章節 132: Meeting with Tom

[Sophie's Pov]

"Thanks for coming here, Ms. Red. Once again, I'm Tom Stone, one of the [A]-rankers of Obelisk. Please, do sit down."

It felt a bit awkward coming out to the city center of the capital for a meeting with someone I barely knew, but it didn't feel like I had much of a choice. Even with all that happened during this year, I was still in a pretty dangerous situation.

Even if James had left us, and my mind was still very much confused about the whole situation, I had finally gotten to the point where I knew I had to focus on myself first. So when Mr. Stone reached out to me and said he wanted to talk about the future, I knew I had to take the chance.

If it wasn't for the fact that my Manual was, supposedly, so rare that people wouldn't hesitate to kidnap me, I probably wouldn't have come here. However, when reading about Obelisk, I felt my hesitation vane a bit.

Obelisk was one of the most prominent guilds in Mensch, up there with the Rue family guild and the Denver family guild, but Obelisk had one very major difference. It didn't have a background of a noble house.

Leonardo Stone, the father of Tom and the guild master of Obelisk, had been one of the few fortunate commoners to become a figure of prominence, somehow managing to make it to the top through his own powers.

He hadn't attended any sort of hunter academy, just continuously hunting monsters and going on dives until his name got recognized as one of the best.

Now taking my seat at the small table at the cozy little café I had a strong feeling that it might not be too bad to be a part of Obelisk, knowing its very humble beginnings. At least it felt a lot better than being a part of the Denver family, having to view Mike as the 'young master'.

Mr. Stone was quite the handsome man, his black hair neatly pulled back and his suit accentuating his moderately muscly body, complemented by a black suitcase on the floor. Still, he wasn't nearly as attractive as Arthur in my eyes. Suddenly, he stood up, "Coffee or tea?"

Although his question should have been quite natural in this situation, it still caught me a bit off guard, forcing me to take a couple of seconds to think about what he said. "Haha! No need to be so nervous, miss. After all, it's still too early for us to make a contract. That will have to wait until you graduate if you choose to do so."

His words made me realize that I was, indeed, pretty nervous, but at the same time, they eased my worries a bit. So, with a smile, I replied, "Coffee, please."

"I'll be right back then."

Getting a moment of relief, I got another chance to try my best and sort out my thoughts about the future. This was the life I was living now, the life I had been given. So why shouldn't I be trying my best to live it to the fullest?

I had been given a gift from the gods, a chance at a new life where I could obtain happiness, and I sure as hell wouldn't throw it away just because things hadn't been going as planned. No matter what the world had in store for me, I had no plans of getting swept along.

But first things first, I needed to make sure I wouldn't randomly get made into a lab rat for some crazy noble that wanted to get their hands on my Manual. After my meeting with James, I had finally gotten to actually researching what Manuals were and how they worked, therefore it didn't take long until I realized just how bizarre it was for someone to acquire a seven-star Manual.

Even a six-star Manual was attractive enough to start wars between noble houses, resulting in a lot of people losing their lives. 'How naïve I was...'

The more I thought about it, the more I understood just why James choose to leave and how ruthless this world actually was. In a world where the strong controlled the majority, there was no room for goodwill. 'But that just means I have to become strong... Then I can fix everything...'

This was the answer I had come up with, the answer that would let me make my own path in this flawed world. I just needed powerful enough to create my own rules.

"Here you go."

Mr. Stone had returned, now handing me the coffee I had asked for with a gentle smile. "Oh, thank you."

Sitting himself down in front of me, our discussion could finally commence with him taking the lead, "No worries. Now, Ms. Red, I assume that you understand why I wanted to meet you, right?"

I affirmed his words with a nod before responding, "Yes, you want to get a leg up on the opposition who might want my Manual for their own guilds. More or less, you want to make sure that I join Obelisk as soon as I graduate."

"Mm... That's right, to an extent at least."

Confused by his words, I felt my forehead wrinkle a bit, "What do you mean?"

Suddenly, he brought out the suitcase and pulled out a couple of pamphlets, handing them to me. After a second of looking through them, I felt even more confused than before. "Mr. Stone? This is just information about other guilds. Why are you handing me these?"

Bringing out a bright smile, he explained the situation to me, "Ms. Red, I'm not necessarily here to solely bring you to our guild, although that would probably be the best for us. I am here to try my best and persuade you into joining a guild that doesn't have ties to any noble houses."

"Okay? But why? Aren't you competing with them as well?"

"You're not wrong, but to us, that doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that your Manual is potent enough to risk bringing back the noble supremacy of old. And that would be way worse than just another guild surpassing us."

The more he spoke, the more my inner self was starting to believe his words. Somehow, I knew that I could be certain that he meant what he was saying.

==========

Having concluded our meeting, I was currently out and about on the streets of the capital, just looking around at all the different shops that were available. Everything from brand clothes to delicious sweets, there was a shop for everything.

Comparing the modern landscape of Mensch to Kurat, it was unavoidable to notice just what a disparity there was between the countries. With the sun sitting high in the blue sky, it was the opposite of the cold and harsh landscape of Kuur.

Still, I somehow had a feeling that Mensch was a lot more unforgiving than Kurat, or at least a lot more dishonest. The snow of the northern nation at least was honest about what it was, while the sun of the human nation seemed to try its best to keep its bloody nature under wraps.

*Brrm!*

Suddenly, the smartwatch on my arm vibrated, notifying me of an incoming message from the princess herself.

[Sophie, do you have time to talk?]

After what happened to James, Sarah had distanced herself from our little group a lot, so seeing this message I could only assume that it would be about something important.

[Sure, where do you want to meet?]

****

[Erzal's Pov]

Standing right outside my room, I was currently going through my usual nightly ritual of sending the king away, with him desperately trying to get some kind of physical attention from me.

"Are you sure you don't want me to keep you company tonight? We could have a drink and watch the stars or..."

"I'm sure, Adrian. I've had a long day so I'm just going straight to sleep. However, do remember that the faster we wake up tomorrow, the sooner we can see each other again."

The big man's shoulders started to slouch after he had gotten denied yet again, knowing that I wouldn't budge in my decision. "Alright... See you in the morning then."

With the king walking away, I could finally enter my room and get some needed rest from that disgusting creature. Taking a seat on my bed, I started to collect my thoughts about what I needed to do before the next count got sent over, something I did every night.

Somehow, things were going incredibly smoothly so far, even though there had been a bit of obstruction by the name of James. Suddenly, I got a message on my smartwatch, a message that I had been expecting with both happiness and angst.

[Tell me about how I could get to be together with James again.]

I knew that my feelings about the situation were silly. In the end, no matter what happened between me and that loathsome man, it would still greatly benefit us if we got him on our side.

A man that seemingly could bring down nations on a whim, who could control even a demon count, and who seemed to have the world in his palms.

But in the end, he was only human.

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