Later, that day...
Arriving in the alley that had so quickly become familiar to him, the familiar metal door welcomed him.
Raising his arm, he knocked on the door with this week's code.
...
Sitting down in a seat that already felt like his own, Glaint looked around him and saw how there were still several empty seats and the ever-present Mr. Eye of Wisdom was watching everything from his seat in front.
The man wasn't sitting too far away so Glaint could see that he had a small smile on his face.
Not having anything else to do, he just waited for the meeting to start.
...
Mr. Eye of Wisdom, seeing that no one else arrived, got up from his seat and spoke elegantly.
"Seeing that some friends didn't come we will have to start the party. I see some new members so let me introduce myself, I am Mr. Eye of Wisdom and the organizer of this meeting." he made a soft bow.
Straightening his back he continued with a more serious tone.
"The rules are simple: no making trouble in the party or you will be expelled, no attacking other members while they are in this party, and lastly, do not talk about any god here, whether it is official or not, if you do so you will be expelled."
Even though he had heard those words more than 7 times, they still made him feel uncomfortable.
"Let the party begin" Mr. Eye of Wisdom said as he sat down in his chair.
As soon as the organizer sat down, a lady had already stopped up.
She was of normal height for a lady, measuring 1.65 meters.
Next to her, another person was sitting, thanks to the tunic they were wearing, it was not possible to tell if they were a woman or a man, the only thing he could see was that they were short, around 1,62 meters.
'Did she bring her little sibling to this meeting? Aren't you afraid that something will happen? Although they can also be a short person...'
While Glaint was thinking about that, the lady of normal height made her request.
"I'm looking for the Deep Sea Marlin's blood, does anyone have it?"
This request somewhat surprised Glaint, who was familiar with that name.
He quickly tried to remember where he had heard it and his eyes lit up.
'Deep Sea Marlin's blood... I have that in my vault!'
When Audrey had asked him for the goat-horned blackfish blood and he went for it in his vault, he saw a bottle with that name on the label in the container where he kept the bottles with special liquids.
The lady looked around but seeing that no one was speaking she sighed internally disappointed.
But before she could sit down, Glaint spoke.
"I have the Deep Sea Marlin's blood, how much do you need?"
This was not the first time that he had sold some material from his vault, he was trying to create a good image before these people with the hope that one of them could obtain the Apothecary potion formula and sell it to him.
The woman was caught off guard for a few moments, but immediately recovered and spoke with a calm voice but with a hint of emotion.
"20 milliliters. How much would it be?"
Glaint put his hand to his chin for a moment and did a quick math.
He couldn't remember very well when he had obtained the blood, only that it had been a few months ago and that it had been something easy.
With that in mind, he found a fair price.
"150 pounds"
Beneath her face mask, the lady's eyebrows rose exaggeratedly.
'So cheap?'
At Mr. A's party getting the stomach had cost her over 400 pounds!
Not wanting to miss this golden opportunity, she quickly nodded.
"I accept the deal, do you have the Deep Sea Marlin's blood with you?"
Glaint shook his head.
"I didn't bring it with me, you'll have to wait for the next meeting for me to give it to you."
Her shorter companion frowned under her mask and clenched her fists under the sleeves of her robes.
The lady just nodded without any change in her expression.
"Sounds good to me but I'm in need of that blood, wouldn't you mind delivering it to a place so I can pick it up?"
This was something they had previously discussed, Xio didn't want to wait any longer and wanted her to get promoted to Trickmaster as quickly as possible.
The blood moon hadn't happened yet and it could happen at any time.
They already had all the other ingredients, they only needed the Deep Sea Marlin's blood.
Glaint was caught off guard by this request, but after a few moments, he nodded.
"I have no problem, but it will be in a place of my decision."
This greatly relaxed the young lady and her companion, the tallest nodded in agreement.
Glaint said nothing, he took a small notebook from his vest and quickly wrote down the address where he would send the blood.
Ripping off the paper he folded it four times.
He called a worker and placed the paper on his tray.
Without once looking at the paper, the worker carried the tray over to the lady who took the paper and read it.
She didn't say anything, she just passed it to her partner who took the paper and read it too.
