His responsibilities

The black eyelashes of the man moved with his eyes blinking slowly. The flames that rose behind him died out as he swiftly spun around to touch his back to the short wall against which the woman held her elbows firmly.

As his hips came into contact with that wall, he folded his hands with a calculating look in his eyes. The 'joke' he had uttered at the woman a while ago aside, what he was about to say was something serious.

He had almost spoken, but how could he try to interrupt the woman who had asked something unreasonable of him? He flinched as soon as he heard her unexpected words.

"Why aren't you rejecting my offer?"

Aliana's voice had a hint of confusion in it. It seemed like she was certain that Adrienne would decline to lend her hand in what she wanted him to do.

Hah

He couldn't understand her actions at all. First, she asked him if he wanted to do it or not. Then she asks why he wasn't against it. That made him feel as if she never wanted him to agree to it.

No, that must've been his imagination. Surely, there existed no such weird person. Who in their right mind would be questioning everything when it was going according to their wishes?

"Do you want me to turn it down?"

He couldn't help but look at it like that. His eyes adjusted themselves along with his dry smile. Aliana was shaking her head sideways, gesturing that it wasn't what he was thinking.

The first time he met her, he had no time to introduce himself properly. The second time was also a bit similar. This was actually their third time coming across each other.

"If that's how it is, then shouldn't you do something to compensate me?"

Adrienne was a sly fox in such cases. Playing around with her own words, he turned around the tables for Aliana.

She stared at his face for a while before letting out a sigh. Adrienne was assuming that she had fallen into his trap unknowingly.

The smile that crept on her lips told him that he was gravely mistaken. Most of the things that happened around her were always part of her plans in one way or another. And which of those weren't didn't matter to her even a tiny bit.

"And how do I do that?"

In simple words, she meant that he should be asking for it himself. She wasn't going to randomly give him something in the form of compensation.

Truthfully, Adrienne wasn't ever planning to receive compensation or something alike. But since she had already shown no signs of displeasure at his actions, wasn't it fine for him to ask then?

She had never directly said that she was against it. Adrienne didn't let the golden chance slip away from his hand easily.

"Answer my one question for now: Is there something dangerous going on?"

At his question, the pink eyes that held a beaming glow became dull. Adrienne was feeling goosebumps on his whole body after a long time.

Maybe it was a bad idea to ask such an odd question. Observing her strange reaction, Adrienne's eyes trembled. He was going to speak, but she ended up interrupting him.

"What if I say yes...? What will you do then? Will you side with our enemies?"

He realised how useless his question was there. It was already obvious that there was a bunch trying to murder Sierra, the world tree.

He wasn't dumb enough not to take a clue from whatever Aliana said. Her eyes, filled with an unknown darkness, gave him a good picture of whatever was on her mind.

The situation was worse than being just grave. It was just him who hadn't bothered to wonder about who his enemies were for a while.

The reasons behind it were simple. He had assumed that Aliana was going to stay within the Elven Forest to protect Sierra and fend off her foes.

Making assumptions on his own was precisely wrong of him. He only realised that a moment ago after remembering what she had said to Jaden.

The strength he possessed was certainly not to be made light of, but he shouldn't have been overconfident in it. A strong person would never be able to figure it out by himself though.

And that was also Aliana's true intention behind her words. At that point in time, what she wanted was for Adrienne to be more aware of his true worries and responsibilities.

Tsk

Rather than focusing on others's lives, one should always do their best to improve themselves. The people who were careless were always the first ones to die.

"I apologise for my inconsiderate actions..."

He rubbed the back of his head in a scratching manner while saying that. Thanks to how Aliana had acted, he was able to recognise his own shortcomings.

His eyes shut tight for a few minutes as he stood amidst the silence. The responsibility that he held was to protect his saviour, the world tree, from any harm that was about to come her way.

If not for her saving him from the brink of death, he wouldn't even have been able to come this far. There were a lot of things that didn't make any sense to him since he was new to them.

The fundamentals of his own body, the stigma he possessed, and lastly, the group that was trying to harm Sierra. He was still to explore those.

Anyone would question at this point: isn't he already far stronger than Jaden and a few more people? Certainly he was, but that wasn't his whole strength.

Sigh

He gripped his fingers tightly into the form of fists, and with a sigh, he let them fall apart. He pressed his index and middle fingers gently against his eyeballs before speaking in a calm tone.

"So? Who are the mutts we need to butcher?"

He was glaring straight into Aliana's eyes. Witnessing the crazy smile on his face, she felt a bit relieved.

The madness that had almost faded away gleamed in his eyes yet again. Aliana's attempt to make him get back on track was successful.

"They are someone who are hiding themselves from the world. Operating everything from within the darkness..."

---------------

Slash

"Was this the last one?"

