[BL] Transmigrated as the Villain CEO's Mermaid Secretary

Chapter 441: Weapons

"I’m not," Ciel protested as he was twirling a thin cylinder he had taken out of nowhere.

It was a portable plasma dagger, palm-sized, with a thumb stud that flicked the blade out in a hiss of pale blue light.

Ciel waved it a little, and the blade hummed prettily. "See? Always ready. Got to carry one around all the time."

"You always carry a dangerous dagger around?" Sarah asked, incredulous. "Even to a vacation with friends? How did you ever get into a mall with that?"

I’ll never admit that I actually forgot about it most of the time. It was just that today was a particularly dangerous night. Ciel thought, I even forgot that Lilianna is an enemy for a second. I got to secretly reflect later on if I’m still alive.

"It’s a habit," Ciel said, very seriously, staring directly at Sarah’s eyes, "But it’s also—"

Thiago, walking past, smacked him on the back of the head. It was not a hard smack, but it still made a bok sound.

Ciel made an outraged squeak. The dagger thumbed off mid-twirl, the blade collapsing into its handle with a clean vsht.

"Put it away, kiddo," Thiago said.

"I am a Colonel—"

"And I’m a doctor. I’m the one who will clean up the mess if you hurt an innocent person with it. So. Put. It. Away."

Ciel sulkingly slid the dagger into a wrist sheath that turned out to have been hiding there the entire evening and crossed his arms.

Sarah accepted the plasma gun Pete handed her with a resigned expression. She turned it over in her hands and popped the magazine.

She clumsily checked the load and slid the magazine home. She did not slam it home smoothly as Iris had, but the muscle memory was still there.

"I cannot believe," she said weakly, to no one in particular, "this is happening on a vacation."

Ciel, still sulking, threw her a flat look. "Shouldn’t you be used to this by now? Whether it is humans or zergs, things like this happen all the time."

Sarah rolled her eyes and thumbed the gun’s safety on, off, on again, testing the click against her own muscle memory.

"You might not know this, but I have always sneaked off since academy days."

She said, flatly, her eyes looked hollow, dispirited.

"When something dramatic happens at a banquet, I excuse myself. I go to the powder room and find a side door. I pretend to take a call from my mother, and there goes my freedom."

Sarah gave the pistol an almost affectionate look.

"Guess this is my karma."

Ciel’s mouth twitched, "Well. Cannot blame you for that since I’m almost the same. But — welcome to high society."

"Yeah, yeah," Sarah muttered. "Shut up, shorty."

"I told you, I am a Colonel—"

"Oh, then, shut up, Colonel Shorty."

Pete, ignoring their antics, methodically wired small flat discs to the underside of the oval table.

Iris squinted and asked carefully,

"Pete, are those... booby traps?"

"Anti Personnel Mine Explosives," Pete said, explaining patiently.

"We will plant this around you, so if something comes through the front door, you will hear loud bombs."

Then Pete seriously said, "Do not leave the living room until you hear these bombs go off nine times. After the ninth one goes off, you can run as far as possible."

"Why at the ninth?" Sarah asked.

Pete smiled and said, "It means that there are no more bombs protecting you."

Iris asked, "Would these go off if we accidentally stepped on them?"

Pete explained, "There’s a possibility that it would, although it’s far too low. We loaded it with heat signature information, so it shouldn’t do that. But in the off chance that it did, I can only hope that the people who would remain in here would follow the instructions I just said."

"Understood," Iris said.

In Iris’s peripheral vision, Bryan was doing one last sweep of the bar—checking the bottles, of all things, with a little pocket scanner.

Iris saw Bryan pick up the bottle of green Kavanian whiskey. He scanned it, nodded, and slid it back. He picked up a Federal-blend gin, scanned it, frowned, and discreetly tucked the bottle into one of the duffels.

"Bryan," Iris said.

"Hm?"

"Why did you take the gin?"

"It is flammable to a useful degree," he said casually, and snapped the duffel shut.

Iris took a slow, even breath. "What would you even use it for?"

Bryan smiled her way and said, "Guess?"

Thiago came back from the corridor a second time, looking less amused. He went straight to Pete.

