My Sniper System

Chapter 15 - An Agreement from the Crimson Guild

“To formally start our business, let me reintroduce myself. My name is Sakamaki, Kei. As the receptionist mentioned, I am the right-hand secretary and one and only Appraiser for Crimson Guild. I have the ability to see through objects and describe them in detail, especially items that came from portals,” Kei narrated, as he made himself comfortable with the chair and crossed his legs. “Before we can hand you out the money, I would first ask you a set of questions. I know that you and your sister insist that you’ve conquered the portal by yourselves, and we respect that. But, just like any other business, we need to know more information than what you’ve provided us.”

“My name is Nakamura, Aoi. This is Amamiya, Hina. She’s my step-sister," I introduced myself, in case of Kei asking me about my sister's name and mine.

He even lit a cigar inside the room but controlled the smoke’s direction. Since I was with Hina, I was about to call out about his habits. But it didn’t matter if he could do that… Besides controlling the smog he created from that tobacco, what could this man do? Nobody knew.

When Hina heard the words coming from the man, she wanted to retort and give him a piece of her beating. However, I raised my hand and stopped my sister in her tracks.

“It depends on your questions. I know that you’re the one who wants to buy my treasure. And we need the money right now. But the thing is, you also want the Ruined Sword. It would be beneficial to reach an agreement where everyone wins, right? You could deny me this treasure. As for me, I could just give this treasure to somewhere else - another guild, maybe, and earn something out of it.”

“Relax, Aoi. Don’t worry about anything. If you feel like you don’t want to answer my questions, you are free to do so. And just like what you’ve said, I am willing to negotiate with you for that Ruined Sword. Crimson Guild needs powerful items such as the one you’ve retrieved inside the portal,” the Appraiser said, and finally asked his first question. “What was your enemy inside the A-Class portal?”

“A Level 100 Grim Reaper,” I answered.

“How did you know the location of this portal?”

“I saw it from the internet.”

“Interesting,” the Appraiser remarked. “Did you have any accomplices on the internet? And who told you about this portal?”

“Nobody. It was just me and my hunch. I…”

I paused for a second, thinking if I should disclose the part where my system explained the classes and other information regarding these portals. But after countless debates inside my head, concealing my powers was more beneficial than telling them to everyone.

“None, Sakamaki. Nobody told me anything. I just recently found out.”

“So you’re saying that you blindlessly went inside the portal and fought a level 100 Grim Reaper?”

When the Appraiser put it like that, I became a fool without a plan. I hated to admit it, but he was right. I went inside the portal without thinking about it.

I nodded and gave him the cold shoulders. That was my answer. The Appraiser took it as my reply and moved on to his following query.

“For my last question, how did you manage to defeat the Grim Reaper?”

I had expected the Appraiser to ask that question. If I told him about my powers, they may come back and bite me. I had always remembered to conceal my powers from everyone, especially if my gift was overwhelming. Midori taught me that. It was the lesson I needed to carry for this occurrence.

“I can’t… answer you that for now. But if I plan on becoming an adventurer, I might share that information with you.”

“Hmmm.. I see.”

Our exchange was something akin to a tiger and a dragon. The Appraiser glared in my direction while I returned his gaze and leered at his figure. It was a back-and-forth fight, where one of us needed to win or lose the clash. Eventually, I won that wretched battle.

As soon as our talk ended, the door from behind opened. When I glanced at my flank, the receptionist returned to the office. She brought something in her hands. The woman had paper and a pen in her right hand and a large plate with four cups resting on it in the other hand.

“T-Tea for everyone,” the receptionist girl announced, as she placed the plate on the table. “And here is the check for the… Business.”

The Appraiser took the paper out from the receptionist’s hand and signed it, like any other transaction. Crimson Guild also had a logo painted on the check. It served as the verification if I wished to exchange this paper for money from the bank. I needed to consider every expense I had to pay before spending the funds in one place. Hina and I needed to live a life, after all.

