Klautz had been trapped in the ninja village for decades! Only he knew what kind of hell it was. In fact, hellfeim itself would pale in comparison to that village.

Had Klautz never had traitorous thoughts of escape?

Was there no opportunity for him to do?

He did! But even so, he could never escape until he killed all the ninjas of the village. Surprisingly enough that escape itself brought about his own death. He could have very much killed himself without even going through such a long battle.

Klautz would have only laughed if would have known of Maebi's intentions to escape from the village.

Escaping from a ninja village was not merely a matter of growing in 'strength' and becoming independent. Had that been the case, wouldn't Klautz had escaped the village himself?

One must note that Klautz had been an 'A' rank ninja in his previous life. He was one the strongest of the lot. Yet he couldn't shake away the shackles that he was entrapped with.

Maebi was too naive. Being a 'trainee' she simply lacked proper information.

Klautz smirked as they shook their hands.

With a harumph, Maebi turned around showing her back to him as she left. She felt no danger from him.

That was how they parted. Hoping to never see each other again.

Little did they know that their fates had already been intertwined by an 'unexpected event'.

***

"Are you prepared?

" Klautz asked Verona.

Verona sighed.

"To be honest I am not,

" she claimed as she tried her best to put up a smile.

"But I will try my best.

"

She had an unease clear depicted on her face. And Klautz was not sure what he should do. Somehow he felt a sense of guilt plague him. He was using his loved one for his own selfish motive.

Klautz clasped onto her hands as he intertwined them with hers. He placed his other hand on top of them to give her assurance and warmth.

"Don't worry. I will be there to protect you,

" Klautz whispered gazing into her eyes.

The stakes were just too high and Verona's help was needed.

Verona nodded.

If she were, to be honest, it wasn't like she didn't believe in Klautz's strength and qualifications for that. But the horror of the events was gripping on to her. Realizing that she could reach the same state as her roommate caused her body to shake in fear.

It was but recently she had gotten over the deaths of her friends. The nightmares that had been plaguing her every night had stopped bothering her thanks to the warmth that Klautz delivered to her. Her mind had been dominated by thoughts of her newfound love instead.

But the event that had transpired had caused her to wound to gape again. It was like someone had put salt on her wounds.

'I guess I have to brace myself for him…'

Verona realized that Klautz never really made any request to her that was of such a nature. It was the very first. As such how could she turn down her lover?

Klautz embraced her, pulling her closer.

'She doesn't seem to be willing to do it.' Klautz thought.

It was written clearly on her face. Klautz would have been a dense fool if he couldn't figure it out.

But Klautz needed her help on a matter.

He had thought everything out and he concluded that without the numbers that the ninja villages possess, he could get to the end of everything only by putting forward a bait to lure the killer.

And for reasons more than one, Verona served as the perfect 'bait' for the same.

Firstly, she had the same habits that most of the other deceased had, making her a target suited to the killer's tastes if the data Klautz had been to be right. This could be further fortified by the fact that the killer had indeed targeted her the night before. But due to a 'certain someone' she hadn't slept and was moaning like crazy to the point of scaring away the culprit.

'The killer seems to be the type to be only killing its target in sleep. At least that is what I came to know from Akihiko and our case.'

Secondly, Verona could very well be termed as a missed target for the killer. To Klautz the killer seemed to be either too smart to the point that Klautz wasn't even able to comprehend his actions. Or either he was too much of a fool for his actions to even make any sense at all.

'If he turned out to be a fool, he would definitely come after her.'

No matter how much he thought Verona was the perfect person for Klautz to guard throughout the night from the shadows. The rest he could only rely on his luck cause there were far too many variables and after tonight he won't be in a position to pursue the matter anymore.

Had Klautz known of what had happened to 'Akihiko' he wouldn't have even bothered to go through such lengths. But alas, the meeting was extremely confidential making even Maebi ignorant to it all. Klautz could hardly know anything unless Akihiko himself told him about it, but he hadn't met the man ever since.

Klautz was going through such means to avoid chaos in hell. While it might seem on the surface that such a turmoil had nothing to do with him, but the reality was hardly so sweet.

A turmoil on such a scale would affect the economy to a severe degree and would lead the guilds to hole up being conservative of their resources for the newbie drill itself was funded by them.

Klautz wasn't an economist or sociologist. He was a ninja. But he too could perceive how much of a mess it would be for him if the news were to get out.

***

Author:

Creation is hard for authors. Cheer me up with your power stones.

Let me know about your thoughts on the chapter in the comments sections.