Hours passed and things remained peaceful, Tokkou was done with his training and Becka was done with her cleaning, Teras on the other hand was still meditating on top of Tokkou's king-sized bed
"What are you doing here?" Tokkou asked confused
"Since you occupied the backyard Becka told me the most silent room would be this!"
"I see! So? Do you like it? Did you find anything interesting?"
When Teras asked this question he immediately thought of the file he saw
"Uhm... The sword surprised me..." Teras said unconvincingly
"Oh, this? It was a gift from my now dead father, someone he knew in the past gave him this hoping to be a charm on his adventures and it surely was for me at least, I don't know about him, my father didn't use it much but once he died I took it for myself"
'That's harsh...' Teras thought hearing that
"Want to give it a try?" Tokkou said as he took it off the display case, he then threw it at Teras
"Whoa! This is premium quality!" Teras said knowing nothing about swords
"You have a good eye! This is a mana-enhanced sword crafted by a dwarf in the High King's era, he is middle-aged right now, like in his late fifties, He is the first and only Grand king, and is said that people raised in his generation were complete monsters, the blue death was also a kid back then, he grew up to be the king's left hand since I'm his right, to be honest, I and another annoying individual are the youngest card possessors, I mean I'm 26 and fought for the king at my 14, just about the age you are now!" Tokkou bragged with a cocky smile on his face
"Really? At my age, you were strong enough to fight at the king's side?" Teras asked shocked
"Correct! This is the charm that gave me the luck to do that!" Tokkou said as he pointed at the sword in Teras's hands
"By mana enhanced do you mean it's stronger?" Teras asked confused
"No, mana-enhanced weapons have abilities that are triggered once the holder pours mana inside the sword, this particular allows you to hit HARD, so hard that it creates a big wave of air! I advise you to try it out but not now! If you do it now this room will become a mess!"
Tokkou said as he slowly pushed Teras out of his room, Tokkou then quickly checked his desk
'I forgot to lock my drawer, if Teras saw what was inside then I could be in big trouble...' Tokkou thought, he then used mana vision to check any mana traces that Teras might have left behind
But to his surprise there were no mana traces
'Thank god he doesn't have too much curiosity' Tokkou said before locking the door to his room
He then walked to the backyard and saw Teras trying to use the ability of the blade, for some reason Teras wasn't able to do it
"Come on kid! You learned everything quickly but you can't do that? You literally have to simply pour mana inside of the sword's core, nothing more, nothing less" Tokkou said disappointed
"It's not like I can't do it... I just feel like a dagger-like sword like this is a weapon familiar to me, so familiar that I don't even feel anything by holding it" Teras said as he charged the sword with mana
A slash of the sword then created a strong wave of air that refreshed Tokkou's garden
'Phenomenal...' Tokkou thought as he saw Teras swing his sword like this
'I was never able to produce such destructive power with this sword...' Tokkou thought as he watched with a grin
Suddenly Becka came into the backyard with exciting news
"I'm sorry to disturb but the guests arrived!"
"Oh seems like you have to hide in the kitchen or something! I don't feel like explaining what and who you are!" Tokkou said as he dragged Teras inside the mansion
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
But while Tokkou was trying to find a place to hide Teras, Teras felt something strange, he felt the same aura he sensed back there when he was chased by Clair
Nobody anticipated this but for some reason, the guests were able to open the door, they were a group of four strong people, one person especially had an aura similar to Tokkou's but much inferior
This exceptional man was supposedly Tokkou's squad leader
Basically, Tokkou is the leader but he had a smaller group under his control and this group had a leader, that being this man
But that doesn't matter...
What matters is the girl among the men, the short-haired blonde girl, it was Clair, she returned, but the problem is she is someone Tokkou trusts
'It makes no sense' Teras thought as he helplessly looked at Clair
"She is..." That's the only words Teras could say at her sight
But Tokkou and Becka realized something was wrong immediately, Teras's eyes said what he wanted to, he clearly saw Clair as a threat and almost everyone could tell
"What's with this kid Captain Tokkou? Is he your kid or anything?" Clair asked with an innocent smile
"He is a lost cousin of Becka! Don't you see the resembles?" Tokkou said as he placed Teras and Becka side to side, he then started to compare their features
"See the boy has red eyes and Becka has red hair, but they both had a descendant with red eyes and red hair and when the family divided the features, one family took the eyes and the other took the hair color"
'He may be an actual idiot...' Becka thought for a moment even though she cherishes Tokkou
"I see! Now how about the thing you wanted to talk to us about?" The man in the middle said, he was also the one with the strong mana
"Fine, follow me!" Tokkou said as he led everyone in his office
Everybody walked past Becka and Teras but Clair made sure to give Teras a good look with a smile on her face
As soon as Clair and the others left the room Teras fell to his knees
"What's wrong kid? You looked awful back there!" Becka asked confused
"Clair, the lady, she is the assassin I met!"
