"Y-you insolent wretch! How are you still moving?!" The cultist yelled as he fell to his knees.
"Your little magic trick did work. It's just…hmmm how do I say this? While I was stuck in place, slowly my body started pulsing and I could feel myself able to move bit by bit." Kurt explained.
"What?! How?! Yes, the spell was incomplete, but you shouldn't be able to move your body!"
"Oh, I know. I've seen what you did to Ricky and Wesley. Preying on them while they were helplessly still. I must say that method of killing is very unique. I've done similar jobs, but my methods usually involve me tying up my prey."
"W-what are you talking about?" The cultist was starting to feel uncomfortable around Kurt.
It was as if a switch was flipped in him when he spoke about how the two thieves died.
Kurt stared at the man who was practically helpless on the ground. He looked deep in his eyes, under the hood, and saw something he liked.
He saw fear.
"W-why are you looking at me like that?" He tried shuffling back on his knees, but Kurt grabbed his hood and pulled it all the way back.
He then pulled his head closer and whispered, "You a really bad man Mr. Cultist. Very…evil."
Looking at Kurt's face, the cultist saw a faint blush on his cheeks and absolutely no life in his eye.
"You're crazy… hahaha."
"I've been called worse… hahaha." They both started laughing in madness.
"Hahaha! Y-you should join our following brother! We would happily welcome someone of your prowess!"
"Hahah-.... What did you say?" Kurt paused to ask.
Gone was the almost 'lighthearted' feeling in the atmosphere.
"I-I said… you should join our-"
STAB
"Aaaah! Shit!" The cultist fell forward as Kurt stabbed him in the thigh.
"Why would I ever join your disgusting cult!"
"WE ARE NOT A CU-"
STAB
"AAH FUCK!"
"It's funny how you can easily dish out pain but as soon as you're on the receiving end…"
"H-help m-m-me!" The cultist, now sobbing, tried crawling away like a worm.
"Ah, look at you. You pathetic, weak, sad thing." Kurt stepped on his back to prevent him from moving.
"You still didn't tell me," He sunk the knife deep in his back, "Where are the kids?"
"Aaah… I-I told y-you, I w-will never-"
"What's your name?" Kurt asked abruptly.
"W-what?"
"Your name? What is it? I find it a bit distasteful that I don't even know what your name is. I mean, we're practically friends at this point, no?"
"What the hell are you talking abou-AAHH!"
"What. Is. Your. Name?" Kurt asked again as he twisted and bent the knife in his back.
"I-it's Arlo! M-my name is Arlo so please stop doing that!" He cried out.
"Are you lying?"
"N-no! It's on my personal tag. It's hanging around my neck, just look!"
Kurt pulled his robes back, by the neck, and yanked off the chain.
After imbuing a bit of magic into it, a hollow projection popped up and read:
Personal Info -
Name - Arlo
Date of Birth - 29/02/746
Nationality - Eldoria
Occupation - Priest
Bank Balance - (Concealed)
'A banking balance? I should get one of those.'
"Born on a leap day? Ha! Sucks to be you. What are you, like, ten years old or something? Ha ha ha!"
"Just kill me already…"
"Now hold your horses Arlo. You still didn't tell me where you're keeping those kids."
"I-I will never-"
"Five minutes." Kurt leaned down to whisper, "Listen to Arlo me and listen carefully. I am going to torture you for five minutes. If you still don't give me an answer after that, it's either you don't actually know where they are or your loyalty is just that unbreakable."
Kurt took the knife out of Arlo's back and pointed it to his mouth.
"Let's start with your teeth, shall we? Maybe they are some sort of metaphorical wall that's blocking information from going out. Tooth by tooth, I'll break them out of you."
"N-no, please don't! Stop-"
CRACK
POP
"AAAHHHH!"
.
..
…
Five minutes later.
Arlo laid still in a pool of his own blood.
Scattered around his body were the blood covered teeth Kurt crudely pulled out as well as a few nails from his hand.
"And this little piggy…. Arlo?" Kurt stopped right when he was about to cut the nail from his pinky.
"Please tell me you just fainted and not died." He stood up to check and see if he was still breathing.
He then leaned in and listened for signs of breath.
"Hmmm… Wakey wakey Mr. Priest." Kurt smacked his face.
Still not getting any response from Arlo, there was only one logical conclusion Kurt could deduce,
"He's dead."
Looking around the alley, he saw a headless Ricky, a gut opened and body disfigured Wesley and finally an arms twisted, toothless mouthed Arlo.
