Chapter 394
Chapter 394
A dazzlingly beautiful girl in her late teens entered the rooftop cafe. One glance at her suggested the idea of flawlessness. She was perfect from head to toe! The girl was wearing a midi lime-green dress and leather shoes. The summer dress highlighted her graceful body and revealed her sharply outlined collarbones. Elsa’s face was a masterpiece. It was hard to stop looking at her! She was as beautiful as Juno, but she had no innocent charm of the latter. Elsa had the charisma of a seductive woman who knew her worth.
A sudden silence fell over the cafe. The few visitors turned their heads towards the gorgeous girl as if spellbound. The ladies felt a pang of an inferiority complex. The gents’ primordial hunting instincts began to awaken. However, their prey estimation was something along the lines of “unattainable beauty!”
Elsa looked around and saw a 16-year-old boy. She headed to him and was about to take a seat at his table when she heard his overexcited voice: «My beautiful lady, how may I address you?»
{It’s not him.} – Elsa turned around and saw a fat guy energetically waving his hand. Her breath caught in her throat. What a walking nightmare! What a disgusting suit with a bow tie! Was he really the Stone investigator? It was humiliating even to share the same family name with him!
Elsa closed her eyes to calm down. Soon, she regained her composure and walked stone-faced to Dick Baker’s table and took a seat without saying a word. She seemed to be doing him an unprecedented favor, like donating a kidney to a sick hobo.
The guests in the cafe couldn’t believe their eyes. Why did this gorgeous girl sit at the troll’s table?
«It is a great honor and pleasure for me to meet the first genius of the Stone family! Oh Elsa, I have heard a lot about your success in formacy and alchemy, your impressive cultivation! My name is Dick Baker. I am an imperial investigator of the third rank…»
«Show me your formation.» – Elsa demanded coldly. Her gentle voice penetrated his soul like a cold autumn wind.
Kyon obediently held out his wrist.
The formation of the investigator proved his identity. Her mother had warned her that he would have a different name for cover but why Dick Baker? Couldn’t he think of anything better? Besides, how could he become an imperial investigator with this ridiculous name, low cultivation and young age? It just didn’t add up!
Suddenly, Elsa could feel one more formation with another identity of Thomas Stone, a pure-blood descendant, 15 years of age. Now she was finally convinced that it wasn’t Diana’s or anyone else’s bad joke.
«I know how precious your time is, so I’ll get straight to the point. Your beautiful mother and Mr. Bai have high hopes for me. If I get a promotion, I will solve any family problems and provide financial support! However, my boss agreed to promote me on one condition: I have to complete an important task, which I can’t do without your help… That is why Lady Diana has arranged our meeting…»
Elsa interrupted Kyon as if she wasn’t listening to him at all: «I want to hire you.»
Kyon raised his eyebrows: «To hire me? What do you mean?»
«You will give me cases with all necessary information, and I will solve them.»
Lovr gazed adoringly at her: «Do you really want to help me? I’ve always known how much you care for our family! Grandpa would be so proud of you…»
«Not at all.» – She interrupted him again. – «It’s not about you or my family.»
Kyon opened his eyes wide when he suddenly understood everything. It was all coming together now. Diana had mentioned that her daughter wanted to be an investigator as a child. Therefore, Elsa had always wanted to help people. Despite her high status and busy life, as well as her total indifference to her family, Elsa had come to the appointment with Dick Baker and didn’t even turn around when she saw the fat monster. The heroine on the poster also had golden hair and green eyes, similar proportions of her body, her lips, and her nose. Taking all of this into consideration, only an idiot would not understand that Elsa was the demon huntress!
Kyon wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Elsa.
Elsa snorted as she read what he had written: «It’s none of your business.»
Elsa made it clear that she did not care about his opinion. It was utter rubbish, total nonsense. Besides, nobody would believe him anyway.
{I knew it!} – Kyon was proud of his adopted sister, superheroine, the national asset of Dantes, the scourge of the underworld, struggling for justice. He wanted to shake her hand. She was doing a great job, wasn’t she? Why did a bastard like Rose get such a wonderful girlfriend?
But above all, Lovr was curious how the demon huntress could catch so many bad guys alone? Her effectiveness is ten times higher than any high-ranking investigator’s! She didn’t seem to have any assistants, or she would not have come to this meeting with the intention to recruit him. It was weird, very weird.
Elsa didn’t appreciate the admiration in his ugly eyes. The mere sight of him filled her with disgust. A fat young freak among her fans! The day couldn’t have started worse! Anyway, Elsa’s plan was more important for her than anything else.
She held out a piece of paper with the frequency of her sound transmitter and said in a voice that would tolerate no argument: «You will provide some information tonight.» – Dick Baker shook his head but before she got up from the table.
«Sorry, but I can’t fulfill your request. I have other top-priority tasks.»
«It’s an order, not a request.»
«I am sorry…» – Kyon shrugged apologetically.
