Moments earlier
James, as promised, kept his distance from the kids to handle the issue. However, as a Class A hunter with divine sense, he could keep watch over them even if his eyes were not on them. He was dressed in normal clothing to not appear out of place due to his mannerisms when he was in his butler persona, he moved around as if enjoying the city view.
Suddenly, his instincts warned him of a presence. He quickly turned around and noticed a man, middle-aged looking, with dark hair and in a black suit smiling at him.
"Hello there, mind if we have a chat?" His voice was deep as the being himself. James could tell, the man before him was as strong as him, if not more.
He had no idea who the man was, so he attempted to perform a search. However, before he could begin, the man muttered once again, as if seeing through his thoughts.
"Don't bother, you won't find anything."
Regardless, James still tried and came up with nothing. His scans were telling him there was no one before him. Worse, his watch had been temporarily put shut off, and it wasn't his doing! He couldn't call for help either.
His divine sense still honed on the kids noticed the actions of Alex and Ross. They had found their target. But, with this mysterious man before him, he was able to connect the dots.
'He's involved.' The thought sent a chill down his spine. Whatever was going on wasn't a simple stalking done by some random person; they were after something or someone.
'Alex!' He didn't need to be a genius to deduce the motive behind what was happening. He wanted to quickly get to the kids and ensure their safety, but again, as if seeing through his thoughts, the man said, "Don't worry about the kids. We don't mean to cause them any harm." His demeanour showed how much control he had over their interaction.
James narrowed his eyes at the man. From what he said, he wasn't alone, and this could mean there were others in hiding. They could also move against the kids if he attempted to ditch the man.
Left with no other choice, he decided to adopt the wait-and-see approach. Julia was the only one left behind with Olivia, and they seemed to be excluded.
'Let's see what he wants.' He took a deep breath to regain his composure. He had momentarily forgotten his butler training. That may have been why the man was able to read him so easily. He needed to be focused and get whatever information he could.
"Follow me." The man ordered and moved towards one of the benches around. James followed behind him and sat opposite side of the bench, as far away as possible and also had time to react if he tried anything.
"You should already have a fair idea of who we are, correct?" The man began without even introducing himself. But James was informed enough to know the probable origin of the mysterious man.
'The Order.' The name echoed in his head as he cast a side glance at the man still with a smile on his face. He looked so carefree as if there was nothing going on.
From what he recalled; the order was a mysterious force embedded within the empire. No one really knows how they came about, and although they weren't hostile to the empire, they didn't move according to its rules either.
Their modus operandi was unknown, and while they did no harm to normal people, their actions were weird from the empire's viewpoint; just like what was happening to Olivia and her stalker. Their motive was entirely unknown and only a few in the empire knew of their existence. The few times they had made moves, unique and gifted individuals disappeared from the grid.
This was why he was able to deduce their target was Alex. With all the strange phenomena happening around him, it was only a matter of time before they appeared before him. In a few moments, his mind recollected everything known so far about The Order.
'We should have seen this coming. But with all the craziness that began a few weeks ago and their inactivity, we failed to notice them.' But there was nothing he could do about that, so he decided to find out what they wanted.
"What do you want with the boy?"
The man chuckled a bit and replied, "No need to be overly cautious. No harm will come to them, you have my word." His words and mannerisms made him look trustworthy. But James couldn't afford to relax. The man gave him chills, even with his strength.
Of course, his divine sense was still locked on Julia. However, Alex and Ross seemed to have left the area of his reach, making him feel restless. But there was nothing he could do, except take the man on his word.
"What do you think about the boy Alex? You've been around him for some time." Suddenly he questioned, bringing James out of his thoughts.
'Shouldn't they have known that as Alex was their target all along?' He was confused. And while the information on Alex was mostly hearsay, with their reach almost everywhere within the empire, it was but a simple task to do so.
Taking a deep breath, he began to talk about Alexander. Of course, he only talked about surface information on him. However, the man chipped in here and there to ask specific questions. Some questions he answered, others he remained silent.
Naturally, the man understood what he was doing but didn't mind. He was only here to keep him company until the kids sent to test out Alex were done with him. As of now, they didn't need to bring in the kid. He was still too weak.
'Hopefully, he is the one we've been waiting for.' This thought flashed through his mind as he engaged James in conversation.
The conversation wasn't really going anywhere as both parties did not reveal much. But James was the one on edge.
'Do be careful kid.'