Chapter 12. Who Are You
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"What's happening, Ferr?" Sir Giles asked and approached the man known as Ferr, who was responsible for holding the camera and for procuring the device that allowed them to eavesdrop on the conversation below.
After checking his equipment and the device to ensure everything was functioning properly, Ferr sighed and replied, "I have no idea. Everything is in order. The only possible issue could be: the bug connector on Old Tigo has been removed. It's… Hmmm… Expensive…"
His voice carried a weight of heartache, reflecting not only his concern for the camera but also the precarious situation happened to Old Tigo.
…
After lifting Old Tigo again by the hair, Mayor Lucca suddenly thrust his finger, digging into the flesh behind the former's ear. There was a suspicious bump clustered beneath his skin, and Old Tigo winced in pain.
"Uhhhhh…" Old Tigo groaned, his body tensing as the pressure increased.
Mayor Lucca eventually extracted a small metallic object that resembled a spider.
And he recognized it immediately.
This was an outdated device used by people from the Central to listen covertly to the conversations of others.
Due to its low production cost, a few of the Vanguard squads to this very day still employed it for reconnaissance, espionage, surveillance, or investigations into organizations suspected of posing a threat to the empire.
"Nice one. Seems you are in it too, huh, Tigo? Not only do you mingle with people from the underside, but you even work with them!? Now tell me, where is it?" Mayor Lucca crushed the device in his hand. The remnants fell to the ground, a testament to his anger.
With great effort, Old Tigo slowly shifted his body, turning his shoulder, neck, and eyes to meet Mayor Lucca's gaze. After much struggle, he finally succeeded.
Face to face with him in his blurry sight, Tigo's rage surged.
He spat directly onto Lucca's face, who managed to close his eyes in response to his unexpected action―a mixture of blood and saliva landed on the latter's face.
Old Tigo scoffed; his intonation was that of contempt. "Heh, you f*cking loser. Over my dead body if you ever want to touch even a fraction of it!!"
One of the guards, panicking, hastily brought a handkerchief to Mayor Lucca.
The mayor apathetically accepted it, his expression unchanging as the guard quickly retreated to his original position with inaudible steps.
Lucca wiped his face, his indifferent eyes remained fixed on Old Tigo, who was busy gathering more saliva and blood in his mouth, preparing for another round of spittle. The mockery in his glowering eyes was unmistakable.
"Crrraacccchhh…"
Just as Old Tigo was about to spit again, Mayor Lucca swiftly pressed the handkerchief to his mouth, silencing him.
Not finished yet, he followed up with a punch to Old Tigo's face, causing his consciousness to teeter on the brink of slipping away.
Old Tigo fell to the ground, regrettably landing headfirst.
Creating a wound that served as yet another source of blood flowing from his head. Grasping him by the collar, Mayor Lucca fixed his gaze upon him, their eyes locking in a fierce battle of wills.
"C'mon, Tigo, stop this folly. Tell me!!? Where is it?"
"If the Central is so amazing, why don't they come here on their own? Let me guess. They're afraid of germs, aren't they? Damned puppies who can't even look at sh*t without throwing up even though they are the ones who dumped it. Even a dog has much better morals than you all. LOOOSSSEEERRRR!!!" Old Tigo's voice grew hoarser as he coughed, blood seeping even more from his mouth.
"If you don't tell me now, you know they'll torture you again, right? Once people from the Central arrive here, they will have no choice but to search your memories. You will lose everything. Even yourself by then. And your struggle now will be for nothing. Their dead too will be for nothing…"
"Don't you dare mention their death right on my face!!!" Old Tigo gritted his teeth, eyes bursting with fire at Lucca. "From the very first start, you can stop all of this. But you didn't, you coward. You wretched monkey. It was all your fault. Coward!!!"
As he spoke, blood, tears, and saliva spurted onto Mayor Lucca's face, he closed his eyes.
Seizing the moment, Old Tigo summoned all the strength he could muster and moved his head, attempting to bite the mayor's nose. Lucca instinctively jerked his head back, and Old Tigo's audacity was met with another punch that sent him crashing down once more to the ground.
"C'mon. You'll be tortured even worse than this if you don't tell me now," Mayor Lucca's frown deepened as he tightened his grip on Old Tigo's collar.
"Try me then. Cough, cough, cough. Well, here's a hint. I lost all my magic, not because of the injury, but because I used all of it until it broke, to lock my mind. Try it then. TRY IT!!! Let's see how many I manage to kill once they dare to touch it. Cough, cough, cough…"
Old Tigo's eyes blazed with an unquenchable fury and unwavering resolve, even amidst his soaked sweat and bloodied body.
"So, you let yourself become this old and sickly just to hide it?"
"Ha, at least I'm not like you, who submitted willingly like the trash you are. Even if it means I'll be damned forever, I won't betray the others who died for this. Even Jess and Kris, those two scaredy cats, died like the heroes they are. What about you? You loser!!!"
"What about me? What about me, Hahhh?"
This time, the mayor fixed a knife-like glare at Old Tigo, his voice escalating to a fever pitch.
His face transformed into a grotesque mask of wrath; each feature twisted by a tempest of violent, uncontrollable rage. The emotions he had long suppressed erupted violently, spilling forth like a torrent unleashed from a tightly sealed reservoir deep within his soul.
"What is it you all idiots are actually fighting for? For those bastards who stabbed you in the back when they had the chance? We fight for them. We sacrifice all of our time to train ourselves so we can protect them. But once a platter of gold is served onto their faces, what then? They willingly betray us. Did you forget how the others died?" he gritted his teeth to lower his voice.
Eyes filled with hatred in the exchange of this staggering ire between the two of them.
"But not all of them are wrong. Lots of them are innocent. Have you lost your mind to blame everyone your eyes can see?" Old Tigo flared back without fear, his voice unwavering.
Mayor Lucca spoke, now calmed down, "… they are innocent. Yes. Until they aren't anymore…" Mayor Lucca's neck twitched slightly to the side, a subtle yet unsettling, grotesque movement.
For a fleeting moment, Lucca's eyes glazed over, vacant and hollow as if an unfamiliar shadow had passed over his soul.
While this happened, Old Tigo's heart galloped.
He widened his eyes in horror. His breath hitched in his throat as he noticed something sinister writhing beneath the skin of Lucca's face. It began at the exposed flesh of his neck, a ripple that slithered upward, weaving its way under the taut skin.
Tigo's sight was drawn to the corner of Lucca's right eye. Countless tiny legs emerged, writhing in a macabre dance.
The sight was reminiscent of a millipede, but far more disturbing―an abomination that defied nature itself.
"Wha-what. What are you? … Who are you?" Tigo's trembling lips tightened as he tried to comprehend the mystery behind what was happening to Lucca, his old friend from the past when they were still knights under the Central Region.
…
(A/N)
(2) "The Central" in fact served as the capital and the very heart of the Eschaton Empire, strategically located at the midpoint of the Four Vassal States. The current events of the novel unfold in Ralrain, one of these four vassals, specifically within the city of Mirthwater.
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