“How long.”

Ms Rachel paused for a few seconds and said.

“Three.”

“Three what?”

“Two.”

“Oh.”

“One.”

“Shit.”

It was then that the door hinges almost broke. A blast of light was seen, and for a few seconds, I was blinded. On any other day, I would be on guard if there was a sudden something that blinded me. But I didn't need to worry. Nobody would be dumb enough to assault this place.

“Brother!”

A large, muscle-packed man followed the burst of light. I expected for him to be sliced apart the second he came in, yet the guards didn't even make a move. What.

The muscle-bound man leaped and spread his arms wide, running towards our direction like a bull that got out of its Penn. And, this was where it got weird, he was coming to Mr Samuel.

Mr Samuel didn't seem amused by it and even seemed repulsed by the man coming towards him. He drew his Chokuto without hesitation, and the moment the man was at arm's length, he attacked, the direction of his blade intent on slicing the man's head off.

The man did not seem to be surprised by his assault, and instead of moving out of the way, met it head-on and continued his charge. I closed my eyes and prayed for him inside my heart. Who would actively run towards their death, could not be me.

There was a clanging sound, yet no blood was spilled. Confused, I opened my eyes and saw that the man was still in one piece and seemed comfortable. My confusion then turned into shock, as I saw the impossible.

The man was giving Mr Samuel a bear hug, his thick arms wrapped around him and he didn't seem to have any intention of letting go. The blade, on the other hand, was still on the sides of the man's neck, except it was hovering over it.

I looked closer and saw that a coating of golden mana was protecting him, and Mr Samuel realizing this fact, raised his chokuto away from him, and struck once more. His blade seemingly appeared in and out of reality, it moved so fast that it became a blur in my eyes.

Yet no matter how much he attacked, the man was still unscathed.

“Oh brother how iv missed you. Still healthy as ever I see, that's good that's good.”

“I'm not your brother.”

The man didn't seem to have heard him and squeezed harder, leading Mr Samuel to begin coating his mana in black as he threateningly gazed at him. The man seemed to have finally relented, giving him a weary smile before slowly letting go with a wide smile on his face.

“Don't be such a downer Sammy, it's just a hug.”

Sammy? What the hell is happening? I thought that this time Mr Samuel would finally explode, yet he did not seem to have minded his nickname. That was unfair, if it was me who said it, or anyone else for that matter, they would be deader than the ground we stood.

Mr. Samuel, though with reluctance I assumed, withdrew his Chokuto and proceeded to ignore him. He turned his back to him and strolled towards the stairs leading up. Ms Rachel quietly followed, sometimes giving a few glances towards the man. The man waved back at Ms Rachel yet even she ignored him.

That means. I was confused as to why they were so mean to him. He seemed like such a nice guy. When I looked back at him, he was staring directly at me. He seemed to be scrutinizing me, and I felt it. I froze in my spot as if I was being inspected by a lion.

He even looked like one, making it worse for me. His hair was like a lion's mane, gold and rough as if even his hair could harm me. He was tall, taller than almost anyone iv met. I think he was even a little taller than Mr William.

The clothes he wore though were strange. He had two axes behind his back, and that was probably the most normal thing about him. He was in full battle armor, his armor glistening with silver like it was newly polished.

Finally, he approached me, standing tall over me as he gazed at me. The silly demeanor he showed was gone, replaced with a warrior gait, and his eyes were like a beast that stalked his prey, except there was no stalking, and he was just staring at me.

“You…”

His voice was deep, deeper than the catacombs Mr Samuel built under us. It even had a subtle growl to it. He spread his arms wide, and I expecting a battle between us, lowered myself but it didn't even seem to matter.

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He struck, but my reaction was too late. He caught me, wrapping his arms around me as if he were a Kraken, and squeezed the ever-living hell out of me. I felt one of the things keeping me alive, being sucked out of me. My veins bulged as if it would explode, with myself following.

Then I saw a light. A white light that seemed to be calling to me. I stretched my hand towards it, yet like stretching my arm towards the night sky to grab the stars, I failed.

“Let him go, Morgan. I don't care if he dies really, but you can kill him later. I still need him for now.”

“Oh… Well okay!”

The sweet light that called on to me was gone, with reality crashing down on me. I fell to the floor, wheezing as I tried with all my effort to suck in as much air as possible. Acting as if air was a limited resource like cookies at home.

T coughed a few times, feeling myself become whole again or at least, somewhat alive. Once I got my bearings, which meant that I was able to breathe like a normal living being, I got up.

“Hoho, what a fine young man you are. No wonder Sammy likes you so much that he keeps you around. Come now, stop breathing like a dog and follow.”

