Chapter 858: Funny Feelings

<Milord, you should probably know that this Victor guy is contemplating "suicide by interrogation" in order to avoid having to talk. He’s apparently afraid of killing himself, but he’s not afraid of dying. Weird.>

’Oddly cold of him given that he has friends...man, did the guys who hired them use fear or loyalty to inspire such action?’

=Looks to be the former.=

’Hmmm.’

=Are you going to employ the honeypots now or later?=

’Gonna see where this goes...I’m also thinking of just freaking them out by sharing that I know exactly who they are right here and now.’

<Oooh, that’d be fun.>

[You know,] Blazejudicator interjected, [I know I’ve only had complex emotions beyond ambition and lust for about... eighteen hours? I find it a little effed up that y’all are referring to my babies as mere honeypots. If anything, they’re whole ass succubi about to get their forever mates.]

’That...that was a weird pivot.’

[Meh.]

’But I see what you mean...hmmm...’

...

[So...do you think the maestro is gonna let us have a crack at these dudes this session or...]

[I don’t believe so,] Nepherage replied. [Because I’m fairly certain he wants to use them.]

[Really? He wants to use the guys who kidnapped literal children?]

[To be fair, it’s rather apparent that they’re remorseful about their actions,] Screamira added. [At least, that’s what my "sisters", said.]

[Getting used to calling the GalEms your sisters, huh?,] Razorstella asked.

[It’s a process, but I’m getting there.]

[Well then, my "prodigal daughter". You should probably note that your younger siblings might be getting hitched soon,] Blazejudicator suddenly added.

[What the fuck?]

[Just watch.]

...

’Fuck it, we ball.’

________________________________________

"Well? What’s your answer, boyos?,] Zhen Liu repeated as Victor, Simos and Graff continued to struggle in providing an answer.

"Because you guys can either talk now or I can just go and sharpen my knives..."

"Hang on, hang on!"

"Give us a moment to think!’

"..."

To be more precise, the latter two were having issues remembering the exact details about who hired them for this cockamamie job, since they had about two and a half braincells between them, and all of them were competing for last place.

As for Victor...well...he was hesitant.

On the one hand, he was terrified of Zhen Liu for being this absurdly strong abnormality in the middle of nowhere. If at least half of the rumors he heard about him were true, then it was probably in his, and his friends, best interest to cooperate with whatever he wanted.

On the other hand, on the off, but very real, chance that the Night Parade learns about how he revealed their existence to someone who was essentially on their hit list, then there was nowhere in the entirety of Valresta he could hide in order to feel safe.

’Dead if I don’t talk now, dead later if I do talk now,’ Victor thought to himself.

The man was essentially up shit creek without a paddle, and he had no one to help him out.

’I mean...I could just let him kill me. It’s not like I have someone other than these two who would...who would...huh?’

As the thought of shuffling this mortal coil passed through his mind, warm tears began to flow from Victor’s eyes.

They weren’t tears that were related to the fear of dying alone though. Instead, they were tears that seemed to have this strange sense of longing to them. As if...he was afraid to die because he was afraid of leaving someone behind.

’But...that can’t be right, why am I-’

"Sniff!"

"Ah!"

"Huh?"

Much to his surprise, Victor found himself becoming interrupted by the sound of his two friends crying similar tears too, which made even less sense.

Just like him, Simos and Graff were bachelors and had basically nobody but each other in terms of relationships.

At least, they should’ve had nobody but each other.

’Hey, why are you two crying like that?"

"I-I don’t know,bro! It just...sorta happened," Graff freely admitted.

"I...I can’t really describe it!," Simos cried, "I just thought how we might be dying here, but then it changed to this girl and-"

"Wait, you too?"

"How come we’re -"

"Ah...well isn’t that interesting," Zhen Liu interjected with a knowing look of amusement on his face.

Needless to say, the fact that this enigmatic weirdo was amused at their tears was disturbing to the trio, to Victor moreso than the others.

