Nearly a week had passed since his father had placed him under house arrest, waiting for the investigation to run its course and for things to quiet down.
It had led nowhere. The gang, their underlings, and their target had vanished without a trace, no bodies, no witnesses, no thread worth pulling. The whole affair had settled into a kind of quiet, unsettling mystery that no one seed particularly eager to disturb.
Technically, the investigation was still ongoing, but the urgency had faded. More importantly, he was no longer forced to hide at ho like a rat.
That was enough for him.
He was finally free to go out.
The evening air felt good after days spent indoors. Nicolas walked at the center of his small escort, four n assigned by his father to keep him out of trouble. All of them were E-rank, two at the peak.
Professionals, in their own way. Not that he really needed them, but Edmund had insisted, and arguing with Edmund wasn’t sothing he was willing to risk his freedom over.
"Probably that bitch is already dead," Nicolas muttered, his tone absent, as if he had already moved on. "What a waste, didn’t even get the chance to taste her."
He paused briefly, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Oh well. Dead is fine too... though she got off a bit too easily."
Just like that, he discarded the thought, as if it were sothing disposable, already shifting his attention to sothing new.
None of the n behind him spoke. They never did when he was like this.
He let the thought fade and turned his attention to the forest ahead, where the last traces of daylight were slipping away.
He had co here earlier that morning, and since then he had hunted relentlessly, killing beasts of all kinds, from F-rank to E-rank.
Now, with night closing in, he decided to run one last hunt before heading back.
The group moved along the outer edges of the GrayStone Forest as dusk gave way to night. Within an hour, Nicolas had taken out several unfortunate creatures. His escort handled the rest with ease, which only half satisfied him.
As usual, he dealt with the weaker beasts, leaving the stronger ones to be softened up by the group before stepping in to finish the job himself.
That was how he hunted. It was how he always did things, and it never failed to frustrate the people forced to work with him. Normally, their suppressed irritation amused him.
Tonight it didn’t. These n were too competent, the beasts too easy, there was nothing to enjoy in watching people who didn’t struggle.
’At least the night air beats being cooped up in that house,’ he thought as they turned back toward the city.
They had gathered a decent haul, mana cores and a few intact corpses that would fetch good prices at the market. He didn’t need the money. He never did. But there was sothing satisfying about watching the numbers add up regardless.
That was when he noticed them.
A short distance away, three figures were erging from the forest, heading toward the city just like them.
Probably other adventurers hunting nearby.
Young. Sixteen, maybe seventeen at most. Two boys and a girl, dressed in modest, practical gear. Their combined aura was negligible, F-rank, all three of them.
Novices. Not worth his attention.
He was about to walk past them without a second glance when his eyes fell on the girl.
She was the youngest of the three, small, with a sowhat delicate appearance, the kind of presence that usually went unnoticed in a crowd. But she had developed in ways that her simple outfit couldn’t fully hide, and the mix of that and the clear discomfort in her expression under his gaze sparked a sensation in him, the wrong kind, and he didn’t bother pushing it away.
He slowed.
"Wait a mont."
The three, who had already noticed his group, stopped, clearly reluctant, but unwilling to risk causing trouble.
They could tell the difference in strength.
Nicolas approached with the ease of soone who had never truly been refused and didn’t expect to start now. His attention was entirely on the girl, as if the other two didn’t exist.
"Hey." His voice was easy, almost casual. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before." A smile. The kind that assud it would land. "I’m Nicolas. Eldest son of the city magistrate."
He let the na settle.
"I’m looking to add soone to my team. Are you interested?"
The girl blinked. She was caught between the na he had just dropped and every instinct telling her to put distance between herself and the person who owned it.
She had heard of Nicolas. Most adventurers had, and none of what she’d heard was good. But he was the magistrate’s son, that part was hard to argue with, and in Lirath, that na carried weight.
She hesitated.
Before she could find an answer, one of the boys stepped forward. The shorter one, jaw set, eyes giving nothing away.
"She’s not available."
Nicolas looked at him.
Really looked, for the first ti since they’d stopped.
The way you look at sothing you almost stepped on.
"And you are?"
"Her boyfriend."
Sothing shifted behind Nicolas’s eyes. Not quite anger, sothing more twisted. Worse.
"Is that so?"
He turned back to the girl, his smile still in place, though it no longer reached his eyes.
