Late night deal

“Kato, stop dozing off on the job.” Someone yelled while yanking my body around.

“Uh, huh? Yeah.” I replied cluelessly.

“Kato, this is the first proper task assignment we have received since we got assigned to the training camp.” They kept talking.

“Yeah…” I replied cluelessly once again.

“Why are you not taking this seriously? Is this not exactly what you wanted?” They started to get frustrated with each word. Throwing their hands around.

I finally bothered to wake myself up. “Fine, fine, fine. I’m paying attention now.” I replied while giving my face a little wash.

“Finally, what took you so long? We have a lot of ground to cover and you’re barely even awake.” Takeo said in a frustrated tone. “Finish off waking yourself up and let’s get going.”

“Sure thing, Sir,” I replied in a mocking tone.

Takeo gave me a death stare. His eyes were fixed on me as if he was about to catch his prey.

“Why so serious? Relax a little. I’m moving now.” I told him in an attempt to get him to calm down.

Takeo didn’t seem to appreciate it. He turned around and began marching down the street.

“Everything is peaceful you don’t have to be so uptight, you know that right?”

“If everything was peaceful we wouldn’t need to be out here. Think about it, Kato.” He replied

“Look around you, nothing bad happens other than a little kid losing their parents. They sent us out so that we have some kind of experience in actually acting like professional troops instead of being nothing more than a boot camp trainee.”

“Doesn’t matter, we must act professionally to ensure people won’t go against us.”

“Acting too professional will make people fear us more than think of us as caretakers, our job is to protect the people. Not make them afraid of us.”

“We need to make sure that they don’t misbehave, if we appear weak they will use that to act against the laws and fight us.”

“And then we show them that they can’t win against us. That way we prove that we are here to protect those who follow the law and punish those who don’t. You aren’t very smart Takeo.”

“No, you just are far too immature. You do not seem to understand the current situation we are in. We are trying to get the best positions possible, slacking off and not doing our job to the highest standards will only lead to us not leaving any impressions.” He replied scornfully.

“Sure, sure Sir. Whatever you say!”

We carried on patrolling our assigned streets. Back and forth. This is the most time I have spent around the city. The streets which were assigned to me and Takeo are quite peaceful residential streets. Throughout the day there aren’t that many residents, the streets were mostly filled in the morning and early evening. So many people, all working hard and living happily.

Slowly the sun was beginning to descend behind the horizon, setting ablaze the clear sky. The power of the sun is undefeated, one of the most fabulous natural beauties to exist. I couldn’t take my eyes away. I was being drawn into the might of the sun. Even Takeo froze to the might of the sun; gazing over the boundless fields and sky.

“Sir no slacking off during work, what do you think you’re doing?” I asked cheekily.

However, Takeo didn’t respond, drawn into the sunset, he didn’t move a single inch. No reaction to anything around him. The power of the sun is overwhelming, impossible to counter.

“Hey, Hey, Sir Slacking. It’s wake up time.” I yelled directly to his ear.

Takeo’s body shivered and jumped out of surprise, at last, he was freed from the sun’s mighty power.

“Please, don’t do that again.” He replied while trying to catch his breath.

“Haha, sorry, I couldn’t resist the opportunity. You looked like quite the idiot standing there so I had no choice but to wake you up.”

“It’s time for our break, let’s get back to camp.” He said as he marched off.

“Okay, Sir Slacking! Coming right after you.” I replied while chasing after him.

Shortly we arrived at the canteen in the training camp. The usual choices, nothing special. We grabbed some food and sat down. Unlike when we started training, we were finally given a bit more freedom. Slightly longer breaks but the training did end up getting harder than before.

I and Takeo haven’t had many opportunities to talk together anymore. Ever since we got into the training he has been much more uptight than before; acting far too seriously for the person he was before or maybe I just had a wrong view of him.

“What are you looking at Kato?” Takeo asked while eating his rice.

“Oh, nothing, just daydreaming.”

“You seem to be doing it more and more often. So unlike you.”

“I have? Maybe this is the normal me instead.”

“This you is better.”

“I don’t like you when you’re an idiot and currently you’re being an idiot.”

“What did I do now??” he replied with a surprised look.

I got up and took my tray with me, “Maybe if you weren’t such an idiot you’d understand.” I put the tray away and left the canteen.

Takeo quickly hurried and came after me. Seeming as if he had something to say, he got interrupted by one of the Guard Officers.

“Kato, Takeo.” He said.

We stood straight and saluted.

“Stand down. I have a request for you two.”

Simultaneously we replied, “What is it, Sir?”

“We have been short on guards during night patrol as well, I’d like to request the two of you to take part in night patrols.”

“Would be a pleasure, Sir,” we replied.

