Artelia District, Artiros Street. Sunday...
Adjusting her hat a little better, a woman with black hair and square glasses took slow breaths as she walked towards her destination.
Barbarian Vivian moved with strange elegance and steadiness, her gait causing people who passed her to unconsciously lower their heads and turn away, even if they were not in her way.
This was the pressure she could release being a Barbarian, an oppressive aura that made ordinary people unwilling to get in her way, and could even make Beyonders lesser than her walk with caution.
Moreover, even the nervousness of people who were unable to even look her in the face could not compare to the woman's racing heart.
While she had decided to go through with it and had taken numerous measures to ensure that if anything went wrong, she would escape with her life, the fear that slithered through her stomach like a snake was too hard to ignore. But, being who she is, she moved forward, determined and did not look back.
The necklace around her neck, the pocket watch on the sleeve of her dress, and the earrings in her ears were very good calming devices, her shield against uncertainty.
After a while of walking down Artiros Street and entering the farthest parts of the crowd, Vivian looked up. In the distance, a warehouse loomed.
There was nothing special about it that set it apart from the rest, made mostly of orange bricks and wood painted in warm colors, it was as common as they came.
'That should be warehouse 7...'
Taking a slight sigh, the Barbarian started her way there.
Following the instructions on the letter that were still clear in her mind, Vivian didn't enter through the front but took a slight detour, heading around back.
Arriving at the back door, she let out an inward sigh and, clutching the watch on her coat sleeve, raised her opposite hand and knocked on the door a couple of times.
Knock! Knock!
That done, she took a few steps back and waited. It wasn't long before the sound of footsteps sounded behind the wooden door.
It was opened by a young boy with brown hair and dark green eyes, who had an expression that said little. Upon seeing her, the boy's eyebrows raised slightly, and he gave a respectful bow.
"Ah, Miss Vivian. Welcome, we've been expecting you."
The barbarian blinked once, recognizing the boy.
"Saul?"
This was the boy who had just started working at the firm last week. It turns out he was also a member of Harvey Wayne's team...
'Isn't he too young for that? He can't be older than 16...' The barbarian couldn't help but be a little critical of the decision to have someone who wasn't yet an adult here.
But at that moment, she realized what had happened.
The nervousness bothering her was now barely showing, almost gone, the shock of seeing Saul here stealing the scene.
'Sending the youngest member to greet me, possibly with the intention that if I find myself alert or nervous seeing someone so young on the team will throw me off or confuse me, that way I'll forget for a moment that I was nervous and when I realize it, I'll have better control over myself...' Vivian noted with mild interest this method of the Wise Owls.
At being named, the young man straightened up and nodded again, blinking a couple of times, "Ah, yes. That's me..."
The boy paused for a moment before turning around and looking at her over his shoulder. "Mr K hasn't arrived yet, but he shouldn't take much longer. You can wait inside if you like. The rest of the team is already here."
"..."
For a moment, Vivian looked at the boy without saying anything, her expression hard to read. She looked up at the cloudy sky, seeing the dark storm clouds, returned her attention to the boy, and nodded without much significance.
While this was suspicious and common sense said this was entering the lion's den, the woman with the square glasses was calm and collected, unlike her inner turmoil.
She knew that if they had wanted to attack her, they would have done so sooner, there being vastly better opportunities than inside a simple warehouse.
"Lead the way kiddo," Vivian said, a faint smile on her face. The watch on her sleeve was already half open.
Of course, while she was calmer, that didn't mean she would let her guard down.
Following the boy into the warehouse, she discreetly looked around, alert to any sudden or out-of-place changes.
Passing through undetectable corridors, Saul soon stopped in front of a door and turned to look at her.
"The rest is here." He said without much haste, there was no attempt to open the door; he just looked at it without adding more.
'He's waiting for me to give the go-ahead to come in.' She understood the look the boy was giving her.
He gave her the horse's leash so she could decide whether to proceed, making her feel in control.
As her eyes moved to the door, Vivian couldn't hear very much. But if she strained her hearing, she thought she could make out some distant voices.
Not commenting on the matter, she just nodded.
With the go-ahead, Saul grabbed the handle and opened it, stepping inside without looking back. Vivian followed a few steps behind, and what she saw upon entering was a decently busy room.
The several couches arranged to one side were occupied with various people, some chatting with each other while others just listened. But before Vivian could get a better look at their faces, her eyes suddenly stopped on the shortest figure in the whole place.
With curly brown hair, freckles on her chubby cheeks, and large gray eyes through one of which a scar ran, the Barbarian found herself at a loss.
After three seconds, Vivian returned her attention to Saul, who was still standing near her. "What's a child doing here?"
"Oh, that's Tammy," Saul said casually.
The little girl whom Vivian now knew was named Tammy raised her head and held up a hand.
"Good morning."
"... Good morning." Honestly, a little lost, Vivian raised her hand and returned the greeting.
The girl gave a slight nod, and that done, she went back to what she was doing—eating the cookie she was holding in small bites. Next to her was an attractive red-eyed woman with a sweet smile, holding a steaming mug.
Under her glasses, the Barbarian's eyes moved to the huge woman approaching. She had an equally huge smile on her face, one that almost hurt to look at because of how bright it was.
Next to her was a young man with black hair and green eyes. He was slender but fluid in his movements.
