Chapter 37: Bastard.

After counting all of the stolen money Shipo couldn’t help but grin internally. All together the dead family had thirty thousand Greater Coronatian shekels. It was already enough to pay off his debt to his father.

He quickly gathered up his well earned reward and stuffed it in his pouch before turning to head to the next compartment. Simultaneously Okimodo and Hiro entered to return the two rings and the watch.

“I’ve got thirty grand already.” Shipo grinned. “You should go and melt the gangway door leading to the other seven carriages shut just in case the survivors get bright ideas and decide to steal as well.”

“Well at least you’re honest about being a scumbag.” Hiro pushed her way past Shipo before she observed the bodies.

Their eyes and mouths were wide open as if they had sensed their demise a second too late. She gently closed the eyes and mouth of the father before returning his wedding ring. She then went over to the mother and did the same thing.

Okimodo leaned in towards Shipo and spoke quietly. “It’s best if we just steal the money and leave the jewellery alone.”

“Whatever.” Shipo shrugged before leaving the compartment.

Okimodo then redirected his attention towards Hiro who was now performing a prayer for the dead family.

“May the divine archetype of life and death guide this family safely through their travels in the astral world.” As Hiro prayed countless tiny balls of light emerged from her body before swirling around her, illuminating her skin with a golden glow.

Benjamin leaned back while kicking his feet up on the table. He held a bottle of wine to his tilted head and drank to his hearts content. Across from him Judas continued to embrace his terrified wife and daughter as they silently cried.

Benjamin placed the wine on the table before looking over at Hiruru and asking. “How long do we have left until we reach Corone?”

“Around three and a half hours.” Hiruru answered in a deadpan tone.

The atmosphere in the compartment had grown tense and uncomfortable. Ever since Benjamin had revealed the true nature of the contract a deafening silence had persisted in the air.

Hiruru wondered if she was having a nightmare.

“Can everyone please leave me and Hiruru alone for a few minutes.” Benjamin motioned for everyone to leave before fixing his eyes on Hiruru.

Fear gripped Hiruru’s heart and ran its icy fingers down her spine. Just what the hell did this guy want from her?

Everyone in the room slowly stood up before leaving.

Judus glanced at Hiruru with an expression of pity and sadness as he exited with his wife and daughter.

Once the two were alone, Benjamin gently ran his hairy and sweaty hand along Hiruru’s thigh. Immediately she shrunk back at slapped his hand away.

At the next moment Benjamin looked at her with a wide smile that deformed his wrinkled face. “Don’t be like that. Do you know why it is that I’ve fallen for you? It’s because unlike most of the sluts in this country, you know how to conduct yourself with elegance. An object of beauty and warmth that radiates a feminine silence. The perfect support for a strong, dominant and ambitious man such as myself.”

“Get away from me!” Hiruru yelled. “You barely know me!”

“And doesn’t that make it so much more special.” Benjamin breathed out hot and moist air that dampened Hiruru’s face as he leaned in towards her. “When I first employed you I was captivated by your beauty and strength. I’ve been longing for you for a while now.”

“If you force yourself on to me then it’s in my legal right to kill you in self defence.” Hiruru scowled as she held him back with her elbow.

“Why the hell would I need to force you!” Benjamin’s eyes narrowed with resentment. “Don’t start being a bitch all of a sudden.”

Benjamin then leaned forward fighting against the force of the woman’s elbow causing him to choke as it dug into his throat.

Outside of the compartment Shannon suddenly fell to her knees as she clutched her throat. Judus quickly bursts into the compartment to see what the hell was happening.

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He saw Benjamin looming over Hiruru as if he were about to mount her. Rage overflowed as he held back the urge to kill the fucker right there.

Hiruru was in a similar mental state and tried her best to not crush Benjamin’s throat with her super resonator strength. At the end of the day she wouldn’t kill a little girl just to kill Benjamin. No child should have to suffer because of garbage like him.

“You’re hurting her you know.” Benjamin continued to press forward with increasing pressure, his sweaty skin staining Hiruru’s coat. “Don’t you see the look of concern on her father’s face? As a soon to be father myself I can’t imagine a woman making my child suffer for her own selfish desires. Just give in and let me become one with your elegant and well bred body.”

Hiruru had to end this somehow or else she may really lose control of her emotions and kill him. “Not here, let’s do it when we get to Balboa.”

Judus who had been holding himself back with all of his strength added. “It’s not good if you do that here. Maybe wait until you’ve met your wife before doing it.”

