The atmosphere was damped, and the smell of tobacco and unknown substances filled the air. The room was a great hall that had a large round table in the center room. Candles lit the room as there were absence of windows. It was almost eerie and haunting. The table was made of thick stone and had an occult type of art style on the surface. The table art showed a nude beautiful woman as her face was tremendously gorgeous with long hair reaching down to her back. Her right hand was gently raised above her head and on her wrist was the harpy eagle. His talons digging into her wrist as she bleeds.

Her left hand was resting on her stomach and in her hand was the body of the serpent wrapping around her body. Two of its long heads look left and right of each other near her waist. The third head wrapped around her body until it reached her neck biting into it. The fangs piercing and the face of the art look unbothered as if she was pleased by the pain of the fangs and talons. The stone art was beautiful yet eerie.

Around the stone table sits several unique men. Out of all the men Santos and Touma sit next to each other. And an empty seat sits beside Touma.

" State your names for the fidelity." Said Touma as he leans back resting his head on his left hand. He wore a fancy robe that had black and blue colors. And a silver ascot.

"Markive Loe your grace." As a man in his forties stood up and bowed. A very professional attitude. He wore a fancy grey wool coat and light brown dress pants.

" Sunz ze lette, a pleasure again as always, your grace." A very skinny man in his late twenties stands up and bows. Very sunken eyes and sunken cheeks made him look feeble. He also donned a burlap robe making him look like a poor priest.

"Pfftt, Ziko Baharuth." A very overweight man in his fifties with a thick grey beard. He doesn't stand and sits in his chair uncomfortably. Despite him wearing a business suit.

A young man at twenty years old and disheveled hair yawns exhaustingly loud and leans against the stone table with bags under his eyes. "Present...your...grace...Connery Esos..." He fades in and out of sleep. His attire looks almost like pajamas or to what the others think at least. They were loose comfortable clothing that had super flexibility.

"Santos Utehara your grace." As Santos stands and slightly bows next to him. Touma Looks at him with only his eyes and looks back at the rest of the men.

"It seems that we have a slight interruption in one of our... professions. Connery, explain yourself, now." Touma's emotionless face with annoyance in his voice made him have a terrifying presence.

Connery yawns again and sits up slowly rubbing his eyes trying to wake himself up. " We...um... lost a few demi humans by some... unknown benefactor. Roughly losing about five hundred thousand gold coins." Markive and Sunz look at him with worrying faces, but Ziko looks at him with such disdain. "I sent the reports to... to um... Santos... yeah, Santos about before..." He yawns again and slouches back comfortably, nearly falling asleep back in his chair.

Ziko looks as if he's about to explode. Until finally he snaps, " You incompetent man child! Do you have any idea of the risks you put us all in!?"

Connery yawns for the trillionth time and opens one eye to look at him, "Keep your suspenders on grampa. What's done is done. There's no point in sweating it constantly... we should have a report soon back... but in the meantime just relax..."

"Don't tell me to relax you mooncalf. If one of our operations is in jeopardy, then all our operations are in jeopardy! What part of that can't you see through that dense skull of yours!"

Sunz agrees and speaks immediately, " Indeed so. Not to mention you also lost our lord's aid that he generously so happened to let you use."

"Speaking about my aid, how did you manage to lose her, hm?" Said Touma firmly.

"Well... the guys who took out my men weren't just regular men, they were skilled. The guards I had were all experienced men of combat. Ex military and veteran mercenaries." Sluggishly said Connery.

"They had their heads pierced and stabbed gruesomely. We could be dealing with another gang meddling with our affairs...or just some random sociopath on a rampage but... who knows." Connery seems way too calm as everyone else is tense. "And besides my lord... you know I always pull my weight in this order. Through merits and in gold." Connery stares at Touma with a piercing gaze as if his sleepiness vanished for a moment.

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"Hm, you may be right about that but there's no excuse for this mistake. A mistake on your part."

"I'm not making excuses my lord... I'm just simply stating facts. And I'm not really worried since you sent your...acquaintance to look as well. Knowing her she probably found the culprits who did this before my men...could ever do..." Connery leans into his hand closing his eyes.

