Volume 5, The Angel Falls 10: Fallen Angel; Angel of Angels (2/2)

“No!”

The criminal had somehow regained consciousness. He crawled up, his face full of terror, and begged in a crying tone, “B-Butterfly! Save me! I don’t want to be taken back! I don’t want to be locked up again! Help me….”

“Shut up!” Dark Sun bellowed. “If you say one more word or try to control anyone, I will crush your throat right now!”

The criminal closed his mouth, looking very pale. He looked at Solitary Butterfly, then looked back at Dark Sun, appearing to be at a complete loss at what to do. He does not appear to be an inexcusably evil person.

Perhaps he chose to use me to attack Dark Sun by accident? Even though I still hold my doubts, this criminal really does not look like one who knows my relationship with Dark Sun.

“Run, Josh!” Solitary Butterfly screamed, but the criminal was paralyzed with fear. She quickly turned to Dark Sun and begged, “Dark Sun, please, please don’t kill him. Just turn him in to the SCIP!”

Dark Sun thought about it, but replied coldly, “You’re planning to rescue him afterwards, aren’t you?”

Solitary Butterfly froze and remained silent.

“I won’t let you rescue him and have this happen all over again!”

Dark Sun walked resolutely toward the criminal. Solitary Butterfly tried to stop him by firing shots, but he dodged all of them. Then, Dark Sun recalled the blade of his Death Scythe and used it to block the bullets, so he did not even have to dodge.

“Hey!” Poseidynne shoved me and said, “Didn’t you say if your young master’s going on a slaughtering spree, you would stop him?”

I smiled helplessly and said, “The young master is not going on a slaughtering spree. Not a single person on the ground is dead.”

The young master is not so angry that he cannot make a proper judgment. His judgment is perfectly sound… Too sound!

“Dark Sun!”

This voice finally caught Dark Sun’s attention, because this voice could not be more familiar… It was the young master’s own voice.

DSII walked out from the sidelines, holding Briar’s hand. Briar looked terribly pale, but that did not stop Dark Sun’s steps. He merely glanced at her and then kept walking straight toward the criminal.

“Wait!” Briar cried and began to run toward Dark Sun.

“Briar, don’t go over there!” Poseidynne was shocked.

Yet that did not stop Briar in her tracks. With all sorts of people’s gazes fixed on her, whether they be fearful or regretful, Briar ran straight into the scythe’s range, even brushing past its blade, and landed squarely in Dark Sun’s arms, grabbing him tightly and refusing to let go.

Everyone was frozen in shock, and no one made a single sound, fearing they would agitate Dark Sun and prompt him to kill a little girl.

At this moment, DSII walked up to us and said, “Don’t worry, Briar won’t be in danger. She’s too weak and can’t cause any damage, so Ah Ye won’t attack her.”

Then, Briar seemed to be saying something, but she was not loud, so only parts of her speech were audible.

“Ye… I don’t like seeing you like this… It’s scary! Don’t kill anyone…”

The criminal began to slowly get up while still looking at Dark Sun with a rattled expression, seemingly debating whether he should run or not.

Seeing that, Dark Sun growled at Briar at once, “Move.”

Briar refused to loosen her grasp.

The criminal decided he had a rare chance and bolted at once. His actions seemed to have triggered Ah Ye, who pushed Briar away and rushed in pursuit.

Briar was shoved on to the ground by that push. “Ah!” she exclaimed, and began to cry, “Sob. Owww… That hurt! Sniff.”

Hearing the sobs, Dark Sun’s steps slowed gradually, and after a few more strides, he ultimately stopped and turned to look at Briar.

“M-my knee h-hurts!” Briar sniffled miserably.

“…”

Dark Sun looked at the escaping criminal and then looked at Briar. After a moment of hesitation, he turned and came back to Briar’s side and helped her up.

Yet Briar was not buying any of it. She huffed accusingly as she cried, “It hurts! My knees are all scraped! You meanie!”

“I’m sorry.” Dark Sun’s voice was filled with apology.

