Date: July 29th, 2011
After waking up from a revitalizing sleep after my first day on the island, I decide to ignore the monsters today and run at full speed towards Masadora, and after about 50 minutes crossing the hills, the abandoned villages and the lage, I spot on the horizon the famous Magic City composed of colorful, rounded buildings and structures.
As I enter the city, its bright and whimsical atmosphere awakens the animated child within me: People wear colorful wizard-like costumes, the sky is filled with levitating structures with varied appearances, and damn, there are even magic shows across the city.
It's truly a very lively city. The only thing that spoils the atmosphere is the line of players entering and leaving the Spell Card Shop with a dejected face because they can't get a "Leave" card. Although well, later I will take advantage of that misfortune with my abilities.
Ignoring these dejected players for the moment, I walk down the black and white tiled street like a chessboard towards the Masadora Trade Shop, and once there I talk to the NPC in charge of purchases and sale of information to sell him the monster cards I scrounged up on my way here, getting the juicy amount of 7.000.000 jenny.
Leaving the money deposited in the store's account, I walk through the colorful streets until I reach a secluded, uncrowded spot in the nearby forest, and using the Wormhole Orb I created yesterday, I open a portal to leave the island.
Crossing to the other side I find myself in an alley between a block of buildings, isolated from people, and after closing the portal and leaving there it takes me a couple of minutes to reach the Comfort in the Heaven Inn, where Nicholas is waiting for me, looking more disheveled than usual.
"Boooossss!" Nicholas exclaims as he walks unsteadily towards me, listless and with an obvious expression of stress. "Boss, thank goodness you're back! I didn't know what else I could do on my own!"
Seeing Nicholas's desperate expression as he clings to my shirt, I can't help but feel sorry for his shabby appearance: His clothes look worn, his black jacket is loose, his normally slicked-back hair is a mess, and his face is covered in dark circles from lack of sleep.
At this unexpected sight, I take Nicholas by the shoulders to gently pull him away from me and try to comfort him a little as we head to the café I told him about yesterday to order some drinks and for him to fill me in on what's happened while I was away.
"After saying goodbye two weeks ago, I packed a bag with the essentials and set off to explore the Yorbian continent first to lay the foundations for The Tsukimichi Organization as we had planned." Nicholas begins to explain as we sit with our drinks in the establishment.
"At first, everything was going well: I traveled to the areas where we had reviewed attractive properties and resources online, and I officially launched our agency's website as an advertising campaign to find important clients to hire our services."
"So what happened? Did our attempts to promote our abilities in Heavens Arena fail? Or did you have trouble performing the Blacklist Hunter job?" I ask, trying to discover the root of his discomfort.
"You could say that, and you could not. If anything, our efforts were too successful." Nicholas says, squeezing his glass.
"As soon as I posted the website on the dark web, applications from employers and job seekers flooded my laptop non-stop, and I had to spend several hours a day sifting through them to filter out the options most suited to our interests and discard those that seemed inappropriate for us at the time or that looked fishy."
"There were many entries, and each request had to be handled with caution, following certain guidelines to avoid running into trouble with any underworld faction, so it was a complex and arduous task. But that was only the most peaceful part."
Point of View Switch: Nicholas
Flashbacks displaying the events that have happened to me on the Yorbian continent.
"Mr. Nicholas, our facilities are located in a high-demand area, and the layout of its internal structure is perfect for organizing important meetings and offers high performance." A real estate agent tells me, showing me a photo and documents about the building in question.
"Don't be fooled! The land on that property is undervalued due to nearby public works projects! Plus, the emergence of new businesses in the area is bound to divert potential customers from yours, so it isn't a profitable purchase.!" Another agent argues, showing me another property.
"This property is better for your interests: a small block already furnished and decorated with a blend of industrial and modern designs that provides seriousness but also emotional accessibility."
"Accessibility? You mean a facility isolated from commercial and residential areas? Not only will it be inconvenient for customers to have to search for a remote location like that, but Mr. Kai and Mr. Nicholas will have to endure a distinct lack of services and amenities! I'm serious, Mr. Nicholas, mine has better benefits for your company!" A third agent joins the discussion.
I'm in a travel gear store, and I'm currently restraining a guy on the floor who was pretending to give me advice on what to buy, only to try to stick me with a syringe when I looked away.
"Why did you try to attack me?" I ask in a serious and threatening tone, holding his arm firmly high behind his back.
"Heh. Don't try to act tough, brat. Do you seriously believe that you can..." The man's insolent little speech is interrupted by his cries of pain as I begin to twist his arm and crack his ribs with my free hand.
