The Nobles

Chapter 27

CLAUDIUS wake up in the middle of the night to check the vicinity of the area. Noong nakaraang araw, walang nagawa ang kasama nilang si Duncan kung hindi patirahin sila sa penthouse nito.

Of course, the poor guy have no choice, they have already decided. Ngumuso siya ng bahagya.

He's flying all over the buildings. Nasanay siyang puro mansion ang tinitingnan kaya't kailangan niya ulit kabisaduhin ang bawat parte ng lugar.

He wonder how is lady Adelaide. Ilang linggo na ang nakakalipas, it must be hard to gather everything overnight. And he understands that, they understand that.

Nadaanan nang tingin niya ang condominium building na tinitirahan ng kaibigang tao ng kaniyang Master. It was Hera as far as he remember.

Ilang dako pa ng lugar ang inikot niya. Ramdam niya ang ilang half bloods na nakikihalo, at nang tingnan niya naman ang mga ito, wala namang ginagawa. This became very common for him. The passed few months, half bloods are mingling around humans as if there's no difference at all. Like the discrimination between races aren't present. But somehow, deep inside, he feels odd.

Napailing siya at dumako naman sa pagmamay-aring village sa mabilis na paraan.

That night, nothing really remarkable happened like all the other days that passed.

Days passed and passed peacefully. They are now in the sala of Duncan's penthouse, and it seems like Duncan decided about the upcoming ball.

Theodred told them about a barter disguised as ball. Everyone will be exchanging materials and experiments depending on its rate and class.

It will be a good place for someone like Duncan Emmanuel, the lazy genius.

"I'll go with Lawyart and Alexander."

Oh, it's him and Guillaume. Nilingon niya ang katabi, ngunit mukha namang hindi nakikinig dahil kausap ang katabing si Egon, mukhang may pinagtatalunan na naman ang dalawa.

He roll his eyes in disbelief.

He reverted his eyes towards Duncan, "Sure. It's later, right? What will you bring?"

He saw how Duncan smirked.

"The whole lab."

Hindi niya rin mapigilang mapangisi. Having that, when there's pretty interesting thing on the barter, he'll have someone with the same value.

Sa ganoon, makukuha ni Duncan ang lahat ng gugustuhin niya mamaya, kung mayroon man. Kilala niya ang lalaking ito, masyadong matalino at perpekto ang gawa kaya't bihirang may bagay na makakaagaw pansin.

"By the way, I need to do something in the place of thing for the coming days. Just in case, I'll bring Lawyart," said Theodred.

Sumimangot siya.

"I thought you're already retired?"

"Well, the King gave me his last orders."

Orders. It must be plenty of orders, with s.

"You all are definitely sabotaging me, letting me come with you doing all the work," napailing siya sa mga kasama.

Natawa lamang ang katabi niyang si Guillaume at ang katabi nitong si Egon.

"Of course not, you're the only one I can trust, so..." nilingon ni Theodred ang mga kasama, "Duncan is too lazy, Egon is a flirt, and Guillaume is... nevermind."

Ibinigay ni Guillaume sa kaniya ang batang si Duncan at agad tumayo para magreklamo sa sinabi ni Theodred.

"Hoy! Anong nevermind nevermind? Ituloy mo!"

Nagpaypay at nagdekwatrong upo ito sa harap ni Guillaume.

"You are always making fun of everything, you're very reckless. Do you still remember our mission a hundred of years ago?"

Guillaume slowly sat. Umakto itong mabuting tao at maayos na umupo, tila pinapagalitan. Parang naging maamong aso.

Napairap na lamang siya. He remember that mission. Theodred and Guillaume went to the north pole to rescue the humans kidn*pped by the half bloods, that was the largest base of that syndicate handled by the certain group of half bloods. And on their way back, Guillaume drive the car, and they got lost, they are in the forest for three whole days.

"Mabait na ako ngayon," bulong bulong pa ng katabi niya.

Hinampas niya ng kamay ang likod ni Guillaume. Agad itong napa-aray at sinamaan siya ng tingin, ngumisi lamang siya rito.

