Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 674: Damsel In Distress

Lyra stared at her Young Master vanish in a pale white light as he tore a scroll; she stood there for a moment before she finally moved. She raised her hand, and in it was a document that Asher had signed that permitted her to begin her mission. Staring at it for a moment, a flicker of determination appeared within her eyes. Although Asher had not spoken it out loud, she knew he was worried about her strength and progress.

And at the rate he was progressing, Lyra knew it was only a matter of time before she was surpassed in terms of Life Rank. Her Young Master was already stronger than her, and she knew that in a few years, he would stand at the Crownstar Life Rank, while she still crawled, merely attending to duties, unable to step into his battlefield.

Her mind could not help but shift towards Conrad and Zarek, who were the First Sun’s and the Primarch’s loyal right-hand men respectively. They each stepped into battlefields with their own charge without worry, and they were both at the Crownstar Life Rank. And what about her? Merely at the Radiant Firmstar.

’I will stand by his side in the future,’ she told herself as she turned on her heels and walked out from Asher’s room, her steps calm and unhurried as she headed towards her own room, the building where maids and butlers stayed. After a few minutes of walking, she arrived. Without any hesitation, she took off her maiden uniform and started putting on her combat suit, which was a skintight black bodysuit that hugged her figure.

With that, she shifted towards her armor, putting it on piece by piece. Lastly, she fastened her weapon, a katana, to her waist. Her eyes shifted to the side; atop a table, there was a box laid out. Walking towards it, she opened it, and within it, a ring lay, not just any ring or a space ring, but an artefact, one that possessed the function to teleport her anywhere within a kilometre radius.

Asher had given her ten thousand platinum coins, and this ring had swallowed seven thousand platinum coins, that was how expensive it was. The sword on her waist had swallowed two thousand platinum coins, then she spent the remaining one thousand platinum coins on items like healing bandages, venom and poison antidotes, and various other life-saving supplies that were useful on a battlefield. After all, she did not have a team with her; it was simply her against whoever stood in the way of the mission she was taking.

With that done, she stared at her room for a moment, then walked out with an indifferent expression. Lyra was not delusional; she knew that she could die at any moment, even on her first mission, but she would die without regrets. She would have died serving her Young Master, and she would have died after finally seeing her Young Master become an awakener.

With that, she walked towards the mission building, where the Wargrave Ducal family assigned missions, their own sort of personal Guild. This was also another means of income for them. Of course, they did not accept every mission; if not, one of the nobles might have already paid to harvest the Emperor’s head.

The building stood tall on a field of grass. Lyra did not waste time admiring its features, as she had seen it more times than she cared to count. She simply stepped in with a calm expression. The moment she entered, she was hit with a wave of chatter and noise, one she had not picked up from outside the building, despite her sharp senses as a Firmstar Life Ranker.

’It seems the building has some noise-cancelling artefact installed into it,’ she thought to herself. Within the building stood various pillars. Lyra did not ask questions; she had stayed within the Wargrave Estate for years, so even though she hardly came here, she still knew how things functioned within the mission building, as everyone who served the Wargrave was supposed to have knowledge of all buildings.

She placed a hand on one of the pillars and channeled her Astra energy into it. The moment she did, she felt something brush through her mind, not intrusively, but as though it was merely making itself known. The moment Lyra felt the brush against her mind, a massive holographic heads-up display appeared within her thoughts.

’It seems I can scroll through the missions with my mind,’ she thought to herself and began to scroll through various missions. After a few minutes, she paused on one that requested the hunt of a particular serial killer who moved from territory to territory. The serial killer was a woman; she first raped her victims, then killed them afterwards, leaving the bodies for people to find, as though she enjoyed people talking about her.

Lyra gazed at the estimated Life Rank of her opponent as it was included within the mission information, and the woman was a Radiant Firmstar Life Ranker just like her.