"The Baron said he will be sending reinforcements."

Thiago murmured, acting naturally to avoid attention.

"He’s in the Imperial Hospital. About forty minutes out at standard speed, even more if the people he was waiting for didn’t arrive in time."

Pete, who was delicately taping a bunch of weak bombs into a bundle, did not look up.

"I am rather full-handed at present, Thiago." He said.

Thiago looked at Pete and then at Julius and then at the explosives. "Then put down the explosives and give it to Julius."

Pete smiled, turned rather frosty, and looked at Thiago. "That would be the opposite of full-handed."

Thiago pursed his lips and called, "Pete."

"Ask someone else." Pete ignored Thiago and continued taping bombs together.

Thiago sighed exasperatedly and said, "I would if I could. But Zero is not here."

Pete glanced up at him but did not say anything. He just looked at Thiago for a long moment.

Thiago asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Pete said, "Why do you need Zero? There’s Julius over there. If you want, there’s Ciel too."

Thiago furrowed his eyebrows, "I know, but Zero could do a much better job at this. By the way, where’s Zero?"

"Don’t look for him." Pete’s eyes seemed to glint dangerously against the light, "Zero’s not here."

Thiago became even more confused, "I know, Zero wasn’t here, so I’m asking where he was."

"I told you not to look for him," Pete said, as if he were trying not to lash out at Thiago at the moment. "Ask someone else."

Thiago looked at him resignedly, "If Zero isn’t here, then come help me."

"I won’t because Zero wasn’t here," Pete said firmly, and seemed a little flustered after saying this.

Thiago paused, processing what he just heard. "...What does Zero have to do with—"

"Nothing," Pete said. "Forget I mentioned him."

"Pete."

"Forget it."

"Pete."

Pete sighed, setting the newly taped bombs on the rug. He stood up properly and brushed a phantom speck off his slacks.

He looked Thiago in the eye and said, "Thiago, I cannot fight on the front lines and run triage at the same time as you do. With you here, everything will be fine after all, you had the experience."

Then, Pete pointed at himself, "With you out there, I am the only person in this estate who can administer proper medicine to a casualty, pulling them back from the brink of death."

Thiago opened his mouth to argue, but Pete was not finished.

Pete continued, "There are at least two people in this room with no history of fighting those creatures and barely even remembered how to use a weapon."

"If something happens — and I am not saying it will, but if it does — the difference between someone walking out of here unscathed and not walking out of here alive is the calm presence of a doctor who has both hands free."

"So. Thiago. Put your sights on someone else. Surely there will be one or two more that could do the same job properly, like I do or Zero will."

Thiago closed his mouth, quietly scratching his chin with an invisible beard. He looked down at the half-laid mine explosives, then up at Pete, then over at Bryan and Julius, double-checking each other’s mag placements.

He thought, I know he has a point, but for some reason, something felt wrong. What was it?

"...Yeah," Thiago said finally. "Yeah, that’s true. Sorry. You’re right."

"It’s fine," Pete said, and went back to taping more explosives.

"Do you have someone in mind?" Thiago asked carefully.

"Talk to Colonel Vane," Pete said without sparing Thiago a glance.

Thiago felt bad for his actions, but he just nodded and went on his way.

As Pete suggested, he approached Colonel Vane and whispered.

"Reinforcements will come anytime. This kind of barrier needed to be weakened so they could enter. If possible, we should have someone keep an eye on their arrival so no one would be surprised if some Insectoids entered while the barrier is weak."

Colonel Vane asked, "How could you be sure that it would be them?"

Thiago explained, "They said that they would notify me. However, I’m also going to the front for immediate first aid and fight. So, I don’t think I could keep an eye on it."

Colonel Vane nodded in understanding. "I’ll go check out with Julius."

Thiago looked at Julius and then back at Colonel Vane, "I don’t know about Julius. I’m sure he’ll be fighting at the front."

Colonel Vane contemplated, "Then, get Bryan?"

Thiago thought about it, and it seemed that Bryan was the only option.

He said, "Alright, I’ll get Bryan."

AAAAAHHHH!!!