Chapter 8: A time for better times

A few days passed by and Lia and her father were slowly able to recover from the horrible event by staying at our apartment. My parents, being who they are, never stopped asking Lia questions, so we would coop up in my room all day talking. The old man had wanted to return to his store but understood that it could be dangerous.

Me and Lia are sitting on the bed talking and my phone starts suddenly buzzing. I pick it up and it is Albert.

"Hello, it's Ian?"

"Hi Ian. I wondering if you could come in to Deal Reds tomorrow? I have a few things to discuss with you considering the recent events."

I look up at Lia. She's smiling like an angel.

"Yeah sure."

"Oh and also... Make sure to wear proper clothes since you won't be the only one there."

"Okay will do. Anything else I will need to think about?"

The phone went silent.

"Mmm... No. That was it."

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

I end the call and put my phone back on my desk.

"Who was that?"

Lia asked while at the same time 'pretend punching' me.

"It was the owner of the company that I own shares in. He wanted me to come visit him tomorrow."

Lia made a face.

"I meant to ask you by the way. I want to join a guild and start practicing my sword ability."

The look on Lia's face was serious. If I wasn't there when the intruders attacked, then the story would've looked very different..

"I can help you look for a guild, if you want? I can ask around since I know a few that are part of guilds."

"I'd appreciate that!"

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out and spending time together. I knew very well that I wouldn't be able to sit still in the near future. The incident when my parents died aren't too far ahead in the future. Just about two months, so I have to get stronger before then. I know it will be different now that I know about it but what if it were to occur again and I wasn't strong enough to save my parents.

...

I lock my car on the way to the entrance of Deal Reds. I enter the big hall where the same receptionist I yelled at previously is standing behind the counter. A woman with long brown hair is sitting in the couches on the opposite side of where the receptionist is placed. She seems a bit irritated but I decide to ignore her.

"I'm here to meet Albert."

"He is awaiting your arrival on the 14th floor."

"Alright, thank you."

Me walking towards the elevators, the woman yells at me.

"Tell that fathead to come downstairs."

I stop and look back. I make sure to study her face so that I can remember it for the future if just in case if I ever happen to stumble upon her later. She did not seem to like though as she almost instantly yelled at me instead.

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

She is rather tall, long legs...

*Ding, Floor 14*

I step out from the elevator and head directly for the open door at the end of the hall.

"Hey."

I step in to the room and to the right of me is Chandler, sitting on a chair with both his hands curled up to fists on his thighs.

"Hello Ian. How was the drive here?"

"It was fine. Not much traffic."

"Great! Well, I called you up here for a few reasons. The first and probably most important is for my son to apologize."

Albert turns his gaze towards his son Chandler. Chandler noticing this then looks to me.

"I'm sorry for the harsh words."

That was it? I expected more from him, and what about the men he hired to kill us?

"Now, the second reason I called you here also has to do with the event. The problem is though that the four men that tried killing you and your friends family had nothing to do with my son."

I stare in shock. Is Albert going to take his sons side on this matter?

"Before you come to your own conclusions. I know this fact because I looked in to the ID of the remains you gave me and all four of them are part of the Venomous Guild."

I got a cold sweat from hearing this. The Venomous Guild is one of the most dangerous groups to exist in our country. What did this mean?

"The Venomous Guild works in a very strict systematic way. Four members are not able to do as they please that easily without someone targeting one of the three of you."

Someone is targeting one of us? They went to the old man's house which probably means that they are either targeting the old man or Lia. I quickly called Lynn because she almost always pick up her phone.

"Lynn here, what's up bro?"

"Could you hand the phone over to the old man?"

"Why~?"

"Please just do as I say."

"I can't. He left to go buy groceries just after you left."

"What! Is Lia still there?"

I sat down on chair and started doing the breathing exercise to calm myself down.

"Yeah? You want to talk to her?"

"Yes, please hand her the phone."

"Ai ai captain."

I could hear some rustling and some muffled voices.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lia. Don't leave the apartment under any circumstances today. I will tell you more about it later when I get home but for now just don't leave."

"What, why? Father went to the store, should I be worried?"

I started biting my nails not knowing what to say.

"I really don't know. Just make sure to not leave the house for now. I have to go but I promise I will tell you everything when I get home. Love you, bye."

"...love you too, bye."

I felt bad that I worried her but I felt it was necessary.

"I'm guessing that was the daughter?"

Albert asked.

"Yeah. The old man has gone to buy groceries which is why I'm worried."

Silence filled the room. I remembered then what I wanted to ask.

"Can I talk to you in private without your son?"

"Sure. Son, leave the room."

It was very clear that Albert was not proud his son's actions. The coldness that was in Albert's voice is not one of a father's. Chandler walked outside and closed the door. Before I started speaking, I made sure to sit properly.

"What I wanted to ask was if you knew of some guild Lia, the daughter, could join? She is an C rank and has the proficiency in swords."

Albert was rubbing his beard to my question which meant he was thinking about it.

