章節 25: Noel's Curiosity
Noel looked up at her master's face as they walked through the city to the Gate Inn. It was quite a trek for the little girl considering the restaurant was located in the North-West of the city while the Gate Inn was located South. Just the walk they had to take down Main Street was tiresome enough. But life on the road had taught her much about perseverance and as a subordinate spirit, Noel intended to do what she could to impress her master.
In any small way, including walking this long distance.
Of course, she was helped along by their joint hands, a sensation she was quickly coming to like and become used to now. Even though she was walking directly in his aura which felt dark, murky and outright dangerous, Noel found some comfort in the oppressive atmosphere that wrapped around Ryo like clothing.
Noel was plenty scared of him too for that reason alone, add in his other abilities of which she was certain she had seen only a small chunk. But sometimes solace could be found in the strangest of places. There are times where you can find comfort and safety in the things you're actually afraid of, as absurd as it may sound. Perhaps the closest example would be a parent and a child.
Say the child commits a bad deed, they have every reason to fear a parent's anger and the possibility of a punishment. But show remorse and repent with sincerity, and the parent would become a place of warmth, love and forgiveness, a stark contrast to what they would have been only a few moments before.
Of course, Noel wouldn't be able to understand this as she was a spirit and was not conceived the way mortals were. She didn't have 'parents' in the normal sense, and had spent her whole existence on the streets where food was scarce, cruelty was aplenty and you could only find protection under the darkest and most rancid of beings given that they're willing to take you in. Noel had tried to do so during her time in rags, but found little success. After all, such people would want something in return and what could she offer?
She couldn't even use her powers to defend herself because she was afraid of hurting another person even if they were an evil one. She hadn't even been able to maim or harm the three men from the night before even though they clearly had deviant intentions regarding her.
So when she'd felt Ryo's probing a couple of weeks back, his gaze fixating upon her through the special senses and wavelengths detectable only to a spirit, and had felt second hand the depth of his dark powers, she'd been elated and filled with hope that perhaps offering herself in service to one of her kin, one of higher rank too, would grant her the safety she'd sought for a long time. His acceptance of her had been almost unacceptable at first because of her disbelief. Lesser beings had rejected her without a second-glance and yet he had taken her in, even if she knew it was only because he seemed to hold spirits in greater importance than other species.
She would work with what she had and she would serve faithfully, because he was after all providing her a much better life than what she had before. Even if she hadn't possessed a genuine want to serve him and help him flourish in his ventures, she would have served him just to protect her new comforts and privileges. She even had her own room and bed!
Working with Miss Uraume would be a bit of a difficult one though...but she was sure that they'd both pull through no matter how much contempt the sorceress seemed to hold for her before they even knew one another well.
Perhaps getting to know their mutual master better would ease the path a little.
"Master Ryo." Noel said. "I have a question...if you would allow me to ask it."
"Let us hear it then." Ryo said still looking forwards as they continued to push their steps along the cobbles.
"Have you ever been bullied before?" Noel asked. That question actually stumped the older spirit a little and he looked down at her in surprise.
"What kind of query is that?" He exclaimed. "That was absolutely random."
"I know." Noel said. "But I was just thinking about my life before, sleeping in alleys and on roofs and always being tormented by other street dwellers. No matter how strong you are or could be, there's always someone that gets to you, someone stronger. I want to know if you ever encountered such a person...and how you dealt with them."
"You could have just said you wanted to get to know me and my tactics better." Ryo rolled his eyes. "But I suppose I should answer you...I didn't really have bullies Noel. For a rather simple reason."
"What reason was that?"
Ryo looked down at her and grinned.
"I was the bully most of the time. Not outspoken and obvious but subtle and dangerous. They knew it and I knew it, and they also knew to stay away." Ryo then put a finger on his chin. "Not to say of course that there haven't been some who have tried to mess around with me in the past."
"Where did it happen?"
"In school."
"School?" Noel looked astonished. "Master, you went to school?"
