83 Something to Talk Abou

The smell of cooked beef wafted out of the cheeseburger on my plate, making my mouth water out of hunger. It was a sour reminder that I hadn't eaten since the previous night. But how could I eat when I didn't have the appetite for it? Not after watching yesterday's battle.

I picked up the burger with both hands and took as big a bite as I could manage. The taste of cheese and tomatoes tickled my tongue long enough for my teeth to grind into the meat. Ed's special sauce dripped out of the beef, and I savored the taste of burger in my mouth while wondering if I should ask Alfie to make some for my fairy teammates. Bet we'd make a killing in Broken Sellsword's canyon if we sold these.

"Man, Ed's Special Cheeseburger really hits the spot, doesn't it?" I asked to the two kids staring at me from the other side of the table.

"Don't you have school?" Collin asked.

"Yeah, aren't you like, twelve, or something?" Connor added.

Both brothers gave each other a high five like their jab at my height was the best they could manage. Lucky for them that they didn't actually mention my height. I would hate to beat them to a pulp here on Mudgard like I did in the Fayne.

"Hilarious," I hissed before the second bite of burger.

"So… why are we here, Dean?" Collin looked nervously around. He was obviously making sure no one was eavesdropping or looking at him funny. Not that the baseball caps and sunglasses they both wore didn't make them look shady enough already. "Why're we in enemy territory?"

Collin was referring to how Edward's Chocolate Bar was a Midtown High hangout. Southies usually went to Gabe's Pizzeria down in Piccadilly Boulevard. Good pizza, awful crowd.

Connor, who I just realized had lighter shade of brown hair than Collin, looked equally stressed. I didn't think they'd be that worried over hanging out in a rival school's favorite diner. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

"Chill, boys. No one here right now. Everyone else is in school," I said.

Being an honor student myself, I disliked skipping classes, but I had no choice. This meeting was far more urgent than another Monday going through Trigonometry and Advanced Physics. Yup, I was taking advanced classes. I was a nerd among nerds.

"Glad my Sprite got you my message last night," I said appreciatively.

"She didn't give us much of a choice," Collin sighed.

"Likes to bite, that one," Connor added.

Collin patted his brother sympathetically on the shoulder before looking over to me and asking, So, why did you call us here? I'm sure it wasn't just so your sprite could attack us…"

My hand reached out for the Salted Caramel Milkshake to the right of my plate. My fingers grasped the cold glass and lifted it up to my face. I made sure the sipping sound I made as I slurped up the last dregs of milkshake was as loud as I could make them just so I could annoy the boys a bit.

Collin sighed. His brother covered his ears. Irritation tactics succeeded fifty percent then.

When I finished with my drink, I put it down and leaned in so the brothers could hear me whisper. "The fact that you guys are okay means no one suspected that you changed sides, right?"

"Since you forced us to change sides, you mean," Connor rebutted.

"No one suspects," Collin said placatingly after he'd given his brother a warning look.

"Good," I said confidently. "I'm going to need you to deliver your end of our agreement sooner than I thought."

The brothers looked warily at each other. Collin was the first to speak up. "We don't know much… like I said before, our unit's just on loan to the Magesong army."

"That's fine," I waved off his concern. "I want to know more about the Black Wand you guys are part of."

The brothers gave each other another wary look, and I wished they'd stop doing it.

"What's wrong? Didn't I free you from their Silence Curse already?" I asked.

"It's not that simple," Collin insisted.

"If we tell you what we know and they find out, they'll kill us," Connor added.

"Who's going to find out?" I asked baffled. "I'm not going to tell them… are you?"

After a minute more of thinking, and finally realizing that I wasn't about to rat them out, Collin said, "What do you need to know?"

"You guys are part of the Black Wand… is that the same as the Black Hand?" I asked.

Connor shook his head, but it was Collin who explained. "The Black Wand is one of the thousand-man units that serve the Black Hand. The Black Hand is the nickname of the Scarlet Moon General who's working with the Magesong Clan in this war."

"Sounds kind of like the Trickster Pavillion's Iron Fist," I mused.

