!! VICTORY TO THE GODDESS OF WAR!!”
But Bella had become long deaf to such words. Ignoring that, she then moved into the room as the door behind her closed on its own. Everyone present there froze on her arrival. Bardar too was a little uncomfortable listening to Bella’s old voice. Cellia on the other hand was shocked from inside, with sweat forming within her palms. She had never felt so much chill in her life. Her instincts screamed at her, she would die if looked back. And when the sounds of footsteps started to come closer, her heart started to beat faster as her back filled with sweat. It was cold, not only metaphorically but also literally, as she noticed a small frost starting to appear on the top of her. She panicked and was about to use her magic to remove it, but her actions were stopped by Bardar who suddenly placed his hand on her shoulder and moved her body to bow to the ground. His mana took control of her body while also defrosting her. Her head was also on the ground which made her unable to look up and she didn’t try to. Bella felt too different from her usual self. At this time, Bardar's sound came into her mind. ‘Don’t do anything, I will explain later. Just keep your head down, or those guys will kill you.’
On the other hand, Bella had walked up to the dark golden chair and sat without another word. She then looked to the front, and everyone was kneeling, without a sound. On their bowed heads, green light burned itself into their eyes as their breathing became rougher. Despite the coldness of the room, their bodies still sweated. Bella’s eyes then looked at the three empty chairs, each one had a scorpion drawn on them but that was only for a moment before her eyes moved on. “ I would restart project New Moon. I want all preparations to be done in the shortest time possible,” she said.
“ Your wish is our command!” Xandriel, Lirien, and Galadrielle said in a loud voice. It was so loud that it caused the air to vibrate. She then turned to Bardar and said her next words. “ Bardar, go get Rayen. He will be the key to our success.”
“...I understand.” As Bardar said after swallowing his questions, Bella was left to herself and got lost in thought as she glanced back at the three children she picked. She looked at what Xandriel said with ever so little softened voice. “ I heard you have a son now. He’s now, what? Twenty-seven years old?”
“ It is as the mother said. He’s now a veteran two-star knight, and is leading the frontlines against beastide.” He answered without raising his head.
“ What’s his name?”
“He didn’t need one.”
“Why didn't he need one? Did you not have one?” Bella’s words lacked any surprise in her voice. If anything, it had more apathy to it.
“ He didn’t deserve one,” Xandriel spoke as if he was talking about some hardened criminal, rather than his son. “ If he couldn’t get a name from Mother herself, then what’s the use of it?”
Cellia’s heart got even more cold as she heard his words. But the more shock she got was from Bella. It was as if Bella felt nothing from such an act and seemed to move on as she heard her voice again.
“Lirien, why did you lower the age by which people must go into the Wasp’s nest? Did you not know the sound they make is deadly to humans and especially mages?”
“ Mother, over the years, the quality of people under my command is dropping. I am afraid that soon, they will not be able to cut through the beast tides.” Different from Xandriel, Lirien bowed his head a little more as the overall strength of cities under him couldn’t remain steady and thus, was no different from a failure. “ That’s why, I wanted to have my mages refine the spell casting under wasp’s sound.”
“So how successful was it?”
“ They now have enough room to sing a song amid battle.”
“Hm…” Bella turned to her last son. She placed her left arm on the chair arm and used it to support her head while saying with an air of boredom. “ Galadrielle, tell me something interesting.”
“ …” There was a deafening silence in the room. For some reason, Cellia’s whole body started to sweat and her clothes became wet.
“ How boring.” Bella raised her bored eyes and looked behind her sons. Her eyes went through each one of them. Despite them not facing her directly, it was as if she could see right through their minds, and thus made everyone’s body shake with visible effect. She then pointed at one person behind Xandriel. He had a more rugged face with dry lips and a slightly short body. “ You over there, which person did you pledge loyalty to?”
“ TO THE GREAT GODDESS OF WAR!!” He shouted with his dry mouth and rammed his head into the floor. But the person in question turned her eyes away and pointed to the person behind Lirien and asked the same but slightly different question.
“ Did you usually remain under Lirien’s command?”
“ I do not.” His words shocked all but Bella. Different from the one before, he had average height, with slightly long amber-coloured hairs. “ I listen to the command of Lord Adhira.” He spoke a name that made even Bella raise her eyes. For it was a name few spoke anymore. It was once used in tandem with Arcturus. Both brothers were the best Bella had to offer when it came to the succession of Thar. But there was another reason why this name was not spoken anymore. It was Adhira who ordered a mass execution of believers of the Sun god overnight, killing close to Five hundred thousand in total. That was the beginning of the Divine War. He was then expelled from Thar by Bella.
“ Leave Thar in under four hours,” Bella said after a silence. And moved to the last person that caught her eye. He looked less healthy than others, with a build that lacked muscles or body mass with a clean shaved head. “ Did you give your loyalty to me?”
“ No. I don’t. But I am unable to tell who I work for as I don’t know either. They never told me.” This made everyone’s heart stuck in their throats. Two in a row, and all had a problem with their loyalty. Their eyes couldn’t move, but they wandered off, what about the first?
“ Why not just lie to me? It’s not like I could know about your lie or can I?”
“ I was told.” He said with a slow voice, even a little sigh was mixed with it. “ Never lie in front of a Great Elder.”
“ What’s your name?”
“ It’s Qilich.”
