“They’re smart, willing, and determined,” Dephan said. “And… and if they’re your women, that means most people aren’t going to touch them or go against them. They’ll be beyond reproach.”
“Smart,” Irini growled from her corner. “I like that. You should add a few more to their number just in case. Boss can handle at least seven women, I’m sure. One for each day of the week.”
Rolling his eyes, Rene didn’t respond to Irini. He did think it was a good idea, though. Dephan was right.
Especially if he added some context to what he was.
“I murdered Junk for crossing us,” Rene said, leaning forward and putting his elbow on the desk. “I also murdered Ronder, the lieutenant you mentioned, in his cell. I then paid damages to Rene Anatolis, so that he’ll ignore us.
“You’re welcome to spread that around as you see fit. It may just help your girls keep their heads as well if people understand what I’m capable of.”
“We’re capable of,” Irini argued.
“We’re,” Rene amended, not looking at Irini.
“And… speaking of that,” Dephan said, looking at Irini. “Is she a boss or… something else?”
“Her? Well,” Rene mused aloud, turning to look at Irini, who promptly shrugged her shoulders at him.
They’d talked about this briefly and she said she only worked for him and wanted no responsibilities. “Call her Dark Mask, and she’s not a boss. She’s my right hand,” Rene said. “She’ll act on my orders alone, but she won’t give orders. I’d suggest you stay out of her way if she’s doing something. I’ve given her permission to kill anyone at any time if it’s something I need.
“Though I’ll put a limit on that, now that I think about it.”
Rene lifted a hand and pointed at the four women and looked back at Irini.
“They’re off limits. Consider them white-listed. No hurting or killing them unless they betray me,” Rene instructed. “You can help them if you like, that’s up to you.”
“Okay,” Irini said, shrugging her shoulders again. “What’s white-listed mean?”
“Never mind,” Rene said, putting his focus back on Dephan. “As for the Ravens. Alright. Put a bounty on their heads. Ten gold for a confirmed guild member. Five gold for a supporter of the guild.
“This is to happen without the city noticing. That means no collateral damage, no innocents harmed, no leaving corpses out for the public to find. We don’t need even more attention.
“Actually, no, make that twenty gold a head, ten gold for a collaborator or supporter. I’ll take a guild tattoo as proof or if you personally can vouch for the person. Pay them out accordingly. No need to run it by me.”
That’ll give Dephan more power and a way to smooth over palms she needs taken care of.
After all, she probably has people she relies on, right? Time for her to get a chance to pay them off for their help.
Everyone likes to get paid.
“Thank you, boss,” Dephan murmured. It wouldn’t surprise him that she probably understood what he’d just done as well.
“Anything else?” Rene asked.
“Ah… there’s a new lieutenant-captain,” Dephan said. “It’d be better if we could get them bought before someone else does.”
“Fine,” Rene said with a bored sigh. He already knew she was talking about Aurora. There was no mistaking that.
He’d wanted to put that one off as long as possible, but it didn’t seem like it was going to work out in his favor.
“Anything else?” Rene repeated.
“Actually… there is one more thing. I went ahead and got the noble district brothels set up again. The girls are working and everything’s going well,” Dephan said.
Uh huh. So what is it you need?
“I… put someone in charge of one of the brothels that I knew better than to give power to. I—I fucked up,” Dephan said, holding her hands up. “And now they attack anyone I send over to collect the take.”
Rather than respond, Rene turned toward Irini.
“I’ll take care of it,” Irini said. “I’ll make an example out of them. That way, no one is willing to step out of line again.”
“Good,” Rene said then once more put his focus on Dephan.
“I’ll give you a pass this one time. No more mistakes about assignment Anything else?” he once more repeated, unable to keep the smile from his face. Thankfully the mask hid it.
The older woman shook her head.
“Off to business then,” Rene said, standing up. “Oh, and as for my own personal cut. Just send it to Rene Anatolis’ with the account listed as ‘Mask’. I’ve already made arrangements with him.”
Waving a hand, Rene left. He had work to do.
***
Aurora’s home was, as always, pristine.
The woman was a clean freak, Rene supposed. There was never a time when he’d come over, invited or not, and ever found anything out of place.
Everything was exactly where it should and ought to be.
Though there was one very new addition that Rene was rather glad to see.
The perfume bottle he’d given her was sitting on a dresser in her bedroom. There was nothing else on top of the dresser.
Just the bottle.
See? She liked it. More than she was willing to admit.
Even has it in a location where she can show it off to anyone she wants.
You worry too much.
You worry not enough. This is insane. We literally are pursuing a little girl and an actual woman at the same time.
We’ll lose both.
Odelia isn’t a little girl. She’s old enough to get married, drink, smoke, and die for her country here. She’s older than we are.
If anything, Aurora is the one who feels the most awkward about this. She probably looks at us the way you do Odelia.
Rene had a mental roadblock thrown up by that statement.
The Monster wasn’t wrong. It was extremely likely that Aurora did look at him the same way he did Odelia.
That’s problematic, isn’t it?
