Chapter 435 Hunting The Hunter

"Age is not what I'm talking about, brother. Oh, no, no, no. This goes beyond that–I'm talking about the very concept that turns a boy into a man overnight!" Sirius explained, "--I'm saying, it's time to lose your virginity!" "Huh?! You know we're here for a mission, right?!" Emilio's cheeks went red at what the man was implying, "What makes you think we're here to get drunk and visit brothels?! Didn't I come here because you wanted to get this mission over with quickly?" A small laugh came from Sirius' lips as he planted his hands on his own sides, looking smug as if his plan was unveiling itself, "I absolutely did not lie–I did bring you here so we'd finish the mission quickly–so we'd have time to party, that is!" The response coaxed any frustration away from Emilio as he simply felt too tired to even fight the eccentric man's whims, "...You're hopeless." "I just know how to play as hard as I work–it's an important skill in life, you know? Otherwise, what's the point of living a second life, anyway?" Sirius shrugged. There wasn't much he could do to argue with that, since he felt the same way, though it didn't change the reason they were there in the first place. Emilio fiddled with the hood of his cloak before beginning to walk down the main road leading to the town gates, "Well, let's just find our guy then we can do whatever you want. Deal?" "Deal," Sirius smiled. As always, there were guards stationed at the front of any walled town or city; a necessity when goblins and other monsters seemed to lurk on the outskirts of any piece of civilization. There was only one man guarding the front entrance, however; wearing light, silver-plated armor with shaggy, brown hair. As they approached together, the armored guard held out his hand for them to stop before entering. "Good day," the guard greeted them, "May I ask what you two are coming to Desim for? You don't seem to be from here." The wink that Sirius gave to him before approaching the guard silently said "Let me do the talking", before he pulled out the insignia he wore on his necklace, "We're adventurers–just coming through for a rest stop. Been through some tiring quests lately, you know? Thought Desim would be a good place to catch a break. Is that cool?" Emilio found himself taken aback once finally seeing the insignia that Sirius wielded, which seemed to shock the guard himself: it was a dazzling, opalescent badge that shined between chromatic shades. "Th-that badge...Hold on, you're Sirius Stormheart, aren't you?" The guard stammered. 'That's what the highest rank looks like,' Emilio thought. Sirius smiled at the hand, tucking his insignia away, "That would be me, yup." "Please, come through...! You and your friend are welcome, of course!" The young guard moved out of the way quickly. A smirk came from Sirius to Emilio as the Stormheart gave a peace sign at the victorious entrance into Desim, though Emilio felt somewhat vexed by the situation. 'I'm an adventurer, too, but I'm just grouped together as his "friend"--whelp, whatever,' Emilio thought. Past the short tunnel past the thick, multi-layered wall of smooth wood, he found himself in the town of Desim: it was surprisingly dense with a population of its own, mixed with normal civilians, adventurers, mages, and even foreigners. "Always a lot of mages in Vasmoria no matter where you go, huh?" Emilio remarked, glancing around. It was easy to tell who were mages, if not going off of the academic robes they wore, it was easy for him to sense the rich mana signatures of proper mages. "They say elves are keenly jealous of Vasmoria, if not anything else, from humans. The magic that flows through this land is unlike anything else," Sirius explained, "Like so—look." The Stormheart pointed up to the sky, showing Emilio the sight above; it was like a light snowfall, moving like a passing of dust through the air as bright, glowing particles of emerald energy. "Mana wind," Emilio noticed. It was a phenomena he had read about and seen a few times himself; a native occurrence in Vasmoria as the mana particles born like nectar from the lively soil of the land are picked up by the wind. "That's why I love quests in Vasmoria," Sirius said, "You can be completely empty on mana but one quick nap and you're back to one-hundred percent in a jiffy." As he spoke, Sirius was leading the way through the bustling streets of Desim without much care for how loud he spoke. "That's good and all, but back to our mission—we need to locate our target," Emilio said. "Hey, come on, we just got here," Sirius shrugged, "Gotta take the city air in and all of that!" "Sirius...our enemy is no joke. Take