The Only Delicacy

"Lalala~ My little starving belly is so excited!~ What should I start with?~" Once the old man had finally entered his residence, he caught a glimpse of a knife lying on the corner of the table located on the kitchen. His eyes directly twinkled at the sight of it.

Without further ado, he pushed the cart right beside the table, before leaving it and immediately grabbing for the knife.

Pshhh…

Aside from the raging sound of the storm, the house was filled yet with another sound: the running water.

"Oh old me~ How did I forget to put the knife back on the knife board? Oh the age~ Old age~ The sad, sad truth of aging!" As the he sang out the depressing and heart wrenching reality to his heart's content, the old man made sure that the knife was well washed until it became squeaky-clean and shiny.

"Now, that's better~" The old man displayed a wide and satisfied grin, gazing lovingly at the knife like it was a very valuable piece of treasure.

"Aiya~ We used to have so many awesome and breathtaking moments together… But now, you're downgraded into a kitchen knife! It's really depressing… One could really never know and comprehend the future, ah!" While he reminisced back in time, the old man lovingly caressed the knife with both hands, as if he was trying to appease not a knife but a person's pain.

Amidst the darkness was an agile black shadow leaning towards a very small opening that was located on one side of the worn-down wooden house, scanning the area with utmost diligence, attention and alertness.

As she scanned the area and planned out her next move by thinking of hundreds of scenes and potential death consequences that could occur with each and every move she would make, Scarlet never once left her sights on that old man and only heightened her guard around him all the more.

She did not want to relive those past battles again. If she did, that was plain stupidity. No, maybe even worse than that.

When she heard the man's impromptu lyrics, especially the part "downgraded into a kitchen knife," Scarlet crunched down her brows, her eyes becoming more sinister with the passing of time.

Due to her own unsettled feelings, the old man's out of tune voice and his evil nature, impatience grew within her. She couldn't wait to kill him!

However, despite feeling that way, her movements were never once reckless and only became more and more agile as her dagger very nimbly cut through the small opening, gradually making the small hole bigger and bigger until she could slip right through it.

Of course, if the house had a window, Scarlet wouldn't go as far as to do something this time-consuming that could leave a trace of evidence behind in the first place.

Unfortunately, this mission was not the same as the others. Killing him right there and then was nonetheless, foolish.

As he caressed his knife lovingly, the old man saw the reflection of the wooden cart against the shiny knife, causing his downcast eyes to immediately twinkle in both delight and excitement.

"Oh, old me again~ How could I forget about my starving little stomach? Hohoho~ Well, being a kitchen knife is not all that bad. Although our memories from the past and present are very different, with you by my side, we could still spend the rest of our lives in contentment!~" The old man immediately grabbed the chopping board, the pot and the spatula, washing them until they also became as squeaky-clean as his own beloved knife.

"MMPH! MMPH!!" The very light rattling and mumbling sound from the cart gradually grew a little bit louder, occasionally shaking the cart once in a while.

"Eating and eating~ Chopping and cutting~ I wonder what I should cook today~" After washing the kitchen tools, the old man gathered the firewood by the side of the kitchen table, went to the small fireplace, and replaced all the old firewood with the new ones.

"Hm, since there's a storm, it's better if I start with something warm…. Warm and hot~ Hm? Oh, a soup! My favorite red soup~ To cut it and boil it~ I absolutely can't wait to drink it~" The old man hung the newly cleaned pot above the firewood as he sang out loud, very out of tune.

Then, his eyes twinkled with excitement as his hands impatiently reached for the cart that was slightly shaking, rattling and mumbling inaudible words.

As if he never noticed the slight changes of the cart or heard the inaudible words inside it, the old man excitedly loosened the rope surrounding the cart in merely several swipes, clearly displaying the hidden skillfulness beneath his old and wrinkled skin and proving right Scarlet's assumption.

This old man was definitely not an ordinary old man!

At this point, Scarlet had now entered the worn-down house. She prodded carefully into a secluded area, looking for the best angle to plunge her dagger into one of his vital points and assassinate him right there and then.

"Ah! I should first heat up the pot!" The old man immediately lit up the firewood using a pair of stones, as if he came from the Stone Age.

As he heated the pot, he felt parched. So instead of directly cooking some hot soup, the old man filled the pot up with some water that he got from the faucet.

"Living in the forest is too tiring, ah! If only that crafty old man weren't there, then I wouldn't be living here in the first place!" Once he sat on a rocking chair near the fireplace, the old man ranted out several complaints about the means of his livelihood.

Even just drinking water required a necessary effort! Life was very unfair!

Despite the gloomy look on his eyes, the old man's tone was light and carefree, as if he had already placed the past behind him and had no intention of going back to the city.

Once she finally found a secluded area to her liking, with seemingly more chances to assassinate, Scarlet lay low in the dark, observed the old man's movements and listened to the old man's rants about living in the forest.

Listening to his rants made Scarlet assume that someone had beaten the old man up for his misdeeds and left the old man with no choice but to run away.

'That crafty old man might as well finish his job, instead of letting such a small mess grow into a big one and passing that big pain of a mess unto others!' Scarlet mentally sighed in anger once she thought about how irresponsible and crafty that 'crafty old man' really was, leaving things unfinished and causing a third party to take responsibility for it.

Because of that crafty old man, she became a victim!

However, inwardly cursing out at the anonymous crafty old man won't contribute to anything beneficial. Therefore, she abandoned those irrelevant feelings of anger and vengeance and simply watched the old man's every move with her eagle-like eyes.

No sooner than later, the old man became drowsy and lost to the temptation of having a peaceful slumber, while the pot was still boiling with water. Sure enough, this was one of the side effects of aging.

Despite seeing how relaxed and unguarded the old man had now become, Scarlet never once became relaxed and only heightened her senses all the more. She had already experienced assassinating well-known, hypocritical targets who were just on par with highly experienced actors and actresses.

Sadly for the old man, she was not as naive as before.

Therefore, whether he was sleeping or not, she might as well do a little experimenting…

Scarlet got one pebble, which she had gotten from the pathway on the forest, out of her pocket and determined the best angle of throwing it without leaving any evidences of her track, before throwing it towards the direction of that old man.

"Blop!"

Once she had thrown the pebble towards the old man, the old man never once moved or reacted and silently snored away into a deep slumber, as if he was really dead to the world.

This was the part where she was supposed to kill him. However, Scarlet did not trust the old man one bit, so she made another set of noises that could be caused by the raging storm outside in order to see if he was really sleeping.

Seeing that the old man had no reaction, Scarlet knew that the old man had finally shown a weakness.

'An opening!!' Scarlet inwardly exclaimed.

This was a chance she must absolutely not miss!

With eyes as sinister and intimidating as that of a beast's, Scarlet leaped out of the dark and aimed for one of the vital and weak points of the old man: his throat.

"BAM!"

But just as her knife was about one millimeter away from his throat, something huge fell onto the ground as a person nearby shouted, "Wait!"