“Enough.”

The war ended before it began. All at the sound of a single voice.

The soldiers in the Memorial Hall dropped to one knee to pledge their allegiance. The Deputy had no choice but to sheath his electrifying sabre into the scabbard, dousing it out like a candlelight, and bowed.

Martial Blue Sister had never felt this much fear. Not from the soldiers, not from the Deputy, not even from the prisoners.

The aura of a beast just walked into the Memorial Hall. It made her knees shake.

The Chieftess of the Silver Clan had arrived.

An army followed her footsteps, a collection of house servants, elite bodyguards, even more soldiers from the corners of the Silver Clan estate. They all followed with marching steps with perfect precision – because failure meant the end of them.

The servants and maids who trail behind the Chieftess made sure they kept their head below the shoulder line. As if they were trained to dodge a guillotine higher than shoulder level.

The tension in the room, the anxiety from the house servants, and the serious look on all the soldier and Deputy’s face was so thick, it made Martial Blue Sister want to vomit.

The Chieftess came over, making Martial Blue Sister unconsciously take a few steps back without even told a warning. The first thing the Chieftess did was very simple.

She dislocated the Deputy’s jaw with a single slap.

The Deputy made an ugly noise as he staggered on the spot, his jaw flinging around like a wet towel. Martial Blue Sister instinctively grabbed onto her face, terrified the sight would trigger her body to drop her jaw out of place – literally.

The Chieftess added salt to the Deputy’s wound with a single phrase.

“You had one job.”

The Deputy tried to explain himself, but he couldn’t set his jaw back in place by the time his charge got bored and turned her attention somewhere else.

“Moon Tavern.” The Chieftess spoke in a soft voice that rumbled in the Memorial Hall. “I said you were free to leave.

“...................................................................................” said Martial Blue Sister.

It was only a second later she realized, she moved her lips but no words could come out. Slowly she started to understand that her entire body was locked up. Muscles clenched, bones rattled, even her mouth could barely move as if glued together with sticky taffy.

She forgot what she wanted to say.

Actually, she forgot how to breathe. She could barely make even the tiniest of breathing noises.

The Chieftess. She wasn’t anything like a hulking monster. Neither did she carry this legendary class weapon that can erase two cities with a single swing. It was clear she needed her army of soldiers to protect her frail body.

It was something else. Martial Blue Sister couldn’t pinpoint it.

Was it the Chieftess’ gaze. They were like the surface of the sun, and Martial Blue Sister was dropped into the solar flares. This emotional heat and fear ripping through her skin off before a single flaming tongue could touch her.

Needles pricked all over her nerves, burning hotter and hotter. Like she was boiling from the inside. All sorts of emotions started to fire off in random directions.

“I said you can go home now,” the Chieftess simply whispered as if cooing a lullaby into one’s ear. “There is no further business between us.”

Martial Blue Sister’s mind object. She still had her conscious and sanity, she knew she was right to stop everyone from being executed. She had to stand her ground!

Yet, why was her feet moving against her will?

Even her hands, fingers, and legs defied her desire. Although rigid and stiff, her limbs started to shuffle into another direction. The more she didn’t want to leave the prisoners alone, the more her body urged itself to just drop everyone and go.

She can’t understand it but she really wanted to run away. Flee and never come back. She wanted to go home and hide under her bed for what she’s done!

Suddenly, a large red crane flew through the open doors of the Memorial Chamber!

Wings so wide it hurled a gust of wind through its flight and knocking several soldiers off their feet. With an upward corkscrew spin, it came back down. It transformed into Martial Red Sister who spun around upon landing to coil her hand and kimono sleeve over Martial Blue Sister’s face, particularly a hand over the eyes.

The second eye contact was broken, Martial Blue Sister let out a deep gasp, as if someone forcefully dunked her under the water for the last hour.

Martial Red Sister then tapped her temple with a finger to activate [Psychic Warding].

It was a common defensive spell that specialized in shielding against charm and some level of mind bending influence. Martial Red Sister formed a thin barrier of spiritual energy over her eyes to act as goggles, to reflect and dampen whatever effect that influenced Martial Blue Sister.

“Madame Chieftess,” Martial Red Sister would speak up, reinforcing her psychic goggles with her mana, “I apologize for my companion. She is an avid fan of detective novels and sometimes she gets ahead of herself. I already explained the details of our agreement.”

The Chieftess maintained eye contact. It was clear she was using a magical power, however no matter how much she tried to force her way into Martial Red Sister’s eyes nothing seems to work. Not yet anyhow. Seeing her trump card was recognized, she ‘relaxed’ and sighed – deactivating the vicious glow in her eyes.

Her voice lacked the same horrific impact as before while she spoke. “Yet, you return to cause trouble for me. Despite how gracious I was for what happened to my beloved sister, you disturb me from mourning over her loss.”

“In saying that, my Martial Sister is right.” Martial Red Sister replied. “Not only does Lady Peony’s death open too many questions, there is a possibility all of this is a conspiracy.”

Martial Red Sister was pulling smoke out of her rear end. There was no physical evidence to conclude something of that scale would be possible. But if it could buy them a few more minutes to establish a negotiation she’ll take it.

“...A conspiracy?” The Chieftess narrowed her eyes with irritation...and curiosity.

“Yes. No doubt you have many enemies – if not clan rivals – who all have been trying to take away your power and authority for many years,” Martial Red Sister lied from her gut. “Hell. I would not be surprised if they want to sit in your big chair and swim in your riches.”

