“I don’t think I like you being here.”

  “I told you I’d be a regular, didn’t I?” I responded.

  “You’re holding a shady conversation with Elize right in front of me, and I don’t want to know any of it.” Rhody frowned deeply at the two of us.

  “It’s all above board, Rhody,” Elize told him. “Don’t worry your tail off.”

  Rhody could only sigh and scratch his head in response.

  “… I’ll be in the back. Holler if you want something. Or don’t, I didn’t hear anything.”

  Rhody quickly left the conversation. And maybe the building entirely. I brought my attention back to Elize.

  “Now, where were we?” I asked.

  “The details of the investigation behind that monster tamer you apprehended. I would also like to complain about your… non-discreet way of handling his beast, but I’ll leave it for another time.”

  “I was testing my new move,” I blurted out without remorse.

  Elize frowned. “I’ll ignore that. Now, as you know, Lemuel has been going on a rampage investigating the chain of crime and the higher-ups behind the monster tamer.”

  “Monster King right? Or was it Chimaera?”

  Elize gave me a look of slight surprise, before going back to her frown. “Hah. I shouldn’t be surprised you already know this. I might as well ask to avoid redundancies. What do you know about Chimaera?”

  “Not much. I didn’t even get the name right. Their leader’s title is Monster King, he wants to get an army of monsters. I think the Chimaera name had something to do with 3 battalions of monster groups…?” I trailed off in thought.

  “That’s more than-“

  It was at this point I remembered that I read a report on this. It took me a while to remember because Galas sent it to me randomly one day and didn’t tell me it was important, so I put off reading it until I was bored during a stakeout.

  “Yeah!” I exclaimed. “They had 3 divisions of monster groups. Lion, goat, and snake. Each division has an executive and each specialised in a monster type. Lion specialised in predators, snake specialised in venomous creatures and goat had everything in between. The largest group is goat, then lion, then snake.”

  “I didn’t know tha-“ I cut her off again.

  “They run monster smuggling rings but also capture their own and train them. They aren’t a big organisation, they rely a lot on the monsters. I think I remember them having about 20 people, not counting the executives and the Monster King.”

  “You have an estimate to their numbers?” Elize finally finished a sentence. “That’s more than I’ve managed to dig up. How verifiable is this information?”

  I responded, “As verifiable as any information that comes from you.”

  ‘It did come from you.’

  “Impressive,” Elize complimented herself. “I would ask you for more, but I assume this information doesn’t come free?”

  “I don’t actually know more than that. I only got to skim the report before time was up.”

  Well, I had an idea of just how long it would take to take out Chimaera. It would have mostly taken place over the next month, the month we were away, so I wasn’t involved with the operation at all. After that, it would take a few more months to clean up the remnants. It’s not like I could say any of that though.

  Elize gave me a slight look of disapproval.

  Ignoring that, I spoke, “As for the price, all I want is for you to continue cooperating with me. It’s convenient for me to have Lemuel sent after my enemies.”

  “You are talking about Qliphoth, yes? The organisation you asked me to look into and watch out for.”

  I nodded my head.

  Elize folded her arms. “Qliphoth’s proving to be quite troublesome. It’s not something I can so easily look into, especially with this mess we have to handle right now.”

  “Anything about the people I’ve asked you about?”

  “There’s a… concerning amount of connections I’ve made thanks to you. All throughout the world, I’ve noticed incidents that matches the individuals you’ve described, particularly Qimranut. But I’ve been unable to track them as I’ve been here all this time. And I am hesitant on tipping them off, so the information flow has been slow. What I can tell you though, is that each one of these individuals have exceptional skills.”

  Elize seemed to have something on her mind as she said that, but it was expected. Of course she’d be troubled when she found that there was this mysterious organisation that she had somehow missed all her life. Still, I wish she had more info for me.

  “I’ll take it, I guess. Make sure to tell me if you have any more info, and I’ll do the same for you.”

