Chapter 33: Chapter33-Paradise
The title of the book was...
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.
***
Yeah. I wasn’t making that up. That was genuinely the title.
Just seeing it should have scared me, but honestly, I wasn’t scared. Just deeply uncomfortable.
There was no way Allen could actually know I wasn’t the real Michael. My system protected me around the clock, making absolutely certain that no one could uncover my real identity. The system had already confirmed it multiple times.
So yes, Allen could be suspicious all he wanted. I could live with that.
But suspicion wasn’t the same as knowing for sure.
He could have his doubts, but without any real proof, he couldn’t confirm I wasn’t Michael. And there was no proof to be found.
On top of that, I might have been reading too much into it. According to Michael’s memories, Allen had always been a devoted reader. The title of his current book might not have meant anything at all.
Trying to ease the discomfort gnawing at me, I shifted my gaze toward the window.
But even after staring outside for several minutes, it didn’t help. The uneasy feeling stayed with me, stuck in the back of my mind like an itch I couldn’t reach.
Eventually, I just decided to move past it and let it go.
To distract myself, I turned toward Allen. "Allen, this just occurred to me, but how much did we actually spend to reserve that special rank dungeon for two weeks?"
Allen didn’t bother looking up from his book. "Two billion hunter credits."
Damn. That was an absolutely staggering amount.
It made me wonder. What exactly were hunter credits in the first place?
To really understand that, you had to first understand how the economy functioned in this world. The system here operated on a barter basis, with two primary forms of currency in circulation: monster cores and hunter credits.
Hunter credits were typically used for large scale transactions. Major purchases, high value exchanges, that sort of thing. Monster cores, on the other hand, were more commonly used for everyday trade and smaller exchanges.
There were also some important distinctions between the two. Hunter credits weren’t only used for commercial transactions. They also served as currency for technological trades and functioned as the reserve currency backed and held by the government.
Monster cores worked a bit differently. They could be traded for goods, services, and various privileges within Ambrosia.
Their value tended to carry even more weight in the higher ranked states, where they were treated almost like premium currency.
Anyway, leaving that aside...
Two billion hunter credits was an enormous sum by most people’s standards, but when compared to the total wealth of the Frostburne family, it barely registered as more than a rounding error.
So just how wealthy was the family, really?
Eoin Frostburne, Michael’s father, held a total net worth of 710 billion as of today.
I’d looked it up earlier this morning out of pure curiosity.
That kind of fortune placed him solidly in third position on the Cannes billionaire list.
If I was remembering correctly, the individual holding first place sat at around 850 billion.
While I mulled over those numbers, my mind gradually began to settle. I let myself sink deeper into the seat and pulled out my phone to kill some time.
After scrolling aimlessly for a few minutes, I put the device away and sat up straighter. We were getting close to the main branch of the Hunter Association now. I needed to be mentally prepared.
I glanced down at my watch to check the time.
***
Name: Michael Frostburne
Total Rules Broken: 0
Time: 9:38 AM
Date: 17th February
Year: 2130
***
Damn it. We were already running about ten minutes late.
I really hoped the HIST agency members wouldn’t take it personally.
Given my family’s status, they’d probably overlook it without much fuss.
Still, I couldn’t quite shake the nagging hope that this whole meeting would go smoothly.
All I wanted was to sign whatever papers they had waiting and get myself to that dungeon as quickly as possible.
A few minutes passed before the car finally came to a stop. It began its slow, controlled descent toward the landing pad.
I turned my gaze toward the window to get a look at where we’d arrived.
Wohh.
We were touching down on a private VIP platform perched high on the roof of an absolutely massive skyscraper.
The entire rooftop was dotted with dozens of other vehicles, each one occupying its own designated pad.
From the looks of it, these spots were reserved exclusively for top tier executives, guild masters, elite ranked hunters, and members of the wealthiest families.
The instant the car made contact with the platform, I pushed the door open and stepped outside.
There wasn’t anyone else around. Just Allen and me.
I wasn’t surprised. The city we were in was Paradise, after all.
And Paradise lived up to its name. It was a haven for the rich and powerful, the highest tier city in the entire A rank state. More than that, it was also the wealthiest and most technologically advanced city in all of Ambrosia.
Only the richest of the rich could afford to live here. The cost of living was so astronomically high that most people couldn’t even dream of calling this place home.
The Frostburne mansion was located somewhere near the center of the city, if I was remembering correctly.
Allen suddenly stepped closer. "Young master, your collar."
His voice caught me off guard for a second.
Damn. I hadn’t been expecting that.
I glanced down and saw that my shirt collar was twisted awkwardly to one side.
Before I could reach up to fix it myself, Allen moved first. He gently straightened it out with practiced ease.
"There. Now it’s fine," he said quietly.
I hadn’t expected him to do that.
I looked at him for a moment before responding. "Thanks."
Allen gave a small nod. "No problem, young master. Now please follow me. We need to reach the meeting room quickly."
I nodded back at him.
Then I started following him across the rooftop landing pad.
