Chapter 102: Unspecial orphans
"Captain, your voice..." the first silver-armored guard whispered nervously to the black-armored Captain.
"My voice?! Oh... shit... cough," the Captain coughed into a fist. When she spoke again, her voice had completely returned to being more manly. "Now... where was I.....?" she continued calmly.
’From that voice, the Captain is definitely a woman. Why is she even bothering to hide it?’ Edward thought from the dirt, sweating fast as he stared up at the black-armored leader.
"Sigh, this is such a pain. How did my life even get to this point? I was just supposed to be a simple, newly promoted Head Guard of the estate," Trevor muttered to himself as he walked over to the crashed carriage.
"Now the workload is even worse than what I did when I was a normal guard! I’m out here doing work in the middle of the night. I should be sleeping right now, or at least having a cold drink!"
’I really shouldn’t have accepted Vincent’s offer that day. Now I’m working under a completely crazy woman who acts more like a man than a lady,’ Trevor sighed, rummaging through the carriage bags without even bothering to read the documents.
’Vincent said this was a promotion, but damn, this feels like absolute hell... especially working under her.’ Trevor glanced back at the black-armored Captain, who was currently talking non-stop at Alarick.
’At first, when I showed resistance to her crazy training, she just kicked my ass even though I’m a third stage and she is a Fourth stage. Now, I’m saying "Captain" to her like it’s second nature.’
’What’s even worse is that after I’m done doing missions and training with her, I have to go right back to the estate and pretend to be normal so I don’t raise any suspicions! But thank God for Lady Caroline. She always helped me out at the estate... even though I didn’t tell her anything, it feels like she already knew about my situation to this squad from the very start,’ Trevor sighed, hauling a heavy bag out of the wreckage.
"Why can’t Captain Kara be a bit more gentle, exactly like Lady Caroline?" he murmured quietly to himself as he walked back toward the group.
"Captain! I got everything. I even found a communication crystal and a massive bag full of pure mana stones too," Trevor announced, lifting the heavy leather bag.
"Wow... Mana stones. Even in a wealthy house like ours, those things are incredibly rare to find, not just money can buy these. It just goes to show the immense power of an old family like the Zennin House. They have bottomless pockets and deep connections," Captain Kara said, her voice muffled behind her helmet.
"I guess since you are essentially a cripple who can’t use magic anymore, you have been using these mana stones as a source of energy so that you could operate the communication crystal. Man, the Zennins really went all out to fund your little plans."
"You keep saying the ’Zennins’ like you actually know everything. Don’t make baseless rumors," Alarick sneered from the dirt, clutching his bruised stomach.
"But it’s not a baseless rumor, though," Kara said, crossing her arms. "Ever since big sis Caroline’s husband died, I have been looking into you and everyone in the family, but you were the most suspicious one. I looked into your ties with the Eden Guild, your finances, everything. I even went to the point of secretly investigating every single prominent member of the Merchant Union, I thought they were in it too! I even know all about your sister’s special, situation with Count David!"
’They even know all of that?!’ Alarick panicked internally, his eyes going wide. ’Wait... before that... did she just say big sis Caroline’
"Big sis Caroline...?" Alarick murmured aloud. Then, a look of realization washed over his face. "I see! Now I finally understand exactly who you are! You are the orphans the family brought in and raised to work as guards for the estate! Just like Vincent and Caroline!"
"The only difference is that Vincent was so talented with a sword that he was elevated to be the Chief Head Guard of the House, while Caroline got lucky and got married to a noble." Alarick said an arrogant smile returning to his face. "As for the rest of the not so special orphans that were left out...its you guys I’m I right."
"Not special... huh?" Kara’s voice dropped. "You have some nerve saying that to us. Especially considering your pathetic life is practically resting in my hands."
"You wouldn’t dare kill me," Alarick scoffed confidently. "I’m sure you dogs where ordered to bring me back alive. You are Vincent’s loyal dogs, after all."
Trevor flinched. ’He really shouldn’t have said that... calling them dogs. I’m not that offended since I just joined this squad recently, but these guys definitely don’t think the same way I do.’
"Oooh... you sure do think of yourself so highly, huh?" Kara chuckled darkly, though there was zero humor in her voice. "I was actually deeply touched when I first learned of your tragic backstory, Alarick. A big brother sacrificing everything so his little sister could have a wonderful life."
’Yep... she is absolutely furious right now. I just hope she doesn’t go entirely overboard,’ Trevor thought nervously, watching Kara slowly reach for her waist.
"But you know, you just made one incredible mistake, Alarick," Kara said, slowly drawing her black steel sword.
"Oh? And what is that?" Alarick sneered, still looking smug.
"It’s just that..."
SWISHH!
"You should have never called me a dog," Kara stated coldly.
Alarick’s smug, severed head hit the dirt with a wet thud. His headless body slumped forward, blood pooling rapidly across the dark road.
"SIR ALARICK!!" Edward screamed in absolute terror, scrambling backward in the dirt. "You... you crazy bitch! What did you just do?!"
"What did I do? Well, I just decided to kill you guys, since you lack proper manners." Kara said cheerfully.
SWISHH!
Before Edward could even raise his sword to defend himself, Kara blurred forward and cleanly severed his head as well. His body collapsed next to Alarick’s in seconds.
"Captain! What the hell do we do now?!" Trevor panicked. "You just killed our primary targets! And to make matters worse I showed my face to them in the process! What if a Mage comes out here and uses retracing magic to scan the area?! My face will be shown!" Trevor sighed, rubbing his temples in deep stress.
"Relax, newbie. We can just chop them up and hide their bodies somewhere else in the woods, incredibly far apart from each other. Noone would find them that way, or we can throw to a beast" she said casually.
She then reached up, unclasped her heavy black helmet, and pulled it off, revealing a beautiful, sharp-featured woman with short, messy purple hair and bright smile.
’She is not even remotely fazed by what she just did! And she is talking about it like she has massive amounts of experience in getting rid of bodies!’ Trevor thought, staring at his Captain in disbelief.
"But what about Vincent?! What the hell are you going to tell him when we return empty-handed?!" Trevor asked desperately.
"I’ll just tell him that Alarick was resisting, so he accidentally killed himself by falling on my sword," Kara said calmly.
"That’s it? That’s your master plan?" Trevor asked, dumbfounded.
"Yep," she smiled.
"Like hell he would ever believe that.." Trevor said panicking.
"Sigh... Vinny is a lot easy going than you think. I don’t know why most people are scared of him."
’Vinny?!.. I guess they are that close.’ Trevor thought
"Anyways, clean this mess up so we can move" she said pointing at the dead bodies.
’Sigh... I should have never accepted that promotion’