Kairo arrived at the headquarters early the next day. Their holidays had been long and entertaining, but they were over. The matters of the world were not going to wait for him.
'Why is there so much agitation in here?' Kairo thought, feeling uneasy. However, this time, it had nothing to do with Magnus. Moreover, there were very peculiar stares directed at Kairo, making him believe something was off.
The news about the Gold Rush has spread really fast. How did that even happen? Kairo was perplexed. The Seruth monster had always been locked up during the mission, and by the end, it was always with Danzan. Almost no one had any form of contact with him.
How could the information leak? Oh, perhaps they had always known. At least the underground card masters. Kairo thought.
Since Selis had sent her people after the Seruth monster, she had clearly known about the Deck of Origin long ago.
Thinking about it from that perspective, Kairo realized it would be naive to assume other organizations like the ICMA and others were not aware of it, even if at first they only had doubts. It was like a floating legend that everyone knew about but no one was willing to admit until someone else did. That was exactly what the Card Mage Police did.
"Wait, you mean the Seruth monster is in Father's office?" Kairo asked, surprised. Him being at the center of this conflict made Kairo feel it was not smart to hide him at the headquarters.
" I too was surprised. Why wasn't he transferred with the other prisoners? This all ties with the rumors online about a certain Deck of Origin. Could all of this be related to Donatello? " The officer asked. But Kairo could not answer; this information was not supposed to be confirmed by his mouth. Although everyone knew it, it was still better to stay clean on this, he felt.
" No, that's impossible. He is an old card who has taken dust for seven thousand years," the other officer joined in.
"Well, we will find out very soon. I heard the captains are gathering for an urgent meeting. Kairo, you're invited. You can tell us a little more about it, huh, Sword Diver? Or might it be Dragon Slayer?" Winking at him, the officer asked. Her expression was sweet and charming.
" You said it all. All we can do is wait and compose our decks, " Kairo tilted his head in the direction of the main building.
It would be there that the meeting would probably take place. Still, he was a little surprised that he was being conveyed to a meeting of this level.
He wasn't yet a captain. 'Wouldn't many see it as Father being biased again? ' Kairo hesitated. Many already had a swaying opinion of his father.
They didn't doubt his strength nor leadership, but Kairo was rising through the ranks way too fast for them to accept it was just his skills.
" Hi, Kairo! " From afar, Nyx waved at him in the crowd.
'Finally, she has stopped acting jealous. 'Kairo let out a sigh of relief. After the last time, she had barely spoken to him anymore, focusing only on improving her mastery of card magic.
Unwilling to disturb Kairo, he did the same and spent the rest of his free time doing that. Although the number of cards per mage was limited to three, without a well-trained aura, it was impossible to efficiently use this limited arsenal in combat. Thus, deck composition wasn't the only crucial step in their preparation; aura training was too.
" Morning, Kairo. Ready for the meeting? "Nyx said. It was like she had completely forgotten everything that had happened.
Kairo didn't probe further. " Yes, I just learned about it. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really Magnus's son. He never tells me anything in advance," he said , a tad frustrated. He was always the last to get such important information.
"Let's go then."
The duo left the murmuring crowd in the direction of the building. At first, them walking together attracted quite a few hateful comments—mainly because Kairo was perceived as using his golden spoon to feed a certain someone. But now, after the details of the escort mission were revealed and their joint archive was known, the opinions were slowly changing. Nyx was getting the respect she wanted.
…
When Kairo and Nyx arrived, they noticed the meeting held quite a few people—most of whom were officers who had been on the submarine with them.
"We aren't the only ones. Even Donsentos is here," Kairo said.
On the side, his imposing frame sat on a chair, with a huge white tissue covering the entire part of his neck. He was calm like the waves in the water, completely oblivious to the crowd chatting around him. It was hard for Kairo to figure out if he couldn't talk or was just not in the mood for that.
"I hope he heals fast," Kairo said. He and Nyx wanted to greet him, but they didn't have time.
The hall was structured in such a way all the officers had a seat facing forward—a little like they were in a classroom.
At the forefront, Magnus and the captains had arrived, taking a place on the side while Magnus went through the formalities.
Mirelle, Fabian, and Danzan were all present; the only missing captain was Ortega—but no one ever expected him to be seen in the Card Mage headquarters. Kairo had stopped trying to burst his head in an attempt to understand what the Reapers were doing.
"I think we are all here," Magnus said, his impassible voice echoing through the hall, causing all the officers to shut down like turned-off machines. This was the respect he carried.
With Nyx by his side, Kairo focused on his father Magnus—and maybe his mother. Mirelle was always dazzling, calm, collected, and impassible—the type of person that could stay calm in a storm.
"You two owe me an answer after this," Kairo thought.
"I would first like to apologize for my mistake," Magnus said with a solemn voice.
"Many of you have been contacted by the ICMA, and some even physically assaulted for what they knew about the incident in the submarine. I should have assigned a protection team to all of you."
'As expected, I wasn't the only one,' Kairo thought. When he saw Luve that day, he knew things were going to change very fast for all those that had been in the submarine.
Still, he didn't expect them to go as far as brutalizing the still-recovering officers. Kairo guessed the only reason he wasn't attacked and forced to talk was because he was Magnus' son—and they feared his fury.
"This is a mistake that shall be corrected after you get out of this room. Now, I have a few things to tell you, since you are now all in danger for what is coming," Magnus said, seriously.
Then, on the white screen behind him, a series of images popped out one after another, showing a gallery of people. Only staring at their faces, Kairo felt he was looking at the elite among the elites. The confidence in them seemed to radiate out of the screen like rays of light, showing how confident these people were in their abilities.
The images were arranged in a circular fashion, with a particular one at the center. Magnus waved his hand, and the one on the left popped forward.
"Sam Cort, leader of the Independent Card Mage Associations. They could be said to be our allies, but that depends on what you value—money or results. They don't draw from our business; we don't draw in theirs," Magnus said simply. Then he waved for the second picture.
"The Collector, a member of the OBH. A mercenary that would do anything to get his hands on the cards he wants."
"Next, we have the Card Zero. This one—we know very little about him. He recently appeared on our radars and has since been tagged with the dangerous mark. Some rumours say he is also part of the OBH."
Kairo noticed Card Zero's picture was slightly different from all the others. In that, Card Zero wore a mask. Furthermore, he was cloaked in a way that made it impossible to determine his gender. A long katana was attached to his back.
"This is bad. We are going to deal with these filthy criminals?" someone couldn't help but ask.
As Kairo read through the details he couldn't Help but stop at the recurring word. OBH.
Kairo's face darkened slightly. This wasn't the first time he saw this acronym—meaning Order of Bounty Hunters. These were killers, assassins, or even helpful guards depending on how you wanted to see them—or on which side of the contract you were.
But the peculiar thing about these people was, apart from money, they would do anything for cards! Yes, they killed mostly to get special and rare cards to add to their collections. Among the card mage circles, their notoriety was no less than that of the other factions.
"Finally, we have what I will call the greatest nightmare of our world," Magnus said with a slight frown. On the center of the screen, the image appeared larger than all the others—as if they were trying to emphasize the danger.
"The type of criminal that can make you change sides with just a few words from her mouth."
Kairo could never mistake that face. It was the exact same one from that woman on the train that day.
"Selis Variant, boss of the Underground Card Masters, and one of the few five-star criminals," Magnus said.
At this, the officers didn't appear surprised. There was no one in the Card Mage Police who didn't know about that name by now.
Her long golden hair cascaded down the side. Wearing her usual coat, she appeared to be walking when the picture was taken—a smile on her face, almost as if she knew she was being filmed.