As for Simos and Graff, they were just confused and so they decided to verbalize it.

"Wait...why do you know why we’re-"

"Because, Mister Simos, I know the exact reason why you, Mister Graff and Mister Victor are crying," Zhen Liu interrupted. "Tell me, are each of you thinking about a life you might’ve had? Or would it be more accurate to call it a dream you might’ve had?"

At this statement, the aforementioned trio of men suddenly paused out of a mix of fear and surprise.

Surprise because they didn’t expect Zhen Liu to know what they were thinking about, and fear because he knew their names.

Last they checked, they had never shared their names with this guy before in any capacity. Hell, they even made sure to use fake names when they rolled into Stone Claw City.

Which led to the question, how much did Zhen Liu actually know about them?

Or to put it another way, why did he know so much about them?

Regardless, Victor, Simos and Graff were stunned silent at the revelation that Zhen Liu knew who they were, but...their curiosity over their strange feelings was enough to get them to collectively ask a single question.

"Why do you know what we’re thinking?"

In response to this query, Zhen Liu simply kept his smile as he got up from his seat and began to walk around them.

"Well...why don’t I just start to say that you lot managed to not only reach a hidden sanctuary that should never be accessed, but you also stumbled upon something that should’ve never seen the light of day until the moment was just right."

"Just?"

"Right?"

After Zhen Liu made a complete circle around the trio, he stopped where he was initially sitting and raised his hand while maintaining an eerie smile and stare at the trio.

Once he was certain they were staring at his raised hand, Zhen Liu snapped his fingers.

Snap!

Choom, choom, choom!

"Wait, what?"

"Whoa!"

"Hold on...why...why do those statues look familiar?"

Before the trio’s eyes, lights coming from seemingly nowhere appeared one after the other, illuminating three distinctive statues that each appeared to be modeled after beautiful women.

Additionally, each of the statues appeared to be made of entirely different materials.

The strange thing about these statues though was that each of them were tied up in a manner very similar to Simos, Victor and Graff.

The aforementioned trio weren’t entirely sure why, but the sight of this particular moment caused something to stir in their souls.

Was it fear?

No.

If anything, it felt closer to...anger.

But why?

"Tell me something, my intrepid trio of would-be detectives," Zhen Liu began to ask, "exactly, what kind of rumors have you heard about in regards to little ole me?"

...

[D’awww. You’re not going to tell them about how they stumbled upon a mysterious indoor bath house,got seduced by my darling GalEms and got their dicks bent at a ninety degree angle after your mother literally knocked the whole building?]

’No, part of me being a mysterious psychopath involves me lying about certain details. That and for whatever reason, their [Lust] is now closer to [Love]. It’s interesting.’

[Consent is an important part of both, Executor. The difference between the two being whether or not that consent is based on emotion or thought.]

’Huh...that makes sense, I think? Anyways, let’s see what happens.’

[Right on.]

...

Unlike the previous question of, "who sent them", this new one posed by Zhen Liu was significantly easier to answer.

Namely, because the rumors were just... straightforward and weird.

"You came back from the dead like a vengeful ghost and murdered the man who slew you at your funeral," Simos answered.

"A bit for an exaggeration, but not inaccurate."

"I heard that your family is actually related to some super clan on another continent. On the day of their familial competition, you participated and proceeded to insult everyone for the hell of it," Graff added.

"A bit more nuanced than that, but I feel like both of those rumors are missing a rather important detail," Zhen Liu retorted. "Mind telling me-"

"You control unusual aether puppets that are able to use aether arts," Victor interjected before Zhen Liu could finish his question.

The Spatial Beaver bloodliner had a rather intense look on his face as he mentioned this particular rumor. "There are those who even that they’re almost...alive."

Once Zhen Liu heard this answer, his smile became even wider.

"There we go...that’s what I wanted to hear."