'Why did the Hydra appear so fast?'
Leo asked himself while they were driving with the agents towards the airport. A Hydra was the kind of a monster that was impossible to beat even if the entire Explorer's Guild attempted it.
"Aren't you excited Leo? We are going to America! For free!"
He left out information that would scare her about their goal, it felt like his only way of not making her anxious. And on top, it would let them enjoy their visit there.
|Even if you told her, she would still come Master Leo, there is no need to be sad about it|
This didn't help too much with the feeling that he lied to her, but her presence was needed there, if not for the strength alone, then for translation, or even companionship.
"Yes, I am, just as much as you are. We will need to try striking a good deal though, since helping them exterminate all the gates for free isn't a good investment."
"But you didn't ask Clint for any payment?"
"Explorer's Guild trust is worth more than anything else at the moment. Could you ask them how long it will take before we get to the airport?"
After a moment of chatter and trying to agree with Nyssa's limited English skills, she looked back at Leo.
"They told me it would take around an hour before we get to the airport and then half a day on a private jet! I've never been on one."
***
Bleeeeegh
Turns out never going on a plane flight prevented Leo from building resistance to sickness motion, he barely held it in during it.
But once they landed, everything in his stomach just went out.
They drove to a tall building in Washington, D.C., which took around two days to reach. It was a skyscraper of the Association. The walls were covered in windows that reflected sunlight onto the group below.
Outside the building, multiple expeditions were either heading towards or back from the Tower.
"Their organization is way than that of the Explorer's Guild, how come they still weren't recognized by the world as a Guild?"
A person appeared behind them. It was hard to tell if it was a flat woman or a man with long hair, but they wore a butler outfit and stood elegantly behind them.
"That's because we don't have enough high-ranking members our dear guests, that's also the reason all of the Associations are currently furious about your little announcement."
It spoke in flawless Japanese.
'This person looks strange, neither I nor Gloppy sensed them coming.'
[Mind Archive]
[Error. Not Unbound]
But why would a butler be so skilled at sneaking? It was suspicious especially since he had never heard of such a person, not even in the book.
"Thank you... Miss...? Mister...?"
Nyssa looked just as confused as Leo, trying to decipher their gender.
"Please call me Zeph, our dear guests. Let me take you from here."
It guided them toward the building, once inside they could see how clean and tidy the entire place is. Unlike Sylvaine's Guild, they didn't process any materials at all, instead, they relied on export to other sources.
Zeph approached the clerk at the reception hall and chattered for a moment with her.
"Mister Adams seems to be here right now, so you won't need to wait at all."
They said to the trio after finishing the chat with the receptionist. All of them continued to walk towards the elevator.
Once inside, the butler pressed two buttons at once and held them for a few seconds. Instead of going upwards towards the CEO's office, they went downwards into the basements.
"Excuse me, are you sure we are going the right way?"
His question was met with nothing but silence, so they went deeper without a word, the trio that came from Japan too scared to say anything.
***
Ding
The doors of the elevator opened, revealing a hallway with dozens of heavy iron doors on the sides. At its end, they were able to spot an opening to a room.
Zeph went that way, only glancing back to see if they were still following it.
After getting closer to the opening, a loud voice came from inside.
"Come here Zeph."
The intensity of his voice shook them to the very core. Their butler quickened their pace and they all were soon in front of the founder of the Association.
His frame towered them, easily standing at almost 8 feet tall. His muscles bulged out of his suit, threatening to tear it apart.
"I would love to talk about your travel, but the matter at hand is far more important."
Their guide translated his words fluently to them. Adams's blue eyes met with the summoners, a wide smirk on his face as he continued his speech.
"We would like to hire both of you to help us with pinpointing the gates and then closing them down. As for the reward..."
"Does that also include the Hydra gate?"
Tear, tear
Interrupting him in the middle of his sentence fueled the man with fury. His biceps flexed, tearing the suit apart and the smirk turned into anger.
"I'm so sorry for his ineptitude Mister Adams!"
Zeph ran up to the summoner in a hurry and pushed him to his knees, trying to force him to bow in front of the giant in front of them.
But Leo didn't allow them to treat him this way, pushing her hand away and standing back up, his back straightened and a neutral expression on his face.
"Where I'm from, if you want something from others you gotta be polite, you know?"
He took a few steps towards Adams and looked up eye to eye.
"So I'm asking again, does this also include the Hydra gate?"
"tch Yes it does."
The angry giant calmed down a bit, surprising Zeph at how easy it was for Leo.
"Then you better pay us good for it, I will tell you that our services aren't cheap."
"200 000 gold for all gates. And anything you get from them."
Adams exclaimed. That offer would be good.... if they were looking for gold, which wasn't the case at the moment.
"How about you let us speak to the Runecrafter?"
That sentence shocked both of the Association members, information related to her was top secret, and most members didn't even know about her, not like they would believe it anyway.
The leader looked at their guide with a serious expression.
'He needs my help too much to kill me.'
The butler stood up and took both Leo and Nyssa towards one of the heavy doors in the hallway, Gloppy followed right after them.
They stopped in front of one of them where it looked at a scanner on the metal sheet, opening its eye as much as possible to let it conduct a scan.
"Correct eye scan! Opening the doors."
Woosh
The insides of the room were full of weirdly shaped rocks with a pale corpse lying on the floor in the middle.
"Hi, sis!"