The blood that splattered from the huge corpse of an unidentifiable beast made her cheeks red. She had a bright, playful smile on her face when she spoke.

That beast was an A-rank threat monster: Minotaur. The huge horns it had were already shattered into pieces. And similarly, a huge axe, which it used as its weapon, buried itself in the ground.

"That was it..."

The boy spoke as if he were bored with it. Hunting beasts once in a while doesn't always make one feel enjoyable. This is exactly the situation for the boy here.

On the other hand, the girl's red cheeks became slightly pink when she brushed the blood away. The sword hung from the belt she put across her waist.

The dark blue blazer she wore had some tiny red spots here and there. The golden lining on her attire glistened as she walked closer to the boy.

Thud

She let her body fall freely just next to him. The black, tight pants she wore stretched forward along with her legs.

She put her hands high up in the air and tried stretching them while making cracking sounds. The joints that had gotten stiff were again movable then. Then her gaze went towards the boy, who sat quietly observing her.

"... 'Castor', Did you hear? 'Ace' has gone and done it again."

The boy remained still in his spot for a moment with a blank face. Then it shrivelled up and displayed displeasure for some reason.

His curved lips made him look funny because of how he seemed while having his one eye covered in red hair. The hairs of the two were identical to each other since they were closely related to each other.

" 'Pollux'... Don't even mention that f*cker."

The disgust in his tone of speaking was so clear that it made the girl hold back her laughter. The way he said that described just how much he hated the person called 'Ace'.

Castor and Pollux's faces were so similar that one wouldn't have been able to distinguish their genders if they were to switch clothes. They were twin siblings for a reason.

Castor pulled out a small dagger and wiped it with a worn-out piece of rag. His black blazer and dark blue pants reflected clearly as he continued to distance them further away from himself by stretching his arm forward.

In actuality, the outfit these two were currently wearing was from two different sets. Black pant along with black blazer, and dark blue pant along with dark blue blazer.

The habit of switching one piece of everything that belonged to them was natural to them. Most fashionable people would never attempt such a thing.

"You still hate him for the last time?"

The nonchalant smile that Pollux gave him made him feel even more pissed. He could vividly remember what had happened at that time.

It was four years ago that Castor was in the middle of killing his target when Ace interfered out of nowhere. The nonsense he spout gave an opening to the man they had set their sights upon long ago to escape.

The picture of the black hair of the wounded man remained fresh in Castor's mind. Pollux wasn't aware of who exactly was her brother's target since she was sent away on a different mission.

"He let that monster escape. Even though I managed to wear him out..."

That was the fact that even 'Ace' was aware of. Yes, of course, he would've denied the same thing for various reasons.

The disappointment was quite visible on Castor's face when he said that. Witnessing that expression, Pollux's eyes squinted to adjust along with her mouth.

"Can't we just go and get him this time?"

A smile that craved blood and more fights appeared on her lips. Pollux was a total maniac when it came to fighting with strong people.

Castor's body shuddered for a split second, noticing the absurd madness glowing in his sister's eyes. Unlike her, Castor was someone who preferred to shed less blood.

That personality of his was taken advantage of by the man whom he just cursed a while ago. Castor still remembered how Adrienne, who was on the verge of death, was able to escape thanks to the useless conversation 'Ace' started.

"We might not get the chance... It's 'Ace' who is after them, you know."

Thinking about him, both of them were getting chills and goosebumps. There was a reason they detested 'Ace' a bit too much. No matter what task it was, he would complete it in a twisted way.

Again, that situation in itself was a thrill for Pollux. Her instincts were hungry for a crazy fight. The reason she was still working for that organisation was because she was getting to fight strong individuals.

Recently, her mind happened to have a minor change due to the comparatively weak targets being assigned to her. She smiled, her right eye appearing to be smaller than her left.

"Isn't that location just nearby? Should we just kill those 'Numbers'?"

Cough cough

Castor was unable to believe his ears. Pollux was spouting some heavy nonsense. Was she drunk on some liquor or something similar?

He couldn't even fathom what would happen if they were to interrupt some other member's tasks. Not to mention, 'Ace' was one of the highest-ranking individuals within the organisation.

"Shut up. We are leaving for our next mission. Follow m-!"

Castor was speaking when his gaze happened to fall behind the empty space. Pollux had already run off somewhere before he could do anything.

"AHH! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!"

The echoes of his yells vibrated throughout the whole forest they were in. The next thing he knew was that he was rushing in the direction he could sense his sibling running in.

The empty area near the eastern edges of the Elven Forest was silent for a while. Along with those two people leaving after making a fuss, all the other creatures nearby fled away too.

BYAAAAT

Not really. The small sound was barely audible even amidst the silence. Something rolled out of the bush next to the minotaur corpse.

The black ball of fur that had been trying to follow certain people had managed to make it there. Just what in the world is this tiny being?