The chirping of birds and the rising sun were the first things that would usually be witnessed during the morning, but today, if one were to look at the roof, one would see a child sitting like a refined scholar. Enshin was there before the first ray of sunlight reached the land, contemplating on the matters of yesterday.
Spies in the household.
What kind of enemies did his parents make? How many of them were there? Enemies so relentless that even the household wasn't safe. He wasn't safe.
Enshin just got reborn! He may be a child with monstrous abilities for his age, but if he got sneak attacked it wouldn't matter. He may be hard to kill, but he wasn't invincible just yet.
He gazed at the awakening sun before he sighed and landed on the ground two stories below him. He wanted to sense the whole household with his mana but he didn't dare to. If his father got the slightest sense of what he was doing, who knows what might happen?
He had to do it the ancient way. Proper investigation and deduction. Considering that Alice was working in the maid department, it would be wise to investigate her closest contacts there. Or perhaps anyone who was in her vicinity.
A little walk later his eyes met a plain structure of wood and concrete. The maid's quarters. As he walked the various maids greeted him politely. He eyed each one of them with a smile, looking for any ill glint in their eyes.
Not one of them showed any.
He had no first suspects so he smiled playfully and skipped towards the nearest maid.
"Lift me up!" He said as he raised his arms forward.
Confusion flashed for a flicker of a moment in the maid's face but Enshin was a child, after all, he was just as tall as her knee. She wrapped her arms around Enshin and lifted him up. Enshin instantly smelled a youthful womanly fragrance, the maid was quite young after all.
He savored the fragrance before inserting his mana onto her because it truly was a fragrant smell. He instantly scanned her with his mana. The mana scoured through her body, and Enshin felt the entirety of her being. She was a healthy lady with no anomalies in her body whatsoever. She didn't even have mana, she was as simple as can be. No slave marks or brandings were visible on her being, and she didn't have any weapons hidden. She was completely innocent.
It took him mere moments after being lifted to discover this, and to the maid, it seemed as if Enshin simply wrapped his arms around her and sniffed her aroma. A feeling of warmth spread on her chest as she realized that young master Enshin was on the first steps of becoming a man.
Enshin smirked as he stayed within her arms for a few seconds before he asked to be set on the ground. The maid patted his head and smiled warmly before going back to do her role. Enshin grunted and skipped playfully to another maid to investigate.
Erin was walking along with the headmaid, Miss Meadow, around the maid's quarters when she suddenly caught sight of Enshin making maids carry him. It initially didn't bother her, but the peaceful expression on his face as he was being carried made her narrow her eyes.
When Enshin was a baby, she could only carry him until he was able to crawl. Since then, he would crawl away when she would go to carry him, and when he was being carried he would be jittery and want to be on the ground. Seeing him making other people carry him made her feel wronged.
She was his mother and yet she couldn't make her own child feel comfortable in her touch.
She harrumphed and was about to charge in and steal her child away when she heard slight coughing from behind her.
"Miss Erin, shouldn't we handle other matters first?" Miss Meadow smiled and beckoned to move forward.
Erin froze and hesitated, however, after a quick glance at Enshin she sighed and followed. As she and Miss Meadow paced away, a pair of eyes observed them.
On the rooftop of the two story maid quarters was a young lady in pajamas. Her eyes glinted with a flash of light as she eyed Erin. She smiled mysteriously, before hanging the laundry she just washed.
"After all these years, I'm closer and closer to my goal..." She murmured so quietly that the breeze of the wind blew her voice away.
Down below, Enshin was still being babied by different maids. He felt blessed, but he didn't let himself forget his goal. Out of all the women he scanned, none of them were even remotely corrupted. It was as if his father employed only those of the purest of souls
Days passed and Enshin was still completely immersed in maids, he even shamelessly entered their rooms and fiddled with their stuff. There were a few secrets here and there but they were limited to tryst and secret lovers. He had a lot of time in between training so quite often his childly figure would be roaming around the halls of the maid's quarters. Shinzo would pass by sometimes, adored by all the maids as he walked, he would give a thumbs up at Enshin. Enshin would give a cheeky thumbs up back.
It was fun being surrounded by young women alright but the burden in his heart was getting heavier. He had no leads yet and once he completely finished the investigation on the maids he would have to find suspects from other departments, and in their household, there was a lot, the search would take too long. He pursed his lips as he skipped toward the rooftop, where laundry hung about everywhere.
He basically barged around every room in the maid's quarters but he was still empty on finds. The rooftop was the last to be searched since there were no rooms, and maids would often only gossip around here and do laundry.
