Under the mansion, deep inside the basement were a few prison cells. The merchant and the spy Nox caught were locked up in different cells .
" I just have to deal with them and I'm done for the day. " Carseain said stretching his arms.
"Are you tired, Young Master?"
"Are you joking, Rovenin?"
"Oh my , I just said it out of concern since it's been a long time since you used your brain properly this much."
He said, wiping his eyes with a finger gently.
' Damn, fox-eyes he's just getting better.'
"Rovenin, there are no tears to wipe off. So, stop that."
Carseain slipped into a more comfortable gray linen shirt and Rovenin was holding the clothes he took off.
"Nox, lead the way to that fat-ass and the rat."
Rovenin handed the clothes to a maid and asked,
"Will you be dealing with them yourself right now?"
"Yes, I need to write a report as well so I thought it'd better to do it myself "
Nox guided them through the dark and must basement. There were no windows or fresh air. The stench was horrendous.
Carseain saw the merchant's cell.
"He's still out? Then let's have a look at the rat."
"This way, Young Master."
Carseain reached the cell and was looking at it in disbelief.
" Why is there a kid here?"
Carseain opened the door with a slam and went in. He saw a young boy with shackled hands and legs sitting on the floor His outgrown black hair shrouded his seething black eyes boring holes inside Nox who was standing behind Carseain.
"Hey, freckles, you said you'd let me go if I spilt everything ."
Nox was standing unfazed with hands folded at the back.
"I said it would be My Master who has to decided that "
He clicked his tongue.
Carseain kneeled facing him at the same level. He swiftly took out a dagger and lifted his face with it.
"Hey, kid. I'm not going easy on you just cause you're a child. But I'll let you go, you have my word."
He clenched his fist and glared at Carseain straight in his eyes.
'Would you look at that? Ain't this one feisty little kid?'
Carseain grinned and deliberately let out immense bloodlust.
"I'll be asking a few questions. You refuse or you lie, you die."
The boy gulped his fear and nodded.
Carseain pulled back the dagger.
"Name?"
"Cahill"
"Age?"
"13"
"Who sent you?"
"Nightmare guild."
All three gasped in unison.
[ The Nightmare guild ]
A dark guild, which handles the dirty work for anyone regardless of status as long as you pay its worth. They had a frightening reputation across the country for their skills, secrecy and brutality. It wasn't the first time they're seeing a guild member, there were a lot of assassination attempts on the Marquis. But, all of them failed and the member's committed suicide on the spot.
However, it was certainly their first time seeing a kid. It was rather unbelievable.
Carseain raised his brow.
"Nox, your thoughts?"
"It seems plausible with his skills but that alone cannot serve as solid evidence."
"You heard him, kid. Prove that. Remember you lie, you die."
Cahill started scratching his left hand and a layer of fake skin came off along with a little blood. He started licking the back of his left palm.
'Is he licking the blood?'
After that Cahill recited, "Omnox signia premain ". Black dust-like particles started gathering and stuck to Cahill's palm. The Nightmare guild's insignia appeared.
"This is the proof that I'm a 'nightmare'."
"Rovenin" called Carseain.
Rovenin went and took a closer look at it. He inspected it and nodded
"It's genuine, Young Master. It has both functions of a nightmare insignia. Giving out the location and mortal status (meaning dead or alive) of the member."
Carseain shook his head. He stood and gazed up at the ceiling.
" How did you even end up there?"
"I went there myself. "
Carseain widened his eyes.
"Why would you-"
Carseain saw him biting his lip. His eyes were directed at the ground but were at something that Carseain couldn't fathom. Nox and Rovenin had displeased looks.
Carseain scratched his head.
"Haa... Let's leave that for now. What were your orders?"
"Kill anyone who gets in the way of the Mission."
"What was the mission?"
"I don't know. No one who's on the execution team knows. We're all given orders separately and submit a report on it."
"Who knows?"
"The client, branch manager, team leaders and only the Guild Master has access to all the files."
