"Are you out words? I have been expecting a reply from you."
"..."
Edward was as quiet as he could be, he was lost in thoughts, and his eyes looked like he was daydreaming.
"Guess, I have gotten my answers, you do not have what you were called to have years ago. I expected a lot more from you."
Saying this Rage got up from his seat, picked up the tray of biscuits and tea, and started walking towards the door.
"Stop."
The voice was not weak but it felt like the word had no strength or power to it Rage didn't stop at the voice.
" The weak will fall to the ground and the strong will reign, supreme so is the nature of war."
Rage did not look back, he announced his statement without taking a glimpse back.
" Does importing chlorine or mustard gas, make you strong?"
"..."
Rage stopped in his tracks for the first time, and a stem of shiver went through his body.
" It seems you were underestimating me, Kid. Proking me and walking away without any care..."
Edward was now talking with a calm demeanour, his legs crossed and hands spread across the sofa.
"What are you talking about?!"
Rage turned back at Edward, looking him directly in the eyes.
"Ohh. Doesn't Uncle Zoan, tell his puppies about his side activities? Saxony has imported Mustard gas and chlorine from all around the world."
"What?! I don't believe you. Master would never do such a thing."
" I don't make false claims I have no ground defending but I'll gladly die at this hill."
"Even if we have, How do you know if Saxony has imported any of it?" Rage was in denial about the use of chemical weapons in the war, it was strictly prohibited for all nations around the world.
" Well, as you can tell, I am the king of seas... Things like the slightest increase in chlorine and mustard gas demands are news to my ears. I have information, the strongest weapon of them all."
" Still this has no relation to us, it can be any country secretly importing it. The Austro -Hungarian empire is getting all cocky with the rest of Europe, it could have been them."
"If denial suits you better you can go live with it, I've seen the truth with my eyes."
Edward had a wide smirk on his face, displaying full confidence in his words. The conversation was turned on Rage's face.
"..."
Edward came to know this fact during the attack on the first port. In the room of the dead captain's room, there was a small piece of paper left. The signature of a well-known merchant showed on it.
" I had my suspicions earlier but your reaction confirms it, there is someone in Saxony who is collecting that gas and besides it looks like you are a loyal dog to assassins."
" Loyal dogs are worth more than a bunch of yes men and besides it seems you are worth talking to."
Rage walked back in his seat and kept the tray back on the table. Edward leaned forward towards the tray.
" Are you going to eat that? You will die."
Rage warned Edward but he did not care, picked up a biscuit and took a small bite out of it.
" I little bit won't hurt anybody, besides I need to get used to this my body isn't in peak shape, right now."
Edward smiled as if telling Rage, you still don't have a chance against me.
"Where does all this confidence come from, I fact it is the question I wanted to get an answer about,
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝."
Rage changed the topic of conversation and asked the question in his heart.
"..."
Edward thought to himself just for a second and then began speaking.
" I don't know anything about that, at that, my mind was in a rush. A rush of power and a feeling to free myself. It all didn't happen in a moment it took a lot of time to build up."
"..."
" But I'll tell you one thing..."
"...At the moment, I betrayed the assassins. I walked up to the old man and told him to his face," You are nothing without me." It all felt so right."
The smile on Edward's face was no longer happiness,
" Madness..."
"I didn't care anything about at all. I said and it felt so right. The feeling of pride and superiority, I never felt the same until..."
" Until Today, right?"
Edward gave an affirmative nod to Rage's words.
" Talking to me makes you feel powerful but I am just another rookie, monsters exist in between the assassin's orders, and they can crush you in a minute."
"hahaha..."
Edward began laughing at Rage's words as if he cracked a big joke.
" See, kid. In the assassin's world, there were always people stronger than me, clever than me, wiser than me but none of them ever lived long enough."
" In that graveyard of people, I have carried the most stones. I won't die, I will live to see the end, the end of the assassin and this war."
" ... Do you think you're luck will win you a whole war? If living on Miracles is how you work then we just have to your luck to run out."
"You don't understand do you, Rage?"
"?!"
" You don't understand why I feel superior is not because I am trusting my luck. It is because I just realised I am not a common man."
" I am the king of seas, I have sunk more ships than you have ever imagined and killed people you dream to. I am not a normal man, so why I am thinking like that? I was surely so naive."
Edward laughed as he finished his sentence, he was stupid not releasing something so soon.
" I thank you, Rage. You helped me out a lot. Tell me who do you wanna kill, just the name? I'll get him down."
In the feeling of power and pride, Edward made an offer to Rage, an very intersting one.
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