After a few moments, she looked at the taller one and nodded somewhat tense.
She was familiar with the place the man had chosen.
It was Bravehearts Bar...
Not knowing her partner's thoughts, the taller woman spoke.
"I accept the deal, half of the money will be delivered to you here and the rest in the place when I receive the blood. Is this fair to you?"
Glaint just nodded casually.
He didn't need money.
The young lady took out a wad of money from her robe and after counting the 75 pounds, she placed it on the tray of the worker who took it to Glaint who took it casually and after taking a quick look to see that it was complete, he accepted it and put it in his vest.
With that done he got up.
"I'm looking for the Apothecary potion formula or any information related to it. Does anyone have it?" Glaint asked while looking at the people covered in masks.
"..."
Again no one said anything and this annoyed Glaint greatly.
He had already gotten tired of hoping to get something from this meeting but after so many times he hadn't gotten anything!
He needed to try another meeting but he didn't know of any!
And Adryan wasn't helping!!
The guy never responded to his request or he said it was too dangerous!!!
Not wanting to wait any longer, it was time to take things into his own hands!!
So without sitting in his chair and before anyone could say any other request, he spoke.
"I am looking for other beyonder meetings, I am willing to pay a good amount of money if someone can take me to one"
The masked people who were there remained silent for a few moments.
After a few seconds, two people raised their arms.
It was a masked man and the lady from before.
The masked man didn't wait for any sign and spoke.
"I know of a good Beyonder meeting, I can introduce you to them, in exchange for a good price of course" the man's tone was serious and Glaint just nodded.
He turned to look at the lady from before and taking this as a sign, she spoke.
"I know of a meeting very advance, the probability that they will have what you ask for is quite high if you are interested."
Glaint only thought about it for about 20 seconds, he turned to see the man.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I'll take the lady's offer."
He chose the lady over the man because he had something she wanted so she was much less likely to hurt him.
The masked man did not give importance to this and just nodded.
The tall lady smiled victoriously and spoke.
"Then would you like to meet at the place where you would deliver the blood?"
Glaint nodded.
"Sounds good to me, I'll be waiting for you there"
With that, the exchange between them ended and the one who spoke now was the masked man from before.
"I'm looking for Slumber and Dream Charms, I heard someone was selling them here, did he come today?"
Just like before, no one spoke for a few moments, then a rather young voice spoke with a bit of suspicion.
"I have 2 Slumber charms, 5 pounds each" the one who spoke was a thin man with a simple mask on his face.
The masked man nodded and took two 5-pound notes folded together from his pocket and placed them on the tray of the worker who carried him to the thin man.
He took them and checked that they were authentic, but when he went to check the second one he saw that there was a small note between the two.
It was folded in half and had a question written in hermes in red ink.
<Do you want to become stronger? If so, open this note, and if not, just throw it away or burn it, but you only have this chance so think about it>
His suspicion increased to drastic levels and he looked at the masked man for answers.
But he just kept quiet.
He looked down again and looked again at the paper seriously and considered what to do...
He grabbed the note and opened it and read the contents.
His eyebrows rose in surprise and he looked at the masked man in astonishment.
"Is this true?" he couldn't help but ask.
The masked man nodded.
"It's true, my boss never lies about his deals." he said seriously.
The thin man said nothing, he just looked down at the note again, and after rereading it, he just put it in his vest.
"I'll give him an answer in a few days, will this be okay for him?"
The masked man nodded
"No problem, he is a patient man above all else."
The thin man nodded and sighed, but before he could do anything he saw how the worker was looking at him still with the tray in front of him.
Realizing the reason for this, he quickly placed the two silver rectangles on the tray that was brought to the masked man who calmly took them.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you."
The thin man nodded.
Everyone watched this interaction curious but unable to ask any questions, the meeting returned to normal...
Bravehearts Bar, 8:40 p.m.
'Why it itches so much?' Glaint thought awkwardly adjusting his shirt collar.
He was now in one of the rooms that had the bar.
They offered rooms for drunks who could afford them to spend the night and he had paid for one to meet the ladies from before.
He was now dressed in a simple shirt with a brown vest and work pants, he had put some makeup on his face to appear older and had old gloves on his hands.