Not really. She seems to have accepted the fact that you’re after her. Despite your age.
So why are you unwilling to be as receptive as she is?
Because having two women at the same time doesn’t seem like a good idea? We’ll lose both.
No, we won’t.
This world is far more accepting of those types of situations than the old one was. No reason to fight it.
Father’s brother has two wives and he’s just a traveling merchant.
I’m not fighting it.
Yes you are.
No! I’m not. I just… don’t want to lose both of them.
So if they both accepted, you’d be in for it?
Rene frowned, thinking on that one.
The front door opened suddenly, which snapped his thoughts in half.
Later then.
Getting down low into a crouch, Rene waited.
“I don’t get it,” said a male voice.
“There’s nothing to get,” Aurora replied curtly. Her voice seems rather stiff.
“Well that’s just bullshit. It doesn’t make sense. And it’s not right,” said the man.
“I guess it’s a good thing your opinion doesn’t matter at all, isn’t it?” Aurora answered her voice getting louder. “Alright. Here. Thanks for lending me the platter. You can go now.”
“You could ke—”
“No, I bought a new one,” Aurora said. “If you don’t mind? We’re all done here.”
“Let me take you to dinner,” said the man.
Hmm.
Oh ho?
Maybe we have another kill to handle today. And here I thought it’d be all work and no play.
Rene glanced up at his alignment bar. It was still mostly full. There were a few ticks of red at the top of it, but they were minor.
He could handle killing this man without an issue.
“Sorry, no. Remembe
r?” Aurora answered. “Seeing someone.”
“You can’t be serious,” scoffed the man.
“I can be, and as I said earlier, your opinion doesn’t matter. Leave, or I’ll make you leave,” Aurora said. “And tell your mother I said thank you for the pie.”
Nothing more was said, and the door opened and then closed.
“Asshole,” Aurora muttered.
Apparently I don’t have to do anything.
Rene stood up again and nodded his head. Leaning against the dresser with the bottle, he put his elbow on it.
He figured Aurora had declined the invitation primarily because of his interest in her.
Which made him rather happy for the whole situation. He could also detect the smug joy that the Monster was feeling.
Aurora stepped into her own bedroom and froze when she caught sight of Rene.
“Afternoon, Lieutenant-Captain Aur-”
“Keep your money. I don’t want it, I’m not yours and I’d rather die,” Aurora growled, her sword shooting straight out of her scabbard and practically appearing in her hand.
Holy shit.
Rene reached up and lightly tapped the blade with a fingertip.
“Now, I’m pretty sure I already t—”
“Kill me, then,” Aurora said, her blade tip sliding back to point at him. “Because that’s the only way you’ll have any control over me.”
“Hm. And where’d this bit of spine come from?” Rene asked. Reaching over he idly laid a finger to the perfume bottle.
“From exactly what you think and probably suspect,” Aurora growled. “I’m not an idiot and neither are you. Now… kill me or fuck off, because that’s how this is going to end.”
“I see. Well, I’ll just take my leave and come back later for you,” Rene murmured. “Though I honestly came to see if we could secure some type of give and take.
“Perhaps not buying you, but maybe convince you to not start a massive manhunt if some bodies from rival guilds started appearing.”
Aurora’s forehead and eyebrows began to smooth out as Rene spoke.
“Going to commit a few murders and hope we don’t look?” she questioned.
“No. I’m going to punish the Ravens and the Snakes and remove them,” Rene admitted. “The Snakes were responsible for burning the Moon household to death. They were a friend of Rene’s, mind you. If you didn’t know that.”
Blinking, Aurora processed all that without a word.
“And the Ravens… well… their guild leader took off because of me showing up. So now I have to go clean up some of their members,” Rene explained. “They’re getting messy and killing people. Bad business to kill people if you don’t have to. You can always rob them again.
“Can’t do that if they’re dead. You know?”
“And you just want me to… not… launch a city-wide search or crackdown,” Aurora murmured.
“That’s right. I’m not asking you to release anyone, to not look the other way, just to not blow up the guard response,” Rene said. “Because let’s be honest. Carden? Clearly crooked. Just not to the same people as Ronder. My guess is his pocketbook is fattened from above, rather than below.
“I don’t think Carden will want to push, if you don’t want to push. And as one of only three lieutenant-captains in the guard right now, well, that means you get a lot of say in the matter.”
Aurora let her sword tip fall toward the ground.
“Stop touching that or I’ll attack you, fear of death or not,” Aurora said, her eyes flicking to the bottle that Rene had his fingers on.
“Oh, fine,” Rene murmured, pulling his hand away. “Far be it from me to fault you for finding love. Though he does seem a bit young. Very infatuated with you, however.”
Aurora’s mouth became a grimace.
“Yes. He’s young, but he’s a very intelligent and forthright young man,” Aurora said. “And whom I see is of no business of yours.
“As for your little gang war… if no civilian is hurt, and there’s no damage to any part of the city, and you keep the bodies out of sight… I’ll try to keep the guard out of the streets. I can’t promise anything, though.”