Ziko clenches his teeth and fists on how arrogant Connery is. "You little twat. We lost so much gold on those expensive demi humans!"

Markive speaks very hesitantly, "Well... if we tripled the amount of demis we have for the next roundabout, we should be able to cover the losses we gained. That shouldn't be a problem."

"Quiet you fool! That doesn't change the fact that this brat exposed a piece of our operations. And this "so called" acquaintance, I'm assuming you mean that ego manic Frida. Well my lord? Can she really find out who did this? Because the last time I checked she's the second in command right under you. Not once as she ever came to these meetings."

Touma looks directly at Ziko unphased, only slightly squinting at him as if he's daring him to challenge him. " So where is this mongrel pup of yours my lord? Because the last time I've been here, not once have I seen her do anything!"

Markive and Sunz both look distraught at the comment Ziko made. Even Connery opened both his eyes and looked at him with a surprised look. Santos' face looked pale and tried to break the tension between them, but Touma ignored him and slowly got up and walked around the stone table towards Ziko. Touma looms over Ziko as Ziko doesn't back down his stare. Immediately Touma grabs Ziko's throat so fast he barely has time to react. "Say it again."

"Wh-what are you-"

"Say...it, again. You were so confident about your position and title that you seem to forget who you are again." He slowly tightens his grip on him.

"Who are you again?"

"I- I'm Zi- Ziko Baharuth. And I- I oversee th- the dealings of the lernaean fidelity..."

"I'm sorry, say again? You deal with the affairs of our business, not the main lead of this association, correct?" As Touma looks deep into his eyes cold and emotionless. Ziko is stricken with fear as no words come out. Ziko slowly nods and is wheezing from the slight lack of air. And Zikos blood ran colder as he heard a voice coming directly behind.

"Awwwww umaboo. You don't have to defend my honor hehehe. My knight in shining armor! Defending me against the barbaric merchant!" It was Frida she was dirty and had a burn marked in the center of her pink sweater. The exposed skin from the hole shows the grotesque burn marks. Her mask was also charred as well. Ziko couldn't move his head but can only see through the corner of his eyes. All the other members were shocked on how she entered the room without anyone noticing.

Touma, still holding on tight, looks at Frida examining what happened to her. Frida jokingly covers her chest, " Oh my! At least take me to dinner first before lusting over defenseless me."

"What happened? I thought I told you to leave if you couldn't handle it."

"Ooooh I did, it was no problem. Buuuut the boy was pretty fascinating. He just ruined my shirt and took out all the fun."

"Boy? What do you mean?" As Touma squinted his eyes at her.

"I think we should discuss this privately hm?" As she sits on the stone table kicking her feet back and forth. Touma was hesitant but agreed. The others requested to stay and pleaded what happened, but Touma refused and demanded that everyone leave, thus, their little meeting is over for today. Everyone on edge was timid by the sudden end of the meeting. Though Connery was indifferent and was glad to leave. Touma released Ziko and he coughed to get his air back and left towards the door. Before exiting he looked back at the two and saw Frida waving goodbye cheerfully while Touma had his back towards him. Ziko was filled with rage but still complied with his request.

"So tell me, what happened to you?

"Weeeell... he was young but he had the ability to use two elementals and light magic."

Touma's face changed to a surprise look and turned towards Frida, " Three types of magic? Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm pretty sure dummy, otherwise I wouldn't look like a bum hahaha. He blew himself up trying to get me. He might be dead but the way he fought and used his magic, he may still be alive." She turns away from Touma and removes her mask, not letting him see her face. She casts the same purplish orb around her hand and dips her mask into it. The charred mask began to chip away and looked as though it was being cleaned. She removes the mask and places it back on herself only for her to jump and turn around simultaneously. "Tadaaaa! Plus he's taking that girl in as well and acting like a brother to her for some reason, family fetish maybe?"

"A boy who can use more than one type of magic... interesting..., did you get his name at least?"

"Yes sirino! The boy's name is Roth, Roth Malvikun. And he's an adventurer. I can't wait to see what he does if he survived." She sits in the chair squirming in anticipation and slight arousal. Touma doesn't react to her childish behavior and lets her be. "Roth Malvikun... hmmm. An enemy that can actually be a threat to us. What will be your next move boy."