CHAPTER 33 - Realization and Trick

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Studentin (Second Lieutenant), Reichel Schwertspinne, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 4, Day 22, Somewhere within the Unterwelt, Deutsche Empery

In every city, in every country, regardless of what race owned it, there ran a dark side which more or less acted as the balance for the city’s wonders and looks of purity.

The Unterwelt, considered to be the pimple of Berilian, was the region where the said ‘dark side’ of the Deutsche Empery ran the most rampant.

At least the most visible kind.

Yet by irony, it was also one of the busiest regions during sunrise and sunset, as people who worked legal jobs at day pass through it at sunset to get to the comfortable safeties of their homes just before the dangers of the night in the Unterwelt came, and the people who worked illegal jobs pass through it at sunset to start working

Wolves walked among sheep in such a time of tranquility reaching an unofficial compromise for the stability of the sector, just moments before everything gets flipped over in mere moments revealing a lawless and hostile environment where the strong thrived.

And in the said sector of the capital Berilian, there was a single girl that stood out amongst the other citizens coming back to their homes after another tiring day’s of work, contributing to the prosperity of the Empery, as well as the scum that walked with them who seeked to exploit such prosperity.

Not even speaking about the girl’s divine, yet wholly scary facial features, the girl’s hair held the darkest colour among them all, looking quite ominous but also held a dark charm which attracted those who didn’t know of the girl’s true nature, and with the red eyes the girl held which signalled a huge indifference towards any race, truly being the first of her time to actually acknowledge true racial equality and unbiased opinions towards any race.

Though the only reason for that was that she simply saw every living thing that walked the planet as species beneath her, that was simply beside the point.

The point that the eyes which normally held indifference now actually held a fiery rage that somehow triggered the survival of instincts of those using the streets in her route to her destination to automatically part way as she went through.

There wasn’t really need to give such a mysterious-looking description though, since it was obviously none other than Reichel who ran like a maniac as if her life was on the line.

A pair of men carrying a pane of glass that looked bigger than her own front door came into Reichel’s view, but Reichel not actually caring about such things instead pumped up her shoulder muscles …

“Hey warte!”

“Stopp! Halt!”

“Scheisse!”

*brkiiiiing!* … and broke through the pane of glass.

“Hey! Get back here and pay for the damages you’ve caused!” One of the people carrying the large pane of glass protested, and instead of even looking back Reichel simply shouted;

“Send the bill to the Blohm Company!”

There was just simply no time to spare in such a race against time.

Every second counted, and she had a blank check and a huge bailout in the form of a literal Duke who held more power than the actual Secretary of State Treasury, Theodor von Blohm.

‘Tch, another one!? Is it glass pane moving day or something!?’ Reichel complained about how it was actually the 7th time she had actually seen a pair of fools moving a big glass pane while crossing the street, just as she prepared her upper body once again to break through the fragile, yet clearly expensive pane.

“Send the bill to Bl—” and just as Reichel was about to actually yell the phrase she had already said for the sixth time today, she caught something.

Or rather, her keen nose had caught a smell.

*brrrrrkt* Rei immediately pulled the brakes on her dashing, not even bothering to slow down before coming to a complete stop, which made bits of leather from her boots fly off as the made rough contact with the hard stone road.

“Hey, you piece of dog crap.” Even Reichel who had much experience with acting and putting up a mask failed so hard in appearing calm that one could physically feel the sheer violence emanating leaking out from her voice.

“Hey …” The feeling of wrath coming just from the tone of her voice felt so insanely real as if it was solid, feeling like it was even capable of killing small organisms within a short range.

It was different from Reichel’s usual voice of somebody who thought herself a higher being than everybody else, different from her tone that always demanded the respect from those around her.

It was a voice riddled with the threat, feeling, and solidity of death.

Not that it affected the one she was talking to though, as Han Xiao simply kept walking the opposite direction with his back turned, making it seem like he didn’t even hear Reichel.

“HEY! I WAS TALKING TO YOU, YOU DAMNED ORIENTAL!” Reichel snapped and shouted at Han Xiao, to which Han Xiao finally responded to as if he didn’t actually hear the first two times that Reichel called out to him.

The sheer violence that she was emanating finally broke out, as the people surrounding the two felt large chills on their spines that triggered their primal instincts and signalled them to get away.

The people surrounding parted like rats, as if they knew what was going to happen.

Shutters of the surrounding houses were closed, children were carried inside, and people hurriedly escaped the scene.

“Call the Reichspolizei! Call them now!” Some concerned citizens even encourage others to call the military police, but as everybody knew the odds of the military police coming all the way to the Unterwelt were low, so those calls for help with external intervention were quickly ignored.

“Huh? Me?” Han Xiao said as he pointed to himself, looking dumbfounded, and even confused as he thought ‘Who’s this crazy woman?’

