[Guest Room]
nto Mori. That organization was willing to accept any request as long as the pay was worth the work. The number of nto Mori's mbers was unknown to the world, but I knew that they had five people, including their leader.
However, their numbers appeared to be larger than what the guilds and Association knew because so used Artifacts to change their faces, like what I did.
It was the organization that chased after Zaiden to stop him due to soone's request in the last part of the story in my novel.
They were by no ans evil; that was why I was willing to talk to them.
Chun Dong was especially holding that book and used his real face to visit this house. That was enough to show that he had no ill intentions toward Chloe or .
Although nto Mori took requests for money, they still had so rules. One of them was a rule that stated that one should visit a client or mber candidate while using their real faces and carrying a book of Naturom Demonto.
That showed courtesy as whenever they took a job, it always involved the death of soone. He carried the book to show that he had already brought death and wanted so peace, so one shouldn't be afraid of him.
However, it was still scary.
"First of all, let introduce myself. I am Chun Dong from nto Mori." Chun Dong spoke while sitting on the couch in front of . He introduced himself casually as if he was not a part of an organization that was listed on the Association's blacklist.
Chloe sat beside and stared at Chun Dong suspiciously. Of course, I was sitting beside Chloe while wearing my mask to hide my identity as Vincent.
She was against it when I told her I would talk with him. But, it was a good chance. nto Mori always hid in their base, so finding or even talking to one of their mbers was difficult.
I didn't want to throw away such an opportunity. I assured her that nothing would happen until she eventually agreed to open the door.
"I am Rai. And she is…"
"Chloe."
Chun Dong nodded his head. "It's nice to et you. I wanted to talk a lot with you guys, but… Because it will create so trouble if I stay here for too long, I will cut into the case." Chun Dong stared at Chloe with his slanted eyes.
"I am here to invite The He-" A voice interrupted Chun Dong when he was speaking.
"Chloe." She said with a firm tone, making Chun Dong nod his head again.
As expected, he was here to invite Chloe. The news of Chloe severing her bond with the Association has spread all over the world.
But…
'He's too fast.'
Did he co here as fast as he could after hearing the news yesterday? We just moved to this house this morning; how did he find us?
All of that didn't matter. They must've asked Darkest Secret for information about us. That guy knew almost everything, after all.
Chun Dong then repeated it after realizing his mistake.
"Excuse . I am here to invite Chloe to join our organization, nto Mori. Can you give your answer now? My leader is very much interested in having you join our organization."
At Chun Dong's question, Chloe shook her head.
"No. I will join Rai's rcenary Group."
"Hmm?" Chun Dong's eyes widened a little. He never expected that answer.
The others would've thought that the Hero would join a better guild or would act by herself. No one would expect the Hero to join sothing like a rcenary Group.
"rcenary Group, is it?" Chun Dong turned to with an interested gaze. His mouth was hidden behind his high collar, but I saw it curled up a little bit.
"What an amusing answer. I see; if that's so, then I have nothing to worry about."
It was then that I noticed sothing. The real reason nto Mori invited Chloe to their group.
"I see… So that's how it is." I smiled under my mask. My eyes were staring at Chun Dong.
"Rai?" Chloe said worriedly. I nodded my head a little at her to reassure her that nothing was wrong.
"nto Mori's goal of inviting Chloe is to find out where she stands right now, huh? It would be troubleso for you guys if she decided to join a guild that actively hunts or hates nto Mori, right?"
Chun Dong's shoulders dropped as his eyes turned back to normal. "That's correct. But who would have thought that she would join a rcenary Group? Also, it seems you know about us despite being just a newly Awakened."
"It's nothing. I just have so connection with so artifact maniac."
"Oh! Then it's nothing unusual. But then, the Hero will join a rcenary Group, huh? Maybe that's the best for all the guilds and dark guilds out there. You are truly interesting. Now I am interested in how you managed to make her join your rcenary Group."
"It's nothing, truly. More importantly, I will say this before you misunderstand sothing. I have no intention of making nto Mori into an enemy. You can convey this to Livyatan if you want to."
When I uttered that na, Chun Dong opened his eyes once again.
nto Mori worked on a code na. They only have five mbers now, but they used to have seven.
Two of them died, and they had yet to find their replacents. I guess that's why they wanted to invite Chloe, to fill the empty seats.
'I think the empty seats are Lucifer and Mammon.'
Mana began to leak out of Chun Dong's body and made the atmosphere heavy. I felt like I was being pushed down, but I did my best to keep staring at him calmly.
Chloe's hand made its way to her Magic Bag, ready to take Gae Bolg out of it. I stopped her by raising my hand. She was confused, but I shook my head once again.
We wouldn't be able to win against Chun Dong if we fought. He was strong enough to defeat a mber of the Six Devas from the Association with so leeway.
"How did you know that na?" He said ominously. He was clearly wary of right now.
Livyatan was the codena of nto Mori's leader. Although that na was often related to a female devil, the leader of nto Mori is a man. I used the seven princes of hell as their code nas because I thought it would be cool.
Right, there were no other reasons. I gave them those codenas because I thought it would be cool. It was as simple as that.
But, in this world, there was supposed to be no one who knew the leader's code nas except for the mbers of nto Mori themselves.
So I understand why Chun Dong beca wary and tried to intimidate right now.
"As I said, I have so connections. You can trust not to spread that na because… I am hoping for nto Mori's cooperation in the future."
Chun Dong was still staring at . I guess that was not enough to convince him.
"Let's put it like this: If you need Chloe or my help, you can always ask us. She will not join nto Mori, but she can help with the request that you take… That's if Chloe agrees with it. In other words, I want my rcenary Group to have a friendly relationship with nto Mori, helping each other if we need to."
