NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter-134 Regal Rite
Should he use <Enthrall>? Ewan thought. Kidd was sharper than he expected. Ewan’s estimation of him was of a blabbermouth who heard gossip here and there, not of someone who could deduce the situation based on hearsay. Did he notice the spell Ewan used on him back on the ship too then? Or was he overestimating him because he caught him off guard this time? Regardless, the safer option here was to negotiate without the spell. After this, he could try and confirm his suspicions.
“Yes,” Ewan said. “I want you to keep her away. Will you take Crelith coins for it?”
“Boss, you’re being cheap….”
“What, Novas coins then?”
Kidd shook his head. “Make me your retainer and I’ll do it for you, it’ll come under my duties then,” he said.
Ewan frowned then laughed. “Retainer? Do you think I’m some noble?”
“Retainer, servant, lackey, whatever you want to call it. I want to follow you,” Kidd said.
“Why the sudden interest in me?” Ewan asked. “Didn’t you want to join the ship’s crew? Changed your mind?”
“Cork’s family but he can't help me reach the heights. I wanted to get close to the Severynth that’s supporting him but then I found you,” Kidd said, staring at Ewan, his eyes glittering.
“Quite ambitious and calculative,” Ewan said, arching his eyebrows. “What makes you think I’ll accept your proposal after you say that?”
“You have the same smell as me,” he said. “You’re the benefitting party in this deal, you wouldn’t refuse just because of a flaw in my character.”
“Is it a flaw?” Ewan sniggered. “Fine, I’ll accept you as my ‘retainer’,” he said. Though he liked living alone, this was a compromise he had to make.
Kidd beamed at his words, his eyes widening. “Thank you, Boss! I promise I’ll forever be loyal to you and never let you down.” He bowed ninety degrees, his abrupt yell jerking the napping sailor awake.
Loyalty…
It was a foreign concept for Ewan. He knew its meaning yet didn’t understand its essence. How did it work? What made someone loyal beyond his self-interest? Kidd must be sincere in his words right now since the exhilaration from success was clouding his rationale. But what about later when he cooled down? What if one day his ambitions opposed his loyalty to Ewan? The barrage of questions muddled his brain, and he could only sigh at his inability to comprehend it.
“We’ll see,” Ewan said. “Bring the slaves later to my villa, and hand this over to Cork.” He tossed a pouch full of Novas coins to Kidd and walked away.
“Yes, Boss!” Kidd shouted.
“Stop yelling already!” The now awake sailor lashed out.
……
Ewan came back to his villa, and an hour later, Kidd arrived with the slaves. Ten Boxaflies lined up behind him in the yard, dazed, unfocused, and some drooling as if a fool. The slave merchants must’ve broken them too far, they were of no use to anyone anymore—except for experiments and sacrifices. Did Cork realize what Ewan was doing? Not that it mattered much but...
“Why are they like that?” Ewan asked, frowning.
“Cork said this is the best he could get this time. As an apology, he’ll give you discount the next time,” Kidd said, looking around the villa.
“He couldn’t tell that to me himself?” Ewan said. This kind of shady behavior in a business transaction wasn’t pleasant at all, it left a bad taste in his mouth—because he was on the receiving end of it. “Forget it, get them lined up over there.” He pointed to a corner in the yard. The compensation could come later. For now, he had to complete the sacrifice and get Iris to Grade-S.
“Boss…your place seems a bit weird. It’s eerie…,” Kidd said, leading the slaves by their ropes.
“Why, did you see a ghost?”
Kidd shivered. “Is your place haunted?” he asked.
“Yes, it is.” Ewan laughed it off, but his mind raced. Kidd was sensitive to something, either the concentration of Anima or the history of this place. Ewan used his mystic-element affinity and moved the Anima. They slowly gathered from afar, swirled and danced, and soon stormed around him.
He glanced at Kidd but there was no reaction, not even a hidden flinch or a twitch. Unless this teen was a master of disguise and could deceive him, it wasn’t the Mystic-Anima he was sensitive to—the confirmation put Ewan at ease.
The history of the massacre in the villa should’ve changed the concentration of Anima around it. Blood and Dark-Anima would be in abundance, the others would only exist in patches. So, most likely, Kidd was sensitive to these two. After all, there was no precedent for someone who was sensitive to history. Nevertheless, his speculations could gallop all they wanted but he had no way to confirm any of it.
Iris’s affinity stood at Recipient-level, and the blood rune provided Ewan with the same. It allowed him access to blood-element spells but couldn’t let him manipulate the Anima like his mystic-favored. He could cast a spell and check Kidd’s reaction, but it would be hard to determine what attracted him—the movement of the Anima or the spell itself.
“B-Boss….do I have to live in there too?” Kidd asked.
“We’ll talk about that later. First, prepare them,” he said. “Kneel them down in a line.”
He planned to make Kidd watch this time. More than testing his will, Ewan wanted to use these bloody theatrics to make him give up on the ‘retainer’ business.
And he brought Iris out and prepared his Obsidian Dagger, standing behind the kneeling Boxaflies. Kidd watched from the side as Ewan grabbed one slave’s head, tilted it back, and slit his throat. Blood gushed out and sprayed in the air, blooming a flower, while Kidd gasped and took a step back, his eyes widening.
Give up by the tenth….
Ewan glanced at Kidd then went to the second sacrifice and slit his throat too. The blood drenched Iris who trembled under the warm shower—her rite had started.
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