The airship drifted higher above the coastline, leaving behind the noise of protesting applicants and the crash of distant waves. From the deck, the ocean looked calm, as if the chaos below had never happened. Chairman Isaac Netero stood with his hands resting lightly on the railing, peering out at the horizon with relaxed curiosity. Kitse joined him without hesitation, his posture calm and unhurried.
"You handled yourself well," Netero said after a moment. "Cooking is a surprisingly honest test. It reveals how much attention a person pays to the details."
Kitse inclined his head slightly. "I just followed the logic of the ingredients."
"Mm," Netero hummed, smiling faintly. "And logic is often rarer than talent."
For a while, neither spoke. The wind tugged gently at their clothes. Below them, the exam continued to reorganize under new instructions. Netero's presence felt light, but there was a weight beneath it that Kitse could not ignore.
"It would be unfair," Netero said eventually, "to drag you through another phase when you passed fairly. So I thought we might talk instead. Tell me, young man, what would you like in exchange for that inconvenience?"
Kitse did not answer immediately. He looked out over the clouds, as though weighing how much to reveal. "Information," he said at last.
Netero's smile did not change. "Information is expensive."
"I'm not asking for secrets," Kitse replied calmly. "Just confirmation."
"Of what?"
Kitse's gaze shifted slightly, meeting Netero's eyes without challenge. He hadn't expected to gain a chance like this. Netero might not reveal everything to him right now but probing him a little early would be pretty beneficial to him.
"Argus Covenant."
The name hung between them.
For the first time, the wind seemed louder. Netero's expression remained genial, but his eyes sharpened almost imperceptibly. He did not ask how Kitse knew the name. He did not deny it either.
"And why," Netero asked gently, "would a Hunter Exam applicant concern himself with such things?"
Kitse rested his hands on the railing. "Well, let's just say my sixteen years of existence has not been particularly likable because of them."
A brief silence followed. The airship's engines hummed steadily overhead.
"Normally I would not speak of these things but you are too far deep into it to care. I assume you have your own information about the group because of Shiro."
Kitse listened without interrupting.
"I will not give you the details but they have a purpose. They were active in the past but the hunter association has already taken action against them. Unfortunately the association is not strong enough to purge them completely but they will not act now, not until I am gone. Shiro was one of them but that means nothing now."
"The Argus Covenant," Netero continued, tasting the name as if deciding whether it deserved further discussion, "is not something you need to concern yourself with right now."
"Right now?" Kitse was not about to let go of the lead so easily.
"Your foundations are solid, young man. But you have seen far too less to understand the world. You have seen too much darkness in the world but the light is too distant of a concept to you. I can see you trying to reach out to the light but it is still too early."
Kitse considered what the old man said.
He understood the answer. In fact, he knew of the things the old man said but he believed he had already overcome them. But now he realized it might not be the case.
Netero studied him openly now, not as an examiner judging a candidate, but as something closer to a strategist assessing a piece on a board. "You're not ready," he said finally, his tone still mild but firmer beneath the surface. "Not for what lies beyond the maps people are comfortable with."
Kitse did not argue. "I didn't expect to be."
"When you are," Netero continued, turning his gaze back toward the endless sky, "you may come to me. Until then, focus on passing the exam properly. Strength earned step by step is far more reliable than knowledge gathered too early."
Kitse nodded once. That was answer enough.
Below them, the next phase of the Hunter Exam was being announced. The sound of excited voices drifted faintly upward.
Netero clasped his hands together lightly. "Shall we return? Your friends are probably wondering where you've gone."
Kitse stepped back from the railing. "Thank you for your time, Chairman."
Netero smiled in that same childlike way as they walked toward the stairs leading down from the deck. "Oh, I suspect this won't be the last time we talk."
As Kitse descended back toward the exam, the name Argus Covenant lingered quietly in his thoughts.
Netero had not confirmed anything outright, but he had not dismissed it either. That alone told him enough.