As I walked a few steps behind him, I kept glancing in his direction. For some reason, I felt strangely happy. Maybe it was because Allen had taken the time to adjust my collar without me even asking.
My body was reacting that way. Or rather, Michael’s body was responding like this.
I knew I couldn’t suppress these emotions even if I wanted to, so I didn’t see the point. I just let the feelings flow through me naturally.
After walking for about a minute, Allen finally stopped.
I looked ahead and realized we’d reached the entrance to an elevator. The doors were still closed. I shifted my gaze to the digital display beside the doors and saw that the elevator was currently making its way up from one of the lower floors.
We stood there quietly and waited for it to arrive.
When it finally did, the doors slid open smoothly.
Allen and I stepped inside without a word. He pressed the button for the first floor right away. We were currently on the seventieth floor, which also served as the rooftop landing pad.
The elevator doors closed slowly, and the cabin began its descent.
We rode downward in silence. After a few minutes, the elevator came to a gentle stop and the doors opened once more.
We stepped out onto the first floor and into a dimly lit parking garage.
I glanced around briefly. There weren’t any high end vehicles in sight. Just ordinary, unremarkable cars parked in neat rows.
I didn’t dwell on it. This level was probably meant for general public use.
We crossed the garage floor in just a few moments before reaching the main entrance to the building. As soon as we got close, the doors automatically slid apart.
The instant they opened, I tried to peer outside. Everything beyond the doors looked distorted.
An illusion shield.
Just like the one surrounding the Frostburne mansion.
I lifted my wrist and checked the time on my watch.
9:44 AM.
"Haa..."
I let out a quiet sigh.
We were already far too late at this point. There wasn’t any sense in rushing now. We might as well just walk at a normal pace.
Allen and I stepped through the entrance side by side and walked out into the open air.
The moment I crossed the threshold, the atmosphere around me shifted entirely.
The blurriness that had distorted everything just seconds ago suddenly vanished. My vision cleared all at once.
And what I saw stopped me in my tracks.
Three massive skyscrapers loomed overhead. They were impossibly tall, stretching so high into the sky that I had to crane my neck just to make out where they ended.
But that wasn’t what caught me off guard.
What really surprised me was the sheer number of people filling the streets.
There were crowds everywhere.
The scene felt surreal. Almost overwhelming in how vibrant and alive it was.
I could see hunters fully geared up in combat equipment, their armor gleaming under the daylight.
Military personnel moved briskly through the crowd in crisp black uniforms.
Guild representatives walked with purpose, their expressions focused and professional.
Journalists and reporters moved through the mass of people, some stopping to conduct interviews with passing hunters while others raised cameras to snap photos.
There were also office workers everywhere, hurrying along in plain business clothes with briefcases or stacks of documents clutched tightly under their arms.
And scattered among them were ordinary civilians. Fans, most likely. People who had come just to catch a glimpse of well known hunters or soak up the atmosphere.
I honestly hadn’t expected to see so many people gathered in one place. Paradise was an exclusive city, home only to the wealthiest residents. By design, the population here was kept intentionally low.
But this was the main branch of the Hunter Association. It made sense that it would draw a crowd, even in a place like Paradise.
Still, I found myself stunned. This was the first time I’d ever laid eyes on a main branch in person. Based on Michael’s memories, he had never once visited any association branch before. Not a single time.
I stood there for a long moment, just absorbing everything around me, until I felt Allen’s hand rest gently on my shoulder.
"Young master, are you alright?"
His voice pulled me out of my daze. I turned to face him. "Yeah, Allen. I’m fine. Let’s go."
Allen and I started making our way through the crowd.
We’d only been walking for a few minutes when I started to notice something odd.
People were staring at us.
And it wasn’t the casual kind of glance you give a stranger on the street. These looks carried something... Unease. Something close to fear. On top of that, most of the people around us were quietly stepping to the side as we approached, clearing the way without being asked.
Even the hunters moved out of our path. So did the journalists.
What the hell?
I couldn’t figure it out. Why were people looking at us as if they’d just seen something terrifying? Why was everyone so eager to give us space?
I was completely lost.
I leaned toward Allen. "Allen, do you have any idea why everyone’s acting so strange around us? What’s going on?"
Allen continued walking without so much as a glance in my direction. "It’s nothing, young master. Just ignore them."
Ignore them? People were literally parting for us like we were walking through water.
Something was clearly going on. I wanted to keep pushing for an answer, but I stopped myself.
As we continued forward, the crowd gradually grew denser.
More people meant more stares.
The whole thing was making me deeply uncomfortable. No matter what world I was in, I was still an introvert at my core. Being the center of this much attention felt like it was slowly crushing me from the inside.
But I kept moving. I forced my legs to follow Allen’s steady pace.
At some point, I gave up on looking at anyone altogether. I fixed my gaze on the ground and just trailed behind him.
Then, cutting through all the ambient noise, a loud voice rang out from somewhere to my left.
"Yo, if it isn’t the White Reaper?"
