[8] LOOK

Curious eyes swarmed the Thesly Avenue. People's murmurs walked closer to the Seeker's carriage than their feet. Who wouldn't get morbidly curious after witnessing three murders in broad daylight?

Mister Dayuki finished packing the bodies in body bags. Rillon had asked him to carry them because he thought they'd be needed. No…he 'knew.'

"The path has been cleared," Rillon announced in a clear voice. "Be sure to go around the blood, everybody."

"What was it, Rillon sir?" a man asked from afar.

Rillon waved toward people, gesturing them to clear the swarm and go about their day. "Check the paper tomorrow, you'll know."

The man who asked bowed politely, retreating to his own carriage as most other carriages started to roll onward.

Sliff stepped away from the Seeker's carriage, approaching Rillon, who stood on the side of the road. "Thank you for saving my life, Rillon."

Rillon waved, his expression unchanged. "Mention not. It was my mission after all."

"They were Roses, sir," Dayuki said in his calm demeanor. "What have you so troubled?"

Rillon shook his head. "It doesn't add up, mister Dayuki. It simply makes no sense."

"What doesn't?" Sliff asked in confusion.

"Do you know anything about the Black Rose gang?"

Sliff did not take a moment to shake his head. It made sense. Civilians like him weren't supposed to know about low-profile gangs like Black Rose.

Placing a thumb on his chin, Rillon lowered his head. "This complicates things."

"Hey, Rillon," Sliff asked. "Were these the same people who assassinated the Master of Kratur?"

"They have to be," Rillon said. "According to the report sent by Alaric, there were only two assassins. They hinted their reasoning for the assassination but Alaric was unable to identify either of them."

Sliff looked at the body bags. "Does this mean that these men weren't part of the same gang as those assassins?"

Rillon shook his head. "Hard to say. But you saw how they lured me out. You were obviously their target. But I don't think they knew what Seeker is going to escort you; otherwise they would've sent stronger men."

"But they could've killed me way sooner," Sliff asked. "Why did they wait…? And why capture mister Coachman as well?"

"My best guess would be leverage."

"Leverage?"

"They saw me easily evade that knife, so I'm guessing they figured I wasn't some average Jimmy. They wanted to have options to not only kill you but also to save their partner. I think they planned to kill you and use mister Dayuki to trade hostages."

"Are you sure?"

"Desperado, Sliff," Rillon said. "They'll go to extreme lengths for their partners. That's why killing even a single member is so dangerous."

"Because their gang will come for you?" Sliff asked.

"It's not just that," Rillon said. "Once someone, so much as harms a Desperado member, they just set off a chain of explosions. It's like a domino effect, you know."

Sliff shook his head. "I don't…"

"We'll discuss this later sometime," Rillon said, turning Sliff away. "Right now, all you need to know is that you're safe and we're still only halfway to the council headquarters. Only half an hour remaining to nine."

"Right…" Sliff said, heading to the carriage. "Wait…why's mister Coachman not coming?"

"I'll be taking it from here," Rillon said. "He'll call for the right authorities to deal with those bodies."

Sliff nodded awkwardly. "Right…"

Rillon chuckled. "The people didn't react because they know me, Sliff. They know if I kill someone, it's for a reason. As for how we're dealing with them so quickly…let's just say that Seekers have a procedure for everything, alright?"

Sliff tilted his head, flattening his frown. "I guess…" With that, he climbed onto his compartment, Rillon taking the front one to lead the horses.

Rillon nodded to his left, getting a nod in return from Dayuki. Gripping the harness, he whipped the horses into motion. "I hope you were settled, Sliff."

Rillon lowered his head slightly, a sudden tension washing over his face. "I hope you're happy, Vyzen, you son of a bitch," he thought. "Look what you made me do… I'm on the bad side of Desperado now. The Black Rose will come for me. But that's not what worries me, you idiot. The Kratur assassins were definitely not Roses, which means the Onyx Ten hired these guys. Now I'm on the hit-list of the Onyx Ten. Great! Can't wait to get shot in the middle of the night! My lord, Vyzen…hope you're happy, you bastard."

The horses marched toward the towering building in the middle of Esbara. The Kyubu council headquarters.

***

Giving the frail girl a hand, Alaric smiled. "Need any help?"

The frail girl hesitated to take his hand. "Umm…"

"It's already over seven-thirty," Alaric said. "The sooner we get out of here, the safer you'll be."

Iyana nodded in agreement, awkwardly taking his hand.

Alaric pulled her at the top of the soaring turtle's shell, leading her inside the carriage. "Don't be scared of this guy, okay? He's actually very calm."

"R-Right," Iyana said. "I promise I won't…"

Alaric entered the carriage, sitting opposite to her. He tapped the compartment window behind his back, signaling the turtlerider to make the soaring turtle take off.

