The Achievement Junkie 250 The Lavish Lute

The aroma of lavender and aged wine filled Rydel's nostrils. Multiple musicians flooded the place with their melodies, overlapping one another and harmonizing for the enjoyment of the patrons. Fine metals and precious jewels covered the walls, doors, and even the clientele.

Scoffing under his breath, Rydel hurriedly yet carefully crept through the main hall. That led him to a great room with many solid gold instruments atop the mantle of a massive fireplace, the largest of which was hanging from the ceiling with jeweled letters etched into it, reading "The Lavish Lute."

Tables and futons were scattered across the vast room with over a dozen men enjoying themselves to the company of many beautiful women. Laughter and whispers came from each futon, most of which carried a tone of belittlement.

Rydel scanned the room but still found no sight of his target. Next, he looked to the staircase at the back of the room, and then the balcony that wrapped around and gave onlookers a great view of the action downstairs.

He didn't bother paying any of those pompous pigs any attention, nor did he watch their perverted actions, some being done openly for all to see. Rydel's eyes were fixed on that certain someone who was calmly walking along the balcony toward a group of men on the second floor.

Before Rydel's target reached his acquaintances, Rydel was a couple of meters away, ready to listen in and learn everything.

Assistant Loire showed a toothy grin as he approached his friends with open arms. "Boys, I'm back. Did you miss me?"

"Of course not!" laughed a lanky, bald man in a black vest. "With you gone, I was able to spend more time with my beloved. What was her name again..?"

"Enough of that, there are more than enough women for us all," a stalky, bearded man with a top hat joked. "Besides, we've all seen you two share before."

The bald man kept laughing but resumed to watch the perverse show below. "True! The more the merrier, right?"

"Anyways, I'm glad to be back, but I don't have much time at the moment," added Loire. "I've got something for you, Trank. It comes personally from General Toms."

"Oh?" The bald man turned back toward Loire with a smile only a stalker would appreciate. "And what is it that he wishes me to do? Or shall I say who?"

"Read it for yourself. I'm sure you'll be more than satisfied with the contents."

As Loire passed a large envelope to Trank, Rydel repositioned himself to the wall behind the tall man.

"Well, no use in reveling in the suspense. Open it already!" stated the man in the top hat, patting Trank on the back.

"Hmmm… Oh, this will do nicely." Trank licked his lips as he fingered through a few pages of documents, some with sketched profiles at the top. Once on the fourth page, a twisted smile resurfaced on his face. "Oh! This will be splendid!"

As Rydel caught glimpse of the envelopes contents, he started choking on air. His heart sped up with each passing second, especially after seeing the man's sadistic grin from.

"So, these are the suspects you've searching for, I presume?" asked Trank.

Loire nodded. "Precisely. But you must be careful with this batch. We're not certain of their abilities. All we know is that the same unusual white flame we witnessed burning down our camp was sighted and reported within the city just days before."

"It took some time for us to recover the little information we do have. After a couple of days, we finally discovered the owner of the property where the flames were spotted, a good-for-nothing innkeeper who didn't know how to speak. So, we had to teach him the hard way," Loire explained with jovial laughter. "In the end, we were forced to extract his memories, and that's how we uncovered their identities."

"Well, I wouldn't call this pitiful amount of information their identities," laughed Trank. "All you've given me are their faces and a couple of generic names which are most likely false. I'll have to try extra hard in order to find them with such poor information."

"Consider this the advance." With the flick of the wrist, Loire tossed up a storage ring. "Will that cover the issue?"

"Oh yes, it will. I can see that the general must really have his hands full." In the blink of an eye, the ring vanished into Trank's own storage ring. "If that cheapskate is willing to cough up this much, then these folks must have given you hell."

"Well, you wouldn't be wrong about that."

"I even heard that you were sorely beaten, so badly in fact that you couldn't manage to recognize your opponent, let alone touch him," the man in the top hat added, verbally jabbing Loire in the gut.

