Zalanir bent his knees slightly, his body coiled to the right, with sound bolts ready to fire at any moment. Complete sound-resistance to the outside world didn’t mean shit when he still drew breath. With Sound Sense, he always had his bolts accessible.

  “Don’t be like that, I just want a bit of privacy for our little talk.” She stopped where she was, about one meter away from him, smiling gently. “Besides, do you think you even stand a chance if I wish you harm? You have my applause for being alert and prepared, but it won’t help. Better relax.”

  From this close, aside from the attractiveness of her grace that he was resisting not to focus on, he quickly noticed the fleet of rainbowlike rings on her fingers. None was without one, with two middle fingers even adorning two of those fancy and surely expensive accessories. Wouldn’t it make it hard for her to use her hands?

  “Even though I savor that admiration, don’t you think it’s too much?” Even though she said that, her hand was just half-ass covering the chuckling. Clearly, she enjoyed this.

  “With all due respect to one of the councilors, who I’m sure won’t do anything impulsive to a normal traveler like me, still, I have to be cautious. I will try my best to not be one-shot in the face of danger, and then hope for the Headmaster who wants to recruit me into his academy to come to my rescue. Slim chance, but I will try.” He shot back at her with an even more intense gaze. Admiration or whatever she was hinting at, he didn’t care.

  “As if someone with a Title that blazing would be normal. Okay, enough jest, we don’t have much time, so let me get straight to the point. What Title do you have?”

  Zalanir had expected this excessive manufactured private meeting to be about many things, even including the secret of the Soul Collection skill, but not the Title. He just got it last night. Heck, he wasn’t even thinking about it, because it was just convenient with all the free stats and modification. What was there to think about rather than equipping it and enjoying the benefits? The glazing sure was nice, but not like repeating it over and over in his head would provide any bonus.

  “Before I answer, shouldn’t it be fair that you give me a rundown for this specific question?”

  “Don’t tell me that you know nothing about Title?” She gave him an incredulous look. “Seemed like it. Woh, what is this? A diamond in the rough?” She muttered softly to herself. Her lips barely moved, but that didn’t escape his ears. “All you need to know is that I can see you have a Title glowing in a bright blue color. Title is rare, especially for someone who just evolved to C-grade like you. Even for us B-grade, our Title doesn’t sparkle as radiant as what you have. But don’t be conceited, people with talent will draw enemies. Not many can detect a title, but for those who do, I can’t be sure that they will be as friendly to you as I am. Join Vendona. I will be your patron. Having me as the backer will do you more good compared to joining the Ecilo Academy.”

  “There’s no free lunch. What do you expect from this? I won’t agree to this partnership, no matter how tempting it is, unless your answer convinces me.”

  “I like that. Hmm, not much you need to do, except be strong and support me without any judgement. Every time, and everywhere. Announce that you are in my camp. Now, I believe I have shown my hand. Isn’t it appropriate that you tell me about your Title? All of my offers will be naught if yours isn’t up to my expectation.” The confident smile was back on her face.

  Zalanir took a full minute contemplating the situation, her offer, and everything. A stupid line of thought flew by that was hard to ignore, as it was honestly really good if he could get it. The question was how?

  “Well, this isn’t on my radar at all when I come here, but thinking about this, we can really strike a good deal for both parties here. I trust that you will keep your bargain on this, else I guess I am just an idiot who can’t tell the difference between genuine and deception. Have you heard of Trailblazer?”

  The moment that word came out of his mouth, Ioviann’s smile froze on her face, as if she was snapshotted in that very instance. A solid five seconds of what was like perpetuality passed by before she drew breath. No, a massive patch of air would be the correct description. Like a whistling kettle, she let them all out in one go, then repeated. Faster this time, but still, lots of air.

  After that, everything reset, and she was back to the normal smile and that confident aura again.

  “That was something, wasn’t it? A Trailblazer! Good stuff. Good Title you have there. It’s a deal. I will be your patron. Just tell old man Zachiriah your decision.”

  “Now don’t be rushed, I have never said that I would agree.” Zalanir smirked. Time to squeeze in some extra benefits. “I’m sure you know that Trailblazer isn’t just a run-of-the-mill title. I have been honest, so what about you? What’s your goal? How are you going to support me?”

  “This isn’t the place for this kind of discussion. We are running out of time, so let’s address those two first, then we will move to my place to settle this. Trust me. You will get a satisfied answer.”

  Her tone seemed to change after knowing about his Title. A bit softer and less authoritative? Not clear enough to tell, but her expression was sincere.

  Letting go of the academy offering sucked, but this one had higher potential. They were one of the three strongest powers in the nation, after all. The only question was how much weight Ioviann had. He noticed the key point from the beginning right away: it was her supporting him, not the entire Vendona. An organization that big bound to have politics at play, and her being his patron was just her way of tying their fate together.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Risky, but he was never the one afraid of making impossible shots. A running forehand down the line held the power to reserve the course of a losing game entirely, and now with such an occasion, the question wasn’t to take or not to take, but to hit it at what angle, and at what stretch.

  He gave her a nod, and she immediately dispelled the booth by recalling the spherical object back to her hand. Ambient magic on display once again.

  “For you to use a sound insulation, I guess you have him?” The Headmaster stayed chilling on his chair. Except for the “muffled call” right after Ioviann ejected the booth, Zalanir had to commend the old man’s composure. Sucked that he wouldn’t have time studying under his guide. Could’ve been fun.

