The weather today is exceptionally great. It’s like the gods themselves are looking raining down their blessings on the ruler of the Tokyo Area. It’s definitely a great day for a walk outside.
A limo was currently making its way through a highway with escort cars protecting the car from the front, back, left, and right.
Inside the limousine, Noah and Seitenshi sat facing each other.
She elegantly sat on the cushion that was more luxurious than high-end sofas. She gazed at Noah without looking away, her angelic face didn’t twitch for even a second.
Noah acted like he didn’t notice her gaze. He nonchalantly sat there while looking through the car windows to spot any irregularities. He would furtively scan his surroundings from time to time as well.
Seitenshi knows that Noah is not admiring the scenery, he’s keeping a lookout on potential threats.
Seitenshi was a little surprised.
“How surprising.”
“Huh?”
Noah threw her a confused look.
“What do you mean by that?”
“According to my knowledge, Guild master Noah spent most of his time on the management of Fairy Tail. While you have obtained your civil defense officer license, there wasn’t any record on you taking on routine civil defense work, I can hardly find any files on you.”
Seitenshi said with a bit of admiration in her voice.
“However, you look like you have done this for ages, why is that?”
Noah was stunned for a moment but he gave her a smile as a reply.
Indeed, he spent most of his 1 year in this world building up Fairy Tail and he wasn’t very active in the civil defense scene. According to this, he shouldn’t have a lot of experience doing jobs like escort and bodyguard services.
It’s understandable that she found his proficiency puzzling.
She might be smart but her information gathering abilities couldn’t possibly give her any details on what Noah did in his original world. He was already doing jobs way before he arrived in this world, among the quests and jobs he did, there was a lot of bodyguard or escort-related jobs.
It would be weird if Seitenshi knew about his original world.
Instead, Noah retorted.
“If you know that I lacked the experience, why did you still go out of your way to hire me as a bodyguard? You’re putting me in a very awkward position here, do you understand that?”
Seitenshi chuckled.
“I Just think Guild master Noah is very trustworthy.”
“Me? Trustworthy?”
Noah felt the urge to laugh out loud.
“If I remember correctly, we only met like 5 times at most, right?”
“This has nothing to do with how many times we talked or saw each other.”
Seitenshi continued beaming at him.
“If it’s that hard for you to understand then just think of it as a selfish whim of mine.”
“This is the first time I met someone who would risk their lives on a selfish whim. Or, maybe, I should say as expected of the great princess-sama?”
Noah rolled his eyes at her.
“Now, if only you can use your selfish whims to prevent yourself from losing your negotiating power during your summit with that annoying ruler from another ward.”
“Oh, right, I wanted to ask you some questions about Saitake Sougen.”
Seitenshi thought she should ask about him since Noah brought him up.
“What is that Saitake Sougen like?”
Noah flinched in shock.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never talked with Sougen before?”
“Whenever you two, you and Kikunojou, talked about him, you two would always grumble about that man with displeased looks. This got me curious about his character.”
Seitenshi’s question made Noah think about a proper response before he replied.
“Okay, I’ve only talked with Sougen on two occasions, both of which happened through phone calls from him. The first time he contacted me was when I established Fairy Tail, he picked up news of Fairy Tail’s fame and he contacted me. The second time was when the news of The Bullet leaked out after the extermination of Scorpio.”
Noah met her gaze.
“Do you know why he contacted me?”
Seitenshi locked her expression into a frown as she shook her head.
Noah smiled as he continued.
“The first time, he wanted me to nurture and breed more using the fame and resources Fairy Tail built up over time. He wanted trained child soldiers in his personal army. No, he wanted disposable machines of war.”
Seitenshi’s expression turned grave.
Noah ignored her looks and he continued on.
“The second time, he wanted any and all intel on The Bullet. He even offered me anything I wanted as long as I supply him with The Bullets.”
“This…”
Seitenshi synthesized the information Noah told her and she immediately came to an ominous conclusion.
“Do you see now?”
Noah sighed.
“What does a man want with trained super child soldiers, why does he need a whole army of them? He even offered everything he had to get his hands on The Bullets. I am guessing that his ultimate agenda isn’t just the eradication of Gastrea monsters. His ambition is eerily great and there is no low he wouldn’t stoop down to get what he wants, just like Kikunojou. In any case, I don’t just hate him, I loathe him very much.”
Noah emphasized his hatred for the guy just in case Seitenshi somehow missed that part.
“No matter what, that man isn’t a saint. Take my words as advice and you will do well in your negotiations with him. If you plan to do business or have anything to do with him, caution should be exercised around this man.”
“I understand…’
Seitenshi clenched her hands, she clenched so hard she can feel the fabric of the gloves on her hands. She nodded with a serious look.
“Thank you very much for your advice. Also, Guild master Noah, please don’t leave my side.”
“Relax.”
Noah replied with a brilliant glint in his eyes.
“At least, with me around, nobody can harm you.”
Seitenshi placed her hands on top of her chest when she heard those reassuring words coming from his mouth. His deep black eyes also pierced her anxiety and worry.
In this tight space, a certain heart started pumping faster and faster.
The venue for the summit was placed on the 86th floor of a tall hotel.
After the Gastrea war, humanity lost with it, humanity lost control of a large portion of available landmass, nobody could stop the Gastrea from taking over.
In such an environment, every available piece of land that can shelter humans had buildings built that were taller than the last to accommodate the survivors.
Proper planning of building development was rewarded with generous tax deductions and other benefits so countless skyscrapers were built at astounding speed.
Even in the Tokyo Area, there are more taller-than-mountains buildings than one can possibly count.
This hotel is also very special. Rumor has it that this place is like the other embassies in the other Areas since a lot of top officials bought or leased suites to use this Hotel in case of emergencies.
Inside here, it’s a networker’s paradise. You can’t go past two rooms without one of them being inhabited by an influential person. Heck, one might even encounter them talking about dirty under-the-table stuff, you know, standard politicians’ stuff.
The summit between Seitenshi and Saitake Sougen was scheduled at the top floor of this hotel.
Rather than a meeting room, this floor was more like a posh private penthouse with binoculars on the balcony.
Noah and Seitenshi spotted the man upon exiting the lift.
He was wearing a suit with a pale-green tie when they saw him. This man looked like the type of man who would turn into a dictator the moment the world bowed down to him.
“Nice to meet you, Seitenshi-sama.”
Saitake Sougen revealed a grin that resembled the wide mouth of a starving lion. Anyone who wasn’t careful enough would fall into his maw, Seitenshi took note of his vibe.
He’s not here to play nice.