-J’alyr-
[An improper conjunction of the Alten words Jarou and Alyr.
Literally translating to Stone Farm, the common translation is Mine, specifically one that mines for the stone and not ores.]
Oroske had woken Kuro early the next day, as he said he would. After rising from his bed slowly, his body sore from his duel the previous night, Kuro sleepily put on his clothes. He was still sliding his arms through his jacket sleeves as he lumbered down the stairs. As he emerged from the upper section of the house, the muffled voices he’d been hearing became more clear. Oroske and their visitor were chatting in the dining room.
Kuro was rubbing an eye as he walked in, surprise stopping his motion. Ranfa, of all people, was sitting at the table with Oroske. She wore the same outfit she’d worn during the Peace Party, her black cloak trimmed with white fur, and matching black utility trousers. She raised a hand in greeting and gave a friendly smile. “Heya, Kuro!”
“Hi, Ranfa. I’m surprised to see you here,” Kuro replied, walking over and pulling out a chair and sitting down.
“Don’t you know? I’m the foremost authority on fashion in the Clan.” Ranfa laughed, “I kid, of course. But I do know a thing or two about coordinating outfits. I’ll help you pick out a few outfits for your special little mission,” she took a moment to consider, inspecting his hair, “and maybe see about getting you a new hairstyle.”
Kuro frowned. He’d never really considered styling his hair, he typically just let it do whatever it wanted. It was very convenient, and it saved him a lot of time in the morning.
“You said your escorts are supposed to arrive around mid-day, right Oroske?”
“Correct. We’d best get going if we want to finish in time.” He responded, standing and moving towards the home’s front room.
“You already received a reply from them?” Kuro asked as he got up to follow. With the pace they’d been working lately, he was used to not getting a chance to eat before work.
“Yes, Ensaru has a communicator that works with the ones we have. I sent a programming glyph with my acceptance letter. We spoke a little bit last night.”
“Those communicator pendants are so convenient,” Ranfa said from behind Kuro, trailing behind, “I’m hoping I can get one for me and Fyr soon. I have a feeling within the next year, pretty much everyone will have one.”
“You’re probably right, unfortunately.” Oroske said that last word quietly, but loud enough she could hear it. Why would that be a bad thing? Kuro wondered. The ability to communicate with anyone from any distance sounded like nothing if not convenient. He shrugged off the thought, and followed his seniors out onto the street.
“How much time do we have?” Ranfa asked as she took up the leading position.
“About three hours,” Oroske said, stretching his arms above his head, “I wanted to give us plenty of time.” He turned back to Kuro, “We’ll have to pick up your spear here, Director Ensaru is anxious to receive us. We can hit up that store in Market City I told you about on our way home.”
Kuro nodded in response, Oroske smiled and gave his own nod.
“Well I think for starters, we should get your hair trimmed,” Ranfa said loudly, not turning to face Kuro. “Nothing crazy, just evening out the ends and cleaning it up. My stylist is fast, and it should only take her a few minutes.” She led the group through to the central plaza, then down the Southern streets, winding through some alleys. Eventually she came to a section where the street opened up a little bit, with wooden tables and chairs set out in front of various shops. There were a handful of people sitting outside, some with food. None wore Hunter cloaks. A couple eating breakfast saw the group and waved to Ranfa. She raised a hand in greeting, and without pausing she led them into one of the shops to the right of the group.
“Is Lili here?” Ranfa asked as the door shut behind them. It was a quaint place, but brightly lit by rel crystals. Despite the white light, the front lobby still felt dark, with blackened stone floors and walls, and ebony wood used for the furniture.
A young boy poked the top half of his head over the counter, just high enough to peek at the visitors. His head went back under with an audible sigh. “Weren’t you here only a week ago, Ranfa? I can’t imagine you’re here for a retouch, Lili doesn’t make mistakes.” As he spoke, he appeared again, walking with arms full around the counter, boxes stacked above his head. Ranfa walked over and took some of the load off the top. The boy clicked his tongue in annoyance, but didn’t object to the help. He had light blue eyes, pairing well with cyan hair, which was cut short on the sides, the top and back pulled back into a small tail at the crown of his head. He wore a light gray tunic with intricate designs, the Tsumi Clan Emblem nowhere to be found. Under it he wore black utilitarian pants with several small pockets with various tools at the knees, and black boots.
