After the conversation with Ellen, I was working behind the counter once again, though this time, I wasn't alone.
Belle was standing next to me with a forced smile, and to my other side was Nekomta, who was also wearing a forced smile.
"So, mind telling us why you met with a high school girl?" Belle asked, slowly turning her head to look at me.
"Yeah, I want to nyo why as well." Seeing that I was in a pinch. I only closed my eyes and wore a smile.
"She has information on the whereabouts of a few sinners." Hearing this, their expressions went from a forced smile to shock.
"Wait, really?!" They both shouted, and I replied with a nod. But before we could continue our conversation, a customer had entered.
In the end, we agreed to speak after the store was closed. Once we closed, the three of us were in the back, with Wise, Hecate, and Hella.
"So, chief, going for high school girls." Hella wiggled her eyebrows. I only waved my hand at her words.
"You know it's not like that," I replied. Hella only rolled her eyes and soon began to spin on the office chair.
"Yeah, but it's so boring here!" She whined and swung her arms and legs. "I want to have fun!"
"Then why not accept commissions?" Hella shook her head and stood up, pointing at the computer.
"This dumb AI won't let me! Saying that I'll cause problems for the client, or I'm reckless enough to get caught!" She shouted, pointing at the screen.
{Correct, Hella has a ninety-nine point nine percent chance to attack the client.} I didn't need to look at Hella, since she did have a habit of acting on her impulse.
"T-thats not true, you're wrong!" She shouted and tried to attack the computer, only to be slammed to the ground by Nightmare.
"Hella, if you cause damage, you won't be paid for a month." Hecate warned her, and this was enough for Hella to stop.
"Fine, but you'll have to take me on the next commission!" She raised her finger in my direction, and I couldn't help but smile and nod my head in agreement.
"Well, you're in luck, we just got a commission from someone unexpected." Wise said, then held up his phone, showing a conversation with a client.
"Huh, that's convenient. What do you say, Hella?" I asked her, and she smiled at the invitation. She then looked at Hecate, who then nodded.
Nightmare, who was holding her down, moved away, letting Hella jump up and rush at me with a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She repeated.
By the time she finished, she remembered where we were and released me. A red hue formed on her face, and she pretended to cough to hide her excitement.
"W-when do they want to meet?" She asked Wise, who smiled and typed a few words. Once sent, it didn't take long for the client to reply.
"Well, when they sent us the message, Fairy misunderstood their words, saying that it was threatening." Wise said and soon showed it to us.
Looking at the message, the client seemed desperate. There were no details about the commission, and they wanted to meet us in person?
The location was surprisingly nearby as well, concerningly nearby. "While it seems they are desperate, there's one thing that disturbs me to a degree."
"How did they know it was us, and why reach out to us?" Hella spoke, her attitude no longer playful. "There's no way in hell they'd know."
"Hella is correct; it is likely a trap for both of you." Hecate spoke, and the two of them turned towards me.
"I'd recommend you decline and let us handle with an investigation." I suggested, but before anyone could say anything, Fairy spoke up.
{Alert, a new private message has arrived, it reads. As a sign of good faith, we'll pay twenty percent of the commission fee in advance. Please help us!" Your inter-knot account has received the corresponding payment.}
No one said anything at first; shock was drawn across Hella's and my faces upon hearing that they had paid part of the commission fee.
"H-how much did they send us?" Hella asked, and I can see her forcing herself to swallow for the results.
{The amount is 1.1 times the total income from inter-knot in the previous month.} This time, it was Belle's turn to have the look of shock across her face.
"One... one point one times larger than last month?" She asked, her voice low, and for a second, I thought I saw the denny symbol in her eyes.
"Maybe... it wouldn't be a bad idea to meet with them." The second she said that, we all looked at her with shock. Then, the most surprising thing happened.
"True, and they did pay in advance." Hearing that both of them were willing to meet the client, Nekomata couldn't help but shout.
"Are both of you serious!?" She said, staring at both of them. "You're willing to meet with a potential kidnapper, just because they paid you!?"
"If you want, you can come with us, and we can buy you some mackerel." As soon as Belle mentioned mackerel, Nekomata smiled and looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Eros, you wouldn't leave me alone to protect them, right?" I was resistant to her begging, but with Belle and Wise wanting to meet with the client, I couldn't really say no.
"I'll help." Belle, Wise, and Nekomata smiled. "But on one condition." I said, causing them to look at me with confusion.
"I'll be Phaethon." I said, causing Wise, Belle, and Nekomata to widen their eyes in shock. Belle wanted to speak, but I cut her off. "It's either this, or I don't help at all."
Hearing my terms, the three of them then huddled together to whisper with one another. Afterwards, they broke the huddle and stood in front of us.
"We agree to your terms." She said, smiling. I smiled in return and held out my hand. She took it with no hesitation and shook it. With the agreement in place, we began to plan for the meeting.
TIME SKIP
I was sitting outside Coff Cafe with a drink in hand. In my other hand was a book. I slowly read the pages, pretending that all my focus was on the book.
