Chapter 159: A Missing Black Belt
We sat at the dinner table. I feared I wouldn't even be able to eat with the pungent smell. I was about to close off that sense with a technique when it was revealed Anne and I would be sitting clear on the other side of the table from the guys. I knew they were seating us like that to exclude us, but being further away from the smell meant I wouldn't vomit up anything I ate.
I was just reaching for the food when the eleventh member of the guys arrived. Apparently he broke from the party earlier to do something.
"I'm here." He said feigning apathy, as if he was trying to shrug off being late.
But as he passed by Sigma, the patriarch suddenly swiveled around in his seat and caught him by the wrist. "Hold up, Gary."
"Huh? What's w-wrong Patriarch?" He was suddenly sweating bullets, as if he was caught red handed.
The Patriarch gave the man a sniff, which only made him sweat more. Sigma spoke with so much venom in his voice. "Did you wipe your ass?"
He squinted at the man who only shrunk down more at his gaze. "You did. You smell clean. Like a woman."
The man was quaking like crazy. "I-I don't like the feeling... of it not being clean..."
"I TOLD YOU SO MANY TIMES, WIPING YOUR ASS IS GAY!"
"Please, I just didn't like-"
Suddenly, he glanced down at the man's hands. "What?! Did you wash your hands, too?!?"
"W-We were going to eat dinner!"
"That's it!" He jabbed a finger in our direction. "Go sit with the women."
"No! Wait no! Anything but that! Patriarch Sigma, please don't-"
"SIT WITH THE REST OF THE WOMEN, YOU FA-" He turned his head towards us briefly. "You vagina'd person you!"
Defeated, the man named Gary visibly slumped as he sulked the entire way to our side of the table. I had unfortunately learned what that smell was, and yeah, I'm worse off knowing that. Now loaded with the knowledge that they didn't even wash their hands, I watched them pick up food and start munching away. What little of my appetite perished in that moment. My poor slice of meat lover's pizza sat untouched on my plate.
The Patriarch noticed my reaction and seemed very satisfied by it. "I keep a tight ship." Sigma resounded smugly as he took a bite.
"Speaking of which," I'd welcome any distraction from my nauseated stomach, "I noticed you have three stripes on your belt."
His brow furrowed. "Yeah? And?"
"Well, you only gain the second stripe when you reach 100 members, and the third when you train up a master. But I only see 11 here and no one is a black belt."
"Oh, we have to trim off the fat, often." He said as he ripped the gristle off his steak with his bare hands. "Can't have weakness, isn't that right?" He gave Gary a glare and the guy cowers in the seat next to me. "As for our black belts, they are off doing their own thing."
If their black belts are the same height as the rest of the main group, they can't really be seen in public. Is this another lie? I couldn't help wondering if they were lying in wait for the inevitable betrayal.
"So, what do you two watch?" Sigma started. He said it to spark small talk, but the apathy in his voice revealed ulterior motives.
Anne responded with no clue of the trap she was walking into. "I've been watching god dramas with my fiance of late."
The Patriarch scoffed. "You watch that girly shit? Typical women, watching literal garbage."
I rolled my eyes. "Was there ever a correct answer to that question in your eyes?"
He swiveled his blindfolded gaze towards me. "Excuse me, I watch the correct programming. The manly shows! Like Rocket Gun Machine Sports, Trucker Psycho, and Chef Whoop Ass!"
I perked up at the last one. "Oh, you watch Chef Whop Ass? I've been watching that with Coozin." We haven't been able to binge watch as much as we used to considering we have to wait for Belovi to fall asleep. That show is definitely not for kids.
He blinked. "I mean, you're not watch watching it right?"
"Like, you're on your phone while it's playing right? You don't actually watch it?"
"No, we've been watching every episode properly." Lately, we've been mostly mocking it. The later episodes are SO BAD!
He chortled. "Heh, I knew you were just fake watching. You're not going to impress us so easily."
His statement completely contradicted what I just said. Was he not listening to me? Well, I couldn't take much more of this and excused myself. "I'm going to the bathroom." This was a lie and they knew it, but if they could blatantly fabricate the truth, I can too. I left the dining area and started snooping around. Funnily enough, I did find the bathroom and kinda regretted looking in there. I will mercifully spare you the description, this chapter is gross enough.
I headed down the hallway, re-entering the main foyer we passed when we were led through here. I can see patched up holes in the walls from the men’s abuse of the mansion. I noticed something mounted nearby, something I didn't look too deeply at the first time. There was a digital placard displaying the "Wolf Pack Leaderboards." Only twelve names were listed with their belts displayed next to them. Poor Gary was at the dead bottom of the list.
Though, there was something of interest on the top. Underneath Sigma was a black belt named Shinobi. Kind of a stereotypical name but whatever. Still, if this leaderboard is to be believed, outside Sigma they only have one active black belt in the group. Were they planning to take us out with just two masters of the art? Where did they get the bravado from? Were they all just fools? I might have greatly overestimated my opponents if that were the case.
No, I couldn't assume anything. They could have planted this leaderboard to throw me off.
I swiped a finger on the device and suddenly, it switched over to a status screen. It displayed a list of all the members and their locations, as in all of them former and otherwise. The list includes exactly 100 names in all. About half of that was in the mansion currently. Mostly some white, blue, and brown belts, all either have feminine or demeaning names.
"So there are 38 unaccounted for minutians in the grounds with us." I rubbed my chin in thought. "But where are they?"
This was a good sized mansion, but not so much that 38 people could just vanish without a trace. They must be hiding somewhere, but where? I'll need to search around later, there must be a secret passage or something.
I scrolled through the list. I saw Smalls' name on there. It says "Sanctuary" next to his name. They can just keep track of the whereabouts of even their former members? That's a disturbing thought. I found Shinobi and, go figure, his location says [REDACTED.]
I kept scrolling through and something caught my eye. One name was in entirely uppercase letters: SECRET WEAPON. Seriously, it just says secret weapon. I checked where it was and it said 'Monster Kingdom Castle.'
Okay, the Wolf Pack is most likely working with Faceless, and it would make complete sense that they would. Also apparently they made a secret weapon of some sorts? That's kinda concerning.
Also, I can't believe all this information was from A GIANT FUCKING PAD DEVICE MOUNTED ON THE WALL IN THE MAIN FOYER! Either this is some pretty elaborate planted evidence, or they are the biggest idiots ever. Well, for now, I'm going to only take what I read with a grain of salt and make my way to the dining room.
Only to find that all the men are arguing with Anne.
"What do you MEAN you wear make-up?!?" Shouted Sigma.
"I just wear it on dates. Leave me the fuck alone."
He tilted his head like he was rolling his eyes. "Didn't think you were THAT kind of girl."
"Well, pleasure to disappoint."
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