"So, you two are my daughter's friends?" Emily's father asked with a frown on his head once they entered their tent. "You two seem reliable, but your voices are a bit weird."
"Well, before anything, you two should put this," Ian said and then took out his earring and then gave the extra one to Emily and her father.
"Go on, Hannah," Ethan said.
For a while, they stayed quiet while Hannah explained what happened and why she sent Ethan and Ian to help their friend. Although they also wanted intel, their priority was to prevent major losses on the American side with its tourists and on the Ghana side with its forces and population.
"I see…" Emily's father said after listening to everything. "I am deeply sorry for causing so many problems to all of you."
"Well, don't worry about it," Ian said. "It is not like we aren't going to gain anything from this. Besides, I am sure things will work out in the end."
"Thank you for your kind words," Emily's father said. "I should introduce myself; my name is Hector Carter."
"I am Raiden, and this Vergil, likewise," Ian said.
"… What?" Ethan frowned.
pαndα`noν?1--сoМ "Those are our codenames," Ian whispered. "We can't go out and tell our real names with these faces, right? By the way, I chose it since you like Devil May Cry so much. As for my codename, it is the name of another character from a hack and slash game."
Ian's stupidity had no limits… not only he decided those names himself. Still, he decided to use them in the middle of the mission. In any case, Ethan couldn't let himself get caught in his pace, and that was too tiring.
"You two never leave the characters, huh," Emily said.
"You are the same, Emily. Although you are thankful and embarrassed by our arrival, you refuse to say thanks," Ian said. "Adding that attitude with your red hair and the fact that you are flat-chested, it makes you the perfect image of a tsundere. If you could tie your hair in twin tails, you would become a typical generic character."
"What did you say?!" Emily shouted.
"… Let's leave those idiots aside," Ethan said. "We need to talk about some things, mister Carter, such as: why did you come to this country at such moment? What are your thoughts about the current situation?"
"I am sure you three know this more than anyone else, but Earth is changing quite fast, and even without realizing it, the living beings of our planet are obtaining mana," Carter said. "Although I am a doctor, as of late, I have been doing the work of a researcher, trying to understand the effects of such energy on the bodies of those who didn't go to other planets. It isn't on the same level as those who work for the government. Still, thanks to my research, I developed some techniques to use that little mana in the ordinary human's body and make it heal wounds faster. Since I always liked to go on the field in chaotic situations to help people with my skills and knowledge, I decided not to work for the government. When the dungeon breaks happened, I ran to help the places that were destroyed, and I obtained a lot of experience and some contacts. One of them is the man who called me to help."
"A mercenary?" Ethan asked.
"Although he is the leader of a mercenary group, he is also a summoned hero," Carter nodded. "You may have some reservations given his occupation, but I can guarantee that he is a good man who is only worried about the safety of his country and citizens."
"I wasn't really worried about that," Ethan said. "I was just thinking that we should avoid him since he will identify us with his powers, and we don't need that."
"We feel bad about making you hide important information from your friend, but this is also for our country," Ian said.
"It is okay. He isn't the type of a man who will dig down to learn more about those who came to help," Carter smiled. "Regardless, about the current situation… I can't say that it is favorable. As you already know, the number of monsters leaving the dungeons isn't decreasing, and they are really tough to defeat. Although we have people like Emily who can heal even severe wounds quite fast, it is only a matter of time before things get out of hand."
"As expected, those dungeons really are ticking time bombs that will explode no matter what," Ethan said.
"How is the situation in the other countries," Emily asked.
"It is hard to say, but if I had to guess, I would say that it is probably on the same level as here or even worse," Ethan replied. "One of the types of monsters that are spawning in another dungeon was Gargoyles, and those are troublesome like those Ghost Armors. Their bodies probably can't be used for anything."
"Well, there is no need to worry about it now that we are here," Ian said. "Everything will work out in the end if we work together."
Ethan sighed. Only an idiot could say something like that with a straight face. Not only could those three do much since they couldn't draw attention to themselves, but they also couldn't simply appear in a moment of crisis if those were to happen and solve the whole issue.
"… What are you doing here exactly, Emily?" Ethan asked.
"I am acting as my dadd-… my father's bodyguard," Emily corrected herself. "Until now, we managed to prevent a direct confrontation, but since the monsters are the ghost type, we don't know if they can curse us or something yet."
"It is okay. You can refer to your father the way you want," Ethan said. "Only someone pretty stupid and immature would laugh at you for that, right Ian?"
"Just some small laughter is fine, right?" Ian asked.
While Emily was trying to control her anger and embarrassment, Ethan began to wonder what they could do in that situation. However, nothing came to mind. Before deciding what they should and couldn't do, they had to see the people of the camp fighting the monsters.
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