YM778.TV Chapter 39: Assassin with a flying ship?
After their successful \'hunt\' that day, they made their way to town as usual and dropped off the monsters, both dead and alive. Temur promised to cook a special food for them when they got to their ranted place so they stopped to buy raw foods and ingredients at the local market.
Jael stopped as he noticed something in the middle of the town. "Wait, is it me or is there a lot of Awakeners going around?"
Calan is one of the less close towns to the capital town, and the general atmosphere around here is slow and unhurried as people go about their jobs, but now, there\'s a loud raising of voices, and Jael couldn\'t go more than a few steps without running into someone.
"You are right." Litha nodded, her sharp eyes taking it all in with a slight frown on her face.
"Let me lead," Temur said and stepped forward.
Just then, something whirled above and cast a long shadow; they all looked up. A large ship that made the air vibrate was passing above them– the ship was painted blue and black with a sleek body and a pointed tip.
Flying ships are one of the most popular means of transportation within the Tower.
"That\'s the Tower Guard. What the hell could be going on that they need to bring a ship? I don\'t like this. Calan should be far from all of this." Litha watched it pass them and headed east.
They hurried to their rented place, a big building complex where they rented a three-room space. It also houses quite a lot of Awakeners.
"See that." Jael pointed, at the front of the building another ship but smaller. It was painted gold and carved in such a design that Jael thought it wouldn\'t be bad to have one. "Someone must have an important guest."
"Just so," Litha said, because ships are expensive, not to talk of the massive amount of mana stone it\'ll take to fly one. It\'s one of the ways that Guilds show their wealth.
They hurried inside, climbing the stairs up to the fifth floor where their place was located.
"Wait!" Temur, who was in the front, stopped; he brought out his sword, which made others react in the same way to the unsaid warning.
Temur stepped away from the door, and they saw why he stopped them; the lock on their door had been fried, and the metal had melted.
They exchange glances, their eyes sharing what they all thought – it must be the works of assassins. Who else? It can\'t be thieves because Awakeners carry their resources in the spatial rings.
\'Who can want us dead? We don\'t even know that many people, and we haven\'t caused anyone any...Wait...what if it\'s the cult?\' Jael narrowed his eyes at the door. He gestured at the two, pointing at Litha, and whispered. "Shield."
She nodded and stepped forward, creating a shield in front of them and then they moved closer to the door. She raised her left hand and started counting down the fingers; immediately it reached one, she sent a wave of mana at the door, blasting it inward.
They rushed in and froze.
Jael hissed. There was indeed someone in their house, and not even one person, four! "Thayer Argent!" His voice, a mixture of surprise and confusion, rolled together with annoyance.
Thayer raised the wine cup in his hands in greeting. "Why! You all look so happy to me! You look good, Litha dear."
Temur lowered his sword, but he didn\'t return it; his eyes narrowed but lacked the same hostility as Litha\'s. "This guy again? And you brought friends."
Tim waved at them from his place, but apart from him, there were also two other people. A woman with blonde hair and a red robe and a beastman with canine ears who leaned against the wall, dressed in black.
"What exactly? What are you doing here!" Litha lowered her shield and then raised her right hand instead, it blazed blue with scorching mana.
"How do you find us?!" Jael asked because that seems like the most important question.
The woman in the red robe lifted her brows. "Looks like they don\'t trust you either, Thayer."
"Come on Cele, they are my friends. Look how happy they are to see me."
The woman, Cele, looked at the face of their \'host\' and then at the broken remains of the door then back at him. Thayer raised his two hands. "Alright! Alright! But we know each other!"
Temur glanced at Jael and Litha. "I\'ll leave this to you. I\'ll go and start cooking."
There was silence as they all watched Temur made his way over to the kitchen and closed the door with a firm click.
Litha opened her mouth, but Thayer beat her to it; he dropped some gold coins on the table. "This should pay for your door."
She frowned, displeased but she dropped her hand and went to pick the coins. "What exactly are you doing? What are you playing at now, Thayer."
"Nothing! Nothing! I\'m just here to say hi."
Everyone gave him the \'really\' look.
"Are you here to pick a fight again?" Jael asked suspiciously but he won\'t mind a fight.
Thayer smirked and adjusted his suit. "No, but yes. I\'m not here to pick a fight with you but with other people, a whole lot of people."
"Stop playing around and just say what you want." Jael chided.
"I\'m a businessman and I\'m here to start a business. More importantly, I\'m here to debut."
"Debut what?" Litha asked, mistrust thick in her voice.
"The creation of my Guild of course! What else? I\'m here to let the whole Tower know!"