This was the most Judus could do to help Hiruru for now.

Benjamin let out another long hot breath before pulling back and standing up. He then suddenly punched himself in the stomach at full force. A high pitched scream could be heard which was soon followed by crying.

Judus ran into the corridor to see his wife embracing Shannon tightly as she cried and held her stomach.

He kneeled down to check if his daughter was injured. He found that there was now a noticeable bruise forming around her belly when he lifted her shirt. Rage boiled his blood into molten iron as all manner of dark thoughts crept up on him.

“Don’t ever piss me off like that again.” Benjamin sighed as he stepped out of the compartment. “For your own daughter’s safety it’s best if you don’t speak to me with your head held too high, I just might develop a new tendency to self harm when provoked.”

Judus glared back at Benjamin before swearing to himself. He swore that he would rip the bastard limb from limb slowly and painfully before killing him even more slowly.

“It hurts.” Shannon leaned into the warmth of her parents as she wept.

“You’re a strong girl darling.” Judus cupped her head in his hands as he tried his best to comfort his daughter. “We can make it through this.”

Okimodo and Shipo emptied out their pouches over the floor of the guard cab. After going through most of the bodies they had amassed a total of four hundred thousand Greater Coronatian shekels. It was safe to say that they wouldn’t have to be concerned over living expenses for quite some time.

“We need to find a way to hide this.” Okimodo said. “We obviously can’t just have a bunch of money constantly jingling in our pockets during the rest of our job.”

Shipo then suddenly left the guard cab before returning with an empty suit case that he had obviously stolen. “Put the money in here and let’s bury it by the side of the train tracks. Once we’re done with this job we’ll return to this location to collect it.”

Okimodo smiled at his brother. “That’s actually a good idea.”

Hiro had just gotten finished with praying for the last of the dead passengers and was on her way back to the guard cab. She didn’t know what to think of the two Azurai. Okimodo seemed quite charming and friendly towards her despite her technically being his enemy at the moment. He even had a geniune desire to keep her safe which showed that he wasn’t completely awful. Shipo on the other hand seemed like an irredeemable scumbag. Perhaps she was being a bit unfair since she didn’t know him. It was entirely possible for him to turn out to be like his brother and not like every other self serving super resonator in Viriticily.

She entered back into the final carriage where she saw Okimodo leaving the guard cab. He immediately yelled as soon as he saw her. “Hey! How much of the money do you want?”

“Non of it!” Hiro yelled back disgusted.

“I guessed that I shouldn’t have asked you that, but I can’t just leave you out of the spoils.” Okimodo laughed light heartedly. “I’m assuming you’re not going to get paid even if you’re successful in killing Benjamin?”

“No.” Hiro answered. “Doing it for money would completely defeat the point of it all.”

As Okimodo got close to her he asked. “How do you survive?”

“I do so barely.” She admitted.

Okimodo leaned against the wall while folding his arms and sighing. “I won’t ask you to take the stolen money anymore, but can you at least take the money I’m going to get from my clan upon the job’s completion. That’s completely clean money.”

“Am I really that pitiful…” Hiro sat down with her knees folded against her chest and her back against the wall. “I want to take it. But if I do then I’ll hate myself for it.”

“It’s good to be honest.” Okimodo squatted down infront of her while leaning forward with a gentle smile. “The best people are always the most transparent. That naturally means that they get manipulated by the worst all of the time. You seem like you know it right? The pain of watching a good person be used for the benefit of others?”

“You don’t know the last of it.” Hiro smiled back at him.

Okimodo leaned forward again until his forehead rested on hers as he stared into her dilated eyes. “You know what I don’t understand. You commoners feel shame when receiving free money from others. Why is that?”

Hiro placed her hand over his and said. “Because we are constantly told that we’re the useless feeders of society. People that don’t make it out on top are told that they don’t work hard enough. So we always work the hardest and we hate asking others for help. The politicians constantly call us lazy and entitled so there is a lot of shame around it.”

Okimodo scoffed before turning to sit beside her. “Do you want to hear an open secret about the wealthy?”

Hiro looked at him and asked. “What is it?”

Okimodo grinned and said. “The wealthy beg harder than any beggar you’ll find on the street. Except it’s not called begging but asking the prime minister for tax cuts.”

Hiro immediately chuckled at the boy’s statement before smiling. “I guess I can see where you’re coming from.”

End of chapter 37.