The Crownhorn farm incident (part 6)

"As for my reward, I want you to keep this pendant on you, always. It is a binding item, so it will not get stolen – that's why you must promise me to never give it away, lend it to anyone, or even take it off to show to someone else. Are you okay with that?"

"B-binding item...! I cannot possibly...! Ah...!"

Medea asked, and the shocked Zorivia tried to stop him, but as she raised her hands to grab the pendant, the black-haired boy grasped her hands, making her gasp.

"I told you that if you chose to take your time to consider my offer, I would request a reward. You accepting my gift and treasuring it is the reward I want."

"...o-okay... But...! I-if I end up deciding to reject you, I will give it back...! Ah... no, wait... I haven't decided yet, but... but I'm saying it just in case, okay?"

The boy pointed out, to which the girl became flustered and declared,

"That's a nice attempt at bargaining. You have a deal."

Medea smirked and nodded, grabbing the heart-shaped pendant and putting a bit of pressure on it, revealing it to be two separate pendants that could form a harmonious shape.

"...e-eh... p-pair pendant?! But... that's an endgame item, and it means that...!"

"...?"

As if seeing the accessory have a feature like that, the blond-haired girl's eyes widened, and she gasped in shock – to which the black-haired boy tilted his head and furrowed his brows at her reaction.

"M-Medea...! How did you... eh...? Just how...?"

Zorivia was utterly lost. She grabbed half of the hear-shaped pendant and kept looking between it and Medea's face as if expecting some sort of reveal.

"I bought it – I have no backstory connected with it. I will tell you the details if you want but at another take. If I want to cut off Kenny's index finger, I have to leave already – but don't worry, I will show up again as soon as the commotion settles. Hopefully, then I will be able to stay by your side~"

The boy said with a straight face and reluctantly turned towards the door, leaving while talking.

"W-wait...! Don't cut off Kenneth's index finger, please...!"

"...haaa... okay."

Zorivia gasped and reached out her hand after Medea, trying to stop him, which he reluctantly agreed on before stepping out of the room.

"...not an index finger... pinky then, I guess."

The black-haired boy furrowed his brows and muttered in consideration.

While walking down the hallway, he took off his earrings and hid them inside his clothes while taking out a hairnet and a dark-brown wig and putting them on.

Whether it was by coincidence or not, the wig was stylized in a way that made Medea resemble Theodore.

"Aaa... Aaa... Ngh! Aaaa..."

As Medea ended up in the room with an opened window again, he cleared his throat while letting out his voice while trying to make himself sound like Theo did.

"..."

Satisfied with the result, the boy's face turned serious, and he got out, closed the wooden shutters, and then picked up the vest that he had placed Zorivia on before. Then, he took the woodchopping axe that was – coincidentally – leaning against the wall and ran it through the rough wound on the corpse, giving the axe a murder-weapon-look.

Then, with the bloody axe in hand, he furrowed his brows, looking at the corner of the building and then placing the axe, blade down, leaning against it at an angle that made the handle stick out quite a bit.

With those preparation done, Medea made his way around the building the opposite way, making his way towards the entrance that Kenneth was guarding, circling around the one with the coachman.

*rustle*

As he was at the right side of the building, Medea began to try and climb back inside but did so clumsily enough to make some noise.

"Who is... HUH?!"

-Coincidentally- Kenneth ended up hearing him and leaned out of the door, raising an oil lamp to see what was going on and spotting the entry attempt by the disguised boy.

"Fuck...!"

Medea cursed and backed off as if the window suddenly scalded him and reached out behind his back, taking out Theo's dagger.

"Oh, you little shit!"

The brown-haired man roared and stopped only to place the oil lamp down safely before launching himself at the disguised boy.

"Her protection was supposed to be loose...!"

Medea gasped out loud while backing off as Kenneth was about to ram into him and...!

*SHING*

The boy dodged nimbly to the side while also twisting the heavy dagger and slashing at the servant's extended hand – perfectly catching the man's right hand's pinky finger and slashing it off, thanks to the combination of his and Kenneth's strengths.

"AURGH!"

Kenneth cried out in pain as his finger dropped outside the reach of the immediate light source.

"YOU...! YOU FILTHY FUCKER!"

Medea wasn't staying to enjoy the look of utter hatred on the brown-haired man's face and was already running around the building while the injured servant was cursing at him.

The pure anger pushed Kenneth to leave his post and rush after the person who cut off his finger...

"I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU! I WILL FUCKING TEAR OFF YOUR GUTS!"

The brown-haired man howled as he ran.

"What the...?!"

The coachman heard the commotion and leaned out of the door with an oil lamp just like Kenneth did before and gasped as some brown-haired youth with a bloody heavy dagger passed him...

"I WILL TEAR YOU APART! YOU HEAR ME?!"

...and then his colleague, Kenneth, ran past him, following the youth while seemingly completely unhinged...

"Kenneth?!"

The coachman gasped, leaning even further, raising his lantern...

*THUMP*

"HURGH!"

...just in time to witness Kenneth tripping over something sticking out from behind the corner of the building at an inconvenient angle and slamming to the ground with a heavy groan.

"K-Kenneth...?"

"FUCK OFF, BENEDICT! I AM GOING TO KILL THAT FUCKER!"

The coachman tried to approach his colleague, but the brown-haired man scoffed furiously, grabbing the object he tripped on and raising it in anger...

"Kenneth, calm down...!"

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE FUCK!?"

The object turned out to be a woodchopping axe, which obviously startled the coachman while Kenneth moved the corner...

"AUGH!" *thump*

"AHA!" *CHOP* *SQUELCH*

"!!!"