Once returned to her private chambers, Martha jumped on her bed and rolled around like a giddy kid she was. Her feeling was light and for the first time in her life, she felt at ease without torturing her mind in her firsthand goal; revenge. She hugged a pillow and buried her reddened face, enough that would only reveal her blushing ears.
"Ahh… I'm crazy, oh, I must be! He's an enemy! He is!"
She rolled; she pauses…
"And yet… how can he make one's heart beat this fast…"
This woman in her early twenties is conflicted. The mere thought of their encounter is enough to make her madly—confused? As far as she's concerned.
She was by far the coldest in the group in meetings, and heartless she was when giving orders—even disregarding the ethics once she gave her demand to sacrifice a girl for their principal goal.
And yet, here she was—acting like a teen-age girl.
Then in the midst of her giggling and blushing, a memory of her past knocked on her mind; the memory of her sweet, caring family. This memory is her treasure. And at the same time, the catalyst for her vengeance—her expression gradually changed from innocent to that of the ruthless leader she was.
"No. I cannot be swayed. For the sake of my revenge. Ruth, mother, father… just two more days…"
As she muttered, she closed her eyes—long eyelashes draped, she drifted of to her land of dreams.
***
Day of uneventful time had passed and this is the "two days" we were talking about. We were all gathered in the biggest room that Reina had procured as her lodging, together with miss Kyouka. This room beats our inn in any angle and factors. In other words, 'twas nice and comfy. Also, remind you—those two whole days were like purgatory for me. Not hell, not heaven. A practical trial court on restrain and tenacity of mind. Miss Loraine would not mind, but I do!
Our little shared room has a bath—for Pete's sake why it had?! I don't know. And whenever she would take one, she'd side-glance at me then tease with "hey, wanna go together?" Or "you may take a peek if you ever felt lonely." And hell, I tell you—I was tempted. Not that I actually did.
Worse for worse, is her defenselessness. She would go out of the bath wrapped only in a towel. Her curves are practically exposed that my eyes would dart at any direction not knowing where to look. Also, I might say this just for the thesis, her body lines and curves are perfect.
What, calling me a pervert? Go ahead. I'm a growing boy with healthy body and mind!
Last and the worse, whenever I tell her, "Hey, I'll sleep at the couch." She would just say, "Rejected. The bed is large enough two accommodate two." I never thought that Miss Loraine would be such a tease. She smells real incredible, too.
"What happened to you, Gleren?"
Miss Edelweiss asked, her face void of or if she'd any emotions.
"Nah. Just a little sleep deprived."
I haven't sleeping well for two nights now… and the culprit? That girl over there with a hell of a mischievous grin. She's enjoying this.
"I see. don't overwork yourself. Tonight is the first full moon of the season."
Miss Edelweiss acted as the leader of the reconnaissance, while Reina and Miss Kyouka acted as the communication bridge for us and the Headquarters. The others are ordered standby. I'm just a participant in this mission, thus, by no means I have to play important part.
Miss Edelweiss group returned having charted the whole county—wow—and returned with their report of having pinpointed the magic circuit which would promptly devoid anyone of magic. In other words, they already saw which rightful item to destroy in order for us to act without having our magic restrained. A major point if I say so myself.
The downside is that we still had no idea where the main ritual would be held. At the Basilica? Not one of us can tell. And guessing can only lead to assumption—assumption leads to confusion. We must avoid that.
"Tonight is the night in which the ritual would likely take place. And yet any information about their ceremonial sight is unknown to us. Even with two days long of investigation, nothing came out of our hands."
The look on the participants faces of the meeting is serious as miss Kyouka said so. She continued with the plan and the course of our action from here.
I stood up from my seat feeling something near the door.
"What's up?"
My partner, Loraine asked with a puzzled look.
"Nah, I just have to look outside for a bit.'
I went out. Leaving the meeting (again) to miss Loraine.
***
A man loitered at the entrance of the meeting place where Gleren and others are. He was dressed in a white robe, covering whole of his body, obscuring his face. This man has an obvious business to the once inside. The way he goes on and fro just make him even more suspicious. He stopped to look up at the building, but to his surprise a person had called up to him from behind.
"So, what do you need?"
He flinched and hastily turned his way to where the voice was. But as he did, no one is in his line of vision, Gleren was once again behind him.
"State your purpose. Hurry up because I've got short sleep. I might have a short temper as well today."
Cold sweat pours down on the face of the man in robe. He did not even know a person was already pinning a tab on him. His back was soaked with sweat as he trembled. He spoke,
"I'm here to deliver a letter. And rejoice, this letter is what you exactly you wanted."
"How do you know who we are and what we want. Based on your answer, I might limit myself to just breaking two bones of your body."
"I—I'm just a messenger." He trembled. "I was just ordered to bring this letter to you lot."
