The Sword and The Shadow

Loden

Leguna sipped his coffee and observed the crowd of people on the streets quietly. Eleven days had passed since he left Doen. The boss didn't lie. He truthfully revealed Bloodhand's hideouts, those of which he knew. Leguna had gone around for several days now, wiping out every hideout he came across. He sat now in the city of Kent, which also housed Bloodhand's headquarters.

Kent wasn't the provincial capital, but was in the middle of the province, which made it a natural hub of trade and activity. Most of its wealth was directly thanks to its location. It had become the richest and prosperous city in the empire in just a the few years since the empire's founding. It's lack of capital status was the main reason the gang could set up camp here, security would have been much tighter had it been the provincial capital.

Not only did the Brotherhood focus most of their power and activities here, they were just one of many gangs and syndicates to do so. Needless to say, the most powerful man in the city was Taewon, the brotherhood's overlord according to both managers Leguna bothered to interrogate.

Leguna had learned quite a few interrogation techniques from Wayerliss's notebook, he hadn't had the chance to test it in practice because he was a mercenary for the last two years. Now he finally found a few lab rats, he didn't hesitate to experiment. The two managers suffered no less than their Doen counterpart. Leguna cuffed them and started beating them without even bothering to talk. He continued until they stared at him like an innocent maiden staring at her rapist. The two fought for the chance to answer his questions when they finally came. It didn't take him long to know everything he needed. He drew his blade and slaughtered the two, their skulls still have hopeful gazes even now.

Leguna could not remember being this eager for slaughter before coming to over. It was like a haze of bloodlust constant hung over him. His beatings were as much for his own pleasure and entertainment as a tool with which to extract information. It was also a vent for his lust. He hoped, foolishly, it now seemed, to vent his frustration, anger, and lust for slaughter on men with dirtied hands, lest he be overwhelmed and bloody his hands and conscience with the innocent. He feared even more having to return to his companions with the haze still drawn over him.

That they would feed Gahrona only helped convince him that their deaths had great utility. Naturally, his teacher noticed something was off and talked to him when they had free time. Their discussion didn't help, however, he could still not pinpoint the haze's origin. Having no other choice, he hoped his teacher paid attention to his actions and would stop him if he started acting irrationally.

Combing his fringe back, he prepared to disguise himself as usual. This time, however, he wore the garments of females. The face in the mirror had long black hair and a tantalizing figure, not dissimilar from his master's human form.

{Wayerliss found himself a freaking good disciple. It's one thing to be good at disguises, but it's another to crossdress so easily and convincingly.}

{Teacher threw me into a brothel and didn't allow me to eat unless I could seduce the customers to feed me,} Leguna mentioned awkwardly. It was a very unpleasant memory, but he revealed it to his second teacher without hesitation.

{Not a bad approach.} Gahrona nodded.

{Will Loden really fall for this?}

This was the first time he crossdressed to... do a man in, so to speak. He didn't know how to feel about the whole situation.

Loden was Taewon's right-hand man. He dealt with almost everything in his place. Leguna originally wanted to approach Taewon through Loden. Though stealthily infiltrating the headquarters wasn't too difficult, he didn't want to just kill just Taewon. He wanted to wipe the entire leadership out in one fell swoop. This forced him to concoct a despicable plot. He knew Loden was going to talk to the representative of another syndicate in the tea house below. He planned to get him here.

{How would I know what flips his switch? Then again, you should've taken note of your surroundings by now if you're attentive.}

{I know. The gazes really make me sick. I've been wanting to throw up all day.} Leguna furrowed his brow as the men gazed at him -- face, breasts, and legs. He couldn't stand having their eyes violate him like this. He had no choice, however.

"Are you alone, Miss Pretty?" one of the men asked.

"Buzz off!" Leguna hissed in as feminine a voice as he could manage.

The man froze immediately. Fortunately, the house was a rather high class establishment and many of the visitors had impressive backgrounds. The rejected man didn't dare to act rashly and returned to his seat.

{See? It's working well. If his tastes aren't anything out of the ordinary, he'll fall for it hook, line and sinker.}

{It would be best if this was never necessary ever again.}.

{What's a little suffering for the sake of your goals? You're still too green. Anyway, that's enough of that, Loden's here. Pay attention.}

Leguna stiffened, quickly put away his thoughts, and focused his attention on the man stepping into the hall. The man was short and stocky, no older His skills had to be extraordinary to secure such a position at his age. In fact, Taewon only noticed him two years ago. Bloodhand was well-established in Semralsin already. Though Loden couldn't contribute to the organization's initial growth and expansion, his achievements were not something at which to scoff.

He wasn't recklessly brave like so many in their twenties. Instead, he was a rational and cowardly. Those qualities caught Taewon's attention. Since the brotherhood had already built a stable foundation, he didn't need to keep fighting and struggling to expand. Instead, he needed someone to micromanage internal affairs. Loden was the perfect candidate.

Leguna was aware of one of the man's weakness, an open secret in the brotherhood, lust. He didn't think that, before he even got a chance to impress someone with is masculinity, he'd have to resort to tempting someone with his femininity.

{Okay,} Leguna mouthed as he fondled his ample breasts. They were quite enticing, he had to admit.

"So Loden wants some 'action', huh?" Leguna mused in a soft voice, "I'll show him the time of his life!"

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