Despite the lengthy time Callisto took to dispose of the assassin, the twins didn't complain. After the wires were dismantled, Raul and Rune felt reassured to walk around the room, remaining seated on the sofa.
"When is mum going to come back?" Rune asked.
"I dunno." Raul answered. Hands behind his head, he yawned, his guard down now that the threat had been driven out.
As the duke walked towards the seat opposite him, Raul straightened his posture and went down to business.
Callisto observed sharply. "You look like you have something to say."
"I have a request for you." Clutching his trousers, Raul's poker face remained the same, however, he sounded hesitant to mention it. Would the almighty duke even accept a request from a lower rank vampire like him? "Can you guard my family?"
"I get the gist." Callisto replied calmly, as if expecting this to happen. After pausing to think it over, he agreed to it.
Raul's face lit up. "Then...!"
"But," Callisto narrowed his eyes, "you will have to specify your terms and conditions for a contract with penalties if you don't uphold those terms. State reasonable demands."
"Let us stay in your house until our enemies have perished. Protect our dad from any harm. Our safety is second priority even if my dad begs you to rescue us. Provide us with a safe shelter and train us to use weapons proficiently."
"You had more conditions than I thought you would." Callisto said as he clicked the pen to jot down all the conditions. "Specify the enemies."
"The rival information guilds, and the ex-clients whose information were deliberately misguided or not approved for giving the information out."
"Aren't information guilds supposed to provide whatever information their clients demand? Why do you guys try to be righteous?"
"We aren't fair. By suppressing the information for the use of evil, we are just preventing further troubles from happening."
"Who suggested that idea?"
"It was obviously my dad's. If they were used to hurt people and those relatives or survivors of the incident come to harm us as we were indirectly taking part in their demise."
"That's valid." Callisto stroked his chin. "Do you casually ask what the information is used for or investigate the client's background and determine whether it is safe entrusting the information yourselves?"
"My dad is the judge of all cases in approving the client's request."
"No one else is in charge?"
"Yeah, my dad trusts no one but himself."
Figured. Every time Callisto looked at Val, he would be surrounded by numerous people who admired his masterpiece, however, a look of loneliness still showed up from time to time. As he finished writing down Raul's demands, he stared at Raul. "I can fulfill all these conditions except for one. I can't spy on Val for the sake of our mutual trust."
"I understand." Raul clasped his hands together on the cold table. "Then you are free to take it off the agreement."
"Are there specific rival guilds?"
"I have a list!" Rune suddenly interjected. Her laptop that was inside of her backpack was taken out on top of her lap. "Here. This is the list that I have compiled depending on the output of their damage on us from the least to the most throughout the years."
She turned the laptop towards them while Raul and Callisto scanned through the short list.
"This is...." Raul was taken aback as he glanced at his sister. He knew that she was a genius that learnt fast but he didn't know she could connect everything Val told her years ago and find the degree of destruction in the guild. This was why he hated yet loved her at the same time. "Are you sure it's all accurate?"
He didn't object further as all of the guilds he could remember were included in the list.
"You know how serious I am with my mum's matters, don't you, Raul?" Her fake smile, different from the genuine smile she gave to Val, scared him. It was at times like these he felt inferior to her despite working harder to achieve something he could never have within his grasp.
Not responding, Raul continued the discussion. "What do you think about our rival guilds? Are they powerful enough to beat us?"
Callisto, who just finished reading the list in detail, replied truthfully. "There are three big shots," he held three fingers up, "powerful enough to topple your guild over."
"Faded Assimilation is one of them. Which guilds are the other two?" Raul asked.
"Black Rose and Illusion," Rune answered. Unsure of herself, she confirmed with Callisto. "right?"
Callisto nodded, further elucidating why the two were a peril to Val's guild, Sol. "Many minor information guilds I've worked with before are on the list, but most of them either laid low or got destroyed from repercussions of entrusting the client with information they shouldn't have leaked. So the remnants of the minor information guilds are playing it safe by laying low, not accepting a big client and trying not to make too many enemies."
"Sol is safe because of our skilled elites and trained spies. We might be considered a minor guild by others but we are fairly stable with big clients supporting us." Raul interrupted.
