Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"Hey I wanted to ask you a question."

Lucius was in the middle of slurping down the soup that went with his meal. His face had long since healed thanks to Rena's spells and the healing potion he was given, however there was still a dull throb in his jaw that had yet to go away and the warmth of the soup helped soothe it.

When he was finished gulping down his food, he let out a satisfied sigh, wiped his face, and then finally answered. "What's up, Jen?"

"Why haven't you used that 'Sand Veil' thing before?" she asked.

Rena looked curious too. It made sense why though, he had never used it around her. There were a lot of skills he never used around her.

"Hmm, no reason other than some of my skills look bad on Rena. I respect her so I try my best not to make her look bad." Lucius answered.

It was the truth. If he did not care about what his skills would make Rena look like as the person with a servant using the kind of skills he possessed, then he would simply use everything. A win was a win after all.

"You should use that one more often in battle. Especially against monsters. It might even have helped with the twin-headed bear. It definitely would have helped with that hostage situation too."

"Eh, wasn't worth it."

"Saving those people wasn't worth revealing your skill?" Paul asked. His voice was as plain as ever but he seemed slightly annoyed.

Lucius sat for a moment and thought about it. Before, when he thought back to that moment he felt regret for a moment, then that cold sensation took it away. Now…he did not feel regret. He just did not feel anything. It truly felt like it wasn't worth his time.

"No. It wasn't. I didn't know them anyway so why should I risk Rena's image with something as pointless as a few villagers. Besides, no guarantee they wouldn't have just slit their throats anyway. In that position, being blinded wouldn't impair their ability to finish off those hostages in their arms." Lucius said with a shrug before taking a drink of his juice. To him, the logic was there.

Should he be concerned that the initial feelings he had about it were gone?

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'Nah, it's probably nothing. Just maturing and recognizing the logic of the situation.' He thought to himself.

"You're kind of a bastard aren't you?" Lethen blurted out. He instantly received harsh glances from Rena.

"I don't know…maybe? I was adopted so there has to be a reason for that. One is on my hand. Another is because of my race…so bastard could be an option." Lucius mused.

The air around the table became still and awkward. Lethen uncomfortably rubbed his neck, Jen averted her eyes, Paul began staring at his cup and Rena simply looked at her hands that she had placed in her lap.

"Well, I'm going to go take a walk…" Lucius said while standing up. Rena began to get up as well, so he followed up with, "Alone."

His friend sat back down in silence, so he turned around and walked through the sea of tables and feet that made up the first floor of the Whistling Wolf. Once outside, he was greeted by the cool night air and a bright moon. It was so bright that even a normal human would not need to use a torch to see.

Lucius turned and walked in no particular direction, just walking to walk. He did not have to clear his head or anything, he just saw the party getting uncomfortable so removed himself from the situation.

After a few minutes he heard the sounds of an argument off in the distance and decided to follow it for curiosity's sake. In order to locate the source he had long since left the main road and towards a less affluent and safe part of town. The buildings became so tightly packed that the bright light of the moon barely reached the ground.

After turning through multiple corners, he closed in on the sound. He had been following the people arguing for quite some time and wondered if they were ever going to stop moving. It was at that moment, they ducked into a shabby looking warehouse that looked like it had been abandoned decades ago.

"…I told you it's too risky! She has those two Advance Ranks with her…plus there's that boy. He could smell us from a mile away! He's going to recognize me if I get close somewhere strange…"

"So what? They have my family…what am I supposed to do? Also, you were supposed to make sure he died out there…"

"I did! How was I supposed to know that The Marks would show up?! And don't complain about family to me! They have mine too, you know!"

One voice was that of a man and the other was a woman. He recognized the woman's voice instantly, but while the man sounded familiar, Lucius couldn't place it exactly… He shrugged and walked through the door.

Both of the people arguing stopped talking and gasped when the saw Lucius enter the building and then slam the door closed behind him. He saw that there was no way to lock it, so he simply let the door be and turned around to face the two people.