“Actually, I’m here to have that young man over there get his hair cut and styled.” Ranfa explained, helping put down the various boxes onto the front counter. Kuro could see now that they contained hair care products.
The young man eyed Kuro up and down. He was much shorter than Kuro, the top of his head only reaching the bottom of Kuro’s chest, impressive considering how small Kuro himself was. “Very well, Lili will see what she can do. Come over, let’s get started.” Kuro was guided over to a seat in front of a mirror lined with several rel crystals. The bright lights hurt his eyes when contrasting with the dark building materials.
“Thank you, Lili!” Ranfa called, “I’ll leave him in your hands. Just a trim and styling is all we need today.”
“Lili will make quick work of this,” the boy said as he stepped up onto a stepstool, scissors in hand.
Wait. This was Lili? She had such boyish features, and looked far too young to be Ranfa’s primary stylist. Kuro flustered slightly at the realization.
“You thought Lili was not Lili, didn’t you? Probably thought Lili was a boy too,” She said, measuring out lengths of her subject’s hair with her fingers
Kuro blushed and lowered his head in response. She grabbed the sides of his head and forced his head up.
“Sit still, don’t move your head unless Lili tells you to.” She commanded. Her voice was boyish too, but hearing it more he could tell it did belong to a woman. “Don’t worry, Lili gets that all the time. It is frustrating, but Lili’s style choices and unfortunate stature are mostly to blame. Lili will still treat you well regardless.” She started snipping his hair, small lengths falling to the ground.
“Tell Lili before it’s too late, do you have any styling preferences?”
“Not really, I’ve never considered it before. I’d like it to be something I can do quickly and easily, though.”
Lili hummed in appreciation, “Lili can do that.”
A few minutes, and a lot of snips and hair tugs later, she declared him finished. She’d swept the front of Kuro’s hair from one side to the other, creating a part at the transition from top to side of his head. His hair mostly went up, but there was some that came down from his hairline as well. The waviness of his hair made it separate near the end of the sweep, forming into distinct points.
Lili huffed with pride, walking in a circle around Kuro, inspecting her work. “That’s probably the best Lili can do for today. When your hair gets a fair bit longer, come back to Lili, she has many ideas for what to do with you.”
“I think I will, thank you Lili.” Kuro said, standing up. She led him out to the lobby, where Oroske was leaning against a wall, looking out the window. Ranfa could be seen chatting with the couple she’d greeted earlier.
“All done? That was faster than I expected.” Oroske said, pushing himself off the wall. “How much do we owe you?”
“There wasn’t much for Lili to do, really. You are friends of Ranfa, yes? Lili will charge nothing for today. But she will expect you to return sometime.” She said that last part with a mischievous laugh.
“That is very kind of you. Thank you for your help today.” Oroske said, slightly bowing his head. Kuro echoed his gratitude, and gave the same respectful bow. Lili gave a friendly wave as they left her shop. What a strange little lady. Kuro liked her, he decided.
“Oh, done already?” Ranfa asked from her table, inspecting Kuro’s new haircut, before giving a quick nod. “Yep, that looks much better. Next up is clothes. Come along, boys.” She waved her hand for them to follow.
She led them through yet more alleys, eventually coming out near the Southern edge of the city, and then towards the Eastern entrance to the city. On the corner of the street where the bridge met the city, she took them into a very upclass clothing store.
“Here we are, Rel’yr’s Trend, my go to for clothes. Rel’yr is also who I go through for tailoring my cloak, she’s a very good friend.” Ranfa sauntered up to a counter near the entrance.
“Oh, Ranfa. Your order is still being worked on. Is there something else I can help you with today?” The woman at the counter said. She had short-cut black hair, barely long enough to go below her chin.
“Hey Eyu, Relly around? Looking to outfit my young friend here with some new clothes.” She gestured towards Kuro.
Eyu briefly inspected Kuro, and made a face that seemed to say “yeah, he could use some good advice.” Finally, she said, “She is, she should be in her workshop upstairs. Let me go grab her for you.”
After several minutes of waiting, Eyu returned, a light brown haired woman in tow. Eyu took up her position behind the counter as Rel’yr approached Ranfa, giving her a hug. “It’s good to see you Ranfa,” she said as she pulled away. She was young, very young, no more than two or three years older than Kuro. She turned to Kuro, her vibrant green eyes locking onto his. “Is he my subject for today?”