Turning toward Iyana, Alaric leaned back. "That wasn't something promise-worthy, kid. Promises are for stuff of importance."

Iyana bowed. "I'm so sorry. Please don't punish—"

"You'll be fine," Alaric said. "We'll protect you from those bad guys."

Nodding, Iyana joined her hands. "Thank you, sir—"

"I 'promise' your new master will treat you with kindness," Alaric said. He frowned as he thought afterward. "I don't know any other way to make her comfortable than to show her that I'm not like any of her masters…"

Iyana met his eyes. Alaric could see the child-like innocence in her beautiful green eyes. The innocence that had been taken advantage of.

"Thank you, sir," Iyana said.

Alaric waved. "It's my mission to protect you, kid."

Iyana bowed, looking sideways at the clouds with thoughtless eyes.

"And they say slaves aren't humans," Alaric thought. "I hope you're rotting in hell, Devo Grovon, you piece of shit!"

Twitching her head ever so slightly toward Alaric, Iyana kept staring at the clouds through the window beside her.

"Something on your mind?" Alaric asked. "You can ask me anything, you know. I'm here to help you."

Iyana whipped her head sideways, bowing swiftly. "T-Thank you, sir." With that, she continued her cloud-gazing.

Alaric exhaled softly, closing his eyes. "So uptight…" He lowered his head, thinking about the hour before. "Hope you're fine, Vyzen. Once I've tagged someone, I can tell their location with my alchoskill. But I still have no idea how many people you're up against. Hopefully that weirdo Eljin helps you. Hopefully you return to Kyubu before the meeting starts."

Iyana turned toward him slowly. "C-Can I ask you something, sir?"

"Of course," Alaric said, sitting upright. "Go ahead."

"Umm…" Iyana asked with hesitation. "Who was the man that saved me last night?"

"Oh! That…? He's Vyzen Stormsmith," Alaric said. "I don't think you read the paper, kid, else you'd know that he's the strongest rookie Seeker."

"R-Really?" Iyana said with a frown, bowing afterward. "I'm so sorry! I don't know how to read. I'm very sorry—"

"Now, now," Alaric said. "It's fine. Just think of me as a friend, okay?"

Meeting his eyes, Iyana tilted her head. "F-Friend?"

"Yeah," Alaric said. "Someone you can talk to without any fear of judgment."

"Wh-Who would want to talk to me?" Iyana asked. "I'm a slave…"

Alaric pounded his own chest. "And I'm your friend, alright? If you ever want to ask about anything or know about anything or just want to talk about something, I'll always be there for you, okay?"

"Wh-What are you saying…?" Iyana said, tears streaming down her youthful face. She blinked, wiping her cheeks. The tears kept rolling.

Alaric leaned toward her. "What happened, kid?" He handed her a handkerchief.

Iyana rubbed her eyes, loud sobbing accompanying her every breath. "No one has ever said something like that to me… Why did you? I'm just a slave! What do you want from me?"

Alaric pulled down her hands, wiping off her tears with his handkerchief. "I want you to be happy, Iyana, that's all."

She sobbed, staring into his eyes. "Sh-Shlaves don't desherve happinesh…"

"The one who said that to you is a fool," Alaric said. "Be sure to never listen to people like that from now on, okay?"

Iyana gulped, her nose coloring red as she continued her sobbing.

Alaric wiped off her snot. "Everything will get better. I 'promise.'"

That was enough to stop Iyana from holding back. She opened her mouth, her head falling back. She cried. Loudly.

The turtle looked toward its shell in confusion.

Smiling, Alaric got up and sat beside Iyana, rubbing her shoulder. "It's okay. All will be fine."

Iyana turned, burying her face into Alaric's stomach, muffling her cries.

Alaric hesitated to embrace the little girl, frowning. "Look at the effects of your laws, council. Does this tiny thing look like danger?" He wrapped an arm around the frail girl. "Shame on you, Safrax! You promised you'd change the slavery laws when you become part of the council… But the council ended up changing you, my friend. I hope you're happy, you bastard."

***

The carriage rolled to a halt before Sliff climbed out of it. "Whoa…!"

"We're here," Rillon said. "The Kyubu council headquarters."

Raising his head, Sliff's eyes followed the gigantic, vertically ascending marvel. It was by far the tallest structure Sliff had ever seen with his eyes. The headquarters was a singular building, reaching over a thousand feet. Grass circled around the outside of the building, inside its rectangular boundary.

"Let's get going then," Rillon said, leading Sliff toward the entrance guarded by four guards. The boundary gate had eight for each gate.

Suddenly the grass below started moving away, a gust of wind coming soon after.

Sliff shaded his eyes with both hands, looking up at the descending behemoth. The giant soaring turtle. It was the flying creature he wanted to see the most after just one other. "Whoa…!" He had been having that reaction a lot, ever since they entered the bounds of the headquarters.