"Well now, I'm not sure--"

"And not only were all of your tents and stations burned to ash, but your entire camp was robbed blind in the midst of it all," Trank laughed along with his friend. "Talk about kicking you while you're down."

Loire took a deep breath before grinning and bearing with the jokes. "Enough of that. I've delivered the message and the payment, so I should be off."

"Oh, so soon? Don't you want to stay and enjoy yourself at least a little?" questioned Trank. "Since you've brought me such a nice present, this one will be one me."

"Really? Since when did you become such a nice guy? I'll have to take you up on that. But I'm not sharing this time, I want my own room," stated Loire.

Trank nodded. "Very well, go pick one for yourself and claim a room. I'll sure the owner will be fine with that, right, Darto?"

"Of course that's fine, anything for one of my best friends and clients." The man with the top hat proudly pounded his belly as he pointed down the hall on the second floor. "No one's using any rooms on the second floor. You should have the place to yourself for the next few hours till we start filling up."

"Good, then I'll make myself at home." Loire confidently walked toward the hall and approached a few of the serving girls at the end of the balcony. "Hmmm, I choose… you! Come with me. And Trank, don't barge in like you always do. I haven't had this in ages, I need this."

Both the tall and the short man waved him goodbye as they turned their attention below, letting Loire pull the gently-frowning girl toward one of the large rooms at the end of the hall.

"Ladies first," Loire joked as he pushed the woman inside the room. He snickered as slowly closed the door behind him. Then, Loire swiped his hand over a gem embedded in the wall. "Don't worry, no one will be able to hear you, so you can scream all you want."

"N-no… P-please, be gentle…" stammered the girl ridden with fear.

"SLAP! Huh, what was that?!" Leaving a bright red handprint on her delicate face, Loire took one step closer for every step she took back. "Don't worry, like I said, no one will hear you."

"Please… PLEASE BE--"

"SLAP!" Loire's snickering soon became laughter on the verge of lunacy. "I'll have to be quick, so I'll apologize in advance for not letting you savor the pain."

Loire stiffened his wrist and lashed out with the back of his hand, intent on breaking the woman's jaw.

"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Suddenly, Loire let loose an agonizing scream. He frantically looked down to see blood pouring out from his wrist where his hand had once been.

"Shhh, that's enough."

That voice sent chills down Loire's spine, but it wasn't as terrifying as the feeling of a cold blade pressed against his neck.

"Who-who are you?! Do you know who I am?! Do you realize what you've--"

"Assistant Loire, though we've met before, I never would've pegged you as the most perverted bastard I've ever had the displeasure of conversing with." The calm voice came from the left side of Loire, and it was close enough for Loire to feel the invisible man's breath.

"W-what do you mean? Who are you?" questioned Loire, desperate to understand the situation.

"First." Allowing himself to become visible, Rydel showed his calm self in all his glory before the quivering military assistant and the confused, terrified woman.

"It's you! You're one of those--"

"I said that's enough." Rydel shut the man up by pressing the knife ever so slightly, letting Loire's cold blood trickle down his own neck. Then, the hunter nodded to the woman. "Don't worry, you'll be fine now."

"B-but I…"

Before she could finish speaking, Rydel's left chopped at the base of her neck, carefully knocking her out. 

"Now then, back to business," Rydel mumbled as his hardened eyes stared at the pitiful Assistant Loire. "The last time you saw me, you called me Dirk if I'm not mistaken."

"Y-you were… But I…"

"And since this is the last time you'll see me, I'll tell you my real name. That way you can tell the devil who claimed the reward on your filthy soul."

"I.."

Without another word or any hesitation, Rydel's blade cut clean through Loire's throat and spine, leaving his head attached by only some remaining flesh and muscle.

As Loire dropped to the floor motionless, Rydel flicked the blood from his knife and stored it away.

Suddenly, a loud message went off inside Rydel's head. 'Everyone, be careful! They're already onto us!'

Chapter end