"Who are you?"
The Pillar's voice sent a chill down my spine.
From his tone and the silence that followed after his question, I could deduce a bunch of misunderstandings forming in his head.
'I need to nullify those thoughts as soon as possible.'
Leaning over at Elliot, I whispered with the tiniest voice I could use.
"Stay still."
Closing my eyes, I cursed the world with all I had internally before speaking in the girliest, flirtiest, and highest-pitch tone I could use.
"Oh, come on babe. It will only take a little bit of our time together. We haven't done it since last night, have we? I'm really itching to do it now."
Once that left my mouth, I gagged and barely stopped myself from vomiting on the spot.
'Blegh! Blegh! Fuck, I'm going to throw up.'
The chill I felt from the Pillar's presence didn't bother me anymore. I was too focused on convincing my stomach not to throw away the food I ate before coming to the mansion.
"Ahem."
Hearing the forced sound of a throat being cleared, I opened my eyes and turned my head around.
Once again, I spoke in the most embarrassing voice I've used in my whole life. I even delicately placed my hand over my mouth to make it seem more dramatic.
"Oh my, another handsome man? I sure am blessed today."
For the first time, I saw the face of a person they call a [Pillar].
'It's not exactly the best situation but I need to make the most of it. I'm pretty sure this is not the last time I'll be seeing this person.'
Thinking that, I memorized what I can see from the Pillar, although all he had was a disinterested expression on his face. The most notable aspect is his crimson hair which made it seem like he had blood covering his head.
Keeping that in mind, I paid attention as he spoke.
"I don't care about your sexual preferences but don't do it while we're working. The ceremony will start soon."
"Oh, I see. Later then. Come on, babe. Let's go back to our posts."
Nodding, I grabbed Elliot's hand and walked out of the room.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the closet door vibrating slightly. Even with the closet door separating us, I could tell Shin was trying his best not to laugh.
'Just you wait, motherfucker.'
I made a mental note to make him suffer when we meet later but other than that, I'm glad he's doing better.
'It's a good thing we made a few other plans other than the original plan we had.'
River and Shin were already briefed on what to do if things don't go according to the original plan.
I had reminded them multiple times about the place that we have to meet if ever we got separated.
Stopping myself from thinking more of it, I kept my gaze steady.
'Hm?'
But then I noticed that the Pillar was looking at me. Our eyes met and an internal panic occurred inside my head.
'Did he notice?'
Still panicking, I did the only thing I could think of to stop his suspicions.
I winked and giggled.
"Teehee."
Just like that, the Pillar's eyes lost their light.
When we were out of his sight, I sighed and spoke in a defeated tone.
"Haa. You gotta do what you gotta do."
After that, I let go of Elliot's hand and started thinking deeply.
'Fuck, that was close. He's definitely going to keep an eye on me.'
And just as I thought, that's what happened. The Pillar came to check on us every so often.
I knew we left an impression on him. He'll notice if we suddenly disappear.
Still, we can't stay here forever.
We have to meet up with the others.
Formulating a plan, I looked over at Elliot.
"Elliot, do you know any [Level II] security guards that have nearly the same features as us?"
"Yes."
"Can you take care of them quietly?"
"Yes."
He nodded.
"Perfect."
Letting a smirk tug my lips up, I finalized the plan in my head.
"Elliot, here's what you're going to do next."
I gave him instructions and after hearing them, Elliot left. Not long after, he came back and proceeded to do the things I instructed.
Elliot had to work on my plan without using spells because the mansion currently restricts the performance of some specific spells to a certain degree.
For example, if Elliot were to perform an illusion spell which is one of the spells that were currently being restricted, it would alert the higher-ups and we'll be brought for questioning.
Long story short, they'll find out that we sneaked in and the only fate that awaits us is death.
"Stop. This is good enough."
I said to Elliot and started walking away.
'Shin and River must be waiting for us.'
With the time we took to take care of the Pillar's surveillance problem, I wouldn't be surprised if I went to the meeting place and find them sleeping.
And as for Shin? He's probably left the closet already.
I don't think the Pillar noticed him at all. Especially not with me and Elliot standing out too much.
Though honestly, I was slightly worried about him but then I remembered that Shin had no problem shaking while trying to hold back his laugh even at the presence of the Pillar.
'He's probably fine now.'
With that, Elliot and I blended into the darkness of the mansion.
* * *
"Don't mess up."
"Of course, my Lord."
With a voice full of respect, one man bowed his head down. His long crimson hair cascaded to the side, creating a beautiful reddish curtain on the sides of his head.
Step. Step. Step.
The man did not dare look up until he heard the footsteps of the person he addressed as 'Lord' growing distant.
Click.
It was only when he heard the door shut that he raised his head.
'No matter how many times I've been in Lord Pheregor's presence, I'm never going to get used to it.'
The man thought.
The 'Lord' he addressed was the current head of the Pheregor Household, and while the crimson-haired man is someone considered as 'strong' by many people, he would always be reminded of how puny he was in front of that person.
From the side of his eyes, he saw his attendant coming to him with a list of names in his hands.
"Sir Zen, we should go now."
"I know."
With a simple answer, Zen, the man with the long crimson hair, started walking out of the door.
In actuality, Zen is not his official name. It's not even his alias but people call him Zen anyways because his pseudo-name is too long.
He arrived in one of the Pheregor Household's abandoned mansions.
