Chapter 6: Lingering Thoughts
A few days passed.
Rose and the rest of the Secret Unit are eventually released from the hospital rooms.
She did some digging around on the background of the dead summoner. My suspicions that he isn't someone simple proved to be correct.
He came from a family of commoners, but had since risen up the ranks and became an aristocrat thanks to his skill in summoning.
He was dual type summoner.
He could summon both Celestial beings and their natural nemesis, creatures of darkness.
She had doubts, questions, and misgivings about why he gave her all his knowledge before his death.
Why did he choose to give what he had to a random outsider, and an enemy at that? Why me?
She pondered all along.
Rose read the pages of the book she obtained from the summoner.
It is a detailed and comprehensive book on everything you could summon, from the lowest skeleton down up to the archdemons themselves, from Purson to Belial.
It also detailed how to summon the Archangels, from Raphael to Gabriel, aside from other Celestial beings that ranked lower than that.
It seems she got her hand on a treasure and a hard-to-find book at that.
The one common rule when summoning is don't summon what you can't banish.
That's why she put safeguards in place before she read the book, in case she summons something by mistake.
Rose also remembered the badge the deceased summoner gave to her.
She instantly recognized the face of the helmeted woman etched on the badge, with her hawk at the back.
It is Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
What is this badge supposed to signify?
She asked uncle, and the other summoners I know about it.
She sent it to a magic laboratory/workshop under the control of her uncle to have it verified.
She also agreed to meet up with Kenji Minato later, right after class.
She knew Kenji Minato, but they aren't close.
Rose has been on a joint mission with the fleet led by her uncle before.
And she has visited the Minato family many times too.
She got shaken off from her thoughts when she looked at the time.
Rose still has a class to attend, so she hurried to finish her meal at the University Canteen.
Tashiro is back at his condo unit, finally glad that he shook his pursuers off his trail.
He planned ahead of the enemy.
He placed false trails in advance to shake off his pursuers.
And he was eventually proved right.
After a few days of moving around incognito right under the Senior Renegade Agent's nose, he is finally glad that those two took the bait and was led to a false trail.
He smirked.
The safest place is also the most dangerous place.
Just make sure you're not caught, and blend in with the background.
He got to take a close-up look at the two Senior Agents who tried to track him down.
Both wore elite attire and stood out from the rest of the crowd.
Both were tall, muscular, and handsome.
He shook them off by removing the electronic tracking device placed on his clothes and intentionally placed it on another senior Renegade agent.
He yawned.
He went to the bedroom and fell asleep.
Kokoro is at the University Canteen, hungrily eating the lunch she ordered.
She already got over the surprise revelation Sakura made to her a few days earlier.
Who in this University wants me out of the picture? Is it those punk hecklers whose parents are affiliated with the Renegades? Or could it be someone else?
She couldn't help but wonder.
She needs to get in touch more with Sakura. She needed insider information before making a move.
So, she pulled out her smartphone.
"Sakura, you busy? Can we talk later? I need info on who wants me out of the picture. Oh, and can you introduce me to those who also spy on the Renegade side like you here on this campus? I need concrete information before making a move, you know."
Then she pressed send.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket and continued on eating.
Takeshi is back to dealing with the family business after he is released from the hospital room.
He also assisted in tracking down the shipment of the illegal goods and human smuggling he witnessed a few days earlier at The Masquerade.
He provided law enforcement with vital info so they could act.
He wanted it reduced, if not put to a stop.
A lot of raids and arrests on the small fry happened as a result of the masquerade ball.
A lot of people working under the smugglers got arrested. The workers he captured got slapped with heavy sentences in what would be dubbed as "The Farce Trial".
Meanwhile, the middlemen and the big fish always managed to elude capture, if they got lucky enough to escape.
Some vigilantes took advantage to make the situation more chaotic.
They killed those suspected to be involved in smuggling and left the dead bodies to be discovered on the street, with a placard saying "Renegade smuggler. Do not imitate."
Meanwhile, the media had a field day as a result of everything that happened.
Protests erupted all over Eloria as a result of how law enforcement mismanaged the crackdown.
What the hell is law enforcement doing? Are they in cahoots with those Renegade smugglers or something?
Takeshi couldn't believe what he is reading.
He conjured up a fire and burned the newspaper he was reading to ashes.
Then he designed a letter on his laptop and emailed it to law enforcement.
It read in blood red and capitalized font:
Fix your acts, or heads will roll.
Takeshi Nakamoto.
He hit send.
Takeshi is from the influential Nakamoto family, who're said to be the kingmakers in the past history of Eloria, up until now.
The Nakamoto family may have grown rich through trading, but they are also very influential in government circles.
A letter from any one of the Nakamoto family can either promote someone in the government, demote them or remove them from public service.
Riku attended his class today. He experienced another hectic schedule with a lot of activities he has yet to submit.
