IMPERIUM INSECTUM

I took her to the main office. We both took a seat. As soon as I sat down, the briefcase flicked open.

“I'll get straight into it. When we first accepted your request, we didn’t think much of it. However, when we started digging, we discovered quite the rabbit hole”

She flicked up a plain piece of paper. Blue mana channelled from her hand into the paper. As it did, the paper changed, filling in with colours and shapes that formed into an image.

“That’s….”

“You know this girl, don’t you?”

I let off a slight nod. The image was of the stupid pure spirit I met back at the tailor's shop. Don’t tell me this involves her.

“How is she involved?”

“Directly. Not really. But her father was very much so. Ceceila Dianthus is the daughter of Ahab Dianthus. His day job consists of being a business ambassador for the city of spirits. Essentially, he's paid a lot of money to sit and drink with rich people…”

She put that sheet down and pulled up another sheet of paper, doing the same as before, and showed me a picture of a black-haired man in a lavish suit.

“Some time ago. He or, let's say, one of his servants, was spotted having talks with assassins in the underground?”

“The underground? I've heard of that place before. A friend of mine is from that place.” Sally mentioned it a few times. She would never speak much about it, not out of not wanting to. But she couldn’t; she never said why.

“You have a friend from there, well, I'll let her fill in the details, but essentially it's a home for the undesirable and less than honourable. The perfect place to find people willing to assassinate you”

“I see”

“Now here is when the rabbit hole starts. To make the following make sense, you need to understand how things work. I'll give a simplified summary. But essentially, no random Tom, dick or Harry can just go down and ask for a hit. You first need to build a reputation. This is done by doing odd jobs for the right people or having someone who is already well known vouch for you to one of the many families that govern that place. “

“Families?”

“Gangs. If I had to rephrase the term.”

“I see, so what is odd about this?”

“The Pure spirit who ordered the initial hit against you is a nobody. Everyone we were able to ask had no clue who they were, let alone had them do jobs for them, so that begs the question?”

“How did they manage to hire assassins?” I replied.

“Yes, and not just any assassins, a request for some of the most notorious individuals I've encountered. The leader king was a former winner of the tournament; in fact, most of them were winners of past tournaments.”

She reached into her briefcase and brought out more and more sheets of paper. “At this stage, even my own curiosity was piqued, so I investigated a bit deeper. My original thought was that the Dianthus family had some dirt on someone, and that was how they managed to get the favour. But no matter how deep I dug, nothing came up. The dianthus family isn't anything special; there is no way they could influence anyone who matters down there. So, with that trail dead, I pulled back. And looked closer at the family's well, to be more accurate, their finances. And found this.”

She pulled out a large binder filled with dozens of documents.

“If you look here before your assassination. The family received several large Payments from the Royal Tea certification and creditification company.”

“And what does this have to do with my assassination?”

“I'm getting there. We've dealt with this firm before; they are really a public front for the ministry, also known as the pure spirit Royal family secret police.”

My heart stopped. The royal family…. Why would they…..

“Wait, how do you know that money was spent on me!. It could just be a donation or a-“

“It isn't- this company is known in our circles as the shady hand of the pure spirits. We don’t know much because they are just that secretive. But one thing we do know is that they are linked to the secret police of the pure spirit royal family.”

“Fuck.” Why are they after me? Is it because I attacked that girl? Surely not. Why would they waste time on something like that? There has to be more.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive; the only thing we aren't sure about is who went and spoke to the family, but we are sure it’s the ministry behind it. One, because this is how they compensate us when we do favours for them, and two, only the ministry is feared enough to push through a job like this. It's highly unlikely to be anyone else.”

“Damn. It!” This shit keeps getting worse.

“Yes, and the news gets worse, as unfortunately, here is where the investigation stops.”

“What?! But there is still so much I want to know!”

“I know, but recent events have forced our hands. 4 days ago, we received a sternly worded letter telling us to stop. We, of course, kept investigating. 2 days later, a detonation of explosives went off near the overseer's office. No one died, but I think the message is clear.” An annoyed expression went across her face.

“To think they managed to go through our security like that. The lack of respect. Curse those pure spirits…” She shook her head before looking back at me.

