The ground below them shivered lightly as the woman sent a punch to Kilian, sending him flying to the city walls and crushing a part of it to destruction.
The earthquake became more violent as time passed by, making the entire city a victim of its shaking—but as it was excessive, it wasn't exactly dangerous enough to be called a disaster.
"What were you even doing!? It was a ONE-MINUTE task!"
Kilian slowly rose from the rubble that buried him, pushing all the debris aside, and patted his suit slightly. The dust that quietly resided in his suit was swayed away until there was nothing left. Leaving him in perfect condition with no signs, as if he had never punched in the first place.
Shockingly, as he stood, the wall that once had a gap, revealing the outside, was immediately fixed. It was unclear whether the wall itself was regenerated or was Kilian's own doing.
The three contractees could only guess, cause either way the outcome would be as shocking as the other, but surprisingly, they were unfazed by it. Maybe it was their exhaustion, or they had gotten used to the number of things that happened today, or neither of those.
One thing was for sure: they were tired—both physically and mentally.
All of them experienced different kinds of trauma today, and all they wanted to do was lie and sleep comfortably, or at least have some alone time to themselves. They needed rest. But being on the contract, they face the fear of punishment.
And with that, they stayed on their guard and awaited what they needed to do.
"In my defence, something exciting happened," Kilian said smugly.
"Well, your 'excitement' caused us to delay the festival AND caused a lot of problems that made the delay by SIX MONTHS!"
"Six months isn't long."
"FOR US, BUT NOT TO THEM! Do you know how many of our sponsors backed!—"
"You're so caught up in many things that you didn't even look at who I brought with me."
Su-nae's eyes furrowed at Kilian, keeping her eyes on him as she turned her head to her side. "What are you talking—"
Only when she had set her gaze upon Haruo had she become speechless. Nostalgia filled her mind, as a saddened expression changed her entire personality.
"Seiji's coat… You… His…"
Something stopped her voice; she had many things that filled her thoughts, but none could come out, only a slight stutter with a few pronouns.
"Yeah… He's gone." Kilian chuckled. "Confirmed it myself."
Su-nae could only sigh while she scratched the side of her neck; her entire demeanor changed in an instant, neither disappointed nor surprised, but instead, pitiful. And Haruo understood immediately that pity was meant for him.
He felt mocked, but not exactly; it was humiliating, not for himself, but for the person who helped him, taking his death lightly as if he didn't matter. But in all reality, he felt the same; he felt pitiful for himself, not because of his life, but his lack of emotion or rage he should have felt.
He couldn't tell whether they were enemies or allies with Chiharu anymore, but he knew who these people were, not their faces, or names, but the slight mentions of them whenever Chiharu told a story.
Not entirely sure… Although their personalities and power seemed to match, as well as their reactions, it was safe to conclude.
"Do you at least have it?" Su-nae asked, crossing her arms.
"Of course! I'm not that useless." Kilian flicked his hand in an instant, and a ring appeared between his index and middle fingers. "It's in here."
Haruo widened his eyes. He patted his pockets in both his pants and his blue coat. His ring was stolen once again.
With another flick, he tossed the ring to Su-nae, who caught it quite easily. She pinched the ring slightly, bringing it forth to her eye as she quietly inspected it.
"As extra as Seiji was, he was never clumsy. Even the edges are spot on, he did a good job remaking this; Guess he still had his OCD."
Not taking another second, she pressed the ring a little tighter. In doing so, the red jewelry that highlighted the entire ring began to change to a different hue: A dark-blueish color that matched Haruo's coat.
"This ring brings back so many memories; sadly, we outgrew it. Artifacts like these no longer serve us like they used to."
The color slowly began to rise in value, glowing steadily before it shot itself to the ground. That same light slowly materialized into the corpse of the beast that Kilian killed. Its body filled the area, so big it was similar to a two-story building.
"Still in good condition, no injuries, no scratches, nothing as you asked."
"At least I know you're not entirely useless."
"Me? useless?" Kilian burst into laughter as he heard that word. "We both know that isn't true."
Su-nae only rolled her eyes before tossing the ring back to its rightful owner.
"Keep it safe. If you know Seiji well, then you know how valuable that jewelry really is."
***
"Where exactly are you taking us?" Haruo asked.
"Well, A LOT of things happened this day, well… for you guys anyways. So quality rest is important right now."
"That didn't answer my question."
"Shhh… You're asking an awful amount of questions right now… Take an example from that brat over there, she's been silent the past twenty minutes or so."
"I hate that smile of yours. I wish you would just die right now so we can all be free. Knowing a person like you is stubborn, I can guess why the abortion failed…"
"Not very nice to say to someone you just met. You must still be exhausted." Kilian chuckled.
"FUCK YOU!"
As they had their little banter, Haruo slowly realized which place they were heading to. Not that he had been to Marion before, but it was painfully obvious what the building was. It was the royal palace.
"Wait, isn't this… The castle!?" Haruo exclaimed.
"You want us to sleep… In the royal palace? I can't tell if you're stupid or just shameless."
Kilian shrugged lightly, smirking as if he was playing it off as a joke. He was playing it off as a joke…
"Only for a day, you guys are going to be guards for this place for a day. The captain is currently on a mission and needs someone to fill in for his position."