"A girl like you deserves better, don’t you think? Co with . I promise you won’t regret it." He tilted his head slightly. "Or stay. Your choice."
The girl hesitated. Her hands trembled slightly.
She opened her mouth to refuse.
Nicolas didn’t react. He simply cast a glance toward his escort.
They had been watching the whole scene with interest.
After all, they had spent the entire day babysitting a spoiled young master who probably didn’t even know how to wipe himself. Seeing this unfold was far more entertaining.
They exchanged looks.
"Rock, paper, scissors to decide?" one of them said.
The others nodded.
The scrawniest one won.
"Well, looks like it’s my lucky da-"
He was abruptly stopped, grabbed by the collar and thrown back.
"Like hell I’m accepting the result of sothing like that."
The one who stepped forward instead was nearly two ters tall, his armor barely containing his bulky fra.
Garrett. One of the two peak E-ranks.
He cracked his knuckles and advanced, eyes fixed on the two boys.
Nicolas’s intentions were obvious to everyone.
Either the girl ca willingly...
Or she would be taken.
The girl panicked, on the verge of giving in, but her boyfriend stepped forward, standing firm despite everything.
"You really think we’ll be intimidated by this?" he said, his voice steady, his gaze locked on Garrett.
The other boy stepped up as well.
They both knew they didn’t stand a chance.
But maybe, just maybe, they could take him together.
Fifteen seconds later, it was over.
The two who had stood their ground were now barely conscious, bloodied, their bodies bent at unnatural angles. Garrett held them both off the ground with ease, one in each hand.
It was obvious why he hadn’t crushed them yet.
He was waiting for Nicolas’s command.
Nicolas gave the boyfriend a single glance, the kind you give sothing you almost stepped in.
Then he looked at her.
She’d gone white. Her eyes moved back and forth between them, quick and trapped, like she was doing math she didn’t want to finish.
"Co with ." A beat. "I won’t say it twice."
"Don’t." The boyfriend’s voice was broken, wet, but firm. He wasn’t looking at Nicolas. Only at her. "Don’t do it. Don’t worry about us. Run. I... I’m not afraid to die."
Nicolas glanced at him, mildly annoyed at the interruption.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Silence.
His smile faded.
His expression turned cold.
"Well, you certainly have courage. I respect that."
A twisted smile slowly returned.
"Let reward you for it."
He gestured to his n.
They understood imdiately and moved toward the girl, grabbing her despite her resistance.
They dragged her closer to Nicolas.
He studied her for a mont, no longer pretending to be gentle.
"How about we put on a little show for your boyfriend?" he said. "Then you can tell which one of us you prefer."
There was no pretense anymore.
He didn’t feel like wasting ti.
The only thing he wanted now was to break that boy, completely.
"Bastard! I’ll kill you if you touch her—agh!"
The boy’s words were cut off as Garrett tightened his grip around his throat.
"Shut up, you little b*tch, and enjoy the show," Garrett said with a mocking grin.
Nicolas didn’t spare him another glance.
He stepped forward, closing the distance between him and the girl.
And then...
Sothing happened.
It ca without warning.
A faint, sudden sound, barely audible.
Yet enough to make every heart tremble.
Then sothing fell.
Two heads.
Cleanly severed.
They hit the ground at the sa ti.
The n holding the girl collapsed a heartbeat later, blood spraying like fountains.
So of it splashed across Nicolas’s face.
He didn’t move.
He stood there, crimson staining his cheek, mouth slightly open, staring at what remained of the two E-ranks.
His mind lagged behind reality.
The other two of the escort froze as well for a mont.
Then sothing made them react.
An invisible weight settled over the clearing, not physical, but undeniable. The kind of pressure that makes instinct scream before the mind understands why.
Even the forest seed to hold its breath.
Then ca footsteps, slow, unhurried, from sowhere inside the treeline.
Two figures stepped out of the dark.
A man and a woman.
The man’s eyes were cold, sharp, cutting through the night with the calm, assessing gaze of soone who had already decided the worth of everything before him.
He looked at Nicolas and the others like they were corpses still standing.
The woman’s eyes glowed faintly, a deep violet, split by burning crimson slits.
Not the red of anger.
Sothing deeper.
Hungrier.
A color that didn’t belong to human eyes, but to sothing far more dangerous.
Sothing that made the souls of the living tremble.
Sothing ready to swallow everything in its fury.
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