“Yep, that’s him.” Ranfa said, turning to Kuro. “Kuro, this is Rel’yr, she’ll get you taken care of.” She turned back to her friend, patting her on the back, “He’s all yours. We’ll be waiting here. We do have a time limit by the way, about two hours.”
With that, Rel’yr excitedly grabbed Kuro by the arm and dragged him away. Her store was much higher class than Lili’s. Bright lights illuminated white floors and glass display cases, and countless rows of hangers. From what Kuro glimpsed of their walk to the young men’s section, this store had clothes for people of all ages and identities.
Nearly two hours, and several outfits tried on later, Rel’yr and Kuro returned to the front desk. They’d picked out three outfits for him today, one of which he was still wearing. He had on a long, white collared coat that reached half-way between his waist and knees, over a plain black shirt, and black utility pants, similar to the ones Lili was wearing, capped off with his normal boots. Additionally, his other purchases included a shorter black jacket with short sleeves, and a nice black blazer with white details, two button up shirts, both gray, and two more pairs of black pants.
“All done!” Rel’yr proclaimed proudly, presenting the newly cleaned up Kuro. “I thought a neutral color palette would do him a lot of good, and I must say, I’m very happy with the result.”
Ranfa gave Kuro a once-over before speaking, “Yep. You look a lot better, Kuro.”
He shuffled his feet, a little uncomfortable. Not that the clothes were uncomfortable, he just wasn’t used to getting comments about his appearance.
Rel’yr touched his shoulder, grabbing his attention. “You should definitely come back sometime. I have some ideas for outfits for you, I just don’t have them in stock currently. I’d also like to see about improving your uniform jacket, I have some ideas I’d like to try out on you.”
“I’m not a good enough test subject for you?” Ranfa complained in a joking manner, “I see how it is.”
“The ideas I wanna try with him wouldn’t work well for you. That and I recall you being very particular about certain things, and those things would need to change.”
Ranfa just laughed, “Well, how much do I owe you for his stuff today?”
“Well…” the younger woman took a moment to think. “If it were anyone but you I’d charge at least 120 Venn for each item, but since it is you, I’ll give you half off that rate. So all in all,” she did some math in her head, “your total is 540 Venn.” Kuro’s jaw dropped. That much, just for clothes? And that’s half off? Sure, they were very nice clothes, but that’s still a crazy amount. He could get multiple weeks worth of Hunt supplies and food with that money.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“I knew I could count on you for a good deal, Relly!” Ranfa said, hugging the younger woman, before fishing out her coin pouch from an interior pocket on her jacket.
“And I thought I asked you not to call me that anymore,” Rel’yr groaned, “I’m almost an adult, I’m getting too old for such childish nicknames.”
“Nonsense, you’re never too old for nicknames,” Ranfa said happily, counting coins as she dug them from her pouch, placing each one on the counter next to them with a satisfying click. Rel’yr just sighed, and began taking the coins one at a time, making sure the amount was correct.
“Excellent, all accounted for.” She said as she counted the last coin, dropping it into a small box behind the counter. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” She directed the question to Kuro.
“No, that should be everything. Thank you for your help today, Rel’yr.” He responded, finishing with a small respectful bow. The young shopkeeper returned the gesture. She gave a farewell, and went off to assist other customers.
“Thank you for your help today, Ranfa.” Oroske thanked the Hunter as they exited the building, giving her a bow like the one Kuro gave Rel’yr. Kuro echoed the thanks and mimicked the motion.
“You’re very welcome!” Ranfa said with a smile, “I’m always happy to help out with things like this.”
“Do you want me to pay you back for the clothes?” Kuro asked, “They cost quite a lot, I feel bad having you foot the bill.”
“Nah, no need. I’ll just have you owe me a favor in the future, how about that?”
Kuro shrugged, “Works for me, though I have no idea what I could help you with.”
“You’d be surprised,” Ranfa laughed again, “Well, if there’s nothing else you need me for, I do have some other things I need to do today.”
“Of course, we should also wrap up our errands soon. Thank you again,” Oroske said, lifting a hand in farewell. Ranfa returned the motion, and began walking back to the central plaza. “Alright, one last stop. Thankfully it’s close by. Follow me.” Oroske motioned for Kuro to follow. Kuro hefted the bags with his new, and old, clothes onto his shoulder and walked after his mentor.
