Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 36 : Someone in Disguise

~Slam-slam~

Gannaro started his work in the early morning. Thumping sounds resonate within the dining space located adjacent to the guest room they resided. Being the former student of the old man, Gads Gilmore was accompanying his master from the time when Gannaro accepted his daughter’s plea.

“Give me that mortar, please.”

The old man drawn up his forefinger towards the cupboard near the exit. It was the door that Simon Terino commonly inserted the golden key into. Brown-tinted upon its wooden surface, Gannaro assigned his subordinate to watch over their house on schedule, which determines its succinct direction hereafter,”Here, this is the one, master?” Gads Gilmore politely handed down the stone mortar into the hand of his former master. Immense hatred of his leader would never defy over the fact that the bearded man learned variations of tinkering technology from the old man.

He was adopted as a child, so Gads Gilmore will always paid him high respect.

~bam!~

Simon barged in from the other door that leads to the outside world. He brings about many herbs in hand whilst also putting a wide smile upon the face,”Here, master! What can I do for you next?” He clamored in energetic fashion. Gads Gilmore leered upon the young apprentice in astonishment. He was regimented to do eight hours duty of tower watching yesterday night. In that period, Simon Terino would never have adequate space to sleep in-between. A sincere observation was needed in continuous manner when obtained the quest of being an overseer at the peak.

For such reason, the bearded man called,”Hey, simons, you’re totally petrified me to stand up this long. Don’t you need a sleep?” He asked directly towards the brown-haired man. Simon appeared inept upon his expression once mentioned of his lively sense. Against appointed query from an acquaintance of his master, Simon constantly directed his eyes back and forth towards the old man as if he required confirmations to reply.

“It’s question solely for you, Simon. Don’t be afraid of me to answering that outright.” Gannaro smiled. Rather than beaming of joy, the bearded man viewed those smile akin to the ones that exert dominance. Its edge lifted along the eyebrows as the old man glances onto his subordinates to announce such lenience. Of course, Simon himself fell into uncomfortable position straight away, one that made him leaving the site soon after without muttering answers to the query.

“It’s not like I pressured him, anyway. He ran off once seeing my iconic smile.”

Gannaro shrugged himself out of confusion that was emerged whilst plodding upon the herbs before him. The old man seemed spacing out for awhile. He glanced over the mysterious mixture on the table and kept rubbing his chin ahead of the mortar down under,”To miss one ingredient, it’s a serious crime on itself.” Mumbled the old man out loud. Gads Gilmore seeks into the bowl right away to find such trouble layering within. Despite so, the bearded man found no sort of recognizable hitches on the mixture regardless of how hard he searched for it, hence his baffled expression that immersed,” I think if you’ve had a miss on the recipe, It would be better for you to tell me about them. I’ll do my best to procure those for you.” He proposed.

Once being petrified by his own mistakes, now the old man goes bright after hearing off his proposal. Gannaro beams onto the bearded man and embraced him out of whim,” You’re truly my best disciple there is! Please, retrieve the special-made salt from the eastern coast of Carrel, it’s the only missing ingredients I wished for at the moment.”

“Is that all you’ve wanted from us, Gannaro?”

Those violent voice of a woman, it is a roaring wrath inwards. Shanice was leaning on the door hinge and blowing whiffs away from her mouth. Based on mere deduction from the leader’s attitude, Gads Gilmore understood its motive in the slightest. She loathed his presence at the most no matter of how earnest that Gannaro’s apology was. The leader would never wished to fulfill his request out of her own decree, but John Straverman’s safety is the important part of their survival at this rate.

Gazing at death-intent eyes of his daughter, the old man slightly shuddered. Someone with experience of murder should realise that lingering away from the cruel side is impossible. She definitely inherited an assassin trait after the picture of his past. A perfect copy of his authentic death blow, one that is exercised simply over continuous stare,” Yes, I’ve spoken my fill for the training of my current subordinate. Simon needs real-life proficiency to mature.” Gannaro muttered in rather-calm fashion after suppressing malicious intent by Shanice upon his presence.

