NoGift

THE THREE - Argent, Lei Feng, and Viper - stopped at an area of the forest where the trees were particularly thick. So that they wouldn't be easily noticed. The three dark guards were on the lookout. So that they could warn the other three if the enemy suddenly appeared.

Viper was the first one to speak. "By the way, who is this stuck-up looking dude with you?"

Argent sighed before answering Viper. "This is General Zhang Lei Feng. He's currently helping me with something." Then she turned to Lei Feng. "In case you're interested, this guy is Viper. He's--"

"I'm Argent's sweetheart," Viper said, finishing what Argent was saying.

A muscle in Lei Feng's face twitched. He was really tempted to just blast this snake with his lightning.

"He's not," Argent corrected. It had already been seven years, how come this guy still had this weird attachment to her? And she thought he had already gotten over it that's why he hadn't shown himself to her these past seven years. Maybe she should have really just given him something that could completely stop his Mana. That way, he wouldn't be deprived of skin contact. Then he probably wouldn't be so fixated on her.

"Argent, don't be so cold. Do you know how much I suffered these past seven years? Not being able to see you was just pure torture. And now that we finally see each other, you won't even allow me to hug you. Then you also have to bring this annoying sidekick with you. Don't you even pity me?" Viper said while acting pitiful and also with matching fake tears in his heterochromatic eyes.

A small streak of lightning suddenly appeared just a centimeter away in front of Viper. It almost scorched his nose. He glared at the perpetrator.

"Ah, my apologies. I just saw a worm and felt the need to crush it," Lei Feng said in a very monotonous tone, showing that what he did was intentional.

"Bastard. I'm the one who's going to crush you," Viper said, about to attack.

Argent readily stepped between the two before it could really escalate into a real fight. "Have the two of you already forgotten what I said?"

"But he started it!" Viper complained like a kid.

Argent sighed once again and turned to Lei Feng who just said, "It won't happen again."

"Then could we now have a proper talk?" she asked as if she's speaking to two little kids. She already expected this kind of behavior from Viper, what she didn't expect was to see Lei Feng act so immature. This was probably the first time she'd seen him act like this since they met. Did Viper really just rub him the wrong way?

The two nodded.

"Oh right, I just saw your mother earlier. Is she the reason why you're here? Because you're trying to save her?"

What Viper said immediately caught Argent's attention. "You saw her? Where? Is she alright? Was she hurt?" she asked continuously.

"She was fine. I didn't see any particular wound on her. She looked like she was just sleeping."

It's like a huge stone in Argent's heart was finally put down when she heard that. Her mother's alive. She wasn't late. She could still save her. "So where did you see her?"

"She's on a clearing in the forest. But I doubt she's still there right now."

"What do you mean?" Argent asked.

"Remember how I suddenly appeared? One of the comrades of the person I was fighting with has some sort of object displacement Gift. He could open portals that can transmit one object to another place. But seeing as I am still on this island, the range of his Gift is probably just as big as this island," Viper explained.

The range of his Gift might be too small and it might not be also that powerful, but if the user had a great imagination, then that kind of Gift would be really troublesome.

Argent thought so as well. "Then that means, she's still here?"

"She might be."

"An Si," Lei Feng called out. An Si jumped down from a tree and appeared beside Lei Feng. "Searched for any unconcious woman on the forest. Be sure to be thorough."

"Yes, Master." Then An Si once again jumped to one of the trees.

Argent nodded towards Lei Feng as thanks.

"Was your mother really kidnapped by those annoying Apostles of Gaia? But why?" Viper asked.

"They needed her as bait. So I would come here, fall for their trap, and do their bidding."

"Then that meant they needed something from you?" Those bastards. How dare they? Now Viper really regretted that he didn't manage to finish off that brat who could manipulate blood. Then he suddenly realized something. "Wait- does this have something to do with that old treasure?"

"You mean the dragon king's sword? Is that also the reason why you're here? Does Dreich Gallere also accept contract for treasure hunting?"

Lei Feng lifted his gaze and looked at Viper when he heard Argent's last question. So this guy was an assassin from Dreich Gallere. Then he suddenly remembered what that other assassin they met said, about their master putting a ban on any contract against Argent. Did that have something to do with this guy? He'd only been with this guy for a few minutes and Lei Feng could already clearly see his huge attachment towards Argent. As annoying as that could be, would the leader of such an infamous assassin group really give Argent a special treatment just because one of its members liked her?

