Tomorrow then came as slow as it could ever be. It was about 15 minutes since the 8th bell rang by now, and many people around this part of the city had become quite active. Stores had been opened, and merchants had already begun to open their stalls to sell their wares.
That's right. Yoro had arrived at the marketplace right now, precisely at the cafe that the blond boy had told him to go to. The cafe was big, sure. But in Yoro's eyes, it wasn't that big enough to be called a restaurant and definitely not small enough to not hold any frequent customers.
And it was the part where Yoro found the store to be very accommodating for what he would do.
Yoro entered inside and was immediately greeted by the servant there. But before he could say anything, the servant already led him towards one of the private rooms upstairs and left him alone there on his own, but not without leaving some words about someone was waiting for him inside.
Yoro didn't waste his time any longer and entered the room. Inside, he found the blond boy from yesterday sitting on the only table in the room while sipping his tea leisurely. And unexpectedly, he was with some other additional people. They were two unfamiliar beauties, both sitting on the blondy's side respectively.
"Ah! it's nice to see you again, my friend!" The young blonde exclaimed happily upon finding Yoro entering the room. He moved next to Yoro and circled one of his arms around his neck in an overly friendly manner. Yoro was guided to sit down on the only table that was surrounded by girls on both sides, all looking at him with a prying gaze.
"Umm… nice to meet you all? My name is Yoshiro Ehren." He said while scratching his cheeks. He just couldn't find a better spot for his hand under such an intense gaze around him.
"...Is he really the person you are talking about?" One of the girls with purple hair and eyes finally broke her stare and asked the teen doubtingly.
"Yep, it can't be wrong in anyways possible." The blonde boy confirmed with a wave of his hand, looked satisfied with himself.
"Hngg…. I don't know about you guys, but… I think his current condition isn't well enough to support this operation at all. It might be highly possible that he becomes an unnecessary burden and increases our workload instead." The other girl looked at Yoro in a displeased way as she uttered her opinion, stating her disagreement.
"No no no, I want you to remember the time you said exactly the same thing a month ago."
Before Yoro knew it, the three then began bickering with each other, isolating Yoro from their own world, leaving him standing there awkwardly. It was two mouth against one, but the blonde boy seemed to hold the upper hand in this. They whispered with each other from time to time, so Yoro couldn't get their whole conversation except for some useless information. But from what Yoro heard, he could conclude that the blonde was in fact, had been doing this kind of job for quite some time in another place apart from Ehrenar City.
In the end, the blonde boy won the argument. It actually wasn't about two against one, but about whether they could trust the blonde abilities or not, and they decided that trusting him as always seemed to be a good option to try.
"Yosh! Let's head towards their base!" The girl that looked displeased with Yoro appearances here then got up from her seat and was about to leave before the blonde boy pulled her collar, yanking her body to sit back beside him.
"You can't do that." The blonde teen looked at her with an unimpressed stare and said before she could interrupt him. "We are in other noble's territory right now. So we can't do it like the last time. Moreover, this merchant company had been building their reputation for years, showing they aren't one to be taken lightly."
The green girl's expression deflated, but she conceded anyway. Yoro used this chance to utter the thought that had bugged him for quite some time now.
"Please wait a moment." His sudden talkativeness caught the interest of all people in the room, and Yoro uncomfortably shifted in his seat as he found himself under those gazes once again. "I know this is a bit late, but while raiding their head-quarter sounds great and that, I think you forget something that is quite…. essential here."
Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Yoro pointed out the obvious that had been neglected in this whole time. "We might have the same goal and the same enemy, but still, how can I trust you guys with just that? I mean, we barely know each other. Neither did we know our respective abilities and skill in handling things well enough to trust our back with each other. It's not like I don't trust you, but we don't even know each other's names yet!"
His words made them all silent. It's not that they had been neglecting that fact, but they didn't even consider Yoro to be a help at all since the beginning. Yoro didn't know what their intention was by bringing him in, but considering they had known he was a noble, it was highly possible that in the girls mind, his task in this whole operation was nothing but to dispose of all the evidence and hide their involvement.
It was the only thing a sick young noble could do after all.
"Hmm… I guess you are right." The blondy raised up from his seat and clapped his hand to get their attention. "Before anything, let's introduce ourselves first." The blondy started with himself. "My name is Ian." He then pointed at the purple haired girl. "This is violet, and here is Tina." He said as he pointed at the last girl, disagreement still painted all over her face as she looked at Yoro.
"And just to confirm your thought, you actually aren't needed in this operation." He said, making Yoro flinched at his bluntness. "So the problem here actually not lies in whether you can believe us, but whether we can believe you instead." He then pointed at himself. "And that's where my ability comes into play."
"Ability?" Yoro asked curiously.
The green haired girl on his right snorted. "Is there no one that taught you that asking for another person's ability is rude? And here I thought you are a noble…" Her voice trailed off as she received Ian's glare.
Ian snorted and turned his attention back at Yoro. "No it's okay. Let's just say my ability can see another person's capabilities for some… 'extent'. Well, I know it's a bit unbelievable, but I hope that answers all your questions."
He said that, but it only worked to increase the question that Yoro had about him. Especially whether this blonde could see his certain perk or not.
"Leaving that aside, we should plan what approach we will take in this operation." he then threw the file he was holding onto the table. "Considering Yoshiro had gotten almost all the necessary information about them, we can proceed like this." He then opened the file, explaining his strategy. That was when Yoro realized the information the blonde presented him in here was surprisingly more detailed than what he had.
Time then passed, and by the time they finishedfinished discussing, they decided to do their operation at the night time.
* * *
In the dark corridor of a certain basement, Yoro treaded the already planned path with a lantern in his hand, his face looked more serious than ever.
On his left side was Ian. Like Yoro, he also wore his own black robe that revealed nothing but his mouth. On his hand was a map that he had marked with 'x' in some spots, and now they were walking towards the last 'o' spot in the map.
Even though they looked like they were walking in the park, neither of them dropped thier guard. If one knew them better, they would realize that they were walking while avoiding the traps on their every step, it would make one surprised at how such a feat was possible when they disarmed none of it. It also should be said that there wasn't just one or two in here. It was infested with tons and tons of traps everywhere with none of it triggered. Whoever designed this place must be crying right now at how easy these brats bypass them in a very short amount of time.
BOOOM!!
The sudden tremor in the ground above them shook their body slightly. The purple haired girl from before was cursing under her breath upon this phenomenon. The only one that wasn't here now was the feisty girl, so it was clear who was responsible for the explosion.
They three had planned this scenario since the start. The feisty girl, the one who disagreed to receive Yoro's help from before, took part as a distraction. She didn't have to do much, only took the guards one by one until anyone realized what was going on. While the other team infiltrate the building with another secret route that Ian somehow got his hand into.
"She had been found out." Yoro stated the obvious. "Are you really sure to leave her alone up there? I mean, she wouldn't only have to outrun the W.A.V.E guards, but also the city guards, which is on an entirely different level."
"Don't worry" Ian answered with a little bit too much confidence in his voice to Yoro's liking. "If there was anyone who was the best at running away, then it was definitely her."
"....sigh…. I am still not sure." Yoro's doubt was understandable. From the girl's appearances, she couldn't be more than 15 years old. Yet she was tasked to oversmart the security system that Ehren family had build for years coupled with not so stupid guards that working on the system. Chad had been very selective in choosing them, and Yoro himself already testified their ability to certain extent. What he found out was not to underestimate them.
But before Yoro could argue further, Ian stopped in his tracks.
"We had arrived." He said while eyeing the big door in front of him coldly.