After hearing Uriel's answer, Lister was left speechless on the spot. His mind spun so fast he couldn't make sense of anything until half an hour passed since the Dungeon Raiders left the room. Lister had always been considered a genius and not without reason, very few tis in his life had he been taken by surprise as he liked to carefully plan every move he made and prepare for contingencies.
Even Allegro's unlikely defeat which hadn't been in his plans didn't take him unprepared and he dealt with it by threatening to dissolve the Dungeon Raiders.
During their eting in his office, he made sure to have Allegro in the room in case Uriel attempted to assassinate him, he had hidden caras just in case he could get so information to use as leverage and he also prepared in case Uriel played hard to get. The only scenario he wasn't ready to face was to receive a no in reply when he asked Uriel to beco a holy rank hunter.
"Who on their sane mind would refuse to beco a holy rank hunter!?" Lister gritted his teeth.
"That's precisely the point, he's insane. He's just a battle crazed monkey, probably too stupid to realize the mistake he made. I bet he thinks himself stronger than holy rank hunters just because he defeated , but that only happened because I wasn't trying to hurt him.
His trinket was powerful, but I could have easily defeated him if I fought to my best from the start." Allegro explained what he thought to be the truth behind Uriel's refusal, but Soulfire shook his head.
"You're saying that because you don't know him, but I know him well. He's one of my best friends actually. If he refused it must be for a reason." Sowhere in the city, Uriel suddenly got annoyed without knowing the reason but the feeling passed as soon as it ca.
"I have to agree with Soulfire, that guy is dangerous. He saw through like very few people can, he's either smarter than or paranoid enough to distrust his own shadow. It bothers , he cheks all the boxes. A poor orphan who lived in the streets, no presence in social dia until highschool, very few friends then beca a hunter and climbed up to heavenly rank.
I know the type, all they care is about money and power, but this guy... where the hell is my fountain pen!?" Lister skimd through the papers on his desk trying to find an explanation to Uriel's nonsensical refusal, but as soon as he realized his pen was missing he desperately turned to search for it.
"You're not going to find the answer in those papers." Soulfire sighed.
"What are you even doing here?" Lister felt a vein popping in his head and pushed him outside his office himself.
A few days later on the global airport hangar where the Pegasus was docked, a tall bearded man dressed in a business suit showed up with a black suitcase.
"I'm sorry, but the boss can't see you now." Nika said with a shit eating grin that let Halstead know how much she enjoyed the turn of events. Not long ago she was in the sa situation the governor's secretary was currently in and she was more than happy to give him the sa treatnt.
"I understand, he must be a very busy man."
"No." Nika replied with a sohow even more annoying smirk.
"Did he co again today?" Asked Uriel as soon as he felt the turmoil in his shadow caused by Nika blinking to it. He was sitting on a chair in the eting room, fiddling with a fountain pen under Luna's attentive gaze like a pup expecting a ball to be thrown her way.
"Yes, he offered even more money today. When are you planning to say yes?" Nika asked as she took a seat on her spot.
"I'm not." Uriel shrugged disinterestedly as he stored the fountain pen inside his trait, then mindlessly confirming its presence on his museum.
Fountain Pen: A montblanc Greta Garbo commorative 1905 edition pen made to honor one of the most glamorous and enduring stars of Hollywood, it holds 16 diamonds and a single akoya pearl.
[Passive] This pen will use the user's blood instead of ink.
[Passive] Anything written with this pen will beco indelible.
[Active] Allows the user to write in other languages.
"You're not!?" Nika asked in a loud tone of voice to snap out of his usual spacing out.
"Why would I?"
"Nika, did you forget that in order to beco a holy rank a hunter needs to kill a city's worth of people? Of course Uriel would never do sothing like that." dusa replied with baseless confidence.
"I thought he was just playing hard to get to get more out of it." Nika tipped her index finger on her lips.
"Genocide isn't the only way to beco a holy rank hunter, I could have beco one if I sacrificed Manu back on Easter island when he asked to and there must be other ways to beco one we still don't know. But I'm not stalling to raise my benefits either."
"Refusing was stupid." Luna said, annoyed that Uriel refused the chance to beco a holy rank hunter when she herself remained an ascended.
"Not really, didn't you hear what they said? He didn't just want to beco a holy rank hunter, he also wanted to stay in Texas. Sure, it would give power, but at the cost of being trapped inside the city for who knows how long. I wouldn't be able to travel the world and discover new dungeons nor would I be able to return to Chichén Itzá."
"That's not necessarily true. Uncle Jon is considered a champion of humanity because he chose not to remain in a city and fights cryptids on their own territory all the ti. Perhaps in ti you could have done the sa."
"Not to ntion that having a holy rank hunter would skyrocket our company to the highest positions, getting us closer to the Mapple corp." Nika let out a disappointed sigh.
"Yeah, and it would also paint a target on our backs," Uriel nibbled on his thumb for a second, then clicked his tongue. "I'm not saying Lister's offer was bad, but there's a way can get more bank for our buck. We just need to find a certain person."
"The one eyed beauty?" dusa scoffed, making Uriel chuckle. Sharp could be described in many ways, but despite her heavenly rank she couldn't be called beautiful.
"How do you even know she even made it here. Maybe they went sowhere else." It was Luna's turn to ask a question, though she wasn't much interested in the answer.
"Allegro's energy signature was too weak to be a holy rank hunter and the only explanation I can think of is that another Holy rank hunter has been draining half the city's excess energy for months."
"Uhm... they also said that cryptids offset energy signatures," Luna pondered, then shook her head. "but that would an that this city is infested with cryptids and we already know it's not the case."
"So, your plan is for the wild girl join our company and beco Texas' holy rank hunter instead of you!" dusa exclaid in excitent.
"That should give her a safe place to live." Uriel nodded.
"We know you better than to believe you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart, so spill the beans already." An excited smile made her way to Nika's full lips.
"Jon always nagged at for being too humble. He insisted that hiding one's power could only result in more trouble and I have to agree. Possessing a holy rank hunter in our company would be the sa as announcing to the world we're ready to take part in political plays, leaving us open to attacks from people who've been playing this ga long before even the arrival took place.
That's why we're not recruiting the wild girl."
"Hang on, that leaves us completely out of the picture." Nika disheveled her hair trying to rattle her neurons.
"It does, doesn't it?" Uriel smirked.
The next day and the one that followed, Lister could only grab his head in disarray as he couldn't understand why Uriel kept refusing any of his offers and even refused to et with Halstead. The previously youthful governor now looked ten years older as he had yet to sleep since his eting with Uriel and had lost his appetite.
The young archaeologist was a mystery and a wild card, both things Lister couldn't accept. Order and predictability had been the key to his success in life and everything had gone according to plan up until the mont Uriel entered his office and the worst part was that no matter how much he looked for it, he still couldn't find his pen and it drove him crazy.
Reviews
All reviews (0)