Zachary's Story - Kazen II (english readers .TXT) 📗

/> “Well...,” Dan began and briefed me on the task. The task was to meet with a representative of the Shadow Society; a lawless society congregation existed in Estrey Region. The mere mention of the name sent most people running because everyone knew that any member of the society would do anything to accomplish their goals and even the ruling government of the region had a hard time eradicating tit completely – when you destroy the today, you can bet that the society would sprung again like nothing happen the next day. Thus, a pact was made between the government and the Shadow Society. Of course, the government was not the only one to make that pact; Mecor also did the same, and we were to make dealing and to invite the society for the meeting.

Diner’s Delight, the venue for the meeting, was one of the famous eating houses ever established in Bedin – actually, I never been there since my time was quite limited whenever I was on a Carrier or Watcher’s assignment. The cuisine was beyond excellent, the service was commendable and the place had a policy of ‘No Fighting’ within its premise, making it the best place to enjoy a meal. However, only some people knew that the young owner, Lucien, had a connection with the Shadow Society, and he was the representative of the society that we were going to meet. Thus, when the agreed date and time came, Dane and I made our way to the dining house.

It was an hour before noon, yet the dining house was already filled with customers. I followed Dane as he walked towards the counter to talk with the bartender there. At the meant time, I took a scan of the whole dining place and spotted two to five thugs of the Shadow Society, by looking at the tattoo of a speared spider on their hands, blended nicely among the diners. My thought was interrupted when a waitress came to show us to a closed room, lighted only by a single torch at the corner of the wall, and inside I could see a young man with black hair and blue eyes, who seemed to be around Dane’s age, already seated by the table. There were also a few strong build men standing by the wall behind him. We took our seats and Dane started the introduction.

“My name is Dane Ambereyes and he’s Zachary Broheir.”

“Lucien, so what does Mecor wants with us?”

“Mecor send invitation to Shadow Society to attend an emergency meeting with regards to the crisis in Medie Territories,” Dane said as I gave a rolled parchment to Lucien.

The young man took the parchment and gave it to one of the man at his back, which in turn unrolled and scanned the content. Then, the man whispered something to Lucien. “Is that all?” he asked next.

At that question, Dane turned to me, “Zachary, can you step out of the room for a while, please?” Although, I had no idea what was going to take place, it seemed it was not something I should be privy to.

“Sure,” I said as I rose up from my seat.

“Wait, he stay,” Lucien’s voice stopped me.

Dane looked at Lucien first before he turned towards me. “Sit,” he said and I sat back on my seat. By right, I should have listened to Dane’s word, however by the sound of Lucien’s voice and the way Dane resigned to that it, I somehow knew Lucien was not someone to defy. “This is something from the director,” Dane continued, taking out another rolled parchment from his jacket along with a fist-sized pouch with undoubtedly filled with coins on to the table, and pushed both items towards Lucien.

Lucien ignored the pouch and just took the parchment, which he unrolled and read its content. Then, he stood up from his seat and went the torch. He let the flame from the torch ate the parchment until nothing remained. Afterwards, he walked to stand besides Dane and held out his hand. Dane got off his seat and clasped the offer hand for a handshake. Somehow, some kind of a dealing which I should not have known took place. When everything was done, we bade farewell from Lucien and went out of Diner’s Delight.

We were halfway down the street towards Mecor Headquarters when I head Dane sighed. “Despite being Luciel’s brother, I don’t think I can relax around that man. He’s very intimidating.”

“Who?” I asked, confused.

“Lucien. He’s the older brother of my friend, Luciel, in Estrey Regional Troop. I’ve meet the man sometimes when I come to eat at Diner’s Delight, and I know how good he is; I just can’t help being nervous around that him, especially when he’s the Liegeman of Shadow Society,” Dane explained.

I knew being a liegeman meant Lucien held a high position in the Shadow Society, but I could not believe the man to be intimidating. He acted just liked my brothers at home when they tried to be bossy. I thought since I would be in Bedin for a while, I would try to meet the man and judge him by myself. That opportunity pooped up two days later.

Chapter 5: Intermission

I was checking into inns and boarding houses around Bedin for vacancies. Well, since Mecor was hosting the meeting, we had to make sure all the attendee had somewhere to stay, especially those who came from out of the city or the region. I was coming out of the Treasure Hotel when I bumped into someone by the entrance. I fell down and instantly, I found a pair of blades by my neck. If I moved an inch, I would be a goner.

“Stand!” I heard a familiar voice commanded and turned to see Lucien standing in front of me. At the same time, the blades had disappeared from my neck. “Are you okay, kid?” Lucien asked as he helped me to my feet.

“I’m fine. I do need to apologize to you though for to seeing where I was going.”

“There’s no harm done so you don’t need to apologize. So, are you doing some errand for Mecor?”

“Just finish my task. Are you going somewhere, sir?” I asked, not aware that it was not something that should be asked from a person who was a liegeman of Shadow Society. I saw the two men with Lucien were ready to strike me down, yet they abandoned that when Lucien raised his hand.

“I was going to check a certain place and suddenly feel hungry. Do you want to join me for a meal at Diner’s Delight?” Lucien offered.

“Sure,” I replied happily, oblivious to the danger that happened a moment ago.

When we arrived at the eating house, Lucien announced to the bartender that we were having lunch before heading to a private room, which was lighted more brightly than the one we had a meeting in last time. We took our seats and while waiting for the food to come, Lucien started a conversation.

“What’s your name again?”

“Zachary Broheir. You can call me Zachary or Zack.”

“Then, I’ll call you Zack. So, Zack, how long have you been with Mecor?”

“Mm…Not that long; I’ve only been with Mecor for five years as regular staff.”

“Regular staff?”

“Yes, those that do the paperwork and stuff. Most people think Mecor is all about mercenary. That’s a misconception. There is more to Mecor than that.”

“Can you enlighten me on this?”

I smiled before I answered, “I can’t tell you anything more than that. Sorry.”

I thought the conversation was over when the food finally came but Lucien continued on. “Do you enjoy your life with Mecor?” he asked.

“Excuse me?” that question caught me off guard.

“I meant do you ever think of changing career?”

“Not really. There’s plenty to do in Mecor and I enjoy doing all the tasks given to me and more,” I replied. “Do you want something from me?” I asked.

“Eh? No, nothing,” Lucien denied.

“Come on. I have six older siblings and they act like you did with all the questions when they wanted me to do something for them.”

First, Lucien did not say anything. Then, he grinned and reached out to thump my shoulder. “Okay, I’ll just go straight to the point. When we make business dealing with another party, we need insider insurance to make sure the dealing go as intended,” Lucien said. In other word, he wanted a snitch inside Mecor.

“I’m sure you have a few snitch working for you in Mecor already,” Mercenaries who were employed by Mecor were not bound by any rules except to lend hands when Mecor needed it, and beyond that they were free to have any other affiliation, and most of them were not privy to the inner working of the corporation itself. The same cannot be said of regular staff. “By the way, I’m a regular staff. I’m bound to the code and conduct set by the corporation. I would be committing treason if I snitch for the society,” I continued.

Lucien gave out a dramatic sighed over my words. “Ah, you can’t always get what you want. No matter, we can still be good acquaintance. I’m sure that’s within the limit of your code and conduct, yes?”

“Uh, yes”

“Good. If you need any help, you can ask for me.”

“Sure,” I replied, ending the conversation. We ate the rest of the meal in silence.

Chapter 6: Moving On

How the time went so fast and without notice the day of the meeting approached. Since before dawn, members of meeting committee had started to ensure that every task and operation were in order and by