From Slave To Ruler

Deciding yesterday that hiring these "Female Security Guards", would be the best choice when it comes to safety. Early in the morning, they decided to go at Arthur's school at 9 a.m. sharp, since school hours start from 8 a.m.. Z found it more professional to go there at 9 a.m., after everyone settled in to classes. Making the whole approach towards this hiring task, less confusing.

Dalerus didn't waste a minute after midnight. By that i mean, he put the dead body over his shoulders and moved in the shadows of the night as his cover. Finally, dumping the body at the river 100 meters away from Hawk Kingdom with no eyewitnesses, thankfully. Last thing he needed right now was to kill someone(or make Z come and do it).

By the time when anyone in particular will find the dead body floating on the river, it will likely be a fleshed out skeleton. Because he will be hardly told apart from the dead slaves who didn't share a fate based on the same story, but simply became victimized by their own incapability to work. A.k.a victims of "The Filtering!"

Considering that those dead slaves have been floating at the end of the river for a few days now, chances of predatory or omnivorous freshwater fish being attracted to the scene, will be high. Making finding the dead shop owner, almost impossible.

After dumping the body down the river, he returned to the shop and found Z sleeping on the chair that he left her sitting on before he departed with the body on his shoulder. It was clear to see that she didn't find it comfortable to touch that dead body, so she just remained seated. It's not like she didn't want to lend a hand.

He didn't bother waking her up even though she specifically asked him to, if he caught her asleep. In Dalerus' eyes, she simply seemed to precious to be woken up.

He noticed that her hair fell upon her nose and lips, which were bothering her already uncomfortable sleep. She was sleeping with her head laid over her arms, on the table.

At first, he wanted to gently grab her hair and remove it from her nose(which bothered her sleep the most). But when he saw that she was still holding her special knife(a bit hidden in her sleeve), he decided it to be the best idea to not touch her hair, because she could react to it and cut his fingers off. She has the skillset of an assassin after all.

He walked away from her and simply took a seat in the small chair, placing his back over one of the store's walls and tried to sleep. But his paranoia kicked in harder than it ever did before. Even though the store's door was closed with a key, and the former shop owner's wife didn't barge in looking for her Husband until now. He still feared for Z's safety. To the point where sleeping became no longer an option.

He feared that rapists would sneak in and catch him off Guard. If any of them have been actually stalking Z, and noticed that she didn't come out of the store this day, they would assume that she spent the night here with her boss. Even at such circ.u.mstances, some would still be willing to break in, tie up the boss and continue with their goal.

At that thought, he couldn't nearly fall asleep even though his eyes requested otherwise, and his body even more.

At around 8 a.m. when he finally was able to fall asleep. Z approached him not more than a minute after, shook his shoulders and calmly said. "You dumped the body already? Why didn't you wake me up when you arrived?"

"Body...um... River... Nose hair."

"Wake up you fool." Although she found his half conscious reactions adorable, she couldn't find a kind way to express how she felt. But this works too and Dalerus would roughly hear half of her sentences anyway.

Finally able to wake up and notice the world around him. Well more like Z leaning towards him, standing a foot apart. Although he wanted her to stay this close for a little bit longer, he answered. "I dumped the body and no one saw me. Don't worry about it."

"Good job!" She gave out a genuine congratulation, with emotions including being halfly proud of him, still a bit angry about him not waking her up after he got the job done, but also glad that they can put this murder behind them. And after 9 a.m. they will likely never need to enter this shop again. Another problem solved.

"Next time wake me up or I will cut off your pinky." She murmured in slight anger after giving him a light smack on the head. Which in a way helped him wake up and ask a question to her last sentence he was slightly curious about. Thinking that he didn't hear it well.

Giving out a strong long yawn before he asked in a little bit of concern, "You mean my pinky finger?"

"No." She answered calmly and changed the topic right away as she walked away from Dalerus. "Do you want to eat some breakfast before we depart for Arthur's school?"

"Food. Um, yes that would be nice right now. But do we have Coffee Beans?"

"We?"

Noticing his way of words, he got a bit shy because of them and nervously yelled out. "The store! Does the store have Coffee Beans?" Having it hard to not smile at such reaction, she simply turned around and looked for food. Ignoring that he just yelled.

"No, we don't have Coffee Beans. But we do have day old bread, raw Deer Meat, Potatoes, a few raw Eggs, Hawk Meat, Corn which is likely a few months old, and some good quality Ale."

