Leaving the group of men and Rosa behind, Hiona and Yohiro pushed open the door to the king’s bedroom, opening it with loud creak, echoing all over the place. ‘’You know that king’s probably some first-class mage, right? Don’t die, I guess?’’ Hiona tried to advice Yohiro. In a nonchalant expression, Yohiro looked at her, ‘’He’s not, the gem told me.’’ He crushed her suspicions in just one short sentence, surprising her.

‘’With how this thing is working, Yohiro might become something too much for us to handle.’’ She thought as they stepped in, finding the man seated in the back of the room, his throne looking shiny and pompous, like he thought it should have. ‘’Also, Hiona? You should be more careful,’’ he added rather late, sounding hateful once more towards his unsympathetic master, confusing her.

‘’A-ah, you’ve actually come. The door is quite soundproof, so it wasn’t easy to distinguish what was happening out there…’’ The king felt embarrassed, forcing out an awkward laughter out of nervousness and stress. ‘’I’d like to cut to the chase and tell you to give me your kid. So, give me your kid!’’ Hiona laughed as she pushed the door behind her, closing it. ‘’I cannot do that. I shall never abandon her,’’ he disagreed quickly, not even batting an eye, annoying them slightly.

Something neither of thieves knew was that the king had hidden his child behind his throne, which to some would seem foolish, however in this case, it was not. There was no plan in particular, seeing as he was too absorbed into calming his child Touka down, ironically not remembering to hide her. In the end, yes, it was foolish of him. But, he wouldn’t falter in any way.

‘’So much for your ‘cutting to the chase,’ huh?’’ Yohiro chuckled. ‘’Okay then, mighty king, would I have to kill you right here and cause a scandal so big even we couldn’t be able to hide ourselves from it? Or would you rather be more open for negotiations?’’ The frustrated woman asked the man in a tone which spelled out ‘’Be careful with your answer’’ on its own; something the king took into account quickly.

‘’Vulgarity, profanity and negotiations of that kind will get you nowhere. I don’t accept your terms or your request. Leave this place!’’ The king began to feel on edge. ‘’Ah, but old man,’’ Hiona took out her tome, ‘’nothing that came outta my mouth sounded like a term or a request to me…’’ She grinned, causing the man to bite his lip. ‘’You can’t kill him,’’ Yohiro stopped her as she was about to cast a spell, relieving the man who was already on his wit’s ends in terms of sheer will power.

‘’You said it yourself: a panic is gonna break out, and we won’t be able to escape it. On the contrary, we could talk,’’ Yohiro took a few steps forward in front of Hiona, ‘’Is that acceptable, your highness?’’ The boy, to their surprise, got down on one knee and looked at the floor. ‘’Yohiro, you’re being retar-- Ahem, you’re being unreasonable. You’re gonna try that shit after we came all the way up here and dealt with those triplets?’’ Hiona looked at him in disgust. At that moment, Hiona and the king both stared at what seemed to be betrayal, although seemingly looking different from each of the sides present. Touka also raised her head, starting to focus on the conversation.

‘’I second that, boy, why would you cause all that ruckus and try to reason with me at this time?’’ The king question Yohiro, feeling relieved as he witnessed Hiona close her powerful tome and click her tongue in a moment of irresistibility towards Yohiro’s attitude she had found herself so used to. ‘’The thing is, I caused none of the ruckus. I destroyed nothing and hurt no one on a greater scale, so I wish to have a peaceful conversation!’’ His words were all truthful, supported by the fact that the king had seen everything with his own eyes. It was still troubling him, though; why would he even go that far? Did he actually plan that far ahead after before coming here? ‘’If you refuse, It would basically translate as you agreeing to be slaughtered by my master. Please choose wisely,’’ it felt almost ominous how correctly he was picking every word that came through his lips, so much that it even surprised Hiona.

‘’Then how would react if I told you I had another, stronger force beyond the men your defeated in the sewers waiting? How would you counter that…?’’ The man threw his last card on the table, having been pushed back into a corner. ‘’See, your majesty, my master is stronger.’’ Yohiro looked up at him, looking the man in the eyes, ‘’The moment the knife comes to the bone, your strongest mercenary will die, and then conversations will be out of the question…’’

‘’Why’re you trying to be menacing towards the king? Obviously, it’s working, but you’re taking a risk too large for someone like you,’’ Hiona thought as she stepped back, leaning against the wall and crossing her legs, ‘’Let’s see it, then.’’ Yohiro stood up on his two feet. ‘’My last point is...your name,’’ he smiled, ‘’I know it!’’ His words were like a bullet, landing directly in the king’s forehead, petrifying him completely. It was over just like that. ‘’A-ah… P-please, you have my attention. Speak up, child…’’ He stuttered clearly, beginning to speak more politely towards what he thought to be some demon; some evil creature that only existed to ruin his life. To him, someone knowing the name of their family’s members’ name was worse than dying by a hundred needles and getting dragged down to hell.