"I'm a professional Hunter, so I have full authority and the right to detain a criminal and take any necessary measures. It would also be a good opportunity to practice extracting information, so I'm just going to bother asking one more time: Why did you try to attack me?" I say trying to project a voice and tone as threatening as possible while keeping my grip firm.
My threat seems to work, as the man tells me he was hired by a man to kidnap me and take me to a specific location in the city at a specific time. However, it seems they didn't tell him what they needed me for, and the hiring and payment were made through anonymous and highly confidential channels.
I try to use the methods boss Kai has taught me, but I'm unable to extract any more information from him before the police arrive to take him away, and despite going to the meeting place to incapacitate the kidnappers and try to extract information from them, it seems that the operation was a chain subcontracting, so at the end it's impossible to find the main perpetrators.
At this moment, I find myself fleeing a crowd of crazed people. Thanks to my agility, I leap from building to building until I avoid them and land on a safe street. However, as I turn a corner shortly after, a different group begins harassing me again.
"Kyaa! Nicholas, come on a date with me! Let's enjoy a sophisticated and relaxing afternoon!" One of the girls chasing me screams.
"You're Kai's disciple, right?! Tell me what his tastes are! I'm sure I'll succeed in pleasing him!" Another girl screams.
"He saved my life at Heavens Arena! Please give him my phone number and tell him to contact me! We're destined to be together!" Another says while waving a piece of paper with the aforementioned number as she runs after me.
End of the flashback.
Point of View Switch: Kai
"These past two weeks have been a nightmare of harassment and mounting stress. Between trying to manage our agency's market launch and dodging repeated attempts to hound me from everyone, I haven't been able to rest properly. I've barely been able to sleep well with all of this going on at once." Nicholas says with a dejected face and a depressive aura.
"Wow. It really seems like you've had a tough time handling it all on your own." I say this with sincere condolences and respect for Nicholas.
"Well, at least you were able to kick-start your career as a Blacklist Hunter by stopping the guys who attacked you. And speaking of which... How far did you get?"
"Well, using some of Mr. Lippo's contacts and my experience surfing the web and cracking firewalls, I figured out that a Mafia family was responsible for at least one..."
"I don't mean that." I say, interrupting Nicholas abruptly and staring at him. "Did you kill someone going after your life?"
At this question, Nicholas remains silent, staring into space with a mixture of frustration, fear and discontent reflected on his face and body language, probably thinking that I will be disappointed.
"I see that's not the case. I suppose the time hasn't come for you to take that step yet."
"What if I can't do it?" Nicholas asks out of the blue.
"You told me that being able to kill without remorse or revulsion was a necessary part of being a Blacklist Hunter, and when I asked Lippo and Wing about it during training, they told me it was true. So I've been trying to prepare myself to be able to do it when the time comes."
"Those guys had come after me. They had tried to kill me. I had them at my mercy, and I could kill them with justifiable motives and without facing any repercussions. But in the end, I couldn't do it."
"It was the perfect opportunity to graduate and prove I could stand by your side in this dirty, twisted sea of danger and confusion that is the Hunter profession. And I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to end without hesitation the lives of some bastards who had tried to hurt me."
"Maybe in the end I don't have what it takes to rip a life. Maybe I should give up on fighting on the front lines alongside you and resign myself to supporting you with my skills before my carelessness puts us in danger."
Listening to Nicholas talk about his powerlessness to kill, I don't know why the image of Jispa and the Nickes' Alliance subjects flashes in my head, but I quickly shake it out of my mind and take a sip of my drink before starting to speak again.
"Nicholas, do you remember what I told you when we were locked in the Trick Tower?" I ask, causing Nicholas to look up at me. "That you shouldn't become a cold-blooded killer or focus on the killing part of this business, but you had to be able to kill when the time came."
"Yes, I remember. But I also remember how you decapitated Dith without hesitation. You had no problem killing when you saw the opportunity, unlike me." Nicholas counterargues.
"I didn't look for the opportunity, the opportunity came to me. I gave Dith the chance to retreat and continue living, but he ignored my words and the wide disparity in our abilities that had been demonstrated during our fight and decided to attack me instead. He wasn't going to give up his desire to destroy me no matter what, and that's why I had no choice but to kill him." I say.
"You weren't in a situation where you had no other options, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to get out of that situation without killing."
"Your time hasn't come yet, and you shouldn't try to rush it. Work on developing our agency, keep investigating the underworld as you have been doing, and sooner or later that time will come. You'll find yourself facing a challenge you can't circumvent, and when you finally do it, something inside you will change, and the doubts you had will vanish like a forgotten dream."
"But what happens if at that decisive moment I am ultimately unable to do it?" Nicholas asks, still insistently negative.
"You will die." I say bluntly, shocking Nicholas. "Kill or be killed. That's how the world we live in works. Death is a daily occurrence we have to learn to live with. Especially Blacklist Hunters. If you don't kill, you'll be killed. It's that simple."