Rubbing his eyes first which were burning for sleep, afterwards proceeding to ask. "How would these sorts of food be sold in this small shop? Most of them aren't exactly cheap."

"That retard has been buying me expensive things for days now. But it will be "our meal" today." Giving an airpoke as she finished the sentence, she walked away and let out a small giggle which even though embarrassing for him, the fact that she feels comfortable enough to joke around with him made his heart feel fulfilled. Because before, this wasn't the case at all. I suppose some people need a little bit more time to become comfortable around new people. Who knows how comfortable she will get towards him after a year from now!

"You bring all that food, and i will cook." Stated Dalerus. Afterwards standing up from his small chair, instantly noticing that his b.u.t.t.o.c.k.s became intensely sore. Considering that he remained seated on that little wooden chair for over 6 hours, it isn't a surprise.

As soon as he stood up, he lost balance in a blink of an eye due to the lack of blood flow. He barely felt any control over his leg muscles. At this point, he would give 100 Gold Coins for a warm comfortable bed.

Almost falling face first on the wooden plank flooring. To his luck, Z was fast enough to prevent such early morning accident even though she was a few feet away. It is almost like she expected for this to happen, or waiting for this to happen. With Z, you can't really tell for sure. But considering her approachability rate, she did it so he wouldn't get hurt instead of trying to get "Closer!".

She had to act fast though(duh), so she coughed him quite in an awkward position as a result to strictly limited options. Their face cheeks were touching each other. At first, she could feel that Dalerus' face was quite warm. But, her face heat far outcompeted his the moment she realized that their cheeks were touching. This is the first time she touched cheeks with a man! So she did feel intensely shy. This is an entire new experience for her, so the smallest situations would lead to such strongly nervous emotions.

Avoiding her intensively fast forming blush as much as possible, she decided to ask. "Didn't you sleep enough last night?"

"Uh, I didn't sleep at all." He stated as he took a few seconds to regain his balance, while still on her arms. Slapping his b.u.t.t.o.c.k.s as soon as he noticed that the lack of blood flow there, was the problem. I am not sure how that would fix anything, but the result of it was him still staying on her arms. So it was working another way. Fair to say, he took more time than he needed.

Having it hard to hold her giggles when she saw him smacking his own b.u.t.t.o.c.k.s, with a small laughter she said. "You idiot. Now you will walk like you were drunk."

As if waiting to say this for 6 hours, he answered. "Well, it was a sacrifice I was willing to give. And the great results of my sacrifice are right in front of me."

Having slept enough to completely understand what he was saying, her face became even more boiling red, far beyond her control. Unlike just a moment ago, she has no way to stop this redness. The thought of him, sacrificing glorious essential sleep for her safety, made her get goosebumps all over and her knees started feeling weaker than his sore b.u.t.t.o.c.k.s.

As a last resort, she simply hid her blush by helping him sit down again. But here is the thing, she didn't make him sit on that small chair with no back support. No no, she allowed him to sit on her chair. Rather sweet from her, and the most her emotions would allow her to do right now. She can't simply kiss the guy!

After helping him sit down, she grabbed a couple of clothes from underneath the table, formed them like a pillow and placed it over the table so Dalerus can have a more comfortable nap. "You take a short nap here, and i will prepare some food."

"Assassins know how to cook?" Considering her skillset and the fact that she has thousands of Gold Coins to handle, it wouldn't be a surprise to Dalerus if she never took some time to learn how to cook. Most of the rich wouldn't.

With a smile across her face as she walked her way to the front of the table, she answered with. "Of course. If a person can't do little things, like cooking. How will they be able to do the bigger things?"

Noticing that familiar sentence and it's plausible origin, he added after a strong yawn. "Merchants say that a lot."

"I know, I heard it from them." Answered Z with a wider genuine smile on her face. Half of that smile was caused because of the recent redness, but let's not let Dalerus know that. Knowing him, he would tease her about it even if he was giving out his last breaths. "Now you just take a nice long nap and I'll get the food ready."

Still a little bit concerned and no doubt paranoid about her safety, he asked before leaning to the cloth in front of him. "Are you sure that you can handle yourself?"

"Of course. If anything, I will yell for you to wake up, and increase our chances of success against the enemy." Even though Dalerus was too sleepy to realize, this was just another way of her accepting his protection. And frankly, she preferred it how he didn't notice that fact.

Finally, he fell sound asleep. Whispering to himself, "Task Completed."