Another out of the ordinary statement left their young lord's mouth; so unbelievable it was this time, they thought they weren't - really - there and instead were in their beds dreaming. Because only then would it make sense. Only in the illusory realm of dreams with its infinite possibilities, would such a thing be possible.
"If you want to find him so much, mister Brice, then go ahead." Theron calmly said and lackadaisically lifted his arm to point behind him at the store, ignoring the turmoil he caused with his earlier short statement. "His corpse is lying in a secret room, past a passage from the store's warehouse." he finished by saying. His words were cold without any hint of remorse in them, even after having taken a fellow human's life.
"Now, if you'd excuse me, I need to go home. I am already late as it is."
All of them heard him and saw him pointing to the grocery store, but they stayed frozen and muted, nonetheless.
Even when Theron descended the store's doorstep and got in front of them, they only instinctively moved a little aside to make a path for him. As they watched him turn and walk along the market street towards the east, a speck of awe appeared in their eyes.
It was only when his small figure disappeared in the dark distance of the street that they unfroze from their stupor.
They kept turning their heads around and muttering to the person next to them, commenting on their young lord's skills and mental fortitude.
Ulise was deep in his thoughts, wondering about the young lord's state of mind and behavior. It was truly hard to believe that such a young kid could be capable of murder, even if it was for self-preservation. And that lackadaisical attitude of his after that was kind of bizarre to say the least.
Brice on the other hand, had his mouth still hung open from the shock. No clear thoughts run inside his mind. It took him a few moments longer than the rest to recover. When he closed his mouth again and gulped with his dry throat, he heard all the chattering from his underlings and snapped.
"SILENCE!" he shouted, and all of them stopped muttering about and turned to face him. "We still need to confirm the kill.... but first!" Turning to two of them to the right, he pointed and said: "You two follow young lord up to his home and make sure nothing else happens to him!"
"Yes, captain!" they answered at the same time. But as they ran to catch up to their young lord, they kept thinking what the others likewise thought: 'Does young lord even need our protection?'
If his statement of killing the madman Gren Vegor - who had one of the most deranged and crazy minds the four prefectures ever came to know about - was indeed true, could anyone else on this otherwise peaceful city, be capable enough to threaten his life? The unbelievable answer to that was a resounding no!
"Now! Let's go inside and see for ourselves." Brice said before walking towards the store's entrance, cutting the phrase short and leaving the part they all knew to be wondering about, out and unspoken.
After seeing their captain Ulise walk one step behind Brice, they quickly hurried along to follow them inside as well.
After entering the storeroom to the back of the store and travelled along the dark passage, they found themselves inside Gren Vegor's laboratory.
The green glowing liquid inside some of the vials, and the always stable, likewise green, glowing lines and embedded crystals across the four walls, took their breath away the moment they entered their eyes. Although they were not into scienty stuff like Theron was to know what their existence meant or the potential their uses held, it was their first time witnessing such forms and applications of the mekron crystals, so it shocked them, nonetheless.
But seeing the dead body of Gren Vegor lying there, behind the marbled counter, already bled out and cold, was what truly shook them to their core. Its open eyes, lifeless now, but still holding on to the fear of death their deceased owner must have felt up to his last breath, were watching them just as how they had watched their killer until their lights went out.
The moment they received that stare of death, had all of them experience the biggest chills of their lives ran up their spines; their hair rose and bones froze stone cold all the way to their finger and toes' tips. It wasn't as if they hadn't seen a corpse before, they had seen many, and lots of them were in a gorier state than this one.
What they found hard to believe was the intense emotion of that fear of death that still lingered in Gren Vegor's lightless eyes!
That kind of intense emotion of fear and pain still lingering in his dead eyes could only be witnessed when somebody was inflicted with many specially targeted wounds during a short session of torture.
In the case in front of them though, there was no clause for that feeling to have been such intense, as only a single clean wound was observed to be present on the corpse.
By examining it even closer, the wound appeared to be created by a steady and quick thrust to the middle of the throat. There were no hesitation nor uncontrolled feelings like anger in the execution of the strike from the killer's side, just cold-blooded killing desire to end his opponent's life.
Anyone else who was living normal lives would have been horrified by their thoughts and conclusions by now, but they obviously weren't such people.
Standing over the corpse of the deranged Gren Vegor, small smiles started appearing on their faces, with Brice having the most broad one. Concurrently, a new light emerged from the depths of their eyes, while thinking about their young lord and his skills.
It was the light of genuine respect and admiration. It was the same as what they felt for their young miss, but, at the same time, also different.
While for their adoration for their young miss they would drag without any delay any b*stard that would dare hurt her, through the blazing levels of hell and back, as her child, they were only obliged to protect the young lord as part of that duty and for nothing more. What they saw today though forced them to collectively change their views and stances about him.
Just imagining the future and valiant form of their young lord, made their blood boil and drove them to swore within themselves the vow of loyalty to him from that point on. Even when they are in their sixties and old, they will still follow him anywhere and anytime if he tells them to!
"AHAHAHAHAHAH!" A wild laughter suddenly echoed inside the green glowing room, drawing everyone's attention from the corpse to its source.
Brice had leaned his head back and was excitedly laughing his heart out, thinking about the future when he would be fighting beside his young lord.
He awkwardly stopped immediately though after just a few seconds when he felt all eyes fall upon him.
"What you are looking at, you lot! Hurry up and start packing every instrument and vial in this room to be delivered to the family!" He commanded at once, skillfully escaping the awkward moment.
Although Gren Vegor was of a deranged and mad mind, that didn't change the fact that he was of a brilliant one at the same time. Everything in the room was of great research value to the family.
"You two, what are you doing?! Leave the cleaning of this b*stard for last! If he obstructs your way with his maggot of a body, then step on him!" He yelled when he saw two of his subordinates trying to lift the corpse off the ground; cruelty and disgust for the fallen Gren Vegor undisguised in his loud voice. "Let him feel the cold, dirty floor while in the afterlife some more."
Brice and Ulise then supervised, as everyone else started stripping the crystals and lines off the walls, sorted things out and then put everything in crates they took from the grocery storeroom.
Meanwhile. at most half an hour later, Theron finally reached home. Each of his breaths was hurried as he tried to take in oxygen after finishing the fastest run of his second life. When he opened the door and was immediately swept into a tight embrace by Alicia, he almost passed out from not taking in enough air.
Following that tough and suffocating action of love, he was scolded by both Frank and Alicia, with Alicia starting to show signs of forming tears at the corners of her eyes.
Theron immediately apologized of course, thinking quickly of an excuse for being late that had him held back to work by his boss to show him a new smelting technique which had many steps to follow.
Thankfully, they calmed quickly after hearing it, with Alicia not establishing any curfews or insisting on one of them to be accompanying him every time he left the house or his work in the future.
After ending that conversation, Theron proceeded to lay on his bed, exhausted. This long day was finally coming to an end.
With his hands over his stomach, he was feeling the book he took from the laboratory underneath his shirt. Thoughts and ideas over his future path and what he needed to accomplish them, kept swirling between his mind gears, as the accumulated exhaustion on his five-years-old body gradually dragged his eyelids shut and him to sleep.