"I’m not helping you guys."
Leila monotonously refused as she sat using the Intel board next to Ravyn in the department. In fact, she had already made an agreement to work as an Intelligence AB Assistant as atonement. She shared information with the Donkey about their key members, their powers, and all their plans that she knew in exchange for guaranteeing her safety. This helped the Airburst Organization clear the fog of mystery about Donkey quite a bit.
"Then why not run away and live your life leisurely? Don't you also take your time making some eccentric devices to play with us Intels?"
*clack* *clack* *clack* .. *click* *click*
In the same room, Zen asked as he worked on a hologram screen projected from rings worn on both of his toes and played his favorite game on the Intel board on the table. What he was working on was nothing more than covering the media about the damage caused by the arrest of Fowler, who possessed the power of Lost Wisdom.
"It’s not cute to screw a lady, you know?"
*clack* *clack* *clack* .. *click* *click*
The ex-hacker responded while she was playing the same game and pounding her toes on the holograms on each screen to progress her mission in a similar fashion.
"Get him, Leila!"
As always, Kanji seems to be free from the organization’s financial jobs and came to cheer for the mage of the bob girl in the game.
"Zen, don’t give up!~"
Yu returned from buying coffee to treat the department's new faces and shouted to cheer Zen for audience balance. After Leila entered the Intel division, Zen started to show up in the office as well. Having found some competitors with a similar level of talent seems to be the reason.
…How did this place become so bustling?...
Ravyn, sitting quietly at work, felt the noise in the office was louder than it used to be. Without saying anything about that, the girl secretly has a half-smile on the corner of her mouth.
["Victory!"]
Before long, the current score of the match between Zen and Leila was 3:2.
"Oh, she almost beat that arrogant Zen."
Kanji has been cheering for Leila because he’s been annoyed with Zen’s attitude since the last mission.
"I demand a rematch!"
Leila did not accept defeat and sent sweet-faced Zen another in-game PVP request.
"All right, get ready to lose once again."
Zen accepted the challenge.
"Not too fast. Last match, I was just getting used to this game. This time I'm going to control the match like an AB satellite I just hacked a few days ago."
"I can do that too."
"There's no way you can do it faster than me!"
And in front of the Intel department, there’s an individual eavesdropping on the two new members, who are heatedly bragging over one another.
"This is so annoying."
Mol from the personnel department mumbled to herself before she walked away.
"Wait a second, Mol. I was just going to see you."
Ravyn came out in front of the department office and held on to her colleague.
"I've always checked my schedule. There's no need for us to have a conversation right now."
Mol replied coldly and left. Attended for the Intel position three times, and the last time that she was fully prepared, Mol’s evaluation was overshadowed by Ravyn’s performance and Zen’s genius. Although she knew that it was because she had not reached Charles’ standard to be chosen, Mol still couldn’t help but be annoyed with the presence of the purple-haired girl in front of her.
"Thank you for your help on the previous mission."
Ravyn bowed to Mol, who was on her way. Mol pretended to ignore the girl and continued walking, but her face strangely lit up with glee that couldn’t be hidden.
...How annoying...
######
In a private dining room decorated with silk and ornately carved wild animal statues, the light emanating from bulbs inside those wooden sculptures shone slightly in the dim room. On a wide round table in the middle of the room, fine dishes were arranged, and at the center of the table was a radio player broadcasting local news.
"…The main expressway road in Themeise collapsed and had to be closed for repairs along the 20-kilometer line. For people who have to travel around the mentioned area, please avoid the expressway by using the secondary route…"
Amid the sound of the news report, five of Donkey’s executives who were sitting around this table knew immediately that it was about an incident that brought them together.
"How could Fowler get caught by that circus hero organization? Pathetic."
The executive guy with only one left ear spoke scornfully as he sliced his juicy steak on the plate.
"Shut up, Herick. I did not come all the way from the northern region to hear your cocky noise."
A young boy in a beanie sitting on the opposite side of the one-eared man grumbled at him in an annoyed tone.
"Cocky or not, do you want to find out? Little Freja."
Herick radiated a sparkling yellow aura around him. Then the three waiters standing not far away started to have a twinkle of yellow glow in their eyes, and all of them harmoniously charged at Freja, trying to break his neck. Without looking, Freja extended his arm behind his back and crushed their skulls all at once with his bare hands.
"Do you want to die today? You, cleft ear."
A gray atmosphere began to cover Freja up from his blood-stained hands, signaling that he was ready to fight. Still, the other executives didn’t seem to care much about the quarrel in front of them. One of them even enjoyed it.
"Hmm… You guys are pretty energetic."
A man in his 30s admires Herick and Freja. Another girl tries to show off an 'Airburst Challenge' flyer she took from a bus stop bulletin board along the way to get here.
"Hey everyone, look! It reads, ‘Just take a full-body picture of Idorund. You might be the next Airburst.’ I think it’s time for me to try flying like the guys on TV. Who’s with me?"
Olivia appears to be the most earnest person here. The red-lipped, eagle-eyed woman sighed for a moment before vanishing from her seat and showing up, grabbing Herick and Freja’s shoulders.
"It’s almost time for the higher-ups’ guest to arrive, boys.. And you, young countryside lady, Airburst is our enemy. Throw that nonsense flyer away already."
Both rival executives still stared at each other, but eventually put it to rest because they didn’t want to get into trouble with Olivia’s powers. The executive girl obeyed as soon as she recognized that Airburst was Donkey’s enemy. As she was rolling up the leaflet, the entrance to the dining room was opened. In that split second, the five executives sensed a familiar hostility. They united to attack the person who was about to enter. The short swords, the knives, the forks, and any other weapon they were able to grab at that moment were pointed at the throat of the slender, white-haired man who had just entered the room. The thing that made five executives stop their hands was an item the entrant was holding, the silver key with the Donkey Gang’s sign at the handle end.
"Why is that thing with you, Undre?"
Herick spoke to the white-haired man with the key in his hand.
"It’s been a while since we met. There are more faces I don’t recognize than I thought."
Undre didn’t answer and walked past the executives as they opened up the path for him.
"Don’t mess with me.. You certainly robbed that key from our real guest again, huh? That is why you are just the things of the past!"
Herick radiated a flashing yellow aura, hoping to attack Undre, who turned a deaf ear to him. And before the others could stop Herick, all five executives felt like their stomachs were about to explode, and their knees dropped to the ground. Undre, with black characters wrapped around his lips, seemed to whisper something to himself as he walked towards the dining room table.
"I’ll pretend I’ve never heard of you being rude in front of 'The Silver Order’, HERICK."
Undre’s voice, emphasizing the one-eared man’s name, made him feel a tingling pain sensation in his right ear once again. Undre attaches a silver donkey key to the keyhole of the radio player in the center of the table and presses the donkey’s head once to start playing the recording.
"Hello everyone.."
At just the whitenoise-mixed greeting sound, all the executives who had been knocked down out of agony suddenly rose to their knees and bowed their heads in an orderly fashion.
"..Our past with Undre might not have been great, but to keep our plans running smoothly, we needed to get Fowler back. In the meantime, you guys must cooperate with him."
By the end of the short audio recording, every single Donkey executive was ready to give up their lives to work with Undre.
