The Only Delicacy

As the sun set below the horizon, darkness descended in all its entirely.

Dark clouds raged with thunders clashing like a series of firing guns, while the winds howled along with it, even louder than the hungry alpha wolves. As if it had heard the cries of its brothers, the calm seas joined them and turned into an evil menace, crashing and smashing everything along its vicinity with a blind rage.

Weather channels flooded every single television with a repeated warning, "There will be another storm! Stay in your houses or in any place you are currently residing in and be safe!"

As soon as they heard the warning, the citizens raged along with the storm as well, leading the city to further chaos.

The city was filled with cars loudly honking and people anxiously running along the streets.

People of all ages rushed towards their homes or to any safe haven without a care for others who were indirectly victimized by their restless actions and survival instinct.

Meanwhile, those who were already luckily inside their own safe havens were not better than those outside. Instead, they fared far worse, since they were even busier running around the small space of their homes, storing anything breakable or of importance inside their cabinets, bags or to any place they deemed safe, calling their loved ones or anyone they were closely related to who had not yet come home, and many other things of importance.

Amidst the street with a sea of people bringing about chaos all around them, one person plainly stood out from the rest.

A pale young girl, who was dressed in a white dress, slowly walked through the center of the restless crowd that was going through all directions. She walked one step at a time, slow enough to seem like a turtle amidst a sea of fishes.

Her long messy hair and white dusty dress gracefully fluttered at her front, making it highly possible for the shorts beneath her dress to be seen and her hair to become a huge tangled mess. However, she never once cared for those possibilities.

Rather, she simply kept her head low and her eyes stuck to the ground, letting others only see a person that was lifeless and dead like a ghost, instead of a person possessing divine beauty like a goddess.

That living yet ghost-like person was exactly Scarlet.

'We are not friends, never once were or ever will be… We are not friends, never….' Her own statement kept echoing inside her mind again and again like an endless whirlpool, swallowing her up whole.

Was she wrong all this time? But, they were clearly there for her through thick and thin, whether she wanted it or not.

She could not think of a proper explanation.

If she were wrong, then was everything up until now only an illusion? Were they never meant to be friends at all?

As she slowly walked through the crowd and became lost in a sea of thoughts, one angry middle-aged person wearing a business suit yelled out to her, "Get out of the way!" and forcefully bumped into her shoulder like she was an insignificant piece of trash.

BAM!

That middle-aged man's harsh bump made her stumble along the sidewalk and hit her head against the wall of a building.

Many passersby watched the scene unfold before them, but none of them gave a helping hand towards that pitiful young girl. All they thought about was the storm and the need to be kept safe from harm.

Although several passersby glanced at the girl out of pity, they were too busy running for their lives to even bother with helping her.

Meanwhile, other passersby glanced at the girl out of disdain instead of pity.

Inside, they thought, 'What the hell is wrong with that girl? She looks as dead as a ghost! Is she suicidal or something?! Who's her mother? That girl's mother should go fetch her, because she's wasting our time and blocking the way!'

However, instead of venting out their thoughts towards that pitiful young girl, they simply ran like the rest towards their destination and ignored the girl, for doing so would just be another waste of time.

Right after she was hit, Scarlet gradually stood up from the ground and continued walking at her own pace, totally clueless by the looks of pity and disdain that the crowd was giving her.

Instead of getting even with that rude old man, she walked towards her destination: nowhere.

As she walked, Scarlet felt her head ache with much pain, making her wrinkle her brows and instinctively stop from her tracks.

From her point of view, Scarlet saw the world spinning and spinning.

She instinctively closed her eyes and shook her head sideways, until the world had gradually stopped spinning and until the pain had fully dissipated. Once the pain had fully dissipated in a matter of seconds, Scarlet stopped shaking her head sideways, looked up from the ground and opened her eyes once more.

However, this time, her eyes were not lifeless or dead but filled with conviction, resolution and life.