Turning, Sliff saw Rillon approaching the turtle. He also noticed that none of the entrance guards flinched, probably because they were told of the turtle's arrival. But who could the turtle be carrying? Someone important, most definitely. Probably even the Celestial himself—

"Sliff!" a feminine voice called him in excitement.

Sliff turned, looking at the girl Rillon was helping to get off of the turtle. His eyes widened as he dashed toward her. "Iyana!"

Iyana looked back at the man who slid from the top of the turtle after her. "This is Sliff, mister Alaric."

Standing close to her, Sliff smiled. "I'm so happy that you're fine!"

"Huh?" Iyana asked, her eyebrows rising. "You know about the assassination?"

"Yeah," Sliff said. "Rillon told me about it." The man beside Rillon stepped toward him.

"So you're the Sliff, Vyzen and Iyana mentioned," he said, putting forward his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Sliff raised his own, shaking hands with the bearded man who looked as old as Galarax. "Nice to meet you too…"

"I'm Alaric," the bearded man said. "This guy…" He wrapped his arm around Rillon's shoulders. "The one who escorted you, he's in my squad."

Sliff's eyebrows rose on its own. "So you're…Vyzen's squad leader!"

"That's right," Alaric said. "I'm also the first in command of Buster, you know."

Rillon sighed. "Quit bragging, old man. It doesn't suit you."

Alaric pushed him away. "I wasn't bragging, Rillon. Just making him feel secure, okay?"

"I have that covered," Rillon said. "Ain't that right, Sliff?"

Sliff nodded. "Yeah! Just now, Rillon took out three—"

Pulling away Alaric, Rillon started heading into the headquarters. "Follow us, alright?"

Iyana nodded.

"Weird…" Sliff thought, walking after them.

Clearing her throat, Iyana turned toward him. "Did you hear? Mister Alaric told me our masters are dead…"

"Yeah…" Sliff said as his smile faded, his eyes closing halfway. "But you called Alaric, 'mister'… How'd that happen?"

Iyana smiled. "He's a very good person. He promised me that my next master will treat me with kindness."

Sliff exhaled softly. "Is that so, huh—?"

"NEXT MASTER" Sliff said, stopping abruptly where he stood.

Jumping to the side, Iyana let out a tiny squeak. "Eek!"

"Umm… My bad…"

Iyana sighed. "Don't scare me like that…"

Sliff turned toward her. "What do you mean by 'next master'?"

Iyana shrugged. "I can no longer serve my current master because of their potential connections with the Desperado…"

"But you just said that you know of Devo's death…"

Confused, Iyana pouted. "Sho…? My master was the entire Grovon family; just like yours was the…family of Tane."

Sliff shook his head, his eyebrows contracting. "What're you even saying? Do you even know why we're here?"

"For the testimony…?"

"And what happens after that?"

"We go back to serving our masters."

Sliff was dumbstruck, his thoughts muddying up. "Wait… Wait… Does that mean we won't be executed after the testimony?"

"Executed?" Iyana said with a tilted head.

Sliff lowered his head, gulping as he thought. "Now that I think about it… Rillon, or even Valisha, never said anything about my execution… I thought they never mentioned it because both of us knew my fate… But could the reason be that it wasn't going to happen in the first place, so they never mentioned it?"

Tugging on Sliff's shirt, Iyana briefly pointed at the entrance. "Look."

Raising his head, Sliff found five figures marching out of the entrance, on the side of which, Rillon and Alaric stood with their fists slammed together. Then he found a familiar face among them. Mistress Valisha. But as the others got closer, he found his jaw falling. He knew them all.

The one with a black trench coat and slick black hair: 'Darkhunt' Ragnaul, Master of Raven guild.

The one with a blue-fur coat and fluffy blonde hair: 'Lioness' Lonnie, Master of Bluemane guild.

The one with full-body armor of silver and gold: 'Pyrowave' Safrax, commander of Kyubu.

The one who towered over everyone but looked very lanky: 'Peak' Ledomex, another commander of Kyubu.

Sliff gulped at the sight of these legends, but even more so, he was curious to see who they came looking for. He turned and found…nobody.

Iyana tugged on his shirt. "Look…!"

Waving, Sliff shrugged, locking his eyes on the gates. "Not now, Iyana. I need to see who's coming."

Pulling his collar, Iyana pointed up. "LOOK!"

Sliff raised his head. "What—?"

Gusts of wind started blowing onto them. Sharp. Unlike the turtle's.

Sliff did not think he'd ever be able to see what he was gawking at. He gulped, his eyelids pulling all the way back, his jaw hitting the ground. How else was he to react? How else was he to react at the sight of the flying creature he wanted to see the most? How else was he to react to 'that'?

A dragon!