Rovenin was trying to unravel the system.
'I see. No wonder they're known for secrecy. The cumulative effect of actions of all teams strictly following the orders leads to the completion of the mission.
But the branch manager disintegrated the request and is not a part of the execution team. I suppose it's safe to say even the team leader only knows the part executed by his team and not the complete request. Therefore, there can't be an information leak.
So, the Guild Master is the only person who completely knows what's going on in the Guild. That is also to say, he has dirt on every noble whoever made a request or is inside their clandestine information network.'
Rovenin smiled in amazement.
'Oh my, What a scary position! '
Carseain realized Rovenin was unravelling a lot of things.
"Hey, did you just know you revealed the mechanism of The Nightmare Guild which is highly sought after information?"
"They don't matter to me now, once they find out that I came out alive from the enemy's hand. A cleanup squad will be dispatched."
Rovenin took a note of it.
'They sure are thorough.'
Carseain was taken a little aback.
'He believed me when I said I'd let him go, how naive of him. He is a child after all.'
Carseain ruffled his hair with a faint smile
"Aren't you being very obedient? Are you that scared of dying?"
"I'M NOT SCARED OF DYING! It's just that...I can't leave her alone yet"
His eyes glistened. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, trembling a little.
"Not yet...." Cahill mumbled.
Nox squinted his eyes. He couldn't believe that he was the same kid who came for his neck a few hours ago.
'If he's acting then he's pretty good.'
"Oh, A lover at this age? Aren't you very popular? Is she pretty? I wanna see her."
Cahill was red from head to toe.
"Wha ...What?!!! I do love her but she's not My Lover!"
"Pfft"
Rovenin's lips slipped. The three were trembling, trying to suppress laughter.
Carseain was avidly watching him.
'Just look at this tomato! How cute! He got flustered so much! No one must've talked to him like this before. Though a killer, he is still a kid.'
Cahill just got redder with time.
" Mom's really pretty but you can't see her. You'll fall for her!"
Carseain suddenly fell silent. He stood up and let out a deep sigh.
"We'll continue the rest outside. Although it's early for dinner, let's eat. Nox, wash him and dress him up. Make sure he doesn't run away."
Carseain left. The time he fell silent flashed through Nox's head.
' What was that?' he wondered.
Rovenin watched Carseain leave. He mumbled in silence.
"I thought he'd improve with time but he still flinches at the word 'mom' ".
At the dinner table, food was served sumptuously. Maids and butlers attend to everything meticulously. Cahill just stared at it suspiciously. Carseain asked while drinking the juice Rovenin poured him,
"Nox, did everything go smoothly?"
"He tried to run away three times."
Carseain glared at him. Cahill shrugged.
"What? You never said you'd kill me for trying to run."
Carseain shook his head and started eating but Cahill didn't touch the food. Carseain frowned.
" It's not poisoned. So you can eat it."
"It won't work on me anyway."
" Just so you know, I don't even need my sword to kill you let alone such underhanded tricks."
" I know that. I can tell, you've got two attributes."
" You can tell just by looking? Isn't that pretty amazing?"
" All three of you are strong. Freckles guy has excellent stealth skills but I'd still win."
Rovenin was impressed.
' I like the way he speaks of it as a fact with confidence. He must have terrific instincts at play for this.'
Cahill pointed out Rovenin.
"That guy's strong too, just as strong as I am but not without magic."
Rovenin pressed his lips while Carseain suppressed his laughter. It was true. Rovenin was a genius at magic but not so much when it came to physical combat.
Carseain wiped off a tear and told Cahill,
"Haa, Don't you hold yourself in high regard? If you were that confident, why didn't you resist and run ?"
" The mage that freckles killed was in-charge of escaping. Only he knew the place where we had to report.
After he died we were supposed to use a warp scroll to escape and stay low until the guild sent a replacement or a teleportation scroll."
Cahill clasped the fork tight,
"But those bastards never gave me mine and cast a paralysis spell on me."