A pleasant surprise (3)

First times are always the worst.

'I thought I could deal with it. Turns out I was arrogant.' Adelaide sighed. She had always been someone who could keep her own emotions in check; however, she thought she might have overestimated herself.

No matter how strong someone is mentally, they are still, at the end of the day, human. She was not a killing machine or some superb double-agent spy in her last life – she was just a normal university student who was about to graduate.

Looking at the three corpses at her feet, the young girl gulped; shivers ran down her spine. Now that everything ended, weird feelings started to rise inside her.

She had never cried watching movies, nor did she understand how watching actors act based on a written script could cause tears.

'I became arrogant with just that fact.' Adelaide frowned as she looked down at her hands. They were shaking slightly, 'And that isn't something worth mentioning, to begin with.'

'I should've considered what psychological effect would emerge from crushing a living person's heart with my bare hands. I hope I don't get any weird phobia from this.'

…

'Clang.'

The girl turned around abruptly in the direction of the noise, her eyes shining brightly.

"What the fuck? Ah, the knife."

The foldable knife fell to the ground with a clang.

Adelaide felt like she should just go to a corner, lick her wounds, and shake vigorously like how most normal people would after doing such deeds. However, going ahead with the sit-in-a-corner-and-shake concept meant leaving the three grotesque corpses behind. As someone who had high hygiene standards, she couldn't do that.

'Thud, thud.'

'I don't want to touch them. Will my feet work?' Adelaide kicked the corpses lightly. A modern citizen's current psychological barrier made her reluctant to touch a dead corpse.

Unfortunately, she did not have a choice. She had to get used to this.

"Hah…"

With a sigh, the girl bent down. With hands holding one of the corpses, she closed her eyes briefly and disappeared.

Adelaide reappeared next to a big lake several meters away from the Baron's mansion. The lake was located within his manor's area, but it was far away and covered by all the garden's trees.

'Instead of a garden, one should just call it a small forest.' Adelaide released her hold on the man immediately after arrival and checked her surroundings again.

According to the blueprint generated by her Map Master skill, the fact that it was hidden amongst trees made it almost impossible for someone from the mansion to spot her from the manor's windows. Plus, it was dark – the middle of the night, to be exact. The moon's faint light was more than sufficient for Adelaide, but that wasn't the same to other people.

Nevertheless, she still checked the surroundings vigilantly.

"Even though I could see things pretty well, this is still pretty eerie," Adelaide mumbled to herself before teleporting again, leaving the dead corpse behind.

She appeared at the same spot a few minutes later. The second corpse was thrown onto the first one with a thud.

"Two down, one more to go."

She disappeared and reappeared with the third and final corpse. Standing in the middle of a forest at night with three dead people was never ideal.

"Calm down…" Adelaide patted her heart lightly and looked down at the three bodies. Various ghost stories from her past life surfaced one after another in her mind.

"Well, fuck it. Let's give the three of you a bath." She muttered to herself again. It was human nature to give themselves some noises when they were in a quiet and dark environment.

Adelaide gritted her teeth and got down to business. Along with three splashes, the bodies were pushed into the pond and sank immediately.

"Someone will get the scare of their lives days later." She clapped her hands together lightly, her eyes landed on the now peaceful pond. As the three bodies sank down quickly, she could not see them anymore, even with the help of her eyes.

'Come to think of it, one of the only perks of transmigration is these pair of eyes with 20/10 vision. Internet and smart gadgets got me bad.'

Without a noise, she disappeared. The peaceful scenery regains its silence, once again.

ΘΘΘ

- What have you done, James? How's the investigation?

"There are no leads. You know very well yourself that escaping by not alarming is impossible without an internal spy."

- Then have you found the traitor?

"How could I? Why are you rushing me when it's clearly your facility? Ask your trusted people instead."

- Hah, what are you? A kid? Blaming me when the incident happened right in before your nose? Have you taken a look at the newspaper? That heir is no fool! He knew something but still decide to cover it.

"…"

- Besides, why are you talking to me with that tone? Am I your friend?

"…I'm sorry, Your Grace."

