The day hasn't lost its lustre... Constantine deemed it necessary to head somewhere first before going to the mercenary association, thankfully, according to Zamira, those places happened to coincide in the same road.
"You really love cheesecakes don't you?" Amelia giggled and stood beside the table where the man with his head covered and the purple-haired girl were having some of her cakes.
She always delighted in how much he seemed to always enjoy her craft, her customers weren't many, they seemed to decrease with every generation just as the gloominess of the city increased, perhaps... people no longer held hope in a lovely slice of cheesecake for cheering their days.
Constantine hummed with memories in his head as he devoured the slice before sending Amelia a natural sight.
"No, I love yours in particular, Amelia."
!!!
As expected, there was a reaction... a rolled eyebrow from Zamira, a blush from Amelia.
"Is that... so..." With a 'stupid' face, Amelia blushed and giggled, her son was attending to some other customers and he couldn't help but want to yell to his mother to come back to work, he knew, however, that such an action would earn him a slap.
"You said you're moving to this city, right?" Amelia began.
"Yes, though I still don't know where." He affirmed, that hopefully, Andre and his family would be able to find something according to the image he held in his head.
"And where are you staying now?"
"We're staying in the luxury hotel in the 3rd Street."
"W-What!?" Obviously, Amelia gasped, that's the most expensive hotel in the whole town.
"Yes, my master is quite demanding when it comes to his bed, I am still hurt for spending that much money when we could have slept in Andre's house for free." She nodded 'sagely' while the pair gave her a slightly disgruntled sight.
Zamira calling Constantine, 'Master' wasn't that uncommon for Amelia, for all she knew perhaps Zamira was being taught something by him, it was a quite casual mannerism to have.
That didn't stop her from growing alert since this 'master this and master that' might end up evolving into something else.
While Amelia's mind was clouded with misunderstandings, or not... Constantine was filled with the thought of taking away the money he had given to Zamira...
'I think she's not going to spend that money any time soon...' this woman is capable of not eating a saying that it is better that way since her empty stomach means less weight to carry around, utterly ridiculous.
"That's amazing... if you're moving then I could... d-deliver you some cheesecakes when I have the time, on my own." The woman fidgeted, she made the most brazen move she has made with any man since her husband passed away.
This business has no delivery policy whatsoever and before Constantine could delight at the idea, it was Zamira who spoke!
"That won't be necessary." She coughed slightly, finishing her entire cake.
"Oh?" Both Constantine and Amelia glanced her way, expecting an explanation.
"I will be cooking master some cheesecakes on my own!" Zamira said with gallantry, for her, preparing a cheesecake couldn't possibly be more difficult than defeating a tiger in a contest of strength.
'So what if she can prepare beautiful cakes? I will prepare tastier cakes for master!'
She recalled some words from the man who had taken care of her during a period of her life, Seledus.
'The stomach is always the way to please a man...' she nodded sagely but there was something else she was forgetting in that passage, something else he said.
'Oh, that's it!' it dawned on her like purple lightning.
'But if you don't know how to cook, then use your chest, remember this, Zamira...'
While Constantine looked at Zamira's determined nodding expression, Amelia didn't lose a chance to mock anyone that dared to compare their craft with her multi-generational one.
"With all due respect, Zamira but... do you know how to prepare them?~" For Amelia, this was such an easy argument, especially if the other part is the klutz, Zamira.
"I-I will learn, it can't be that hard..."
"That's commendable, I will give him mine until you learn~" Amelia nodded, there you go, argument won.
"I can learn very quickly!" The mercenary insisted shamelessly.
There was a brief staredown before Constantine decided to step in and break down the argument with utter contundence.
"I don't mind having both of your cheesecakes." He said, taking the last munch to his cake, sad that it was already finished, if they weren't in a rush, he'd take another one.
"..."
"..."
[...]
"That's not valid!" Both ladies stood up with a headstart, an insistence and determination that a mere cheesecake topic wasn't worthy of.
"Why not?" He didn't understand why he couldn't eat the two of them.
"B-Because, it is not valid!" Zamira was adamant, she needed her master to have her 'cake'.
[Are you playing a fool or something?] Zebellia laughed lively and questioned his 'denseness', she didn't believe for a second that he wasn't aware of where this is moving towards.
'Why? is it so bad to eat both of their cheesecakes?~ is the trial going to punish me for it?'
[As I thought, it is impossible for you to be dense, do you have fun playing with ladies' hearts?] She reproached him, a comment he could only laugh at.
'I am playing with no one's heart... I am just enjoying some delicious and pure cakes, I love cakes, horses and pussy cats the most~'
[I don't know why but I feel like increasing your debt...] Outrage was not a word fitting enough to describe Zebellia's current feelings.
...
"It was wonderful, Amelia... we're heading to the mercenary association now, or is it organisation? why don't they just call themselves mercenaries?"