"I did."
"Why?"
"To become a learned person." Ryo said, figuring that it wouldn't make sense to a girl of medieval settings in a world where only the well-off went to schools that education was a must where he came from, or his grandfather would be imprisoned. Of course, he did actually go to enjoy lessons because he liked learning new things. "You can't run and manage your own life if you don't know how to be responsible. School teaches you more than academic subjects, it also teaches you discipline and good behaviour....but yes, it was during there that I did have a small confrontation of sorts with some idiots who thought they could have their way with me and I wouldn't do anything to get even."
"How did you deal with them Master?" Noel asked innocently
"Erm..." Ryo for once looked a little conflicted about sharing that certain snippet of his past with Noel.
---
The snowflakes fell slowly through the air, twirling around in a dance-like manner in the glow of the street lamps before resting on about a good few inches of soft snow. The night was chilly yet still. No harsh winds blew, nor was the cold biting and unforgiving. It was just crisp and cool beneath a black sky of a moonlit night. Families were tucked in for the night, the lights of their houses long extinguished as the residents became lost in the land of dreams.
Though it was quite enough to hear one's own heartbeat, anything short of a loud commotion would not rattle anyone enough that they would come outside to check what it would be about. Anything could happen and the people trying to stay warm in their beds just wouldn't care less about what it would be, too occupied with their own comforts and well-being.
So three teenage boys disturbing the bed of snow with hurried footsteps and heavy breathing did not alert anyone enough for them to step out of their houses and question why three punks were out at 4am in the morning, running as if the Devil himself were on their heels.
"In here!" One of them said as he pulled his friends into an alley and they begun running through, hoping to reach though the other side in some desperate attempt to shake off their pursuer.
"We're nearly there!" One of the other boys said as the exit drew nearer and nearer to them and they were further filled with a sensation of relief, and the hope that they might escape the hungry demon out for their blood.
Just as they were a few yards away from escaping, a small humanoid shape just flitted past the exit at inhumane speeds which brought them all to a sliding halt. A moment later, a large metal garbage dump was dropped in front of them, one large enough that it was completely blocking the exit. Not a moment later, two more flickers of a humanoid shape stacked two more dumpsters of similar size on top of the first, giving them no chance to climb out.
"Let's go back the other way!" Half-sobbed another of the punks as they raced towards the entrance where they came from.
But just as they were again a few yards away from exiting the alley, the same sequence happened again. Three large dumpsters stacked on top of each other blocking their escape route completely. Among their growing terror and palpitations was the fearful awe at this display of raw strength. Each of those dumpsters looked like they'd need five men to lift them up, let alone stack them like Legos fifteen feet high two times in a row.
The street lamps outside the alley began flickering. And as matter of fact, the entire street began flickering as some sort of interference made all the electricity in the area bug out. After a few seconds of this, the lights completely turned off, leaving only the moonlight to shine into the alley upon the terrified teenagers as the shadows around them became darker and seemed to surround them like a fog.
They put their backs to each other as their eyes darted in all directions, looking for any sign of movement or any sound that might indicate the whereabouts of their predator. They were startled as something scurried past them just a few feet away from them. One of the teens picked up a bottle and threw it where the sound came from. There came only the sound of shattering glass but nothing being hit before the shatter.
"That was just stupid." A voice came from all around them. "You could have smashed one end and made it into a weapon. Might have made things a little more interesting."
"Show yourself you freak!" The lead punk said. "We're not scared of you!"
"Why else then are you scurrying around in the slums with piss soaking your trouser legs?"
"Huh?" The lead punk said before he looked down to see if he actually had peed himself. Considering his state of terror in spite of his proclamation, it wasn't unreasonable to think he might have soiled himself and was just too numb with terror to notice.
That was the last mistake he made as a shape just flew out of the shadows and pounced him with ballistic speed, ripping him away from his companions and dragging him into the shadows. The punk tried to scream, but some invisible force just sliced his vocal cords, leaving only gurgled croaks coming out of his throat as his body was smashed about and dragged across the walls of the alley.
