This chapter is brought to you by Centuries by Fall Out Boy.

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Lark and Wren met him at the checkpoint near the town's border.

The forest behind the Lake acted as a natural barrier wall, so there were no gate guards lurking about.

Nine was soaked in blood, his habits from the Arena were carried over to his mission. In his defense, he had made the kill cleaner than usual. He hadn't even gotten blood on his face.

Lark and Wren had the sense of bringing his stuff, so Nine changed out his blood-soaked clothes and back into his red coat.

They left Ohmlet as quiet as they came.

---

When his Lord Uncle read the first mission report, he had come to Nine in the middle of the night to lecture him about something regarding ethics secrecy, and morality.

It was difficult to discern what he was getting at, and why he was there in the middle of the night lecturing him about killing people, but Nine was sure his Lord Uncle eventually gave up once he realized he lost him at the forty-minute mark.

Death, in Nine's opinion, was inevitable.

Everyone would die eventually.

It was just a matter of how they would die.

Nine's job was to speed it up, but the finish line was all the same.

When he told his Lord Uncle that, the man had stared at him in silence.

The next day, he saw another cat among Hungry, Dog, and Cow.

"A reward," his Lord Uncle said.

Nine blinked at the new cat. It looked at him, mewled, and then crawled into his lap.

He stroked its head absentmindedly.

"Fish," he named it.

"No," said his Lord Uncle.

"Bird."

"Absolutely not."

"Sweetie."

"No--" his Lord Uncle paused. "That's actually not bad. Alright, your name is Sweetie, now," he said to the cat.

Sweetie hissed at him.

His Lord Uncle sighed in resignation, used to the rudeness of all his cats by now.

---

Missions for his nephew went from solo kills (with other mercenaries' supervision) to full-lone missions.

Valerius eyed the stack of mission reports. Ever since Tobus joined the Calypto mercenaries, he had racked up a reputation for having the longest streak of successes.

For every success, there was a new cat brought into the estate.

The Calypto Estate was soon being turned into a cat's den.

When Valerius had first suggested lone missions for Tobus, Raven and Lark objected.

Tobus was only fourteen and wasn't ready to handle a full mission on his own.

It was already unusual for him to start off his career with solo skills.

Most recruits would first begin with group missions before working their way up to qualifying for individual assignments, but Tobus was already experienced in the realm of killing, and his skills in combat rivaled a majority of his best men.

Putting him in group missions was a waste of resources compared to utilizing him for high-stake lone missions.

His nephew was also moving up the ranks within the Calypto mercenaries. Soon, Lord Eartha would take him as an agent of Vesna, and by then, Valerius needed his nephew to be prepared for anything.

"My lord, the celebration begins in five," his attendant announced.

Valerius stood up and grabbed the box on the table.

Inside was a red and gold coat for the "The Distinguished Protector of the House Heir."

---

The mission had gone to hell the moment Nine realized it was a trap. The information was faulty and the enemies had known he was there.

His target was a man participating in the flesh trade.

Children's flesh trade.

It was the first time he received a mission of such degree where he was given the permission to kill as many people involved as he pleased as long as the target was put down.

A Vesna agent was given greater freedom and flexibility, but missions were often dangerous and deadly.

It all started when Nine snuck into his target's base of operation and killed his way toward the man's office.

What he didn't expect was to find an empty office and a hoard of sellswords appearing out of nowhere.

Nine was aware of his capabilities, but even then, he only managed to cut down a quarter of the men while fighting close quarters, and he was eventually captured.

So here he was now, injured, bound in rope, and sitting in a filthy cell.

His target eventually walked in.

"Who sent you, boy?"

Nine didn't answer.

The target delivered a backhanded blow to his face.

"You will meet a fate worse than death if you don't answer me, boy. I asked you who sent you here?!"

Nine remained silent.

The target sneered and gripped his face, squeezing his jaw until he could feel a bruise blooming.

The target eyed him, and then a nasty smile formed on his face.

"Not bad of a face you got there, boy. Green eyes... My clients would be willing to pay a fortune for someone like you."

"Sir," another man standing by the door hesitantly interrupted, "Over thirty of our people are dead because of that boy."

The target waved him off.

"We'll just put a warning label on him," he said without care, grinning from ear to ear as he leacherously eyed him. "You hear that, boy? This is my mercy to a murderer like you."

Perhaps someone should have taught his target that pardoning those who killed would lead to more deaths.

Nine slid the small blade he hid in his sleeves and sliced the rope on his wrists.

Before anyone could react, he lunged at the target and swiped the small blade across his throat.

Nine's eyes flashed with intent as the target choked on the ground.

The man by the door was frozen on the spot in horror.

He dropped to the ground on his knees, shaking. But before he could scream, Nine silenced him swiftly with a precise strike to the head.

Nine patted himself free of dust and blood and rummaged through both men before he found his daggers.

Clipping them back to his belt, he left the room with the cell keys.