  “I will. By any chance, would you be willing to tell me why you are so focused on them?”

  I frowned. Elize was asking me a personal question now. This was sort of a good thing. This told me she wanted to move on from the strictly professional business relationship we had. We were in the same boat, so to speak, so getting to know one another wasn’t bad. Still, I was a bit hesitant.

  “They killed my mentor. But that’s that and this is this. Now, I want to stop them from taking anything else.”

  Elize closed her eyes and tapped her forehead a few times. A sort of habit, I supposed. Perhaps she was using magic to accelerate her thoughts?

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Do they have a personal interest in you?” Elize asked with a serious tone.

  I could tell what she was worried about. If she was right, then my presence here would be very unwelcome.

  “No. They don’t know who I am. They couldn’t have followed me here. But at some point, I want to make a big move against them, and crush them all.”

  “Hah… So, that’s your ultimate goal. I am not opposed to helping you, so long as you continue to help me. If things go well, perhaps I could sic Lemuel on them at some point.”

  Ha. He would be perfect for chasing them down, so long as I could prevent his death. Captain Galas once told me he couldn’t see Lemuel dying of anything other than natural causes, so I was hopeful that he would only need a little help to avoid his fate.

  “That would be very welcome.”

  “Now, Machia, I assume you can’t exactly do a job for me?”

  “Nope,” I answered. “Lemuel’s been stirring up a storm destroying Chimaera bases, so it’s been getting hard to move around. And ‘sides, I told you I was chilling for a bit.”

  “I’d like to ask you to look out for Plue. I have a hunch that Chimaera is looking for her to use as leverage, since Lemuel has been so active. Ideally, you would apprehend any would-be kidnappers as well. Could you do that for me?”

  “Hah…” I rolled my eyes and deeply sighed. “I was planning to do that anyway. The apprehending stuff’ll be annoying, but I can do it.“

  “I would only trust you with this. I know your specialty is infiltration and information, but considering your massacre of the panther, I believe you could handle most kidnappers that come your way.“

  I nodded. “I gotcha. I also care about her, so you can count on me. If push comes to shove, I’ll rely on the other members.”

  Carmine was the most combat capable of our little group, and Rasa was great support. Since the two had been working for a long time together, their teamwork was already solidified. For the big mission ahead, I could rely on them to handle anything. Machua and Plue needed some work in a team, but since we were running with extra members on this mission, they had time to train themselves up.

  “Knowing you, it’s a bit overkill to include you in the Galem Squad. I can hardly see how the rest of them are supposed to improve themselves.”

  “I’m good at holding back. Though, I might show off every now and then.”

  Elize made a thoughtful expression. “Speaking of showing off. Where is your Phantom partner? Don’t you two do everything together?”

  “… Let’s not speak about them. And no, we don’t.” My tone was, so to speak, not very joyful.

  Elize wryly smiled, as if she understood my pain. “Understood. I’ve already sent you the details for your big mission abroad, so I hope that all of you will be able to enjoy yourselves tomorrow.

  Elize stood up to leave. Before she went out of the door, though, she said one last thing. “Oh, and Machia. You can be a little less restrained around Plue. She’s good at keeping secrets.”

  “I’ll… keep that in mind.”

  I watched as Elize left the diner, her last words still lingering on my mind.

  Plue Salas. Where were you in the last timeline?

  ———————————————————————

  “Hmhmhm…” Plue hummed as she took out a small box from a cabinet.

  She carefully carried the box around her house, slowly over to her favourite room. Unfortunately, the door was closed, and she didn’t have any extra hands to open it.

  “Mm… Guess I have to call him out. Just for a little should be fine…”

  Plue focused her mana and ‘nudged’ the tattoo that was emblazoned on her back. The tattoo, as all of hers did, carried an insect within it. Well, he wasn’t an insect per se, he was an arthropod, but close enough.

