"I appreciate your kindness, ma'am." At that moment, my stomach let out a rumble, loud enough that everyone within the room could hear. "I think I want to order two extra portions of chicken tenders."
It didn't take a while until I left with a warm soup canteen in my hand, and two boxes of chicken tenders.
I still have many times left.
So I temporarily stored the precious beef stew in my apartment before going to the next destination.
"What are you doing with this many ropes?"
"Something, something."
"That will be 900 Solus then."
"I'll take 800."
"Fine."
After that, I went straight to my home with the giant bulk of ropes within the bag that I just bought.
Before I did anything else, I made sure that both of the chicken tenders were secured within my belly.
"Hmm, I need some liquor."
Until the time comes, I experimented with the control of my MIND, trying to see if I could make some maneuver more efficient. When forty three minutes had passed, I sheathed back my sword and prepared the materials.
As an extra, I brought an unused black scarf in my wardrobe, tucked it into the multilayered jacket.
With a barely working hand, I strapped the soup canteen on my flailing arm with a tight knot of ropes. It looked stupid, but it worked!
Like a wandering fool in the land of eastern delight, I carried the giant bag full of ropes as I traversed the maze of the Lowstreet once again.
As soon as I entered the site, there was only the leader of Headlamp 23 waiting in front of the entrance to the storage.
"Thank you for your work, Taurine."
"No prob, no prob!" He then leaned to my ears before whispering, "Those two people inside looked really pale and intense, do you think that they are holding the call of nature?"
"Nah, they were probably too excited and nervous before the mission."
"I hope so. Well then, good luck on whatever your first mission is! Aaand whatever that giant bag of yours."
"Of course, you too, mate."
I entered the storage and threw the giant bag filled with ropes to the side. Just a few seconds of being inside the building, I could perceive the heavy auras akin to killing intent that had exceeded those of what a normal person should possess.
I gently walked towards them. Each step of mine echoed the whole free space, amplifying the typhoon of fear and determination with the existence of a deadline.
Both of them stood there, drenched with sweats, eyes of sheer focus, and with opened documents in their hands. As soon as I entered their field of vision, both of them glared at me like a predator when seeing another of their kind.
Yes.
This is the power of deadlines.
"Did both of you make it?"
Both of them put on a wry smile.
""Yes!""
Well, it seemed like they were ready to hunt.
The hunting ground: Northeast Area of District 67's Lowstreets.
The Yugen Extra's turf.
Though, it would be improper to hunt with an empty stomach.
I unstrapped the soup canteen from my left unusable hand and put it on the ground along with myself. "The hunt will be an intense one, so fill your belly until it is full before we proceed."
Both of them sat on the ground, putting the documents aside before sighing with relief.
"Uuuhrgh." Neijya still had her face full of pitiful confusion. "Leader, what was that about?"
Nusa went on to open the lid unhesitatingly. "I feel like this stew is some kind of meal that a prisoner takes before execution."
"The spoons are on the second layer." I laughed. "It's kinda mean of you, I pleaded the cooks within the Cassandra Tavern this blinding morning, just so that my Headlamp can have a head start."
Neijya still felt nervous, to the point that she forgot that the stew was piping hot, resulting in a tongue burnt before whimpering like a kid.
"Still, it's probably because this is the first day where I've interacted with you." Nusa stared at the porting that he scooped. "Your action is really unpredictable, Mr. Faust, I legitimately thought that you would kill both of us if we somehow failed."
"Then again, all of that is a piece of cake!" Neijya then made sure that she had properly blown the meat she scooped before chomping it with glee.
Nusa put on a wry smirk. "I think I'm too focused to save my life, but is it just me or did I hear someone crying really hard in the first twenty minutes or so?"
"Nope, you're probably hallucinating."
"Hahahaha, so how many people both of you have memorized?"
"I think I memorized all of them," said Nusa.
"Ahaha, I think I forgot a couple of them right after you show the stew." Neijya threw her gaze to the side, lightly scratching her cheek with her index. "Can I have a second chance!?"
"Sure." I leaned my chin to my hand that was supported by my thigh. "Both of you are even allowed to check the documents in the middle of the hunt, but doing so frequently will definitely make you susceptible to dying."
"Uuuh, still, is it necessary to spook the hell out of our souls?" Neijya whimpered once again.
"You managed to memorize around 70% of them in just a short amount of time, no? I did this not without knowing the mental capacity of you lots. It would be bad to have a broken personnel in a hunt, you know?"
Then again, Nusa had more potential than I thought. It seemed like it wasn't a coincidence for the Cheshire Cat to appoint him instead of the others.
I waited until both of them finished their meal. While doing so, I unwrapped the tangling mess of enormous amounts of ropes that may or may not suffice for the operation that I planned.
Both of them were still oblivious to what this mission was all about. But I didn't want to drop the intensity as much by revealing them all in one go.