Chapter 34

Troubles

“I’ve watched the Fire burn the World – and it was beautiful.”

My Dawn, Vol. III

Aah, I went and tangled myself into something again, Noah sighed inwardly as he navigated the unfamiliar streets of the Brightfort. From the looks of it, he realized, he’ll have to ask for directions, but as it was deep into the night, he was yet to meet any other soul ever since leaving the carriage. In my defense, he thought, it would have been dangerous to send anyone else with that information… but… hmm… from the sounds of it, there’s more to their story than what Quickett was led to believe…

From his brief study of Claire, he'd realized that rather than pain or regret, as she professed, what she felt the most was a shame – shame for what she had done. From that, he extrapolated that she wasn't entirely innocent in the scheme, and played a part in sending Quickett over to Elucido. The question was – why? According to the jester, he was just an ordinary soldier with no particular background, who happened to have been assigned to that specific entourage. Why play such a con on him? I shouldn’t be impatient, he shook his head as he spotted a member of the night patrol cutting the corner. She’ll reach out to me…

“Excuse me?” he called out to the man draped in simple, leather armor who spun around with a startling cry, withdrawing his sword and pointing it at Noah who immediately drew back and lifted his arms up.

“W-who are you?!!” the man cried out in a tone of fear, causing Noah’s eyebrows to twitch.

“… I am a merchant,” Noah explained, reaching into his pocket and taking out his identification. “I’ve gotten into the fort just a moment ago, but as it is my first time, and I was separated from my group, I am a bit lost. I was wondering whether you could point me in the direction of Lion Inn.”

“A-ah? A-a merchant? Really?” the guard stuttered, reaching out meekly and taking out the identification papers. “Ah, s-sorry, Mr. Flint. Lion Inn, was it? Yes, you just need to round that corner up ahead and go straight for a few minutes; the inn will be on your left. It has a big sign outside, so you shouldn’t miss it.”

“Hm, thank you.” Noah nodded, taking back the identification papers. “If you don’t mind me asking, is everything alright?”

“… a-ah, yes, no worries,” the soldier stuttered, his face flushing in horror momentarily underneath the moon’s shine. “My apologies, again, for my behavior.”

“Hm, no problem,” Noah smiled, putting away the identification papers and moving along. “Keep up the good work.”

“A-ah, yes…”

Something is awry, there was no point in pressuring the guard as it might draw too much suspicion. However, considering the man’s behavior, something was definitely off; no matter how lax the recruitment may be, Noah very much doubted they’d allow someone so cowardly to become a guard, especially one that will be doing night patrolling. It wasn’t the time, however, to entangle himself into anything else, but he took note of it and decided to look into it at a later date.

Just as the guard said, he spotted the inn's sign from well over a hundred feet away, even with the minimum lighting provided by the overhanging moon. A strange sight, however, welcomed him as he saw two figures tied in ropes and chained sitting up front. The closer he got, the more of their details he made, all the way until he was standing in front of them, staring at their wounded faces, ripped clothing, and the dried blood.

Sash and Myrell were awoken from their sleeping stupor by the approaching footsteps, blood in their veins freezing for a moment as they looked up; what welcomed them was a familiar face of their Master. Their horrified expressions were quickly washed away and replaced by the ones of shame and embarrassment as they looked away, avoiding his eyes.

“… what happened?” he asked, his voice cold. Terribly, terribly cold, as though the Long Winter itself had descended upon the world.

“… M-Master… your goods…” Sash muttered, shaking. “They… they were… confiscated… I am sorry… it is… it is my fault… I should have…--”

“Did I ask about my goods?” their Master interrupted suddenly. “I asked what happened to you two.”

“A-ah? This? N-nothing, of course. Don’t w-worry about it…” Sash said, though still didn’t dare look up. He knew especially well what his Master was capable of if angered; however, even more so, he didn’t want his Master to do anything that he might regret because of the two of them. The first point of contention should be the retrieval of goods that he had spent a good sum of crowns on buying and—

“Look at me,” his cold voice approached closer as the finger lifted Sash’s chin up, forcing him to meet the ice-colored pair of blue eyes. “What happened?”

“…”

“Th-they thought we were thieves, Master,” Myrell said from the side, her voice full of resentment. “Even… even when we showed them our documents… they ripped them and laughed at us… saying they had to confiscate the goods to inspect them since they suspected illegal goods or something…”

“M-Myrell!!” Sash cried out.

“What?!” she cried back, gnashing her teeth. “Do you trust our Master that little that you think he’d do something stupid?!”

“…” she was right, Sash knew.

“… hm,” their Master sighed, shaking his head. “The world is full of morons, it seems. Did you catch the names of the guards?”

“… n-no… they took their tags off…” Sash said.