"Pfft ha ha ha… ahahaha!" With tears of joy, Kurt held his stomach as he started laughing at the scene.
"Oops!... I did it again ♪" He began singing as he walked around the scene and picked up a few things.
Mainly taking the box of display tags, Arlo's personal tag, the bloodied knife as well picking up the gold coins that were dropped.
'Money's money.' He thought when filling his pouch
After he finished, he walked towards the exit corner he came from and turned around to look at the dead bodies one more time.
"I have to thank you three." Kurt saluted. "I thank you, Wesley and Ricky. Without you two making a deal with the devil, I never would've met my good friend Arlo. And I thank you Arlo. Without you I never would have come to know of your disgusting cult. I mean, I might've known by the end of the month, but you get the point."
Putting his hand down, Kurt left the scene. Leaving the cleanup to whichever unfortunate soul stumbles on the place.
*meow*
"Oh, hey little kitty~" He petted the cat under the chin. "Thanks for not ratting me out to the priest. Lucky for me the dumpster was empty, otherwise I would've been stinking up the place.
*purr*
The cat jumped down from the dumpster and together they walked out the alley.
After walking for a bit, they finally reached the front gate from where they jumped from.
Looking closer, Kurt noticed that there was actually a handle on the side of it. Though it was locked.
'Hmm…' He thought, 'I don't want to break it. Do I really have to maneuver myself over again?'
"Who are you supposed to be?"
While Kurt was contemplating on what to do, a young and stern voice came out from the other side.
She had short grayish-white hair that had mint green streaks flowing through it. Her eyes matched the colour of her green streaks and she wore a white academy uniform with a blue tie.
'Where have I seen that clothing before… Oh!'
But before the thought could fully form, another voice entered the conversation.
"Emelie, I told you! He ran the other way- O-oh it's the mister!"
'It's the pink-haired girl that was chasing Ricky. I knew I'd seen those clothes somewhere.'
"Hi again." Kurt greeted her.
"You didn't answer my question." The girl called Emelie spoke out.
"... What's it to you?"
Emelie narrowed her gaze almost threateningly and said, "I don't know you. Also you're not supposed to be here."
"Of course you don't know me. We just met. And what's that second part supposed to mean?"
"Emelie, stop it!" The pink-haired girl pulled her aside, "I know I asked for your help but that doesn't mean you should interrogate an innocent person."
"Innocent person? By the way, Amy, how do you know this man?"
"He helped point me in the right direction of the robber." Amy explained.
"And he didn't help chase after him." Emelie's suspicion of Kurt only grew. "How do we know he's not one of them and just led you astray."
"W-well y-you see… uhm…"
"Are you perhaps looking for this?" Kurt took out the box with the display tags.
"The version two display tags?! Y-you got it?!" Amy beamed.
"Yeah. Shortly after you ran, I gave chase as well."
'Technically I didn't lie.'
"See Emelie! He's not one of them. You can't just throw around accusations like that."
"Hmm." After looking back and forth between Kurt's innocent smile and Amy's trusting gaze, she finally gave in.
"You win Amy." She took out a pair of keys from her pocket and unlocked the gate.
'She had keys? Lucky~'
Kurt was about to step out when the cat jumped ahead of him.
*meow*
"Aww~ Who's this little guy?" Amy went to pet him.
"Can't say. It's just been following me recently. Heck, I didn't even know it was a boy cat."
As he walked past Emelie, the look on her face changed from stoic to surprise. But it changed back to normal almost instantly.
"The box." She demanded and reached out her hand.
"Alright Ms. Grumpy, here you go." He handed it over.
".... Looks like it's all here." She said after checking inside.
"Thank you so much!" Amy stood up and bowed. "If it wasn't for you, I'd be in so much trouble. If you need anything from me, please let me know!"
"Ha ha, it's fine, really. No need to bow like that." Kurt insisted.
"No! You have no idea how badly you saved me. Please let me repay you somehow!"
Realising that she wasn't going to let this go, Kurt thought up something quick, "Actually, you see, I've just arrived in Eldoria and have no place to stay do you-"
"You want to stay with me! T-that's… I-I-... Y-you" Amy blushed profusely.
".... I was going to ask if you know of any hotels I could stay at…."
"O-oh! I… errrr…"
Kurt looked at Emelie as if to ask, 'Is she always like this?' And the only thing she had in response was to facepalm herself.