On many other days, it was just a plain abandoned mansion but today, it was anything other than that.
"So many people want to die today."
Zen said the moment he stepped into the mansion. His attendant had left with the children and he was walking alone while observing the surroundings.
The reason why he did not go with the children was that the [Level III] security were all trusted people from the household. Not all may be phenomenally strong but they were trusted.
And for the most part, he found it bothersome.
'Why would I need to go protect them in the basement when I can just stop the enemies from going near it?'
Zen arrogantly thought to himself while looking around.
His arrogance wasn't based on nothing. Zen is very strong. He could already tell a few spies and sense a few strong individuals moving around as well as waiting for the right chance to strike.
'Fucking idiots.'
Shaking his head, Zen stopped in front of a room.
From the outside, he could sense a weird presence of a demon.
Zen, who had a unique spell that gave him the ability to sense demons by their smell, figured that he was sensing a very low-ranked demon because he can barely smell it.
Nevertheless, it was a demon so it alerted him.
He pushed the door open with his feet.
Bang!
He walked inside, only to stop again.
"Hmm?"
Zen blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Who are you?"
He asked but his mind was thinking of other things.
'What are they doing?'
Zen saw the back of a tall and lanky man with raven black hair. Both of the man's arms were laid flat in the closed closet door, and in between his arms was another man he can't see the face of.
Based on the two men's uniforms, they were both [Level II] security guards.
Sniffing slightly, Zen noticed where the smell is coming from. It came from the guy trapped in between the arms of the tall man.
'Did the tall man also notice the demon?'
Zen thought as his mind grew cold.
'How? He smells like a normal human. Hmm. Something is suspicious about this.'
But before he could speak up, Zen heard something that made him flinch.
"Oh, come on babe. It will only take a little bit of our time together. We haven't done it since last night, have we? I'm really itching to do it now."
Zen kept his mouth shut.
'Oh, it's like that.'
He didn't need to be a genius to understand what was happening.
'Are they planning to slack off during work?'
"Ahem."
Zen cleared his throat.
The two people, who seem to have not noticed Zen despite his loud entrance, finally took their eyes away from each other and looked in his direction.
"Oh my, another handsome man? I sure am blessed today."
Says the tall man in an extremely flirty and high-pitched voice. Hearing him speak reminded Zen of the low-paying prostitutes in the Deusa section.
Zen did not care that the tall man did not recognize who he was and spoke in a scolding tone.
"I don't care about your sexual preferences but don't do it while we're working. The ceremony will start soon."
"Oh, I see. Later then. Come on, babe. Let's go back to our posts."
Hearing the flirty voice of the tall man, Zen stepped to the side and let them walk out the door.
For a split second, he made eye contact with the marigold eyes of the tall man.
'Huh?'
Zen stopped.
It was only for a second but what he saw was the eyes of a crazy person. Seeing that triggered alarm warning inside his head.
Zen gazed back at the tall man and the latter gazed back.
Suddenly, the tall man winked at him while giggling like a little child.
"Teehee."
Goosebumps.
It was at that moment that Zen accepted that he saw wrongly.
'Yes, it was just my imagination.'
He continued looking around after that.
Nothing was wrong.
He would occasionally see the tall man and the man contracted to a low-ranked demon in his rounds. Zen always made his visits short because he would always find them at close distance, at least it was close enough that it invaded the two people's personal space but the two didn't seem to mind.
Beep. Beep.
Zen took out his communication device and saw it was his assistant that sent him a message.
[Sir Zen, the ceremony is nearly finished.]
With a smile, Zen closed the communication device and sighed.
But the smile didn't last long.
"Everything is going well-"
Just as he said that, the ground beneath his feet shook.
KABOOM!
A deafeningly loud explosion could be heard throughout the abandoned mansion. He could not tell where the explosion started since noises and enemies emerged from all sides of the mansion.
'Shit.'
Zen cursed.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
His communication device rang repeatedly.
[Sir Zen, we need you in the basement.]
[Sir Zen, the ancient stone is missing!]
He immediately turn to the basement but then stopped.
'What is this nagging feeling?'
Something akin to an itch was telling him to turn around.
Zen could not forget the marigold eyes that he saw in a split moment. He knew it was crazy but even so, he really needed to check something.
He sent a message to his assistant.
[I'll head there as soon as I can. Let me check something first.]
Zen's footsteps hurriedly went to the back part of the mansion where that tall man with marigold eyes should be guarding.
"Shit."
Zen cursed when he got there.
Because being in their presence felt uncomfortable, Zen only glimpsed at them for a split second whenever he goes around checking the posts of [Level II] security guards.
That's why he had not noticed.
"It's always the same pose."
Zen said, his face turning dark.
While chaos was happening, he saw two figures standing at close distance, near enough that they invaded both people's personal space.
'They're not moving!'
Zen finally noticed and tapped the two bodies.
Plop. Plop.
The two bodies fell like mannequins. Zen finally noticed that they were dead people and their features were only similar to the lanky guy and the other guy's faces.
"Ha!"
Zen scoffed and started heading for the basement.
Krr! Krr!
His crimson hair made a weird, electricity-like sound as red bolts of lightning flew out of them.
Crackle! Boom! Crackle! Boom!
The red lightning crackled and destroyed whatever it touched. However, Zen paid it no mind.
In his mind, he was only thinking of one thing.
"I've been tricked."