“Meanie meanie meanie! What were you so mean for?! You pushed me!”

Briar was crying and kicking and throwing a tantrum all over Dark Sun, but all the latter did was continue to apologize as he dusted dirt off of her.

“Can’t be taken down by twenty people yet defeated by a girl less than twenty years old.”

First Wind had regained consciousness at some unknown point and breathed out a huge sigh as he said helplessly, “So that’s all it takes to beat Dark Sun! All you needed was a little girl! If we had known, why would we even bother to fight him directly… I even lost a whip.”

Solitary Butterfly stared wide-eyed at Dark Sun being yelled at and kicked at and not defending himself at all. She relaxed against the ground and burst into laughter.

I looked at the surrounding onlookers, of which only the hidden reporters were left. Their faces were full of shock, surprise, and disbelief, but there was no sign of fear. Some even laughed out loud.

Seems like the issue is resolved… Wait! Not yet.

The criminal had escaped into a small side street. I thought about it and then followed with x-speed.

To avoid being noticed by the criminal, I consciously hid myself in the shadows and made sure my steps were inaudible. Even the young master would only notice me when I am about five steps away from him.

This criminal is too dangerous. Who knows what trouble he might cause if he stays in Sunset City. Let the SCIP take him!

I should be close… I turned sharply, but halted my steps abruptly.

“It’s a real talent to be able to control others through one’s voice… Or is it a mutation? Mutation is the most fundamental step in evolution, and the mutated, stronger creatures eliminate the weaklings. That is natural selection. But then again, to avoid being eliminated, many weaklings gather to become strong as one unit, and they defeat the mutated creature. That is also a human survival instinct.”

The person who spoke wore a khaki trench coat and looked down at the ground at… a body?

“Ah! I’m sorry, my occupational disease kicked in.” He smiled and looked up at me. “I’m Lieder, Professor Lieder, and I teach anthropology. I just came to Sunset City today for work. A pleasure to meet you.”

The person standing before me appeared to be a normal human. He wore glasses, had his short black hair combed neatly, and looked very scholarly. His appearance certainly resembled that of a young professor, but my intuition, or perhaps the silver fountain pen that was dripping blood that he held in his hand, told me otherwise.

The criminal on the ground is likely dead, is he not?

If a professional assassin (even a part-time one) stabs a silver fountain pen into your artery, even slightly off-target, then even a vampire would have a high chance of dying, so there is no chance for a human who only has special powers.

“You’re not going to call the police on me, are you?” Lieder blinked and said innocently, “I’m not dangerous, promise! I never kill unless I’m hired to, and my day job is being a professor. Assassination is just a side job, and I don’t kill often.”

I shook my head to indicate I did not mean to call the police.

He sighed in relief and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the fountain pen clean before sticking it back in his inner pocket. In that instant, I saw he had an entire row of fountain pens in his jacket.

Humans, non-humans, all those in-between, and even those outside those parameters… Everyone has gathered in this city.

Sunset City, you sure are one diverse city.

“You’re smiling.” Lieder asked curiously, “What are you so happy about?”

“Nothing,” I replied with a smile, “I just feel I am very ordinary.”

A few days later…

Perhaps because the criminal had died, the young master seemed to have returned to his normal self completely. He no longer sent DSII to be a hero, but carried out such duties at night by himself and sent DSII to his album promotion jobs instead.

Between filming advertisements, being a hero, researching and developing a new energy whip, and fixing Solitary Butterfly’s leg, the young master was so busy that he had no time to say he wanted to go out to play.

I took special care to watch the news for several days. The young master’s incredible prowess did generate some criticism, but Dark Sun being beaten by a little girl was the headline for several days. Briar became quite famous because of it, and she called to yell at the young master quite a few times. The young master would hang his head and listen quietly every time, not retorting at all.

Things have finally settled down… No! It is not over yet!

I actually hurt the young master! Not only did I dislocate his elbow joints, I also kicked his knees out of position!

My honorable father, if you heard about this up in heaven, you would probably tie me up on a cross and let me burn to a crisp in direct sunlight.