“Fantastic, you start at 0030 and finish at 0500. Same area for your patrol.”

We saluted without realising that we only get a short amount of break now. The officer walked off.

“Takeo, I’m going to take a nap before we have to go on patrol.”

“Okay, don’t oversleep. I won't be waking you up.”

Takeo walked off, although I wanted to get rest, I decided to follow Takeo and see what he is up to. There have been things about him which I want to find out but he's always acting too suspicious.

I pretended that I was going to the barracks and the moment I was out of sight I started following him. He wondered around the training camp; he seemed lost with no real destination in mind.

Time was flying by and he still hasn’t done anything interesting. From walking around to short training. Is he really this boring of a person? There is no way that I could be overthinking this, there has to be more to it.

Seems like all I have done is wasted my time. Slowly approaching half past midnight, Takeo will be probably starting to move to our patrol location. I should go now so that he doesn’t notice me.

I soon arrived at our patrol location. The dark streets had an eerie sensation flowing through them. The dim lighting from the sparsely spread street lanterns made the streets more discomforting. The moon was well hidden behind the dense clouds. Living not too far off the desert makes the days hot and the nights cold. Though the dense clouds can only mean that there is a storm coming from the north. We may have a long night ahead of us.

Since our patrol area is outside the capital walls nighttime tends to be calmer yet worse at the same time. Despite most criminals operating within the city walls, a lot more wild animals sneak around this area. Although the local area tends to not have many cases of wild animals appearing, it still happens from time to time.

“What are you looking at?” A voice came from behind me.

As I swiftly turned around I lead a powerful punch at the unknown person behind me. They got knocked to the ground. I grabbed their arms and pinned them down to the ground to prevent them from attempting to fight back.

“Takeo?” I looked at the persons face close up. “What are you doing you, idiot?” I released his arms and helped him back up.

“I didn’t realise you would have your guard up this much.” He replied while cleaning himself up from the dirt. “That was some powerful punch, I have to say.”

“Would have been worse if I didn’t see your face.”

“Wouldn’t want to feel that. I’ll try not to take you by surprise next time.”

“Would be smart of you, idiot.”

“Shall we get going, Kato?”

“Yeah, we should. Long night ahead of us.”

“What were you thinking so hard about?”

“There have been reports here and there that wild animals come and attack people outside the walls. I was wondering if we would get to see some.”

“You want to fight some wild animals?”

“I mean, it would make the night more exciting right?”

“Yeah it sure would but don’t you hate working?”

“Not at all, If it takes me to where I need to get, I will work as hard as I can.”

“You seem to be slacking off more lately.”

“I try to work smarter rather than harder. Mainly because I have been overworking myself, to begin with. Makes me extra tired.”

“Hahaha, but doesn’t that mean you aren’t getting stronger?”

“Are you dumb? The only time I have slacked off is during these patrols. I never slack off during training. That’s where I actually become stronger, walking around part of the city is far from worth my time.”

“That is kinda true, but it gives you field experience.”

“Why do you think I’m here? I only accept it because it gives me more attention with the higher-ups. The more they see me, the more they will remember my name. The more they remember my name the better chances I will have to get recommended to a better position. It's all part of my master plan.”

“Damn, you really have everything planned out don't you?”

“Not really, I think as I go. If it works it works. So far? It all worked.”

“Hahaha, it sure does seem to work.”

“What about you? Why are you doing these patrols for?”

“The more I do the more experience I get, even if it's a minor role. If I do this correctly, people will notice me. The more people notice me, the more people will trust me. The better the trust with the people the better I feel.”

“Aren’t you too uptight though?”

“Being uptight is part of our role. We are actual guards, not actors. We aren’t meant to pretend to be doing a job, we are supposed to do it.”

“Losen up a little, this is the only time we get to move outside the training camp currently. Make the most of it.”

“This isn’t a place to be relaxed in.”

“It can be if you make it. You’re just an idiot.”

“Whatever you say, Kato.”

We kept patrolling around the streets. Each street we passed was empty. Only the odd rat squeaking around.

We finally completed one trip across our patrol route. Despite there being only two of us we have a fairly large area to cover. I leaned against a wall to rest for a moment before going back to patrolling again.

“Takeo, do you happen to have a watch on you?” I asked while grabbing my canteen.

There was no reply. I looked up and around me. No sign of Takeo or anyone else. Did I lose him along the way?

I wanted to call out for him but I don’t want to cause any disturbance in the area. I quickly walked back from the direction I came from but there was no sign of Takeo. I went back to the place I last remember seeing him and hope to find some kind of clues to where he could be.

There wasn’t much I could use here. No signs of anything. Maybe if I had a dog I could try to get him to sniff Takeo out, as easy as that would make everything, it's never that easy. I searched around in each corner from where I saw him.

