"Then I'm going in with her," Hecathe firmly stated as he looked at Kelly, almost making it seem as if he was challenging the authority of this woman.
Kelly scoffed as she heard this and shook her head as she also firmly stated, "You are not allowed to."
The two glared at each other for a solid minute and no one seemed to be willing to back down from this argument that was shortly going to fire up.
Marvin felt as if he was being caught up in the middle of this non-violent fight and he could only gulp as he looked at the two with cold sweat forming on his forehead.
"It's her chance to prove herself," Kelly finally spoke up as she broke the cold silence after a minute, "You can't interfere. The golden fire doesn't take in sidekicks, we take in warriors and hunters. If you think she needs to be protected by you then I'm afraid she is already unfit to join our guild."
Hecathe didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he heard this but in the end, he did neither as he simply shook his head in disbelief and responded, "I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about the mutants."
"Excuse me?" Kelly's lips twitched as she questioned.
Hecathe, "She's weak in actual combat. She has never been in a life-threatening situation nor has she seen a real-life mutant before this."
"..."
"If you put her in a mutant cave all alone, she is going to panic, and when that happens, there are two things that she might do. First, she might pull an innocent person into that cave and escape all by herself, but she is not that impulsive so the chances of this happening are low. The second situation is more likely to happen and this one is much more dangerous as well."
Kelly frowned as she heard this and waited for Hecathe to continue as she listened attentively to the man.
"She might consider them a threat and release them into the city," Hecathe shrugged his shoulder as he casually informed and Kelly couldn't help but gulp as she repeated his words through her head and found it a bit hard to believe.
"She is more than capable of doing something like that so you better be ready for the consequences if you throw her inside a mutant cave," Hecathe added with a small smirk that was hardly visible on his face.
"In that case...." Marvin raised his hand as he spoke, "Isn't it fine to let me join her in the test?"
Both Hecathe and Kelly snapped their heads towards the boy with a complicated expression on their faces as they heard this.
Marvin scratched the back of his neck innocently with an awkward smile on his face as he continued, "Miss Kelly is worried that Brother Hecathe might help the girl by shielding her from the mutants but if it's me then you won't need to worry about it. Even if she's a beauty, I would only interfere if it is absolutely necessary."
Hecathe immediately frowned as he heard this but Kelly looked to be thinking about it more deeply as she nodded to herself.
"That sounds like a better idea," Kelly commented after a minute, and Hecathe was even more taken aback by this response.
"Okay," Kelly clapped her hands as she exclaimed, "Raven can go with her and Hecathe, I have some other work for you to do."
Marvin had a bright smile on his face as he heard this and nodded his head in understanding, "You can trust me with this! In exchange, why don't you join me for dinner?"
Kelly pursed her lips into a thin line as she heard this and looked at the boy with an unimpressed expression, "I don't eat dinner."
Marvin chuckled, "Lunch is also fine with me."
"Sorry, I don't enjoy eating lunch either," Kelly sighed as she shook her head.
"Then how about breakfast?"
"I'm allergic to food," Kelly pursed her lips into a thin smile as she spoke without missing a beat.
"..."
Hecathe still had a frown on his face but he didn't bother saying anything and simply stood there, looking as if he was thinking about something deeply.
"You can leave now. Like I said before, I still have something left to discuss with Hecathe," Kelly spoke with a thin smile that was not sincere at all.
However, no matter how cold of a response the woman gave, it didn't look like Marvin was offended or disappointed. On the contrary, every time Kelly rejected him like this, he would look even more happy and interested which really made one wonder if Marvin was some sort of a masochist.
"I'll be taking my leave then," Marvin nodded his head with a smile as he responded, "Make sure not to miss me too much."
"..."
Marvin didn't wait for a response that he was not going to get and simply left Kelly's office, leaving Hecathe and Kelly behind in the empty room.
"Stop frowning like that," Kelly clicked her tongue as she spoke, "Raven will be there so you won't need to worry about her."
Hecathe didn't stop frowning as he heard this and this was because Kelly had got it wrong.
Hecathe was actually frowning because he wanted to be the one to personally see what she was capable of and that was why he was requesting to enter the cave with her. But now, it was Marvin who would get to see the full display of her abilities and Hecathe felt a little uneasy about it.
"What do you want me to do?" Hecathe asked as he got to business.
It seemed that Hecathe was the complete opposite of Marvin. Marvin was a boy who loved to talk about useless things. He would prefer flirting with Kelly rather than talking business while Hecathe would choose the exact opposite.
"I want you to continue working on the case," Kelly spoke as she met his eyes with seriousness evident in her face, "Find the rumored seventeen-year-old that is acting as Orgon and bring him back here."
Hecathe couldn't help but sigh as he heard this and shook his head in disbelief as he responded straightforwardly, "I can try but I'm afraid that it's an impossible task."
Kelly immediately frowned as she heard this and raised her eyebrows as she asked, "And why is that?"
Hecathe shrugged his shoulders casually as he lied, "Because I'm already done looking and it seems that the boy had hidden well."
"..."
"But," Hecathe continued with a small proud smirk, "I do know one thing."
"What?"
"The city gates are being monitored throughout the day and I already checked so I'm sure that he is still hiding inside the city. He is still in Ocasia."
Kelly's eyes widened ever so slightly as she heard this but in the very next moment, she looked to be confused as she asked, "Then, why is it impossible?"
"If the great Orgon is trying to hide then isn't it impossible for a new hunter like me to find him?" Hecathe sarcastically asked as he tilted his head.
"Then what do you plan on doing? Without him, the client is not going to be paying us."
This seemed to be a question that Hecathe was waiting to hear so as soon as he heard this, he put on a wide smile on his face and responded, "Of course, I have a plan."
"Hmm?"
"I cannot find him but I can certainly trick him to come out."
"Trick him?" Kelly repeated, questioning in confusion.
"That's right. We trick him into thinking that his murderer is here to kill him again. If he believes it then for the sake of revenge, he is bound to come out."
As Kelly heard this plan, she looked to be even more shocked.
"You want to bring Alphius here to bait Orgon out...?" Kelly tilted her head as she questioned hesitantly.
Hecathe shook his head as he heard this and corrected her as he spoke, "I want to bring his real murderer here and not the scapegoat."
"Excuse me...?!"
"You don't possibly believe the nonsense of Alphius killing him, do you?" Hecathe questioned in disbelief and without even waiting for an answer from the woman, he continued, "If Alphius had really killed Orgon then he wouldn't have even tried to hide it. All the past murders that he committed, he accepted them all and never lied so why would he say that he was not responsible for this one?"
It was a question that needed to be thought about carefully.
The normal behavioral patterns of Alphius were more than enough evidence to prove the boy's innocence in the case but it seemed that his ruined reputation had made it hard for people to believe in him.
"Finding the real murderer... Even if it's not Alphius, it's not going to be easy," Kelly commented as she looked at the man with a complicated expression plastered on her face.