Sigh…

The young master looked at me weirdly and asked, “Charles, the distance between your eyebrows has decreased by 0.1 centimeters. You’ve been looking blue for quite a few days. Is something wrong?”

I could not help but apologize, “Young Master, I injured you and injured you badly. I apologize most sincerely for that.”

“Charles, you’ve apologized so many times already.” The young master patted me on the shoulder and comforted me. “You were controlled back then, so you didn’t mean it! Besides, Bàba has readjusted my joints already, so stop beating yourself up over it.”

But…

The young master thought about it and said, “If you really are that bothered by it, then work harder on learning how to maintain my body. That way, if I ever need to do some minor maintenance or adjustments but not so much that we’d call Bàba, I won’t have to toil over it by myself.”

I replied at once, “Of course. I will master it in the shortest time possible.”

Even though I have never studied medicine, metalworking, or computer programming before, I must learn them all to best carry out my duties as a good butler and serve the young master!

The young master nodded and said, “Charles, let’s head out now.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

The young master and I stood in front of a certain public middle school. It was almost time for school to let out, so the school gates were surrounded by people here to pick up the kids, mostly parents… and a fiancé. The young master is here to pick Briar up, right?

The young master just stood at the gates in broad daylight. All the parents there to pick up their children stared at him in shock, directly and effectively causing a traffic jam in front of the school.

The dismissal bell rang, and a wave of students flowed out of the building. Many children looked left and right for their parents, but all lines of vision ended up being glued to the young master’s face, and the traffic jam seemed to exacerbate.

“Briar! Over here, over here!”

The young master saw Briar at once and waved furiously. Briar’s face was filled with shock upon seeing the young master.

The young master hurried over to Briar’s side. The latter glanced at her peers worryingly before pulling the young master to the side. Just as she opened her mouth to say, “Ah Ye-gē, why are you here…,” the young master got down on one knee and pulled out from his pocket a… dagger, and said completely seriously, “Briar, will you marry me?”

…Young Master, even if you did not know to use flowers and a wedding ring for proposals, how, how did you decide to use a dagger?

That is beside the point though. The point is: Young Master, you are standing in front of a public middle school proposing to a thirteen-year old girl?

Briar seemed to be quite startled as well. She looked down at the dagger for a while, then said suddenly in a low voice, “Ah Ye-gē, this dagger looks just like the feathers on your wings?”

“Yeah. I pulled one off of my wings, added a handle, and made this dagger.”

“Who proposes with a dagger?!” Briar took the dagger. Even though she said so, she kept toying with the dagger and had a sweet smile on her lips as she said, “Then, you need to promise first! First of all, there can’t be any other girls aside from Poseidynne! Even if they get in line!”

“O.K.,” the young master nodded without any hesitation.

“And you can’t ever be mean to me!”

“O.K.”

“And whatever happens in the future, you’re not allowed to regret marrying me!”

“O.K.” The young master kept nodding as he added, “I’m O.K. with anything you say, Briar… Oh wait! Except for not marrying me!”

Hearing that, Briar pursed her lips and rushed into the young master’s embrace. “Waaaah! Stupid Ah Ye! I only want to marry you!”

The young master held Briar with a wide smile on his face and looked very happy.

I had to intervene at this time. “Young Master, we should go.”

“Just a bit. Just a little more hugging!”

“Young Master, I am afraid we cannot wait for just a bit more. I think the police are on their way. Briar… Miss Briar is only thirteen, so it is illegal for her to be engaged or married.” Now that it is confirmed Briar is the young master’s future wife, the honorifics must be added from here on out.

I smiled as I watched the young master. There were many students and teachers observing us all around us. The teachers had looks of shock and disbelief. Some people were even on their phones. I hope they haven’t called the police already.

The young master’s face crumpled as he mumbled, “What’s the big deal with getting arrested?”

“If you are sued, Master might uproot the police force and court system. That might not be good.”

The young master froze, then laughed. He picked Briar up in his arms and said to me, “Let’s go home!”

“Yes, Young Master.”