Chapter 35

"What now?" Daenerys asked.

"We find the fuckers from Melromarc and kill 'em." Mercury replied. "All but the last. We'll use him for intel."

"How?"

"I'll make him talk." Mercury stated. "Fuckers harmed my people!"

Mercury was seething. Even while being all the way out here, Melromarc was still trying to ruin shit for him.

Seeing the rage in Mercury's eyes terrified Daenerys. It was unlike anything she'd seen before.

Arriving outside a building in the market, Mercury knocked on the door. Within less than half a minute, someone answered. It was a man, dressed in dark clothes.

"Oh, Sir Hero-" his voice was deep, and gravely.

"You don't have to call me that, Willy." Mercury cut him off. "Whaddya got?"

"Apologies, Mr. Takamaki, what are you referring to?" Willy asked.

"The Melromarc men that strolled through here roughly... three hours ago." Mercury replied. "I'm going to kindly remove them from our city, and send a message back saying we don't appreciate their kind here. You got a direction for me?"

"Ah, yes." Willy nodded. "I was curious when you'd show up about that. Well, after they took your friend's finger, they made quite the speech. They said you were just as cursed as the Shield Hero. Promised they'd kill you, and-"

"They're not the first to promise me death threats, and they won't be the last." Mercury cut Willy off. "Just tell me where they went."

"They were sayin' they were gonna hit yer house next." Willy answered.

"What?!" Daenerys was clearly surprised by the news.

"Right. Thank you for your time, Willy." Mercury handed over a small coin purse filled with Silver and a few Gold coin. "Keep me posted."

Willy returned inside his home, shutting the door behind him.

"They're gonna attack the Mansion, we-!"

Mercury pulled out a cigarette and placed it between his lips.

"Calm down." Mercury told her. "Everything's under control." He used his Flame Blade ability to light his cigarette before extinguishing his weapon.

"What do you mean?"

"I have a skilled fighter protecting the Mansion." Mercury explained. "Come on."

Half an hour later

Arriving back at the Mansion, the Melromarc humans were seen knelt before the front door, each with their hands bound.

As the duo made their way closer, Daenerys could see it was Christine who had tied them up.

"Good work, Christine." Mercury commented as he tossed a bag of coin her way.

Catching it, she quickly tossed it back. "Your training is payment enough." She stated.

Now that she had gained more confidence in herself, thanks to Mercury's help and training, it was clear she had a Russian-esque accent. Her quiet demeanor before had hidden it.

"This was work, not training." Mercury told her, tossing the coin back. "You get paid for the work you do."

Christine caught it again, but this time she kept it.

"Now, onto business." Mercury said, rubbing his hands together. "What I have in store for you. Christine, get Michael and Sullivan, would you?"

Christine nodded and left, returning a few minutes later with two teenage boys. One, a leopard Demi-Human, and the other a Ferret.

Mercury looked to each one.

"Michael." He said to the Leopard. "Sully." He said to the Ferret. "Any ideas why I called you two here?"

The boys exchanged a brief glance before shrugging.

"You two are both eighteen in less than half a year." Mercury began.

Michael nodded whilst Sullivan spoke.

"Yes, sir."

"You will no longer be Children of the Mansion. You will be men. Unemployed, and homeless." Mercury stated. "So, I'd like to offer both of you a job."

The two looked from one another.

"Aren't you, like, two years older than us?"

Mercury nodded his head.

"Yeah, and I still gave you a place to stay." Mercury told them.

"What's the job?" Sully asked.

"Alright." Mercury nodded. "Well. What I'm trying to accomplish is 'Bigger Picture' type shit, right?" Mercury began. "And I have some spots available. All you need to do is what I say, when I say and you'll be paid. Yeah?"

The two nodded.

"Good. Prove you have the stomach for it." Mercury told them. "Take one of their fingers, each." Mercury pointed to the line of guards.

Sully was hesitant by the order, whilst Michael looked Mercury in the eye.

"Got a knife?"

Mercury handed the boy a blade.

"If any of them give you too much trouble, take an eye and call it good." Mercury ordered.