"They're both an organisation and an association... they're kept by the empire and the cults all around; formed and controlled by groups of mercenaries that are divided by their strength." Amelia gave him some explanation before her gaze turned grave.
"Be careful... with that body, y-you might get bullied... I wouldn't like that." She didn't know how strong he was, but Zamira's expression had changed since the last time she saw her, and he too... they'd be mocked in the association with those appearances.
"Do you think I am some 'pretty boy' without strength?" He asked, getting rather close to her, enough to invade her 'private area'.
"O-Of course not... but even if that was the case, I think you're a good person, Constantine..." She didn't back down, indeed, he didn't have the bulky appearance of a man that brought security but, he enjoyed her cakes, was quite assertive and overall, attractive to her, sadly... in the association, they wouldn't think the same.
Hearing her say that, Constantine could only scratch his head 'I am no good, but I am good the way I am...'
[... I guess that's right, though you could be a little less perverted.]
"Thanks for your cake, Amelia."
"To you... please, once you move, tell me your address." She asked shily after writing down their address to him.
Constantine took it with a smile and placed it in one of his pockets, "It is me who might visit you earlier."
"My son and me will receive you with our best cakes~"
"Sure, I will try to come more often, take care champ."
"Take care, Mr Constantine, Mrs Zamira!" Sammie waved at them together with Amelia, it was such a cheerful aura they emitted.
"Take care, Amelia."
"You too, Zamira."
Gone was the cheerfulness, here there is only rivalry.
**
**
In the same road there were plenty of smiths, clothing shops, even shops that created perfume, but at the end of it all lay a great building with slightly modern looks compared to the rest of the area.
There was a conflagration of people reunited at the entrance, all of them wearing clothes that had plates, weapons and so much more.
"Mercenaries..." Constantine saw them, big, intimidating, bulky, scarred... rogues, hooligans, you name it and here it is, sadly, there were also a lot of shivering children around... either it was their first time here or they were trying to test their luck, their ages between twelve and fifteen, not a single one older than that.
"I was expecting something more..." With his gaze set on the building, he had to contemplate.
"Posh?" Zamira tried to complete the sentence.
"No, the opposite... you're supposed to be mere mercenaries yet possess such a refined facility." In his world, mercenaries are nothing more than bandits, they kill people and are paid for it and society rejects them... a facility like this is impossible to exist there.
"Mercenaries are what remains of humans that don't have the privilege of being born as a magus... they, no...we are the hope of humans to keep thriving against the elf kingdom and the wolf empire... the demons too although by now, they're far from being the threat." She said and pulled him inside, sure enough the disgusted gazes didn't make themselves wait, specially focused at Zamira.
He realised now that she had such insecurity with her face while his innermost feelings called those bunch 'idiots' again and again... how stupid they were was beyond him.
"Look, we have a picksqueak~"
"What do you come here to do, boy... go back and suck momma's tit some mo-!"
*BANG!!*
Constantine's kick went straight to the chest, the man clutched in pain and fell on his knees.
"I wanted to ignore you all pieces of trash but you had to go and talk about my mother..." He sighed before his leg swung again amidst the commotion, impacting square against the mercenaries' face.
*BAAANGG!!*
Blood was spilt in the clear ground as the man was flung back together with his entire weight, falling on his back in disbelief, that shrimp, where did he take all that strength from!?
"Having strength and being 'tough' is so important among you."
*BAAANGG!!*
Another kick in the stomach was enough to throw him towards a table where several people were sitting, he destroyed the table as everyone moved away, looking at Constantine in amazement, but the latter wouldn't budge, he kept walking towards that pitiful bastard while Zamira struggled between stopping him or allowing him to continue.
"Y-You! AHHH!!!"
A foot stepped on his chest, keeping him locked in place as he looked up to the reason of all his wrath and shame, Constantine's wrathful visage.
"Do I look strong enough, tough guy?!"
*BAAAANGG!!*
Another kick and the man was sent away once again, if Constantine hated something, was for someone to insult his mother... this man was nothing more than a flying corpse by now.
However, something was bound to interrupt his outburst.
"Boy, you should know when to stop... even if you're stronger than you look, we don't like commotion here." Some man stepped out of the crowd, tall and grumpy as the rest, but contrary to the rest whose gazes held awe and also surprise, his was dead cold.
A rusty armour, a big broadsword hanging on his back.
Constantine noticed it upon sight.
This is what experience and killing intent looks like. No cheap tricks.
"Who are you, old man? he insulted my mother... death awaits him whether you like it or not."
"You should learn to respect your elders, if you demand someone's head, do it outside with your sword." The man took his sword and prepared to fight right on the spot.
"Are you his father or something? why do you care?" Constantine didn't know why this person is meddling while the rest only looks.
"Master, it is no good to kill people in this facility, please, refrain..." Zamira caught up, having to move across a crowd to reach him.
"You're causing a commotion inside the association, if you want his head, kill him outside and deal with the consequences outside."
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