  Her tattoo wriggled a little, demonstrating its unwillingness to get up. It seemed to be just fine sleeping on her back.

  “Don’t you wanna move around a little? Come on, help just a little bit, okay?” She said to her tattoo.

  With what sounded like a sigh, the tattoo wriggled its way down Plue’s backside and leapt out.

  “Heheh, it’s good to see you outside. I just wish you weren’t so mean to everyone else, otherwise I could have you out all the time.”

  The tattoo expanded and formed into a large black creature. Its body was separated into 33 segments. The segments were angular and sleek, almost like metal. Additionally, each segment had a pair of legs sprouting from it. Two shadowy tendrils sprouted from its head and its eyes, an addition from Plue, were blazing red, placed onto the surface of its head, almost embedded into it. Yes, the tattoo Plue had on her back was a giant, monstrous centipede.

  Though, its design was much cuter than an actual centipede. The eyes were not matching with that of the actual animal it was based off of, but Plue added them in an effort to make it look more expressive. Otherwise, every other Hunter would try to kill her poor summon on sight.

  “Okay… Open the door please.”

  The centipede moved its head as if to scoff and slowly lowered one of its antennae to open the door.

  The door opened up and led to a thriving room filled with dozens of containers, each one holding different insects. Plue had ant farms, big beetles, spiders, and just about any sort of insect or bug she could get from the shop. Her papa disallowed her from picking up any insect off the ground and calling it her pet after a certain incident involving a classmate. Needless to say, she was expelled.

  ‘I wonder if she’s doing better. If I remember correctly, the venom shouldn’t be fatal…’ Plue’s thoughts trailed off.

  “Eh. I hope I never meet her again. She was really mean. Okay, it’s feeding time!”

  Plue energetically sprung to the first container, an ant farm. She opened her box happily and pulled out a small frozen chicken head. She carefully placed the chicken head into the ant farm and then moved on.

  Plue’s giant centipede watched on in slight interest. These weaker, insignificant bugs were nothing to its eyes, yet its summoner still insisted on taking care of them. To it, there was no point in doing so, but its summoner seemed to find some sort of happiness doing so.

  “Oh, I’m all out. Guess I have to make a visit to Uncle Sen’s shop for more food.”

  The centipede lowered its head and tapped Plue’s head twice with its antennae.

  “What is it, Kafki?” She asked.

  The centipede, Kafki, pointed its antennae at a nearby calendar. The date for tomorrow was circled in a big red line.

  “Oh, right! Tomorrow’s mission day. Thanks for reminding me. I’ll have to call Uncle Sen so he can come visit and feed all of our friends while I’m gone.”

  Plue, hurriedly pulled out her phone, a gift from Auntie El, and called Uncle Sen. Just like Auntie El, who was more of a mama really, he wasn’t actually her uncle, but he ran the insect shop she frequented and used to babysit her a lot.

  “Uncle! I’m going on a mission tomorrow!” Plue cheerfully announced.

  “Oh?” A gravelly voice answered. “That so?”

  “Yep! I’m going with my new friends, Machu and Machi. They’re twins. And also some new people, but I’ll be fine.”

  Kafki made a particularly interested squeak. If that’s what you would call the noises of a centipede.

  Uncle Sen huffed. “Plu, do you have a gigantic summon out right now?”

  “Yeah. It’s Kafki. Kafki, say hi.”

  Plue turned on the video call and pointed it towards Kafki. Kafki clacked its mandibles together.

  Uncle Sen meanwhile frowned. He was a middle-aged man with dark brown hair and stubble. His hair flowed down his shoulders and he had two curved horns with multiple points. He looked like he had just woken up, and yet despite that he already had a cigarette in his mouth.

  “Kaf… Urgh.” Uncle Sen sighed. “The one I helped your master make, huh?”

  “Why’d you go ‘urgh?’ That’s rude, you know,” Plue admonished.