Hella was with Nekomata, sitting in the alley next to the 141 convenience store. Both with a snack in hand, pretending to enjoy each other's company.
Hecate herself was nearby, standing around the corner to protect me like she always does. As for Wise and Belle, they were in their store.
Belle wanted to come with me, trying to convince me that it would be beneficial. But when I asked how well they acted, she stayed silent and promised to stay in the store.
When I asked Wise, he declined, promising to prevent Belle from getting close. That is the situation at hand; things were still calm, and the client was nowhere in sight.
Though after a few minutes had passed, the sound of boots could be heard, followed by the sound of metal. I sent a silent signal to Hella and Nekomata to prepare and subtly raised my gaze to the source.
Looking at where the noise came from, we all saw a man with a strange appearance. His pants were baggy down to his feet.
On his upper body, he wore a black dress shirt, and a tool belt ran across his waist. His hair was brow, with bits of orange sprouting from his head. He even had a long-sleeved trench coat hanging from his shoulder.
"You got this, boss sent you here to meet with the proxy." He muttered, nervously looking back and forth.
"But what if I mess up, what if I expose their identity?" The man grabbed his head from stress and groaned in frustration.
"Oh man, I can't do this!" He shouted in frustration. However, he realized what he had done and apologized to those who had stared at him.
"No, if I know my bro, he'd tell me to hold my head up high and show determination." He muttered and raised his head. "I sent the message and asked them to meet in person. I can't back out now."
'So, he must be the client.' I thought and raised my hand, signaling to Nekomata and Hella to get ready. As for Hecate, I only glanced at her.
She nodded her head in return and sat in the opposite chair, while I stood up and made my way to the man. "Excuse me, are you alright?"
The second I spoke, the man turned his body to face me, and he was surprised to see me. "Uh, y-yeah, do you know anyone by the name Phaethon?" The second he asked that question, he clamped his mouth shut.
"Uh, I mean a proxy, no, I mean..." He tried to act calm, but with how he was correcting himself, he was definitely the client.
"No need to be nervous, the people here know of my profession." I smiled and raised my hand. "You wanted to meet me, Phaethon, correct?"
As soon as I called myself Phaethon, he smiled and took my hand, shaking it with excitement. "It's great to meet you, and… sorry that we had to meet in person."
"It's fine, but I am curious about how you found me." I asked while narrowing my eyes. Seeing how I was cautious, the man smiled and shook his head.
"We have our sources, but we can't disclose them." He said with pride. "Anyways, now that you're here, we'll need to go somewhere else, my boss had the information on the commission."
Now this was a surprise; he's not the actual client, but a subordinate. I glanced towards Hella, Hecate, and Nekomata, signaling them to come closer.
They didn't take long to rush to my side, which was perfect. The man then turned towards us and was surprised to see three more people with me.
"You wouldn't mind if I brought some companions of mine, would you?" I asked with a kind smile. Seeing my companions with me, the man only smiled.
"Of course, there's nothing wrong with having friends by your side." Before we left, the man offered his hand, and I took it without a second thought.
"Call me Anton." He said as we shook hands. "And you are?"
"Eros. And this is Hella, Hecate, and Nekomata." I said, introducing them to Anton. Who nodded with respect.
"Nice to meet you all." He then looked down at his phone to check the time. "Well, we're losing daylight, you got a car we can take?"
"We do, though, we'll have to wait for them to arrive." I said while leading him to the end of the street.
"So another friend will come with us?" He asked, and I only nodded and then pulled out my phone, texting K.K to pick us up. She didn't take long to reply; she even thanked me for giving her a reason to leave the base.
Once done, I then texted Belle and Wise on the situation at hand; they were surprised at first. But they wished me luck and told me to stay safe.
"By the way, where is the location we are heading to?" I asked Anton, who was checking his phone as well.
"We're heading to where my construction bros work on Brant Street. I can show you the location, less time wasted." He said with pride.
"I see, that will be helpful." The second I finished speaking, we heard the rumble of a vehicle and saw the armored truck pull up in front of us.
The sight of the armored truck was enough to make him look shocked; he then looked between me and the truck a few more times before he could find his voice.
"How do you have this!?" I only smiled and made my way to the door, where it opened up, and K.K walked out. However, the second she and Anton made eye contact, the air suddenly became tense.
"You're strong." Was all she said before entering and making her way to the driver's seat.
"Eros, who is she?" Anton asked, but I gave a smile and entered.
"Just another companion." I replied and soon sat down. Hecate, Hella, and Nekomata sat down, with Anton sitting across from them.
As the door closed, K.K began to drive. The second as we were comfortable, I opened my mouth.
"The way you knew where Phaethon lived, I can only assume it was from Nicole Demaura, the leader of the cunning hares." I stated.
"What?! You know the cunning hares as well?!" I then pointed to Nekomata, who grew a smug look and puffed with pride.
"She's a member, but I made a guess. And I'll be talking with her leader at a later date." I said and looked away to see another sunny day.
With the conversation now done, the ride to Branton Street was quiet. But I made a note to myself to have Summer keep an eye on Nicole if she tried this again.
'What should her punishment be?' I thought it myself.
