"Oh, how careless of me, I almost forgot to introduce myself. I am Joey, what are the names of you youngsters?" the old man asked, as he stopped in front of a large square platform.
"I am Ben Tennyson." Vritra said, wondering what sort of tests this evil organization would have.
"I am Onest." Onest said, releasing a sigh and leaving himself to his destiny.
"So, Ben and Onest, your first task will be to fight against a dummy and survive against it for ten minutes. It will be a couple of levels higher than you, but don’t worry, you don’t have to put your life on the line for this." Joey explained while pointing towards the square platform.
"So who among you two will be going there first?" he questioned, looking at the two with a calm smile.
"I will—" Vritra just wanted to get this over with, so he didn’t want to waste any time. But just as he raised his hand, one of the organizers of the event ran up to Joey and whispered something into his ear.
"Oh, why all of a sudden?" Joey looked quite surprised after hearing the news, then he straightened his clothes and bed his beard with his fingers while hastily walking towards the door of the field.
’What is going on now?’ Vritra thought. Everything was so strange from the start. Right after receiving that quest he somehow ended up at this place, the place of the Slave Beast Gang, it was too much of a coincidence.
Vritra and Onest glanced at one another, then looked away in hatred and watched the old man walking towards the door in a strange manner—he seemed to be tripping.
All the calm demeanor and aura he showed earlier seemed to have disappeared.
Just then, two new guests appeared at the gates of the field. Vritra leaned to the side to look ahead of Joey and froze the moment he saw the guests.
"Wele, Empress!!" Joey shouted in an excited tone, then he added: "A- And Protector Han, wele. I wonder why you two suddenly decided to e to this place when you clearly rejected the offer earlier."
"Why, we can’t e after refusing?" Han said, narrowing his eyes to put the old man in his place.
’I wonder too why the Empress suddenly wanted to e to this place, sigh, as if she wasn’t already strange enough, and now her behavior is being so random.’ Han thought, but he just loved every side of her.
Even if the two couldn’t be together in this life, he would always stay close to her and protect her from every kind of danger. If he had enough power, Han wouldn’t have let her get engaged to the king in the form of a deal.
"I—T- That’s not what I meant, haha. Please enter, I had already prepared a lot of nice dishes for you. But unfortunately, all the participants have already given their tests—oh wait, only two are left. If you want, I can push them to some later time." Joey spoke, shivering under the pressure of the Protector.
"There is no need for that, I will watch the remaining tests." Yennefer said, as her gaze shifted to the two boys standing in the distance. To be specific, she focused on the weak-looking young master, who seemed to have bee paler.
"Oh, that is perfectly fine. Please e inside, I have also prepared good seats for you." Joey said as the three walked into the field.
’What the hell?!! How e she is here too? And wasn’t this supposed to be the Slave Beast Gang’s recruitment? Then is she here to stop it? Or did she allow such a thing?’ Vritra felt like pulling his hair out.
The Empress was a dangerous woman. If she really were to find out he was Vritra, she would kill him first and ask questions later.
"H- Hey, is she here to stop the recruitment?" Vritra leaned to the side and asked.
"Huh? Why would she stop it? Well, she kind of holds a high position in the Golden Moon, so she must be a guest in their recruitment—" Onest answered. He straightened up; as a thief, how could he not feel afraid in the presence of those two?
"You mean to say this is the recruitment of the Golden Moon?!!" Vritra abruptly turned his head and asked in shock.
"Of course it is, then did you think all these people are here to get admitted to a kindergarten?" Onest replied, sighing to himself. It seemed either his profession as a thief would e to an end, or he would end up in prison.
’I guess, if I can pass the test then joining the Golden Moon wouldn’t be so bad, not that I have a choice.’ Onest thought, and decided to let fate take its course.
’Fuck!! Why do both organizations have recruitment going on at the same time and for the post with the same names?’ Vritra cursed. He wasn’t sure anymore which Agent the system meant, but he had to get out of there.
"These are the only two participants left now, they were a bit late." Joey said.
"..." Onest froze, and without saying anything he just bowed.
"Hello there, pretty lady and her... friend." Vritra quickly got into character, trying to be as calm as possible.
"Ben, is it? I didn’t expect to meet you again so soon." Yennefer said, the corners of her lips rising ever so slightly.
’Damnit, she definitely came after knowing I am here, so she has suspicions about me.’ Vritra looked at that slight smile and felt goosebumps.
"Oh, it is you, good man." Han also recognized him; this was the person who mistook him for the Empress’s husband after all.
"Yes, I am Ben. It is really nice to meet you, but I have something urgent so I will be taking my leave now. And sorry, sir Joey, it seems I won’t be able to get that post." Vritra said. But before he could take a step, the cursed Onest pulled his arm and spoke:
"Aye, don’t be so shy now. I know you perform bad under pressure but everything will be fine. Sir Joey, we are childhood friends and I know him well. Let’s start the test."
"Empress, your seats are that way." Joey said respectfully, but Yennefer didn’t reply, her piercing gaze burning holes in Vritra’s weak body.
"We are fine, get started with your recruitment." Han said, seeing the strange behavior of the Empress.
"Okay then, Ben, why don’t you head inside first." Joey said.
Vritra sighed, and trying his best to maintain his fake identity, he stepped onto the square platform. The moment he entered, a barrier appeared around the platform.
A faint light passed through Vritra’s body, probably to gauge his level, and then a glyph rose from within the land which transformed into a metallic puppet.
Its body structure was similar to a human’s, and it looked really agile. From outside Joey added: "These dummies can’t use mana, but their physical aspects are enough to match your level, so be careful."
’It’s fine, it’s fine, she hasn’t recognized me yet.’ Vritra refused to even look at Yennefer as he focused on the puppet. Then he took out a sword from his inventory and got ready for the battle.
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