He smiled with pearly white teeth and strode to the stairs. I clutched my chest and finally knew the reason why Mr Samuel did not like him very much.

It's because he smiles a lot. That must be it. I still wasn't sure though. Yet the way he smiles reminds me a lot of someone I closely know. The way he smiles in a silly way that is full of innocence. I wonder who reminds me that of…

Moving on.

When I looked around, a question popped into my head.

Where was everybody? Not just the people, but also the Assassins. They were always here. Sure there were still some here, but everybody was not here.

…

“Status report.”

Mr. Samuel sat in his chair in a laidback manner, his legs crossed and his arms clutched against each other. He lazily looked at all of us as we stood in front of him. This was the first time I ever was present when Ms Rachel was reporting something. So this was a little exciting.

“Alpha Squad is still on that mission so they will not be available for the foreseeable future. Gamma Squad is en route towards [Needle Country] to assassinate the tyrannical king by request of the Emperor. Squad Omega’s current status is unknown. Their presence has been untraceable for the past few months, so nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Wait a squad vanished?”

I hurriedly closed my mouth when I realized what I had just done. All eyes suddenly turned to me, as well as the prying eyes of the ones hidden in the dark.

I gazed towards Mr Samuel who still had a lazy look on his face, yet there was a small hint of bloodlust leaking through his eyes. He held up his finger to his mouth, with the room going completely void of sound. Even the legs of an ant could be heard in that situation, but there were no insects to speak of in Mr Samuel's office.

Everyone went back to ignoring my presence, with Ms Rachel continuing his report.

“As I was saying, Beta Squad is still here, fortunately, in the room as we speak.”

“I see. So what is the problem, my dear Rachel? Except for the presence of that idiot in this room, there doesn't seem to be anything that is a pressing matter.”

“I will explain that Brother.”

The blond man haired man, supposedly named Morgan, cut in. He strode to the front of Mr Samuel and reached into the bag he was carrying, fishing out an object as he dropped it in front of Mr Samuel.

Looking closely, it seemed to be some sort of jewel. It was in the shape of a diamond. It was big, the size of a fist, and it was colored in complete white. Some might think that it didn't even exist due to the sheer transparency of it.

Mr. Samuel still maintained a blank expression, though I suspected that by the expression of Ms. Rachel, it seemed to be a big deal.

“So it's an Orpheus Jewel. It's Indeed rare, and I'm surprised that you found one. But what of it?”

“I found it.”

“And? It's not that hard to find once you're in that-”

“I found it here.”

All of a sudden the air in the room changed. Dropping to a temperature that was below even freezing point. Mr Samuel stood up from his seat, a rare serious expression on his face.

“Crap.”

…

I was confused.

Tilting my head to the side, I looked at everyone else who was in the room, their expressions grim and stiff. It was like I was staring at a troubled stone if a rock could even feel stress. What was the big deal anyway, my family had a bunch of those jewels lying around our house.

Mostly it was because my mother had a hobby of collecting precious jewels, it got to a point where even my father had to step in before it got worse. It did not matter though, it got worse.

I thought that Ms Samuel would have the answer and wanted to ask him, yet it was not such a good idea I think. He had his chair turned against us, probably because he was deep in thought. If even he got so frazzled about it, it must be a big deal. I did not understand why though.

I approached Ms. Rachel, who also had a troubled look on her face, yet did not seem to be intimidating enough for me to not ask.

“Ms. Rachel? Is something wrong? Isn't it just a shiny rock?”

Her eyes instantly darted towards me, her face apparent with bafflement. She looked away from me and gave a look of annoyance towards Mr Samuel, who seemed to know of it, yet just chose to ignore it.

She looked back at me opened her mouth and said.

“It's not just a shiny rock Cosmo.”

“Sure, if it was just that, I wouldn't be here! He would forbid it.”

Mr Morgan pointed a finger to Mr Samuel, and again as always, still ignored it even though he knew. Ms Rachel gave me a weary and tired look and continued.

“It might look like a jewel Cosmo, but it's not. It's a type of metal, and it's the type of metal that is resistant to magic but a good absorbent of Holy magic, as well as being tough and durable, and, if forged correctly, sharp enough to slice a man in half like butter. It is said that it can only grow in one place in the entire continent, where holy magic is the most strong and potent. ”

“Okay, so it's a strong metal. Big deal. What's so special about it except that it can absorb holy magic pretty well?”

Ms Rachel seemed to have reached her breaking point, and instead of explaining even more to me, she said the name of a country that I never wanted to hear from again.

“{[Slane Theocracy]}”