24 Council of Nobles

Rainald let out a small yelp as he woke up. He was lying down on the sofa. He looked around only to see that he was in a familiar place. He wondered if he was dreaming for a good few seconds before he noticed someone sitting on the chair beside him. After noticing he woke up, that man pressed a black necklace on his throat and started speaking.

"This is Frost, he woke up. Over." the man said. Rainald attempted to move his body just to realise he was tied up. Unable to move, he started speaking.

"Who are you? Who sent you here?" Rainald asked Frost.

Frost did not give an answer and continued to observe Rainald. Unable to get an answer to his question, Rainald was a bit flustered. He eyed Frost, the man was using some equipment he had never seen before. Not to mention that they were able to take down the whole gang in just a few minutes. As he was pondering over that, he heard the door opening. Several other figures walked in, leading them was a teenager that looked barely 20. A woman and another bulky man were following him. The group and the man beside him had similar equipment.

Seeing the team coming in, Frost turned towards Connor and saluted.

"Sir, he woke up a few minutes ago. Only asked questions, I did not answer." Frost reported the situation to Connor.

"Who are you, do you know who you are messing with?" Rainald exclaimed towards the group.

"Nope, no clue. Who are you exactly?" Connor replied in a nonchalant manner.

Rainald growled. "You are messing with the wrong people, kid." he said towards Connor, who seemed to be the leader of the group. "I am one of the hounds. Allies of the Council of Nobles, you attack us, they'll rip you apart." Rainald said.

"Council of Nobles? I thought everyone in Carcer hated nobles." Connor said, in the end, this was a place where all the despised people from all kingdoms would be sent. The ones who were pulling the strings of these exiles were the nobles.

Rainald chuckled. "Kid, you don't even know them? Oh, how I pity for you… Let me explain how miserable your death will be." he said before giggling. "The council is made by several nobles from different kingdoms who have been exiled themselves. Together, we will rule over Carcer and turn it into a kingdom of our own."

Council of Nobles was created several years ago after the founding of Carcer. The creators of the organization were originally nobles in the four kingdoms but ended up being exiled due to treason or going against the rules of the kingdom. Throughout the years, the organization gathered its strength and started founding many smaller gangs to empower themselves, even more, their final goal is to create a brand new kingdom and rule over it using Carcer as a stepping stone.

"So?" Connor raised an eyebrow at Rainald. "That's it? Anything else?" Connor asked him.

Rainald was taken aback, even though he had named the faction he belonged to the kid in front of him did not show any kind of emotion. Everyone in Carcer knew that even though the Council of Nobles were not that strong themselves if the gangs they had were to merge, it would create the biggest and possibly the strongest organization in Carcer.

"Why are you here?" Connor asked Rainald.

"And how is that your business, kid? This territory belongs to us now, including everything in it." Rainald answered, sneering. After Ruby Merchant Group was obliterated the territories were quickly absorbed into the leftover organizations.

Connor moved his right hand and started massaging his temples. The plans were getting out of control. Suddenly, his brand new in-ear radio started buzzing.

*static* This is Miles, some of the rescued girls and their families left *static* also, Jeanne is here. Over. *static*

In the room was Irene, Evan, Frost, Connor and the Warhounds' member Rainald. Miles was waiting outside and handling the rescued girls' situation as the de facto second in command.

'Is this not set up properly?' Connor sighed. 'Jeanne is here? Well… she can finally help us get rest of the civilians out of here, I guess.' he thought.

Connor pressed the button that was on his index finger with his thumb. "Understood, let me know when everything is clear outside. Also, ask Jeanne about the Council of Nobles. Over." Connor said on the radio.

….

Mies took his hand off his right ear where his radio was located. He was standing in front of Jeanne, behind her were several members of the gang bringing some supplies for the rescued girls and their families.

"Commander is busy right now, but asked you a question." Miles said.

Jeanne looked at Miles, she was surprised at how he spoke into the air and even received a reply in an instant.

"What is it?" Jeanne asked.

"Who is the Council of Nobles?" Miles replied.

Jeanne shuddered, Council of Nobles was not in the list of the things she would like to hear about today. She did not know why Miles had asked a question like this.

"Why are you asking that question? Did you see them?" Jeanne said.

"Unrelated, please answer the question." Miles said with a stern voice and a face without a speck of emotion.

Jeanne exhaled a long breath and started thinking. "I doubt anyone knows the origins of the Council of Nobles. I heard it was founded by some former duke that was exiled from his kingdom, some people say it was a marquess too. Still, no one knows the identity of the person anyway. They are strong, that's all we know." she started talking. "How strong…" she stopped for a second and continued. "No one knows. They have tons of organizations reporting to them no matter how big or small. Rumour is that they even have organizations that are focused on spying and assassinations for them, not that anyone lived enough to tell the story anyway."

Miles started thinking of a plan in his mind. If the organization was as strong as Jeanne mentioned, they might run into some issues. They had to be very careful.

"Understood. Anything else?" he spoke towards Jeanne.

Jeanne rolled her eyes. "You still did not answer my question. I really hope you guys did not make a mistake by attacking the Council of Nobles." she spoke solemnly. Everyone wanted to steer themselves away from them, in a time like this where even original Big Six was being obliterated one by one, going against one of them would be a big issue. As they were speaking, Connor, Irene, Evan and Frost came outside the building with a Rainald in handcuffs.

Jeanne and Miles looked at them. Just a second later, Jeanne started asking questions. "Who is this guy?" she said as she pointed towards Rainald.

'Here we go again…' Connor sighed.

"Who is this bitch?" Rainald asked a similar question. Jeanne was getting angry at a visible rate due to the sudden insult. She walked up to handcuffed Rainald and stood a meter away from him. She pointed at him and spoke with a loud voice. "Watch who you are calling a bitch? I am Jeanne Goldburn! You vile scum!" she was also furious after hearing the deeds the men had done to the girls and their families.

Rainald suddenly calmed down and raised an eyebrow at Jeanne's answer. "Goldburn? That puny wannabe gang?" he said before he looked at Connor. "Seems like you guys are allies. Too bad you just signed the death sentence of those kids too." he smirked. Finally, he turned to Jeanne.

"You think you can fight the Council of Nobles? Hah, just wait until they find out who attacked this place."

Jeanne was surprised, she looked at Connor immediately and started yelling at him. "ARE YOU AN IDIOT? WHY DID YOU ATTACK THEM!" if the Council attacked Jeanne and her gang, it was impossible for them to defend the difference in strength was as clear as heaven and earth, day and night.

Connor was annoyed. He squinted his eyes while looking at Jeanne and turned towards Irene, instead of answering. Irene looked at both Connor and Jeanne, she did not know the relationship between her commander and the girl but she could understand that Connor was mad. She quickly walked towards Jeanne in an attempt to defuse the situation. "Miss, we were scouting the city when a citizen approached us and requested help, our commander accepted. There is nothing to be mad about."

….

Among some of the citizens wandering around in the alleyway, a man wearing a hooded cloth was observing the people talking -or more like having an argument- in front of the building. He took out a pendant and said a few unintelligible words before the pendant turned into a black crow. The crow looked at the man with its eyes shining red.

"Warhounds no more, eliminated by Goldburn." the man said in a low voice just before muttering a few more unintelligible words. After that, the crow's eyes stopped shining red and it flew out of the man's hands.