"Lily, who is she?"
It made Khalid freeze on the spot when he heard his sudden question.
"I am indebted to his father."
He replied bluntly. Looking into each other's eyes, suspecting every word that came out of his mouth.
"She was my responsibility."
'Because I am responsible for the death of her father.'
He sighed.
'Well, I could not possibly say that.'
Knowing Akil's attitude, he was the type of person who would dive deeper just to get the answer he wanted, but it wouldn't work on Khalid.
"Would you lend me a hand, then?"
He rapidly changed the topic before he could even open his mouth for another round of upcoming questions.
It made Akil immediately give up on getting more information about Lily because, after seeing Khalid's action, he already knew that even if he interrogated him continuously like a broken disc, he would just find nothing. Knowing that even Khalid himself did not know the answer.
"I will, and I will still do it even without your permission."
He replied proudly without changing the bland expression written on his face, though what Khalid could see was a bright light of sunshine blinding his sight.
Seeing it made Khalid form a galad smile on his lips that eventually turned into a burst of harmonious laughter as they played a game of tag in the woods, snapping every branch of the trees they stepped on while wearing the simple blue-colored noble dress of a child.
'Well, will this plan work? '
He began questioning himself as they were running for almost an hour.
Akil must also think the same but did not dare to ask a question, even though it almost looked like they were running in a circle.
'I don't care even if this one goes in vain, because I bet Hyung already has an alphabetical backup plan on his mind.'
'I'm not so sure, though! '
Both of them immediately ran like bolts of lightning when they heard cautious yet loud footsteps coming in their direction.
'Someone's coming!-
*Ack! *
'Hyung!'
They become as stiff as statues when a bulky man with muscles covering his body blocks their way, making Khalid bump into his stomach which seems to be made out of stone, leading him to hide behind Akil, acting like a trembling kid who just saw a ghost.
"Bro-brother!"
He called as he tightly gripped Akil's arms.
He was in such a state of muddledness that even the tone of his voice could tell.
"Who-who!...are….you..?"
His tone switches pitch whenever he states every single word from his mouth.
'He's bad at this.'
*Sighed*
'But it doesn't matter.'
Akil shuddered when he felt the intense aura of Khalid; even his body began to sweat apprehensively, leaving the bandits oblivious.
'Hyung is scaring me!'
Earlier that night...
"Milord, why do you need to dress up like a kid? You can just kill them right off the bat!"
Dal grunted as he braided Khalid's hair with a pair of ribbons.
Their attention was locked on Khalid as they waited for his reply, wearing the same curious face as Dal.
"Wanna know why?"
He asked back, as they seemed eager to know the answer.
He paused before continuing to speak.
"Because kids are most likely to fit inside the jewelry box."
Even though Dal could not understand a thing, he still tried to pretend that he was not clueless, even on these things, trying to avoid other mockeries he would receive from Erwin, who was watching him from behind.
"Does that mean..."
"Kids are the most valuable things they sell on the black market."
"Do you even understand?"
Erwin affirmed, leaving a wrinkle on Dal's forehead.
"Of course! Do you think of me as an idiot?!"
He shouted out of the blue making Erwin glare at him like he was about to eat him alive, which made Dal quickly zip his mouth.
Back to the present...
"Kekeke, look what we have here!"
The bandit squeals like a hyena while both of them wear poker faces.
'I feel bad for this idiot.'
Akil sympathizes even after they are sitting inside the carriage in silence with a rather calm look on their faces that makes the bandits wonder.
'They were surprisingly calm in this situation; something feels off with these brats.'
He thought as he began suspecting the two.
'We must act before we get even more suspicious.'
Khalid then held his hands as he signaled him to act as they planned.
"Ah, mister, were you taking us to a big candy store?!"
Khalid's voice calmly toned down; it sounded like a naive little girl who makes a fool out of the bandit.
'Ah, they were just a bunch of stupid kids.'
The bandit acts like Khalid had thought that he cannot even take his eyes off of him, as he is entertained by watching him act either dumb or clueless.
"Hehehe, we were almost there, kiddo."
Every time he opens his mouth to speak, he always makes the most annoying and disgusting look in his eyes that makes them want to strangle him until he dies in their minds while watching him laugh with a straight face.
Riding a carriage took them three days before they arrived at the petrifying run-down tavern that looked old and abandoned; it was covered in cobwebs and dust, and even the wall itself was covered in mold and poisonous ivy.
'So, this is where one of the slave traders is located.'
He frowned.
'Hang in there, Lily.'
As they began to slowly step inside, shivering like a drenched cat, Akil began to act according to plan.
"Mister! You said that you would treat us with candy! Where is it?! I didn't see anything!"
Akil had shouted as if he were throwing tantrums.
'I'm glad Akil could play along.'
He was relieved to see him act like a professional.
But then, seeing the bandit suddenly become silent made them feel cautious, and the moment he raised his hand on him, Akil's head almost spun like a wheel with the way he slapped him with compelling impact.
*SLAP!*
It startled the two, but it also made Khalid have a gloomy expression on his face.
"Shut up, kid!"
He screamed as he looked at them with those disgusting eyes.
It was then that he began bawling like a child to get the bandits's attention.
"Uwah! Brother, are you okay? This man is so scary!"
Akil was silent, but he was not surprised by a sudden slap that would just feel like a bite from an ant.
"Hey! Didn't I tell you to shut that fucking mouth of yours?!
As he pretended to bawl his eyes out, he quickly took it as an opportunity to use all of his senses to track the trace of Lily, but even though he had tried repeating the same thing twice, Khalid had found nothing.
'Not here; there's no one here! '
'Nothing's in here!'
Akil had also thought as he watched Khalid change his behavior.
When the other minute he was just acting like a dumb, gullible kid, seconds later Akil found himself in front of a maniac that was about to rip off the head of the man shouting in front.
"Ah, what's the point if I can't find Lily here?"
He mumbles, without even the bandit's knowing.
"That's right, be a good kid and-
Before he could even finish his word, Khalid had become a ticking bomb and swiftly slashed his throat open, which made Akil face in distress.
'Hyung! This wasn't in the plan; just what are you thinking?'
Akil was confused; they had already talked about the plan, but suddenly slashing off the bandit's body into chunks left him shocked, especially when Khalid looked at him with lifeless eyes.
"What?! You're looking at me as if I've done something wrong?"
His voice was calm and scary at the same time.
"You think I cannot kill someone now?"
He frowned as he thought of already torturing him in a repeated cycle.
"What's the plan now?"
He asks, watching him turn into a madman.
"We'll kill them off the bat, as we chase them one by one."
He affirmed that Akil kept his distance from the guy.
'I don't think that's a good idea.'
Akil just stood there quietly as he watched how Khalid dismantled the bandits, torturing them slowly by getting rid of the flesh on their bones.
Meanwhile, in a cramped, pungent, rotten cell, a child could be seen fighting for her life; her whole body was trembling. They won't even give her proper food to eat. Instead, they would give her a bowl of alive earthworms crawling from her bowl, leaving a terrified expression on her face as she kept mumbling the same words every day.
"B-Brother..."
She called as she trembled, hugging herself on the ground inside the cell that even a ray of light could never enter.