The special client

At this point, Nem was starting to get really nervous. He curled his lips and raised the corner of his eyes into his most innocent smile... but the effect wasn't exactly as he expected. Maybe because he wasn't used to having this face, he looked like a little devilish prankster happy to have learned someone's secret. Unfortunately, he was too preoccupied with trying to divert the subject to notice it. He began :

" Uh, that's nice... Anyways, can you tell me what is the meditation you were talking about, Mr Sarth ?" He unconsciously changed the way he addressed the suspected assassin in front of him.

The man didn't seem to notice Nem's weird expression and instead seemed to become more serious. He stared at the boy's red eyes with his for a moment before reaching a conclusion.

"How about coming with me to meet my client ? I'll tell you all about meditation then." Looking at the rock separating them, he added : "Don't worry it's not dangerous at all."

Nem glanced at the man's pale skin and pointy cheekbones and was about to say 'no thank you' before running away.

'This guy is starting to give off real pedo vibes. Or maybe he wants to eat me or something.'

At this moment, his stomach produced a loud growl, perfectly audible in the forest filled with birds singing. He was hungry. Really hungry. He just didn't realize it before due to his scare and intense thinking. Sarth Robinson smiled for the first time and declared : "There will be food there."

After a small hesitation, Nem just gave up. He wasn't confident in surviving alone there. After all, it's not like he knew the local plants or was an experienced hunter. Tom's skill set was limited to taking care of certain animals and harvesting plantations. Besides, this guy shouldn't have any reason to harm a boy who didn't even exist yesterday – Nem could confidently declare that he didn't have any enemies in Blue. He nodded and relaxed his posture a bit.

"Alright, uh, can you tell what kind of client it is, sir ?"

"Have you heard of the Church of Peace ?"

"The food church ? That's your client ?" The surprise made Nem lose his manners a little.

'Is this guy really an assassin ?'

The Church of Peace was also dubbed 'food church' because it was a faith aimed at cooks and all types of food aficionados. Nem didn't learn much from Tom but he could guess that its believers should at least be middle class.

'Why would he meet the church in the middle of nowhere ? '

Sarth laughed and started walking. Nem mechanically followed while keeping a few steps of distance. The man replied : "In my line of work, you learn things are rarely as they appear."

'Ah, so he IS an assassin after all.' At this moment, Nem was convinced. He could also be a detective, but his trust issues already ruled that possibility without thinking.

"They have a monastery in the mountain nearby, as a matter of fact it is one of their most important temples. They even have an orphanage there, although most people are not aware of that."

A silence gradually installed itself as they continued to walk. The air was getting warmer, and the shade of the trees didn't really succeed in intercepting the sunlight. It was now well past sunrise and Nem remembered it was the beginning of summer. This world also divided the year into 12 months of 30 days. Each month named after one of the 12 gods. It was Wednesday the 11th of the month of the Sun. The year was... 4101. 'How strange, I feel like I went to the future now. He thought self-deprecatingly. '

"I'm not a believer of the Church of Peace." Nem finally broke the silence.

"It's fine, although you're a bit old, they'll still accept you considering your wits... Are you capable of reading and writing by any chance ?"

"Of course." Nem felt weirdly happy the praise on his intelligence. 'I didn't even say anything smart, this guy sure as a good eye.'

Nem then asked cautiously: "What if I don't want to enter the orphanage ?"

Sarth Robinson didn't answer.

After walking a few more minutes, Nem started to sweat and it was neither from the heat nor the hike. 'This situation... might be a bit bad. '

Thinking about it this way, a suspected hitman was leading him to a secret monastery containing a suspicious "orphanage". Worse, the seemingly innocent church was the man's client. Even worse, Nem was now in possession of all that information...

'I probably won't have a choice in joining that orphanage. In fact, I probably should act like this is the thing I desire the most in the world... If I act suspiciously, they might just kill me on the spot.'

'Mr Robinson did give me a choice in the beginning, but now that he told me so much I probably can't just leave and just give my word I won't say anything. '

Nem kept thinking as he walked, but in the end, he didn't stop going forward. One step at a time. It was what he told himself last time he left his house. It didn't end up too well, though. Him being dead and all...

'This situation seems a lot less threatening than walking into a fire-breathing beast... but this time the danger is very real. I need to keep my cool and focus on surviving, let's put the other matters aside for the time being. For now, I can't step back so I should try getting more information. There should still be some time before arriving.'

*** (From Sarth's perspective)

Sarth Robinson didn't know what he was doing. He had accepted this top-secret mission just 3 months ago. It was a non-combat mission having for objective to befriend the Church of Peace and obtain a few of their assets. Just a standard diplomatic mission without much constraints except secrecy.

… And now he had told pretty much everything to a random kid. 'No actually, not even a random kid, a highly suspicious kid. Something must really be wrong with my head... He sighed inwardly. Taking this mission as rest from my promotion was definitely a judicious decision. If my life was on the line this time... Sigh...'

First, Sarth was alerted by the human smell suspiciously close to his route. Then, he was surprised to see a child seemingly meditating, crossed-legged, eyes closed and profound breathing. The signs were there. But then the boy smiled like a fool and proceeded to move back and forth like he was excited about something. Next thing he knew, the child-Nem- had somehow noticed him and acted extremely warily. This kind of awareness was too much for someone untrained at that age. No matter what kind of bad experience a child had, he was still a child and shouldn't be so calm yet cautious... Except if he was a Blessed or Cursed and trained in action, which was almost impossible at this age.

If Sarth instinct didn't tell him that he was really as he seemed -a weak child- then he was really going to engage in combat.

The most surprising, however, was Nem's appearance. The jet-black hair and faintly dark skin indicating a mixed origin was one thing... but the red eyes and slightly pointy little white teeth revealed in the child's grin were completely different. To a normal person it might look like one of those normal anomalies appearing in babies from poor families, but for Sarth, it had a completely different meaning, especially if combined with meditation.

He formulated a few hypothesizes and decided to confirm them at the monastery. One of those possibilities would make it dangerous to do so, while one would put him in a slightly awkward position, but Sarth wasn't afraid. No matter if this was an important temple of one of the 12 Churches, Sarth Robinson had the confidence to escape. At least. He wasn't a pushover, and the organization behind him even less so.

As for the kid, if he suddenly refused to follow him, he would just force him...

While this thought went through Sarth's mind, he heard Nem questioning him in an innocent voice.

"Uncle, what kind of 'mercenary' organization are you part of ?"

Noticing that the child was back to his annoyingly familiar way of addressing him, Sarth was a bit confused. He was quite sure kids found him to be scary, and this question was definitely pointing straight to an important topic. 'Maybe he is just bored.' He brushed it off. 'The child wasn't a threat anyways. Telling him the name might lead to interesting results in the future...'

"It's called the Grey Angels' association. If you want to know more, you'll have to wait a bit. If you don't die too soon you won't have a choice but to learn about us anyways."

*** (back to Nem's POV)

'Yep, this guy is definitely an assassin. Even his organization sounds shady as hell. '

Angels were supposed to be the elite soldiers of the Gods, but the word "Grey" made Nem believe it wasn't what it seemed to be.

Nem felt a bit frightened by the answer, but he quickly continued asking.

" Do you have any advice regarding the Church the Peace ? Something I should know ?"

"No."

Starting from there, all questions were answered by either negatives or 'You'll see'. Nem was sometimes a bit dense but even he quickly understood he would only risk angering the man and stopped questioning him.

Until, finally, they arrived.