Martial Blue Sister had no clue if Martial Red Sister knew a secret no one should know, or she was being VERY lucky with her choice of words. Granted, she can’t even see what was going own while her eyes were covered. But it was best she didn’t see anything right now.

The Chieftess chewed on the words she heard. “You are suggesting my Peony is just a pawn in a game of shadows?”

“Possibly,” Martial Red Sister shrugged, biting the insides of her cheek to steady her mind, “No doubt some big time names pop up in your mind. I mean you are a clever woman, certainly you have your suspicions the moment you heard of Lady Peony’s death.”

“Nonsense,” the Chieftess concluded. A migraine was coming on and tried to soften the impact by tapping her forehead with her slender fingers. “Even if the Imperial Army is right outside our doorsteps, no one alive would be stupid enough to bark in our direction.”

She snarled to add, “There is weight behind the Silver Clan’s 100 year of history. Many have tried and failed, and history will only make them fools time and time again. Mark my word.”

The Chieftess grew impatient, even if it hadn’t been more than 5 minutes. There were times she wished she was born with Lady Peony’s benevolence, being so easy to forgive others. But it’s clear being the leader of an entire clan had its responsibilities.

“Moon Tavern. Your accusations are just a waste of time.” The Chieftess then gestured them to the door. “You have 10 seconds to leave, or join the prisoners in the afterlife. One. Two—”

Martial Red Sister held up her hands, in defeat. She got checkmated, her bluff called. Without further ado she would pick up Martial Blue Sister and drag her to the door.

“Sorry for the bother.” Martial Red Sister bowed her head, “I’ll give Judge Dao your regards.”

“Nine...” The Chieftess couldn’t bring herself to finish the counting. Something else bothered her. “What does Judge Dao have to do with this?”

Bingo.

Martial Red Sister forced herself to hide her prize-eating grin as she stopped at the doorway. “You didn’t know? Judge Dao is the Magistrate of the region right outside of your borders; essentially your neighbour. Mutiny Hill happens to be right on his back yard.”

She went all in on the gambling table with, “Moon Tavern are in good relations with Judge Dao. We’ve worked with him many times in the past. I think it is high time we pay our respects to him. I’ll do you a favour and notify him of the execution on your grounds. He’ll have someone write up their death certificates.”

The Chieftess clicked her tongue in irritation ‘tch’!.

Judge Dao alone is nothing to her, a minor judge in the pond of Imperial bureaucracy. She had the power to make negotiations work in her favour...but...this would give her too much trouble, especially when she wants nothing more than to let Lady Peony be put to peaceful rest. These negotiations would take months, maybe even half a year. She cannot accommodate for the delay.

And her migraine didn’t help with the possible hassle she predicted.

The Chieftess thought it over. When she made a decision, she vented her rage by punching in a soldier’s neck, crushing his trachea. He collapsed, reeling on the ground like a fish out of water. No one dared to help pick him up. Everyone had to endure until the Chieftess was formally done.

“Three days.” The Chieftess spat with a snarl. “If you come back empty handed – I will execute the prisoners to become servants to my sister in the afterlife, including you, Moon Tavern.”

Martial Red Sister hid a shiver down her spine, putting on a hmph, “Thank you kindly.”

The Chieftess turned to leave, walking over the dying soldier whose trachea she just crippled not too long ago. She didn’t bother to drag her Deputy after her, he dragged himself while he kept setting his limp jaw back in place.

One by one, the soldiers began to follow. Those who served under the Deputy grabbed at the surviving prisoners and dragged them back to the estate prison chambers like a dirty towels. The only thing left in the Memorial Hall was the corpse of Mutiny Inn’s owner and Moon Tavern.

“You idiot!” Martial Red Sister broke character once everyone was gone. She squeezed a hand over her companion’s eyes with fury.

“This is why we should’ve left!” she cried out, “The Chieftess has been practising the [God Phantom Gaze] ability. She is powerful enough to manipulate one’s emotions with just a blink of her eye. Just one look and she can make you laugh, cry, plea for mercy, or just keel over and die from overwhelming fear. And it doesn’t help when she has the temper of a devil!”

Martial Red Sister shook her companion about, all the while realizing her own hands were shaking. “You are so lucky she has yet to achieve peak form, else we’d be dead from a battering eyelash. That is not how I want to go out! So let’s get the hell out of here and speak to Martial Kim. He’ll figure out a way for us to weasel out of this and...Oh come on blue, don’t do this.”

Martial Red Sister gave up when she felt Martial Blue Sister’s tears dripping in between her fingers. A small wailing noise came out of Martial Blue Sister’s quivering mouth as she gripped onto the kimono sleeves to steady herself.

No doubt, Chieftess influenced Martial Blue Sister’s senses to be in virtual danger. Surrounded by killer masters, trapped in an abyss, or even locked away in a dark room with no escape. Absolute non-stop terror.

Enough fear to make the martial artist girl to break down crying.

Martial Red Sister gave up completely. She dropped character once more and just pulled her companion into a tight hug to calm her down.

“Come here you little blue idiot. Stop crying or you’ll ruin my kimono...There, there. Suck it up and let’s solve this case, okay?”

Martial Red Sister this case was too big to be solved in three days. So she decided she had to call in the big guns.

She is going to send one more messenger dove for back up.