"Let's get ready for later," aya niya.

Sinimangutan lamang siya nito. Habang ang batang si Devian na ibinigay sa kaniya kani-kanina lamang, ay nanonood lamang sa mga kilos nila.

"Kid, how's your studies?"

"Hmm? It's kinda boring. I'm more interested on the books that 'Uncan gave me."

"What kind of books?" he asked.

Saglit itong napaisip, tila inaalala ang nga ito.

"It was about algebra, there's also physics, I guess? Why, Aeneas?"

Napanganga siya, maging si Guillaume na katabi lamang nila na kapwa nakikinig sa usapan.

Before he reacted, naunahan na siya ng bida bidang si Guillaume.

"Duncan baby! Ba't mo ginagawang nerd si Devian? Paano kung 'di ko na lalo makausap 'yan sa future?"

Hindi siya pinansin ni Duncan na may tinitingnan sa sariling phone. Lalong sumama ang ekspresyon ng mukha ng katabi.

"I told you, let's get ready."

Ibinaba niya si Devian at inabot kay Theodred bago umalis na roon.

Later at night, they will go with Duncan. He can feel that it will be a long night so he spend his remaining time sleeping, and when he woke up for the ball, he immediately readied himself.

Bumaba siya mula sa ikalawang palapag ng penthouse ni Duncan, naabutan niya itong umiinom ng wine sa bar area.

He pour wine for himself before sitting comfortably in the nearby couch.

"If it's boring, we'll leave early."

Tumango siya. Hindi na bago ito sa personalidad ni Duncan.

Maya maya bumaba na rin si Guillaume na kapwa naka tuxedo rin tulad nila.

He look normal, that's a relief.

DUNCAN is already at the mansion where the barter disguised as ball is being held. He is with Claudius and Guillaume who are roaming around the area.

Napagpasyahan niyang pumunta dahil nagbabaka sakali siyang may mahanap na thousand year-old herbs, he's not here for experiments, he already have a lot of that.

Lumingon lingon siya sa paligid at tinalasan ang pakiramdam. May mga malalakas na Noble at half blood siyang nararamdaman. What did he expect, of course, only fool and extremely genius will miss this chance.

The host started talking thirty minutes later. And as the ball started, he can hear and see people around him exchanging their not so good materials.

He felt bored already. Nothing seems to caught his attention.

Dumiretso siya sa upper floor ng mansion, mayroon ding mga nandito at hindi na nag-aaksaya pa ng oras para maglabas ng mga bagay bagay.

Ipinatong niya ang dalawang siko sa railings, magkasalikop ang kaniyang dalawang kamay habang nakatingin sa baba.

Kumunot na lamang ang noo niya dahil mukhang walang kwenta ang naging pagpunta niya sa lugar na ito.

Tinanggal niya ng pagkakadikit ng dalawang kamay saka isinuklay ang nga daliri sa kaniyang buhok.

Damn it. What a waste of time.

Akmang bababa na sana siya ngunit sa hagdanan, nakasalubong niya ang isang babaeng may hawak na maliit na kumikintab at kulay gintong d**o.

He immediately block the way of the girl. She's wearing a black fitted dress that has low V neck. Tiningnan siya nito ng seryoso.

"What?" tanong ng babae.

She's quite strong, and she's definitely a Noble. It's been so long since he go to Nobilis, and he really doesn't bat an eye on anyone, that's why this girl isn't familiar to him.

"I want what you are holding," he straight forwardly said.

Tumaas ang isa nitong kilay.

"What can you offer me?"

He touch his necklace and just a thought of that thing, it appeared on his hand.

"It's a soul strengthening pill."

Ipinahawak niya sa babae ang kulay puting bilog na pill. Masuri itong tumingin at pinagmasdang mabuti ang ibinigay niya.

Maya maya, nag-angat ito ng tingin at ngumisi.

"How many of it can you give me?" asked by the girl.

"Three."

"Fine, that's reasonable, it's rare and only a genius can refine this."