"No. You remember that good-for-nothing Gecko? You already know that I killed him. We're kind of forbidden to kill other members of our group. Especially those given a code name. I was regrettably punished. See how important you are to me? I even braved my master's punishment so I could avenge you. Don't you feel sorry for me?" he said, acting pitiful again.

Argent was a bit surprised. She didn't expect that Viper would be punished because of that. "Then I'll give you something once this is all over." She could at least repay him for that head. "Now, would you just continue with your story?"

Viper was obviously overjoyed because of what Argent said. He looked smugly at Lei Feng, as if telling him; 'Did you hear that? Argent is going to give me a present. You're already dying of envy, right?'. Lei Feng only frowned at him.

"As punishment, I was to be exiled on Master's island for ten years. But then, he let me out three years early because he has a mission for me," Viper continued. "He wanted me to prevent the Apostles of Gaia from getting their hands on that old treasure."

So, it's not that someone contracted Viper to be here, his master was the one who personally sent him here. "Why would your master not want the Apostles have the treasure?"

"Because he's--" Viper stopped. He couldn't tell Argent that it might have something to do with his master being a dragon. His master's true race was a guarded secret in their group. Even if it's Argent, he couldn't just tell him about that. "Sorry, Master didn' really tell me the reason why." Which was sort of true. "But you don't have to worry. It probably just because he knew that the Apostles are up to no good and he just wanted to stop them."

Argent felt like there must be something more behind that. Why would the leader of an assassination group even care whether another group was up to no good? Unless the goal of that group could affect him in some way. Viper would probably not tell her more even if she forced him. His loyalty lies with his group and his master after all. So she didn't ask more.

But Argent had a feeling that she really had to meet with this master assassin. Aside from the fact that for some reason he put a ban on any contract for her life, Argent just felt like he could answer a lot of her questions.

"What kind of group is this Apostles of Gaia anyway?" she just chose to ask that.

"Oh, they're a pesky group under the Temple of Gaia. But not all members of the Temple knew about their existence. After all, according to the information we gathered, they were only established when the new Pope was crowned. From what I heard, the Pope was the one who personally picked each member. They are currently composed of 12 people. They mostly act behind the scenes and usually do all the dirty work for the Temple. And as you might already noticed, they only listen to the Pope."

What Viper said proved Argent's conjecture that the Apostles were connected to the Temple of Gaia. She just didn't expect that they were a personal project of the Pope. Because of that, she suddenly remembered Lucern Faust. She just knew he was bad news.

Argent could still remember their first meeting. Acting like he was just a simple wimpy priest. She wouldn't be surprised at all if she found out that he already knew who she was when he approached her. Then there was that speech, where he easily thwarted the bad effects of the video that Argent spread. He did it by simply being charismatic, with a bright aura and a kind smile on his face.

A man with many faces. He would definitely be a hard enemy to handle.

"How many Apostles here have you encountered?" Argent asked Viper. There's no point thinking about an enemy who's not here.

"I only fought one. He could manipulate his own blood. Then when I was about to kill him, two more appeared. I already told you the Gift of one of them. I was not just so sure about the other. I'm not even sure if he's an Apostle. He's not wearing the standard mask that an Apostle usually wore. Instead, he was wearing a black domino mask."

A black domino mask? For some reason, Argent remembered that guy on the fighting pit seven years ago. And also the one the first princess of Albion had a conversation with. Could it be?

But before she could ask Viper more details about that, a portal suddenly opened beside them and a figure wearing white cloak and a mask hiding his face walked out.

"So this is where you are," he said in a rather familiar pleasant voice. Lighning immediately struck the masked man but a portal opened and the lightning went straight trough it. "We couldn't talk with this much distraction."

He raised both his hand and two portals opened at the same time below Lei Feng and Viper's feet. Then the two immediately fell down.

Argent looked coldly at the man. She was quite certain that the other two dark guards also suffered the same fate as Lei Feng and Viper. "What do you want?"

"I just want to talk," the man simply answered. "Shall we?"