Finally, the Appraiser heaved out a sigh and uttered, “Fine. You won. Here’s the check for the Ruined Sword. You know how to transfer this to your account, right?”

I nodded.

“Good. Well, it’s time for you to leave this place and pay whatever you need to pay. If you’re interested, we’re going to announce tomorrow about recruiting adventurers. Visit this place tomorrow if you’re free,” the Appraiser said, and stood from his chair. “We would like to see more talented individuals fighting for the sake of protecting the city. We could use all the help that we could from you and your sister.”

“I will… think about it.”

Hina and I left the guild with the money in hand as soon as the conversation ended. We exchanged the check in the bank and went directly to the hospital.

………….

(Third Person Perspective)

After Hina and Aoi left the Crimson Guild building, Kei and the receptionist were the only ones who had remained inside the room. Kei leaned toward the girl and gave her instructions.

“Call Akai. And tell him that I need him for something.”

“Of course, Kei. I will do it right away,” the receptionist answered, and hurriedly went towards the telephone.

Akai didn’t want a smartphone. He had one, but Akai thought hackers or someone else could track his conversation. And out of worry, he refused to use phones and call the guild members. That man preferred the wired telephone rather than the pocket ones.

As soon as the receptionist girl dialled the buttons, the telephone rang and connected to the person behind the phone call. It was Akai, the director and founder of Crimson Guild. He was also hailed as the strongest adventurer that ever lived on Earth. That person did it all. Crimson Guild was so influential that those people made branches all over the place, including in other countries as well. They weren’t local guilds made for Japan. They existed globally.

“Hello, who is this? Please tell me this isn’t.”

“It is, Akai,” Kei cut Akai off and answered. "Did you miss me?"

A tired sigh resounded from the phone as Akai continued his sentence. “What is it now? You know I’m your boss. And I’m in the middle of something. This better be good, Kei. This better be good.”

A smirk revealed on Kei’s face as he replied, “It is. Someone entered this place and brought a powerful weapon from a Class-A portal. It’s called the Ruined Sword. I will send you the details about it soon.”

“Really now? Now that’s some news! And the weapon sounds menacing. Okay, Kei. I’m listening.”

“We also lost five hundred thousand Yen in exchange for-...”

“YOU WHAT?!”

Kei didn’t let Akai’s words go through inside his head and continued his sentence. He was confident that the news he would bring to Akai would change everything.

“A guy around our age fought a level 100 Grim Reaper. He had some help from his sister, but I doubt the little girl could’ve done something to that monster. The guy’s name is Aoi. The girl is uninteresting, so don’t even bother. She’s just a tank mage. That’s about it.”

“So you’re saying that this man is special? And what are you saying? Levels? We don’t have those kinds of things. We rank monsters with letters, not numbers!” Akai snarled, and slammed his fist against the table. Everyone in the room heard it through the phone. It even made the receptionist shiver in fright.

“That’s the point, Akai. There’s something odd about this guy. He uses terms as if this is a game of some sort. Maybe he sees things like I see these panels every time I appraise items. But I’m not yet sure, since he didn’t disclose anything about his abilities or how he killed the Grim Reaper.”

“The Grim Reaper… I think I’ve heard it before. The Grim Reaper is a low S-Class monster if my memories serve me right. But that fucker is still strong! Ten S-class adventurers or even more are needed to defeat one Grim Reaper. To think that a single man, with the help of a tank mage, could defeat such a monstrous ghoul,” Akai said, and cleared his throat. “For now, just focus on recruiting powerful people you think would benefit our guild. Kill those who don’t want to cooperate. I don’t care. Just… get the treasures for me. The prime minister and I haven’t been on good terms recently. We might have to fight the government and the United Nations when the time comes…. By tomorrow, the government and every guild have voted to limit the access to conquering portals. That would be good for us too.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

After that, the conversation ended.