There were people trapped in the cells. He knew this from the mission intel. Children sold or taken from their parents were placed here to be sold to wealthy clients.

Nine wandered through the base until he stumbled upon rows and rows of cages full of children.

His pupils dilated with unspoken agitation as he approached them.

The children were curled up and shaking in their cells. Some were crying and others had a blank look on their face that spoke of the horrors they had experienced.

The mission intel had not said anything about freeing the children, but it didn't matter.

The target was dead, and soon, every person in this place would die. The children were free to leave.

As Nine walked by, unlocking each of their cages and opening doors, they stared at him in bewilderment.

"Free to go," he said, "Take you to safety."

The children eyed him warily, shrinking into themselves.

Nine had little time. The building was about to blow and his extraction team would be arriving at the extraction point within an hour. They needed to leave, now.

Yet, they slowly made their way out of their cages and merely stood there distrustfully.

He noticed how filthy they were, covered in dirt and grime and bruises. The target and his men had not treated them kindly.

Nine brought out a handkerchief and approached one of the children.

The child was a little boy, perhaps barely four. For a child so young and small, there was no light in his eyes. That look of foolish wonder and liveliness was gone, snuffed out by the greed of others.

The child reminded him of Jovette... and Ten.

Nine wiped the dirt off the boy's face. The boy flinched at the contact and squeezed his eyes shut. The other children stilled with fear.

However, Nine continued his gentle ministration, calmly cleaning the boy's face until all was gone.

The boy slowly opened his eyes and stared at him in shock. Then he pursed his lips, his face wrinkling like a raisin. Tiny hands balled into tiny fists.

"Wuuuuuu.... Wahhhh...."

He started to cry, but not in the way that his kittens did. He didn't scream, nor was he loud. The child's crying was quiet as if he was afraid to make noise.

Nine couldn't help himself.

He slowly reached out and gently took the boy into his arms, rubbing circles onto his back as he tried to soothe him. The familiar rumble he once learned from cats started to sound from within his chest.

"Hik... Hik... Wahhhh..."

Other children began to cry as well.

In the darkness of those cages, there was no light. As they gradually grew older, they realized no one would save them.

Until now.

Another child tugged on his coat and Nine turned to see a little girl with her lips pursed tightly to stop herself from making a sound. Tears were trickling down her cheeks uncontrollably.

"It's fine, now," Nine said, stroking her hair.

The children hugged one another and continued to cry. The little ones seek comfort from the older ones.

Many more hugged his legs, grabbed onto his coat, and bawled into his shoulders.

They eventually left.

The base of operation exploded, sending all kinds of rubble and smoke flying everywhere.

Nine brought the children to the extraction point.

"Lord Arcadia!"

Raven stopped in his trek and looked at the children he brought along with him.

"You took the children, didn't you?"

Nine frowned, "What was I supposed to do? Leave them?"

"Well, no!" Raven quickly said, "But... where are they going to go?"

"Find the parents or take them to Vesna."

"The city is not an orphanage. Lord Eartha would not allow this, and neither would Lord Calypto."

Nine narrowed his eyes at Raven.

---

"So we thankfully found the parents of the ones who were kidnapped, but there are still two left who were sold or didn't have anyone to take them in," Raven reported as he stood in front of Lord Calypto.

His Lord eyed the documents without a hint of emotion before he said, "Approved. Let Tobus keep them."

"But, my Lord--"

A mission report was thrown in front of him.

Raven saw Lord Arcadia's familiar handwriting on the report.

He briefly skimmed it and saw the usual mission details, but once he reached the bottom of the paper, he paused.

The Children are Mine.

His Lord looked... done.

"The girl can go to my daughter. She needs a handmaiden anyway, and Duri and Tess have already rejected the position."

"I heard. They wanted to join the Saintly Sisters."

"Rasamund's influence," his Lord said bitterly, "As for the boy, Tobus can take care of him indefinitely."

---

Nine brought his kittens to meet their new siblings.

Duri, Tess, and Jovette took an instant liking to Ophelia and whisked her away to Jovette's room, leaving Nine with the boys.

Puck, the little boy who had cried first and Nine comforted, looked around shyly at the rest of his kittens and hid his face in the crook of Nine's neck.

"Be good," Nine said.

The head shook like a chestnut, refusing the order.

Nine snorted.

Dog made a noise and climbed onto Nine's shoulder.

Puck peaked at him curiously.

An hour later found Nine, his kittens, and his (numerous) cats cuddled together in The Sun Room while taking a nap.

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[......... Calypto Creed 3: Do not revel in death for murders are missions and not vengeance .........]

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The author has something to say:

Do not be influenced by Nine's way of thinking about death and stuff. Also, the chapter title is based on a quote from Escalus. Can you guess what it means? Finally, I didn't want Nine to bring home any more kids, but would he really just leave them on their own? No. The answer is no. What am I even going to do with all these children???