Sunlight streamed in through the window curtains and hit his face. Stretching, Klaus woke up from his deep sleep, even though his eyes still felt heavy. He reached for the smartphone on the side table and looked at the clock.
"It's 7.30am. I slept eight hours."
He got out of bed and opened the curtains. The beautiful scenery of New York City greeted him along with the warm morning sunshine.
Ever since Klaus started working for the company, he had moved into an apartment in Greenwich Village. His body may never get tired, but his mind needed to rest after dealing with the piles of work.
"I've been missing Sundays lately."
After taking a shower and putting on his black suit, he walked out of the room. However, this morning seemed different from usual.
Klaus hadn't cleaned his apartment for the past two weeks, but the living room looked clean. The floor was shiny, and the books that used to lie on the sofa or table were back on the shelves.
He smelled a nice aroma coming from the kitchen. When he headed there, he saw a woman in a white apron cooking. On the food table were two servings of pancakes with hot butter on top.
Sylvia poured eggs and fried sausage onto empty plates and brought them to the table. The woman greeted Klaus as she saw him standing by the side of the kitchen.
"Oh, Klaus. Come here, your breakfast is ready."
It had been two days since Sylvia and Kevin had stayed at Klaus' apartment after the incident at Far Rockaway.
The siblings were apparently in financial trouble. Sylvia didn't have time to work because she was being chased by the Black Bulls; as a result, she didn't have enough money to pay the rent. Luckily, their kind landlady still let Kevin stay despite being two months behind in his rent. However, they couldn't continue to take her kindness for granted, so they thought they had to leave.
At first, Klaus asked Sheila to take them in, but her place was small and there wasn't enough space to accommodate two people, especially since Kevin was a teenager. Inevitably, Klaus had to house Sylvia and her brother, at least until she got her first paycheck.
Of course, they didn't stay for free. Klaus deducted Sylvia's salary while she lived with him. Actually, Klaus didn't mind if they didn't pay; it's just that he didn't want them to think of him as a charity organization.
Sitting at the table, Klaus downed a glass of water before taking a bite of warm sausage. "Didn't I tell you, you don't have to cook or clean? You already paid for it."
"That's okay. You've done so much for me anyway. I don't know how to repay you, so this is the least I can do."
"Suit yourself then." Klaus chewed on the egg, the unusual savory taste tickling his tongue. "By the way, you've fully recovered, right? We're going to the guild this morning. I'm meeting you with the guild master. From now on, you work for him."
After finishing their breakfast, they immediately left for the Rays of Hope headquarters.
Several staff members greeted Klaus as he and Sylvia walked into the building. When they entered the training hall in the basement, Justin was seen briefing the members.
The guild members usually killed their time with sparring and physical training. Although they had above-average physical strength, they needed to keep their skills honed. More importantly, they needed to keep communicating with each other since they were a team.
The guild master smiled as he met Klaus and Sylvia. Justin's attention was drawn to Sylvia in her training outfit.
"Who's this, Klaus?" asked Justin kindly.
Klaus gestured for Sylvia to introduce herself.
"I am Sylvia Brown. Klaus invited me to join the guild. From now on, I will work for you."
Justin smiled broadly and shook her hand.
Seeing how Justin reacted to Sylvia, Klaus secretly sighed. The way Justin welcomed his new member was like a celebrity meeting a fan—too friendly and lacking assertiveness.
Klaus thought he needed to mold Justin's character if he didn't want the guild members to take his boss for granted.
"Sylvia, try sparring with one of them. Show them your skills," Klaus said.
The red-haired woman nodded, and as she walked over in front of the guild members, they looked curious. Sylvia introduced herself first, and then she invited them to fight.
"I want to warm up by sparring. Do any of you want to help me?"
Sylvia seemed confident in her words, making some members laugh. Before long, a big man came forward.
"I'll help you. And don't worry, girl. I'll try to restrain myself as much as possible; you can let out everything you've got," the man said arrogantly. The crowd of awakeners behind him erupted.
Sylvia sighed. "Alright then."
They then stood in the center of the hall, staring at each other before they started sparring, and the guild members swarmed them.
Meanwhile, Klaus and Justin watched them from the side of the training hall.
"This is going to end badly, Klaus. She's fighting a D-Class awakener, and he's a tanker, but his physical strength is also incredible. That chick just picked the wrong opponent."
Klaus smirked. "Wanna bet? If the big guy wins, I'll raise your salary by 10% next month. But if Sylvia wins, you'll have to work 3 hours of overtime every month without pay. Deal?" He held out his hand.
Justin pursed his lips. "Okay, deal."
As they shook hands, the match in the center of the training hall began.
Dashing, the big man started the attack. He slammed the ground with both hands as Sylvia managed to dodge his smashes. Some people could feel the vibrations on the floor.
Whispering voices filled the hall. The guild members made their own analysis of who won as they spectated the fight. Most of them bet that the big guy would win.
"That woman will be destroyed. You remember when that gorilla bent Liam over?"
"Yeah, I feel sorry for her."
"It's too early to jump to conclusions. But somehow I feel she's going to lose."
Aside from his large body, people called the big guy a gorilla because of his powerful and deadly physical blows. Every swing made the wind whistle; the big guy attacked Sylvia relentlessly while she just dodged his smashes.
"Didn't he say he would restrain himself?"
"That gorilla is really losing his mind."
As the big man swung his arm with brute force, Sylvia launched a jab, which landed right on the ribs, and the big guy twisted his face in agonizing pain.
"Argh, damn it!"
He continued to launch powerful punches, but Sylvia nimbly dodged them.
The big guy went berserk; he started attacking the red-haired woman relentlessly, but none of them landed on her; instead, he was the one getting dozens of jabs.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Keough!"
Seeing his champion cornered, Justin couldn't help but grit his teeth.
"You tricked me, didn't you?" Justin accused. "You made this bet because you knew the match result."
"Huh? Didn't I hear you wrong?" Klaus chuckled. "This bet wouldn't have happened if you hadn't accepted it."
"Damn it." The word was given. Justin couldn't take it back. "By the way. Who's that woman you brought?"
"She is a B-class awakener. She will be an ace for our guild."
Sylvia was previously an amateur-class female boxer at the high school level. Before she could start her career, she had to quit due to an awakening. Klaus judged that Sylvia had a strong fighting intuition after being used to the harsh street life.
Suddenly, cheers echoed through the training hall. The guild members spectating were excited as Sylvia managed to K.O. her opponent.
"The gorilla lost!"
"Badass Bitch!"
They cheered her on, and Sylvia raised her hands in celebration.
"It looks like she managed to adapt," Klaus muttered. "I leave her to you, Justin."
Klaus patted Justin on the shoulder before he walked out of the training hall.
As he walked down the corridor, the phone in his pocket vibrated. A message had come in.
[From: Sheila.]
[Boss, read this: xxxx.com/xxxx>]
Without a second thought, Klaus opened the link embedded in the message, and it took him to a news website. His eyes opened wide as he read the headline.
[Guild Master of the Sons of Thor, Noah Liebert, has been granted exclusive rights by the Awakener Association to conduct dungeon raids throughout Manhattan!]