Gabriel's problem

Niklas arrived in a small meeting room on the fourth floor of the Blue Box Central Guild building. Gabriel was already seated at the lone table in the room. The room had the feeling of a bar. The wall behind Gabriel was a window made of reflective float glass so that the street below and everything outside were visible to those inside the building.

As Niklas approached the table to take the second seat and the only seat left, he carefully observed the man before him. Gabriel still looked like he remembered. Niklas extended his hand for a handshake as he sat down.

"I'm very glad with this meeting. I was not expecting it to happen so soon."

Gabriel shook his hand and said, "I was not expecting it to happen at all."

Niklas looked at the bar in the room; a barman was there. Gabriel had noticed his gaze and said,

"The managers of this facility intentionally added them in the meeting rooms of this class so that unexpected things couldn't happen."

Niklas understood Gabriel's words. The barman was strong enough to handle him if he misbehaved. Gabriel didn't trust Niklas, and so he had to assure his safety when they met by having a powerful person present to oversee the meeting.

"I assume that the privacy of this meeting is not assured," Niklas said, a hint of disappointment flashing across his face.

"No, it is not. If you have anything that can implicate you that you wish to say to me, it is best that you do not go on with it. If there isn't, you can consider this meeting as private as you wish," Gabriel said.

Niklas went silent for a while in thought. The meeting setup vexed Niklas. He wanted this meeting to be very private because he was wary that Chief Emmanuel Idriss' spies could be anywhere. But on second thought, he agreed that this meeting's setup was warranted. When two strangers met for the first time, none of them knew how the other would react to certain information. Niklas relaxed his creased brows.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was tensed by Niklas' silence. He hoped that this meeting would develop positively so that he wouldn't have to return any part of the money that Niklas had just sent him. The Hunters Guild had a code that said that any hunter who was a beneficiary must return something of equal value to their benefactor, who was also a hunter. Gabriel knew that he would lose the debate about his encouragement being worth seventy thousand Earth Kredits.

Niklas sighed.

"On call, I told you that I want to help a bedridden mother and son, and I would need your help to do this."

"Why can't you do it yourself? If you have the money, what stops you from making all the arrangements?" Gabriel asked.

On the way to the Hunters Central Guild Building, Gabriel deliberated on what Niklas told him on the phone. After thinking about it, he concluded that what Niklas told him didn't add up. He felt that the red-haired man had an ulterior motive. 'Could it be that he is wanted by certain authorities outside the reach of Blue Box, hence his movement is restricted in this settlement, and so he sought my help to help him get those ailing persons to a good hospital outside this settlement?' He wondered.

However, he hoped that wasn't the case. He didn't want to depart with any part of the seventy thousand Earth Kredits that Niklas had sent him.

Niklas replied, "I have enemies who are powerful. If they knew that I wanted to help that mother and son, they would kill them to hurt me."

"Are you a criminal?" Gabriel asked.

"I am not a criminal, Mr. Gabriel," Niklas said, his voice raised. This caused both men to take a look at the bartender, who didn't seem to be perturbed by Niklas' action.

Niklas showed Gabriel his Blue Box Minicity hunter's profile with his phone. The profile collected any form of data about a hunter from any part of the planet. The profile showed that Niklas had no criminal record.

"I just wanted to know if the person I am dealing with is a criminal," Gabriel said in defence.

"I would have done the same. Forgive my reaction," Niklas said.

"For me to efficiently work with you, we must have a fair exchange," Gabriel said. "What I need from you is honesty, and don't hide information from me."

Niklas nodded in understanding.

"I want to know why you want to help a bedridden mother and son who are not related to you. Is your heart that charitable in this cruel world?" Gabriel asked.

Niklas frowned. Gabriel waited for his reply.

"They are my mother and brother," Niklas said.

Gabriel sighed as he shook his head. He had a guess at what happened to Niklas. He said, "Your family got embroiled in a battle with your 'enemies' and they lost, right?"

Niklas nodded.

"It happens that your family is still in possession of some things that your enemies desire, no?"

Niklas replied, "A summarised answer is yes. But the truth is that the answer is complicated."

Gabriel rested his back lazily on his seat's rest while he stared at the ceiling in silence. Niklas wondered what was going through his intercalator's mind. 'I would not be surprised if he backs out of helping me. I told him that my enemies are powerful, so it makes sense that he would quit out of fear of losing his life."

Gabriel sat smartly in his seat and sighed. He looked at Niklas and sighed again.

"I will help you."

Niklas sighed in relief.

"The reason I am helping you is because I have an issue to resolve," Gabriel elucidated.

Niklas jerked his head back, having a quick thought.

"I guess this issue relates to you thanking me immensely for gifting you," Niklas said.

"Your guess is correct," Gabriel affirmed.

"Go on, I am all ears," Niklas said, folding his arms.

"I work as a hunter recruiter for hunting cliques," Gabriel began. "A while ago, I received a commission to find a powerful hunter that could be compared to at least a B-rank uncharted beast. The commission fee was seventy thousand Earth Kredits. The clique's boss was in dire need of this class of hunter; that's why the fee was as high as that.

"I couldn't find one, so I connived with some people who included a hunter comparable to a C-rank beast to help the C-rank-powered hunter pose as a B-rank-powered hunter. We were successful, and the hunter was added to the clique that hired me. Unfortunately for me, the adventure the clique had embarked on needed a true B-rank-powered hunter. The clique failed their adventure, lost a lot of battle equipment, and had their hunters severely injured, and that included the imposter I recruited for the team.

"I was arrested for fraud, and I was charged in court. Luckily, the law demanded that I pay for every expense that the affected clique had incurred since no one died in their adventure. I paid out almost everything, but I am seventy thousand Earth Kredits behind in debt."

"It seems I have helped you out of your debt. I don't understand how you still need my help," Niklas said.

Gabriel opened his mouth to talk, but he realised an issue. "You don't know what the hunters' code says in this situation."

Niklas muttered, "Hunter's code," before he shook his head.

"I still have to find a strong hunter to help the clique's boss rebuild the clique after compensation has been paid," Gabriel said.

Niklas giggled in a self-deprecating manner.

"Why are you giggling?" Gabriel asked, feeling embarrassed.

"You think that I am a strong hunter?" Niklas asked.