"Yeah. It was once a minor guild but now it'd be a potiential foe to those major two guilds."
"After all, Sol works differently from the other information guilds." Rune said.
Raul agreed. "We have a good reputation and different moral standards from theirs. While they sought for short term benefits, we aimed for long term and regular customers."
"I am sure Val thought over this regulation for many months before coming to a decision." Callisto explained. "Black Rose is a newly established guild, infamous for their ridiculous prices according to the difficulty in acquiring the information but they are still popular because their information had never been wrong regardless of client's intentions in using that info. They've never faced consequences because they were careful about leaking which information they should and shouldn't tell."
"Illusion, however, is an old fashioned information guild open for all kinds of clients, similar to Faded Assimilation, which is exclusive to werewolves. It takes in any type of information, exchanging their amount of contribution to the archive with the value of money and provides the clients the information they found for more profits. The reason why the guild was called Illusion is that although they had many fights with their former clients, the spies they used to gain information remained untouched and only continued to grow stronger."
"And that was because Legion of Shadows, an assassin guild consisting of hunters, had formed an alliance with them. It was a mutually advantageous relationship between the two that existed for a long period of 3 years. It still exists today."
"We've never known that Legion of Shadows were cooperating with Illusion!" Raul was surprised. Val probably didn't inform them because he knew they would become more engrossed in the information guild's matters when they hadn't even turned 15 yet.
Callisto stated his conditions. Since Raul had more terms than he thought, he may have to make more demands than he first came up with. "I would like to be the first priority when asking Sol for information. Of course, it won't be used for evil intentions. Second, be sure to report to me when you deem Val or any of you are in danger."
"I cannot do that!" Callisto, as if having anticipated this reaction, asked why Raul couldn't accept this. Raul replied. "It would be like spying on my own father!"
Callisto logically argued against him. "I asked you to do this so that I can personally come to your rescue if something unexpected did happen. Besides, it's not like I am asking you to report your dad's movements to me. I am just asking you to notify me of where you guys and your dad are going before you reach there. If I sense something wrong, I will come to your rescue."
Raul paused to think it over while Rune agreed to it. "Sure! It's not like you are breaking dad's trust if we decide to trust you so I will leave my dad in your hands."
"Are there any other conditions you would like to add?"
"Yeah, the third condition is to provide me with at most 10 fake identities when we need them. And the fourth is to help us with spying."
"By spying, do you mean your acquaintances will be…?"
"We will surely need the help from Val's guild in order to infiltrate successfully into drug facilities and destroy them at the root."
"I see." Raul nodded. "Our information guild can provide you with names and locations of drug facilities. You will have to explore the inside yourself because our regulars who gave out this information had never been involved that deep into the drug social circle nor were they ever invited to be a VIP customer of the drug sellers."
"As for obtaining the DNA of someone working there, either me or Raul could catch them with our hypersensitivity of smells." Rune uttered.
"The fifth condition I have is...." The duke leaned forward, whispering into Rune's ears. "Is that okay?" Raul held back his curiosity, knowing that his sister had some sense of rationality in her to consider the consequences carefully.
Upon hearing the last request, Rune's dull eyes lit up with excitement, lifting the corners of her mouth into a big grin. "Obviously! I support you wholeheartedly." She gave him a thumbs up, as a sign of encouragement.
Raul was worried although he trusted her to some extent. "If I say I am worried, am I allowed to know about it?"
"Nope!" Rune objected to the idea. "It's a secret between me and my uncle!"
Raul sighed. Hopefully, she didn't agree to something crazy. Rune, noticing his distress, reassured him it wasn't something that would harm Val but Raul clearly didn't believe in her unless he heard the condition for himself. However, if she did tell him, he would surely discard the whole agreement, which was something she didn't want.
"Fine." After a long time of persuasion, Raul placed his personal signature onto the paper while Callisto stamped his side. Both shook hands over the table to seal the deal. "Oh, before I forget I have something to tell you." Raul said as he put the contract carefully into his folder.
"What is it?"
"I saw the faces of the men in the car. I know uncle saw them too, didn't you?"
"Yeah. They were emitting such delinquent vibes that I couldn't help but..."
