In an age of technology and digitalisation, an age where information is the most valuable resource and any trace you leave on the internet can be found with little effort, the fallen still couldn't understand what his Mechanism was or who Brinel was. Why not search the internet, go to the streams and find out instantly? Why, when there are old ways that work and can get results? But that just leads to stagnation and the illusion that everything is fine and working. Maybe everything works, but without optimisation and cutting unnecessary costs. Stupidity, complete mental disability and degradation.
That's why Castor laughed. The fallen use old methods without resorting to modern technology. Poor... Idiots. Of course, he may be wrong, but if he used high technology, they would have tried to kill him, hack him or discredit him online long ago. And it would be easy to track him down and find his home to finish him off without any witnesses. Brinel had many ideas in his head, but the fallen lacked the brains to carry them out... Which was surprising and extremely suspicious. A commander of the Black Wings must be flexible in his thinking and knowledgeable, otherwise he is nothing more than dead weight.
"You could have looked me up on the Internet and made your life easier. I think a search engine would have quickly found a League of Legends streamer with my name," Castor explained his thoughts to the fallen woman, whose real name he did not know. But did he really need to know it?
"What?" The woman looked at him fearfully, and Brinel stopped smiling, looking seriously at the fallen woman, who buried her head in her shoulders under his puzzled gaze.
"What words caused difficulty in your thought process?" The mage looked ahead and whispered, "If you have one at all."
"The League of Legends," the woman replied quietly, as if afraid of angering him. Castor just shook his head. He had long since unlearned how to get truly angry, replacing it with indifference.
"A computer game, spawned by the sick fantasies of moral freaks incapable of empathy, understanding, or honesty. Ahem..." Brinel coughed when she looked at him with a silent question. "I apologise. The time I spent there left a deep emotional scar on me.
"Me too," thundered the glove that appeared on his hand. Ddraig had been asking to join the conversation the whole time, and now was a good moment to reveal himself.
"The Welsh Dragon..." the fallen woman whispered incredulously, staring wide-eyed at the red spiked glove with a green crystal on the back of the palm.
"To sum up, your boss gets corpses as a result of his operation, a polite message to go away, and a warning in the form of the possibility of ending up among the ice sculptures.
"Or maybe he won't, that depends on you," added Brinel when the fallen woman jerked, clearly struggling with the urge to run away from him.
"What are you... What do you want?" the woman said in a trembling voice. Castor looked at her and smiled again. At that moment, she was surely thinking through all the possible outcomes and the price she might have to pay.
"Tell me about your plans," the mage said, bringing his face closer to hers and smiling slyly. "Tell me the small details, your goals, your accomplices, your secret moves... Everything you know. And then," he smiled a casual smile and swept his hand across the evening sky. "All of you will become free birds, free to fly wherever your heart desires. Give it up..." Brinel glanced at the fallen woman for a moment. "And die, becoming a monument to the incompetence of your leader and your own stupidity.
"Cocoabiel will skin us alive," the fallen woman whispered, swallowing hard. "And the rest of them are loyal to him.
"I don't care. At least I'll get a peaceful life for a while. However..." Brinel thought for a moment, frowning slightly. His wealth allowed him to live lavishly, but his habits from his time with Kairn prevented him from spending much, making do with the bare minimum. He also spent a considerable amount of time on household chores, which took away from the time he could spend hating a single game... Or increasing his subscriber count and streaming hours.
"If you're ready to vacuum, dust, run the washing machine, and basically move into a practically empty house, then you have another option.
To be honest... The empty house gave Brinel an unpleasant chill in his chest and a feeling of longing. It was as if he woke up every day in his room at the Academy, walking through empty corridors where there was no one but the ubiquitous guards. Loneliness and emptiness... If there was even one roommate in the house, it would be easier for him. It would be easier to stop thinking about the times when he was an anomaly in the eyes of others, a secret... A monster.
"I'll pay, but without an official job contract," he said. Yes, he was going to pay. Honest work should be honestly rewarded, otherwise it's slavery.
"Maid, right?" the woman asked cautiously, receiving a deep laugh from the dragon in response.
"They won't rape you, or even look at your ass. Castor is the most terrifying virgin and prude in that regard!
"The lizard's grave grows deeper and deeper, and the cold of the grave grows colder and colder..."
"I don't see the point in a relationship at this point in time. Nor in using a woman as... Castor opened his mouth and jerked it shut. No words came out, only unpleasant memories and his own sins made him tremble. But the mage quickly shook off this state, looking back at the woman, waiting for an answer.
"Partner, you're strange. Instead of killing the enemy, you're offering her a job as a maid."
"She's too wrong for a vicious fallen angel. That's why I decided to give her a chance. A single chance to survive and keep her money."