Elsa pierced him with her gaze: «I am Elsa Stone of the first ranking family, and I have every right to give orders to anyone with a lower status.»
Anyone would tremble with fear under Elsa’s intense scrutiny, but Kyon remained calm: «I am sorry, but Patriarch Bai’s and Lady Diana’s orders are of higher priority for me. Thomas Stone’s burden is heavy! I can’t waste a single second of my precious time… I have to do everything for the sake of my family!»
{He refers to himself in the third person… Isn’t it crazy?} – Elsa turned away, feeling that she was about to lose it. How would she respect herself if she let this monster get under her skin? She had to end it as soon as possible. Elsa knew a way out.
She stared at him menacingly, her eyes narrowed to two green slits. She emitted a crushing royal-phaser aura and said with a steely glint in her eyes: «How dare you to contradict me?»
Kyon looked away in embarrassment: «Don’t look at me like this… It makes me feel awkward…»
{Why is he acting like this?} – Elsa was surprised. She knew that only one in a hundred could withstand the pressure of 2 phases stronger than their cultivation. The difference between them was 3 phases, and this pig said he felt awkward instead of trembling with fear!
A stocky thug approached their table and asked in a low voice: «May I help you get rid of this pipsqueak, my beautiful lady? Is he bothering you?»
Kyon could feel the presence of a beginning noble phaser behind him who was confident that a superior phaser was nothing compared to him. Kyon turned around, activating the sovereign’s stare and said in the commanding tone of an experienced investigator: «Bugger off, dude, before you find yourself in jail.»
Kyon’s spiritual attack made the man jump out of his skin. It seemed to the thug that his life was hanging by a thread, and any wrong movement meant instant death. A wet stain spread down his pants as he trembled all over. His legs were too weak to hold him when he hurried to leave the cafe.
«That’s better.» – Kyon nodded to himself and turned to the dazzlingly beautiful girl with an apologetic smile expression as if nothing had happened. – «I’m really sorry, but I can’t do what you say…»
Elsa opened her mouth to say something but stopped with her mouth open and a wide-eyed expression on her face. What was that? Was Dick Baker so monstrously ugly to make even strong, self-confident men pee in their pants at the mere sight of him? What a terrible gift the fat freak had! Or was it a curse …
«Anyway, I could do a favor for the great genius of the Stone family. Let’s make a deal. I will find some information for you, and you spend the afternoon helping me interrogate the Clintons.»
Elsa was about to send him to hell when she heard about the Clintons: «Are you talking about that notorious case?»
«Exactly! Probably all high-ranking investigators have tried to solve it, but they are nowhere near the answer. There’s no harm in trying. I am sure I will succeed with lady luck on my side!» – Kyon assured Elsa with a big smile.
Elsa thought for a while. It would be great to solve the case that involved her boyfriend’s family! Besides, Dick Baker would owe her after that. His offer looked quite tempting! As long as the fat freak didn’t get in her way…
«I agree if you provide me with the necessary information for six months.»
Kyon resolutely shook his head: «I am sorry, but six months is too long for me. I don’t like the idea of being bound by a long-term contract…»
{Who does he think he is!} – Elsa thought scornfully. She hated dealing with this arrogant upstart, but she would not stoop to putting him in his place.
Kyon suggested a compromise: «What if I provide a fixed amount? Say, I will supply you with information until you have solved ten A-ranking cases or five times as many lower-ranking cases, and so on.»
Elsa thought about it. Any high-ranking investigator could solve ten A-ranking cases in 5-10 years while she could do it in six months. In other words, there was no difference between Dick Baker’s and her offers.
«Alright. Deal.» – Elsa agreed.
«Let’s shake hands to seal our deal!» – With a beaming smile, Kyon stretched out his hand but in vain: the beautiful girl had already risen from her seat.
«I have an appointment with the Clintons at noon, so we have another half hour. How about telling your most dedicated fan all about you? I will treat you to dessert!»
«I won’t waste a minute of my time.» – Elsa said coldly, heading to the exit, and added. – «I will be at the main entrance to Clinton’s mansion at noon.»
«See you later.» – Kyon said, heaving a sign. – {She’s gone… Maybe, I should have revealed my true identity? No, I can’t…}
Lovr was honest with himself: he really liked Juno’s sister! She was so beautiful that he wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off her for a minute if he had just come out of the mine! Now that he lived with the two goddesses, he got control over his desire for beauty. However, it didn’t take away his urge to show off his talents. If he didn’t have to be in the guise of Dick Baker (playing the part of Thomas Stone), he would have talked to her differently, the way he did with Valira in the Boston Library.
There was something else that really bothered Kyon. He intended to punish Rose someday, and the fact that he was Elsa’s boyfriend didn’t change his plans in any way. However, he didn’t want his adopted sister to hate the future avenger. There seemed to be a solution! It was not an easy one, but why not give it a try?