He didn’t remain confused for long however, as Han Xiao eyed Reichel from the top of her head and down to her boots, he snapped his fingers and looking like he reached a conclusion, he said;

“You’re the Rotkappchen.” He plainly said without surprise, as if he had been expecting that Reichel would come for him sooner or later, just as how he had spent quite a few days looking for her.

“Yeah, now I'm going to kill you." Reichel said as she approached closer, keen to give him the death he had been foolishly searching for.

*clik*

*clok*

*clik*

The heavy steps of Reichel's feet inched closer at a slow pace, which seemed to be signalling Han Xiao to say his last words or maybe get out his dying rites, as it was more or less sure that he wasn’t getting out in a much better state than death.

The intent to kill was clear, and in the face of such intimidation, Han Xiao did the thing he did best.

“Are you sure you have time to be attacking me though?”

And that was to try and bullshit his way out of a conflict.

"Knowing you, she's probably dead, so I don't need to care anymore." Reichel said as she pulled out one of her knives from only God knows where.

Reichel already knew what Han Xiao was implying from that sentence, and with her logic she simply deduced that it was just better to take revenge while the perpetrator was still in plain sight.

"But what if she was alive? What if she was still kicking, and she was actually waiting for you to come save her?"

Reichel stopped for a moment, her previously ‘unbreakable’ logic looking like it was slowly faltering in the place of optimism.

"Sister Reichel? Why did you leave me? Oh my the tragedy!" Han Xiao put on a falsetto which somehow sounded close enough for Reichel to realize that Han Xiao had at least heard Anny's voice.

"So unbearable that a caring big sister such as yourself decides that settling a personal grudge is more important than saving the cause of that grudge ..."

Reichel didn’t actually realize it herself, but she had quite grown attached to the kid, more than she had intended to.

She liked the girl, both for her strategical value to advance her positions in the Empery’s society, as well as just for the girl’s personality.

"... Amirite?"

But that didn’t change the fact that her only intended value was a safety precaution for her financial assets when the old man Blohm kicked the bucket, and that her code of working conduct was enough for her to completely throw everything she currently felt for the little girl into the rubbish bin, just like she had already done multiple times in the past just like in the case of Ryuuji whom she had also reached such a height of friendly relations, but not enough for her to actually re-consider whether or not to dispose of him for her own survival.

'This fool is damn well making fun of me ...' Reichel found herself closer to her brink more that the damn fool opened his mouth.

However, just as Rei was about to pounce forward, full speed while aiming to decapitate Han Xiao in 1 swift stroke ...

She found herself dashing the other way. For reasons she couldn’t actually explain.

"You've become softer, rogue hero."

Han Xiao simply shook his head as he remembered the encounter he had with the little girl jut earlier.

Remembering about it just made him shiver as he himself also realized it.

"And perhaps I've become soft as well ..."

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Studentin (Second Lieutenant), Reichel Schwertspinne, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 4, Day 22, Somewhere within the Unterwelt, Deutsche Empery

In the capital city of Berilian, in one of the darkest regions of the Unterwelt,there stood out a girl who, among her dark surroundings, stood out as even more dark which engulfed the surrounding pathetic atmosphere of omnisity.

Not even speaking about the girl’s divine, yet wholly scary facial features, the girl’s hair held the darkest colour among them all, looking quite ominous but also held a dark charm which attracted those who didn’t know of the girl’s true nature, and with the red eyes the girl held which signalled a huge indifference towards any race, truly being the first of her time to actually acknowledge true racial equality and unbiased opinions towards any race.

Though the only reason for that was that she simply saw every living thing that walked the planet as species beneath her, that was simply beside the point.

The point that her eyes which had held so much anger for the normal person to explode just earlier, had changed into eyes of anxiousness, pessimism, optimism, worry, and just the worst emotion that she thought a human could ever possess.

Fear.

Again, the girl was obviously Reichel, who had just come into view of the place she was currently living in.

‘Please please please please please …’

Reichel, leapt in her last steps just before she reached the door of her house, completely destroying all the iron hinges on her door that she herself designed so that it could stop intruders.

There was just no time to be concerned about personal property after all.

But instead of seeing an Anny bleeding out on the floor, or perhaps even dead …

“Sister Reichel!?”

What she saw was the perfectly fine image of the little rascal the old man Blohm loved, complete with her hair and figure looking untouched without a hair out of place as she fed herself with snacks that looked like they weren’t even made on the continent she lived in.

Completely fine, with no visible external wounds or injuries.

“Ummmm, guten Abend?” and the voice of Anny, which didn’t seem to have any alterations to it aside from the fact that her mouth was half-stuffed which seemed to be Chinese dumplings, further reinforced the fact that Reichel’s eyes also weren’t seeing things.

And within the span of a second, as Reichel noticed and fully read the small note attached to the side of the basket where Anny was grabbing the dumplings from.

‘Hey, are you serious?’ The veins on Reichel’s forehead started bulging as more blood flowed through them, signalling her anger.

The anger at the realization …

Much love from your new neighbor.

I hope we get along well!

-H.X

…That she had been duped.