Interstellar General (7)

Edited by: Kuro and Lille

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The mysterious captain of the Silver-Tongued Snakes looked at the file on General Silas. He had a mask on his face and a snake piercing on his left ear. The snake coiled down from the helix to the lobule. It somehow coiled snuggly at his ear even though it was only pierced at the lobule. He had black hair, as black as the night sky. Looking at his face, one could only see his dark red eyes. The rest of his face was covered.

The masked captain laughed as he looked at the money he received this time. "I've heard of the conflict between the Ebunox and Hanover families, but to think they would spend this much money to kill General Silas."

The captain's most trusted aide asked, "Are you going to kill him?"

"Of course not. If that man can single-handedly finish the Zerg Queen, what makes you think we will risk our lives?"

As the Captain of the Silver-Tongued Snakes, he could take on a lot of things, but an S-ranked man was someone he dared not. He was at the peak of A-ranked individuals, but there was still a large gap between S-ranked and A-ranked people.

"Then why are we here? You didn't even respond to their call."

"Obviously it's because we accepted the money. Once they come, we will immediately surrender. We will escape if things don't go as planned. I have already sent most of our troops away. I've only left those who are the fastest behind."

He wasn't stupid. He could distinguish a winning battle from a losing battle. If they thought he would stick around, they had another thing coming! Plus, he didn't plunder the poor, only scamming the rich. He also background-checked the target before deciding whether or not he should assassinate them. If the person was a menace to society, of course, he was going to get rid of them. If the person was a decent person, he would still take the money and say he was unsuccessful. Not like anyone could find them. They were always traveling and never stayed in one place.

"Alright, let's wait for them to come. I'm sure just General Silas alone is enough to wipe us out."

His aide didn't understand why his captain was like this, but he didn't say anything. They had plenty of cash that could feed all of them for three lifetimes. They didn't have to worry about anything with their captain taking care of everything.

If only General Silas understood how they were, maybe they would be able to avoid bloodshed.

******

After Christoph left the room, Grey turned off his hologram to talk with Silas. "Are you going to kill them?"

Silas chuckled. "No, there's no need to do that."

"Why not?"

"Even though they murder influential people, the ones they murdered were those who committed terrible deeds. If the person they are contracted to is deemed as decent, they will accept the money, surrender, and then retreat."

Silas paused and sighed. "No matter what, there will always be a balance between black, white, and gray. There is no need to kill them when the work they do is something the military is unable to do."

Grey understood where Silas was getting at. "Can I come with you to see them? I'm curious what kind of people they are."

"Of course. I am also curious. It will be my first time meeting them."

Silas and Grey had a tactical understanding of one another and didn't say anything else. Silas went back to doing paperwork while Grey played games on his hologram.

After a while, Christoph called them to tell them they had approached the Silver-Tongued Snakes and were waiting for orders. The Silver-Tongued Snakes opened their doors but didn't attack.

"Let's go, Grey." Silas set Grey down next to him and got up.

The two walked out of their room and into the main hall where all of his soldiers had gathered. Since the spacecraft was large, as big as an eight-story building, the hall was able to accommodate everyone.

Silas and Grey didn't walk in from the entrance, but through the backdoor that led to his office. Everyone saluted General Silas. They were silent for the most part though as they did their best not to stare at Grey who was following behind Silas. After a few days of seeing Grey and Silas together, everyone got used to it.

Silas stopped at the podium that was placed in the back, center area of the room, and clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone, I will only be taking Christoph and Grey with me. All personnel prepare for battle just in case. Dismissed."

It was short and simple, but everyone knew what to do. No one complained or raised their objections. General Silas was the strongest person in the whole empire, Christoph was also almost as strong and was his right-hand man. And Grey had the persistence of a pack mule. After seeing him fight Zergs without his mecha, a broken dagger, and their scythes, no one complained about his strength.

They hoped Grey would retake the ranking test to see where he was now.

Christoph followed Silas to the mecha room. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Do you think we will be defeated?"

"No, but—"

"Then that's that. Trust me, Christoph. I know what I'm doing, so get ready."

Christoph gave up trying to protest. "Understood, General Silas." He went to his mecha to get ready.

Silas took Grey to a mecha. It was side by side with his own. The two were a pair of mechas that were recently built. It wasn't tailored to them yet, but eventually, it would be.

Grey knew that this mecha was leagues ahead of what the original was using.

"How do you like it?" Silas asked while he put his arm around Grey's waist.

"It's really nice!" Grey leaned into his embrace.

Hmm, it was nice and warm.

"As much as I want to cuddle, we should get going. Christoph is looking over at us in anger."

In the distance, Christoph, who was inside his mecha, was glaring at the two lovebirds for not moving! They had places to be, things to do, and people to see— why were they doing that?! Were they doing it on purpose or what?!

"Oh, yeah."

'Oh, yeah?!' Christoph wanted to vomit.

The three finally left the spacecraft and flew over to the main ship of the Silver-Tongued Snakes. The ship was quite large for space pirates. It was half the size of the First Legion's spacecraft that was funded by Silas. Grey could see how much money these space pirates made from the nobles who wanted their enemies to die.

When they landed, there was a man who looked like a servant waiting for them. He was an older man with grey hair and blue eyes. He wore a tailcoat suit and white gloves. He had a smile on his face the whole time. This man was the aide of the Captain.

The door to the spacecraft closed. They got off their mechas and stored them inside a mechanical cube, like the one he was given when he was leaving the remote planet.