Based on their features, the man appeared to be from Intis, while the woman must have been from Feysac or Feynapotter.
Vivian couldn't help but be somewhat surprised by the woman's height, who easily had a head on her, not to mention her musculature.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what her pathway was.
'Warrior pathway... She's close to 2 meters tall, so she should be Sequence 8 or 7... Most likely 8...' A slight smile graced her face, and she elegantly saluted.
As the man- if it were one- who was behind the mask that was Harvey Wayne arrived here, she would try to get as much information as she could from his so-called 'team.
How they acted and behaved would give her a good idea of what kind of leader he was, whether he was one with a good head on his shoulders or just another know-it-all with a stick shoved deep up his ass.
At the moment, her main idea of the guy was that he was weird...
The big woman with orange blonde hair and bright eyes stood before her and placed a strong arm over the shorter man, who did not react.
"Hi! I'm Sasha, it's a pleasure! This guy at my side is Nathan." The giantess laughed energetically.
"Nice to meet you." The Intisian nodded cordially.
Vivian nodded back, not so cordially, of course, and casually introduced herself.
She went through the various people here like this, greeting and introducing herself. As she passed from one to the next, the variety of personalities surprised her slightly more.
The aspiring writer Livia Storm, the sheriff Purse Izquierda, the silent Sharron, the cold Maric, the weird purple-eyed Charlotte, the florist Opera, the calm Serena...
A group as varied as a fruit salad.
As she finished introducing herself, the door to the room was knocked a couple of times only to be opened two seconds later.
'That must be him-' Ignoring the sudden leap in her heart, Vivian turned her head toward the door.
Yet, before either could say anything, she saw who had entered and could only swallow her disappointment to keep it from showing on her face.
A young woman with greenish-black hair in a sleek fringe and light brown eyes came through the door. Looking at her movement, it was clear she didn't lack confidence.
"Hazel!"
The giant woman gave a shriek and quickly moved towards the green-haired young woman. In three long strides, this one passed from one end of the room to the other, and the young lady named Hazel now found herself in a crushing embrace.
"How have you been?! How is the university? Is it not too hard? Come on, tell me about it!" Sasha exclaimed with happy curiosity.
"It's fine. There's not much to tell." The young Hazel rolled her shoulders slightly, not at all surprised at her current situation.
Suddenly, the giantess let out a slight 'oh' and turned around, still holding the young girl in her arms.
"This is Nathan, by the way, I've told you about him."
'Really, this is what a team of Wise Owls looks like, really? Silent know-it-alls with an ego only comparable to the size of their private libraries and stubborn as mules...' If there was another reason not to trust what her grandfather was saying, Vivian had just gotten it.
'That old fossil...' Internally clicking her tongue, the Barbarian watched as, followed by the giantess's bone-breaking embrace, several of the other team members approached Hazel.
The only ones who did not approach were Maric and Sharron, who gave a simple nod from their places.
After heavy and deep consideration of what was going on, only one thought crossed the mind of the Barbarian who couldn't help but feel sorry with herself for having been so nervous earlier.
'What a mess I just got myself into...' Vivian bit her tongue slightly as her eyes returned to the door of the room, waiting for it to be opened again, but nothing happened.
Of all the things that could be a rumor, it had to be just about the Wise Owls' punctuality?
"What are you looking at?" a voice suddenly said behind her, and the woman froze.
With her heart increasing at a pace worthy of a racehorse but trying to keep her posture steady and not show weakness, she casually turned around.
Standing just 4 paces behind her, a tall man with long black hair and scarlet eyes looked at her in amusement and laughed a little.
"I had to check a few things, so it took a little longer than I thought, sorry about that."
She didn't answer right away, still somewhat stunned that he had come so close without making a sound.
'How long was he behind me?' Ignoring the shiver that ran up her back at that sudden thought, Vivian gave a slight nod.
"Mr K, I assume?" She asked with clear obviousness, more out of showing respect for her leader than curiosity.
He may look different, but his personality hasn't changed a bit.
Off to the side, she noticed that the white-haired Abigail had also appeared. As usual, these two were always together.
"You can say that." Mr K laughed another short laugh before turning and walking away.
Pausing for a moment, he looked at her over his man, scarlet eyes sparking with a strange glow.
"Let's make ourselves comfortable, shall we? After all..."
Sitting down in a somewhat secluded chair and crossing his legs, he smiled sweetly.
"We have a lot to talk about~"
...
Flora visibly rolled her eyes at what her princess was doing.
Using Emperor Roselle's words, the princess seemed to have been bitten by the mosquito of extra... Much more than usual.
They had already arrived at Artiros Street an hour ago. They lingered in a restaurant in the background while one of the princess's bird-shaped soldiers guarded the warehouse.
Once the last member entered, they would appear behind using shadow leap.
Thinking about it, her mind wandered back to the other ridiculous thing he had done.
'Preparing a white suit to be presentable to show off the plan, in a rainy and muddy forest... Sigh.' Closing her eyes for a moment and internally shaking her head, the Jacob allowed herself a few seconds of peace of mind.
"Excuse me..."
Ignoring the annoyance that had suddenly multiplied, Flora opened her eyes and turned her head to the side, to a green-haired young woman approaching with slightly nervous steps.
Pursing her lips slightly and repeating in her mind what she was going to say one more time before doing so, Hazel asked with some uncertainty.
"Is that you, Teacher?"