The soft jingle of bells drifted through the room as two figures sat opposite one another, their dark eyes locked against each other. A heavy tension clung to the air, as if the room itself held its breath.
Staring at the Jester that stood before him, the Guild Master’s eyes scanned him from head to toe. From the moment Seth put on the mask, his entire vibe changed. It almost felt as though an entirely different person had appeared in the room.
To some extent, his presence was ’alien’.
As if he were dealing with an anomaly rather than a human. He could hardly sense him at all.
It was no wonder he was mistaken for an anomaly.
’Interesting.’
The more the Guild Master observed, the more his interest grew.
He was completely unaffected by the subtle pressure coming from the ’Jester’ opposite him, but he couldn’t help but acknowledge it.
’It’s interesting.’
His heart remained as steady as it had been at the start.
Rather, his heart slowed at the sight of the Jester.
’...Although I’ve previously made the connection, I was more inclined to believe he had ties with the anomaly rather than it being someone else. I wonder how he managed to enter the gates if that’s the case.’
There were a lot of questions that he wanted to ask at the moment.
However—
"Do you think this is enough to prove my worth?"
The Jester’s soft, yet cold words echoed quietly across the room, pulling the Guild Master out of his thoughts.
Turning his attention back towards the ’Jester’, the smile returned on the Guild Master’s face.
He didn’t answer, but the meaning behind his smile was clear.
’Yes.’
Seth reached for the mask and slowly pulled it off his face. The moment he did, for just the briefest of moments, his dark eyes turned a deeper shade of black before returning to their normal colour.
The sight didn’t escape the Guild Master’s gaze as he opened his mouth, but right before he could speak, Seth’s voice cut through.
"...I’ve shown you my worth. I hope that you can take it into consideration when creating a contract for me."
Seth placed both of his hands on the end of the armrests of the chair he was sitting on, helping himself up.
"While I wanted to keep it a secret that I was the ’Jester’, the fact that you know doesn’t mean that you’ve got leverage on me. Rather..." Seth paused, his eyes firmly fixed on the Guild Master. "...This is just me giving you the opportunity to use the secret to your advantage. At this point, I’m no longer concerned about keeping this a secret. Instead, I’m sure you understand what would happen if the world were to find out about my Decree."
The Guild Master’s face didn’t change despite Seth’s words.
It almost felt as though he could see right through Seth’s intentions, but at the same time, it worked out well for him.
"It won’t be hard for me to make it impossible for others to link you with the Jester. There are several ways I can make it like that."
This worked out well for him as well.
It would be such a waste to reveal his abilities to the public. There were so many things he could do.
"...That would be ideal," Seth replied after a momentary pause. "I still would like it if fewer people know about my identity as the ’Jester’. It would be too troublesome otherwise."
"That’s good."
The Guild Master smiled, staring at Seth as he walked out the door.
"I’ll present you with a renewed contract soon. You can look at it yourself, and you can tell me how you feel about it."
"...Yes."
"Oh."
As if suddenly recalling something, the Guild Master opened one of his drawers and retrieved a long, black, rectangular device, placing it on the table.
"That is...?"
"It’s me holding my end of the deal."
The Guild Master tossed it in Seth’s direction shortly after.
He smiled at the same time.
"I hope you give me a very good reason."
***
Clank—!
Closing the door behind me, I walked towards the elevator door, ignoring the receptionist. It was only when the doors fully closed that I finally took a deep breath as my chest rose and fell repeatedly, the sweat sticking to my back as I struggled to keep it together.
"F-fuck..."
Despite doing my best not to show it, I had been under immense pressure and stress under the Guild Master’s presence. Every little word that came out of my mouth had to be carefully chosen, and it almost felt as though I was walking on a tight rope, every step potentially the last.
"Hoo. Hoo."
I tried my best to calm myself down, but in spite of everything that I tried, I could hardly keep it together as I leaned back against the mirror of the elevator.
As I did, I silently clenched my fists.
’I did it...’
I didn’t really know how to feel about my current situation, but it was one that came as a result of my desperation.
From the start, I had never planned on ever revealing my identity as the Jester.
This was primarily due to the fact that it would potentially lead to my death. I couldn’t allow anyone to know about the system. The moment someone found it was the moment that I died.
Things were supposed to be like that, and yet...
’I’ve gone and done it.’
I had revealed my identity as the Jester.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about anyone finding out about the system. Now that I had reached the Third Order, I had different ways to explain the situations that had occurred in the past.
The Guild Master had yet to ask any questions about that, but I felt that the Guild Master wasn’t the type to ask much. He was more the type of person who preferred benefits over anything else.
So long as I benefited him, then...
’Yeah, this is why I decided to do this.’
This was all for my own benefit.
To get rid of the rat and to have someone high in power to help me achieve my goal.
While I understood that this could potentially backfire on me, I also understood that this was a great opportunity for me.
With someone like the Guild Master backing me, I was certain that I’d be able to grow a lot faster than before. I’d also be able to gain access to information that I hadn’t been able to in the past.
This was a necessary step that I had to take.
’Yeah, I had to take this step.’
Reassuring myself that I had taken the correct path, I slowly brought my hand up to stare at the item that the Guild Master had given me. It looked like some sort of rectangular pen, but there appeared to be no lid.
Calmly looking around the pen, I took out my phone and scanned the pen using the Guild Database.
’Since this is an item that the Guild Master has given me, I’m sure I can find this in the Guild Database.’
The scanning took no longer than a couple of seconds.
Right after, I waited for a couple of seconds before a match appeared.
But the moment it did, my expression froze.
"This..."
Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!
My heart raced through my chest, my hand reaching for my mouth as I found myself laughing.
"Hah."
This thing right here...
It was a very fitting device for the thing that I needed to do next.