On top of that, one thing is bugging his mind.
He needed to learn summoning magic to improve his strength.
He texted Kokoro earlier, so he could obtain books for summoners.
He didn't want the same thing to happen again if he encountered another group of summoners again.
He also practiced hard with his sword skills using his katana and made a lot of effort to fully master the Breath of Water sword techniques.
He already mastered 90% of the sword techniques.
He also paid a lot of attention to his katana. He had it enhanced with powerful, ancient spells, and the blade point modified to make it sharper and deadlier.
He also practiced his spellcasting. He needs to learn complex spells to complement his sword skills. A magic swordsman is more dangerous and harder to beat than an ordinary swordsman.
Denver is on the way to inspect and visit the Dragon Hills where plenty of contracted dragons live.
He wondered what will happen between Rose and Kenji.
Denver already has his hands full with his duties as a Vice Admiral.
The sudden abdication of the head of the Hineki family on the family business sent a shockwave felt all over the elite social circle.
It meant that it fell on Denver to manage the business his deceased brother left over to the family.
He is first and foremost a military man and didn't know much about business.
However, he had a lot of contacts in the business world, and that included his own siblings.
The Dragon Hills, which is a military property is heavily fortified with spells, barbed wire, guards, and the latest security gadgets the military could buy with their budget.
Dragons are ancient mythical beings said to be the stuff of legends.
They had the form of humans, but they could shapeshift into dragons in battle.
They are also one of the few beings capable of casting spells in the Dragon tongue, as the Dragon tongue is one of the most ancient languages used in ancient times.
Dragons could singlehandedly change the course of battle even today.
They're known to be fierce elite fighters in battle. loyal to friends but the enemy's worse nightmare.
Get on a dragon's bad side, and run for your life.
They have the same physical anatomy as humans in their human form, except for a few striking differences.
Their blood is ochre, the blood of the ancient gods.
They also have silver hair and fair skin which makes them different.
Kenji looked at the time.
It's already 2:00 pm.
He sat and waited in the cafe Rose always frequented.
Will that girl show up or not?
He took a sip of the cappuccino.
He looked out the window.
He saw Rose's car screech to a stop right outside.
"Hi, Rose. You look haggard. Did you have a busy day earlier?"
"I just arrived right after my 2:30 class ended. I did have a hectic schedule earlier."
"Here's your seat. I ordered your favorite drink alongside your usual snack of doughnuts here."
Then he held her hand and kissed it.
What a sweet guy with a sweet voice. He even gazed at me straight in the eyes with wonder. What does he want from me? Why did he request to set up a meeting?
Rose thought.
She couldn't help but blush.
Then she took a sip of her coffee and ate the doughnuts.
Rose reciprocated his sweetness.
They both sat down together.
"Look, Kenji, we may not be close, but we know each other. So, let's get straight to the point, all right?"
Rose said gently.
"All right."
" I like you. You're sweet and caring. I also happen to like handsome muscular guys. But I already have a partner. I'm content with you being a close friend."
Kenji seemed surprised by her words.
"Not quite what you're hoping for, huh? At least I talked to you straight to the point. Who asked you to meet with me?"
"It was, uh, your uncle Denver. He didn't tell me the reasons why though. It seemed he came to an agreement with my father beforehand."
That old fool. He always cared about the trappings of nobility, and how to preserve the Hineki name and fortune.
I wished the old generation focused on more productive things instead of letting their status go to their heads.
Rose mused to herself.
Sakura did some exercises before setting up her equipment.
After it's done, she proceeds to observe those who always heckled Kokoro from the safety of her hideout.
She placed a tracker on them earlier without them noticing.
Her hideout is a modest apartment in a busy area somewhere in Akiko. It looked plain and unassuming on the outside to avoid suspicion.
She also installed a secret room somewhere in the apartment with an opaque glass door that opens only through face recognition.
The secret room is where she stays when she needs to track down someone from a distance.
What are they up to again?
She wondered.
She noticed that they entered a phony alley.
She immediately recorded what she was about to witness.
They all wore dark cloaks and started chanting in Latin.
Old memories resurfaced of the creepy rituals she witnessed as a child back then.
She still vividly remembered how her she and her father went to a top-secret location.
Both she and her father wore a black hooded robe to conceal their identities while wearing all black beneath, complete with black shoes.
They entered a shady-looking building and entered a darkened room.
There were people waiting for them in the darkened room. A pentagram glowed blood red in the center of the room.
She could hear the screams of a woman being sacrificed in the next room. She stood transfixed in fear and didn't dare lift a finger to help the woman.
Then she got jolted back to the present.
One of them had drawn a pentagram with other strange inscriptions on the floor.
The pentagram already started to glow a faint shade of red.
In the middle of the pentagram is a picture of Baphomet.