His two friends could barely see this happening as they looked up, the darkness censoring much of what was happening as the moonlight could only do so much to help them see. Inside though, a small part of them were secretly happy about it because they couldn't see what was happening to their friend. If they did, then perhaps they would have gone hysterical.
There was a rough growl from their pursuer before their friend's body just exploded into mangled flesh, strings of organs, mists of blood and bone fragments that came crashing down on them and painted the snow pink and crimson as some of the matter went into their mouths and threatened to choke them to death. Gagging on their friend's remains was what stifled the screams about to rip from their own throats and their knees buckled as they collapsed while desperately trying cough out human meat.
The creature appeared again and grabbed another punk, pulling him back a little as he ripped off the teenager's genitals then just as swiftly crushed the victim's chest inwards, pulverising the lungs and the heart. A cruel mouth opened wide to reveal two glistening fangs which dug into the punk's abdomen and ripped out his entrails. The remaining punk crawled back on his hands and butt in mute terror as the creature began to slurp intestines into its mouth like one would eat spaghetti.
Four glowing red eyes stared at him from the darkness as the creature did so, mocking him and taking full pleasure in his fear as it ate his friend in front of him. Once done with the intestines, the creature smiled and began to speak again.
"The moonlight sure makes for a detailed sight. It shows me just how pathetic and puny you really are."
"Please...leave me alone..." The punk said as he gibbered in despair. "...please, I won't ever bother you or your friends again. I -I won't say anything to the police either. N-no one will ever know this happened."
The creature sighed as it stood up.
"Poor choice of words. The way you said that makes it sound like you're suggesting..." The creature stepped into the moonlight, revealing a barefoot little boy of perhaps eight years of age in bloodstained pyjamas, with long shoulder length white hair and four demonic eyes on his face staring right into the punk's soul. "...that I have something and some consequence to fear from you pathetic humans. An offense I deem punishable by death I'm afraid."
"P-please...just let me go." The punk's voice dropped to a whisper he watched his friend's body still twitching in the snow. "I didn't want to ruin yours and that girl's project...those two made me do it."
"They didn't make you do anything. I saw the smile on your face as you grabbed our volcano straight out of Aya's hands and smashed it on the ground before stamping on it. You enjoyed every second of it like some manic sadist." Ryo paused to lick the blood of his lips. "Your friend drinks too much. Which shouldn't be possible since you idiots are supposed to be under the legal age for drinking...or should I say 'were'." The boy smirked cruelly, while his eyes showed with a sadistic glee ironically enough. It was at that moment the punk knew that he was most definitely not speaking to anything human...if the four eyes weren't telling enough already. "Anyway, Aya is too scared to say anything to anyone for the situation to be dealt with, but I have no qualms."
"Just please...don't kill me." The punk whimpered.
"Oh don't worry. I'm not going to kill you, at least not yet." Ryo said as he grabbed the punk by the mouth and squeezed tightly so he couldn't speak. "In fact, I heard something interesting in the rumour mill recently. They say that you knocked up some poor little college girl and that she just gave birth recently to a little baby girl." Ryo smiled wider at the shock in the boy's eyes. No doubt, this was actually something of a private matter which he couldn't figure out how Ryo came in possession of that knowledge. "You know, I've never had the chance to taste a baby before. I really wonder how it would be...fresh and sweet because of such short time living? Or tasteless because she's had no time to mature?"
The punk began kicking all of a sudden in more fear than just what he had for himself, but also his accidental child which he planned to give up for adoption anyway. A fire of hate and anger appeared in his eyes as he tried to attack the boy who had his mouth clamped in a hand.
"There it is, that's the look I wanted to see." Ryo said before his smirk dropped. "Too bad it's on such an ugly face. How did you even manage to score?"
