Mystic Resonance

A Loss Battle Brings a Reward

Those imbeciles! They thought our objective was to steal a tiny ring with hardly significant value. How laughable! Our main objective was the piece of armor, which was displayed as a hand model. With this gauntlet, we are close to resurrecting our Master! He will take his rightful place as head of the clan! Retrieving said artifact wasn't an easy task. It was supposed to be a job no longer than half an hour; probably shorter. Our intel stated the whereabouts and the estimated time of retrieval. How am I going to report this to-?

MUNCH!

I cringed at the disturbing sound.

CRUNCH!

I cringed again.

My underling was busy eating numerous pretzels. I'm always baffled by how he managed to get his hands on food. "Do you mind?!" I yelled. "I was having a mental monologue!"

He gulped. Crumbs and salt pellets lingered on his chin. "Sorry." He gulped. "Just couldn't get that Goth out of my head. I can't place a finger on it. He's way too familiar for me to forget. Didn't you get a look at his face?"

I huffed. "I was too busy obtaining the artifact and escaping from those shadow beasts."

"Yeah, those puppies sure can bite."

"Despite the annoyance, we achieved our mission."

"Tell that to the boss lady."

I grimaced. Reporting back to the commander won't be pleasant. She expects perfection from her subordinates. She prepares us before our master's upbringing. Failure is NOT an option. But securing the next piece of armor she might be lenient in her lecture. I would be ecstatic if she were to praise us for our achievement.

...well, praise from her would be satisfactory. A compliment from her is something I would treasure in my heart.

I cleared my throat as we approached our hideout. "I will report to our commander." I felt his eyes on me as we opened the front door. "What?"

"Maybe I should come along and give my report. I was there too."

"There's no need. You don't have the authority."

My large associate took another bite off his pretzel. "I don't see how rank means anything if I'm there giving my statement. Anyway, someone had to make sure you speak in complete sentences and not drool all over her ladyship's feet."

I quickly looked over at him. "How dare you! I would never dare soil the ground she steps on with my saliva!" I accused.

"See. Right there", he stated, pointing his nearly finished snack in my direction. "You fanboy over her like nerd crushing over the cheerleading captain. Everyone knows you are in love with her. Hell, her ladyship knows! Your crush isn't exactly a secret."

"You're crazy! I'm not in love with her. What I show is admiration; there's a difference. And what's not to love? She's an inspiration to the Foot! A visionary! A strategist! A leader!"

"And married." I frowned at his statement. "She's married to a smart guy who's good with computers."

We passed by a group of ninjas training in their fighting stances no doubt our ladyship instructed them to memorize those moves by heart. "We don't know if they're truly married. She never wore a ring on her finger. She never showed interest in him. All he's good for is his hacking and info gaining."

He grunted. "Deny all you want. It's not going to change the obvious."

We walked deeper into our hideout. On the surface, our hideout is a simple shoe store; an on-the-nose brand. Down below is a cavern where we perform our initiation for recruits and the throne for our master along with the very armor he wore in his previous life.