Again, the winds howled against her direction, making her long, messy and glowing hair and her slightly dusty white dress flutter towards her back.

As soon as the winds blew, her divine beauty was now fully revealed against the crowd, making them gasp from both shock and awe.

At once, their looks of disdain and pity were wiped out of their faces and were replaced by either guilt or enchantment. Some even stopped from their tracks, while others instinctively walked towards her direction, like flies being attracted towards a light bulb.

On the other hand, Scarlet never bothered to care about the crowd and only became focused towards her goal for the day.

Luckily for her, the pain was an eye opener. And an eye opener was precisely what she needed.

'Friends? What friends? When did I start thinking like that?' Scarlet pondered as she brisk walked towards the alley, making those passersby lose track of her and forget what they were supposed to do in the first place.

When did she start thinking of them as friends? When did she open up her heart to them? When did she start trusting them?

When did she lose track of herself?

Once she was in the alley and was now fully away from the public, Scarlet merged into one with the shadows and clenched her fists.

It was pointless to have such feelings.

Her job was to either kill people for a living or avoid being killed. That's it. All she had done was for her mother and her survival, nothing and no one else's.

'I was always alone, ever since the beginning. Aside from my mother, I trust no one.' Scarlet resolutely vowed inside her heart.

Scarlet opened up her bag and got out the black attire that was hidden inside the deepest part of her bag. In just a second, the clothes that she wore became all black. After changing, she folded her dusty white dress and placed it inside her bag before closing its zipper.

As soon as she was done preparing herself, Scarlet leaped above the walls of the alley and rooftops and then dashed towards her destination with a speed as fast as lightning.

Or rather, a speed even faster than lightning, faster than what the naked eye could perceive.

She ran fast enough that not even her shadow could be seen or the sounds of her footsteps could be heard. Fast enough that all her surroundings seemed to blur and slow down. Fast enough until her feet became numb, her mind became clear and her heartbeat became the only sound she could hear.

She ran beyond her limits… All so that the crushing pain in her heart could be lifted or forgotten.

Unfortunately, what she had wanted to achieve could only be achieved in her dreams. Because, no matter how fast she ran, even to the point of breakthrough, the pain was still there, lingering deep inside her heart. All that running never once eased the pain but only worsened it.

In just less than a half a minute, Scarlet arrived at her destination. She ran from the city towards a secluded worn-down house located deep at the center of the forest. In fact, this house was even farther than her own.

Once she arrived, Scarlet stopped from her tracks and immediately scanned the perimeter.

From her perspective, almost nothing could be seen, since everything seemed pitch-black. The house had no lights by the roadside. Not even the house had a light inside, which made her wonder if there was really a person residing in that house.

Since she could not rely on her eyesight, Scarlet closed her eyes and relied on her other sense, hearing.

As she fully concentrated on the sounds around the perimeter, her ears filtered every single noise and separated them from the noise of the storm.

Amidst the storm, she heard the animals' cries and yells as they scurried towards safety, leaves fluttering on the ground, footsteps of a person walking by the road…

Scarlet immediately opened her eyes.

'Footsteps! Someone was coming!' Scarlet immediately climbed up to the highest point of the tree and warily watched the person below who was walking down the road that led towards the entrance of his house.

A very old man, who seemed to be in his 80's, slowly walked while pushing a worn-down cart towards his house.

'Yes, he's still living here!' Scarlet very softly sighed in relief.

She absolutely did not want to go back to that time wherein she'd have to look for a target who kept on changing addresses every hour of the day. Even thinking about it made her feel like she was beat from all the running and searching.

Thankfully, that mission had a good pay.

If not, she would…

'Umm…' At that point, her mind was left blank. She didn't know what she would do. Since it had never happened in the first place, she disregarded the thought.

