"So… about the sword, quite sad that we didn't get it huh?" Jeremy smiled as he looked at MC sitting on a chair behind the table in front of her.
"I don't care, we've set the course to pick the Vendor and after that, we'll be heading towards Rei. We have important matters to discuss… that's why…" She replied, still looking down with her brows furrowed as she bit her thumb. "That's why I asked Rick to call her… we'll have a meeting… and coffee, I'm sorry for putting you through this."
Jeremy jerked back as a response. Then, after spending a good minute in deep thought about why she was acting like that, he let out a sigh and stood up. He disassembled the computer that he had used earlier and tucked it away at the corner of the room before proceeding to pick up the files and place them on top of one another. "No worries, care to tell me why you had the picture of the Muse printed and set down on the table like you're playing some sort of children's card game?"
"Oh, don't worry about it… I'm planning to use them later so I could like… fall back to sleep much quicker," MC replied indifferently, brushing off the tears that wet her eyes as she smiled.
"That's…" Jeremy squinted at the picture of their target that looked like a squashed bug with the bits and pieces of its cracked skull scattered about. He raised his gaze towards that face of his boss not even before a second could pass and soon enough, he was left grimacing at the fact that she appeared to be fidgeting with a reddened face. "That's not weird at all."
"Yeah," MC followed, now with her face slowly forming a steamy smile. "Don't ask about it."
They met each other's gazes not a moment later, but Jeremy, with another sigh, looked away and arranged the chairs before he wiped the dust off of the table with a piece of cloth.
"Poor girl though…" Jeremy continued.
"Oh, the one it took hostage?" MC sighed without taking her eyes off from the pictures. "I've checked it up on Death, all of them survived. I'm just hoping that our typical white woman college-level summoner who had no friends would have friends after this."
"She did survive a massacre, it'll make her look cool to the other kids and maybe she would get another depressed friend or two… and… maybe…" Jeremy's voice began to falter. "They would… try to talk to their loved ones again and end up summoning another demon… perhaps… fuck."
"It's fine, at least now, we have experience in dealing with this and since you're here, it would be easy," MC continued with her smile getting wider as she followed the line of the Muse's exposed spine that was shown on the picture with her finger.
"Would've been fine if we had that sword," Jeremy muttered.
"Well, I am a firm believer that a gun is mightier than the sword," MC answered without even looking at him.
Jeremy raised his brows as they both fell into silence. "It's the pen, the pen is mightier than the sword, ex-boss."
"Well, would a pen be able to put a bullet through someone's head?" She replied still with the same demeanor.
"With maximum effort yes," he replied with the tone of his voice sounding as if he was smiling. After that, he took out what appeared to be a small blue garbage bag from his pockets and went around the room to pick up the scattered pieces of paper and paper cups on the floor. "Which is why you're going to take that pen and write a formal request to get Dolphin an ax or me, that sword."
"Fair point," she added with a chuckle.
"Hey, ex-boss," Jeremy muttered with a tired breath as he went back to the corner to lump the garbage bag full of papers beside his computer. "Care to tell me what's up with Rei though?"
"Oh," MC took a short breath and lifted his eyes from the pictures to look at Jeremy. "Rick is getting detailed reports on what happened so I could brief you about it later. Rei fulfilled his mission but little did we know that his target was affiliated with the Blues and has a bodyguard with her. It's a white knight."
"Cool," Jeremy said, scratching the side of his face as he sat back to his chair. "Are we fighting a white knight… or a white knight, white knight?"
"Yes," she replied before letting out a short laugh. "A white knight, white knight."
"So basically, a guy with a knight's armor who's white-knighting another soul?"
"Yep…" She replied quickly before she held her lips in place. "Bastard got so angry that Rei beheaded her princess while he's out doing whatever-the-fuck he's doing. Since then, he's been onto him and with another deadweight holding him down, he could not get out of the chase."
"Oh man, the power of love is strong on this one…" Jeremy laughed.
"Yep, and that's why we're going there and thankfully, the Vendor is ready for a pickup and agreed to work with us in this surprise mission."
"Well, do you want me to help?" Jeremy asked with a twisted grin.
"Who are you kidding?" MC replied, looking at his shaking hands and trembling lips. "I'll make do with what we have and I won't let anyone die on my watch."
Jeremy scoffed and scratched the side of his face. "Except for me?"
"Except for you, yes… because you and your goddamn shadow clones don't fucking die," she replied while taking the time to stack her pictures.
"Harsh."
"It's just a quick milk-run with the Vendor and the Milkman to send those rats a little message to not fuck with us and our new recruit's training arc. Anyway, I'll discuss more about the plan soon, so rest up and sit back."
"I am actually taken aback that you used me for someone else's character development—"
"Oh shut up," MC interrupted him. "You're not the only one who had a pet tagging along with you on your mission."
Jeremy widened his eyes and laughed. "Did you just pair a dude with that fucking dominatrix praying mantis?"
"Fuck," she muttered before she held her breath as if she had just remembered something. "So that explains why that guy's remains looked like a soggy cereal bowl."
"Shit," he chuckled. "What happened to Mister Miggy though?"
"Vendor?" MC raised her brow and then, after a second, her face fell back into a smug smile. "He started the mission with a speech about teamwork and friendship. A few hours later, he ended up using his new friend as a human shield to win the battle, telling me, 'our friend made a noble sacrifice in exchange for victory' and more of that shit before he proceeded to cry like a little girl on the phone."
"So that leaves me with Mary and…"
"Rei with Juanito… I think his name was Jason and he's all game for the stuff like being a reaper and all… but he insisted that Death himself and the others should refer to him as Juanito…" MC replied as she laid her head on the table and there, she groaned. "If I had known back then that this week would be this hectic, I should've let them all in… I've been literally searching for those rats for about a year after that raid, and now they've decided to show up after we just killed a demon…"
"Ah… the things I would do if I had that sword…" Jeremy added with a tired breath of his own.
"Fine, I'll write it, so stop with the fucking sword already!" She protested with her head still down on the table.
"At least I know enough that I could assert my dominance over—"
At that moment, Jeremy stood up from his seat with a nervous sweat crawling through the side of his face down to the bottom of his chin. It was as though a sudden memory just came to him, an image of something that he did his best not to relive or at least remember and as a response, he shuddered and crawled to hide at MC's side.
"Oh… did the crotch of my other self… melt and my... tongue got ripped off from my... mouth… OH FUCK, SHE'S HERE!" Jeremy said with his lips trembling as he laid his back on the side of MC's tall chair. He took his tongue out and looked down on his pants to see if it was okay and after a moment of a tearful realization, he pulled his knees towards him and hugged his legs like a pillow. "Did the other me and the other me on the outside just fucking die?!"
There then came a knock at a door which caused Jeremy's sense of safety to crumble into pieces. Rick then entered the room a few seconds later with a tray of four cups of coffee, all with their steam slowly rising from their tall paper cups, and his steps were followed by a young lady. She had a tall slender figure that gave shape to the black cloak that draped her body that accentuated her long and wavy dark brown hair flowing down to her waist like a river, breaking only upon meeting her chest and shoulders.
Jeremy gasped at the moment he heard the bottom of her shoe tap the space inside the room and realizing that, the woman tilted her head and smiled with a string of her hair caught between her pale wet lips. She didn't budge as though she could see his shadow hiding under the table through her dark green eyes and after a moment, she let out a slow endearing laugh that even made Rick, who was standing beside her, shiver. Then, following the awkward silence that she had brought upon the room, she stepped forward and asked sweetly, "You're not going to ask what happened to you, Jeremy?"