“That’s all I could ask for,” Rene said then shrugged his shoulders. “Alright. That’s all I had. I did deposit that money for you in your name at the Anatolis vault. Sorry. It wasn’t Rene who I spoke to, but one of those clerks he hired recently.”
Shaking her head, Aurora looked annoyed.
“Fine, whatever. Leave. Go,” she growled.
“Going,” Rene said and then he vanished. He had other places to be and with Aurora working to keep the guard out of this, it was the best he could hope for.
Chapter 32
Easing the top of his head up from the rooftop, Rene looked down at the three men below him. Even with full night on him, he could see relatively well.
Especially given his unique abilities.
He quickly Inspected and Analyzed each person. Their titles had already given them away, listing them each as “guild thug.”
And that meant they were perfectly viable targets, since they weren’t part of his guild. Making them either Snakes or a Ravens
Let’s make believe we’re an assassin from that video game.
To fall from the roof and land upon our target is our aim.
We’d break our legs.
That wouldn’t occur; we heal with extreme haste.
We were stabbed, sir, and healed like our red bar was in a race.
Rene couldn’t argue that. It’d also be a really good chance to test how much of a ghoul he was. Because that was the only thing that fit in Rene’s mind. He was more like an undead monster he’d read about as a child than he was an actual person.
Glancing at the red bar in the corner, he found it was full. The face stab had hurt, but it hadn’t lasted. Not even the night.
Pulling out a long dagger he didn’t care about, Rene slid off the roof completely.
He fell for what felt like forever, doing his best to aim his blade correctly. To plunge it deep into the man’s throat and tear it asunder.
Smashing into the guild thug, and flattening him to the ground, Rene sank his weapon to the hilt. Except when he finally stopped moving and had slammed fully into the man, the blade broke off completely.
To be fair, Rene had expected it. Weapons didn’t last as long as people seemed to think they did. Especially ones that saw regular use.
Groaning, and feeling like he’d definitely broken something, Rene got to his feet.
“—the fuck!? Holy shit!” shouted one of the two remaining thugs.
Looking at the red bar, Rene found it had several little red boxes next to it. He assumed those were telling him things he knew, like he was hurt, and ignored them. His red bar was only a quarter empty, though.
Dandy.
Rene pulled out his short sword and moved forward in the same motion.
But his legs didn’t work as well as he wanted them to. Rather than getting the man he’d been aiming for in the neck, he got him in the guts.
Groaning, the man bent around the blade and crumpled forward at the waist. Then he dropped to his knees and pressed both hands to his stomach.
Stumbling toward the third man, Rene hoped he wouldn’t have to chase him down.
Then he realized that would actually be the best thing. With any luck, he’d run off to find friends or others for safety. Leading Rene straight to whoever else there was.
As if the thought had leapt from Rene’s mind to the thug’s, he was off in a flash. Sprinting into the distance.
Rene glanced at the ground and selected the Track ability, wanting that man specifically.
Since his track was the freshest, his name was right at the top.
Perfect.
Selecting him, Rene returned his focus to the two men who were on the ground.
The one he’d landed on was right where he left him, his hands pressed to his neck as blood pumped up and over them
in a never-ending flood.
Thug number two was down on the ground now, curled up in a fetal position. The pool of blood around him was significant.
We clipped the aorta and he’s bleeding out.
Pretty good aim, considering you were like a landed trout.
Shaking his head, Rene hobbled over to the man with the broken knife in his neck.
Pulling a heavy stone from his inventory that he kept on hand for just such occasions, Rene hovered over the man’s head.
“Wanna tell me where your gang hides out? Maybe a main location or a few small ones? I can make it quick,” Rene said. “Or I can leave you and let it take a while. I’d prefer the former, so I can deal with your corpse more easily but… I kinda have to give you the option.”
Just smash his brains in.
Shut it.
Looking down at the man below him, Rene realized it was a bit of a lost cause. His eyes looked distant and full of pain. In Rene’s experience, that pretty much meant he was already lost to the pain.
His body just needed time to die. Getting down to one knee, Rene considered him for another second before confirming his analysis.
“Darn,” Rene said, then promptly bashed the rock into the man’s forehead.
A hollow clonk sound followed by a hard snap echoed in the small alley. Lifting the rock, Rene peered into the man’s face. He was breathing oddly now and his eyes were rolled up in his head.
Another then?
Mm, yes. One more should do it.
Rene lifted the rock back up and then smashed it down into the man’s forehead again. There were several crackles and snaps, and the rock partially sank into his head.
That’ll do it. He won’t wake up and he’ll just bleed out.
Mercy is as mercy does.
That makes no sense.
Oh. Fuck you? I dunno.
Standing up, Rene looked at his second victim.
And found half a squad of guards staring at him. Their helmets were buckled on tight and their truncheons in hand.
“Oh, hey,” Rene said waving a casual hand at them. “I’m just getting rid of some Raven guild members. They’ve been causing problems for the city.”
Walking over to the second thug, Rene got down in a squat and prodded at the man with his free hand.
Monster's Mercy Page 33
