"I... I’d accept. I really would."
He lowered his head slightly.
"Can I be real with you two?"
Clentine and I exchanged a glance, then nodded.
"Sure."
"Alright."
He exhaled anxiously.
"You see... I own an orphanage. The city I grew up in never had one, so I put together so money and built one. There are hundreds of kids living there, and the thought of leaving them is a little tough, you know?"
My eyes widened slightly.
I knew he must’ve had his reasons, but taking care of an orphanage?
I would’ve never imagined sothing like that.
Though...
It would explain his cringe jokes and his outfit in the future.
He stuck around Kevin frequently, so does that an sothing happened to the orphanage?
"..."
"Are you an orphan as well?"
Rain nodded.
"I am, yeah."
"Then, these other orphans. Is it possible for us to relocate them? I could pay to have them transported to the Elodrenia continent, and then escorted to safety."
He shook his head.
"And what of the orphans that co after?"
Right as I was about to answer him, Clentine chid in.
"What if we use our money to buy so protection? There are dozens of retired paladins all around the continent. Isn’t that right, Amon?"
"Uh? Yeah. There are a bunch of them."
But finding ’retired’ and retired paladins is a little hard.
Since most ’retire’ after abandoning their duties or being exiled.
Though, with enough money, everything was possible.
"Soone to guard the orphanage... That could work, yeah."
Rain t our gazes.
"I’d like that, but I’ll only accept if you let visit the orphanage every couple of months."
I tilted my head slightly.
"Do you think we’re enslaving you? You can do whatever you want."
"Eh? You’re not?"
My brows twitched at his confused look.
"No, we’re not. Also, you won’t have to tag along with us for another couple of months. Speaking of..."
Since he’s going to join our group moving forward, I decided to let him in on the information regarding the descent of demons, leaving him shocked and speechless.
"Is this for real?"
"I know what your Gift is without ever eting you. Do you think a demon invasion really is impossible?"
"..."
He fell into thought for a mont, then grumbled and ruffled his own hair in irritation.
"And let guess, when those demons actually descend, you’re going to be in the heart of everything, aren’t you?"
"Pretty much."
Rain looked like he wanted to bang his head on a sharp rock and get it over and done with.
But instead, he just accepted it.
"Fine... Then about the money?"
"You can have the money in that bag, but as for the paladins—"
"Let handle it," Rain interjected.
He gave and Clentine a thumbs up.
"Despite how I look, I have so connections to very powerful people. With this money, I can befriend them and reap many more benefits than just from simple paladins."
I just stared at him for a mont.
Honestly? I wasn’t sure if I could trust him with the money.
I wasn’t afraid that he was going to steal it, but rather that he was going to waste it doing sothing irresponsible.
But since the orphanage was involved... I decided to put my faith in him.
"You do that. Where’s that orphanage, by the way?"
"Krinea. It’s on the northern border of Hanazora. So I guess it’s not too far away from this city."
Krinea...
Oh.
That shithole.
I facepald inwardly, recalling how that city was mainly known for cultivating assassins since childhood.
I doubt that’s what Rain’s doing, but I’ll still have to check up on him before the descent to make sure he’s alright.
Anyhow...
"That’s all then. We need to head back as well, since I’m sure reinforcents are going to arrive soon."
"Ah. Yeah. Good luck to you two. I’ll see you in a bit then."
With that, he stashed away the bag of money inside his dinsional ring, and after waving at us, he dashed away, eventually vanishing from sight.
When he did, Clentine and I exhaled relieved breaths.
"Why is recruitnt so difficult..."
I let out a chuckle.
"It’s probably not always going to be hard. Getting Vincent on our side though..."
I cut off his arm.
His daughter’s a demon because of Kai.
And yeah.
I’m not even sure how to go about getting him on our side.
Even so, I brushed the pouting Clentine’s hair, and finally, the two of us vanished into black lightning.
We soared through the sky for several minutes, and when we reappeared, we were back atop the mountain that belonged to Adam.
Coincidentally, Adam was waiting for us by the door.
"You two took a bit longer than I thought. You’re also not reeking of blood this ti. Huh. Maybe there’s a bright future for you two after all."
I rolled my eyes and pointed my chin at Clentine.
"You know what you have to do. No backing out now."
He sighed.
"Yes, I know."
Pulling out a book from his back pocket, he tossed it at Clentine.
After she caught it and inspected it, her eyes sparkled.
"Consider today a free day. Study the book and learn everything by tomorrow. That is the least I expect of my disciple. Tomorrow morning, I will be teaching you practical applications of my healing technique."
He then pointed at .
"Amon here is going to be our guinea pig. You regenerate really fast, and I’m sure after everything you’ve told us regarding the demons, you want to move things along a little quicker as well, don’t you?"
"I’d feel more confident if you didn’t call a guinea pig, but sure. I’ll help you out."
I gave Clentine a kiss on the forehead and gestured for her to get to reading.
As for Adam and , he looked at a bit differently now that he knew about the demons’ descent.
Though I still treated him differently, and by giving him a nod, I decided to make my way down the mountain and then do a bit of stretching.
Also...
"Are you still with , Morr?"
[...]
[What do you want?]
Hearing the groggy deep voice, I couldn’t help but feel like I got scamd.
"Aren’t you supposed to be on full alert as a Guardian? What’s up with you?"
[Being lively isn’t one of my strong suits. So again, what is it you called for?]
I smiled slightly.
"Alright. In that case, I want you to manifest yourself and spar with ."
I rember seeing Kevin do that with his Guardian, and since the Guardian used the contractor’s energy, the fights are much closer.
But that’s not the only reason I’m doing this.
Morr has already been soone’s contracted Guardian.
A Black Lightning Guardian.
That’s why... I want it to teach a Black Lightning Technique.
And since Morr had heard my thoughts loud and clear, it soon manifested itself in its regular raven form and then glared at .
[You’re foolish for wanting to spar with . But so be it. Let’s have one exchange, Amon.]
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