At my statement, Nicholas's emotional state becomes somewhat disturbed, slightly trembling nervously as he faces the prospect of dying as a Hunter. His initial uncertainty about not being able to take a life combined with the sudden realization of his own mortality seems to have left him quite bewildered.
"Until that fateful moment arrives, I'll be by your side to support you in everything." I state, regaining Nicholas's attention.
"No one in this world can do everything alone. We both decided we would become the best Blacklist Hunters together, and that's why I'll be your strength, and you'll be mine. We both fill in what the other lacks, and that's why we'll reach the top. I have no doubt about it."
"It will take time, and it won't be easy. We may even fall along the way, but together we will weather the storm. All we need is to trust each other to cover us, and we'll be unstoppable. Nicholas, will you continue to trust me as I trust you?"
At my words of encouragement, Nicholas stares at me as his eyes light up before he responds. "My trust in you is unbreakable, boss. Even if I fail from time to time, I'll keep trying and working toward that goal."
"That's what I expect from you. By the way, did you try "that" on some of the guys who attacked you?" I ask.
"That?" Nicholas asks back in confusion, followed by a jolt of realization. "Oh, you mean "that". I don't have enough mastery and power over Nen yet, so I haven't tried it."
'I see. So he still needs more training. It makes sense, considering the complexity and power necessary for that ability. I hope he gets it in time. That power could become our agency's most important asset.' I think to myself.
"Well, then how about you let me know how you've managed to establish the agency while traveling across the continent?" I ask.
"Yes, of course. In the first place I checked things out slowly, and I have drafted a report on the resources and facilities in which to invest our financial resources, at least on this continent." Nicholas says opening his laptop and showing me the digital report.
It contains a few of the building, car, and furniture offerings we previously summarized in line with our future projects.
"Have you verified the authenticity of the advertisements and the absence of external influences?" I ask reviewing the list.
"All of the items and buildings on the list lived up to expectations, and I found no underlying negative externalities when I researched them online or visited them in person." Nicholas declares, confident in his research.
"Good. If, as you say, these locations meet the requirements, they will serve as bases for the organization. Have you also looked into jobs we can take on or anyone interested in hiring our services?" I ask Nicholas as I continue clicking the pages on the screen.
"I've been researching the Mafia families you recommended and the underground job agencies for Hunters, and these are the jobs that caught my eye:"
"The first one is the one you told me I needed to get at all costs... A bodyguard job for a flesh collector seeking to expand his collection by bidding on several specific items at the Yorknew City Underground Auction in early September."
After announcing the first available offer, Nicholas remains silent with a strained face, obviously uncomfortable with these twisted topics. "Please continue." I say, prompting him to continue.
"Recover confidential documents stolen from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Begerossé Union by a special strike force, presumably in the service of a foreign country."
"Ensure the security and transportation of a diplomatic delegation through a zone of civil conflict."
"Act as security during a conference between various factions in the country of Jappon on January 3rd, in commemoration of the arrival of the new year."
'Jappon? That could be a good opportunity to see Hanzo again and see how much he's grown since our last meeting. Besides, it would feel a bit nostalgic to go to a country based on the Japan of my old world.' I think as I continue listening to Nicholas.
"Investigating a series of mysterious deaths in Glam Gas Land. It seems the victims all displayed different symptoms: body melting, skeleton dislocated, lungs suffocating in the ground... All different and seemingly unrelated."
"Those are all the important jobs we're currently qualified for. There are less important and risky jobs, such as capturing wanted criminals, recovering stolen property from important institutions, or analyzing communications and documents for hidden information, but they don't pay as much and offer less reputation."
"Very good. Obviously, we'll be taking on the bodyguard job for the Yorknew City Underground Auction. Aside from that, we'll also be taking on the security duties in Jappon and the investigation into the mysterious deaths in Glam Gas Land. The diplomatic escort job is out of the question, and we'll save the confidential document recovery job for later, if it's still available." I give Nicholas my conclusion on the mentioned jobs.
"Even if we consider the boss's spatial relocation, if something goes wrong in a political matter, we'll end up in a bad position, and recovering those documents that were so well guarded could be complicated and time-consuming. I'm fine with your decisions, boss, but why are you so interested in Yorknew City Underground Auction?" Nicholas asks curiously.
"Because I know that a great number of events are going to happen there, and I plan to take advantage of them, both personally and professionally." I reply, envisioning the plans I have for when it arrives.
"Aside from these, I also want you to tell me about the other less relevant job offers, and help me narrow down the facilities to be purchased by The Tsukimichi Organization to just three."
"Yes sir." Nicholas responds, preparing to continue the briefing.