The two rounded the entrance plaza, circling around towards the North. Not far from the plaza, on a corner leading into an alley, was a weapon shop. Down the alley behind the shop came the sounds of metal hitting metal. Kuro guessed it was probably the blacksmith for this weapon shop. “Here we are,” Oroske said as he walked up to the door, “It’s not my first choice overall, but Dera and his apprentice’s are probably the best smiths we have in Tsumi’din. Better yet, they keep a stock of basic weapons available, so we don’t need to do any ordering ahead or anything like that.” He finished as the two began browsing weapons.
Oroske wasn’t lying when he said they kept basic weapons in stock, nothing really caught his eye as seeming unique. They had mostly swords of different sizes and shapes, including the three Tribal Styles, a concept Kuro had only been introduced to recently.
The five Tribes that would become the three Clans each had a ‘signature weapon’ type, three of which were swords. The Ivory had thin, single edged and slightly curved swords with small handguards, the hilts wrapped in a unique double helix pattern. The Ebony had very wide, very long swords with flat tips, with large defense-focused handguards that came around one side of the hilt, which was traditionally a solid metal piece with a shaped grip, but for mass-produced models it was usually wood and just had a generally rippled shape. The Emerald had wider blades than the Ivory, that were flat on the dull side, until near the tip where they curved inward, then back out again with the tip, looping around and forming an almost hook shape.
The other two Tribe’s weapons were polearms, which were also present in the shop, just in a different section. The Azure used glaives, often featuring a blue ribbon, or sometimes a different colored ribbon, with markings denoting the user’s heritage within the tribe. In stores like this one, that ribbon is not included and would need to be added by whoever used it. Finally, the Crimson used the Tsumi Clan’s modern trademark weapon: the scythe. These weapons in both ancient times and modern days featured large amounts of customizations to the wielder's tastes. In this store though, the scythes on sale only featured small adjustments to make them more suitable for combat.
Eventually the two Hunters made their way to the polearm section. There Kuro was faced with a decision: should he get a spear like originally planned, or should he grab an Azure Forest style glaive? He weighed the pros and cons in his mind for a few minutes, trying out both weapons’ weight and balance. The shop was cramped so he couldn’t really try swinging them around at all. Eventually he chose the spear. He felt like the glaive would be fun, but perhaps too similar to weapons he’s already used to since it does have a decent sized cutting edge. The spear however presents a unique challenge in that its cutting edges were very small, and the weapon isn’t really good for cutting in the first place.
After making his selection - there weren’t many options, and they were all nearly identical - Kuro walked up to the counter, where he and Oroske were greeted by Dera. He was a very large, muscular man, with dark skin, a bald head, and piercing bright red eyes. “I thought you’d forgotten about me, Oroske,” He said, his voice was coarse and deep, and almost devoid of emotion.
“Nonsense, old friend,” Oroske said with a friendly smile, “I may frequent stores in other cities more often, but that’s nothing to say of the quality of your work. Not to mention, their affordability.”
“Still quite the sweet talker I see. No matter, what can I do for you today?”
“My young apprentice here is your customer today, actually.” Oroske patted Kuro on the back, pushing him toward the counter, spear in hand.
Kuro cleared his throat before speaking, “I’d like to purchase this spear, please.”
The large shopkeeper looked Kuro up and down, sizing him up, comparing him to the spear in his hand. “Are you sure you want that one? Looks like it might be a bit big for you.” It was nearly a foot taller than Kuro, its size probably would’ve been better for someone Oroske’s size.
Kuro frowned and nodded, “Yes, I’m sure.” It was hardly the first weapon he’d wielded that was a few sizes too large for him. His own scythe was more unwieldy than this spear in terms of size, and he was performing just fine with it.
The shopkeeper gave him a small, almost unnoticeable smile, “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Oroske’s kids always seem to gravitate to strange choices like this.” He gestured for Kuro to hand him the spear, who obliged. He checked over the spear, making sure there were no issues, and judging the price. “Did you want to add in any extras? A sharpening stone or anything like that?”
“No thanks, I should have everything else I need,” Kuro responded.
“Great, that’ll cost you 200 Venn, please.”
Kuro dug in his pocket for his coin bag, eventually pulling it out. He began counting out the money.
“Making them be responsible for themselves while they’re young, eh? I respect that.” Dera said to Oroske as the young Hunter counted.
“Nah, this was his own choice. He’s a smart kid, he should go far.” Kuro smiled at the compliment, continuing to count out his coins.
