The house stood alone in the middle of the grass, a few kilometers away from the city, on the frontier of the Nation of Los. It was only occupied by the employees inside.
A man in his thirties was organizing the documents neatly in the main office. He was the head butler of the house, Ferin. Although he was young, his hair and eyes were white as snow, a trait he was born with.
He finished putting the documents in their respective folders and then continued his routine. Cleaning the office from the dust, ordering the other maids and butlers to clean the rest of the two-story house, preparing dishes for lunch, checking on the mercenary stationed in the house to make sure if a letter from his master had arrived.
"Good morning Ed, Have you received a letter from the Master?"
"No, nothing yet. I'm getting worried. Maybe I should go to the Kingdom and find out where they are hiding."
They had heard the news that the Kingdom army raided the mansion of their Master, Ennis Elwin Damos. According to the rumors, it happened one month ago. The army imprisoned a group of nobles and freed the slaves. A lot of mercenaries were killed in the fight, but Ennis had managed to elude capture and escape along with a few of his men.
Ferin was worried. The safety of his Master was his priority. He wanted to say yes to Ed and go with him to look for him. But the words of his Master helped him to keep his emotions in check. Ennis ordered him to guard and protect this house.
This was the refuge of Ennis in the event of something happening, a place to hide and recover his strength. Sure, he was worried about why his Master still hadn't reached this place in over a month, but he also remembered the ones who protected him. The strong leader of the mercenaries Rak, the mad clown woman Alice, and possible the creature his Master keep hiding in the darkest cell, Ferin didn't see it but he heard of the power of this half troll.
There was nothing to worry about. The army did not catch his master, he was probably hiding with one of his allies. The ones scheming to kill the current king, Gabriel Lothar the III. He took a deep breath and spoke to Ed, the single mercenary who protected this place like him.
"Don't be hasty, Ed. We got our orders from Master Ennis and your boss, Rak. We are supposed to make sure this place is in optimal condition when they arrive."
"But a whole month has passed and they still haven't contacted us, which is too weird."
"They don't even contact us usually. Every six months, we sent a report about the house and the situation in the nation, and they responded with a single letter. We must adhere to our mission."
"Mmfh, you're always so trusting, like a little lamb obeying the orders of the shepherd."
"You can call me whatever you desire, but I must insist that you follow your orders as well. Rak assigned you to this mission because you're his best underling."
"Yes, yes, don't try to sweeten your words with honey. It's not like I can go alone and begin working without a clue." Ed put his hands in his pockets and went outside to patrol the terrain.
After calming him down, Ferin returned to his duties. A monotonous routine that he had been doing for years, somehow the repetition of these tasks helped ease his mind. It was like an affirmation of his spirit. If I continue to do my job, the Master will be fine. A solitary prayer in his heart, to hear good news from Ennis soon. Today was the day he would hear the news, but there weren't going to be any good ones...
After having lunch with the rest of the staff, he drank a cup of tea while reading a novel in the library. One of the butlers came to him. "Sir Ferin, there is someone in the door. He said he had information from Master Ennis."
Ferin opened his eyes and went to the entrance. He arrived at the same time as Ed. A man in fine clothes was standing at the entrance with a butler and a maid. He had dark hair and green eyes. He appeared to be some kind of merchant.
"Good evening. I'm Thanatos."
"Good evening, sir Thanatos. I'm the head butler of this house, Ferin. The man at my side is my personal bodyguard, Ed." He made the introductions quickly to ask about the information.
"I was informed that you have news about Ennis Elwin Damos. Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir Ferin. I came with a message from Master Ennis for you."
Ferin made a smile after hearing that. "Is that so? I commend you for calling him Master, but you're still too careless in your attention to details."
"Excuse me? I don't understand what you mean?"
"I would never call Master by his full name. In fact, that is the password for communication between messengers and me. Master Ennis always informs them to refute me when I call him by his full name. In other words, you're an impostor." He said, proudly, after discovering the fake messenger.
At the same time, Ed took out the axe from his back. "If you surrender now and tell us everything we ask, you will save yourself a lot of pain."
The situation changed. The man probably didn't expect to be discovered so soon. He would yield or refuse, depending on how loyal he was to the ones that sent him here. In an unexpected sequence of events, Ferin heard laughter. It was Thanatos.
