Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 99: Troublesome Kid: Part Two
~Bam!~
The high-tech wooden table shatters under the sheer force of the man’s fist.
"Chadwick... Sukala." He grits his teeth. Blood boiling. Veins bulging on his forehead. It doesn’t take a Sherlock to know. He’s pissed. Really pissed.
"One wrong move and it’s over for you, kid." The mocking tone replays in his head. Kid. As much as he hates how easy Chadwick finds it to call him that, he knows it’s warranted. He knows he can’t refute it. And maybe, that’s what pisses him off even more. Even though he and Chadwick look around the same age, Andrew can’t deny the simple fact that is that Chadwick is without a doubt, much older than him. A man who looks to be in his early to late fifties, yet has in fact lived for over a hundred years, unlike Andrew, who is, in fact, actually in his fifties.
"Someone come clean this up." He orders at practically no one, in the empty seclusion of his office. Yet, immediately after his words are uttered, a small handful of maids and butlers hurriedly enter the room, and begin picking up the mess that he made. He walks out of the office as they do. Turning to his left after stepping outside, he then walks through the halls of his mansion, servants bowing instinctively as he passes them without gracing them with as little as a single glance.
He steps into a different room, after having walked a considerable portion through the hallway. He calmly pushes the double door open, and inside, he’s met with quite the spacious room, with a large rectangular table placed right in the middle of said room and right in front of him. It’s surrounded by a total of nine seats, comfortable cushion chairs. Eight of these seats are currently occupied by a group of grown individuals, some who look much older than him, some who look around the same age, and some who look much younger. Four of them are seated on the left side of the table, and the other four are seated on the right. Way at the back, at the opposite end of the table from where he stands, is a much bigger chair than all the rest. His chair.
This is the Family Head meeting room, where the Family Head of the Reinhardt Family and all it’s eight Vassal Family Heads can meet to discuss certain topics that are crucial to the prosperity of the Reinhardt Family — is what it would be described as on paper. However, in truth, these idiots are all really just... Andrew’s... clique, if you will. And the ’’meetings’’ that they frequently have always end based on whether or not Andrew agrees with a certain idea. No voting. No majority rules.
After Andrew opens the doors and enters the room, closing the doors behind him, the Vassal Family Heads all get up from their seats basically immediately, in order to greet the S-Rank Warrior with a bow. A show of respect, or absolute obedience. Whatever floats your boat.
He walks to his chair. Quietly. Authoritatively. Like he owns the place. Why? Because he does. He does own the place.
He passes by the Vassal Family Heads in the right, only nodding weakly in response to them greeting him with bows, and then goes and takes a seat.
Behind him are his two main assistants, who also happen to be Assistant Class Warriors. They’re both B-Ranks, and have no names, much like the Twelve Guardian Shadows.
As for the Vassal Family Heads, each and every one of them is an A-Rank Warrior. However, neither one of them is anywhere near as powerful as Taipan was. It’s only a handful of them who are more or less on the level of Sidewinder, while the rest are slightly less powerful than her.
"How’s Project: Limit Breaker coming along?" Is the first thing Andrew says after taking his seat.
The Vassal Family Heads tense up, a shiver running down each of their spines. The question hangs in the air for a few good seconds.
Until one speaks. "Th-the th-thing is..." He stutters. An instant indication of unfavourable results.
"That bad, huh?" Andrew cuts before letting him finish.
"We’re still trying to figure out the reconfiguration process. It’s currently too unstable for us to deem it safe for even testing." The Vassal Family Head, Richard Baldwin, explains, slightly calming down as he does. "We’re essentially trying to recreate something we have very little reference material on. So it’s going to take some time, I’m afraid, my Lord." He adds as he bows in Andrew’s direction...
"Is that so?" Andrew replies. His voice low, calm, but beneath the surface, strong, burning and exceedingly overpowering. "Alright... I’ll be sure to look into getting you all, all the extra supplies you need, reference material and all. So keep doing what you’re doing." He doesn’t yell. He doesn’t shout. He just speaks. Yet his commands, the Vassal Family Heads, the feel the nigh-unbearable weight in them. "Now then... as for why we’re all here in the first place. The topic of my youngest’s death." The Vassal Family Heads tense up again at his words. Everyone in the room knows how much Andrew loves his kin. They understand that he has trouble showing it, but they know he does.
Then another one, by the name of Gerald Smith, speaks. "The funeral preparations are going well. All we have left to do is-"
"Don’t tell me about some useless funeral preparations... I want revenge." Andrew declares in a cold, unforgiving tone.
Gerald freezes, a single drop of sweat running down the side of his head. "B-but, my Lord. Hasn’t it been established that he works for the Warriors Association? The Young Master’s killer I mean?"
"Are you just going to forget that he killed your son, too, Gerald?" Andrew queries, his expression unfaltering, while his eyes narrow just a bit, as if to focus solely on Gerald.