"Welcome to the Silver-Tongued Snakes' spacecraft, esteemed guests. The captain is waiting for you in the reception room."

Silas said, "Lead the way."

The spacecraft was nothing like a regular space pirate's ship. It was not only clean but it was decked out in luxury. It was surprisingly empty though. Silas and Grey guessed that the captain moved his men elsewhere just in case a large-scale battle would happen. It was a smart move, especially if Silas decided to kill them off regardless of them not following orders to try to kill them.

"He's smart," Silas said, his hand shamelessly grabbing onto Grey's.

Grey didn't mind it. He agreed with Silas. "And a very cautious man."

"My master will be happy to hear you two complimenting him."

Even though the butler didn't know who Grey was, he could see that General Silas treated him as a partner. He was respectful regardless of what he thought though.

To even have a dedicated butler, it seemed these Silver-Tongued Snakes were more than just pirates…

After going through the red-carpeted halls filled with gold and other precious metals, they reached a room in the inner part of the spacecraft. The door was different from the others. The other doors were simple, but this one had a silver snake with its tongue sticking out. It was the emblem that was on their flag carved onto the door.

The butler knocked on the door, "Master, General Silas..." he looked over at Grey as if asking for his name.

"You can just call me Grey."

"His lover, Sir Grey, and Lieutenant General Christoph are here to see you."

"Let them inside."

"Understood."

The aide opened the door and motioned for the group to go inside. After that, he closed the door behind him and stood in the corner. He pretended he didn't exist.

The first thing everyone noticed was a man with a mask and a snake piercing on his left ear. The mask covered most of his face. The only thing they could see was his red eyes.

"General Silas and company, welcome to our humble abode. You can call me Captain Aylward or Aylward. It doesn't really matter to me."

"Okay, Aylward, we just came here to tell you that we have no intentions of killing you or the Silver-Tongued Snakes. As long as you continue to do as you have been doing, I don't see a problem keeping you all alive."

Captain Aylward paused for a moment before laughing hysterically. They could see tears forming at the corners of his eyes from how hard he was laughing.

"Really now? The General of the First Legion, who was said to be the one who took down the Zerg Queen, the man who should embody justice for all, actually wants to keep pirates alive?"

He was the only one laughing. Silas and Grey looked at the man blankly.

Grey didn't know what to think when he saw this Pirate Captain. The man wasn't burly but he could tell the man was strong. As someone who was hired to take out influential people, they had to be skilled. This man, though, did his best to hide his energy, and from time to time it leaked out.

"Things are not just black and white. Even if you have committed murder, so have I. As long as you stick to your principles, I will turn a blind eye."

"Don't worry, General Silas. All Silver-Tongued Captains have the same oath when they become a Captain. Only kill those who deserve it, but take all the money you can." That was the crude way of saying it, but that was essentially what they have always done.

"Why live a life without money when you can have anything you want with money?"

In the end, Captain Aylward was a man who followed the scent of money. Where was the lie though? He would rather be sad and rich than poor and happy.

"Another man obsessed with money?" Silas couldn't help but mumble to himself.

For some reason, seeing Aylward obsessed with money reminded him of Luis, his secretary who did everything he asked for the sake of money. He had Luis buy all of Grey's tickets when he was an idol…

Grey couldn't hear what Silas said so he ignored it. He would ask him about it later.

"Well, if you are going to let me off, give me your contact information, General Silas."

Silas looked at him with caution. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Don't look at me like that. If you need someone who deserves it but can't kill them, let me know. I will do it for you. For money of course. This isn't a charity, but I can give you a friend discount."

Silas looked at him with a blank expression and then sighed. It didn't hurt to contact Captain Aylward from time to time. Plus, there was a sense of familiarity with the man.

Christoph didn't say anything the whole time. He just stared at the exchange and pretended he wasn't there. He didn't just see General Silas add pirates to his contact list. He didn't see it!

The two added each other as friends. Silas, Grey, and Christoph were about to leave but were stopped by Captain Aylward's words.

"Leaving so quickly, don't you want to know who contacted me to kill you?"

"Will you tell me?"

"If you guess correctly, I will. You only get one try so think long and hard about it."

Silas didn't need to think that hard about it though. Out of the three people, he knew only one of them who had the funds to contact the Silver-Tongued Snakes who were money-hungry.

"It's Norton Hanover, isn't it?"

"Ah, there was no suspense. Yeah, it's him. What did you do to piss him off that he would pay so much money to have me kill you?"

"Nothing."

It wasn't exactly nothing, but he didn't want to explain the long history of the Hanover family butting heads with the Ebunox family.

"Well, I'm not surprised. They haven't exactly hidden their loathing for you and your family… Well, since you guessed correctly, let me give you a reward."

Captain Aylward smiled, though only he knew what he looked like when he smiled.

"There's someone who transferred over some funds to Little Lord Norton. His family isn't the only one who wants you dead. Seems the two have been teaming up for quite a while."

Silas didn't question how Captain Aylward got the information, but he knew that Aylward was right. He also thought the same thing.

"Thank you for the heads up, Aylward. Don't worry. I will deal with them myself."

"Boo… boring. Okay, you can leave now."

After Aylward shooed the trio out of his office, he relaxed into his chair and put his feet on top of the desk.

From his experience, he saw the good folks of this universe struggling with enemies who were either greedy or power-hungry. They fought like beasts and killed those who were soft-hearted for just a moment.

Good people, just like his parents, died at the hands of those bad people.

"It's always the good people who end up dying first…"