BXBX NOVEL Chapter 52 - -51<Old Man HAN>
The thing about the enemies is that they are like the zits of a teenager. One day there are nowhere to be found while the other day they have swarmed on your face. The ancestors of the Cullen family knew this quite well. Especially when they were given the title of a noble, they knew that the old Nobel houses will not be pleased with this. And they will retaliate. They may retaliate today, tomorrow or they may not retaliate at all. But Cullens will always remain ready for a surprise attack.
That is why the ancestors of the Cullen made a secret faction of bodyguards called ghosts. Their job was to look after the Cullen family from shadows. People in this faction were very powerful warriors. They all sworn to never take part in any sort of power struggle in the family and they will only come out of the shadows when Cullen\'s family is on the brink of destruction.
Old man Han is a member of this group. This year he had turned 69 years old. He is the oldest member of the faction and this year he was retiring for good. Just a few days more and then he will be retired. He would get a good severance package from the head of the family and he will live the rest of his life in a peaceful somewhere. The head of the family was himself giving this package to the old man as in the past he had saved him like one time or two. And he was forever indebted to him for that.
Although the ghosts swore not to interfere with the family affairs but now this had changed. In the past ghosts followed this rule for some time but as time flew by their roles have changed a little bit. Now all the ghosts acted as the private bodyguards and muscle of the family head. It was not what they swore originally but this is the way things are now…
Old man Han looked like an ancient man. When he would stand straight he was around 6 feet tall. But as he walked with his hunched back, his height is reduced to 5 feet and 7 inches. Most of his face is covered with a white beard and his silky long hair that come to his shoulder. Most of the time old man Han\'s face is covered with his white hair which makes him look like a gloomy man.
Old man Han worked as a menial worker in Cullen estate. He works in the family library of the estate. He is the cleaner of the general library of the estate. As well as he is also the keeper of the secret library of the estate whose secret passage lies somewhere in the general library.
Every day he would go there and clean all the books in the library one by one. Then he would clean the library floor and then he would return home at night. During his absence, some guards of the ghost faction take his place, and their combined strength rivals that of the old man himself. He lives in the servant quarters of the Cullen family which is part of the Cullen estate. That has been his life for most of the past years.
Every day before starting his day, Old man Han would visit a certain shop in the outer city where he would purchase his favorite wine. His favorite wine is a high-quality wine that he purchases from one of the black market\'s vendors every day in every morning. That vendor is an old friend of his and a trusted confidant.
This morning, like always Old man Han came to the inner city gates to go to his black-market vendor. While coming out he greeted the guards at the gate. He has been around enough for all the guards to know his name and identity. As he behaves well in front of them, they also respect him for that.
"Good morning Rad, how is your wife doing ?" Old man Han asked the captain of the guards who were standing by the gate,
"She is doing just fine old man."
"Good good, Take care of her. She is a keeper you know." The old man said.
"I know old man... Which brings me to the question of whether you will ever marry?"
"Nah… The young girls these days cant handle my little brother" Old man replied. And this like that both the guard captain and the old man started having a fun conversation with each other. But little did they know that a certain middle-aged man with a very cruel face was watching their conversation from afar…
Arvin was standing by a small stall skewer shop in the outer city. This skewer shop was located near the inner city gate. Arvin came here to have breakfast as well as a scout a good target. It was then he saw that an old man talking to the captain of the guards.
Arvin was attracted to that old man because of his strength. He could feel in the air, that the old man was strong. That old man was nothing compared to Arvin right now, but he is strong. But the most interesting thing about the old man was that he was wearing simple clothes. He was wearing brown color robes and pants. These kinds of clothes are not worn by someone important. In other words, these clothes are not worn by nobles.
A strong warrior like him should be very rich. And yet still was wearing this kind of clothes seems very suspicious to Arvin. So he asked the stall owner about the old man\'s identity…
"Him. He is Han. He works in Cullen estate." Stall owner said.
"Is he someone important?" Arvin asked
"Nah, he is not important per se. He is an elder. And he is always so nice to people around him and those who work with him, so everyone respects him a lot. Even the guards of the inner city show respect to him." the stall owner said.
"Isn\'t that nice?" Arvin replied.
Arvin was no fool. He understood that the old man there was hiding his strength. He didn\'t care about the reason he was hiding his strength. Whether he is an enemy of the Cullens or is an ally of Cullens, he didn\'t care. The only thing that he does care about was that the old man worked at the Cullen estate. That meant that with his face he can go into the Cullen estate and rescue Josh.
This was his game plan. He just needs to kill that old man, take his face and then within a day, he would rescue Josh and then get out of there.
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Old man Han visited his favorite vendor in one of the dark alleys of the outer city. As he brought the wine that he loved, he started walking back towards the inner city. The old man had a shabby old satchel with him, in which he had put the bottle. He had a big smile on his face and was walking back, it was then his path was blocked by an unknown individual.
That man blocked the old man\'s path in a scheduled alley in the outer city. The alley was empty and no living soul could be seen in the alley except the old man and that man. Many thugs have tried to rob the old man in the past. And they have all died in the brutal way possible. He had dealt with these kinds of situations countless times. With his experience, the Old man Han had till now developed a sort of sixth sense which could help him judge a person\'s strength. But today was different.
Not only old man Han could not see through the man\'s strength, but he was also having a feeling that he should not be here alone…
That man who had stopped the old man was wearing a long black overcoat. His pants, shirt, and boots were all black. While his face was hidden behind a black cloth. That man had tied the cloth around his head in such a way that only his eyes were visible. His hair, mouth, and neck were hidden behind the cloth.
"So are we gonna do this or not?" the black hooded figure spoke.
As soon as the black hooded figure said that, Old man Han lunged towards him with a knife in his hand. Old man Han didn\'t hold back. He didn\'t why but his instincts told him that he should go all out with this opponent or he will not be able to survive what was coming next. That is why he went all out.
But to the old man\'s surprise, his opponent didn\'t move at all, he stood at his place like a statue. The old man thought that maybe he misjudged the opponent\'s strength. But it was better to be prepared than be sorry later. He thought that maybe he should decrease his strength as this is just a common thug. But if he isn\'t? That is why he didn\'t he didn\'t decrease his strength, not for instance as he didn\'t want to take any chances.
When the old man reached the man, he tried to slash his torso with his knife. While the old man was swinging his knife, the man finally moved. He manifested an ax in his hand. The hooded man dodged the attack swiftly. That old man when saw his attack has been evaded, he was going to attack back. But to the old man\'s surprise, the black hooded then started moving with thrice that speed that the old man had.
With thrice the speed the black hooded figure reached the old man and passed by him. As he passed by, the old man saw that from his point of view the world had turned upside down. It was then he realized that his head had been chopped off from his body.