“Would you be able to recognize them?”

“M-master—”

“What? Do you think I should let this slide?” Noah asked frigidly. He wasn’t particularly angry, as those goods were simply the means of maintaining his cover – they didn’t cost that much, and would be easy enough to replenish. However, if he was to play the role of the enigmatic shadow hanging over the world, he can’t exactly allow his direct subordinates to be treated like this by mere wall-guards.

“…”

“… listen to Myrell," Noah said, taking out the knife from his inner pocket and cutting through the ropes, shocking the two sitters. "I've no intention of simply causing a ruckus and expecting the best outcome. You will get the chance to have your revenge, though. Don’t worry. For now, how about you two wash up and we have a good night’s sleep?”

Interesting, he thought inwardly, pondering on how to exploit the situation. He was certain they were chosen as targets due to the fact that nobody knew his name; however, it wouldn’t be too long until they did. He could either go after them now and probably get a good return on his troubles, but, if he bode his time, his eventual profits would be far higher. Will it cause their loyalty to drop, though? He pondered as he escorted the two of them into the inn’s baths, watching them strip and slowly wash. Is there a way to maximize both short-term and long-term gains?

He could, of course, contact Lady Claire, but it seemed a waste to reach out first; he had to wait for her impatience to grow large enough for her to seek him out. Beyond her, he had no significant contacts inside the Fort, which made maximizing the short-term gains rather difficult. Hmm, he thought further, stroking his chin, I could play the long con… retrieving his goods through the legal means would be the first step. A lot, most likely, would be missing, but he would let it slide for the time being. Though it would mean suffering a temporary loss, he'll eventually recoup it and then some.

“… I’ll retrieve our goods tomorrow,” he said as he reached into one of his many pockets, taking out emergency bandages he’d packed with him. “Until then, you’ll have to make do with these rough bandages.”

“N-no, Master—that’s wasteful--!”

“Yes, wasteful! We’ll be fine!”

“… oh shut it,” Noah rolled his eyes and sighed, walking up to the two and slowly dressing their wounds. It was the first time he noticed that Myrell’s stump was rather fresh, at best a few years ago. He never questioned her of her past, or of how she actually managed to survive having her limb cut off cleanly. She trembled frighteningly as his fingers touched it. It was soft, he realized, no different than many other stumps he’d dressed up before in his life. “Do you ever feel like it’s back?” he asked her, forcing her to open her eyes and meet his.

“… s-sometimes…” she replied meekly. “It’s… it’s disgusting, Master… y-you shouldn’t touch it…”

“… it’s hardly disgusting,” Noah chuckled, ruffling her hair suddenly. “It’s body’s natural means of regeneration. In a way… isn’t it amazing, instead of disgusting?”

“…” Myrell met the pair of honest blue eyes that were just a moment ago cesspools of cold and dread. It was amazing, she thought, how quickly he can shift his moods, seemingly as though they are at the whim of his mind, and not the other way around. A peculiar sensation arose within her chest as her cheeks flushed red, her lips curling up into a smile. “As I thought, you really are strange…”

“…” Noah smiled back, his gaze drifting downwards. He only now remembered that she was naked as a sub-conscious exclamation left his lips. They weren’t too large, he noted, drifting slightly apart, but bountiful and faintly round. Myrell felt his gaze, yet, unlike how she’d proudly puff her chest out before to many other eyes, she felt like withdrawing and covering them. “Sorry,” he smiled apologetically as he looked up and met her eyes once again. “Come on. Dry yourselves and put on some clothes. I’ll wait outside. And Sash, quit staring. If you’re that restless, I’ll give you some money so go look for a whorehouse tomorrow.”

“—eik! You’d do that, Master? T-then again… women won’t really have a Yosshir…”

“… hm? Really?” Noah glanced at him, smiling. “I thought whores would fuck a pole of thorns… for the right price, of course. Anyway, hurry up. I’m getting sleepy.”

“Yes, Master!”

“… you’re thinking something strange, Myrell, aren’t you?” Sash noted as he two began putting on their clothes.

“… d-do… do you think… M-Master would mind if I snuck in—”

“Don’t do something so stupid,” he interrupted with a faint growl. “Do you want to anger him?”

“…” Myrell bit her lower lip – of course she didn’t want to anger him. However, she saw it – in his eyes, just then, when he was staring at her breasts. All this while, she rested at peace, believing her Master was void of sexual desire. But he wasn’t. It was there. And she was the cause of it – at least parts of her. Sash, however still, was right; there was no need to rush anything and anger him. At the very least, now she knew that her Master saw her as a woman. Maybe I can claim I can’t bathe myself properly… no, he already saw me bathing… she schemed and schemed, deep into the night, amusing herself, feeling at peace.