"I..." Gerald hesitates. Meanwhile the other Vassal Family Heads remain silent. They won’t speak unless directly or indirectly spoken to. This is a conversation between Gerald and Andrew. They understand that, so they keep quiet.
"Don’t tell me, you don’t feel the same way I do? Do you not want justice for your son?" Andrew queries again, his gaze never shifting from Gerald’s view.
"..." Gerald pauses for a bit. "I do." Then he answers. "With every fibre of my being." He admits. "It’s just... I fear that even with our might, going up against an entire Branch of the Warriors Association may inevitably lead to our downfall." He sulks. All the other Vassal Family Heads nod reluctantly, painfully, as if every tilt of their heads is a knife to the gut.
"You may be right about that." Andrew affirms. "It’s even more upsetting considering that I recently got a call from Chadwick Sukala himself, telling me to ’’back off’’." He quotes. All the Vassal Family Heads’ eyes go wide as they hear him say that.
"That’s...!? Even the Manager himself is choosing to get involved!?" A Vassal Family Head, by the name of Peter Tyson, exclaims.
"That’s right." Andrew nods as a weak sigh escapes his lips.
"Then what... can we do...?" Fredrick Weller, another Vassal Family Head, speaks for the first time to ask.
"We’ll do exactly as he says..." All the Vassal Family Heads’ eyes widen once more at the casual declaration coming out of none other than Andrew’s mouth, himself. That can’t be right. They know Andrew Reinhardt, THE Andrew Reinhardt, has never been one to give up so easily. So just what exactly is his plan. Ignoring their contemplative expressions, he continues. "Only for now, however... The only way I see us beating an entire Branch of the Warriors Association in an all out war, is if..." He pauses as he leans close, resting both his elbows on the table, while joining his hands to rest his chin on them. His eyes narrowing, his expression turning dark, a thin sinister smirk forming on his face. Then he adds. "We finish Project: Limit Breaker."
The Vassal Family Heads tense up, some of them even trembling a bit. "Are you suggesting that we focus all our energy into actually getting the project, a project we’ve been working on for years, to work as soon as possible, my Lord?" One asks. His name, Christian Smith.
Andrew simply nods at his question. But everyone in the room knows, from Andrew, this is the furthest thing from a suggestion. When the man puts his mind to something, he will inevitably do it, and there’s very little anyone can do to even try to stop him.
So all the Vassal Family Heads nod in agreement, some even thrilled to see their Lord’s goals growing to be even more than what they knew them to be. The meeting ends with Andrew simply saying; "That’ll be all. Dismissed." And as such, they all exit the room with a bow, leaving Andrew to his lonesome, save for his assistants of course.
As he sits there and contemplates his future plans. His thoughts wander.
"Tsk... seems this Raid brat is going to be quite the troublesome kid to deal with..." He scoffs internally. "As for the Shadows, I suppose I have no use for them now... he killed their strongest, number one, what more can they have to offer at this point...? All in all, there might even be a good outcome out of me not calling them off like Chadwick so ’’politely’’ suggested. If this F-Rank is as strong as Chadwick implies, then I’ll be able to cover my tracks well, if I have him wipe them all out for me, without me having to lift a single finger." He chuckles slightly, taking in the absurdity of what he’s suggesting. It’s still hard to believe, that an F-Rank could be as strong, or stronger than an A-Rank. Still... Chadwick has no reason to lie about something like that. And Andrew knows it.
"The Shadows share a little thing called the Shadow Space and another called the Shadow Link, two Spells number one created, to make communication easier for him and his teammates. He also allowed me to have a small yet manageable connection to both these Spells, so I’d be able to call the Shadows off from any distance if I wanted to. But I’m not going to do that. They’re failures at this point, including number one himself. The one I trusted in the most. And I don’t waste my time on failures."
With that, Andrew concentrates his Mana, finding the small link he shares with the Shadows and he immediately severs it. Or at least, tries.
Yet... little does he know, that’s something the Shadows, or at least a particular Shadow, being more intuned with the Shadow Link than him, would easily notice.
In the Shadow Space, Sidewinder, otherwise known as number two, is busy figuring out the formula of the sealing Spell she will need to use against Raid. Then, out of nowhere, she feels it, a disturbance in the Shadow Link. Her connection to her "Great Lord" which was already weak to start with, compared with her connection to the other Shadows, has grown incredibly weaker. It still lingers, yet the resonance is almost nonexistent.
"So that’s it, huh?" She laughs at herself internally. "Amazing. Taipan saw through it all. We really did make the right choice." She affirms with herself, fisting her chest as if to grab her own heart. "Thank you. My love. Thank you, for looking after us. Even in death." Even as her voice cracks slightly, she forces the words out, hoping that the person they’re directed to, may hear them if she utters them out loud. "I’ll make sure it wasn’t in vein." A single tear drop falls from her right eye. She closes her eyes to sway it off, telling herself that she’ll have all the time in the world to cry once this is all over. With that, she continues creating the Spell.