"He…hehe… Thank you. I'm not a fan of playing the weak and humble messenger role." His demeanor changed and a wicked smile formed on his face. "I can start cleaning the place right now."
He must be crazy, or was he secretly a fighter? That was what Ferin thought. It was useless anyway, even if he could fight, Ed was the second strongest in the group, and he had no doubt he could handle-
Sweat began to fall on Ed's face. He swallowed saliva and, with a trembling voice, spoke. "Ferin, run. I'm going to try to buy as much time as I can."
"W-What?" It took him a moment later, but he finally noticed it. Thanatos' killing intent spread in the room like a dark fog. Ferin wasn't a warrior, and yet, for the first time in his life, he felt killing intent so apparent like a cloud.
He ran toward the second floor. He felt time slowing down. The sounds of Ed's attack with his axe drowned out the screams from the butler and the maid. He ran to the office with a single thought in his mind. The documents, I must take them with me, for Master Ennis…
He didn't hear the man following him. It didn't matter. He needed to grab the documents and run far away from here. The house had been compromised. Someone had discovered his master's haven.
His fingers searched through the office, taking all the important documents. It took him less than a minute to put them all in a binder, but...
"Are you done?" Thanatos stood at the door with a calm expression on his face.
"How? How did you defeat Ed so fast?" He was dumbfounded by the speed with which he had caught him. Not only that, but he didn't have a single wound on his body. His clothes were in perfect shape except for the blood on them.
"Ed? I was done with him when you were still running up the stairs. I took my time because I killed everyone else, leaving you for last."
"Impossible! How could you have killed everyone in such a short time-"
"Six butlers and five maids, and Ed. That's everyone, right?"
"…"
He was correct. Thanatos disposed of everyone else while Ferin gathered the documents in a futile attempt to escape.
"Who sent you? Was it the army of the king or are you a spy from an order of Los?... Don't tell me... Are you a member of the Black Order?"
"The Black Order... mmm, I don't know too much about them yet, but no, I don't belong to any of them."
"You can kill me, but Master Ennis would never fall to the likes of you. He was born special. He will rise to the top of the Kingdom and dispose of the foolish king. You are nothing to him-
"Ennis is death. I killed him."
THUD... The binder fell to the floor. Ferin's face was contorted by his rage. Several veins on his forehead were about to burst.
"SHUT UP! YOU COULD NEVER EVEN TOUCH HIM! BECAUSE AT HIS SIDE IS ALWAYS-"
"Alice is dead too, and the half troll. I killed him too, with my own hands." Thanatos kept a smile while saying all this.
That was the tipping point. How could he say all of this in front of Ennis's most devoted servant? Ferin jumped at Thanatos, trying to strangle him.
"DIE! DIE! DDDIIIIIEEEE!"
STAB... With a finger, Thanatos stabbed the left eye of Ferin all the way to the brain.
"You are so noisy. I just came to claim my new house. Go to your master's side in hell."
"We finished moving the bodies into the carriage. How is the decorating going?" Castess asked Thanatos as he came into the office.
"Great, I just need to hang a few more paintings and everything will be ready."
"This house would look pretty good if it weren't for all the blood on the walls and the floor. Wasn't the plan that you were going to gather them all together in a room and kill them without making a mess everywhere?"
"Yeah, he saw right through me. Nothing I can't do. Sorry, but I think my plan of just killing them fast was better in the end."
"What do you mean with 'my plan'? You're the one who came up with the idea of killing them in a room together!"
Thanatos ignored the annoyed Castess and continued hanging paintings.
"By the way, the guy mentioned something about me being a member of the Black Order. What does that mean exactly?"
"You just ignore me until you need my help... sigh... As I told you on the way here, the Nation of Los is ruled by the faith of Los. They are the biggest religious group on the continent. They control the nobility, the army, and the church. To handle all those factions, they created the six orders."
"No matter if you are a soldier or a priest, you must answer to the leader of the Orders. The White and Blue are priests. Red, Yellow and Purple are from the military branch. And the Black Order works directly under the leader of the six orders. They are like a group of super powerful agents. They work carrying out secret missions, but they said one of their members alone could destroy half a country. Of course, those are only rumors."
"Interesting. You are useful when you stop complaining about every little detail, Castess."
"You're the one who gives me reasons to complain!"
After settling into their new home, they continued the journey to the Capital of Los.