"Pfft...." Trying to compose herself, Rune shut her mouth. Her attempts were futile as she finally bursted out laughing. "Ahahahahahaha... haa...!" She wiped off the tears at the corners of her eyes.
"... look. What?"
"I would never imagine to hear you one day judging other people by their appearances." Rune spoke.
"I am a normal person." Callisto said, not explaining further.
"Do you think I should tell Val?" Raul asked. "This information should be useful in catching those two hooligans that planned our death."
"I don't think you should."
"Why?" Raul questioned him.
"From the minute they decided to chase us down and harm you guys, Val would have implanted their faces into his mind in order to get revenge on them. But, he might not have the time right now as he is busy taking care of something else."
"Busy...doing what...?" Raul was interrupted by a loud banging on the door. He presumed it was Val and opened it for him.
"Busy tracking down a rat." Val grumbled, scratching his head with his right hand. Down his left hand the blood dripped from the fists he used to hurt someone that he was dragging along the ground. Seeing this person not grumble despite such rough treatment, Callisto figured he was rendered unconscious.
"A rat?" Raul wondered.
"The guard that was following the assassin." Val glanced at him. "You didn't notice."
Raul shook his head honestly. "I didn't even know someone was there. What was he doing?"
"Spying on whether the job was done or not." Val answered instead of the person who was knocked unconscious, bruised and battered.
"How was the opponent?" Callisto asked, appraising his combat skill. "Was he difficult to handle?"
"Nah, he was less powerful than I expected." Val leaned on the couch to catch a breather, taking care not to stain it with his blood. "I spent more time running after him than catching him. His combat skills were stronger than average, nonetheless, he was more agile than powerful."
Callisto commented. "Did he spill any useful information?"
"Yeah. He said he would tell me more if only the drug administered from his master is completely removed from his body. He said these drugs were used to control powerful subordinates like him and the antidotes still haven't been developed."
"That's impossible." If there weren't any antidotes, Joseph wouldn't have participated in this plan since this was an unpredictable factor.
The fact that Joseph, that corrupt politician, wasn't involved in this plan is highly unlikely. This information doesn't fit with the profile Callisto came up for Joseph. There are two possibilities to this problem. Either his personality suddenly changed due to the appearance of someone else or the information given to us was wrong.
It would be preferable if it were the latter but he should take some measures if the first one was true.
"Also, where should I keep this guy?"
Callisto suggested. "I will let my associate keep him in his torture chamber. He specializes in torturing psychologically and physically, so you don't need to worry."
"Really?!" Val's weariness appeared to be lighter as if he was relieved. "That's a lifesaver! I was wondering what to do with him. I can't let him stay in my precious guild because the location of it needs to be kept minimally known."
"I was told that you have lots of enemies. Then, where do you usually torture them if not inside the guild's basement?"
"If not the guild, either these guys always come to our guild to attack us first or we make the first move in silence and play havoc with them on the spot. Never have I ever bought an assassin nor have I ever let them step into Sol, my sacred sanctuary."
Raul almost cringed at how his devil dad sounded like a priest purely devoted to god. A notification from Callisto's phone interrupted their conversation.
[Director, you were correct. An attack has been launched on our base. There's no serious casualties. We are now on our way to second base.]
Shortly afterwards, another text popped up.
[I am sorry for doubting your abilities.]
Callisto's eyebrows twitched in his modest pride for having guessed right. His expression was composed as he replied back childishly.
[Told you.]
Rune asked straightforwardly. "Uncle, who are you texting!? Is it your friend? Is it male or female?"
Callisto didn't know how to answer those rapid questions fired at him like a gatling gun. First, Charles was more like a subordinate rather than a friend. He was a long standing comrade to achieve the same goal as he did so he didn't know how to put their complicated relationship into words. Knowing Rune's whims was based on her curiosity, it wouldn't be strange if she looked into Charles any time soon. "He's an acquaintance."
"An acquaintance?" Rune pitied him. "I didn't expect my uncle to have a few friends you could sincerely trust. Do you not have any?"
Sinking into her twinkling eyes full of compassion, Callisto sighed, wanting to slap his forehead in dismay. "I have a few." He had no idea why he was divulging such things to a kid. "Val and some other people you don't know."