Meanwhile, Nicole could be seen taking selfies of herself, trying to pose in a cute manner.
However, her phone soon glitched and sparks could be seen flying from her phone. "Ahh!" She dropped her phone and could only stare in despair as her phone melted.
"Nooo, it had my good side as well!" She wailed and held her head.
[Thats what you get you money addict!]
Anyways we soon arrived at the location, and in front of us was a construction site. K.K parked on the dirt roadway and we all dismounted.
"So, this is where your boss is at? Lame!" Hella said and yawned. Instead of taking offense, Anton only laughed.
"That's what you think, but trust me, our boss is anything but lame." He said. "If anything, she's more like a beast, so it's alright if you're nervous."
I was about to ask him why he said that, but we soon heard the sound of metal falling. Turning to the source, we saw what looked like a large mech.
It stumbled around the site, bumping into the steel frames and a few pieces of equipment. And on top of it, I saw a woman who was holding on for her life.
"Hella, secure the machine, Hella, K.K provide support!" I said before rushing forward.
"Roger." Hecate already sent Nightmare past me and rose into the air before slamming both hands down.
Causing the machine to buckle, however, only its front legs lowered. Nightmare then dug its claws, exposing the wires and causing sparks to fly.
The second the wires were exposed, it tried to lurch away. Pulling with all its might, but it was all in vain.
"Hey, don't hurt my child!" shouted the woman, and she wore a look of anger. It tried to strike Nightmare, but she then remembered where she was.
"H-hey, it's okay sweetie, I'm just trying to install a firewall." She said, I was baffled at her reaction.
She was on top of a machine that was rampaging through the site, but instead of fearing for her life, she was showing comfort.
'At least she's not a sinner.' I thought to myself. "Hella, K.K take out the hydraulics!" I shouted as I neared the machine.
"Alright, one beat down coming right up!" Hella said with a smile and dashed past me. As she arrived behind the leg, she pulled back her arms and swung with all her might.
Unsurprisingly, it didn't break. But that made Hella more determined, and she began to strike as hard as she could.
K.K herself was making more progress, she grabbed the Hydraulic with both hands and pulled, slowly bending it. The sound of it groaning could be heard, and soon she was able to rip it off.
"You hurt my baby!" Shouted the woman and stood up, but the second she did both hydraulics were destroyed.
The loss of balance caused her to jerk forward and she fell. I made a mad dash underneath her and held out my arms to catch her.
The second she landed in my arms, I rolled to the side to avoid getting crushed under the machine.
However, the woman flailed and struggled to escape. "Let me go, I need to fix my child!" she said.
"Are you out of your mind?!" I ask. "You could have died!" I held her tighter, not wanting her to rush back to the machine.
"I don't care, I have to protect my child!" As we argued, we didn't notice that the two rear legs were above us.
"Eros!" Looking up, I saw that one of the two legs was about to crush us. And I didn't have enough time to move.
Before anyone could react, another figure appeared. Only this time, it wasn't human, in fact, it was a bear.
The bear held what looked like a large cannon of sorts, but it only had thrusters. In fact, those same thrusters were what propelled the bear forward.
It used the cannon to parry the attack and it wound its arm back, and the thrusters roared, lifting the bear up and slamming the blunt end against the machine.
Its force was enough to lift it, causing it to flip upside down like a dying spider. The second it landed, its two functioning legs continued to move, but it slowly came to a stop.
With the machine now powered down, I released the woman, who rushed towards it with panic on her face.
"Oh no no no! It's okay, Mom's here, I'll patch up your boo boo's and scold the mean bullies that hurt you." She said and began to walk around it, noting the damage.
As for me, I approached the bear and offered my hand. "Thank you for the help, it would have been bad if anything had happened."
The bear stared at first, and I had to admit. I was intimidated a little. But what happened next completely threw my guard.
"Think nothing of it, it was our fault for what had happened." They replied politely and shook my hand. "You're not hurt are you?"
The concern in his voice was genuine, and he was walking around me to check for injuries. "I'm not, and I'm thankful for that."
The bear then sighed in relief. "That's good, please, call me Ben, and you must be the proxy."
Before he could go on, I shook my head. "I'm not, I'm a friend of theirs, who is acting as a messenger."
"I see, but that is understandable when the president made the request to meet in person." He hummed, but he then shook his head and stepped to the side.
"Anyways, this is our president, Koled Belabog. Head of Belabog Industries." Behind him was a girl who looked like she was barely in her twenties.
She wore a large white jumpsuit, with the upper half tied around her waist, on her upper half, it was only a crop top with a fire design. Her hair was a bright orange, and tied into twintails that looked similar to pom poms.
Finally, she wore an eye patch on her right eye. What's surprising, she is a foot shorter than me, shorter than Hella.
"Nice to meet you, and welcome to Belabog Industries." she greeted and offered her hand.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Eros, Eros Voss, a messenger for Phaethon." I replied and took it.
(A/N Hi guys, sorry for the late post, work had been taking most of my focus, and thus, lack of chapters, sorry for that, and I promise I'm trying to get back into the groove, please bear with me.)