Once he finished, Dera scooped the coins off the counter and placed them into a drawer behind the counter. He then handed the spear back to Kuro. “Thank you for your patronage. I hope we can do business again.”
Kuro accepted the spear with a respectful bow of the head, “I hope so too, thank you.” The sale completed, Kuro dismissed the spear into his Demon Sheath with a flash of red light.
“Well, our ride should be here soon, if they aren’t already, so we should get going.” Oroske said as they returned to the outdoors, not missing a beat as he turned back towards the Eastern entrance plaza. Kuro nodded to himself and followed in silence.
The Eastern plaza was relatively empty, with only a few vehicles waiting in the roundabout. Now that it was midday, the majority of rides out of the city had already departed, and most of the vehicles present now were either to drop people off, or would be waiting here for some time.
Standing in front of a clean, white Aeth’mobile, was a young woman with short blonde hair, coming just below her chin, dressed in a black button up shirt and pants, a blood red tie checkered with darker shades of red. She looked up from examining her nails at the approaching Hunters, shortly after they rounded the corner into the plaza proper. Making eye contact with her, Kuro was surprised to find she was a Demon, or perhaps a Half-Demon. Her eyes were a vibrant red, matching her tie, and her slit pupils were very narrow in the midday light. Her stern expression turned to a faint smile as she turned her gaze toward Oroske, and she gave a small, friendly wave with the hand she was inspecting just before.
“Kuro, meet Jisei, one of the Director’s assistants.” Oroske gestured toward her as they approached. “And Jisei, meet Kuro, my current apprentice.”
Jisei gave a friendly bow, “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Kuro.”
He was surprised at her formality, but quickly composed himself and returned the gesture. “Likewise, Jisei.”
“Is Guir with you?” Oroske asked.
“She is, she went into town to pick up some lunch for us. I told her to grab you both something as well,” Jisei explained, maintaining her casual, yet professional tone. After clearing her throat, she continued, “It is good to see you again, Master Oroske. It has been too long.”
“Likewise, Jisei. And please, no need for any formalities, title included.”
The young woman seemed to shift uncomfortably at the thought, but nodded her head. “Of course. If you’d like, you can wait in the vehicle.”
Oroske looked to Kuro, seeking his opinion. “How long is the trip to Quarry?” Kuro asked.
“Roughly an hour and a half,” Jisei answered.
Kuro thought for a moment before declining the offer. “If we’re gonna be stuck in there that long, I think I’d rather get as much fresh air as possible before then.” Oroske laughed, but agreed.
They weren’t waiting for long before Guir, a similarly aged girl, with similar facial features and outfit to Jisei showed up. Her eyes, as well as her tie, were a light blue, similar in tone to the afternoon sky, and her hair was the same color as Jisei’s, but went halfway down her back in a single, thick braid. She carried with her a large sack, filled with various foods. She gently let it fall to the ground as she neared Oroske, and reached out and hugged him.
“Oroske! It’s so good to see you, it’s been too long.” She said through a smile, her voice muffled slightly as she pressed her face into his chest. Up close, Kuro could see she was also slightly taller than Jisei.
Oroske patted her head with a chuckle, “Guir, you’ve gotten taller again! It’s good to see you as well.” Guir looked up at him from her embrace, chin poking into his chest. She separated from him when Jisei came over, clearing her throat, and gesturing toward Kuro with one hand.
“Kuro, this is my younger sister, Guir.” She made the introduction for her. “She can be a bit much sometimes, please have patience with her.”
Guir pouted, “Oh come now, Jisei, I’m not that bad.” Jisei simply gave the same small smile she showed earlier.
“Alright kids, now’s not the time,” Oroske said loudly, picking up the bag of food, “We should probably get going, don’t want to keep the Director waiting, do we?”
Both girls just nodded, then approached the vehicle. Jisei opened the back door for the Hunters, and gestured for them to seat themselves inside. Once they were seated, she and Guir got into the front seats, with Jisei in the driver seat.
Once they were across the bridge and officially in the Human Realm, Guir opened up her sack of food and started passing items around to everyone. Kuro accepted gratefully as Jisei turned them Southbound at the first major intersection.
The ride wasn’t particularly interesting until they got out of tree cover and closer to the city. Guir mentioned they were getting close, so Kuro leaned from his seat to look out the front window. It was a dry, barren expanse of land, interrupted by a handful of small buildings. Kuro could almost make out the hole that the bulk of the city reportedly sat in. It didn’t seem very impressive from that distance.