His family had strictly passed down that tradition. The first time the king had told someone his name by accident, that person was executed within the hour. Sometimes it felt like he himself didn’t know his name, pretending to have forgotten it so he wouldn’t spurt it out accidentally. ‘’Thank you for your time, I promise it will be worth it!’’ Yohiro quickly shifted gears, looking happy with the utmost respect. ‘’How does he know?! How does he know?!’’ Is what the king thought, ‘’Does he know Touka’s name as well?! If he does, this has become a matter of life and death!!!’’

‘’What would it take for you to agree and give us your child for us to take?’’ Yohiro said that with a straight face, leaving Hiona laughing in the background. ‘’A-absolutely nothing.’’ ‘’Then, what would happen if my run my finger along the floor and write your name in the dust…? Or should I write her name instead?’’ He went back to the serious tone, placing his finger on the floor. ‘’NO! P-please don’t! I’ll give you absolutely anything! Money,’’ Hiona’s eyes lit up, ‘’food, clothes, an entire district! I’ll let you have the entire treasure The Tree gives us next year!! Just please don’t!!!’’ The king jumped from his throne as he began begging, walking up to Yohiro.

‘’But your majesty, I’m on a mission: to steal your daughter. I can’t accept anything else.’’ Yohiro told him, disappointing Hiona. ‘’Yohiro, you know you can kill him now, right? He’s literally at the verge of tears!’’ Hiona yelled at the boy, getting completely ignored. ‘’But that can’t happen! If I give you my daughter...my life would have no meaning at all…! Please, as one human to another, don’t do it!’’ The moment Yohiro was waiting for came in that one instant as the high and apparently mighty king stopped low to the point of getting on his two knees.

‘’I’m sorry, but that can’t happen...Palan.’’

It was like the clip of a pistol got unloaded in quick succession, landing each of the bullets perfectly. Hiona was taken aback at the sight of the king looking up at Yohiro with tears in his eyes, his eyes filled with fear. ‘’Palan, you haven’t been a good man either,’’ Yohiro’s gem began shining, ‘’to your daughter and to your people. I have the full resume inside my head. That ‘strongest’ mercenary isn’t on the premises at the moment, either. Please, I don’t want to say what you’ve done aloud…’’ Yohiro stepped away from the nearly broken man ruthlessly. ‘’Hiona, I’m sorry for being out of character and stomping all over your sense of malice. But I also enjoyed it somewhat,’’ he turned his head, smiling as usual.

‘’I’m not as dumb as I act, kid, it’s the gem that’s been telling you to do this, isn’t it?’’ Hiona said to him with a disappointed expression. ‘’Yeah, that’s right.’’ Palan placed his hand on Yohiro’s leg, grabbing it. ‘’What is it, your majesty? I have to take your daughter with me, so please don’t interfere.’’ The boy said. ‘’Kill me,’’ Palan whispered, confusing the boy, ‘’KILL ME! I’D NEVER BECOME A SLAVE BECAUSE OF A TRADITION!’’ He pulled on Yohiro’s leg, causing him to fall to the ground. ‘’Slave…?! What are you talking about?!’’ Yohiro shouted at him. ‘’When you learn the name of someone in my family, they become your fiancee, but if the person is from the opposite sex, they become a slave! I’m not letting myself become one eve--’’ ‘’Enough,’’ Hiona said, kicking the king off of Yohiro, sending him flying, only stopping after hitting the wall of the room. ‘’Ah…! I will never allow...it…’’ The desperate man quickly lost consciousness, having received a powerful blow from Hiona straight in the stomach.

Yohiro gasped over and over out of mental exhaustion, getting pulled back on his feet by Hiona. ‘’Why didn’t you tell me he’d be your slave?! We could’ve done that from the get-go, you dipshit!’’ She yelled in his face, continuously spitting on it. ‘’It’s because I didn’t know! I wasn’t told that part to begin with!!’’ ‘’Then what the fuck did you expect to happen when you yelled out his real name?!’’ ‘’He would give up? I don’t KNOW!’’ They shouted at one another repeatedly.

‘’P-please, I beg of you, stop…’’

The two thieves heard, turning their heads to find the beautiful young lady emerge from behind the throne, shaking in her boots out of fear. It was a long moment of silence, so long that it felt like they were paintings on the wall and couldn’t move. It was rather quick, but the girl glanced at the meek boy with the ragged clothes, looking away almost immediately, confusing him. This assignment was soon to be completed by the horrible thief group led by Hiona.