"I do but the problem is not that she might lack in skill, it is that it is not very probable that someone would want to invite a 'target' into their guild. Also, it would not be smart of her to leave the house for a while."

"Yeah. I want to know why they are targeting specifically this family. What could they have done to become a target?"

It got quiet. After maybe a minute of silence, I had decided that it was time for me to leave. If the old man returned home then I have to warn him.

"I will be taking my leave for now."

"Alright. I'll call if I know something."

On the car drive home, I couldn't help but imagine the worst. What if the old man had gotten killed? What if they invaded my home and hurt Lia and my family?

...

I open the door to my apartment and I see Lia on her way out.

"Where are you going? I told you to not leave the house! It's dangerous out there."

"Then what am I supposed to do? My father is still out there and he might get hurt!"

I hug Lia to stop her from trying to leave but she keeps trying to push me away.

"Please listen Lia!"

She stops resisting and starts crying. The uncertainty of not knowing if her dad is alive or not must be eating her alive. I hold Lia's hand and lead her to my room. This is mostly to prevent my sister Lynn from hearing what is going on.

We sat down my bed and I told her all of the information that had been given to me by the CEO of Deal Reds. There were multiple times when I had to comfort her and while I could not tell her that it was going to be fine, I was able to calm her down.

...

It was nearing midnight and the old man had yet to return. Lia went to sleep that night holding my hand while crying. It was confirmed the next day when it was shown on the news how an older man had been killed in an alleyway. I then spent the rest of the week with Lia to make sure she got better and could function properly. I then got a call from Albert.

"Hello, It's Ian."

"Hey, it's Albert calling with some information I think you'd want. Oh and I'm... sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. Tell me."

"We did some research on the bodily remains and found out that one of the guys had a connection to one of your old classmates."

"Who?"

"Her name was Christine. Apparently when she was found out that we contacted her parents, she committed suicide. That's what they want us to think at least."

"Thank you for telling me this."

"While I value you as a friend, do not think that I did this for you. My son took part in this which meant I had to intervene. Also, according to the information we gathered, the father was their only target."

"Once again, thank you."

"That was all. Take care."

The call ended and I stood up from my chair. This means that I am finally free to do what I want. My plan is to continue with increasing my stats before the incident is supposed to take place. I go to my computer where Lia is resided.

"Hey sweetie."

I lean over her on the chair and kiss her on the hair.

"Mind if I use the computer for just a little bit?"

"Just let me finish this game and the computer is all yours."

I then spent the next twenty minutes watching Lia be embarrassed from dying over and over again on the game. It was cute but I didn't understand why anyone would want to play a game where the simplest mistake seemed to get you killed?

When she was done she went in to the living room and started talking to Lynn.

I log on the Lion Guild's website to order a guide when I see how all of the portals are fully booked. I bring out my phone and call Dan.

"Hey what's up?"

"Hey Dan. I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

"That fully depends on what it is."

"I wanted to book a guide today but the website says that it's fully booked."

"And you want me to let you hunt anyways?"

"Yeah. If you could somehow help me enter a portal either today or tomorrow, that would be awesome. I'll pay if need be."

"Hey man, I'll look into it and I'll give you an answer the second I know it."

"Great. See you later."

"Later!"

The call ended and I was back to cleaning.

...

Dan had called me earlier today telling me that I can follow him into a portal while he is inspecting it. He is making sure that the mana waves are flowing correctly and that it is stable. This also mean that I will be able to increase my stats.

We decided on the phone that we would meet up at 4:30 PM outside the mall not that far away from the portal entrance. Since it was right before dinner time we decided that we might as well eat before we get to work.

We did as planned and on our way to the portal, Dan asked me a question I had not thought that much about.

"Are you planning on joining any guilds?"

"Joining a guild?"

"Yeah. Like me, who's in Lions Guild. It's pretty neat."

"Don't you need to be strong in order to be accepted in to a guild?"

"You will probably make it. If you get a little better at combat, they would probably let you in."

Dan gave me a positive look. I had never really thought about joining a guild. The problem of joining a guild is that they are able to constantly look at your power, mana and strengths. This means that I wouldn't be able to really get anywhere if they were constantly breathing down my neck and seeing my every move.

"I'm sorry Dan but I will have to reject your offer of joining a guild. Being tied down is just not for me."

"If you get a little faster, you could probably work as a mercenary."

Mercenaries are people who work outside of guilds and are separately paid. They are not tied down to contracts. They just turn up where they are told, do what they are told and get paid. It seems easy on the outside but the when you see the actual dangers of working as a mercenary, most people tend to avoid it and just join a guild instead.

Anything can happen in a dungeon. People often abuse this fact and if they're cold hearted enough, they sacrifice their team for their self gain. This is what the Venomous Guild was built upon. Working for themselves and not caring about others is the essence of the guild.

We walked up to the portal controller. Dan showed his ID to the man behind the desk.

"He is with me."

Dan pointed at me, they both nodded and we went through the gate.