Baron James could be seen sitting on the single couch in his personal bedroom. An orb was placed on a coffee table in front of him. The image of a handsome middle-aged man in his thirties was being shown in real-time. He looked arrogant, yet exerted a noble presence at the same time.

The orb connecting them was something imported straight from the Elven Kingdom. It was a product made by elves and dwarfs; a combination of the World Tree's dewdrops, one of the most precious liquids, and the best blacksmith's technology. Aie stones were used to power the orbs, making them one of the most convenient and expensive pieces of gadget.

The stone functioned as a battery, but an expensive version of it. Using Earth's measurements, it was like using pure gold as a disposable item.

As for the design? The dwarfs thought the function was "magical" so they made it look like the sphere on their goddess' Frioy scepter.

- Going around in circles like what you're doing now is useless; I can even bet that you won't make any progress.

The silver-hair man sighed in disappointment, making Baron James frown slightly. He wanted to retort, but he managed to swallow all the words in.

- This is simply how ancient households are. You guys behave like old men who couldn't do anything efficiently. The roots of your household made you age. Outdated beliefs had contaminated your mind.

"…you know very well, Your Grace, that you are the real mastermind behind what we're doing. Demi-human evolution, artificial powers, even…that kidnapping incident. I took a huge risk for you."

- You think I don't know the rule of equivalent exchange? Unlike Duke Winford, I am not illusional. Well, he was surprisingly quick-witted that one time. That person, who had never managed to think outside the box for once, interpreted everything by himself. That saved us a lot of work.

Baron James flinched lightly as an unpleasant memory got ahold of him. His heart beat rapidly thinking about the risk level. The man in front of him claimed and swayed him with logical reasoning, but he himself was not a complete idiot.

"How many demi-humans do you need, Your Grace?"

- You mean how many successful products do I need, right? About 300, presumably."

"That's a small order of knight already!"

The handsome middle-aged man clapped as if he was surprised.

- Wow, I'm impressed! Yes, as you said, I need an order of knights.

"Wouldn't that raise suspicions, especially when the fight for the crown position is coming?"

- The fight wouldn't happen in at least 4 years. Anyhow, do you think I'm that stupid? Why would I put those 300 inordinaries together?

"Your Grace, is this His Maje-"

- Stop. That isn't something a Baron should know.

"…I understand."

Baron James shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Even though he could keep a close eye on it, having the underground facility right below his main manor was nothing different from holding onto a ticking bomb.

He did not follow the man's words just because of the benefits it may bring. The benefits alone were not worth betraying the household that his ancestors had followed for nearly a millennium. Not only because of loyalty, but because the head of the house needed Winford's blood to get through the full moons.

He took the risk because of other reasons, one of which was his unwillingness for both him and his future heirs to follow this lifestyle. Their predecessors worked hard days and nights, yet their family's position remained the same.

One of the Empire's founding households, but remained a Baron for a thousand years! If that wasn't a joke, Baron James had no idea what was.

When you worked hard and no one, not even the people that you depended on, support you, you can only pave a road for yourself.

As for the other reason… Baron James did not dare to think further.

It was an irony how he did everything to raise the position of his family, yet still cowered in fear thinking of what the higher-ups were up to.

"Then what should we do about the unexplainable incident, Your Grace? How did she escape?"

The man in the orb gritted his teeth slightly, his tone full of annoyance.

- That heir.

"Don't tell me…" Baron James expected the answer, but he was still shocked knowing the man also thought the same thing.

It was illogical no matter how much they think about it. However, it made sense, knowing how young master Alfred had always been a person full of surprises.

- You can underestimate kids to some extent, Baron, but never apply that to Alfred Winford. He is the type that can actually flourish an old and decrepit house. If we let him grow, he'll catch up in no time.

"But how…"

- I don't know either, but that doesn't matter. It's either him or the elves related to him, which in turn brings us back to, you know it, him. Compared to my idiotic offspring, Alfred Winford is a gem. It's a shame, too bad, tsk tsk.

Baron James shivered. Something always happened whenever the man talked like that.

- We can use the girl.