Lying inside a pot that was being boiled by a giant flame underneath, Bell didn't utter a single sound despite being cooked alive.
A few more days had passed, and other than his trips to the library, whenever he was home, he only did one thing. Physical training. Not the traditional strength training while hitting the weights, but stress-conditioning.
For example, the toxins he injected into his body.
Only when he felt that he was on the brink of death did he use the antidote.
There were more training methods he was utilizing, such as the current one of boiling his body as if he were a piece of chicken rather than a human being.
And timing it perfectly, just before the damage was too strainful for him to handle, which could lead to his demise, Bell grabbed the scorching hot edge of the giant pot and pulled himself out, ignoring the pain on his palms.
All of this was being conducted in his bedroom, which sounded claustrophobic until you remember that he's the son of a Duke and his room was larger than most people's apartment unit.
Even though he had asked the servants to bring the items he needed to conduct this training, he didn't show anyone how he was using them. If someone were aware, then it would probably be his grandfather, Godfrey, whose senses were beyond those of a regular human.
But even then, he had asked his grandfather not to pry into anything that occurs in his room.
Turning off the fire of the giant stove strong enough to hold the weight of him, the pot, and the water, he grabbed a towel that he had placed on a chair and began to dry up his body, excluding the hole in his hand, which he left alone.
More likely than not, it was affected by bacteria, but that fact wouldn't matter soon.
"It isn't enough," he commented as he dabbed the towel on his face. "It'll take a few more weeks at least."
But he had time. Not unlimited time, but just enough time.
As he was about to drain the pot by pouring the water out through his window bucket by bucket, he noticed that there was a piece of paper that was taped to his window, but on the other side.
'What's this?'
Pulling up his window, he reached his arm out and peeled the tape off it.
The note read:
[Bell—
It's Maya. I wouldn't be writing you unless I had absolutely no other choice. I know you don't care that I've threatened to expose your secrets before — but I swear to you, if you help me with this, I'll never speak a word of it again. I'll act like it never happened, remove it from my memories completely. Not a single soul will find out. Ever. At least not because of me. I'll even owe you a favor. No limits. No questions. Call it in whenever you want. Since you seem to have a clue about what my abilities are, you should know what I can do with them.
It's about the little girl who pickpocketed you a while back — Emily. She's missing. Gone without a trace. She's just a child, Bell. Just a starving kid doing whatever she could to survive, and now she's vanished.
I don't know who took her. Not yet. But I have a lead. A general location, as well as Emily's sleeve, which I believe she ripped off on purpose to help me find her. And I know that if we act quickly, we might still be able to bring her back before it's too late. I hope. That's why I'm begging you to deploy the Facold family. Even a few members would mean the world. With their reach and resources, we'd stand a real chance of finding her.
I hate that I have to come to you. I hate it. You are a heinous monster, and I've told you this to your face. But I don't have the luxury of pride right now. This isn't about you. Or me. This is about Emily. She's just a little girl, Bell. No one's looking for her — no one except me. And maybe… maybe you, if you have a heart and are not just an evil monster too far gone to redeem.
Please. If you're willing, meet me at the location I've included. I don't know how much time we have left. I'll be waiting there.
—Maya]
And below that was an address.
Since it was Maya who sent this note, he could already imagine her being invisible, scaling the walls of the mansion, then placing it on his window.
Bell got dressed, tossed on his coat, and began heading to his grandfather's office.
Normally, it would be his father whose permission he needed, but since his father wasn't home, it was Godfrey whom he had to go to.
Before he could even knock on the door, Godfrey's voice sounded, "You may enter."
Half an hour later.
It wasn't difficult to convince Godfrey to lend him some of the members of the Facold family, which included his bodyguard himself, Jerman Facold.
His grandfather had even offered to tag along, but Bell declined.
Godfrey is considered a walking weapon of mass destruction by many people. If he were to involve himself, there would be a lot of complications that they would have to deal with, so although his presence would've made the mission a million times easier, it didn't seem right to bring a nuke to a knife fight.
Especially when the nuke would alert multiple nations around them.
* * *
Maya wasn't sure if she had made the correct decision.
Would it have been smarter to continue searching rather than sending Bell that note and now waiting for him at the warehouse?
Since Bell already knew that she was the boss of a group of beggars, she wasn't worried about exposing their relationship or their size.
'What if in the time I spent sitting here, I could've found her?'
She was beginning to get stressed.
