I faced the two twins. At first glance, they looked like angels—but now, without the good-natured masks, they revealed what they really were. Their eyes were cold, soulless. They didn't need to pretend anymore, and the murderous intent emanating from them was natural... almost palpable in the air.
They looked away to Hircine.
"I... I killed some people. I'm not noble, or anything like that. My father was a mercenary, so he taught me how to fight at an early age. I've been working in the mercenary guild ever since" she said.
My eyes fell on the noble emblem attached to her chest. Incoherent. And I realized that she noticed what I saw.
Hircine laughed softly, as if realizing her own gaffe. Then he brought both hands to his head and pulled.
What came to light was not something she hid out of vanity, but for survival.
Everyone backed down.
The young woman before us was completely bald. The corner of his lips was held up by sewing threads, and his gray eyes had something unnatural about them—as if they could pierce any lie.
"A Thousand Faces" muttered 01, already raising his guard. There was no one there who didn't know that reputation.
A Thousand Faces. A serial killer within the Empire of Dawn. Proficient in a secret technique for making masks, a master of combat as strange as it was lethal, who only chose to kill members of the nobility. Its victims? All beautiful women.
No one expected, however, that this killer would be so young... and, even worse, a woman.
"My name is really Hircine, I didn't hide it" she said matter-of-factly.
I looked at Number 01.
"I'm a Dark Emblem assassin" he said. Perhaps the only sincere one from the beginning.
"Is that all?" I asked, trying to see if there were any more.
His face was hidden, but you could feel—and see—the slight tremor that ran through his body.
"Good..." He began, with an almost amused tone. "I killed my master, all the disciples... and some other people" he said, rubbing his neck under his clothes.
It was only then that I realized: my trembling did not come from fear.
But rather the excitement.
Another madman... perhaps even the Black Emblem itself was afraid of this fellow.
I stared at Orisis after that.
"I... Well, I brought justice to some lands and..." he began to speak, but hesitated.
The silence became heavy. Everyone's gaze on him was cold, sharp... almost murderous. It was as if everyone thought the same thing: (Are you really going to lie after we've told the truth? You don't love life itself, do you?)
"I just brought love, okay?" he said, trying to defend himself. "I don't know why everyone gets angry about it. I loved my father very much, so I showed him my affection... and he tried to kill me. I was forced to flee for this. People don't understand me. Whenever I met some nice, attractive guy and showed my love, they would get angry with me. Am I just to blame for loving too much?"
Hircine looked at Orisis, and her eyes widened as soon as she saw the dress inside his bag.
"The impaler... God... I can't believe it... There's a huge price on your head. This guy has been raping men from east to north, from north to west... I heard that several merchants have teamed up to put a giant bounty on you. They said that their sexual fetishes are extreme... Imagine a guy of this size dressed as a woman, breaking into houses and... deflowering men... There are only crazy people here" she said, with a crooked smile.
Everyone laughed, a little embarrassed, but, curiously, more at ease. No one seemed to care about his crimes; No one cast judgmental glances. In the end, a strange sense of camaraderie emerged.
Noticing the looks, Anker let out a few expletives.
"I'm just a farmer, a man of culture. Sometimes, for following traditions, we are labeled as strangers. One day, an inspector showed up at my farm and found humans chained in the pasture. It's not my fault if they make noise... growing them is difficult. I need a strict eating routine. No one can blame me for that"
"I know... You are the Tibetan tiger" someone commented. "This guy kidnapped humans for his farm, raised them like cattle and made soup with the bodies. I learned that his tribe was almost extinct because of this custom. They feed on the brains of fetuses... and they take this tradition very seriously. It's a bit of a barbaric custom"
"It's not barbaric, and I don't hate humans. Why would I eat humans if I hated them? The purity of their intellect is something we envy. That's why we eat their brains..." he said, letting out a loud laugh, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Ermmind, infected by laughter, ended up joining her without the slightest hesitation.
Soon his laughter was followed by his sister's, and within seconds everyone was laughing. Strange giggles... and for some reason, all at the same time.
In the end, our eyes turned to a dark corner.
Hasis was there, sitting, hugging his knees. Her dark hair felt heavy over her thin body, and her feet, dirty, revealed that she had not cared about appearance or comfort for a long time.
She didn't say anything. It just stood still, as if the rest of the world didn't matter.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" I asked, without criticism or curiosity in my voice. My face remained neutral, expressionless.
Hasis tilted his head to the side, looked at us for a second, and then stood up. He began to bite his nails, speaking almost automatically:
"I was born in the north. Daughter of a woodcutter. Guards stormed the hut, molested my mother, killed my father... So, I killed them. After that, they sent a veteran with men... I killed him too. Then they sent a commander with more men... I killed them all. The lord of the manor did not like the behavior of this lady and came to punish her... then she killed him too, and, and..." His voice wavered, as if it made no difference whether he counted or not.
"Ghost Mist Forest..." I heard Hircine mumble, a trace of fear in her voice.
"What's behind this?" I asked.
"Twelve villages massacred. An entire coastal city dead. This girl killed a governor of the Empire of Dawn along with several local nobles. She did not distinguish between children nor the elderly. The empire treats this as taboo and has closed all means of disseminating this news. This woman is abnormal. Be careful of her" Hircine replied, still looking at Hasis as if expecting her to jump on us at any moment.
Somehow, by some strange capacity that no one can explain, that woman slaughtered more than five thousand people. No one knows how she did it. People treat her almost as a supernatural entity.
I sighed deeply, deep in my chest.
So that's why they were isolated. They were classified as too dangerous to mix with other teams.
It is no wonder that the imperial army prepared an ambush. Some of the continent's most wanted people, among mortals, were there.