“Hello there.” A voice came from behind me.

“Takeo?!” I turned around in relief.

Before I managed to fully rotate it was too late. My conscience went blank.

…

…

…

…

What happened…

Everything looked fuzzy. My head was spinning uncontrollably.

My head was excruciating. Whenever I touched a part of my head the pain only became worse.

The darkness in the room was unnerving. I tried moving around but it only made everything worse.

I managed to sit up. My sight slowly was recovering and everything started to look sharper. There was a dim light shining from nearby. I slowly leaned towards it to see what it could be. It was hard to lean too far because of what it seems to be iron bars blocking the way. There was some whispering going on. I tried to make out what they were saying.

“What should we do with the other guy?”

“We should dispose of him.”

“That’s against our code, we aren’t supposed to kill those who aren’t part of the list.”

“It’s too late to worry about that now.”

“What if The Boss fiends out?”

“He won’t, we will dispose of him to the point no one will ever be able to trace his remains.”

Are they talking about me? Or are they talking about Takeo?

As they were debating about what to do the door began to squeak and another voice had appeared in the room.

“What the hell have you done!” They yelled in a deep tone. “There was no need to bring them here you morons.”

“Sorry, sir, but we panicked.” one of them replied

“Panicked? PANICKED? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”

“S-sorry, sir…” The other replied.

“You’re called sorry now? Why don’t sorry and sorry explain to The Boss why you jeopardised the job because you panicked.”

“We will clean up after ourselves.” The first guy replied.

“Yeah! We will make it seem as if there was no mistake!” The second replied.

“You have till morning. If it’s not sorted I will deal with this myself and you will have to face consequences.”

“No problem, sir!” they both replied.

The door squeaked followed by a slam. The guy who sounds like he runs this place left, wonder what is going to happen to me now. Still, what happened to Takeo. I moved away from the iron bars in case they decide to come to me.

I need to figure out a way to get out of this cell. While moving across the floor I noticed my hand was covered in some red like liquid. I wiped my hand on my clothes and checked the sore part of my head and as I assumed it was covered in fresh blood. I will need to quickly get out of here and sort this out. All I can currently do is turn my jacket into a rag and bandage up my head to prevent bleeding as quick.

As I was patching up my head footsteps began approaching me. I quickly hid my stuff and laid down on the ground. I hope that they don’t remember the exact position and clothing I had when they put me in here.

“What do we do with the main guy?”

“There are some guys who are supposed to pick him up. We just need to make sure he is alive and quiet.”

“Easy enough. Let’s get rid of this one now.”

My cell door began to open. They don’t seem to have noticed that there was any difference in how they left me. I summoned my sword before hiding so I was ready for anything to happen but due to my injury, my overall mana reserves are lower than usual since my body is weak. The second the cell door opened up I froze the floor and both the guys were unable to move.

“Damnit, he’s awake.”

As easy as it seemed they quickly retaliated. The guy behind shattered my ice floor and released both himself and his friend.

“The less you resist the easier this will be for the both of us.”

“He’s quite the aggressive one isn’t he, haha.”

They easily knocked my sword out of my hands and cuffed me. They shoved cloth into my mouth and fully tied me up. I had no way to resist anymore.

“He’s got a pretty soft face hasn’t he.”

“Now that you mention it. Bet we could sell him for a good price.”

“Gotta fix his attitude first though.”

“If we put him to sleep and sell him no one will notice.”

Selling me? What kind of idiots are they? Better hope that I get out when they aren’t around because they will get quite the rough time with me. I just need to figure out how to get out of this rope.

I tried loosening the rope by throwing myself around but instead, I only made my head injury worse from it. The ropes were tied on tight with no loose gaps. Footsteps were coming in my direction once again. Damnit, there’s no way for me to escape this.

“Alright little prince, let's get going.”

They picked me up and carried me out of the underground cells. Outside it was still pitch black. It was hard to see where we were in the unlit streets.

“Let me see the cargo.” Said a masked man.

“Here. How much is he worth?”

“There’s a few injuries but those are easily fixable. With a little bit of a wash and clothing replacement, they could do pretty well. How does 500 TGC (Tasmethu Gold Coins) sound.”

“Make it 700.”

“Considering the state they are in now the value is significantly lower than marketable price, should have fixed it up a bit. I’ll go 550.”

“600 and we will make sure he’s asleep till you arrive at your destination, he’s a bit of an aggressive one.”

“Aggressive? In what way?”

“Likes to fight back.”

“I suppose there’s a market for those, we can tame it to behave if needed.”

“What will it be then?”

“I can do 575 and you get paid instantly.”

“Sounds like a deal.”

“Fantastic, load up the cargo and ill bring the payment.”

Once again, I was knocked out.