To Live Again, For the First Time!

Dios briefly explained the situation to Cenci through his comms. He acted reluctant at first, but in the end, it was just that, acting.

Anyhow, Dios kept it as short as possible, just giving some vague descriptions, so vague that Cenci didn't even think about thinking about that little underaged girl he had met a couple of days ago.

He was just excited to see a show.

"Oh, I see. Of course, you should go! The kids also need to do some undercover work every now and then, just take this as an opportunity to gain some experience."

Cenci spoke slightly more seriously when it came to training, but he couldn't hide the mirth in his voice from his Brother Dios, who had already gained years of experience dealing with him.

'Like hell, I don't know what you're thinking. This is clearly more trouble than it's worth.' Dois thought about it as he spoke.

It didn't matter if this girl was a spy or not at this point.

If she was, then great, but he would end up having to deal with the clean-up of this matter. They followed a finders keepers kind of rule when it came to trouble.

And if she were not a spy?

He would have to deal with even more clean-up! Trying to get out of the situation without exposing themselves as well as directing this lass elsewhere, somewhere far far away from their base.

After all, he finally got a chance to come to the old headquarters. He was going to be stationed here in Spider Eye forest for a while and this was where the Big Boss was currently staying.

Even if this weren't the case, the Big Boss would still not forgive him for exposing any information to a random outsider and most definitely not if this person was a spy. 

Dios couldn't help but sigh as he responded.

"It seems like it will have to be this way." Quickly turning off his coms before Cenci could say anything else.

On the other side, Cenci was smirking like a little devil, his emotions pretty much written on his face.

'I wonder if they will be bringing someone back to the base... if so I have to quickly get rid of these newbies and head back to watch the show.'

The four people running in front of Cenci didn't know that this captain of theirs was already thinking of ways to get rid of them as they glanced back, trying to listen in on their superior's conversation.

'Mm, no. Getting rid of them is a no-go.'

'It would be so much fricking work to get more people and at that rate, I would have to take care of the newbies again.'

'If I can't get rid of them, then the best way to get back to the base faster is to pick up the pace!'

'Ah yes. These guys were going a little too slow for my liking anyways.'

'If we triple the pace, we should be able to get back within the next few days.'

Cenci's devilish smile quickly turned back into his angelic one as he proceeded to let more sadistic thoughts cloud his not so pure mind.

The other four, who thought that the conversation Captain Cenci had with Captain Dios was the reason for Cenci's good mood didn't know that their death sentence was pretty much already written up and signed with their future blood, sweat, and tears.

Many of them were even glad that this Captain was in a good mood, hoping that this would get him to let them off the hook, just going a little slower would be nice.

Those who thought this way had reality crash into them really hard.

"Pick up the pace!" Cenci said, in a jovial tone.

"If we don't make it back by the next 3 days then I'll ask your Captain Dios to triple the punishment." Cenci giggled.

These four were all new recruits under Dios, so of course, he would be the one who would dish out the punishments, but that didn't mean that Cenci couldn't do a thing or two to make their lives harder.

All in the name of training of course.

It was in a matter of instances that all the blood drained out of the faces of the four people in this group. There wasn't one person who wasn't as white as a sheet and as ghastly as a ghost.

They all had long days ahead of them... especially since Cenci was in a good mood.

***

Meanwhile, Emilin was in a completely opposing situation.

There is no need to elaborate on how well-rested she was right now, she slept like a pig in hibernation.

*Rustle* *Rustle* *Rustle* *Rustle* *Swish* *Swish* *Rustle*

Emilin sat in a lotus position when Dios and his crew made their way to the cave.

She was in one of her sessions of prolonged meditation when she was disturbed, she clearly heard the footsteps and the shifting noises of the leaves on the ground, some of them sounding a little forced.

Of course, Emilin wouldn't know that this was due to the fact that all these people were used to walking with no sound, but since that would be suspicious, they had to force themselves to walk 'normally'.

Emilin slowly opened her eyes and when she saw the four burly men in the front, she just assumed that it was due to their weight, most of which were muscles of course.

She couldn't see that lean man in the back as she focused on the one in front of her.

It was the man with sharp eyes who spoke.

"Excuse me, Miss." He carefully said in a loud voice through the rain.

Emilin seemed very calm on the outside, otherworldly even, not moving from her lotus position, but on the inside, she was actually somewhat panicky.

'My legs are numb…'

She couldn't stand up to greet these people even if she wanted to, but she quickly moved on from the situation with her numb legs to a more pressing issue.

'What should I do? Should I try talking to these people now? It would be good practice.'

"Can we hide out here too? The rain is really heavy and we weren't able to find anywhere else to hide out." He continued despite the lack of response from Emilin.

At that time Emilin finally opened her eyes and looked at the 5 men who were outside the cave, still standing in the rain.

Emilin, who had been concerned about her talking practice hadn't let her guard down as she offhandedly nodded.

'How suspicious. Would someone who was truly desperate for shelter actually stand in the rain asking if they could come into this cave? Surely they do not think I own the cave.'

Emilin had her tent set up pretty far into the cave considering its size so as to not make contact with the rain and minimize the effects of the wind. 

These people could easily make themselves comfortable and chat about their issues once they got inside.

'And would they really have only found this far-off place to seek some shelter after 2 days of nonstop rain? Plus none of the look to be sick or even cold.'

'Even if they weren't outside when the rain started, you still had to consider the question of who the heck would come all the way out here in the rain!'

In fact, it would be more suspicious if they hadn't been out here since the rain started.

There were just too many suspicious points about this group and of course this was something that Dios knew too.

Dios had let them be like that for two reasons, one, to probe the lass that hid in the cave, and two, to let this group of people practice their adaptation skills.

This was a win-win, plus, if things went south, he could just call in reinforcements, after all, if nothing else, this was still their territory.

He wasn't that careless.

How could he be?

Who could let a careless person become a captain of anything?

Meanwhile, while the other four people got settled, Dios did the same while also inspecting the little girl who was still meditating in front of her tent in the middle of the cave.

Only he didn't know, the little girl was doing the same to them.

Emilin looked like she had her eyes closed, but that wasn't the fact. She could still see perfectly well even though her eyes were barely open, and she still made it look natural by some miracle.

She was carefully observing this group.

There was a chance that she was overreacting, but truth be told, even if they weren't some suspicious people, she would most likely still be doing the same.

When she saw the last person, who also seemed to be the leader of the group considering their rapport and actions, come in, she couldn't help but let a peculiar thought pop into her mind.

'Are all the 'leaders' in this area just this much leaner compared to the other members of the group?'

She thought back to that other running group, whose leader or coach seemed almost more skinny than lean when compared to the people around him.

Emilin almost let out a laugh without even realizing it.

In the end, she had let out a soft giggle without even meaning to. 

This action was promptly noticed by nearly everyone else in the cave, except for maybe Haneo, who was more concentrated on fighting with Zeek for one of the larger 'seats' in the cave.

Which was taken by Haneo in the end while Zeek was actually doing his job of observing their target.