Bab 64: Chapter Sixty Four
Katie stood with Sandra behind the Director as he made a speech addressing the rest of the hunters in the vicinity. Every professional hunter along with their mentees had been summoned to the Agency for an announcement that was meant to drive the entire day's activities. Sandra was diligently waiting for her mentor at the gates of the facility when Katie arrived along with a few other diligent junior hunters, "You guys make us look lazy," Katie whispered to her friend.
Sandra chuckled, "Wasn't a good look for the person who is supposed to be the head of security at the Festival."
Katie groaned remembering what delayed her, "I had a bit of a…" her hand rapidly flew to her belly. There was nothing to be felt there, "a bit of a stomach problem."
"Are you fine? Did you eat something?" Sandra asked her, concern in her voice.
"You have no idea. Something doesn't cover how much I ate. We'll talk about it later when we're on guard duty at the school," she assured her friend. 'I just hope I don't get hungry soon,' she thought.
"We all know what day this is. Today is the Founder's festival and all hunters along with junior hunters are to adhere to the instructions that are given to them. The entire force of hunters has been divided into groups and given different tasks in order to achieve airtight security. All this information has been pinned on the request board or quest board as most of you like to call it," he said before dismissing the lot of them. They easily numbered a hundred which was a lot for a remote town. Most of them were out of shape from the period of shape compared to the Director as expected from hunters that lived in a place that rarely got attacked.
Once everyone was gone, a move that was done faster than Katie expected, Anthony turned to her, "You're late, I had to improvise. Now come to the conference room quick," he said quickly walking past her. 'I might have gotten carried away with the eating at home,' Katie thought, even though her stomach said the opposite.
"What stomach trouble are you talking about?" Sandra asked her while they followed the Director swiftly.
"I thought I'd said we'll talk about it later," Katie whispered through gritted teeth.
"Yes, I know, but you keep touching it and it's making me worry. You look like you're rubbing a belly holding a… baby," she said the last part through gritted teeth and in the ear of her best friend.
Katie gasped at the revelation, "I am not… Fine, I'll tell you… Are you serious?" her friend nodded in confirmation, a look of worry etched on her face, "Ugh, fine… It's quite embarrassing. I was hungry and can't tell if I won't be any time soon."
"What are you talking about? I know you eat like a…" Katie hit her friend's shoulder to stop her from running her mouth, "Sorry, but do you mean you ate more than usual. How many times more?"
"Almost four times the usual…" Sandra covered her open mouth in shock.
"That's unreal. Your stomach should be the size of that of a pregnant lady. How are you still normal? Stop messing with me, Katie," Sandra whined.
"What are you two bickering about? Hurry up... Are you forgetting that we are running against time?" Anthony said as they came up to the Hunter's Agency's main building. He led them through the building to the conference room. All the high ranking hunters of the agency sat in the room ready for what was to be said. There were people in here that Katie had rarely seen.
"Hello, everyone, she's here. Wow, Frost and Jackeline, it's been long since I last saw you," Anthony spoke.
"We came from our posts on the highway when we heard that there was a commotion from the Chase family. The couple says they feel that something bad is going to happen," Frost, a bulky man who was known by all hunters to be aggressive in battle and very efficient. His Prometheus gift was strength, but his speed was incredible. Katie had only had the chance to spar with him once and come to respect the man who gave her a hard time with both her gifts.
"Yeah, it's good to be back. The rogue killer seems to be losing her edge," Jackeline spoke, a lady who paired with Frost on most of their missions. These two were responsible for the dwindling requests on the quest board. A dynamic duo of agility and strength, these two were unbelievable when in combat. They'd backed off the rogues that tried attacking the town only after witnessing Katie taking them down single-handedly and swiftly.
"I wouldn't say that for sure, but I have been surprised in the past days. Rogues are getting bolder," Katie replied, "It's good to see you."
With the introductions out of the way, Anthony got the meeting started. He had a disturbing announcement to make, "I've called you all here to discuss something that was reported to me in the nick of time even though it's quite troubling," Anthony said. He placed his hands on the table and sighed. The information that he had to share was disturbing and weighing him down.
"What seems to be the trouble, Anthony?" Frost asked the man, leaning back into his seat and crossing his arms.
"A reporter reached out to me and informed me that the information tarnishing the school had been withheld. After interviewing the students secretly, he discovered that none of them saw the incident of murder in the school even though some claim to have seen blood in the classroom. It was something that perturbed me to hear," he said.
"Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?" Jackeline cut him off before he was far into his explanation.
"The citizens of the town were shaken by what happened in the former Hunter training ground, but Katie along with the werewolves and junior hunters that were there were able to diffuse that one," he said, "No one was injured. That can be revealed without tarnishing the school's image. The information that the reporter was asking me to destroy was…"
"The news about the dead boy," Jackeline completed the statement, "What is that supposed to mean about the integrity of the Hunters? This move, if discovered could ruin the hunters' reputation. What are you thinking coming up with an idea as crazy as that?" She was standing by the time she was done talking. This was turning into a heated argument. Katie did not know whose side to choose as this decision to her was a double-edged sword.
"Just think about it. If this information gets out, there will be a mass panic. The school's position in the rankings will plummet. It's bad enough that there was a murder in the school, but the victim wasn't a human, but a werewolf. There will be consequences. Everyone knows the safety of the school was centred on the fact that the hunters enrolled there had proved more than capable of dealing with misbehaving werewolves. Rumours will spring up about the hunters having wanted to kill the werewolves in the first place," Anthony made a fine argument.
"What about the werewolves? What happens to them if they learn of this? We already know the victim was part of the Lycaon pack. It's arguably the most powerful pack in the world. Do you want to go to war with the likes of them?" Frost said.
"The Lycaon pack is closely aware of what has actually happened. We would not be hiding anything from them. This is concerning the rest of the world and not the Lycaons themselves," he countered.
"What do you plan on even saying? Anything you say to cover up the slither of rumours that have already leaked out will look like a direct insult to the Lycaon pack," she said.
"Then what's better? Think of what we are looking at here. If this information gets out, it will flush out the fact that the school was infiltrated by rogues and this won't bode well with the reputation of the school or the town. Brigadia will become a ghost town with everyone leaving. If trust breaks down in Brigadia, there will be nothing left of it. What does the Lycaon pack lose if we cover up the death of their comrade compared to what we lose if we reveal it?" Anthony had looked at both sides of the matter with the eyes of someone looking into the statistics.
"No matter how you spin this… covering up the death of an innocent girl to save the reputation of the safest school is a low blow and will have an effect on the integrity of the Hunters in Brigadia. Your judgement is starting to dull, Anthony," Jackeline fought back. The argument was heated and each side was set on imposing their ideals on the other.
"What does the defender of Brigade High School have to say about it then?" Anthony spoke up turning to Katie, who right up to this moment, had done her best to stay invisible.
"I was not… Oh, no… Can't you guys… Oh God, why did I have to be dragged into this?" Katie groaned. This was not part of the things she'd chosen to think about for the day.
"Are you okay? You keep touching your stomach and you don't seem too bothered about a discussion that has you at the centre of it. What do you have to say about it?" Jackeline asked her. Katie scratched the back of her head thinking through her words.
"In my opinion, the truth is what I would go with. Ash deserves the right funeral and we can't have that if we're covering up her death. I cannot deny that rogues infiltrated the school under my watch and I apologise for that. I checked to make sure that there was no one that was caused harm by my incompetence. My goal is simple, to kill every one of them. Covering it up or revealing it to the public is of no concern to me. As long as I achieve a world with no rogues," she explained.
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