There were so many thoughts coursing her mind, but in short, there was little faith in her heart that Bell would arrive.
'Is this just a waste of my time?'
Was her classmate truly irredeemable?
If he wasn't going to come, then the only decent chance she had would be to deploy all of her children, which she did not want to do at all.
She was close to resorting to it.
Just then—
Step. Step. Step.
"I'm here as requested," Bell walked into her abandoned warehouse with ten men behind him. The Facold family.
"I… I did not think you were going to come."
"Why wouldn't I?"
Because you're a monster, she nearly uttered.
"And no, before you misunderstand, I don't care about the secret you have on me. You can go ahead and share it after this. Just be prepared for what comes your way," he reminded her. Not a threat. Reminded her.
"Then why are you here?"
"A child has gone missing. Why wouldn't I be here?" he asked as if she had asked something truly stupid. "Now, instead of asking all these questions back and forth, let's get looking."
"R-Right. Uhm, here," she handed Bell the fabric that was once Emily's sleeve.
Bell handed it over to Jerman Facold I., his bodyguard's father.
"Take us to the general location you think she's at," Bell told her.
Nodding, she reminded her children to remain in the warehouse before picking up her daggers.
Maya couldn't help but feel admiration as she was making her way over to the location because, for the average person, they would only notice two of them running along the sidewalk — herself and Bell.
The Facold family, they were following them closely, and yet, they were hidden in the shadows.
They couldn't go invisible like her.
Knowing how to use the environment, still or moving, the shade around them, etc., was how they hid their presence.
But of course, not all of it was just purely trained skills. One of the stars in the skill tree of the Familial God that the Facold are followers of, it grants them nearly silent footsteps. Even though there were many paths people could explore in the skill tree, that star was one of the ones required by the family for the sake of their job.
'This is my first time seeing Jerman in his natural habitat,' Bell thought.
His bodyguard was never meant to be a bodyguard. He was raised and trained to be an assassin, just like the rest of his family. Knowing that he was closely following behind him and yet he couldn't see him at all, Bell was impressed.
"Here. This general area is where I believe Emily is," Maya said as she came to a halt.
Jerman Facold I had ripped the sleeve into ten pieces and handed them to each member.
Another required star the Facold had to unlock involved their sense of smell. Using star energy, they could enhance their smell to a level that was greater than even the best hunting dog.
"Now what?" Maya asked.
"We wait here. When one of them finds the specific location, they'll return and let us know."
"...Okay."
"..."
"..."
There was an awkward silence between them, at least from Maya's end.
She didn't know what to talk about while they waited, and it didn't help that the thing that was on her mind was the name she called him by, "Monster."
Not that she was wrong to call him that based on what she knew; she just felt slightly bad knowing that the same monster was helping her search for Emily, whom he had zero connections to.
Now that she was thinking about it a little more, what if she was wrong? What if it was a misunderstanding? Did the crime happen? She never saw it with her own eyes.
Although she didn't know if his words were truthful, if he truly was only here because he wanted to help find a child rather than anything selfish, then—
"Sor—"
"If you're apologizing, then don't."
"?"
"I… Bell Agnus does not deserve an apology."
"So… it's true? I just heard it listening in on the phone call, but it's true? You really did that heinous crime?"
"It's complicated," considering that he wasn't really Bell Agnus, "but yes. I did. So do not apologize. I do not deserve forgiveness."
"...Alright."
And the silence continued after that.
* * *
"Papa, it doesn't hurt anymore," the little girl smiled as she sat up on the surgical table. She rotated her right arm in circles to demonstrate that it was perfect.
"That's good to hear. Your father got a little lucky and found some spare parts that were identical to your old ones," he smiled.
"Can I go play with my toys?"
"Of course you may. Just make sure to let me know if anything feels off. And don't forget to take your medicine."
"I won't!" the little girl responded as she hopped off the table and ran towards her playing room.
The surgeon couldn't help but smile as he watched his daughter move like any other little girl.
What he didn't know was that his daughter was lying.
Forget being in pain. She was in more pain than ever. She could tell that her body was starting to reject all of these new parts. The painkillers were no longer as effective. And internally, she was starting to deteriorate.
She just couldn't bear to tell him because his heart would shatter into a million pieces.
"It'll be her birthday in a few days. What should I get her this year? She always wanted a friend, so maybe a dog. Or a cat. Or both if she wants both," he smiled as he imagined her reaction to getting a new pet.