"Who are you?" Nolan asked.
"Me? Alexander. Alexander Zerath," the boy mumbled, not moving an inch, afraid Nolan would take it as a threat.
"Alexander Zerath…hmm," Nolan repeated, checking through his list of known names and families.
He knew a couple of Alexanders, an Alexandria even, but they definitely weren't the boy or looked like him. But he couldn't seem to have ever heard of the Zerath family.
"Where are you from?" Nolan asked, staring to get suspicious of the boy as his expression became serious.
The seriousness caught Alexander of guard and he stuttered, "C-C-Cloveland. I'm f-from this K-Kingdom."
"How come I don't know you?" Nolan questioned.
"Pardon?" Alexander blinked.
Nolan's eyes became slits as he raised his weapon. "Who sent you after me?"
"What?"
The panic was clear in Alexander's face as sweat trickled down his forehead.
"I spare you ten seconds to give me a name," Nolan added. "Or you can just be loyal to the very end."
"I don't know what your talking ab—"
"10..."
"I swear, I—"
"9..."
"Please listen to—"
"8..."
The boys eyes started to get watery a bit as he tried to protest but Nolan didn't give him a chance.
"4...3...2..."
"With my life, I have no clue—"
"1..." Nolan raised his half-formed sword and the boy closed his eyes tightly.
"PLEASE!"
Alexander managed before—
"NOLAN!" A familiar voice came from behind him. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU BASTARD?!"
Nolan sighed, raising his blade and taking it behind him to block a sword stab aimed for his shoulder.
He pushed it away and stood up, turning to find Liana standing behind him with a furious expression.
Thankfully, she was alone.
Alexander scrambled off to the side clutching his chest tightly, his heart thumping wildly, threatening to break free of his body.
"Answer me, now," Liana muttered with gritted teeth. "I knew you were shady! First you call me an 'experiment,' and now this?.Everything about you was odd, and boy did I think reaching these parts of the ruins would lead me to such a scenery?"
"I wasn't going to kill him." Nolan shrugged like it was normal.
"You weren't going to what—at that angle?"
"Your calculation for angles are still weak if you think that would have killed him." Nolan gave a flat reply.
"Do not play with me." Liana pointed her sword at him. "Drop your weapon and submit yourself for arrest. You have explaining to do back at the guild."
Nolan completely ignored what she said, still sticking to their earlier bicker. "If you think that angle would have killed him, then this should—"
In a blink, Nolan moved, his blade coming for Liana. She saw it coming but she was too slow to move.
And just like that, the ice blade went through her neck.
She coughed blood, her sword leaving her hand and falling on the floor as her vision started to get blurry.
"...have killed you." Nolan completed.
Liana blinked. The half-sword was just an inch away from the side of her neck. Her blade was still in hand.
It was all her imagination. She had played out what would have happened, looking from the angle at which the attack came. She was sure she was going to be dead, but… she wasn't.
Was Nolan right all along?
"And goodnight," Nolan muttered as he turned the blade, using the hilt to hit her in the neck, causing her to pass out and fall to the ground.
Alexander slowly scrambled back, trying to escape. Immediately he turned, Nolan's ice sword embedded itself to the ground in front of him.
"Run and I literally will kill you this time around."
Alexander gulped and turned, crawling back to the spot he was before.
Nolan walked to Alexander and crouched. "You swear you're not working for anyone? Not even from within the guild?"
Alexander nodded vigorously. "Not at all. Not a single soul."
"That's great," Nolan said, standing up and turning to Liana. "Because you're going to be working for me now?"
Alexander blinked opening his mouth to say something, but a glance over the shoulder from Nolan made him close it immediately.
"Do you have a problem with it?" Nolan asked.
Alexander shook his head and forced a smile.
"Good boy." Nolan smiled back.
"Liana! Liana!"
"Where are you, Liana?!"
"Where did she run off to?"
"She's fine, right?"
"I believe so. I think she followed this path."
People were coming. Nolan could make out one of the voices. It belonged to Cedric, and the other… not so much.
He turned Alexander. "Keep every bloody thing that happened here between us alone. Even if she wakes up and asks you, act like nothing as such happened, understand me?"
Alexander nodded with a thumbs.
"Now help me get her up, before they come closer."
Alexander walked over to Nolan and they raised Liana, putting her hands over their shoulders as they walked forward.
After two steps, they bumped into Cedric and Sylvia. "Oh gods, what happened to her?" Sylvia quickly rushed to Liana, worried. She raised Liana's face, looking for any injuries before checking her body.
"Oh she just got knocked out by a demon," Nolan replied with a deadpan expression.
Sylvia almost didn't buy it until Cedric put a hand on her shoulder and said, "That's his normal expression, just incase."
Nolan continued, "She saved us from this horde but got surprise attacked. She blocked it but then hit her head on the wall due to the force."
Sylvia's eyes scanned Nolan's face, looking for any hint of dishonesty, but Nolan's century old acting skills had never wavered and she believed it.
Until—
Her eyes landed on Alexander who was sweating and looked nervous. Her doubt was resurfacing when Alexander realized her eyes on him and spoke up. "Let's get her back quickly."
Cedric nodded. "Yes. Maybe the others are done as well."
Sylvia let it slide but something in her said not to trust Nolan.
She was about following them off when she noticed something far behind.
An ice sword.
She arched an eyebrow. "Was Ace Cyndy here?"
She blinked and it wasn't there anymore. "Oh, I thought I—maybe I'm just seeing things."
From ahead, Nolan's free hand visibly pale with what looked like snow on them returned to normal.