Vol 4 Chapter 7 (1/2)
Chapter 7: The Leaders
“All right, which one next? Government or Wolves?” Larry asked as they left the butcher shop and stepped onto the main road
“Er… Governout nearby, just down the street Whaddaya wanna do?” Neil replied Seron glanced at his watch There was still a little more than an hour before noon
“Let’s go” Said Jenny But Neil seemed even more reluctant this time
“But Govern around The leader’s real bad and he picks fights all the tier than er than me, I don’t listen to nobody’”
Seron thought before replying “That’s not good With an attitude like that he’s only going to garner suspicion from the police”
“But we can’t just ignore him” Said Jenny Seron nodded
“What if we get Mr Kurtz to lead?” Natalia suggested from behind
Seron shook his head “I don’t think we should do that Mr Kurtz could obviously beat hi if we hide behind an arive the; we need to completely convince Government to lay low for a while”
“True” Natalia admitted
“Going is the only road” Meg declared
Seron cast Meg a glance and went silent
Nick walked up next to Seron and matched his pace “Seron, there seems to be a dilapidated fence ahead”
When Seron looked up, he spotted an empty lot by the road He also saw the remains of a fence that had once kept the lot secure
Metal shafts had been driven into the ground, with rope strung between the or had already fallen No one see the fence
“That shaft just may make the perfect staff”
Without a word, Seron turned to Nick
The shafts were about 18 th Seron picked one up as he walked It was clean with almost no hint of rust The shaft was thin and hollohich hter than it seemed
Seron used the shaft—which was taller than he was—as he ht a wizard’s staff as he walked onward
“Since ere you in the 60-plus club, Seron?” Natalia joked
“It’s just a change of pace” Seron lied
About 300 meters on, they were out of the town center
There were no more stores by the roadside, only the remains of small car factories and abandoned construction s of note were e houses Naturally, no one alking around
Neil led the group into a ruined building in an abandoned lot Supposedly it had once been a garage There stood a rusted car, covered in grass and beco one with the earth
The battered shutter was down,it impossible to see inside But from the two small motorcycles and several cars parked outside it was clear that people were inside
“In here But are you sure about this? It’s not too late to back out” Neil said hesitantly
“I’ave a silent nod froroup
“We’re just going to have to try our best” Seron said, still holding the makeshi+ft staff
“We’ve coreed
Kurtz sighed“Then allow us to come with you and stand at the very back”
Seron turned to Meg and Natalia
“We’re co too” Natalia said before he could even open his mouth
“Then stick close to Mr Kurtz” Seron said, and turned to Nick “Here Hold on to this” He handed Nick the shaft
“Of course” Nick accepted it with a beautiful smile Seron lowered his voice
“It’s just a staff, Nicholas Browning”
“I understand, Seron Maxwell”
“And we’re not criminals”
“Of course”
The garage interior was surprisingly tidy
All the abandoned ainst the wall, exposing the concrete floor The s high up on the walls were mostly intact, and the cracked panes were sealed meticulously with tape
The garage was furnished with an old table and several chairs When the group entered, they found eight boys discussing soe from their early teens to about 19 All of them were locals
The boys were shocked when they spotted Seron and the others entering the garage The tallest boy—who seemed to be the oldest—stood and bellowed at him
“What the hell? We ain’t done anything!”
“Of course” Seron replied calmly
“We ain’t done anything! This here’s our turf, who let you in?”
The boy’s deep voice resounded through the garage
The boy—the leader—erent attitude The others kept theirto see ould happen
Kurtz, standing at the very back of Seron’s group with Meg and Natalia, whispered “The boy’s terrified”
“Really?” Natalia replied, as relaxed as ever
“Yes He knows they’re being suspected and that theyhis voice to try and stave off that terror”
“I see So that’s why they’re all gathered together here”
“The leader’s not doing a very good job of staying calh to lead”
“Looks like so for hiht to say this, but talk about one hell of a bluff”
“If anything should happen, I’ll fire a warning shot into the ceiling Your earsahead of time”
Seron, Jenny, and Neil (standing between the the members of Government
Seron and Jenny were confident enough, but Neil was visibly frightened
“I feel kinda sorry for the kid” Larry said from behind them
The three came to a stop about 10 meters from the members of Government
“We’re here to give you some advice, but it looks like you’re already on the case” Jenny said loudly enough for everyone to hear
“Shaddap! Leave!” The leader cried, refusing to cooperate
Jenny and Seron fell into thought, wondering how they should approach Meanwhile, Neil treh he were ready to bolt at a moment’s notice
“What do you think?” Larry asked Nick, as still holding the staff Nick’s ansas brutally honest
“The otherthe leader”
“That’s straightforward of you”
“I believe Seron and Jenny could be forgiven for ignoring this group andon Perhaps we should stop by somewhere afterwards for lunch”
“Now that you ed The leader continued his tirade
“Don’t you look your nose down on ers’re buffoons!”
