THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"Good day to you, sir."

"It would have been better if you weren't late."

Frankher walks to us with his hands behind his back. His posture giving him a sort of natural charisma.

"I am sorry, sir." He arrives at our level right as I apologize.

"Good day to you, Willhem."

"Thank you."

"Where are your comrades?" Frankher pats K'nor's head slowly since he is staying to my right..

"Dead. All of them." Frankher's eyebrow raises and he stops patting K'nor.

"I see. I am sorry to hear that."

"So am I, sir."

"Ah, there he is." Keltia and her group arrive at the same time. "Father, I was looking for you."

"What is it?" Frankher looks at her with a bit of anger. There is no need to resent her for what happened, though.

"W-well…" See? You frightened her. "I wanted you to explain something to me. I didn't know you were busy."

"It's okay. I am not too busy. Well, I will see you guys in an hour then. Once again, I am sorry for your teammates."

"Thank you, sir."

"Something happened to them?" Peter asks while looking at me with curiosity.

"It seems they are dead." And Sarah answers before anyone else can.

"I see. I am sorry."

"Isn't it because you force them to fight when we had to retreat?" Thank you, Germinia.

I feel Willhem's anger rising but I touch his shoulder before he does anything.

"That's just her way of asking if we are okay."

"Hmph!" You could have just accepted it. Sigh… "I couldn't care less about what happened to you. No, in fact-"

Before Germinia can continue, a rapier is already on her throat. A single string of blood starts caressing her skin and Germinia is forced to shut up for the first time. Willhem just moved with the speed of the sound. That's why I always tell you to watch your mouth, girl.

"I would like you to finish your sentence."

"Fucker-" And just like that, Willhem pierces her throat, without hesitation or emotion. It's true that before being a mercenary, he is an assassin. Plus unlike me, he has no obligation to her. But, her brother is a Diz'kar, Willhem. A freaking Diz'kar. Germinia falls to the ground while holding her throat from which blood is spurting out profusely.

"Germinia!!"

"You fucking low-life!!" They all rush at Germinia while Frankher and Keltia turn around to look at us. Ah, shit.

***

"Are you okay?"

"You are dead." As soon as I have healed her, Germinia stands back up and doesn't even take the time to answer Keltia who was the most worried about her.

"Let's go, Willhem. I am hungry." Willhem is as ready as ever to pierce through her throat once more and I would sure as hell like him to do that. But that would only bring me satisfaction. Germinia is too stubborn to learn anything from this, even more so because I am involved.

"…" Without saying anything else, he follows me.

"Where-" Germinia opens her mouth once again but this time, when I turn around to look, it is Keltia herself who blocks her mouth with her hands. "Hm!! Hm!!"

"Just shut up already, geez!" As I said, Germinia is the stubborn type. She will surely come again to find us. But let's eat first. I have been smelling some really good food ever since we reached the camp.

"Let's go to my tent. You will tell me everything there."

Frankher speaks to us when we reach his level and so we follow him to his tent. A decorated tent with the insignia of the Koersombre on it. There are also guards at the entrance. Wait…

"You guys are here as well?" The guards who were at the entrance of the headmaster's office back at the eternal academy are the same that protect his tent now. That's some incredible loyalty, I must say.

"Good day to you, Star of Mercuria."

"When did you arrive?"

"Two days ago."

"I see. Well, keep the good work then."

"Thank you."

I follow Frankher and Willhem inside the tent. The tent looked really big from outside and now I understand why. There are papers everywhere. There is a big table in the center of the tent with four chairs around it. A map is on the table, together with pieces of wood again, a load of papers as well. There is a curtain spread that divides the room in a two-third and one-third ratio. His bed must be on the other side.

We sit on the chairs around the table and Frankher lets out a huge sigh.

"You should try to control your emotions more, Willhem. Although Miss Highlander was in the wrong. As the older one, you ought to behave differently to her provocations. Only then can she stop and learn from her mistakes."

"I know all that but I am not one to easily control myself."

"I understand. But please do try to. Or next time, you might be the one who ends up with his throat opened. Now, concerning the death of your comrades, could you tell me what happened?"

"Tatiana Flolerl."

"I see." With only that name, Frankher's expression changes. You can see that he understands instantly but also that his anger is growing rapidly. "But what was her objective?"

"She was tagging along, I think."

"You think so, Capt'?"

"Yeah, Thando was just trying to vent out his anger against me so she just took the opportunity to play with us a bit."

"Thando Taladas…He seems to play an important role in the hammer hands's rebellion. Maybe if we capture him…"

"Well, I don't think we have to search for him any longer."

"And why is that, Mister Dragonroad?"

"We managed to push them away and we think they have come here, in Titan. At the very least, Thando has."

"I see. Then we have only to push through, I guess."

"Yeah, but it will be hard." Willhem comes back in the conversation so I let him explain the rest to Frankher. "We were close to the dome earlier. And it seems there is another dome inside that one. This time, it will be exponentially harder to breakthrough."

"I can see that. But still, we must do it. Or else, we might lose everything and restart from zero."

"Woof!!" I hear K'nor barking outside so I stand up and leave Willhem with Frankher. We have reported to him like we were supposed to so now I can go, right?