The full moon was shimmering brightly in the murky sky, surrounded by luminous stars above. The dazzling moon rays lit up the entire ambiance, even though it was close to midnight when both Kirin and Noah returned back to their home.
Noah nervously fidgeted as Kirin led him towards a small shabby hut, at the center of the giant wide open space. It was their infamous assassin hub. Similar small cottages were built over the area where Noah didn't fail to notice a few unknown young men gathered and gazing skeptically at them. Their curious eyes were glued towards him but Kirin acted confident enough in front of them to pretend it was nothing.
As soon as they reached the shabby hut, Kirin knocked on the door once and opened the door inside. A dim glow of candlelight scattered out from inside the room where both of them walked in.
A tall, muscular, broad-built man, physically around in his late 40s was sitting slackly at the center of the room, blowing a puff of smoke out from his cigar. He had an unusual, dark look imprinted on his face covered with a beard and mustache. Decked up in casual linen clothes, even though he was all alone, but, the aura that he emitted looked a bit eerie, which further stirred the palpitation inside Noah.
"Chief, I...brought him back." Kirin bowed his head a little and tossed a forged smile at him, trying to sound serene from his tone.
"Hmm," a cold, frigid response came back from that man as he focussed his curious dark eyes on Noah again.
Watching Kirin bowing his head to greet him, Noah too blindly followed the procedure as he was too anxious to act on his own. As soon as he bowed, Kirin's facial expression turned paler and the man suddenly burst out into a loud chuckle.
"Hahaha! Sheoran did you bow to me? Our mighty Sheoran who never gave a damn to others, including me, offered his respect to me? Hahaha! What a bizarre sight, it's unbelievable!" His tone sounded quite sarcastic.
Whereas, wearing that pale look on his face, Kirin moved a few steps closer to him to whisper in his ears, "What the heck are you doing? Who told you to act on your own? Do you wish to create further troubles for us?"
"I...But...I just followed what you did." Noah was baffled at the unexpected impact as he anxiously whispered back to him. "How the hell would I know that punk has never bowed to others? Gosh, this is so troublesome--"
"Now what are you both whispering back there!?"
Suddenly, a sharp loud rumble from that man winced both Kirin and Noah as they immediately returned back to their earlier posture, turning towards him. With a forged smile on his face, Kirin intended to explain, "I-It's nothing, Chief. I just asked Sheoran...if he is feeling alright or not. Haha, I...I am a bit startled by his sudden polite gesture too."
As Kirin tried to defend him, Noah anxiously nodded his head without any further words spoken. However, the man darted a sharp gaze at Noah as he squinted his eyes and held a cold smile before he spoke, "I heard that last night you had slipped into the lake, Sheoran. I am aware it is quite a deep lake. So, how are you feeling now?"
Peeking a small glimpse at Kirin, Noah cleared his throat with a cough and nervously answered, "A-As you see, I...am fine Chief. It was nothing."
"Good to hear that. But, why are you both still standing there? Sit down." Blowing out another puff of smoke from his cigar, the man pointed his finger at the hay mattress placed down on the floor near him, asking them to sit over it. Obediently both of them squatted down as per his command, while Noah tried hard to endure his inner turmoils.
Continuing his sharp gaze for a moment, the man lifted a small bowl of peanuts and placed it in front of Noah on the floor, tossing a cordial smirk at him. "Here, have some salted peanuts, Sheoran."
Baffled at his kind offering, Noah peered a lured gaze towards the bowl as since the moment he woke up, he didn't face any favorable circumstance to take a bite of food, nor to have a sip of water. With a dim ray of hope, before he could grab the bowl before him, in the blink of a second, Kirin almost snatched the bowl away from him, holding an anxious and tensed look on his face.
"C-Chief, what are you doing!? D-Did you forget that Sheoran is allergic to nuts?" Kirin uttered in a loud, husky voice, which immediately startled Noah pretty hard. If he had not intervened at that moment, before he knew it, he was about to commit a grave blunder and fall into the trap!
"Oh? Is he?" Protruding a mysterious dark gaze towards Noah, the man casually blew out another puff of smoke and mumbled in a solemn tone, "Sheoran should have objected to it while I offered him that, but he didn't. And Kirin, don't you think you are a bit too much concerned about him?"
'Fuck...this old fart is testing me intentionally, and I thought he was being kind to me. What kind of shitty people live in this world?!'
Realizing his wicked intentions quickly enough, before his interrogation could put Kirin in a tight spot, Noah cleared his throat and sounded stiff as he put up a serious face, "Chief, I was about to give this bowl back to you. But, since Kirin is a very good friend of mine, he interfered first out of concern. Pardon me, if my gesture gave you any wrong idea."
"Haha," a cold smile escaped from him as the man frowned his brows, realizing his attempt to defend Kirin before him. "You are always blunt as usual, Sheoran. That's what, I have always liked about you among the rest."
Kirin sneaked a small nervous glimpse at Noah who was trying hard to suppress his anxieties behind a forged smile before that man. However, watching him show a bit of courage to defend him back, didn't fail to surprise him wither.
"May I know, why were you looking for me, Chief?" After a brief anticipated silence, Noah couldn't suppress his curious urges anymore.
However, immediately at his interrogation, a vicious darkened smile crafted on his round face as the man squinted his eyes before he answered, "I was indeed looking for you, because I have a job assigned for you, Sheoran."
All of a sudden, a chill of cold sweat ran down their spine as both Kirin and Noah exchanged nervous glances at each other. Before they could question back, the man took out a shining, sophistically built small silver dagger out from his leather corset belt and placed it before them on the ground.
Immediately with the sight of that sharp-edged dagger, his phobia was triggered as Noah almost faded in fear, wearing a petrified look in his ocean eyes. Too anxious, he hitched his breath for a second, and cold chills of fear started to run down his spine as he was forcing himself to stay still rather than being hysteric.
Watching the dagger placed before them, Kirin darted concerned glances at Noah to find that he had started to sweat profusely in fear. To avoid the situation degrade worse, he intervened first, "C-Chief, w-why did you place the dagger before us? I-It looks kinda expensive."
"It is indeed expensive because it's purely built of silver." The man cast a proud smirk at them and crossed his arms before his chest before he concluded further, "And with this dagger, I am giving you a very important task which has been assigned to us, Sheoran."
"M-Me?" Noah's voice broke as he husked with a bit of difficulty, trying his best to avoid looking at the dagger.
"Yes." A vicious dark smile crafted on his face as the man declared in a cold voice, "Tomorrow with this dagger, you will have to kill Prince Xanthus by sneaking into the royal castle. Do you understand?"