Suddenly, a cold wind brushed the man's clothes, Gleren had gone near him in just a mere second.
"I can make sure you see your body from afar without you even using a mirror. Wanna play games with me?"
The tip, of Gleren's fingers touched the back of his head. He was so sure he saw his head flew for a second there. He's body lost all of its strength and his legs went numb from fear. He can't even hope to use his ability. He was only barely holding it so he could stand. But with all this pressure, he wanted to see the man who makes him lost all his nerve. He moved a little.
"Try to turn around and that would be the last movement you make."
He stopped. Nodding as if asked.
"Hand me that."
With hand still trembling, the man in the robe slip it under his arms, carefully not to turn around.
"Is this all of it?"
"Y-yes… I was asked to deliver just that."
Gleren inspected the letter for safety—upon doing so, he's eyes widened—taken by surprise. "This is…" Gleren kept his composure, he had things to ask.
"What are you trying to achieve?"
He inquired, tone cold as ice.
"I told you, I am merely a messenger."
"Let's leave it at that then. Leave. Dare to see my face and I'll make sure that it would be the last image you'll ever see."
The man in robe slowly walked away—carefully not to turn. But before he could completely disappear, Gleren called to him,
"Hey, Judas."
He flinched. And with that, Gleren's inner thought was proven true. "So even with in an organization like that, a bible-based turn of event is also prominent, eh?" he whispered. That man was surely no mere messenger. He was one of the twelve apostles. Judas Iscariot, if referred to its origin.
"You may go. I have no interest in you. None for now."
With that, the man scrambled away, disappearing in sight.
"Sigh… what a troublesome bunch. But well… will this be an asset or a searing trap."
Gleren murmured as he stared at the letter. There, written the location of the ritual.
***
I retuned inside the meeting room. As soon as I did, all eyes pinned me with glare. What? did I do something irresponsible again? All I did was leave, while the meeting is on-going…
"Come on… don't look at me like that."
I smiled at them, trying to play it off. Making them all sigh with exasperation.
"Where were you?"
My partner, miss Loraine asked. Calm she may be outwardly, but her aura is telling me otherwise.
"W-well… you see. This and that."
"Don't give me that!"
"Y-yes ma'am."
I stuttered. Not that I'm scared of her or anything the like, okay?
I slipped the letter I've received from Judas earlier and flexed it to all of them. It made them the puzzling look they have.
"I met one of the enemies just a moment ago."
I said nonchalantly—making them lost even further.
"This letter is from the guy. Apparently, he's one of the twelve apostles."
The room paused all the chatters. But then, a moment elapsed all of them yelled in chorus; "What?!"
Loud, I tell you. Do they really have to go that far and shout as if it was the most shocking news they'd received today?
"T-then…what happened to that person?"
I shrugged dismissively'
"I let him go."
As if they couldn't believe anything that I said, their mouth was left gapping. Edelweiss opened her mouth trying to speak, but not being able to find the right word, she closed her mouth again.
"You idiot!"
One of them finally talked recovering from the surprise. Reina glared at me still lost in disbelief.
"What are you thinking?! We could have more detailed information if you captured him! Why did you let him go?"
Oh, well. What she said is try, but you know what?
"That would be totally anticlimactic."
I said coolly.
"And besides, do you really want me to take on that guy? Out here? Just so you know, alone he might be, he was an ability user and ranked high at the enemies cluster."
They all went silent, even Reina understood what I was trying to infer. If I did battle the guy, destruction would swallow this city. That is for sure. I may not look like it, but I hated involving the innocent just so I could gain some petty advantages. I'm pretty sure I could go on without any of that.
"Don't make that face. Here."
I tossed the letter to miss Kyouka. She swoops it in the air and started to scan it with her beautiful eyes—as fast as she could. The way she read it made her look like a teacher trying to make sure her students never cheated—nevertheless, she looked so scenic.
"This is…"
Sweat beaded on her face, tickling down from her forehead. She must have realized it by now.
"It seemed even in the enemies ranks, treachery is of daily occurrence."
I said mockingly rubbing the salt of irony. They call themselves holy? Hah! Jokes!
"The one who gave that to me was the one called 'Judas of the twelve apostles.' They've even set to follow the original scriptures. Coincidence or not, they're not making sense."
"How are we going to make sure that this is a fact—a legit information."
"We don't have any means, I'm afraid. But do we have any other options, though? The supposed ritual is tonight—saving Maria and stopping the ritual is what we're ordered. And besides,"
She flinched as she turned to gaze at me, the corners of my mouth raise into a smile;
"Think I'd let him scoot free? I'd got my shadow attached on his now. Hid may he be, he will be within my reach."
"What… are you planning to do?"
She grimaced. Aww, come on! Don't look at me like that. I don't plan to do anything nasty—or, will I?
The meeting furthered; bothered faces on my comrades imminent.