Suddenly, Kaya reached forward and yanked the cloth from his mouth. Riiip.
"Ghaaaaa—haaa—haaa..." The mongoose gasped, choking on blood.
Cough, cough.
"So," she said, eting his terrified eyes, "does the mongoose want to speak? Or should we continue our lesson?"
There was slight amusent flickering in her gaze—but beneath it, sothing far more dangerous. The mongoose could feel it in his bones. If he didn’t say sothing right now, Kaya would continue this interrogation until there was literally nothing left of him.
And honestly, this bastard wasn’t as tough as Kaya had expected. She’d only been working on him for about an hour and a half if you counted the initial fight. Just ninety minutes, and he completely folded.
The mongoose lifted his head weakly, tears mixing with the blood streaming down his face. His voice ca out broken, desperate, barely above a whisper.
"I... I don’t know," he choked out. "Khaa... haa..." "I don’t know! They just told to kill you!"
Kaya’s expression didn’t change. She tilted her head slightly. "Oh? And who is ’they,’ exactly?"
The mongoose trembled violently, shaking his head. "I... I... I don’t know! I’m just a hitman!"
Kaya’s eyebrows raised slightly. A small smile curved her lips. "Oh. A hitman."
She looked at him with renewed interest. She hadn’t really expected that. Hadn’t thought that even here, in this world, people would hire professional killers. After all, if you were strong enough, you could just kill anyone yourself. Why bother paying soone else to do it?
But whatever.
She looked down at him again, her voice calm. "So you an you don’t know who gave you the money to kill ?"
The hitman shook his head frantically, his whole body trembling. "No! I don’t know! They just—they just left a sum of magical stones and told us about your description. And they even made—even, even made a—made a photo of you!"
Kaya’s eyes glead with interest. "Oh? You an a picture of ?"
She leaned in closer, that smile returning to her face—the kind that made your stomach drop. "Mind if I see?"
There was sothing in that smile. Sothing that made the mongoose’s remaining survival instinct scream at him.
Seeing her expression, the mongoose quickly turned his head away and shook it desperately, refusing.
The room fell into tense silence.
Kaya stared at him for a long mont, her smile slowly fading. Her eyes narrowed.
"No?" she said quietly.
The mongoose squeezed his eyes shut, still shaking his head weakly.
Whoosh.
Kaya’s hand shot out, gripping his throat. Not enough to choke him completely—just enough to make breathing difficult.
"Ghhk—!"
"You’re refusing ?" she asked softly. "Even now?"
The mongoose’s eyes flew open, terror flooding them. But still, he shook his head.
Kaya’s grip tightened slightly. Squeeze.
"Khaa—ghaa—"
"Interesting choice," she murmured.
Then she glanced over her shoulder. "Veer. Search him. Every pocket. Every fold. Turn him inside out if you have to."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Veer’s footsteps approached.
Veer stepped forward imdiately, moving with purpose. He crouched beside the bloodied mongoose and began patting him down, checking every piece of torn clothing.
After a mont, his fingers found sothing tucked deep inside the inner vest pocket—a piece of paper, folded multiple tis, slightly damp with blood.
He pulled it out carefully and unfolded it.
His expression darkened imdiately.
It was a sketch. And it was detailed—frighteningly so.
Kaya’s face stared back at them from the paper. Her sharp eyes, her calm expression, the way her hair fell, even the subtle curve of her lips. Whoever drew this hadn’t just glanced at her once. They’d studied her. morized every single feature.
Veer stood, his jaw tight, and handed the sketch to Kaya without a word.
Kaya took it, her eyes scanning the drawing. For a long mont, she said absolutely nothing. Just stared at the image of herself rendered in careful detail.
Then slowly, she looked back down at the mongoose.
"So," she said quietly, her voice dropping to sothing cold and deadly, "soone went through all this trouble."
She held the sketch up in front of his face.
"Drew with this much detail. Paid you magical stones. Sent you here to kill ."
She leaned in closer, her eyes boring into his.
"And you’re telling you don’t know a single thing about who that soone is?"
The mongoose’s breath hitched. "Haa... haa..." "I swear!" he gasped desperately. "I swear I don’t know! We never et the clients! They leave the paynt and information in a dead drop! We just take the job! That’s the rule!"
Kaya studied him carefully, searching his face for any hint of deception.
Then slowly, she folded the sketch and slipped it into her pocket.
Kaya bent down to his eye level, her expression shifting to sothing more serious. Her eyes locked onto his, sharp and calculating.
"So," she said, her voice low and asured, "how many of you are there?"
The mongoose blinked weakly, confusion flickering across his bloodied face. "Haa... what?"
"During the job," Kaya clarified, her tone colder now. "How many of you are there?"
The mongoose’s eyes widened slightly, understanding dawning through the pain.
Kaya already knew one thing for sure—whoever gave the money to this hitman to kill her, it wasn’t like they’d just hire one person. That would be stupid. And it wasn’t like he was the only hitman in this capital. If he was here, operating in the shadows, then there had to be more. More killers. More eyes watching. More blades waiting.
The question was: how many?
"I..." the mongoose coughed, blood dribbling from his mouth. Cough, cough. "I... there are others..."
Kaya’s eyes narrowed. "How many?"
"Five," he gasped out. "Five of us... in this capital."
Kaya tilted her head slightly, processing that. "Five hitn."
"Y-yes..."
"And you all take jobs the sa way? Through this dead drop?"
The mongoose nodded weakly. "Yes... yes, the Broker... he handles everything..."
Kaya’s jaw tightened. Five professional killers in one city. That was more than she’d expected. And if all of them operated independently, never eting, never knowing each other...
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