Today there were no maids in sight. Only garments that swayed along with the wind. Bedsheets, pillow covers, clothes, curtains, undergarments-
Enshin blinked and a smile slowly blossomed on his face. In his past life, he was a man with high sexual drive, since the day he had it, he wouldn't go a few days without it unless there were special circumstances. For the past millennia in the void, he suppressed this desire as best as he could, but his perverted nature was always within. These days surrounded by women had him quite vexed that he was still a child.
He could merely long for it as he grasped the undergarment with his small chubby arms and sniff with a hint of a tear forming around the corner of his eyes. This made his lust for revenge fire up from the indignation of making him experience such chastity.
At the moment, a maid in fresh pajamas was crouching with an expression of horror as she watched the child sniff hungrily on the undergarment. Shivers went down her spine and the urge to smack the kid right there and then formed in her mind, but when she remembered whose child it was she discarded such thoughts.
She backed away and hid beneath a curtain. If this kid knew someone saw him acting so shamelessly, who knew what he might make his father do. One word from him and there would be no more witnesses left.
She gulped and listened to the animalistic sniffing, pleading the heavens that lust incarnate moves back down.
Sniffing sounds could be heard as the child spoke, "I will pay you back a hundredfold!" His voice had raging anger laced unto it. Such words shouldn't have come from him, such actions shouldn't have come from him!
"Hmm?" The kid suddenly stopped,
The maid instantly initiated a breathing technique to suppress every sound of breathing she made. The one who she was hiding from was just a child, but she was not one to take risks. Because from her experience the slightest risk could be a potential disaster.
For a moment the kid was silent. But just as the silence came, it quickly shattered as the kid hummed and skipped away. A door slammed shut, and the kid was gone.
Now the only sound that could be heard was the blowing of the breeze. It whistled softly, and the maid slowly relaxed her breathing before she stood up. She sighed and shivered from the experience, however, she quickly shook her head and opted to forget about it as she continued doing the laundry.
"I have to hang my clothes elsewhere starting today." She murmured to herself as she bent forward to wipe out a stain on a white sheet. As she bent forward, a pair of green eyes could be seen staring right at her from a gap behind the rows of hanging sheets far behind.
If the maid could see his piercing eyes now she would be terrified. Enshin memorized her features silently as he stared.
"A martial arts breathing technique," He said with narrowed eyes, "Is she the one?"
He silently went to the second floor and upon finding a maid, went closer and asked, "Miss maid, who is the one on top of this big house?"
"On top?" The maid pondered for a bit,
"The miss wearing pajamas." He added,
"Oh, that's just Sayaka..."
Meanwhile, at the main house sat four people around a table. Erin, Shinzo, Miss Meadow, and the head of guards, Lycan. They were discussing in a dimly lit room. Multiple sheets of files were strewn about the table, each file depicted a person's profile.
Lycan raised a file with a hand and scowled, he tossed it on the table and grabbed another file. Each file that he read made his scowl run deeper.
"I just got back and this is what greets me." He said,
"Don't worry, I handled them." Shinzo leaned back on his chair and whistled as he looked at Lykan
Erin glanced at Shinzo and pinched him in the leg.
"Ow! What are you on about!? I already killed the rest of them last night."
Erin pinched harder and glanced at Lycan and Miss Meadow, looking apologetic. Miss Meadow merely smiled and Lycan nodded at Erin, then he glanced deeply at Shinzo.
"So you killed them...Just like that?" A trace of disagreement flared up on Lycan's tongue.
Shinzo raised an eyebrow and remained silent, but within the silence was an intimidating aura that spread out. Erin was still pinching him, but her face was starting to get anxious. She opened her mouth to speak and yet no words came out, instead, Shinzo's sharp voice pierced through the silence.
"Yeah, I killed them all." He tilted his head to the side as he cleaned his ear, "What are you gonna do about it?"
Nerves bulged on Lycans face, and as he spoke it was with great retraint that it wasn't a scream. "You had no right to take their lives."
"Calm down you two." Miss Meadow advised from the side.
Shinzo merely smiled as if replying was a nuisance. Miss Meadow remained calm as if it was normal for the two men to argue, unlike Erin who was visibly jittery.
"Uncle, I apologize for my husband's behavior," Erin said, and Shinzo's eyes darted towards her in a glare.
"You have nothing to apologize for. I killed them all before they found an opportunity to do the same to us."
"But how could you be so sure that they were accomplices!?" Lykan clenched his fist as he glared.
"I am sure." He waved a hand and the resulting gale made the files fly about. He waved down another hand making the scattered files slam down on the table in order. After that, he pressed his finger on each file as he spoke,
"After the night Alice and that George man died. I went to his place immediately, he recommended me George so he had some explaining to do. He couldn't."
"Next I went to her place. She recommended me Alice, so of course, I asked for an explanation. She tried to explain, but her story had loopholes."
