To Jiem, my editor, I owe you years of literature.
Character in this chapter:
Cohen Kheda: The main character. Fischer Summers: Cohen's friend, prince of the Swabia Empire.Suddenly, a sword with the width of but two fingers thrusted out from the carriage, piercing through the door and stabbed into the tall robber's chest. The sword tip protruded from his back; the glint of it akin to a bolt of silver lightning. The taller one could not even utter a sound in response.
I was dumbfounded. Fischer was astonished. All were amazed!
The sword which had been retrieved from the robber's body shook twice before it got stuck on the door frame. Finally, it disappeared back into the carriage. The movements of the sword as it was sheathed seemed worlds apart from the grace of it as it thrusted out in one smooth motion.
That was the doing of that bitch! I shared a look with Fischer.
The sword had aimed right at his heart. The tall robber's dagger dropped to the ground with a clatter as his right hand pressed against the gaping wound on his chest. With an unsteady head, he stumbled towards the shorter robber, his left hand reaching out for his companion. Finally, he could no longer support himself and collapsed to kneel on the ground.
"Get up! Dumb ass! Get up!" The short yelled.
"Hel… p… me…" The tall one crawled to his feet, "You said it'll be easy… how…"
Perspiration drenched the short robber as he took in choked gasps of breath. With a tremor of his dagger, he turned away from him and ran, disappearing into the dark of night. As the sound of his feet against the ground sounded out, the tall man's head drooped down; ceasing to again.
Bitch's driver jogged the reins and began to drive once again. Noticing his nonchalant behavior, it seemed as if it was not the first time they had encountered such an event.
"What's your thoughts on what just happened?" Rooted down to where I stood, I asked Fischer, "Tell me."
"I think…" Fischer said, "If you were to confront her as what they had done, it's either you die or she dies. She will probably end up dying anyway. Though she may have gone overboard with her unlady-like actions, you don't need to treat her the same way either, right?"
"Ya' right!" I turn my horse about, "Let's call it a night."
Truthfully, the grudge I had against her was rather trivial and I didn't need to kick her ass that badly. Thus I merely used the incidents that took place as an excuse to just quit tonight's mission. Furthermore, I was even worrying for her earlier.This bitch... was pretty interesting.
"What about this!" Fischer said, "Let's make a bet."
"I thought you didn't wanna bet with me."
"This time is different…" Fischer smirked, "It's a special exception."
"Tell me about it."
"It seems that this lady knows her way around business." Fischer said, "Although running a business with her title of nobility is rather odd, you can alway recruit her to make more cash."
"En… sounds interesting. Continue."
"If you can make her fall in love with you," Fischer had a disgusting grin smeared onto his face, "I'll promise you one thing; anything at all!"
"Make her fall in love with me?"
"Exactly! Love! And, no violence is allowed!"
"..." Was this considered a good suggestion?
"Are you hesitant?" Fischer asked, "I knew you were only bragging, after all."
"Not a chance!" I wasn't going to surrender, "I'm thinking that if I succeeded, how would I explain it to my wives?"
"If, by any chance you succeed, I'll help you with that… anyway, you did it for the money. I'd say to count it as life-risking, or sacrificing yourself for Dark City."
"Er…" I thought about it, "Does that mean if I were to say that to them: not only would I be able to get off scot-free, but my wives would even shed tears over my benevolent actions?"
"Precisely!" Fischer nodded vehemently.
Oh? Do you think I'm the sort of idiot to be roped in by your schemes? I'll mess with you for underestimating me.
"Is that so!" I said, "But, I'll need your help."
"No problem!" Fischer gave me his chest-beating promise, "I will definitely help you! I'm a grown-up, after all!"
"Are you, really? You are no better than a fresh pussy!"
"I! I… you are not any better! Although, you already have wives…"
"To make sure we stick to the bet, let's become true men today!"
"Easy for you to say…"
"Fine, let's go find a whorehouse, first. You know, to practice…" Ignoring the refusals coming from Fischer, I grabbed the reins of his horse and promptly left for our destination.(Winper brothel area)
Brothels of a wide variety lined the streets, open and welcoming.. Colorful lanterns lit the upper floors while girls flirted with people by the entrance below. The scene was dazzlingly exuberant. I didn't even know where to begin.
"Say…" Fischer whispered, "Let's just go back!"
"Declined!"
I said no and was adamant on pulling a fast one on him tonight, or I was not Cohen Kheda anymore.
"Mister!" A man who appeared to be my age came over. He was full of smiles and wore a neat attire, "Do you require our aid?"
I eyed him. He had a well-featured face and beautiful eyes that seemed to be void of any evil and extremely pure. How could an innocent boy with looks like that be in this line of business?
"Yes?" He said, "It's free."
"Free?" I laughed, "Then, how on earth do you earn a living?"
Right when he was about to explain, a hand landed on his shoulder. That hand pushed the young man away from us.
I was used to normal fist fights like this. However, it pissed me off when anyone interrupted me and prevented my question from being answered promptly.
"Well done! Sky, ya wanna die? Stealing my customers on my street!" A tall, dark-skinned man caught him by the collar and said.
"I wasn't, I wasn't…" He explained hastily, "I noticed these sirs had not entered any brothels for quite a while and thought they weren't satisfied with the selection shown before them…"
I used the tip of my wand to press against the neck of the tall man, signalling for him to put down the hand that was about to hit Sky.
"Dark mage…"After taking a look at my wand and black cloak, his face turned ashen white..
"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry." He loosened his grip on Sky immediately, "I didn't know these two Excellencies are your friends."
Who would have known my dark mage identity was this useful. I waved the hand to tell him "Fuck off".
"Thank you! Thank you, mister!" This Sky guy bowed to us.
"Find us a suitable brothel!" I told Sky, "Somewhere clean and quiet with hot and innocent girls!"
"No problem! Misters!" He took our horses by their reins, "Please follow me!"