'Hm? A cart?' Scarlet cautiously drew nearer to the old man's direction and squinted her eyes to get a better look.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard she had tried, she could not get anything out of it, since the surrounding was literally pitch-black. Moreover, on top of the cart seemed to be a dark and ragged cloth which was wrapped tightly by a rope, thereby making it even harder to actually see or guess what was inside of it.

Right when she got even closer, Scarlet widened her eyes and then immediately closed them, instinctively wrinkling her brows as she did. She placed all effort into that one sense again, which was hearing.

Using her killer hearing senses, Scarlet heard a rattling sound inside the cart.

"MMPH! MMPH! MMPH!" Right along with the rattling sound, a very soft mumble or scream could occasionally be heard from the inside of the cart. However, it was barely hearable due to the loudness of the storm.

"Mmmhmm~ Today's a good day~ A good harvest~ More to chop and more to cook~ I just can't wait to fill up my hungry little belly~" The old man sang to his heart's content and gave out a very satisfied grin.

BAM!

Right then and there, a thunder crashed somewhere along their perimeter, immediately stopping the old man from his tracks and stunning him into place.

Right after a second, the old man came back to reality, pushed the cart towards his house and softly sang out to his heart's desires again without a care in the world, "Mmmmhmmm~ Seems like there's a storm~ Did I forget again? Oh, well… That's the usual~ Hohoho~ I will just stay in the house~ Choose one to cook and chop~ To fill up my starving belly~ And then save the rest for the days ahead~"

At that moment, Scarlet's face darkened and her eyes unconsciously became sinister, like a goddess of death who was about to bring forth a heavy wrath upon a mortal.

'The grand master never told me I would deal with a cannibal… The document he showed me also never stated it… Was that part forgotten or was I left tricked?' When Scarlet thought of that, she immediately shook her head sideways.

'No, there was no such thing as being fooled into a mission. Either it was forgotten or maybe… ' Scarlet's face darkened when she thought about the other possibility.

Once every four years, a difficult mission would be given to the members of the guild in order to test their skills and abilities to see whether they are deserving to be part of the guild or not.

Of course, this test was not that simple.

Usually, aside from the identity of the target, the information given to them about the mission would be less up to none at all. This part was the trickiest, because every piece of information was vital for every assassin.

It presented the chances of death and survival. Moreover, it concluded the end of every assassin.

If they were able to pass the test, they would naturally be promoted to a higher rank. However, if they failed, they would either die amidst the mission or suffer from the brutal consequences of getting out alive without successfully finishing the mission.

Of course, the consequences were brutal enough to make an assassin wish he or she was dead.

And usually, the end of this test resulted to failure.

'It's highly unlikely that a piece of the information was forgotten. Lives are at stake here. So, if it were the latter…' Thinking of that made her face darken by a great fold.

Now, she had finally remembered. Four years had already passed by ever since that last mission.

Scarlet shivered from the thought of going back in time.

What made that test deadly was not its difficulty in level. Rather, it was due to the fact that the test had fit right on par with her level, which made it the scariest and deadliest for her.

Why? Well, it's very simple.

The level was frighteningly the same that she had no choice but to hold on to that one fine, thin piece of thread and shield it from being cut by the target in one go. In fact, she held on to her very own life for more than two months.

Let her repeat, more than two months!

If not, she would be caught dead by the next second.

This test really evaluated her perseverance and grit to live and succeed.

Luckily for her, Scarlet was able to achieve breakthrough at the very last moment of their battle, thereby letting her successfully complete the mission and kill the target at a time the target had least expected it.

'Four years had really passed since that time. If it were the latter… then so be it.' Scarlet thought gloomily and mentally sighed upon herself.

She was not in the mood for another test. So many bad things had happened today that the test would be better off the next day. Sadly, the test could not adjust according to her wishes. It was her who needed to adjust.

Unfortunately, being gloomy and distressed would solve nothing and would just make her more vulnerable in front of the enemy instead.

Therefore, Scarlet immediately cast away all thoughts and ignored the crushing feeling deep within her heart.