  “Well, I happen to be pretty scared of Kafki. Got no idea how you keep it under control, ‘specially when it’s stronger than you. That’s breakin’ one of the basic rules of summoners right there. Can’t fathom how your dad let you keep it.”

  Plue made a cute hmph. “Kafki’s a nice centipede. He would never hurt me. And master taught me how to manage him well. I can make sure he won’t hurt anyone.”

  “Hah…” Uncle Sen sighed, puffing out some smoke. “Well, I ain’t your dad. I’m just your bug guy. I’ll come ‘round to feed your critters.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Mmhm. I still got the spare key your dad left me, so it’ll be no trouble. By the by, how long will you be gone?” Uncle Sen asked.

  “A month. We’re gonna go around taking out monsters in other Cities. Auntie El might give us some other missions too while we’re there, so maybe a bit longer than that.”

  “Yeesh, Lemuel’s letting you go, just like that? After that incident?”

  “I’ll be fine!” Plue replied loudly. “I have Kafki with me and next time, I’ll-“

  “Hold it.” Uncle Sen interrupted. “You know what sorta destruction the centipede can cause. You’re not supposed to get in any situations that force you to use it in the first place.”

  Plue slowly digested Uncle Sen’s words. He was right, and she couldn’t say anything against it. Still, she wanted to become a Hunter, and she was aware that these sorts of things happen. That was why her master gave her Kafki in the first place, and what was the point of a summon you didn’t use?

  “…”

  She almost had to use Kafki last time. No, that was wrong. Kafki almost emerged by himself, and if he did, then the next time she woke up, she’d see the mangled corpses of the monster tamer and his beast. And maybe… Maybe she would have seen the dead bodies of Machu, her brother, and those kids too.

  Plue slowly petted Kafki’s head.

  “Hah… I’m not the sorta guy you need to do this with but promise me you’ll be safe.”

  Plue nodded. “I promise. I have all my friends with me. With five of us, we can’t be defeated by anything.”

  “That sorta attitude could get you killed. But fine enough. I’ll see you next month.”

  “Bye, Uncle Sen.”

  Plue took a deep breath, staring at her phone for a little while. She wanted it to tell her that everything was going to be okay. She wanted her dad to call her and tell her he’ll be back home for dinner. Ever since that damn incident where she was burnt a little bit, her papa hadn’t been home for so long.

  “Oh, Kafki…” She murmured as she petted it. Kafki was receptive as usual.

  “I wish you were as nice to everyone as you were to me.”

  Kafki clacked its mandibles with force, as if saying that was non-negotiable.

  “Why?”

  Kafki lurched over one of the containers, which held a big spider. Its antenna stabbed the ground next to it, making it scuttle away back to shelter. The other antenna wrapped itself around the big spider. Naturally, it made an attempt to escape, but no matter what it did, it couldn’t.

  Plue stared at the flailing spider. To Kafki, it truly was nothing. Smaller even than a pest, it wasn’t even an annoyance. After juggling it around until it was satisfied, Kafki let the spider back down.

  “… Humans aren’t annoyances, Kafki. They aren’t prey, and they aren’t threats to your life.

  Kafki gnashed its mandibles together loudly, as if to refute her last statement.

  “I can see how you think that. I haven’t made much friends at all, have I?”

  Kafki nodded its head. Its antennae waved around in the air, in a swinging motion as if that didn’t matter.

  “But people matter. It’s important to make friends.“

  Kafki made a sound not dissimilar to a scoff.

  “Machu and Machi are great! When we went for that dessert trip yesterday, it was great!” Plue almost shouted out. “They know I have bugs, and they aren’t scared. It’s gonna be great. This time, we’ll get to be best friends.”

  Kafki ignored Plue entirely, tired of it all. It pressed its head against her arm, and quickly returned into a shadowy tattoo wrapped around her finger. The centipede tattoo it had become wriggled its way back onto her back.

  Plue slumped down onto the ground, her energy leaving her.

  “Papa… come home already…”