He was somewhat nervous, he would meet two new possible Beyonders outside of the royal family!
He already wanted to know what kind of abilities these would have.
'If Adryan can use and move through the shadows what could they do? Control the light? The fire?' he thought excitedly.
But before he could come up with any crazier ideas, the room door was knocked on and this startled the viscount.
Quickly calming his racing heart, he walked over to the door and opened it.
In front of him now were two women.
The tallest was about 1.65 meters tall. She has slightly curly brown hair and light blue eyes.
The shortest was 1.62 tall and had short, shoulder-length golden hair and dark green eyes.
"Can we come in?"
The taller one asked with a smile and Glaint nodded...
Closing the door and looking at the two women in front of him, Glaint swallowed.
It was easy to see that he was nervous.
The first to speak was the tall lady.
"There's no need to be nervous, we're here to talk business after all."
"Yes..." Glaint nodded.
Recovering his courage, he spoke seriously.
"How do I know that you are telling the truth about the Beyonder meeting? Or that you are even Beyonders?"
"If you don't trust us why did you choose us over the other?" The shorter one asked sharply, Glaint's expression trembled slightly but he held his ground.
"I trust that you won't hurt me because I have something you want." He corrected and this silenced them.
Instead of being offended by what Glaint had said, the taller woman had a small smile while the shorter one just nodded.
"It's good to think like that, that means you won't be surprised too easily." The tallest said.
"But you still need to be more careful, this move of yours is risky, what prevents us from kidnapping you and forcing you to tell us where the blood is?" the shortest said.
At that Glaint laughed awkwardly, he had not taken it into account, the emotion had clouded his judgment a bit.
The air in the room became somewhat tense and uncomfortable, and trying to fix this, Glaint fake coughed.
"Cough* Cough* Sorry about that episode, the last few days have been exhausting and I'm a bit tense" he tried to excuse himself but the taller one chuckled.
"No need, I have no problem confirming that if we are true Beyonders, my friend's abilities are not that showy but mine on the other hand..."
She walked to the door and extending her right palm, she grabbed the door handle.
Glaint's vision went blurry, it's as if he saw the woman walk through the door!
The door, which had been locked, was opened from the outside and the woman calmly entered.
Glaint had an expression of astonishment.
"Was that enough?" she asked elegantly.
"Yes, that was more than enough, miss!" Glaint exclaimed, a big smile on his face.
The shorter woman rolled her eyes at this.
Glaint only took a few moments to recover, as this was not the first time he had seen something like this.
"So this meeting we talked about?"
"Yes we'll take you there, at the right price obviously, I hope you can afford it." the shorter one said calmly and Glaint nodded confidently.
He had brought a good amount of money.
"Just tell me your price ladies!" he exclaimed confidently.
The women looked at this with a flat expression.
"It would be about 20 pounds to introduce you to the meeting," said the short girl and Glaint nodded a little confused.
"Why so cheap?" He accidentally let go and this confused the women.
"What do you mean cheap?! This is already a bit of a high price!" the tallest said incredulously.
"Sorry, it's just that I expected it to be much more is all." He apologized as he took out the money and handed it to the shorter one who looked at him with a flat expression.
"Better pay us when we're already in the meeting, but we want you to deliver the Deep Sea Marlin's blood to us by tomorrow night at the latest."
Glaint just nodded and retracted his hand and pocketed the money.
He turned to look at the taller woman with a raised eyebrow.
"Do I know you from somewhere? Your face is familiar to me but I can't place it..."
The woman's eyebrow twitched slightly but controlling herself, she responded.
"Surely you saw my face in a newspaper, I am Fors Wall, a famous writer"
"Ohhh! So that was why!" Glaint exclaimed in understanding and he turned to look at the shorter one.
"And who are you?"
She didn't even flinch at that, she had a lot of experience in being provoked.
So with a slight nod, she introduced herself.
"Xio Derecha, nice to meet you Viscount Glaint."
Glaint's face was horrified as he looked at the women in front of him.
"How do you know? My disguise should be perfect!"
He had hidden his hands this time!
Both women raised an eyebrow and took a good look at the man's face.
Despite having a little makeup, it did not hide the most important features of his face at all.