"Then, can you introduce us to them later?"
"Why would I do that?" Callisto responded coldly. "There's no need for you guys and them to meet. They're weird people."
"Oh," Rune smirked. "If even uncle says so, they must be extraordinary!" She paused what she was about to say as if hesitating. Raul had a bad feeling as the cunning countenance on her always signaled a big trouble coming up for him to clean up.
He wanted to stop her but this time it might bring out some secrets from Callisto so that they could trust him wholeheartedly. Although Callisto might not share the same sentiment of wanting to trust the other party, as long as the duke's goal remained unclear, Raul and Rune both determined him as someone to be cautious of despite Val's trust in him.
Rune, noticing that Raul not interfering in this was the same as giving her consent, went ahead with her statement. "Then, let's make a bet!"
"What kind?" Indifferent, Callisto asked her out of respect for Val.
"I will find those 4 people in half a year. Each month, you will have to give me a clue. Once the end of the month passes, the stakes will be higher. Do you agree?"
"I don't. What makes you think I will go along with your little bet when there's obviously no benefit for me?" Callisto frankly spoke.
Rune confidently beckoned him over, whispering into his ears. Val and Raul didn't try to probe into what she was talking about nor did they feel anxious. "
"What if you lost the bet?"
"My mum will fulfill any five requests of yours unless it goes against the guild's ethics." Val nodded in consent to this bet.
"If I win, you will have to tell me stories about them and let me meet them frequently to play and talk with them!" Rune suggested. "How's that?"
Val, confused on what they were betting, asked to make sure the stakes weren't anything outrageous. "What is the lowest bet for this?"
"The lowest stakes permit any three requests granted from any one of us here and the highest stake is fulfilling any five requests from Val and providing him with spies as long as it's within our guild's ethics." Since this bet must have been trivial for the duke, Rune made changes to her advantage to make it fair in exchange for accepting the bet because of Val.
"I see. Now that the bet's settled, what should I do with this guy?" Val pondered whether he should trust the duke with this matter.
"I will take care of it." Picking up the phone on the table, he called someone, asking them to retrieve a body from his room.
"What did you ask them to do with him?"
"He will be tortured and healed at the same time." Seeing Val frown in anxiety, the duke patted his head, reassuring him. "He's in safe hands, so don't worry."
Rune smiled happily, seeing a CP moment between her mum and this newly acquainted uncle. Though she had run a superficial background check on him, as expected, observing and interacting with him was the best way to learn more about him for mum's sake. Returning back to her childish mode, she taunted them.
"Is uncle flirting with our mom?" She snickered, thinking her jeer might have been successful.
Callisto replied back emotionlessly. "Yes. Any problem with that?" He didn't even blink in her baffling referral of Val as mum.
While Rune was speechless at her disbelief in her uncle's quick changing expressions unlike the profile she searched up on her laptop, Raul was pondering things over.
Did he get used to hearing Raul call Val his mum or did he realize something? Raul wondered as his eyes inconspicuously went back and forth from peeking at Callisto back to his sister. Whatever conclusion the duke had made from his sister's statements, it would be good to lower the duke's suspicions about Val's other identity.
"Sorry," Raul bowed, apologizing for his sister's impulsive behavior. Giving a subtle explanation, Raul stated. "Rune, are you sure you want dad to get together with another guy? Didn't you want a mother?"
"Yes, I do. But if it is the duke, I see no problem."
Why? What on earth did she see in the duke that wasn't apparent in the others? Was what Raul wanted to ask her because he knew Rune wasn't someone who would be cozy to anyone. Despite how childish she was acting now, in the school they were attending, she was feared by her fellow classmates for her harsh critics and cold words.
Was there some hidden fact about the duke which he didn't know that Rune took a liking to? Raul planned to ask her at a better, isolated place.
Val, not wanting to intrude on the duke's kindness, told the kids to bathe in fear of the dirty scent lingering in the room.
After Rune sealed a verbal deal in front of two witnesses by shaking his hand, she willingly followed Raul into the bathroom. She waved her uncle a cheerful goodbye as she was pulled away by Raul. "See you later, uncle!"