‘Rest of the village aside, he’s certainly not giving us any reason not to think otherwise about hiht, but did not say
“It’s not a good idea to congregate here” Said Seron
“Shaddap! Don’t tell me what to do!”
“The police will assu, and at the saet for the killer”
“I told you to shut your hole! We can take care of ourselves just fine Get out!”
“We’re talking about a hardened serial killer”
“Doesn’t matter! Us buddies can take it!”
“I can’t say with coo ht back against soun?”
“Th-that’s e’re all together for! We’re all ready to pound this guy into the pavement!”
“That isn’t very apparent You even let our group inside without resistance”
“We just let our guard down’s all!”
“Again, you are placing yourselves in grave danger by gathering here No one will coo back to your homes and stay with your families The killer won’t be able to easily strike in places where adult witnesses are present”
“I said! We’re taking care of ourselves!”
“It’s not too late You can head to the village center together and disband there”
“Shaddap! The only thing that est! And that’s me!”
“Soer than you, who has no reservations about murder, will come to find you here”
“Which is e’re all together here, dumbass!”
A long and pointless conversation continued between Seron and the leader across the 10-meter distance And eventually—
“…Yeah, I see now!” The leader said suddenly
Seron and the others hoped the leader had finally seen the light, but their hopes were cruelly dashed
“You guys are behind all this, aren’t you?!”
“Y-you’ve gotta be kidding… ‘Dense’ doesn’t even cut it with this guy Talk about going above and beyond all expectations” Larry groaned, his hands on his head
But Nicholas was completely nonchalant “Actually Larry, Seron did in fact foresee this” He took out a hairband from his pocket
“Hm?”
As Larry watched, Nick propped up his staff against his chest and put his hairband in his athered his long hair, and with one hand around the ponytail and the hairband in the other he tied it up neatly
Then he raised his ponytail again and secured it once more with the hairband to hold it up
“There”
Nick took the staff in one hand and walked over to Seron
“Hey” Larry tried to stop him
“Not to worry, Larry Wait there and take care of the girls should anything happen” Nick replied, turning Though a little skeptical, Larry did as he was asked
Seron and Jenny turned when they heard the staff
“Not bad It looks pretty good on you”
“The hairstyle, Jenny? Or the staff?”
“The hair, obviously What’re you doing here?”
“I am here as Neil’s substitute Good work, Neil Go back to the others”
Nick caestured for Neil to retreat
“Can I really?”
A moment’s hesitation later, Neil ran to Larry
“Aha! Cat got your tongue, eh? So I was right!” The leader of Govern yet another mistaken assumption
“Perhaps the Roxchean word ‘hopeless’ was invented for him?” Nick joked
“Maybe” “You ”
Nick added that he would ask his father later about the etyy of the word
“I thought you were just a pack of rich idiots, but who knew you’d actually becrionna s started after you lot got here It makes perfect sense!”
The leader’s one-man show continued But Seron and the others were barely listening
In fact, they were more concerned with the members of Govern pitiful They see the absurdity of their leader’s accusations
“Don’t know about that guy, but I wanna at least help the ones behind him” Said Jenny
“Yeah” “Indeed”
Meanwhile,
“My goodness… why do those words si wondered sadly from behind
“Isn’t it ‘bout ti shots, Mr Kurtz?” Asked Natalia
“Let’s be a little uns should only be used as a last resort”
“Do they? News to me”
“Is that so? I’m also a little curious to see how Miss Jenny and the others will deal with this situation”