So if someone took a good look at him, he would be recognized very easily.
The man's face was very recognizable because when he took the title of Viscount, his face was on the front page of every newspaper for several weeks.
Also, the way he moved and carried himself was too elegant.
He stood out like a sore thumb.
"..."
"..."
They looked at each other without knowing what to say.
So they decided to go for the best and change the subject.
"We'll give you an address to send the blood to."
"You will also go to this address on Friday at 1:00 p.m., come with a robe and mask for the meeting." Xio said and Glaint nodded.
The disguise that he had put so much effort into turned out to be useless...
Fors could only feel sorry to see how down Glaint had become but she didn't know how to comfort him so she could only stand there awkwardly.
...
In a room whose only lighting was a few candles.
There was no bed in this room, only nearly empty shelves.
The materials they had varied between silver, ink, plants, powders of various materials, different brushes, etc.
A thin man with gray-black hair was sitting in a chair looking at the note in his hands, rereading it for the fifteenth time.
He looked just a little older than seventeen, his purple eyes reading each written word earnestly.
His desk had various rectangular, semicircular, and triangular pieces.
Some of them had writings in Hermes and Ancient Hermes and various symbols full of mysticism.
The others seemed simple pieces, without anything special.
They were still to be completed.
The man sighed as he lowered the note.
He put his hand to his forehead and massaged it.
"Should I accept this or not..." he murmured doubtfully as he looked at the note again.
_Hello Mr. Mystery Pryer_
You don't know me and I don't know you either.
But I do know several things.
The first one is that now you are wondering who I am, what I want with you, and if you are in danger.
You are not in danger.
Who I am you will know if you accept this, otherwise you will never hear from me again.
The only thing I want with you is to form a relationship that benefits us both.
I offer you a deal that no one else will.
I am looking for Beyonders like you.
I'm building a team and your abilities will be very useful, I've seen what your charms are capable of and I know you have the ability.
What I offer you is simple.
I offer you to never again have to worry about money, potion formulas, or materials for your charms and other things you want to do.
You will have my protection and that of our team members, obviously, we hope you return the favor.
The team protects each other after all.
All I ask is your absolute loyalty and that you follow us wherever we go, we will be moving a lot after all.
I'll tell you right off the bat, there will be great dangers if you accept this.
The things you will face will be things you could never have imagined.
Monsters that not even the most disturbed of minds could imagine.
Your life will always be in danger.
But all that danger also comes with rewards you never imagined receiving.
Riches that not even the most greedy and covetous could imagine obtaining, or even touching.
If you reject this there is no problem, I would just like you to sell me the Mystery Pryer potion formula and that is all you will know about me.
__Sincerely Y.M___
He brought his thumb to his mouth and began to gently bite the skin.
'What do I do, what do I do, what do I do...
'Not only I don't have any clues to the Melee Scholar's potion formula, but very soon I'll have to start using the money I saved up for the formula...'
He still wasn't desperate enough to accept an offer to join a team.
Only after multiple and exhaustive divinations would he consider accepting.
And he would only consider it for the sole reason that the guy was considerate enough to say that his life would always be in danger...
Looking at the signature he frowned.
"Who is Y.M? Perhaps an acronym for his name..."
...
The masked man who had bought the Slumber Charms was now in the sewers, standing in military salute in front of a redheaded man.
There were balls of fire floating around them, lighting up the dark sewer.
He no longer had his mask on allowing people to see his reddish-orange eyes.
"The message was delivered, sir!"
"The target took it and says he will give you an answer in a few days sir!"
Adryan smiled at this.
"It's good to hear that~"
But then he laughed mischievously when he remembered something he had done.
The signature he had used had been an acronym for <Your Mom>
Flora who was looking at this interaction, could only sigh.
She had woken up just a few hours ago and already wanted to go back to sleep.
____________________________________
I would like to apologize to you for not having published any chapter these 2 almost 3 days.
I was quite sick and had no energy to do anything, I'm better now, runny nose, but better.
Sorry, again.
Also, regarding the question from Chapter 157.
The correct answer was Artist.
Congratulations to Foosh for getting it right.
Also...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BERNADETTE BEIBEI.