Chapter 12: Genius and Monster
“Why does it have to be us?” The red-haired young man fiddled with the tin badge on his chest and sat carelessly on the branch. Dozens of palm-sized light screens floated in thin air in front of him, and countless images of living or dead people flickered on them. “Hey, Fenrir. I’m talking to you. Only a third-rate mercenary group like yours would be able to stand it.”
The man who had just preached the rules frowned. “Stop complaining, Thorne. It’s just once a season. It’s just bad luck.”
One of the light screens suddenly went out, and Thorne smacked his lips.
“That Savage killed another surveillance bug. Speaking of, I heard an interesting rumor. It’s said that Horizon invited her last year?”
“That’s right.” Fenrir didn’t seem to want to say more.
“Come on, I’m going to be bored to death. Aren’t you old acquaintances? If you join Horizon, you can get official status directly from the king; isn’t this the ultimate goal of the black badges? Why doesn’t she want to?”
“I don’t know,” Fenrir said coldly. “We don’t know each other well. I just happened to preside over several tests when she took them.”
“Could she be that kind of—” After confirming that the light screen returned to normal, Thorne made a bad gesture. “The kind of person who pits newcomers for fun? She’s taken more than 20 tests. It doesn’t make sense.”
“There are some people who don’t like big organizations.” Fenrir looked around vigilantly. “Shut up.”