A moment later, two razor sharp fingernails pierced the eyeballs of the punk whose scream was muffed by Ryo's hand as the spirit went on with the same hand to dismember the punk slowly, savouring every moment of pain he got in return for doing so.
---
"Master?" Noel's voice said to him, making him snap back to reality. "We're here."
"Hm?" Ryo asked as he looked down at the little girl who had pulled him to a stop.
Looking ahead of them, he saw the doors of the Gate Inn with the evening lantern already lit outside. His brows raised as he realized he'd been so deep in his recollections of the past that he hadn't even realized they'd arrived at the inn. He'd just been operating on autopilot the entire time...a bad habit that he should really try not to do too much.
"You never answered my question Master." Noel said as she looked a little disappointed. "You just became really quiet and your eyes looked a little lost."
"Yes, you wanted to know how I dealt with bullies didn't you Noel?" Ryo said.
"Mhm."
"Perhaps when you're a little bit older." He said as he pushed open the door, using a tone that contained a hint of finality to it.
"Okay." The little spirit a bit glumly.
The pair walked over to the front desk where Mosa was sitting. The portly woman looked up at them with a big smile on her face as she closed her check-in book and placed her palms flat on the counter.
"Ready for the party you two?" She asked.
"Yes Ma'am." Noel said.
"And of course, you remember the little thing I asked of you as well. Right?" Mosa asked Ryo.
"Yes." He replied before cocking his head in the direction of the kitchen. "That place free for me to use."
"By all means." Mosa said. "Martha is out right now with her friends. My suggestion in fact, so the food could be a surprise. You'll get to meet them in just a bit. How much time do you need to get the food ready?"
"Not much time at all." He replied as he rolled up his sleeves.
"What are you doing Master Ryo?" Noel asked as she looked up at him.
"Cooking Martha's birthday dinner." Ryo said. "It's my present to her for her birthday."
"Right. Can I help?" The little girl said as she shifted her feet shyly. "I don't have a present for Martha myself."
"If you promise to follow my instructions." Ryo said before he looked back to Mosa. "You don't really mind her being in there do you?"
"Not at all." Mosa said as she waved them away. "Come on, more cooking less talking!"
...
"So what are you making master?" Noel asked as she put on a tiny little chef's hat as per Ryo's example as he undressed down to his undershirt and pants and wrapped an apron around his waist, while he began surfing the grocery system.
"Let's see." He said as he began thumbing ingredients and adding them to his cart. "I want to demonstrate my talents to Mosa so she can let me hire Martha...so we should go with something fancy yet filling. Beef is a good option."
"Beef?" Noel tilted her head.
"Cow meat Noel." He clarified absentmindedly as he perused options. "But not just the meat by itself. It should be accompanied by something else which is a bit lighter. But I also want to keep the expensive tastes in."
"How about roasts?" Noel offered. "I remember when people used to do weekend roasts in their houses. The smell used to waft out of the windows...and make our stomachs rumble." Noel held her stomach as she closed her eyes and thought back on her memories. "I would have loved to try some."
"Hm." Ryo glanced at her before coming to a conclusion. "Very well. I've decided on the dinner option."
"What is it going to be?" The little girl asked excitedly as he started buying ingredients from the system and boxes began falling to the floor out of thin air.
"We'll be making partridge raviolli with ajillo and black truffle sauce as a starter, followed by Welsh beef with wilted spinach and potato rosti as a mains with homemade horseradish sauce. It's a bit of a warm night tonight, so perhaps we can go with fresh ice cream for dessert. I'll need you to scrape out the vanilla pods Noel." He looked at her, and found that she had a bit of a dazed look on her face. "Noel?"
"Huh?" She flinched and snapped back to reality. "Sorry Master...I didn't understand a word of what you said you were making."
"...I'm going to have to teach you the menu back at the restaurant then." He said as he pinched his brow. "Alright, just follow my lead and be careful not to cut yourself with the knives." He picked up said utensils and used a fine Cleave to sharpen them. "Let's get started."
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