this seriously," Emilio said, "I'm up for some play, but work first. Got it?" "Got iiii~it," Sirius sighed. For the time being, they decided to visit a cafe to gather themselves in the new environment. When it came to the Children of Chaos, Emilio took it incredibly seriously—so much that he specifically chose a lowkey establishment that was on a less busy street. "Talk about overcautiousness. It's not like we're after a crazy strong one or anything—just a fat, sleazy merchant," Sirius said, leaning his elbow on the circular table of the cafe as he peered out of the glass windows. "Doesn't matter if he's strong or not. His position makes him a threat—and valuable to us," Emilio explained, "This supplier is unlikely to be directly tied to whatever weird beliefs the Children of Chaos follow. I doubt he has the same inclination to die for their cause." Swishing his cup of coffee side-to-side, Sirius smiled before taking a long sip, following with a small exhale. "That's good for us. Lightning happens to be the most efficient element when it comes to getting information out of people. A little jolt through their body and they'll be crying out all the deets' we need," Sirius playfully said. "You say some pretty scary things sometimes, dude," Emilio muttered. As he looked out of the cafe windows, he couldn't help but feel unnerved; the streets of Desim were bright and filled with life, though the very fact the reach of the Children of Chaos had embedded itself there was a dark thought. "So, what's our guy look like? Anywhere he was said to be staying?" Sirius asked, leaning in as he spoke his words quietly. Unknowing of who may be affiliated with the elusive cult, they chose to keep their conversation heard only between them. Emilio furrowed his eyebrows, "Were you listening when Bastian explained?...Well, apparently his name is 'Maximus Leocharn'--he's actually a big shot merchant in Milligarde–he has a monopoly on fine ores. I guess that's why he does his dealings with the Children in Vasmoria." "Hmm...Anything about his appearance? Anywhere to look?" Sirius asked. "Bastian said he has curly, red hair and is almost deathly skinny, surprisingly. Most of all, he apparently is freakishly tall–actually, he made it pretty clear that we'd be able to spot Maximus easily in a crowd," Emilio said, "He'd tower over everybody else." "A skinny, giant merchant. Definitely as rare as a flying pig," Sirius casually said, leaning his chair back, "So, what's our timeframe here? Did they say anything about that?" "Not really. Bastian made it pretty clear that it was a 'find the target as soon as possible' sort of mission. That's why I'd like to start right away on looking for our target, then after we secure him, we can toss him through the portal and let those back in Atlan handle the rest," Emilio suggested, "Then we can do what you want here." "Hmm, is that so?" Sirius had an odd smile on his face. It was often a difficult task for Emilio to read Sirius' expressions, as the man had a very peculiar, lackadaisical energy about everything; it was hard to tell when he was being smug, serious, or genuinely happy. "Yeah," Emilio confirmed. "Well, I found our target," Sirius told him with a smirk, humming to himself. "What?" Emilio squinted at him, questioning whatever his companion meant. Sirius leaned on the cafe table, pointing towards the window that looked to the cobblestone street, "Take a look." Questioning just what Sirius could have meant or if it was some sort of prank, Emilio turned his gaze to the side, looking towards the bustling street before his eyes immediately latched onto an unmissable figure: standing head-and-shoulders above the crowd of people passing through the street was a tall, lanky man with curly, dark-red hair and skin as white as snow. 'That's him,' he thought. Luckily, it seemed like the cult-aiding merchant hadn't noticed them, or even more fortunate, didn't even know who they were, as the lank, pale man slowly walked through the street, lumbering towards the western sector of Desim. "I'm not looking at the wrong guy, am I?" Sirius asked. "No, that's our target–come on," Emilio said, getting up from the table as he readied himself. As they began to head out with both of their gazes following the tall, red-haired figure, the young woman who served them stammered out– "Y-you forgot to pay–!" Emilio casually flipped a shiny coin her way, which more than paid for their bill and then some, as the server caught it with a confused look on her face. "This is more than–" the young woman began to say, but as she looked up, the two patrons were already gone.

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