Inabot nito sa kaniya ang kulay gintong d**o. Siya naman ay ibinigay din dito ang natitira pang dalawang soul strengthening pill.

Inilagay niya agad sa kaniyang storage necklace ang unang bagay na nakabihag ng interes niya. That grass is rare, Victoria's town has those kind of grass but it is solely for his Master. Nasa loob ito ng palasyo ni Lady Adelaide.

At kung may mahanap man kung saang parte ng mundo, bihira lamang. Only those who are lucky enough can attain that kind of herb.

"Anyways, can I know your name?"

Pinagmasdan niya ang babae. Walang halo ng kahit anong bagay ang ekspresyon kung hindi purong kaseryosohan.

Tumango siya dahil walang halong ibang interes ang mga mata nito.

"Duncan," pakilala niya.

Nag-abot ng kamay ang babae, she's wearing a black gloves that hugged her arms until her elbows.

"Blanche, nice to meet you, I can guess that you are very talented Mr. Duncan," she fluttered him.

He smirked.

"I guess I am."

"I am with a genius too, but after seeing your pill, I think I wanted to negotiate with you."

He eyebrows crease.

"What do you mean?"

"I am actually a Noble Leader, and I wanted to be your apprentice."

He immediately shake his head.

"No."

"Can I ask why?"

"Too lazy to teach someone."

The girl chuckled a bit upon hearing his reason. Tumayo ito ng maayos at nagpaalam na sa kaniya.

"Well, then, hearing that, I must say, I have no choice. I hope fate will let us meet again, Mr. Duncan."

Tumalikod ito at itinaas ang kanang kamay ng bahagya para kumaway habang bumababa ng hagdan paalis.

She's easy to talk too. That's a good character.

Tuluyan na rin siyang bumababa at namataan ang babae na lumapit sa isang lalaking mukhang Noble rin.

Naalis ang atensyon niya roon nang humarang si Guillaume sa kaniyang harapan.

Kunot noo niya itong tiningnan.

"What is it?"

"Man, someone have an information about Victoria's town, he's willing to exchange it with a high class material."

Again?

This can't be a coincidence. The auction that Rainier and George attended week ago someone definitely leak the information about the map. And now, someone is doing it again.

Is it the same traitor? They knew specific persons to involve, but he knew, and they do there is a greater picture.

Alam niyang kung sino man ang gumagawa nito, ang nais lamang ay ang ikasasama ng Nobilis.

Those shits, he'll kill whoever is behind this.

"Where is that person?" he asked Guillaume.

Ngumisi naman ito.

"Claudius is already taking care of that."

Napairap niya at tumango. Good, he knew Lawyart can handle that very well. Siguradong makakakuha ito ng impormasyon na kailangan nila.

Lumakad pa siya para tumingin tingin sa hawak ng bawat naroroon. Too bad, nothing interests him anymore.

He boredly sat on the chair while he let his eyes roam around. Dang. What a useless barter night. Isa lamang ang matinong nakita niya, at ang iba, hindi naman ganoon kaimportante sa kaniyang paningin.

Nakita niyang papunta sa direksyon niya si Claudius, si Guillaume naman ay lumapit na rin ulit nang makita silang dalawa sa iisang table.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He only said someone leave a roll outside his house, and viola! There's the information," Claudius said, completely annoyed.

"If the King knew about his, he'll hunt whoever it is. So while he's not here, let's do the hunting," Guillaume suggested.

Tumango siya bilang pagsang-ayon. If some information about the town spread, it won't be good. There are plenty of strong persons out there, and if half of those are evil together with the race of the half bloods, war will happen, it will mostly to happen.

So they have to do everything now, they need to prevent things to go further. While his Master and the King aren't here yet, they must do their best to prevent harm that will gravely affect the three races and the world.

"After this night, we have to investigate," he suggested.

Tumango ang dalawa.

"Yeah. At oo nga pala, nakita ko ang isang S Class half blood around the area."

"I saw him awhile ago too," sambit niya.

"The person who had the information is a half blood, and is probably in the guild of that S Class."

Oh damn. It means another fight is probably about to break.