Han knew that the leader didn’t even have a choice. He was trapped between a wall and a hard place and the only person holding a rope out to him was Han. Would he allow his guild to continue being slaves to those madmen in Alcatraz, or will he seize an opportunity that could either end very well or very badly?
Han stretched out his hand to the leader and waited. It was unheard of for a single person to want to make an entire guild submit to him, but Han knew he was more than strong enough to handle any backlash from the contract. He just needed this man to take the bait. Slowly, the leader took the hand and Han smiled. One down, one to go.
The leader really felt like he sold his soul this time!
…
The Rivera guild wasn’t very different from the Trinata guild. They had hundreds of members, but their main forces of silver and gold Stars were very few. With only three gold Stars and ten silver Stars, they were only a little bit bigger than the Trinata guild.
The three gold Stars were very silent as they tried to process what they just learned from those that went to meet the Alcatraz guild. Alcatraz wanted another sacrifice under the guise of war. It was nothing new for them, but it still made them angry every time they had to do it.
“What reason did they give you this time?”
The person that spoke up was the third gold Star that didn’t go to the meeting. He was a handsome man with silver hair that covered one of his eyes. His name was Tristan and he was pissed.
The leader leaned back in her seat and sighed. She hated whenever she was this powerless against anybody and the fact that she has been like this for years had broken her spirit completely.
“They are trying to make people remember how dangerous they are. Something happened on the lower floors that led to their recruits dying and they are angry. It seems that the Trinata guild was the cause for it, but they also denied it, and no one could find any lies in them. So they are going to use us to make people remember that they can take on two strong guilds and win. If they can put back fear in people’s hearts, then whoever is killing their recruits will back down from fear”
Slam!!
Tristan slammed his hand on the table in the middle of the room! All of this just so they can flex power!? What sort of monsters are these Alcatraz bastards!?
The vice-captain of the guild finally spoke up after a while.
“We can’t keep doing this. I feel like I’ve forgotten why I even came to this Temple in the first place. I’ve become a pawn for someone else when I was once the leader of my own world! We need a way to get out from under their grip, we can’t keep on letting them walk over us”
“And how do you think we can do that? I’m the leader here and no one feels as helpless as I. But even though I’m supposed to be the one to help bring us out of trouble, I can only see all of us dying if we try anything funny. The Alcatraz guild will kill everybody if they even get a whiff of retaliation. The contract they forced us into is absolute, so we have no chance”
The leader sighed and looked at all the people in the room. They all had defeated looks on their faces. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that all four of them have already accepted their fate – hold on… Four? The leader turned back to the people in the room and everyone’s eyes widened when they saw a new man standing right at the table with them! He was looking down at the map as well with the same intensity as all of them! Where the hell did he come from!?
“Who the hell are you!? I’m talking to you, I said what are you doing here!?”
Han hummed while tracing a line across the map. It seemed that if there is going to be a war, the best place for it to hold would be on the rocky terrains of the volcanic regions. It’s quite close to the Trinata guild so hopefully, they’ll move out first before the war starts. Maybe he should bring them to the water region first?
“I asked you a question!”
The leader shouted again as she quickly activated the skill [Bind] to trap Han in one place, but Han’s defensive skill [Armament of Troy] was already activated so it easily broke her skill into nothing. Han finally looked up and smiled at them. The leader was now more cautious of this man. That skill she used was one of her strongest skills, if he was able to break out like that then he was dangerous.
“Ah, you’re done with your pity party. Well then, I guess we can begin” Han clapped happily and then gave them a smile that made them shiver, “I have a proposition for you”
…..
Rin and the other two girls got to the first floor and made their way to the restaurant. They were wondering what Han had planned for the Alcatraz guild because from how angry he was it didn’t look like he would just let them go. None of the girls thought to go with him because they knew that whenever he told them to leave him it was because he was going to do something they weren’t ready to handle yet.
They were not delusional, and they would never think that they were strong enough to handle some of the things Han did. So they would trust Han to come back safely. They made it back to the restaurant and they were immediately greeted by a frantic Kim. She had a nervous expression on her face as she ran up to them.
Rin asked what was wrong while dropping Yue from where she has been riding on her shoulder and the sentence that Kim spoke made their spines freeze!
“Rina is missing!!”
Everyone froze! Even Lily knew immediately that this was a big problem! The only person who didn’t seem fazed by all of this was Yuuma. She was still at the bar and having a small drinking contest with one of the patrons who thought he could outdrink her! What a fool! She is the undefeated champion of alcohol! No one can defeat her in this Temple!! Alcohol goes down like water for her!
Rin walked up to her and dragged her away from the table and Yuuma wined in annoyance! She was almost on her last bottle! One more and she would have won!!
“Yuuma! Where’s Rina!?! She was with you right!?”
Yuuma’s face scrunched up in confusion. Who’s Rina? Oh, shit, that’s Han’s sister! She was right here before, wasn’t she? Yuuma looked around her and tried to find where Rina was, but she could feel her robotic heart rattling like a broken engine as time went on and she didn’t find her! Where the hell is she!?
“Yuuma! Don’t tell me you lost Han’s sister!”
Rin was now holding Yuuma by her shirt and shouting in her face! This is a big deal! This floor isn’t somewhere for Rina to get lost in! There are people here that can squash her like a bug!
“What! Don’t blame this on me! She – She…”
Yuuma tried to find a good excuse for losing Rina, she almost quelled under the glare that Rin was giving her before she snapped her finger with a victorious expression.
“She’s a grown woman! She doesn’t need a babysitter, yes!”
“You’re going to need a wheelchair if anything happens to Rina! Han isn’t going to forgive you no matter what!”
Yuuma paled. Yeah, that is a problem. Maybe they should try finding her? Yuuma looked toward Kim and she cursed when she realized that she couldn’t even pin it on the other woman. Kim was busy handling the food and the customers. It wasn’t possible for her to both look after the food and keep her eyes on Rina at the same time! Yuuma was screwed!
“We need to find her! Kim, you go with Yue. Lily and I’ll look on the other side of the first floor. Yuuma, stay here and look after the restaurant. And don’t drink anything!”
No one complained about Rin taking the lead in this since she was sort of like the older sister to everyone here. She always had this aura of calmness and assurance around her, even when she was talking to Han. It helped the other girls to calm down too, maybe it was because she was already used to hanging out with monsters like Han before anyone else, so it wasn’t too much for her. Well, it didn’t matter because even though Rin was usually the calm one, right now, Rin was absolutely angry at Yuuma!
The customers in the restaurant didn’t even turn their heads to look at the shouting women. They were already used to one crazy thing or the other happening in this restaurant.. They wouldn’t even be shocked if a dragon suddenly appeared here to eat one day.
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