Giving her a second chance... He couldn't afford to do that before, but now? If a person has a tendency to improve, if a person has certain positive qualities, then why not? What about the possibility of being stabbed in the back? He didn't even consider that: the fallen angel didn't have the strength to do it. So why not?
***
Reina couldn't believe her ears or his words. What? Just like that: WHAT?! At first, she thinks that this... Man with icy eyes and a creepy aura, which has replaced the calm coolness. Now she has become as cold as a freshly dug grave in a gloomy cemetery from a horror film. That sticky feeling of fear of the incomprehensible and unknown.
Her smile was no longer cheerful and warm, but gloomy and cold. Like the smile on Kokabiel's face when he is about to execute a subordinate for a mistake. The strange but attractive young man had been replaced by... This. And now it was offering her a deal she had never even dreamed of! Her thoughts were only of death and what it would be like, not all this! And then there was the sudden change in mood during this strange conversation. It was as if something had clicked in his head, forcing him to remember something terrible. Something... Something that had driven him into this gloomy state, from which he quickly emerged. But not quickly enough for her to notice.
"What if I decide to kill you?" the fallen one dared to ask. Quietly and very carefully. Castor just raised an eyebrow.
"You can try, of course. But then I can't guarantee you'll survive.
This is not a threat, not a warning, but a simple statement of fact. His tone, his gaze, and his smile: nothing spoke of... trouble. Brinel seemed to be talking about the weather or the coffee he would drink tonight. Reynal only shuddered at this and looked away. Even Kokabiel didn't talk like that, adding malice or discontent to his tone.
"Let's be objective: I surpass you in dexterity, magic and speed. And also in skill," Brinel created a smooth ice ball in his hand with a single movement. It was like glass, in which you could see your own distorted reflection! Reynal blinked, surprised by the quality.
"If that's not enough, look at this fountain," Castor looked at the water, then with a snap of his fingers turned it into ice. An icy mist appeared around his hand, burning the woman's skin unpleasantly. Then, with another snap, the fountain came back to life.
"So, are you satisfied with this little demonstration of my abilities?"
"Yeah..." Reynal swallowed, staring at the revived water. With a single movement of his hand from such a distance! No beams, streams, or ice shards!"Then what's your answer? I need to hear it right now. My League stream can't wait, and neither can hundreds of subscribers.
The fallen woman looked into the mage's icy eyes, which expressed nothing but a slight interest and anticipation of her answer. She didn't know how to answer that question. However, she wanted to live, and this job shouldn't be too dusty, plus a mage of this calibre could protect her from Kokabiel, who would definitely punish both her and the mage who dared to survive.
"I... I agree..." Reynael squeezed out, deciding to put her fate in Castor's hands. She didn't have much choice anyway — either death or an unknown future. It was better to struggle and try than to die with her hands folded.
"Excellent choice," the woman dared to look at the young man... and was surprised. His smile softened and became friendly, and his gaze became much kinder. "What?"
***
Castor thought. He thought a lot about how to pull off the operation without revealing too much and with maximum efficiency. It was worth remembering the infiltration skills of the Night Blades and using them. Brinel, of course, did not like these skills because of his personal dislike of assassins, but he found their methods effective in this kind of operation.
"I could freeze their entire base and them, with a good setup, but that would immediately attract unnecessary attention. I could get rid of that, but it would take time..."
The mage frowned slightly as he sat down on the sofa. Stealth would allow him to quietly avoid any attention, but that required much more preparation, time, and patience. Plus, it would be worth getting some simple swords, casting simple spells to enhance them, and then killing everyone. Quick and clean, without unnecessary pain. But that would require specific spells and striking power, which would require additional training on top of what he already had.
"Ice or blades. Noise or silence. Attention or calm.
"If I were alive, I would have made a fuss so they would know who they were dealing with," the dragon chuckled and laughed.
"But in your place, I would sweat and keep quiet."
"What do you think, Reynal?"
"Mm, what?" The woman, whose real name he had learned not long ago, was distracted from studying the multicooker.
"Freeze or quietly eliminate?"
The fallen woman looked at him with a surprised expression, clearly not understanding his question or pretending not to. Castor decided not to press her and looked away at the turned-off TV. Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts, but no solution, except that he should sit down and play some game other than League of Legends. He had already streamed today, and for the love of all that was holy... His team was once again full of brainless amoebas, incapable of teamwork or the desire to win. And this was pushing him to the brink of madness, from which there would be no escape. And Castor would become Dantes or Tyler, or that player on Nunu, Kesha. Then he would start screaming, laughing and hating everyone, even himself.
"Okay, this will be a great exercise for me. I'll take the second path.
It will be difficult, but the kind of difficulty that is enjoyable to overcome. Plus, it will shake the rust off the skills he used at the very beginning of Dark Dawn, when he used magic more often. Well... Where can I get a weapon to enchant...
"Reinal, give me the knives.
"Huh?"
***
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