---

Shanice decided to travel alongside her brother. Natasha Gastano was left behind to watch Gannaro and the steel casket from the old man’s scheme. Eastern coast of Carrel boasts vast sand areas that resembled many beaches Ostium have in their disposal, yet none has been developed for tourism thereof. It is the location flourished with diversity upon its bumpy landscape.

~beep-beep~

‘The plant you were looking for inhabited the lonely island across the northeastern side. You’ll reach it in two hours by swimming, so I recommend you to find a idle boat that could move faster than going for a dip into the sea.’

They have their goggles switched on to visit the area settled. It has trackers to define exact location of the specific plant, even, based on pictures provided by the old man before their departure. It is the faint white-colored flowers whose roots saps of nutrients from numerous rocks of the sea. To mend nauseous behavior from every person before him, Gannaro requires its refined qualities and greater amount of special-made salt derived off the blossoming petals they obtained. The old man even stated about its philosophical reasoning throughout initial briefing he convened.

“We humans forgot to regard white jasmine as national treasure of New Pangaea. It has rare elements that no herbalists would consider as important. Once absorbing minerals from sedimental rocks found across the white sand beach, they would use them to become their power to withstand extreme conditions, thus its substantial effect to my potion.”

Gads Gilmore even recorded them inside the goggles. In any case of emergencies, they could access its profound explanation whenever they desire.

~tap-tap-tap~

They run uphill for half an hour to traverse the vast mountain range of Carrel. Gannaro has fabricated special potion for enormous stamina endurance and increased lung capacity. Yet, it takes heavy toll to their stamina once hitting more than thirty minutes mark that the old man had presumed,” We’ll have to take a rest for five minutes to relax our lungs. It’s the victim for our intake, I think.” Gads Gilmore spoke in-between his heavy breathing. Shanice lingers in better prominence than her brother for the leader positioned in at least four meter distances off the bearded man behind.

“Yeah, me too. It’s infinitely ahead of our regular speed, though. That old man has natural knack for that kind of potion. Really, I’m still astonished no matter of how much I’ve been exposed to his drinks.”

Shanice was leaning on the ground. She felt immense distress upon the muscle derived off an intense pressure from their constant trekking on the slope of the hill. On either sides to the cobblestone stairs they have had travelled past, farmer robots replaced the role of their human master under immense heat off the sunlight. It is relatively more convenient for the two siblings to meet no humans at this point. They might have had to dismiss themselves over the cultivated soil and ruined their works of the day, otherwise.

~beep-beep~

‘A suspicious figure approached from the downward track of the mountain in three kilometers from your spot.’

Gads Gilmore quickly panned the view using the movement tracker placed on both thumbs,”Show me details. I want to see that person’s face in real time.” He commanded. The automated system enlarges its map projection towards the fast-moving dot on the panel. It shows an unclear footage of the person’s movement by the camera drone up above,”Oh, he’s fast. Should be packing some good punch against us, Shanice.” He informed. Shanice seemingly has such knowledge in earlier fashion than the bearded man. Her reaction was shallow and quite bitter towards the bountiful data Gads Gilmore had disclosed,”Yeah, i’m looking at the livestream, too. Why would you assume he’s a ‘he’ like you said?”

“Because-Ah, I just aligned that person into my gender for easy description, you know.” Gads Gilmore sounded his reason towards Shanice. Stints of moisture hinted on both temples of the man. He ventured into forbidden lair to have an unknown cause lay down onto his mistakes. Shanice is a strong-willed woman and a supporter of gender equity. Aboard differential aspects of their qualities, she would deemed women are stronger than men in numerous occasion.

So, referring women as the weak ones will always unjust to her perspective. Shanice reflected them into her stature against most male opponent she faced in the past. When her keen abilities outwitted the foes in a clear margin, she claimed those up as an advantageous trait of female strength.