"How does that relate to you knowing our leader's codena?" Asked Chun Dong suspiciously.
"I ntioned that to tell you sothing. I have a lot of information that no one knows. But, that information is only limited to a few things. I am not Darkest Secret, whose Talent allowed him to know almost everything in the world after all."
He stared at for a while before finally pulling his Mana back.
The atmosphere turned back to normal, and I breathed in relief.
'Thankfully, he's still reasonable. If that guy was the one who ca here, then I would have been screwed.'
"I will trust you for now. But… I warn you. If that na is spread by chance, then I will hunt you first."
"You can trust that I will not spread that na without the permission of the person himself."
Chun Dong nodded his head and stood up.
"I will take my leave first then. You don't need to see off, as there is an ant who has followed since this morning."
"I see… Then have a nice day."
He then walked out of the house.
As soon as he was gone, I took off my mask and let out a long breath.
"Haa– That was exhausting…"
Chloe didn't seem to be sure of what to say as her mouth opened and closed a few tis, but she finally said, "Good work?"
"Yeah, thank god we can survive that. The pressure was no joke." I grumbled as I pinched the bridge of my nose. My head was hurting from the pressure that Chun Dong had leaked out.
Although he was holding back, that was still too much for an E-Rank Awakener like .
"Umm, can I ask sothing?" Asked Chloe curiously.
"Yeah?" I then lowered my hand and turned to her.
"Why did you say that?"
"Said what?"
"The one that made him angry."
"Oh, that na?"
Chloe nodded her head in response.
"That's to show my capability. Right now, he's only interested in you, not our rcenary Group. That's why I deliberately showed him that I have sothing in my sleeves that's as valuable as your power as a Hero."
She didn't seem to understand as she asked again.
"Then why did you choose to say that na? Isn't there sothing that you can show? Like… Enhancent?"
"Nah, Chloe. That's the best move that I had. You know… that guy, Chun Dong, is soone who likes brave people. So I showed him that I have the guts to back up my confidence."
"I see?" Confused, Chloe tilted her head cutely.
I chuckled when I saw her. She didn't understand but answered as if she understood it.
"Well, you will know soday."
I stood up from the couch and stretched my body, which had turned stiff from enduring the pressure earlier.
"Ugh– Then, I will go to the underground again to enhance my items. Feel free to do anything that you want to in the anti. Just don't forget that we will have reporters coming over in the evening."
Chloe smiled. "Then I will go to school."
"Huh? School?"
"Yes, cooking school. I like cooking."
I smiled at her answer. So she liked cooking. I was glad that she found a hobby.
"I see. Call if you need anything."
"Sure. See you later."
"Yeah, later."
***
Chun Dong, who had just left Vincent's house, walked through an empty alleyway and suddenly stopped on his track. He put his book inside his magic bag and turned around, looking at the intersections behind him.
"Co out. You suck at hiding."
A man then appeared from an intersection in the alleyway. He was Jaro, one of the Six Devas from the Association.
"Hah! I purposely let you know of my presence."
"Or so you say. What do you need from , Dog from the Association?"
"Hah?!" Jaro, obviously mad at being called a dog, shouted, "You want to fight, punk?"
"It will not be a fight; it will be a massacre." Mana began to leak from Chun Dong's body, which surrounded his body like an aura.
Its color was cyan, a proof of the Ice attribute Mana, the result of the composite attributes between Wind and Water. Chun Dong's specialty was Ice Magic, and he was one of the best in the field.
The objective of leaking Mana was to pressure the opponent. However, it wouldn't work if the opponent was at the sa level. That was why it was usually only used to Taunt the others and show that one was ready to fight.
"You!!" Mana began to leak out of Jaro's body to counter Chun Dong's. The color of his Mana was red, which was proof of the Fire attribute Mana. "I will fucking burn you to ash!"
Chun Dong was not afraid of Jaro, even if he was one of the Six Devas. He knew that he was stronger than him.
"Try it."
Both of them were ready to fight. The atmosphere in the alleyway turned heavy. So of the strong Awakeners who were sensitive to Mana had noticed them. But then a new presence made them stop.
Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!
There were footsteps walking toward them. If it were a normal person's footsteps, then both of them wouldn't have stopped their fights.
They felt the Mana signature of the person that was closing in. They knew whose signature it belonged to. It belonged to soone that they didn't want to fight.
If he joined the fight, then the scale of destruction caused by the fight would be too great and the guilds would be forced to move to check what happened.
The source of those footsteps then appeared from the intersections behind Jaro. He was Smith, the Sword Saint. His presence was enough to make both of them disperse their Mana.
He calmly looked over at Jaro and Chun Dong and spoke.
"Don't make a fuss, young ones. Especially in this area, my house is just around the corner, you see?"
"Tsk!" Jaro clicked his tongue and left without saying anything more after he saw Smith. He jumped up between the buildings and landed on the roof. He looked down with a displeased frown for a while before jumping away from one building to the others.
"Young ones these days have no manners at all, don't you think so too?" Smith said to Chun Dong.
"I don't think so. Maybe you only t so crazy ones because of your reputation."
"Hahaha. That may be true. However, you have manners, no? Then, why don't you accompany for a while?"
Chun Dong's eyes narrowed cautiously as he asked. "Why should I?"
"Hmm, because why not? Co on, accompany this old man for a while. Or, you don't want to visit this old man's house? You even visited this old man's disciple house before him."
His words managed to rouse Chun Dong's curiosity.
Smith clearly said his disciple's house. So that ant one of the two people that he visited today was Sword Saint's successor.
After thinking for a while, Chun Dong finally nodded his head.
"Alright... I will accompany you for a while, Sword Saint."
"Bahahaha, just call Smith! I am already retired. You don't have to call by my forr title."
"Well then… Smith."
"Good. Then, let's go."
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