’Since we are both similar in Life Rank, she should make a good start,’ Lyra thought to herself.

Although one might feel horror and disgust when reading the mission details, Lyra was rather indifferent, as she had seen so much horror within Crymora that such details did not surprise her anymore.

At the lower end of the holographic heads-up display was an accept button; with a thought, she selected it. Then the screen vanished from her mind, leaving a message behind: head to table 38.

Lyra stepped away from the pillar, her senses returning to reality. Within the hall, various tables stretched out, numbering from one to fifty. Lyra walked towards the number she was given. Arriving there, a man could be seen sitting and flipping through some documents. The moment he sensed Lyra’s figure cast a shadow over him, he spoke.

"Name, Rank," the man spoke without lifting his eyes towards her.

"Lyra, Maid," Lyra answered with an expressionless face.

The rank referred to here was not Life Rank, but one’s standing within the Wargrave, whether one was a Maid, a Butler, a Knight, a Sun, or a Moon.

The moment she spoke, the man froze in his tracks, his eyes snapping upwards to meet Lyra’s gaze, widening in surprise. The reason he was surprised was simple: he had not expected her here at all. It was not that he knew her personally; it was just that Lyra was popular. After all, some of them referred to her as the Damsel in Distress three and two years ago, after all, the Tenth Sun had failed his awakening twice in a row, and she was destined to suffer with him.

Even when he finally awakened on his third try, they had thought she would immediately abandon him to save herself. After all, the Tenth Sun was destined to remain below all Wargraves. Instead, she had stayed, which solidified her Damsel in Distress title.

Although they did not know how talented Asher was, the fact that he survived the True Awakening told every maid, butler, and those who performed other miscellaneous activities that Asher was just as talented as his siblings. After all, the difficulty of the True Awakening was never reduced, only increased when needed.

And with the backing of a Sun, Lyra was destined to soar. After all, all personal maids and butlers of a Sun or Moon ended up becoming their right-hand person. In the end, they all could not help but envy her and wanted to form a close friendship, but Lyra shut it all down.

"Sorry for staring, Miss Lyra, here is your mission permit and scroll," the man cleared his throat as he tapped his table, and immediately the mission Lyra had selected appeared before him, as the table itself seemed to possess spatial features, showing just how rich the Wargraves were, and they possessed 50 of the same type.

Nobody referred to her as Lyra anymore; it was now "Miss Lyra," despite her being just a maid.

The man stamped it with a Wargrave seal while signing his name, then handed over the mission permit and scroll to Lyra.

"Thank you," Lyra stated flatly, as she already knew what was going on within the man’s head.

"Always ready to help, Miss Lyra," the man replied with a smile, but Lyra did not smile back.

She stepped out of the mission building. Without pausing, she opened the mission scroll as she looked at the last known location of her target. With that, she walked towards the estate gate. Stepping out, she vanished from where she stood in a blur of motion.

She did not bother with Enduron horses, as they were too slow compared to her. Her mind could not help but shift to the moment Asher helped her fly. Although she could not achieve exactly the same thing, she could attempt to fly. With a thought, she created Astra wings behind her, then took off into the sky. She fell from the sky the next moment, but she did not stop; she took off again.

She headed towards the Wargrave territory walls as she practiced her flying skills, again and again, refusing to yield to failure, her resolve hardening with every attempt.

And with that, Lyra had started her own adventure, one filled with uncertainty and danger. Would she return as a stronger being, would she return as the same Lyra, would she return after finding something hidden, something beyond her current understanding... only time knew, and time alone would bear witness to the path she was about to carve.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: So, this is the last Chapter, and from tomorrow, updates will resume at their regular time. Also, if we get to 1,000 golden tickets, we’re almost there. Also, Cleaver Of Sin hasn’t received any super gifts this month, and the month is about to end. Help this greedy and shameless author.

Thanks for reading, love you all to the month and back. Also, read the note below as I can’t add it here.