“Ahem, I guess it’s enough resting for me. Men are weakling, after all.”

Gads Gilmore sighed towards the indirect mockery from his leader. Nevertheless, Shanice is a beast in either close combat or gun battles. It should be safer for the curly-haired woman to take care of their lone wolf on the other side of the hill,” Good luck, sis. Don’t let your guard off.” He cheered.

~tap-tap-tap~

After three minutes elapsed, Shanice reached the flattened top of the hill. It has different kinds of cold temperature vegetation lined up on trapezoid-shaped brown soil. Across the edge, the farmer has planted strawberries and other vine-stalk vegetations to ease off the problems of cultivating them as it goes ripe. They left the middle ones with cabbage and most of its fellow cold weather counterparts to grow safely within.

“Ah, if I do have to face that person in the middle of these crops, I’ll surely destroyed them in the process.”

Her contemplation fell short after appearance of their opponent on the other side of the hill. Shanice cracked the air away from her fingers to showcase her immense bravery across the face,” bring it on! Why’re you running towards us, I wonder.” She taunted. The curly-haired woman lifted her chin high in front of her newfound adversary whilst mocking such person over the lips.

On the other hand, her gibberish sounds no less than a whistling wind for the unidentified person ahead. It is difficult to determine their gender based of mere shadows under the hood that such person wearing on the torso all the way down to the bottom of their feet.

“It’s merely a coincidence, Shanice Gilmore. I found you on the way home.”

Shanice digested their response to be coated in bold-fashioned tone. Gads was true about his gender, it seemed. A voice of brazen personality that also resembles a male warrior in that regard. Its bass-centered quality was rather distant for being a woman despite of how eager she is to refer on the person as such.

Yet, it is nothing of a topic for the leader to consider at this point. His knowledge of her actual name in the first glance tells the outline of his intention to approach her in the middle,” That’s good if you have learned of my name.” Shanice beamed across the lips,” It means I don’t have to hold back a bit.”

She unloads her rifle behind the back shortly after. Her F-2000 screams by the trigger, that is the definite answer for his sudden appearance.

~ratatatatata~

Her bullets pierced holes into every vital parts of his body. No surface on his flesh gone astray before Shanice and her keen accuracy. Its hitting streak pushes his body a little bit away in each projectiles spent over the chest.

Before she know it, no bullets fired out from her rifle. Shanice shook herself before the remains of the hooded personality. It is a young man in the middle of his thirty. Within her thought, his hidden weapon would withstand her barrage, yet she found none of such technology under the cloak,”My presumptions probably wrong, but I can’t really tell. It’s do or die in this survival game, so i won’t take responsibility at all.” She mumbled.

~tap-tap-tap~

Gads Gilmore finally caught her pace and reaching the peak. He almost losing the last step forward and fallen back to where it all started, but Shanice saved the bearded man before he collapsed by gripping his left palm straight away,” Thank you, sis. It’s too many stairs to step on.” He moaned.

~beep-beep~

Gads Gilmore was left Elisa’s handheld within the backpack, yet WIC company found another way to call them up. Their device substituted the usual functionality assigned for her legacy. The mark of ‘Ignavus’ appeared on the middle of its white-dominant background, showing exactly whose person that called them at the moment.

‘Long time no chat, fellas! I don’t want to spoil your entertainment, but I think you have the right to know this personally.’

It is the common sense for personal secretary of Aldo Meridic to become eccentric and unpredictable at the same time. Her crispy voice made the woman looked as if no threat will emerge, but it should always turned out to be catastrophic for their end, thus the cautious face of the two siblings before the voice transmission on their device.

‘To be succinct, you have killed someone important to Aldo Meridic. I don’t want to tell him right away, of course, but I’d advised you to depart from Carrel in the next two hours. That’s all, thanks!’

~bzzt-bzzt~

Their transmission ended once more.