Caesar followed Musashi out of his room and they soon made it to the long halls, they pa.s.sed by the curious guards and headed straight for the mansions main gate.
Along the way, they found Joe who was stealthily tip-toeing through the halls, he had a strange expression on his face as he glanced side to side.
Caesar, who had not seen Joe for the last few days, couldn"t help but call out to him, "Joe, where have you been lately?" he asked from behind him.
Joe"s footsteps momentarily halted and his short body turned around, once he saw Caesar, his anxious expression was replaced by one of relief.
"I-i"ve finally found you!" he roared in excitement whilst running toward Caesar with small strides, a small stream of tears flowed from his eyes.
Caesar tilted his head in confusion and put one hand forward to hold Joe back by holding his forehead with the palm of his hands.
Joe put both of his hands forward in an attempt to hug Caesar, alas, his arms were too short and he grabbed air instead.
Seeing Joes frantic figure, Caesar chuckled with delight, he moved his other hand and patted Joe on the shoulder, "haha, what"s gotten you so worked up?" he asked with traces of laughter lingering in his voice.
"Y-you don"t understand… the women in this place, they are demons I tell ya, demons!" Joe spoke while looking up at the ceiling as if recalling a horrific nightmare.
Musashi, who was at Caesar"s side, furrowed his brows, "how audacious, the fox-kin females are known to be of the most respectful and beautiful in the dark continent" he said with pride.
"Pft, what a load of c.r.a.p, those darn women being beautiful? Sure, I can agree, however, being respectful? Who are you trying to fool?" Joe spat out hatefully.
Caesar rolled his eyes and a playful smiled appeared on his lips, "don"t tell me they bullied you? The masculine and experienced, StoneToe Joe" he said sarcastically.
"T-they didn"t bully me, they just don"t know what they"re missing… They treated me like a child after I separated from you, saying things like, "oh my, what robust child" or, "wow, to think a child could grow facial hair" t-they even bathed me without a care in the world…" Joe said with tears threatening to fall out of his eyes.
"That doesn"t sound all that bad, I a.s.sume you took liberties with them while in the bath, incurring their wrath, right?" Caesar asked after a few seconds of thought.
Hearing Caesar"s words, Joe clenched his fists tightly and a vein appeared on his forehead… "it was just the opposite… once they stripped me, instead of being impressed, they just… laughed…" The tears he was holding back finally came out in full force.
Caesar held back his laughter and patted Joe on the head, "I"m sorry for your loss" he said with a completely straight face.
Suddenly, Joe looked up at Caesar with hope in his eyes, "you"re in the same boat, right? You can"t have great looks and a strong weapon, right?" he said with a hopeful glint in his eyes to which Caesar just shook his head with a regretful expression.
"Unfortunately G.o.d is unfair, some of us are born with both, while others are born with neither" his words which were clearly mocking Joe, made his expression even more downcast.
"Ahem, let"s get a move on…" Musashi cleared his throat and interjected the awkward banter… he casted a pitiful glance at Joe before walking past him.
Caesar nodded and followed, after which, Joe ran towards him and caught up… his small and stout body running was quite a comical sight… "no one in this world is perfect, I refuse to believe you have no faults" Joe said confidently from behind Caesar, to which Musashi"s ears perked up.
Caesar"s face became serious as he stroked his chin without stopping his feet, "my one and only fault is being the absolute best in everything, it gets lonely after a while, you know?" he said jokingly.
A vein appeared on both Musashi"s and Joe"s face, no one liked to hear about a pretty boys arrogance.
Noticing their annoyance, Caesar laughed loudly, " I am, of course, just joking, I naturally have an abundance of faults, I just try my hardest to hide them…" he explained.
"Such as?" Joe asked, bewildered.
"I am the type of person who denies the world, things such as rules, laws, regulations, principles, and even honor… such things don"t exist for me, I prefer following my own principles. In a way, I have more faults than anyone else, however, I believe it"s the faults of a person that make them interesting, not the other way around" Caesar explained with a calm smile.
"What do you mean?" Joe asked.
"For instance, if your intelligence was a bit higher, you wouldn"t be the same person… but because you are so bafflingly idiotic, you"re a much more interesting person" Caesar said humorously and they soon made it to the main gates of the mansion whilst bantering.
"Open the gates for the clan leader!" A random guard shouted after spotting Musashi walking toward them.
*creak*
The large gate lifted off the ground, allowing pa.s.sage, Musashi nodded at the guards and they soon continued on their way to the outer walls.
They pa.s.sed by the many curious pedestrians without halting their movement, they were still very skinny and looked starved, however, the light on their faces was a huge contrast from when Caesar first arrived… They had clearly gained a new spark of hope.
After a few more minutes of walking, they finally arrived at the outer walls, a large stream of soldiers were walking in and out of the large gates with buckets of dirt and other weird things… A large and robust man, with long wavy red hair, was supervising the soldiers with crossed arms, this was, of course, Faust.
"START HUSTLING, WE DON"T GOT ALL DAY!" he roared.
Musashi, Caesar, and Joe all walked towards Faust, "hey, how is the progress going?" Caesar opened up first.
Faust turned his body in surprise, but after seeing Caesar, his shock died down and a smile appeared on his face… "the large ditch should be completed by tonight, then I will order the soldiers to create that draining system by the farms…" he replied.
Caesar was quite surprised at Faust"s friendly att.i.tude, he had expected for him to show more hostility, however, contrary to his expectations, he still greeted him with a smile.
Both Musashi and Joe were let down by the boring and professional answer Faust provided, they were expecting some juicy drama of some sort.