  “We have a nice discussion, but yeah, he is joining Vendona.” Ioviann stayed next to him instead of moving back to where her fellow councilors were.

  “I am getting old. These kinds of negotiations haven’t gone my way for quite some time. Now that you have the lure of the Second Ring venture to back this up? Leave some for me next time, then.” The old councilor took his leave.

  At the same time, the man representing Zerkshi also left. None of them said anything to Zalanir, a complete turnaround to just several minutes prior. Perhaps the action of Ioviann had a higher implication than he thought for them to act like that.

  Just like that, the council ended, with him coming out still with his head on the neck and a patron to boost.

  ***

  The enforcers didn’t even make any effort to hide their supervision on him. Right after he left the main hall, two enforcers were already down on the pearlescent staircase outside, about to follow him when Ioviann cleared.

  “Tell Dokun that he’s with me now. I will take responsibility if anything happens, so just cut this supervision off.”

  Those two hesitated for a moment, but then offered a slight bow and left.

  Despite being one of the five councilors who ruled this city, in contrast to his probably preconceived notion from Earth, Ioviann just strolled like a normal citizen on the street. No fancy tamed beasts acting as her mount. No carriage either. She just put on an emerald hooded cloak that looked rough and unfit for her status, and signaled him to follow.

  There was also no sight of greetings from the locals. Some seemed to recognize and gave her a nod, but the majority just passed her by, treating her differently compared to other passersby.

  “You don’t seem to be popular among the folks here?” Zalanir asked.

  “You asking about my role as a councilor or the branch leader?” She slowed down and shot him a dubious look. “Neither makes much difference to the majority. They probably don’t even know who I am. Except for some of the enforcers and those with powers, hardly anyone could claim that they know our faces. The council just now where all five of us interrogating you is rare. Most of the time, it’s just Dokun and his force doing their job.”

  “I see …”

  No wonder even Dakrua didn’t seem to know them. He was no captain, at least not yet. What was the requirement to be one anyway? Mid C-grade like Putrieta? Could be. If so, the chef wasn’t that far away.

  Come to think of it, didn’t the Gymer mention something about Yebin being a safe city? Yeah, he did complain about being bored with the job, and that the hunt for the cultists was one of the more competitive and exciting missions to do. Just unfortunate that he went down in that cave.

  Zalanir trod passively after Ioviann down the hilltop, and turned left midway at a corner opposite the bluefish mansion that he had spotted earlier in the day. What a peculiar design.

  His to-be-partner led him onto an U-shape quarter, where instead of cobblestone, the road surface was lined with a giant black carpet from the beginning to the end. In the middle of the street stood a giant statue depicting a black open palm inside an emblem of a white downward-facing triangle.

  “This all yours? Quite a showoff.” Zalanir exclaimed at the lavishness of all the silver-wall shops that no doubt belonged to the merchant guild that he was about to be a part of. Having a whole section of a hill being the guild’s gathering place was such a demonstration of power. And he liked it.

  “What’s a better use of money?” Ioviann chuckled.

  “You’re not wrong, haha.”

  None of the shops lacked customers. Wave after wave weaving in and out, contented and grumpy, solo and with companions, warriors to magical folks, everyone just kept on to this symphony of motions, gracing and looking to buy their desired goods.

  Ioviann brought him straight to the third floor of a weaponry shop, where they were alone in a typical office room with a large work desk and two blue couches made from sleek animal hide. Which one? He had no idea. The surface gave off a soapy feel, so probably from some marine monsters.

  “This is my room. Warded in three layers, so we are good here.” Instead of the couch, she leaned her rear on the table, hands taking up the uppermost parchment from a huge pile to her right. “Trailblazer. Don’t expect to see one here. Care to share how you got it?”

  “The soul skill I told you earlier,” he answered with a prepared response. Not for this particular question, but still, wasn’t out of the realm of what he thought the council would ask.

  “An epic rarity skill? I don’t think so … unless … it’s not epic, but legendary? Or fabled? No, there’s no way you have a fabled skill at D-grade.” Her eyes brightened with interest.

  Zalanir gave her no answer. She had basically concluded it for herself, so why bother correcting it? So after epic were legendary and fabled? Good to know. If he had to guess, for the System to offer the Soul Harvester mastery, the Soul Collection skill had to be on par with at least a legendary skill. Perhaps fabled, even?

  His chest hummed, with the heart acting as the main vocal, nonstop producing instrumental beat with its activities. Now that was nice, wasn’t it?

  “Keeping it a secret? Hah. Okay, I will let it pass. As long as you are with me, then your secrets are also mine. So, you’re asking about my goal? Easy, to become the mistress of Vendona. Anything short of the highest position would be a disappointment.”

  She hid her excitement well behind that parchment, but the soft vibration of the table betrayed her. Unlucky for her, he had another good skill to spot that tiniest movement.

  So, an ambitious woman. Not bad for his partner, but not good enough.

  “Aim higher if you want this deal.”

  Ioviann staggered, dropped the parchment down on the table, and entered a staring contest against him. Last for more than a minute without any of them blinking, then, she burst into laughter.

  “You arrogant fuck. If you don’t have that Trailblazer Title, I could’ve killed you already for spouting nonsense. Anyway, what’s yours?”

  “To become the strongest in the universe!”