The God of Jesters
Chapter 703 - 11.02.2 Leave for your father.

Chapter 703: 11.02.2 Leave for your father.

A past too far to recall properly, which is a surprise considering the mental prowess of a Mystic is their strongest suit. But Darde, he looked mute for a bit, recalling the scene shrouded in fog, and words that were the only things he remembered.

"Ho.. you stay here, I will go out for a bit." Darde didn’t call for his compatriots, he felt it wouldn’t be right to inform them of his family issues, not to mention, the way his sister appeared and the blood on her. Some of them didn’t make sense considering her injuries, which can only mean one thing. ’She fought, close by.’ If she was too far, she would have been noticed by others in the street.

Only if the battle happened in this neighborhood which seemed abandoned, that’s the only way one can explain such oddity. Which when added with the additional figures he recalled in his memory, that for some reason had disappeared, caused Darde’s expression to turn Aghast.

It didn’t take long for his fears to be confirmed. ’She killed them.’ Clean-cut kills, there were no sounds and no struggle to boot, before the enemy would feel her arrival, they were already dead. ’She had become stronger.’ Mystics don’t usually cultivate any specific paths on their own, but they can naturally grow stronger with age if they don’t fall due to getting touch by something they shouldn’t.

Something a lot more common than one might think.

But his sister didn’t like such a way of cultivation. Just using their abilities is never enough, a Mystic should have a stronger body for self-defense, or so she thought. Which can be considered somewhat foolish that be unaware of her specific ability. Unlike other Mystics that can ruin the minds of all who dare to harm them, his sister’s situation was a tad bit different.

’They would have died before others found something odd.’ He recalled, that although his sister was bandaged up by his wife, Darde still saw her muscles. ’Just a girl.’ She appeared young, but she was way older than him, and her strength, good for a woman, was definitely not in the ranks of transcended folks or knights.

Which these men were. ’Talismans or drugs... maybe both.’ He walked for a bit, finding traces of burned paper as well as a medicine smell in the air. "So much to kill them, why?" Many things didn’t make sense.

’Just like that man.’ Darde walked, finding a figure that was slowly inching towards the location of these men. Probably someone here to confirm whatever job they were given.

And now, he was his answer.

So before the man can even approach, Darde appears from the side, and calmly stabs the man in his knees, while holding his mouth closed, to prevent him from speaking. "I was curious who you guys were... I had seen these clothes and figures before." And the answer was obvious.

In his position, finding answers was his job, and to find answers, he needed to know people as well.

And this man that appeared in front of him, he was a small-time crook who didn’t seem to have any affiliation on the surface, but he actually worked as an informer for the Flower’s Gradient, a merchant association with their main focus on brothels. "Speak truth... lie and I will stop caring for your mind." The man, this fool of a man, was well aware of who attacked him the moment he saw the perpetrator’s face.

Which meant only one thing. ’The plan has failed.’ Absurd, how can those men fail in the hands of a feeble Mystic. Who is nothing without their bodyguards? They might be powerful when dealing with one or even two opponents, but attacks of a psionic nature take time to take effect, and being rushed would usually make them die fast.

But that was not something the crook worried about. The moment he understood the plan failed, his eyes turned red with fear, and he started to say, "I..., I will explain." But before he could continue, another stab, right into an elbow, came. "Stop... I said I am answering what you want." It’s easy for a Mystic like Darde to tell the truth from the false, and Darde knew this man was lying.

"Last chance... speak the truth, or it’s your brain next." It would be a life worse than death once Darde tries to touch this man’s memories, it’s not something you can come back from easily.

"Those..., those men, were sent to kill you... I don’t know.."

"Enough I guess." Another lie or start of a lie. So Darde stopped caring. ’I will just kill him after.’ With that in mind, Darde touched the forehead of the man who looked at him with horror, pleading for Darde to stop.

But Darde won’t listen, with a ting sound, and a few words from Darde’s moth that acted as keywords to look through the library of memories of this victim of his and confirmed his suspicions even more. ’Kill me?’

Why would those men try to kill him? The little interactions he had with him weren’t so bad. ’Sadly, he knows nothing of the case.’ Throwing this body to the floor that had become a stuttering fool, Darde put his feet on the man’s neck and crushed it. "Die in peace." His eyes were pretty cold at the moment.

Far colder than dead, which is usually normal for an investigator in his position. ’Kill me?’

"Hah, I am too old for this stuff." Recalling his sister’s face, Darde made up his mind. "First to safeguard my family."

He walked back, ignoring the bodies around him, and then entered his house with the same worried face as before. "As I feared, they were here to kill me," Darde told his wife only part of the events, he didn’t tell about the man he just killed a few minutes ago. "I will carry my sister on the back, the moment we reach the main road, I will book a Taxi, bringing it here is not safe."

The bodies, can be left behind as there is a chance that to keep things down, whoever at Flower Gradient wants him dead will clean this place on their own.

It was a good thing, considering he was not alone anymore; his troublesome sister was here. So, the fewer eyes on his family, the better.

"It’s good that she is still asleep." Darde looked at his daughter, who he had forcefully made to sleep using his psionic power. But that was the best case of action in this situation, as a curious child’s mind and loose lips usually mean certain doom in situations like these.

"She is... I just hope this doesn’t leave any strong scar on her... your sister did scare her before."

"I will make sure she apologizes to her niece." Darde laughed, a pained laugh, while his eyes turned toward outside as the taxi went past certain curious figures on the road. ’So many... why.’

Something was going on and Darde knew what he had to do first. ’Confirmation needed for now. I know for a fact that my family is being targeted, but is it really the case? Or a single member? The other two can be collateral.’

’It being me is the highest, but... the world is always random with things like these.’ His mind worked, and his eyes darted as events started to play out in his head. ’The only interaction I had was with the case... but even then, I didn’t do anything that would warrant such a strong response by them.’

"Ho... You are thinking again. Calm down for a minute, we are safe here."

"It’s hard... I am not even sure who among us was the target and if they will come..."

"I know what is going on in your mind Darde, you are worried they will come for us if you go seeking answers?" His wife spoke her tone very understanding. "Don’t worry too much, I will try and ask my father for help, his business has been turning great profit recently, so it won’t be hard for him to afford some protection for me."

"No protection, I can’t trust anyone in this situation. It’s better you go to your father, no one will dare to touch you under the protection of a Master Rank Mage."