“damn it. Can you at least answer a question for me?”

“Depends on the question”

“Why does everyone down there bow to those ass holes at the ministry? I would just say no.”

She chuckled, “It's not that simple. You must remember that at the core of it all, we are all just criminals and lowlifes. Whilst they are a government agency with the backing of a powerful nation. Even if we wanted to say no, it wouldn’t end well. But trust me, you are not the only one who has a bone to pick with them”

“I see”

“Yes, unfortunately, that is all I have. We are sorry we can't be more of a help.”

“No, you’ve done a lot. It's just I really don’t know where to go from here….”

“Yes, where you go from here is tricky, but just before coming here, I heard that Ahab and his family are having a party tomorrow. Most of the family will be at the mansion. Do with that information what you wish.”

I gave her a smile, “I see, thank you for that information”

She chuckled, “More information like that, and any other information you would like to know is in the data files provided. Everything from their usual whereabouts, and any relevant and irrelevant information you could want”

“Thank you,” I said as we stood up and shook hands.

“One more thing,” she said, reaching into one of her pockets and handing me a business card.

“Just keep in mind that when a large mess happens, it’s a lot easier to clean when you hire the right people. Pour some mana into it and leave it at the scene. We’ll, sort the rest“

I gave her a smile and nodded. ” Thank you”, I escorted her to the front of the building, where we said one last goodbye before she finally left the building. A few moments passed before I looked up towards the ceiling.

<Is she gone?> divas fly came through an open window and flew down towards me. <She’s gotten in her carriage and is on her way now>

<Good. You can all stop hiding now! On cue, all of them crawled out of the woodwork.

<Big sis. What will you do?>

I let out a big sigh <We need more information. The royal family is now after me, and I need to know why. Luckily, tell the combat units to meet me in the training room. We have much to discuss and plan.

Tomorrow evening, at the Dianthus household…

Ahab POV:

“Hahahahhah, I tell you, Ahab. This is the best party you’ve thrown yet.”

“Is it?” I said as I stared across the mansion grounds.

“What's got you in a twist, brother hahahaha *HIC*” He slapped his arm around my shoulder. “Maybe you need more wine eh ahahahahaha ha Hic”

“I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind.”

“You still thinking about that secret police bull shit? It's sorted. So what if the assassins tried and failed to kill her? The stupid mushy is probably scared out of her mind now. You don't need to worry.”

Suddenly, a glass of wine wound up in my hands.

“It's not that simple….”

“Yes, it is! Even if she is still alive, what is she gonna do? Attack us? She's just one mushy. A weak one at that. So stop worrying and drink”

I swirled the glass of wine in my hands. The dark red liquid swirled into a vortex, calling me in. It has been a while since the attack; if she wanted to attack me, she would've done it by now. Yeah, He’s right, the chances of her still being alive are slim to none. I shouldn’t be worried. The glass met my lips, and the taste of 90-year-old grapes hit my tongue. Delicious.

“See there ya go. Drink up”

“hahaha. I swear you'll be the death of me one day.” I finished off the glass of wine and turned around to return to the party. I took a few steps towards the door when I turned around to see my brother staring into the distance.

“Is everything okay?”

He snapped towards me and laughed, “Hahhaha, it must be the wine. Making my eyes see things in the dark, let's go. You're not drinking enough hahaha Hic”

He quickly stumbled to my side and pushed me through the door. Before I knew it, wine and music filled my person, and I danced wildly on the dance floor as the alcohol flowed into my body. And the weight of everything flowed off my body. It was bliss.

“There you go “, hic”, now you're having fun. You're still a bad dancer”, my brother yelled through the music.

“Last time “, Hic” I checked you had to leave feet.” I joked as I threw my waistcoat. To the side

“OH YEAH! BRING-“

“AGHHHHHHAAAAAAA!” My head snapped towards the shrill scream. The music suddenly stopped as a sea of red shot into the sky. Panic ensued.

“BROTHER! WHAT IS-“

Before I could react, a moon spirit with a demon mask appeared in front of me like a demon out of a fairy tale

“Good evening, Ahab"