Up close, however, he realized the true scope of the city. The hole was nearly twice as wide as Tsumi’din’s plateau, and it had four quite large buildings that housed the elevators in the cardinal directions. After exiting the Aeth’mobile, Kuro walked with Oroske to the guard rail, where they could look over the city. He nervously looked over the railing, gaping at the sheer size and depth of the hole. The distance to even the first layer was dizzying, and Kuro had to pull back before he could get a very good look.
The group didn’t speak much as the assistant girls led the Hunter boys down to the fourth layer. Kuro was constantly amazed at the size and quality of the structures, and the contraptions that allowed their quick descent. He spent most of the ride down next to the window looking out over the city, taking in the sights as they descended.
Exiting the lift onto the bridges of the fourth layer increased the awe he felt a hundred fold. Between the third layer bridge being so high above, the massive central pillar with its intricate carvings of legendary beasts, the impressive architecture that allowed the layers to stay standing, and the sheer size of the layer, there was so much to take in and all of it impressed Kuro greatly. The women escorted them down some stairs near the lift, and along a wall-side walkway. There were buildings in the walls as well as in the hole itself, reaching deep and scaling upward. The highest were nearly halfway to the bottom of the third layer. Near the midpoint between the North bridge, where they began, and the West bridge was their destination: a large office complex, which stood next to a tightly secured fenced off section, seemingly protecting a large hole that continued deeper into the walls of Quarry. There were signs declaring it property of the J’alyr ke Ensaru, and warning not to trespass.
The office building itself was impressive in size, but not much else, it was made of precisely cut stone blocks and featured numerous windows, though it only stood at three stories high. The inside of the building had a utilitarian flare to it - that is to say, it had next to no flare to it. The entrance hall’s walls were adorned with permits, awards, and certificates, as well as a handful of portraits. Most were small, but one was quite large, showing a man, late in his years, with short gray hair and a full beard. “Is that Director Ensaru?” Kuro asked as they passed it.
“It is the founder of the J’alyr,” an unfamiliar voice said from down the hall, “My predecessor by two generations.” Kuro looked toward the new voice’s direction, and saw a man who, while similar, was distinctly different. He was younger, though not by much. His gray hair was long, well kept and tied just behind his neck, and his narrow face only had small bits of stubble. He had piercing, light blue-gray eyes that seemed to see through Kuro’s very essence. He also wore a suit, very similar to the ones the girls were wearing. “So in a sense, yes. But, I am the current Director Ensaru.”
Oroske kneeled on one knee, “Director Ensaru, it is a pleasure to see you again.” Kuro panicked and performed the same motion.
The old man laughed heartily, “Oh come now, old friend. There’s no need for that level of formality. You too, young Kuro.” After Oroske was standing, Ensaru embraced him in a hug, “It is good to see you too, son.”
Oroske returned the hug, but pulled away before long. “Come, we have much to discuss.” Ensaru agreed and led the group to a lift, which they took to the top floor of the building, and from there into a meeting room.
“I see,” Ensaru said, taking a moment to digest. Oroske had spent the better part of an hour explaining to Ensaru the task assigned to them by the Guardians. “Indeed, I have heard rumors of this group. I am, of course, willing to cooperate and assist in any way I can. In truth, this works out with my true intentions for you both.”
“What do you mean?” Kuro asked.
“Well, as I’m sure Oroske is aware, despite our years-long feud, I’ve always considered Yenva to be a friend. Having you two assassinate her is a last-ditch effort in my eyes.” He began his explanation, “I’m sure she’d love to see me dead, given my recent campaign blocking her petition to begin the Layer Seven dig. Truth is, I wanted to use Oroske’s skills as a detective to see if there’s another way out that doesn’t involve one or both of us dying. I do, of course, have some leads for you to check out.”
“Makes sense,” Oroske said with a small sigh of relief, “I was wondering if you were thinking something like that.”
“So here’s the official request,” Ensaru stood and made his declaration, “Hunters of the Tsumi, I’d like your assistance in protecting me from any assassins Yenva may send, and in discovering if there is a way to rekindle friendship between our two organizations.”
Oroske looked to Kuro, gesturing with his head to have him speak. Kuro stood up as well, and walked to stand in front of the Director. “We accept this mission,” He said, hand stretched out to his new employer. Ensaru grasped it, and they shook on the deal.