The man, looked somewhat familiar, but he still could not place who it might be. On the other hand, the woman was very familiar. She was even still wearing her receptionist uniform from the guild.

"So. You guys are trying to hurt Rena? And you miss…gosh I cant remember your name. You took off your name tag at least but next time you scheme, maybe remove the uniform as well." Lucius called out.

The two people's jaws swung open. They had no idea that he had been following them, let alone listening in on their conversation.

"So…you recommended that bandit quest to us in the hopes we would die out there, huh?" He asked in a low tone.

"Y-y-yes… I-I-I had too. My husband…my son they have them so…"

"Same here! They have my wife and children! Please… we had no choice!"

Lucius felt a twinge of understanding and concern for these two… but it was replaced with that strange chill again and the emotions were gone. It felt as though whatever was making him feel this way was…conditioning him?

"Please… Lucius…"

"You, man over there. Who hired you?"

"I can't answer that! They'll kill my family. Please if you save my family I'll tell you everything you want to know. Please."

"Answer my question." Lucius growled. He felt the familiar feeling of his teeth growing in length. His senses sharpened. He was angry, and yet…the chill never came.

"I can't do tha…" the man began. Before his voice caught in his throat. Blood dribbled down his neck as he felt the sharp edge of Lucius' machete pressed against him.

"How old are your kids?"

"Ten. They're ten."

"I don't know any ten year olds unfortunately. And I don't know you. Sorry" Lucius informed him. With a quick flick of his wrists, the weapon sliced cleanly through the man's neck. His body dropped to the floor and his head rolled away.

"Alright. Miss Receptionist. Who hired you to harm Rena?"

"What about his family! You killed them, you…"

"And?"

"Please…I don't know who hired us. They simply left us letters in our home after work one day. Our families were gone and there was a warning and orders. I swear…please."

"How old is your child?"

"He's only five… please…I told you what you wanted… so please…" The receptionist begged on her knees, tears poured from her eyes like waterfalls. She was desperately clinging on to Lucius' leg.

"That was useless information. I can't do anything with a letter." Lucius muttered as he kicked the woman away from him. She landed on her back with a thud that knocked the wind out of her. She quickly got onto her hands and knees again, and clutched her chest, trying desperately to get her lungs to allow her to breathe once more.

Lucius slowly walked up to her and slashed the back of her neck, separating the head from the body like he did with the man. He let out a deep sigh and looked at the scene. The warehouse was mostly empty, save for the bodies and random trash and old boxes and crates. Lucius gathered the crates and trash and piled them in the center of the building.

It was mostly made of wood anyway, so his idea would probably work.

He took out a set of matches and oil. After dousing the pile with oil, he poured a trail over to each of the bodies. It took him about three bottles of the stuff, but he was satisfied with the outcome. Lucius struck a match and tossed it into the pile he made. It quickly caught fire thanks to the extra fuel.

The warehouse caught fire quickly as well, so he jumped to the rooftops to flee the area. He was not worried about the crimes being linked to him, and even if they were, he felt he had the right of it anyway for protecting Rena. What he wanted out of this was to delay people in finding out these two were dead.

The longer it took for people to realize they had been killed, the longer the people who hired them would take to find replacements that would put Rena in danger again.

Because he took the long way around, by the time he returned to the Whistling Wolf, most of the crowd had left. On top of that, many had been distracted by the sights and sounds of a fire breaking out in town. It was easily doused thanks to some people who could use water magic, so there was no real threat to the neighboring buildings.

Even so, by the time it was fully out, the bodies would be completely unrecognizable.

"Lucius! Are you okay? You've been gone a while and then a fire broke out!" Rena's voice greeted him from across the now empty dining area. She ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Look…I'm sorry about what they said to you… if you want, we can find a different party. It will be hard to find someone that can take us on Intermediate Rank Quests, but we can do it."

He patted her on the top of her head. "I'm fine. I wasn't upset. I actually left cus everyone else was feeling awkward. I only got distracted while I was out. So it's okay."

"Alright then. Jen found another quest for us!"

"Perfect."