"What about the other guards?"
"Injured, for now, they can only rest, their off-duty, but some of them are stubborn and insist on protecting the palace. And don't worry, I made sure everyone in the palace and the guards themselves know your presence."
"Wow, very soothing to know."
"It's fine, it's temporary anyway—and besides, the royals aren't even here; well, except for that one…"
Haruo dragged his iris to the corner of his eyes, gazing on Kilian as they traversed through the entrance and made their way into the castle and its walls. But Haruo didn't question further; knowing any more than that was already satisfying enough, and anymore would be plain greed.
Curiosity kills the cat, leaving its spirit with only regret.
Away from that subject, Haruo gazed at the palace; its structure was beautifully defined with its elegance. It was tall and unmoving, which is what its marbles were telling him, truly the pride of Marion.
And as they entered the palace, it was as Haruo expected, as beautiful as its exterior. Though that feeling was only temporary, as he remembered that this place was the place he was bound to serve and sacrifice parts of his life with, and mostly because he didn't care.
"Aren't you quite disciplined, obeying so quickly? Seiji must have done quite a lot to make you like this." Kilian chuckled, making eye contact with Haruo. "Am I right?"
Haruo only met his gaze, staying silent as they walked. Kilian only smirked at his cold response, disconnecting from their staring contest and continuing forward.
"Well, I have a question," Ena said.
"Uh-huh, and what is that?"
"Who's "Except for that one." You make it sound so dramatic, making it seem like it's something important."
"Don't worry about him, he's just… A little introverted, I doubt you'll ever meet him—outside of his room anyway. So there's no need to dwell on him anymore. Besides, we have reached your room now."
"Rest while you can, and if you have free time, go explore the place to your liking, just don't go to the upper floors, restricted personnel and loyal servants are only allowed to go up there. Bye."
The moment he said bye, he disappeared, a single blink, and he was gone; no trail or evidence that he was there. Just purely gone. But rather than feeling confused, they felt relieved. For the first time this afternoon, they felt the liberation of their own choices.
Who knew having no more smug smirks or smiles following them around with a leash on their necks would feel so liberating? Even if they knew it was temporary, it still felt good.
"I swear, if he had stuck around for even a few more minutes, killing myself wouldn't be such a bad option anymore."
"He'd probably just take you out of hell just to make you work again."
"As if he can—Huh!? I'm not that bad!"
Not long after that, both of them felt a buzz on their wrist. The sensation alerted both of them; this was new to them, and of course, they took a look at what it was and saw a different hue with a symbol on their wrist.
Ena touched the symbol, which summoned a smartphone into thin air. The smartphone then fell into Ena's hand, and there it showed a notification on the homescreen. It was a text from Kilian, an incredibly short one. A singular emoji with its tongue showing while touching one of its eyelids.
"Oh, he got us a phone," Haruo said. "He sent the same emoji to me."
"He is the result of not taking birth control properly."
Without hesitation, Ena opened the notification and sent an emoji of her own: A middle finger. Spamming it over and over.
Taiyo gripped his fingers onto Haruo's coat, tugging it slightly. As he did, he yawned deeply while having his wrist wiped out the tears that came along with it. Haruo, seeing this, quickly dismissed the phone and carried Taiyo with one arm.
"I don't know about you, but Taiyo and I are going to sleep."
Not taking another second, Haruo opened the doorknob and was met with a room with three beds. One for each of them, the interior wasn't bad for a servant's room. There was a bed, a window, and a bathroom.
To others, this might not be much, but for Haruo, it was the same feeling as finding gold in dirt.
"Are you tired?"
Taiyo nodded with his hands still on his eyes.
"Is everything going to be okay?"
Haruo placed him on the bed, taking off his coat before tucking the blanket at his waist. He fixed Taiyo's hair slightly, pushing his black hair to the side.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Because he nearly killed you…"
"I'm still alive, aren't I?"
"But what if…"
"As long as you're alive, dying isn't an option for me. I might not have been the best brother, but that doesn't mean I won't be… So sleep for now, let me handle all the work, everything is going to be alright from now on."
"You said that before…"
Haruo placed his hand on Taiyo's belly, gently tapping it with a slow rhythm.
"I mean it this time."
It wasn't long before Taiyo's eyelids became heavy. Slowly, his body succumbed to the fatigue that gathered throughout the entire day. That was when he shut his eyes completely, sleeping instantly as if he was fighting to sleep through this whole scene.
"'I might not have been the best brother, but that doesn't mean I won't be.' I never knew you could be so cheesy."
Ena said, leaning on the doorframe, before making her way to a bed.
"His six, the word 'Cheesy' has no meaning to him yet, besides, what was so cheesy about that?"
"Ah, forget it, just go to sleep or something. I'll adjust my phone to look like my old one or something."
Now that she mentioned it, fatigue was also stacking up for Haruo; he felt weak, which didn't change anything, but at least he knew why. So, having a revelation, he began to walk to his own bed, parallel to Ena's side.
He took off his own coat and leather shoes and placed them in his mana storage. Resting his head on the pillow, he descended into slumber, hoping that maybe tomorrow wouldn't be as chaotic.
Hoping it wasn't…