?Rico immediately bounded to the lithe, weak-looking, white-haired female in the doorway. Sniffing her all over, Rico grinned before skipping a short distance away. Her uncovered face was covered with a knowing smirk and her stupid-looking cuspid pointed out over her bottom lip.


    High-Captain Lang Hai shook his head. Rico''s true form was nothing like a dog. He was deeply curious as to where the hells she got that behavior from.


    "Rico." Hai stared with red eyes in annoyance. In response, the girl quickly busied herself counting-- people in the room, it looked like. She must have forgotten that she was supposed to count just her fingers and toes... but she was distracted, so Hai epted it as a best-oue.


    The ve girl was dressed like a man in dark trousers and a thick, white, long-sleeved tunic. Her arms were tiny and she wore a ve cor around her neck. The short sword on her side lookedughable with her build. ve-mistress Olesya must be blind to arm a guard like that.


    The other men began tough at the ve in condescension, "Hurr hurr hurr."


    Hai recruited almost exclusively from former pirates, thugs, and sometimes murderers. They had no tact and no sense of delicacy, but they tended to be intimidating. If the girl was terrified, as she very well should be, the questioning would yield better results.


    ...He and his men would still beat her half-to-death, but it was always good to think two steps ahead.


    "GRA HA HA HA!" Hammerughed the loudest, "Come to join the fun, little girl?! Loot and plunder! R*pe and pige! Blood. and. Thunder!"


    Hammer was new. He was still more pirate than not.


    Hai groaned in annoyance, "You''re not a pirate anymore, Hammer. You do those things on your *own* time."


    "Cap''n," Dagger spoke to Hai in a hushed voice, "Requesting permission to silence the witness."


    "Very well," Hai nodded and gave a hand signal. Three men stepped forward into an attacking formation, surrounding the ve girl.


    Hai called out their callsigns.


    "Dagger." "Aye aye, Boss," the gaunt man replied, spinning his daggers.


    "Butcher." "Gur hur hur," the heavy-set man chuckled, brandishing his meat cleaver.


    "Hammer." "I''m gonna skull-fuck you, little giiiirrrl, kehehe," the dark-skinned, muscr man chortled gleefully.


    Gross.


    "Non-lethal force," Hai ordered... "Break her bones. Tear apart her pretty face. Answers wille once there''s enough blood."


    Hammer rushed forward, his two-handed warhammer raised above his head. The girl side-stepped the swing with ease. Tugging loose the concealed de in her sleeve, she buried the dagger into the base of the man''s neck. Grabbing his arm, she used the momentum to swing therger man crashing into a driftwood table and set of chairs.


    Dagger attacked from behind the girl, aiming to sink two short des with reversed grips between the girl''s shoulders. With a flourish of her hands, she held two daggers of her own. urately parrying with her arms in an X, she subsequently stabbed both of her weapons horizontally into Dagger''s ribcage.


    The girl was fast. Was she using a movement technique? Hai was barely able to follow her form as she dashed towards Butcher. The clumsy fool hadn''t even begun spinning his chained hook. The girl lodged four knives down to their hilts along Butcher''s right arm.


    Lang Hai grimaced. He may have underestimated Olesya''s guards.


    The girl had grabbed Butcher''s chain and wrapped it around the fallen Hammer''s neck. The sod was still trying to reach his arms back to grab the dagger embedded in his spine, but the meathead spent too much time lifting weights.


    Hai''s dark-blue hair spilled over as he ced his hands in his palms. This was not going well.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Butcher iled his chain about, smashing Hammer into the various furniture in the posh room and into the ornately wallpapered walls. As a matter of course, Hammer began to pull back on the chain, whipping Butcher into an oil painting and breaking a vase with winged lizards on them. Those were the extra expensive vases.


    As the girl deftly dodged the duo''s crazed, thoughtless attacks, Dagger was somehow struck in the face by Butcher''s heavy chain, bloodily breaking his nose. Thenky man was knocked unconscious onto the ground, arse pointed up.


    The girl remained expressionless. She raised her voice, a bit more confident, "Is that enough blood? Answer my questions."


    Hai put his hands on his waist and groaned in annoyance, "Sea god''s SPEAR! You lot are USELESS!"


    Hammer was on his knees, finally untangled from the chain, "I can still fight, Little Boss!"


    "There''s a knife embedded in your spine," Hai said tly.


    "And once I get it out, I''ll probably be able to move my legs!" Hammer tried to reach for the dagger again. "A li''l help, Cap''n?"


    "You''re. Done. She took down the 3 of you without even breaking a sweat. She''s an Iron Ranker, idiot."


    Hammer snarled in response but quickly averted his eyes. He knew not to question orders... and he wouldn''t make the mistake of questioning twice. He knew as well as Hai did that if the three were human, they would have all been killed.


    Hai stepped up to face the knife-wielding ve.


    She wielded hidden weapons like a master assassin. Her attacks were swift, urate, and lethal, burying dagger des to their hilts, along with a flesh-rending twist. Not a drop of blood stained her white long-sleeved tunic.


    Hai had seen her level before, belonging to a master in his Liang family. He wasn''t impressed, at all! Well, not 100% impressive. Maybe 5% impressed.


    "I acknowledge your skill, little girl. I have business with your vemistress. I''m also looking to purchase a ve from her, a boy from the Li n."


    The girl adopted a confused expression for the briefest of moments but didn''t respond.


    Hai continued, "Do you know him? If he''s been mistreated, it would be a great disservice to me and my n."


    "...You''re mistaken." The girl said with a light voice, "Identify yourselves."


    "It looks like you do know something," Hai growled, deep and low, "Hatchet. Shield."


    Shield unsheathed his sword and stepped forward in a defensive stance, "Blood and thunder."


    Hatchet swiftly crouched beside Shield, ready to leap forward with her two light axes. She winked suggestively at the ve girl, "I could eat you right up!"


    Gross. Hai sincerely hoped Hatchet wasn''t being literal.


    Lang Hai reached for one of the pistols strapped to his chest, "As for our identities... you don''t have the capability to make us answer."


    The girlish, white-haired boy ced a hand on his sword hilt, "You''ve entered the Couture manor without invitation. You will leave... in one piece or several."