BXBX NOVEL Chapter 80 80 - An Unexpected Threat
"I should definitely buy matching jewelry," she muttered, too distracted by the treasure.
"Moriyana…don't waste my time," settling back down into the chair, Haruki slid his hands onto the table.
Despite being cleared of all stains and liquid, the faint hint of his blood was still lingering around in the air. Repulsed by the smell, Haruki scowled at the odor, but unable to read his thoughts outside of her illusions, Moriyana took it more as anger directed towards her.
"Sorry, I got a bit distracted," clearing up her throat with a couch, she reached forward and grabbed Harukis hands resting on the table. "You must be aching to take the first step toward your revenge, right?"
It took him a moment of just staring her dead into her eyes to judge exactly where she was going with the conversation, however, sensing no hostility from the succubus, he finally shared his thoughts with her.
"I do feel the ache, but I've been too bound by all the responsibilities that come with being a duke," remembering back to how much he had struggled to understand all the politics, Haruki huffed up a sigh and continued. "I still have a lot to do before I can go down that path of vengeance."
Turning his hands to make his palms face upwards, Moriyana slowly began brushing them with her thumbs to bring him some comfort.
"How about I help you take the first step then?" drawing her hands back, she drummed the desk a few times before pulling herself out of her chair. "I have something special for you, or wait…someone special for you."
Flipping around she reached into the upper section of the cabinet behind her desk. There, taking out a folder she blew on it to dust off all the settled particles.
"Here!" Turning around again, she slammed the folder on the table. "Again, correction, not just someone, some people!"
Untying the files, she quickly began scanning right through, that is until she read one marked with a dark red tick over its top-left corner. Taking the documents in her hand, she passed them onto Haruki.
"What is it?" He asked, not sure where all of this was going.
"A list of all the slaves I've purchased from other kingdoms, they're supposed to be here in about a week or so, but it could take longer in case there's a blizzard in the tundra," hearing her explanation, Haruki can't help but wonder why she was showing him the list.
However, scanning through the name, he ran into something familiar. Noted down on the list with the other slaves were the names of two other members of his bandit control battalion from his previous life.
"Are they…" unable to wrap his head around how they'd end up becoming slaves, Haruki didn't even know where to start asking questions.
"Yes, it's them, and no they're not people with the same name," Moriyana cleared his doubts, and yet it didn't feel real to him.
"But how did the-" A loud thrashing sound from the entrance astonished them both.
Perked up on their demonic senses, they could feel in their hearts a binding terror pushing them to keep at the height of caution.
"Expecting guests?" Haruki asked, glancing at Moriyana from the edge of his eyes.
"Not that I know of," She replied
"What? Nevermind," making sure he was in his mercenary form as Arnold, Haruki drew out his fencer in case he had to fight.
Echoing through the halls, the sound of casual footsteps was slowly approaching the corridor to Moriyana's office. Peeking out through the open door at the other end of the place, both Moriyana and Haruki saw the crawling corpse of a burning man holding his hands up in their direction as if asking for their help.
"I'm done with you," said another voice.
Walking into their view was Razor Alumnibolt, one of the few military generals working right under the emperor. Picking his feet up, he stomped on the head of the crawling corpse. As the blood gushing out of his crushed head flowed down towards them into the office, both of them knew that they were under great threat.
"Moriyana Malice, who would've thought the slave trader was behind all the ruckus in the streets," flipping his fencer around in his hands, Razor slowly began moving closer. "Well, anyone with common sense would've, but I guess they don't sell that here in this duchy."
Catching his sword mid-air, Razor quickly sheathed it by his hips. Standing in the middle of the corridor with the blood soiling his white leather boots, he simply glared at the two with a smile.
"Wh-Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Pretending not to know who he is, Moriyana was trying to buy them some time.
Inconspicuously pressing her hand against Haruki, she urged him to get them out of there. Knowing what she had in mind, Haruki tried to use his familiar to consume the two and teleport them far away, but to his horror, he couldn't call on any of his familiars.
'Shit, is he blocking my summoning skills somehow?' Getting a firm grip on his saber, Haruki had no other option but to face him head-on if things came to it.
"I was on a tour actually," walking even closer, he stood face-to-face with Haruki. "Didn't expect the duke to be here though."
'What the hell? How does he-' Remembering back to when Riley mentioned someone watching them afar, Haruki got the answer without even asking. 'Dammit, of all the people who could've found out about my identity, he's probably the worst one.'
Pulling up a chair in front of them, he placed it facing away from them and settled right in. Gently rocking the chair with his hands crossed over the back support, he beamed them both with a genuine seeming smile.
"Sit down you two, I've had a long day killing all those filthy blood-sucking parasites, I'm not gonna do anything," reaching down to his hip, he set his fencer onto the desk. "Not yet at least."