The Crownhorn farm incident (part 4)

The night wasn't really that dark, with the bright night sky with myriads of stars as well as the light being on in at least two-thirds of the rooms in the building.

Theo's wound wasn't a shallow cut – the blade made a mark in the bone while tearing through the skin, tendons, and whatever tissue was connected with both of those.

"Shh. Language, little Tee. You are in the presence of a lady."

The person who ambushed the dark-brown-haired boy spoke up while taking off their vest and bounding it up before gently seating the paralyzed Zorivia on top of it.

"...!"

Despite being only a whisper, the words that the person spoke made Theo freeze up as his eyes widened.

"Y-you...! Medea, you piece of shit! What the fuck are YOU doing here?! Just wait until Boss hears about this!"

Theo could not stand it any longer, and just as he did a few days earlier in the town square of Startinton, he leashed out on the black-haired boy that – coincidentally – was wearing the same looking clothes as he had...

"Aww~ You believe that a moron who messed up a relatively decent plan and went into hiding for over a year is still the Boss of our little group? How naive~"

"Wh...! What the hell do you mean by that...?!"

Medea answered to only one question, but it was enough to cause the dark-brown-haired boy to break into a cold sweat.

"Nothing that a dead man should be bothered with~"

Medea smiled friendlily and raised his hand to show off the knife that still had Theo's blood on the blade.

"You...! You can't be serious...! You're just an errand boy. You will not get away with thi-FUGH...!"

*WHAM*

Theo flinched, but soon enough, he regained the bravado and growled – just to get his nose and teeth broken by Medea's knee as the boy launched himself at him without further explanation.

*THUMP*

"GHAAAGH-ghhfgh..!"

Theo tumbled back, spewing blood and teeth like a fountain, and ended up slamming the back of his head against the ground.

Hard.

"You could have just refused this kidnapping job and settle on the nice and easy stealing. Now I'm going to make big sister Lea sad."

Medea sighed, approaching the seemingly concussed Theo and standing over him with disappointment.

*crack* *ZAP*

Then, suddenly, the injured dark-brown-haired boy moved his hand, revealing that he had another paralysis pellet – he crushed it and unleashed the magic held within, sending it Medea's way.

"H-ha...! Serves yhour rhiths!"

Theo scoffed, slowly getting up on his elbows and flashing a bloody toothless smile to the black-haired boy standing still.

*thump*

"Ghuh...?"

The next moment something hit Theo's chest, pushing him back down to the ground with a pained groan.

"...wh-whaf...?"

The dark-brown-haired boy braved through the pain to look down at the object...

"!!!"

And trembled, unable to say a thing after seeing the handle of the knife, which blade was embedded entirely within his flesh.

"You attacked me. I made a promise that if you attack me again, I will gut you like a fish."

"?!?!"

Medea, unaffected by the paralysis pellet pointed out, reached down to firmly grab his knife, and as he was leaning down, a pendant slid out from beneath his undershirt.

It was a heart, looking as if it was made out of a common white river stone.

*CRUNCH*

Then, Medea pulled on the knife – only not back to excavate it, but vertically down, cleaving through Theo's ribcage and stomach all the way to his waist.

"...geh..."

The dark-brown-haired boy's eyes turned white, and he let out a rather anticlimactic dying breath.

"..."

Medea wasn't done yet, though.

He grabbed one of Theo's arms and turned the corpse to the side. And...

*WHAM* *SPLURT*

Kicked the body in the back, causing various intestines to evacuate the body through the newest cavity.

"Hmph."

The black-haired boy scoffed at the corpse and leaned down, taking out the heavy dagger that Theo had hidden in the sheath behind his back and concealed the newly acquired weapon in roughly the same spot.

*sniffle* *sob* *sob* *sniffle*

"...!"

As Medea was cleaning his own knife and securing it back into his sleeve, a sound of muffled crying got his attention.

He hurriedly turned around just to find out that the effects of the paralysis pellet that Theo used on Zorivia had already faded away, but instead of running away, the blond-haired girl was bawling her eyes out while hugging her knees and rocking back and forth – unable to take her eyes away from the corpse that was her kidnapper only a few moments earlier.

|He must have wanted to be able to tie her up as soon as possible, so he probably got a pellet that would have a strong but short-lasting effect.|

Medea realized and bit the inside of his cheek, quite troubled.

When he initially placed the paralyzed girl against the building, he made sure that she would be facing some other way so that she would be able to hear but not see the gruesome end of the dark-brown-haired youngster.

From Medea's perspective, it was leaving a message, but from Zorivia's...?

How could witnessing something like that be anything less than a horrifyingly traumatic experience?

"Zorivia. Zorivia, everything's okay."

"...!"

Medea approached the blond-haired girl and spoke up softly while sitting by her side and getting her attention.

"First things first – let's get you back to your room. Okay?"

The boy tilted his head with a serious expression, but his voice remained pampering as if he was speaking to a small and cute animal.

"N-no... but... but... you... him...!"

Zorivia was short of breath as if she had run a marathon while trying to speak, but her eyes kept wandering off to the brutalized corpse, and the sight was gnawing at her mental stability.

"You truly are something. Being compassionate to the scum that tried to kidnap and sell you off to who knows where. Dummy~"

"B-but... this... w-wait... you...! You are that boy...!"

The black-haired boy laughed, making sure to get the blond-haired girl's attention away from the unsightly scene, and he did succeed quite splendidly.

"Being able to recognize me after four years, and in such bad lighting too, I am honored."

*chuu*

Medea gently picked took Zorivia's hand, mindful of whether she was okay with it or not, and seeing her being entirely focused on him, he kissed her knuckles.