"Are you sure it was her?" Becka didn't want to believe it since Clair was an ally to Tokkou for a long time and someone she knew
"While meditating I healed the wounds she caused me when she chased me in town, I wouldn't be lying about something like this..." Teras said as he slowly got up
…
Some time passed Tokkou and the others slowly exited the office and started to slowly walk toward the exit
"Thanks for coming all the way to my small humble town, Clair, do you mind staying here for a little chat?" Tokkou said as she glared at Clair
"Sure! Why though? You know I'm a busy woman, I can't really waste time on talking!"
"You didn't understand me, this is an order from the grand jack!" Tokkou said while his purplish aura started to fill the corridor of his mansion
The other three already left not minding what was happening behind them
"I see, should we go out to have a talk, being in such a close space doesn't fit right with me"
"Sure, go first!" Tokkou said as he made way for Clair to walk and she easily did
"Teras! You come too!" Tokkou said with a serious expression
So Teras started to walk behind Tokkou
The three of them were now outside starting at each other, no words were needed, Clair knew what she wanted to do and Teras knew what was going to happen too but didn't say a word, as for Tokkou he simply wanted to know what happened
"So Teras, mind telling us your story?" Tokkou asked as he looked him in the eyes
"She wants to kill you" Teras said as she pointed at Clair
"Why would a time-long co-worker of mine want to kill me exactly and what sick fantasy made you think you stand a chance?" Tokkou said with a smile as his piercing eyes turned to Clair
"Why? Why? Why?" Clair started saying these words calmly
"Why would I do it, indeed? Do you happen to remember the great revolution of the races? A day when elves dwarfs and beastmen managed to attain their right to enter and exit any part of the world without any restrictions, at this day many people lost their lives during the protest, non-humans but there were also humans sane enough to protest too but humans or not the government didn't hold back, and by government, I mean YOU Tokkou! You were responsible for many deaths on this day!" Clair said as her expression started to form into a wild more scary version of her normal facial expression
"You are not a saint either Clair, so what if I killed a guy or two? This kind of job requires blood to shed" Tokkou said with a cold look
"MY PARENTS WERE THERE! YOU ARE THE ONE THAT KILLED THEM! YOU AND YOUR STUPID SENSE OF JUSTICE!" Clair said as she grabbed two of her daggers
"I can't know if I did it, I don't really remember the faces of people I kill unless they leave me a good impression, so I could have or not done it, I can't guarantee anything to you, but I can tell that's a possible scenario, I don't seem unreasonable to hate me but the thing now is how you will react to your hate, are you going to take revenge or keep on hating me and move on with your life and work?" Tokkou said as he raised his two hands to indicate the two different choices Clair had
"Do you expect me to simply walk away and forgive what you did to my parents? I grew up in a fucking shithole my whole life, I struggled to get food every day and fought hard to raise among the ranks to sustain myself and eventually get to you, and now that I have a perfect chance to punish you about what you have done, do you really think I will run away?"
"I give you the choice to live or die, I don't want you to see you throw your life away Clair, you have potential, just walk away and let's pretend nothing happened, don't act foolishly!"
"SCREW YOU!" Clair said as she charged at Tokkou with her two daggers, she tried to slash him but Tokkou easily dodged by leaning his body back, he then kicked her away with a smooth and swift kick
"Slow down kid!" Tokkou said with a smile
Clair then merged her daggers and attacked Tokkou with a stabbing attack, Tokkou reacted by kicking the daggers of her hand and then with the hard part of his palm struck her head launching her back and making her body crash on the ground multiple times
"Goodbye Clair" Tokkou said as he got into a fighting stance...