He pointed at more files of people he killed and after explaining, leaned over the table and clasped his hands together.
"I was sure they had to die. I trusted them and they presented me with danger. I was lenient enough in not killing their whole bloodlines. What more do you want from me?"
Such words had Lycan slam his fist on the table. His facade was reddish, and his eyes were wide in a look that could kill. It didn't matter that he was talking to Unrivaled Sword, he breathed deeply and yelled,
"My god! There is a process to this! You can't just kill and kill who you like!" He paused, hesitating but his pent up rage got the better of him and he continued. "This is exactly why my family doesn't agree to this marri-"
He shut his mouth and perhaps regretted opening them. Shinzo was glaring at him with intense hatred that seeped from his very being. Erin was at his side, looking a bit hurt.
Without saying a word, Shinzo walked out. Erin paced a few steps towards the door before looking back at Lykan, her gaze filled with disappointment.
"I just..."
Before Lykan could finish a sentence, she walked out. Miss Meadow sighed and shook her head. She turned to look at Lykan and stood.
"Next time, to avoid having him handle these matters, as head of guards, don't you think you should do your job?"
Miss Meadow's words echoed in his mind as he was left alone in the dimly lit room. He already looked aged, yet as he sat there his red hair seemed to be graying and the wrinkles on his skin were much more visible. He sighed as he headed out the door.
At the household halls, Shinzo was marching towards the gates with a sword in hand. "Prepare the extermination team!"
In matter of seconds a squad of well armed men was standing by the gate, their armor glinted with light from the bright sun. Shinzo proceeded in front of them and stood in front of the gate that was slowly opening.
"Where are you going!?" Erin screamed from behind, pacing quickly towards Shinzo's side.
"Don't stop me Erin. I feel like cleaning the forest a little earlier." The gate opened and the squad including Shinzo started to march forward. "Before I come back you better tell your relative to mind his mouth. Or I'm going to fix it for him."
Erin stood helplessly at the gates, looking at the back of his husband that was slowly moving away from her line of sight.
Right at that moment, Enshin was scuttering about in a well decorated but now messy room. Clothes, letters, pillows, anything that could be scattered was scattered.
Enshin made an annoyed sound as he thought that he should stop and just start investigating the other departments but he didn't even know where to start.
He even started to think that he should let Shinzo do the investigating, however, he quickly shook his head. It wasn't wise to place your fate upon another's hands. Still he simply had to resign to his fate in the end.
In mere minutes, Enshin cleaned up astonishingly fast and spotlessly. When he was done, it was even cleaner than before. Bedsheets folded, Pillows arranged, cabinets seemingly untouched, and lastly were the clothes that needed to be folded.
"Ahh, I'm too good at leaving no evidence." He said, judging his work as he folded a small piece of garment. "Now all I have to do is fold thi-"
A pair of footsteps rushed toward the door of the room, and before Enshin could react the door was slammed open. It was the maid in pajama's, Sayaka. Her eyes lingered on a particular corner of the room and then quickly focused her eyes on Enshin, who was holding her undies. The memory from the roof flashed in her mind and she paled, however she hid it quite well as she paced closer to Enshin.
"Young master Enshin, may this one ask what you are doing in this humble one's residence." She said as she bowed her head.
Enshin arched an eyebrow, which he retracted hastily as Sayaka raised her head. She seemed to have manners of a court maid, those of which that serve the royalty. His suspicion was aroused, and he was leaning on the possibility that she was a spy. Her motion of gazing at a corner also didn't go by unnoticed. He joyfully skipped to her and raised his hands towards her.
"Hello big sister, can you please carry me?" He said, ignoring her question. He didn't need to answer, because if she was the spy, she would be dead in seconds once he was sure of it.
Sayaka seemed hesitant, and a little bit disgusted, however, she still carried him. The instant their skins touched Enshin widened his eyes as he instantly retracted the mana. He did so because Sayaka was scanning him! It's a good thing that his face was over her shoulder, if not, she would have seen the devils grim face on the four year old child.
At that moment, Sayaka felt a grave sense of danger. She instantly let go of the child and backstepped towards the corner. She looked around vigilantly, she even scanned around with her mana. The windows were clean of any presence, the doors were as well. All she saw was a well cleaned room, with a child lying face down in the center, however, the danger she felt only seemed to get worse. Her vigilance grew to the peak, and her eyes landed on the child.
"Young...young master Enshin, are you alright?" She said as she hesitantly neared the boy.
"Ow! Ow! It hurts!" Enshin cried,
Sayaka would have instantly attended to him and stood him up, however, she had a premonition that once she touched the boy the only thing waiting for her was death. She froze and even slightly paced back.
Amidst Enshin's cries, none of them noticed the pair of eyes watching them beyond the window.