"Hey, Cyrus, I got a question," Elora suddenly spoke up, taking off her mask and staring down in the eyes as we dashed across the train tracks leading back to civilization. She seed very serious about it, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and listened intently. "What exactly happened before you ca to the warehouse? You all of a sudden went silent, uploading information to our masks that allowed us to see the enemy… but then you ca back with five heads? What really happened?"
"The technology I was using was imdiately picked up on. It was more of a hunch rather than an actual fact, but it turned out to be correct. So, I hid in the shadows and waited for them whilst also turning our technology into a bomb. So as soon as they tried to touch my computer, it exploded, killing one of the six by blowing his body to bits. Then, all that was left was to kill the other five who I had taken by surprise. They were weak… so extrely weak to the point I got suspicious, so I imdiately ca to check up on you guys and, well, the rest you all know."
"Hmm… So, what will you tell the Boss then? You'll take full responsibility, right? I don't feel like getting scolded for your own sole mistake even though you did save us. So, I'm not going to help alleviate any of the punishnts you'll be receiving."
"That's fine with . I was going to take the punishnts head-on anyway," I smiled beneath my mask, looking at the other group mbers who looked as guilty as Elora. Clearly, they had no intention of helping take the bla for the disconnection and massive risk put to our group, but it's not like I was begging for their assistance anyway. I could handle myself against that woman… maybe… hopefully.
And just like that, after a few hours of running in the early morning and catching a passing train, we finally arrived back at school, where the presence of a demoness was awaiting my audience.
Of course, I went straight to her office, making sure to mitigate the damage I had done on our relationship. But, once I arrived at the twin wooden doors and felt a demonic aura so dense it could suffocate , I began to rethink my options.
"Maybe I should just leave-"
The doors flung open, and a pale hand grabbed the collar of my shirt. I was imdiately dragged deep into the den of this demoness. Her aura was keeping in place as she pulled out a chair and slamd down onto it, tendrils of darkness threatening to kill if I even so much as moved a muscle.
She swirled around her desk, her feet seemingly floating across the ground before she sat down gently in her chair. One leg crossed over the other, folding the tight leather pants she currently had on. And as she unbuttoned the top knot in her white button-up blouse and loosened the vanta-black tie, bringing everything together, I gulped down a large drop of saliva.
"Ay, boss… It's just a joke. Nothing more than a silly joke. I an, we all ca back in one piece, and we even accomplished more than the intended mission… so can't you cut so slack-"
She interrupted with a long sigh. Her minty fresh breath almost seed to manipulate all the way to my nose, stimulating my brain to pay even more attention. "I can't control you. Also, you're not my child, nor are you even my student. You're more of a co-worker than anything, but also my employee at the sa ti. So, I hope that we can co to so kind of agreent where I don't have to fire you, but you can also listen to my requests more often."
Her approach to this conversation was much more diplomatic than I initially thought. I anticipated a beating or at least a verbal beating to put in place, but I guess she realized none of that would work. In fact, that might make want to quit this little side job more than anything else.
"I would also like to apologize once again. I apologized before and was actually very sincere about it, but so things ca up. They were stronger than the information we were given, so I was forced to step in… also, I will admit there were so selfish reasons involved at the sa ti. So I would like to apologize for that again."
"No, I understand," the woman sighed, leaning back in her chair, mulling over whatever was swirling in that abyss of a mind she had. "I won't punish you, but I won't accept your apology until you do sothing more for this group. So, I have a proposal that you might be interested in… do you like books?"
"What? You want to be so kind of librarian to make up for all I did?"
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"Hmmmm… That's actually not that bad of an idea-"
"Woah, woah, woah… I was just joking," I quickly interrupted her while nervously laughing. Reading and writing weren't really my thing. I an, literature, in general, was sothing I could hardly comprehend. When it ca to fighting, sure, I was smart, but book smart and general knowledge was sothing I wasn't the greatest at. It took weeks to just get through a single book, and especially if it's sothing I'm not interested in, like monster encyclopedias or anything related to the system… then it might take longer than just a few weeks.
"Pffft… I was just joking as well," the woman smirked at , making fun of with just her smug expression. "You're not gonna be a librarian, but I will give you access to the higher levels of the library within the school. Normally, you would have to take a test to access the free skill books, but if I give the school my word, then I'll let you access them… how does that sound?"
Is she serious? She's basically letting rob the entire school if that's all there is to it. I could stack out my status almost instantly if I wanted to… but there must be sothing more. There is no way this woman would just let infinitely power up without there being sothing more to the deal.
"Seeing how you're smiling so much, you must be thinking you can stack out your status, right?" The boss smirked, reading my expression even though I wasn't really trying to hide it. "Of course, it'll be a one-ti thing. And you will only get to select three skill books out of the mid-tier section. You'll have as much ti as you need, but I'm not just giving this to you for free."
"That's a given. So what is it? Want to kill sobody? Steal sothing for you? Depending on how hard it is, I might have to negotiate the prize."
"No, I want you to teach the four other assassins in your group," The boss smiled as if knowing I was going to have a salty reaction to this horrible proposal. Although, she didn't let speak up as she quickly cracked open her vibrant pink lips. "But, before you say anything else, I hope you can teach them properly. Teach them how to control their emotions, and it might sound cruel, but you need to teach them to see our targets as nothing more than things. They can't see them as real people; otherwise, they will hesitate, and that hesitation could be the difference between a successful mission and a failed mission. Maybe even life or death."
I sat in my chair, staring into the woman's eyes as I mulled over this deal. It was definitely a good growth opportunity for the four, but the thing is… I couldn't give any less of a shit about their well-being. They're nothing more than co-workers in the slaughterhouse. If this was with my siblings, then I could maybe agree to this deal just as it is.
"Raise the prize. Five mid-tier books or one high-tier book. I don't mind either, but that's the only way I'll agree to the deal. But I do have a question… why doesn't your brother, or whoever that other guy is, teach them? I don't see him around here."
"Hmmm… I guess I didn't tell you, but he's the one who put together the blades of this academy. He's but for the blades. He's my position, but for the strongest students in our academy, so I hope you can see that's a difficult process when he has even more work to do than myself."
"Bullshit, those blades are on their own. They handle their missions by themselves and proceed with them however they see fit. Don't try to lie to to excuse your brother's laziness…."
"*sigh*... whatever. We'll do one high-tier book... Anyways, co in. Let's proceed with the next part of this eting."
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