“ Raise your head, Qilich.” He did as told, and Bella could see a man prepared for his death. She raised her index finger and the frost gathered itself from the air and circled itself just above him. “ I would send you to Astral Battlefield. Tell your master, I am impressed by his effort of putting you inside Thar.” With her words, the frost fell and stuck into his body and cooled before his naked eyes. Soon it made his whole body look like an ice sculpture which then burst into tiny little shaders. But it was not the only thing, as those shaders moved into the air, instead of falling, towards the very same person who Bella asked her question. The man wanted to scream but no sound came from his open mouth. The shards surrounded his whole body in no time and then started to compress inside. He wanted to do something but found his strength as an Official knight as useless as a child in front of an adult. It started to tighten the space around him and although no one could hear his screams, they could hear the sound of the very bones being squeezed, the sounds as they burst in the face of an unimaginable force and at last, like a being fruit put under the hammer, a squish resounded throughout the silent room. In the palace where the man once stood, was just a red ice cube, about the size of one’s hand. Inside, through the transparent walls of ice, one could see some pieces of organs as well as other human things. It then flowed in front of Xandriel and her voice again. “ Take this back and hang it in a place where you can see it daily. Also, when you return, remember to bring your son to me. Got it?”
***
Oasis, Thar.
Boss Sam suddenly remembered some words that his friend once said to him. About how the importance of a person keeps on diminishing the more you stay with him. But he felt those were more about half-truths as it really depends on the person. Say, if a dangerous person with more records of eating people as time passes than sparing them keeps coming to your house, what are the chances for someone to start ignoring them? From his personal experience, he could proudly answer, zero. No matter how many times he steals a glance at the two or the monster sitting behind him on the lap of a child. And no matter how many times she cleaned the artefact he made with a face close to vomiting, he still felt his heart would explode when her eyes locked on him. He still had nightmares about getting eaten by the thing behind him. Such that his wife suggested him to think positively and handed him a new bottle of oil. It was only after he put it on his head that he found that it was known to also give the meat a good taste. Needless to say, he wondered if his wife was sending some kind of message but he was too afraid to ask. Then there was the root cause of all his heart trouble, the child sitting a little distance away from him.
He peeked a glance at Azir, who despite having his arms working as usual, was lost with his eyes. He was staring at the wall as if his eyes peered past them. Sam couldn’t help but ask him in a low voice. “ What are you looking at?”
“ Boss, there is no hope for humanity anymore.”
“ Huh? Where does that come from?” Boss Sam could only make a confused face at him.
“ Do you know Boss, I got a good score on my report card. I thought I had a bright future ahead of me.” Azir on the other hand sighed like a lost man. “ But yesterday, reality broke my dream, like a glass.”
“ Did something happen? Is there someone who badmouthed you? Tell me who it was.” Sam frowned when he said that. And regardless of the daily shenanigans of Azir, Sam still liked him very much like his own child.
“ No, it's not like that.” Azir sighed once again. “ Just that I got completely wrecked in the chess competition.”
“Ah, only this much and you are behaving like this? Come man, grow up, it was just the way things go. You win some and lose some.”
“ By that dog over there.”
“ Cough, cough.” Sam coughed for a solid minute or two and forgot the words he was going for. His eyes were wide open when gazing at Azir. Like he was looking at some new wonder of the land.
“And under ten moves no less.”
“ Uhm..T-That’s all? It’s normal these days.”
“ Normal?”
“Of course.” Sam lied through his mouth as he suppressed his shock. “ The world is big, of course, some bea-”
“Woof!!”
Azir looked at the word written by Rayen on the ground and then said to the frozen Sam. “ She said to use Dog.” Azir meanwhile ignored the word beautiful written before the dog much to Cherry’s dismay.
“ Ahem, so some dogs are better than others.”
“ Even humans?”
“ Naturally.” Sam wiped the sweat off his head. But other than that, there was one question which was plaguing his mind. So he asked the culprit. “ Why did you even play a game like chess with her?”
“Oh that, you see. I found that she was very gullible and bordering on stupid side. Especially when you praise her a little and give her a small sweet to eat.” Azir too lowered his voice and looked towards Cherry and found her lying on Rayen as he combed her hair. Cherry’s idea to remove slow Rayen while she cleaned the artefacts to double her income. Only after making sure that she was not looking at them did Azir continue. “ So, my genius brain started to fire with full blast.”
“What did you do?” Sam also comes closer to him. He always gets surprised by the many ways Azir could think of, most of the time they are stupid but they do sound good to listen to. He felt this was such a moment.
“ So you see. I praised her ability to clean and put her on the higher ground. And set her, eh, encouraged her big time with the promise of a lot of sweets. And then I strapped four scrubbers on her legs and a broom on her tail. And unleashed her on the whole house.”
“ You IMBECILE!”
“Huh?”
“Woof?!”
“Ahem! No, nothing. Please continue.” Sam almost lost control of himself and his heart once again thumped like crazy. He felt like he just dug himself a deeper hole to jump into. Just the image of Cherry coming after him to silence the witness made his body shake with terror. But Azir was not done speaking.
“ So after I'm done with the house. I thought the waters were deep enough for me to fish and so I started a house cleaning service.”
“....”
“ Initially it was all good and dandy. But fast forward into a week, and suddenly she somehow figured out I made a foo- eh, that I over-encouraged her a little. And she started to bark at me. So I had to hide behind Rayen and bicker with her for one hour. Then, at last, she pulled a chessboard from her collar and crushed me.”
“Y-You you…” Sam couldn’t form any coherent words for a long time. He didn’t even notice when Azir and others left. Only when his wife called him for dinner did he come back to himself. And muttered after looking at the ceiling. “ Ah, Ignorant’s courage.”