"Yeah… only, we've heard your Iron Fist is an honorable warrior… The Black Hand isn't like that," Collin said.

"Let's say she's the opposite of that," Connor added.

I nodded appreciatively at this interesting piece of information. "What do you mean by she's working with the Magesong army?"

"She's loaned several units to the Magesong Clan to bolster their army. Like ours," Collin revealed. Then he grabbed the glass of water in front of him and downed it in one gulp like he was parched just from having this conversation. "There are nine other thousand-man units from the Scarlet Moon hidden in the Magesong army."

"Split evenly between the center, left, and right armies," Connor added.

"Can we expect more reinforcements from the Scarlet Moon?" I asked. The thought of going against two armies was nerve-wracking.

Both boys shook their heads.

"That's all the resource the Scarlet Moon's willing to spare in this war. They've got other fights all over the continent to worry about," Collin admitted.

"I saw the flag of the black Wand beside the banners of Dagger Spell," I leaned back on my chair to reduce the strain from leaning for too long. "Are you guys working under Ardeen Spellweaver?"

Both boys' eyes widened in surprise at my mentioning of the name.

"H-how do you—"

"—it's not hard to learn the name of the fairy who came to hunt me last night," I interrupted Collin.

It was a while before either of them spoke, but Connor broke the uncomfortable silence with, "After what you did the other night, I guess hunting you is a priority for the Magesong clan."

I nodded appreciatively. It felt good to be recognized for my accomplishments. Even if it meant I had a bigger target on my back now.

"what can you tell me about him?" I asked.

"Serious guy… always brooding about something. But he's chatty too. Gives people pep talks a lot," Connor revealed.

"He's brilliant," Collin said, and he sounded like a fanboy when he said this. "A tactician who gets things done."

Collin eyed me curiously.

"Kind of like you, I guess…" he admitted in a grudging manner.

This wasn't the first time I was compared with this guy. I scowled because I didn't like it.

"Does he have any quirks? Weaknesses? Anything we can exploit?" I pressed.

This was the crucial part. If I could get a tactical advantage over my enemy, then I could help Thors plan out a strategy that could finally rid us of the Magesong center army. Unfortunately, neither of the brothers had any useful insights to share. It was quite the downer.

"But, um," Connor began.

"Yeah? Go on?" I insisted.

"I'm not sure if this helps, but I noticed that he plays favorites," Connor admitted. "Whatever big move he makes, he always entrusts it to one group."

"What group?" I leaned in. I couldn't help myself. There was something foreboding about Connor's information.

"The one that guy leads," Connor said.

"That guy?" My throat felt dry all of a sudden, and I felt like dread was slowly creeping up my esophagus. "Which guy?"

"One-Thousand Man Commander Azuma," Connor revealed. "The Unkillable Butcher of the Calmlands."

I slumped back in my chair and let out a long breath that had been stuck in my throat since my anticipation started. I'd been wondering when I would hear that name again. I shivered in spite of myself, and it was a while later—after the numb feeling had gone away and the McCord brothers had given me enough weird stares—that an idea bloomed inside my head.

"You said he starts big moves whenever he uses Azuma, right?" I asked.

Connor nodded. "We saw it happen enough last night."

"What if Azuma was preoccupied," I leaned in. The idea in my head growing with each second. "Would that cripple Spellweaver? Maybe even prevent him from taking any major actions?"

"Maybe... not sure," Connor guessed.

I wiped at the bead of sweat trickling down my forehead. "Then we just have to keep Azuma busy, don't we?"

Despite the air-conditioned interior of the diner, I couldn't help but feel cold sweat down my back from just the thought of what I planned to do which was kind of like assisted suicide if I failed.

"What are you planning, Dean?" Collin asked curiously.

"We give Spellweaver what he wants," I said. "Looks like the Foolhardies will have to make another appearance on the battlefield... sooner rather than later."

Both brothers gave me identical looks of confusion.

I glanced down at the table knife beside my plate. The silverware gleamed in reflected sunlight. I picked it up and gripped it tightly. "It's time Azuma and I had our round two."