"That"s great, I was expecting it to be finished within the next couple of days but for it to be completed tonight, that is an astonishing pace" Caesar praised with a smile.
"Your praise is wasted, this task was nothing special," Faust said humbly before turning around and ordering his troops to pick up the pace.
Caesar smiled wryly and decided to walk away, he didn"t feel like interrupting the workaholic any further, "let"s go and interrogate that a.s.sa.s.sin now, shall we?" Caesar spoke to the downcast duo.
They lifted their heads in excitement at his words, "ohoo, that should be interesting" they said in sync and headed to the jail cells.
Caesar just shook his head, "it"s beyond me how both of these fellas are well over 100 years old…" he thought inwardly while silently following them from behind.
----
A few minutes later, the trio arrived in front of a heavily plated steel cage, it had an ominous and gloomy atmosphere… torches were placed on the wall just barely illuminating the insides of the cage.
Inside, was a man and woman, the man had a long and unkempt beard, while the woman looked relatively clean… this pair was naturally Ronny and the a.s.sa.s.sin from last night.
To the untrained eye, the woman wasn"t breathing and was dead, however, Caesar could easily see that her heart was beating and she was, in fact, alive.
*creak*
He opened the cage and walked closer, he pulled out a chair that was in the jail cell and sat a few feet in front of the woman.
"I know this is probably a waste of time, alas, I just can"t sit still while I know that an organization is turning young children into killing machines… They must have taken you from your family and treated you like an object for your entire childhood" Caesar opened up with an extremely apologetic voice, this was, of course, faked.
Seeing no reaction from the girl, his words continued… "I know your loyalty to your master is unshakable, but have ever dreamt of freedom, a life without following orders, a normal life where you have a loving family?" he asked
Caesar took out one of the cigarettes from his pocket and pressed it between his lips while looking up at the ceiling, "I had a daughter much like yourself, she was abducted at a young age and abused until she was already a woman… the life in her eyes had long disappeared, however, after years of searching, when I finally found her and held her within my arms… even if she had given up, I did not give up on her" his words stopped for a brief minute before he continued.
"I gave her a house, a family, food, clothing, but most of all, I gave her unconditional love, soon, that lifeless little girl starting gaining a light in her eyes once again… she, who thought her life was worthless starting gaining a reason to live. She found a lover, had children, and soon, her tragic past was forgotten and she created a new life, a happy life"
Musashi lit the cigarette in Caesar"s mouth as he continued talking, while Joe was looking at Caesar dumbfoundedly, "I didn"t know Caesar had a daughter with such a tragic past" he thought as a few tears formed in his eyes.
"Ever since then, I have never lost hope for someone to gain their life back, this possibility isn"t closed off to you… It doesn"t matter how hard they trained you, or how loyal you are. Human life should never be contained, one of our best traits is the strife for freedom" Caesar said while taking a puff of the cigarette.
The girl on the ground finally had a slight reaction as she raised her head, although her face was still stone cold, he could see a glimmer of doubt in her eyes.
"T-there is no place for me to go…" she said hesitantly.
Caesar stood up from his chair and before she could even react, she was held in his arms… "don"t look down on yourself so much, I am here for you to lean on, if no one else wants you, I will take you…" he said comfortingly, his voice like a devils whisper.
The la.s.s had confliction written on her face, she was an a.s.sa.s.sin, yet, this man in front of her was hugging her tightly. Wasn"t he afraid of her killing him? Why does he trust her? All of the thoughts made the girls mind feel tangled… she had never been shown warmth, it was a foreign feeling to her.
Caesar gently rubbed her back and showed her more warmth, feeling this, the a.s.sa.s.sin girl couldn"t help but ask… "why do you want to help me? Why do you trust me?" she asked a handful of questions at the same time. Even she didn"t realize that she broke her cold facade.
Caesar separated from the girl and looked her straight in the eye, "you remind me of my daughter… I don"t want you to continue down this path, I want to help you…" he said soothingly to which the a.s.sa.s.sin choked on her words.
*crack*
He broke the shackles off the girl"s hands and walked away, "you may do what you want, however, just know that I am always here… whether you want a new ident.i.ty, or just leave this place entirely, it"s up to you… I am not going to restrict you" he said while walking out of the jail cell, leaving the door open.
As he exited the jail cell, he turned back one last time, "remember, as long as there is life, there is hope" he said before leaving her line of sight with both Musashi and Joe in suit. Leaving a very, very, confused and conflicted girl in the jail cell.
If it was before, she would have frantically left and made it back to her master, alas, a failed mission would mean death, especially if her ident.i.ty had been compromised… thinking back to the strange man"s words.
"If there is life, there is hope" she gripped her hands tightly as she looked at the ceiling with resolution.
Ronny who was at the side of the girl just shook his head with a wry smile… "the poor little rabbit took the evil man"s bait" he thought to himself before drifting to sleep.
---
Caesar, Musashi, and Joe were walking in silence, Caesar"s previous gentle expression was nowhere to be seen, instead, he carried a calculating and sly smile.
"Humans are controlled by three things, fear, hope, and self-interest, the girl feared her inevitable death if she went back to her master, I gave her hope of a new life, and she will be benefited greatly by working with me" Caesar calmly explained to the two shocked figures.
"Y-you mean you lied about that daughter?" Joe asked with wide eyes.
"why yes, of course, I did, don"t worry, I won"t treat her badly, if she does in fact, align with us," Caesar said through m.u.f.fled laughter.
"Things such as a high pain tolerance can be easily obtained, resulting in torture being useless, however, you can never erase human nature… this has been proven thousands of times in history" Caesar whispered with a strange glint in his eyes.