Michael moved towards the guards as Mercury looked to Sully.

"And your answer?" Mercury asked, locking eyes with the teen.

One of the guards began screaming as Michael took one of his fingers. Moving on to the next, Michael went to take his finger but ended up catching a forehead to the nose. Reeling back, Michael took a deep breath before thrusting the blade into the man's left eye.

"These men were going to destroy this mansion." Mercury told Sully. "They were planning on killing you, Michael, the kids. You really gonna feel sympathy for child murderers?"

Sully's eyes narrowed towards the guards when he heard that.

"Got a second knife?" Sully asked.

Handing it over, Mercury watched with crossec arms as Sully approached the first guard. Holding the blade with a shaky hand, Mercury's words echoed in Sully's head.

"Please." The guard begged. "Please, don't."

Sully lowered his head, his grip on the knife loosening. But, after a moment, he tightened his grip.

"Would you have stopped if you heard the same pleas from inside?" Sully asked.

"Wha-?"

Before he could finish the word, Sully forced the guard's left hand open and took his pinky.

Screams echoed in the trees as Sully threw the finger into the mud.

As the duo went down the line, Mercury watched as each one was given punishment. However, Mercury wasn't going to let them all go. He planned on sending a message of his own to Melromarc.

Once the last man's finger was taken, Mercury approached the line of men.

"Who sent you?" Mercury asked the first man. Instead of an answer, the man spit in Mercury's face. Wiping it off, Mercury looked to Michael. "Kill him."

Michael hesitated.

"Take your knife, and slit his throat." Mercury ordered. "If you don't, I will. Afterwards, we'll have a talk, but the outcome for this man is still the same. Either you do it, or I do."

Taking a moment to think, Michael walked up behind the man. Holding his knife in a firm grasp, Michael raised it to the man's throat.

As the man felt the cold steel against his neck, he began to sweat.

"I'm sorry, I'll tell you!"

Michael stopped and looked to Mercury.

"You had that chance." Mercury told him, calmly. "You used it to spit in my face. You will now die with your decision. Kill him."

Not needing to be told again, Michael violently yanked the blade, slicing the man's throat wide open.

"You fucking animals!" Another of the men shouted.

"Yep." Mercury pulled out his pack of cigarettes and took one out. "We're all just a bunch of animals." He placed the cigarette between his lips and lit it using his dagger ability. "And, like animals," Mercury paused to blow out the smoke. "we will kill those who disrespect us, and trespass on our territory. You-" he pointed at the man, the cigarette held between his index and middle fingers. "have done both." Mercury glanced at Sully.

Meeting his gaze, Sully understood the order. Taking a moment to steel himself, Sully approached the man and slit his throat.

"Now, I would like to tell the rest of you that I already know who fucking sent you." Mercury told them. "The King of Melromarc, yeah? Well, I would like to send him my own fucking message." Mercury approached one of the men and buried his knife into his throat. Violently yanking it out, the man slumped over, dead. "Siltvelt is under the protection of the Red Right fucking Hand! As such, there will be no more bribing the guards." Mercury killed another. "No more putting these people in chains." He killed another. "And no more coming here unannounced." Mercury got in the face of the last man. His eyes were clenched shut, and he was visibly shaking. "You tell your king, that if there is *one* more incident like this, he won't have just the waves to be terrified of. I will hunt him down personally. He will never know when. He will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder for me. You tell that fucking prick, yeah?"

The man nodded his head quickly.

"My dragon will escort you to the gates. After that, you will walk back to Melromarc and tell your king everything I just said." Mercury told the man. "I will know if he doesn't receive my message." Mercury got to his feet and turned to Daenerys. "Get him out of here."

Daenerys did as ordered and led the last man to the gates. Once he disappeared out of sight down the road, she returned to the mansion.

Inside the massive office sat Mercury, his hands folded on the desk as he thought.

(What's going on?) Makoto asked as she entered the office.

"There's gonna be war between Melromarc and Siltvelt." Mercury told her. "If this keeps up, there's gonna be war."

End of chapter 35