Solo Player Arvin

Claire can't stop glaring at the second most wanted man on the 1st floor. With the amount of bounty on his head, all the bounty hunters of the 1st floor were crazily roaming here and there for any information that they could get on this man, and here he was having dinner with her.

Arvin acted like a true gentleman. After serving dinner to Claire, he sat at the chair which is the exact opposite of her. He then carved himself some pieces of chicken and poured himself some wine. Since he tasted the wine served by Terumi, he had been obsessed with its taste. He literally went through the whole market and bought any wine that he could get his hands on…

"So will you enjoy the dinner or will glare at me for the whole duration of dinner?" Arvin asked as he saw Claire glaring at him.

"Why are you here?" Claire asked.

"Didn't you heard back there? I am an agent or the Merchant." Arvin said with a smile.

"But why are you here?" Claire asked.

"To give you your assignment of course," Arvin said.

"To give me my assignment?"

"Yes. Plus I needed a place to stay. So I remember reading the report that one of the girls has a place of her own. So here I am." Arvin said.

"So what is our assignment?"

"Yours… Not ours. All three of you have different assignments." Arvin said.

"We all are getting different assignments?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Why do you keep asking me all these questions? Geez... Take a chill pill girl. I am an agent who works for the Merchant. I am on your team."

"I don't know whether I could trust you…" Claire said as she frustration in Arvin's eyes.

"I don't know whether I could trust you… I don't what I am doing here and why am I here. Alright… It is just that these people… They are very dangerous. So the only thing that you can do is just to follow my orders and pray that you don't fu*k up." Arvin said.

"You are an earthling… How the hell did you get mixed with the merchant?"

"Well, I accidentally stole something important from Alman. When I was running away with my life on the line, a cloaked man showed up. He told me that he would shield me if I work for him. He said he would give me enough power to kill Alman. So I shooked his hand. And now I am here eating dinner with you." Arvin said.

"Just like that?" Claire asked.

"Yes. I mean the man that took me to ascension tower or something. Then he took me to the second floor. There few guys who taught me fighting, some survival skills, and whatnot. Then I was assigned a number then here I am." Arvin said while eating a drum stick

"Are you suppose to tell me this?" Claire asked.

"Well, they didn't exactly say that you can't tell anyone about this. From what I discern this Merchant guy is very high up in the hierarchy of this world. Because based on what I had seen and learn, only people with exceptional resources could do stuff like that." Arvin said while concentrating on food. Seeing his carefree attitude towards information that he had given so far, Claire started to believe it…

"So you have met with Merchant?" Claire asked.

"Nah… Merchant is the guy very high up in the hierarchy. I only met with a few of his men. And all of them had their face covered like ninjas… They are very secretive about their identities." Arvin said while gulping down wine. Claire wasn't sure whether she could trust him or not. Seeing the carefree attitude of Arvin, Claire started having thoughts that maybe this idiot is actually telling the truth.

"So what assignment does Merchant want?" Claire asked.

"Oh… Well before telling you what assignment is, I want to confess something." Arvin said.

"What?" Claire asked.

"Well, you know how I told you that these guys took to me to upper floors and trained me and stuff, right?"

"Yeah," Claire said.

"All that was my schooling phase. Essentially what they did is teach me some stuff, and now I am here to give my exam." Arvin said seriously.

"An exam?" Claire said.

"Yes, an exam. You see before I actually join their group, they send me here to handle the matters on the 1st floor. If I am able to pull it off, I will pass my exam and officially join the Merchant's group." Arvin said.

"What do you have to do on this floor?" Claire asked.

"Basically I have kill three people. Alman is one of the guys that I have to kill. And the other people include the three douche bags that are staying as guests in the Cullen estate." Arvin said.

"You have to DO WHAT?" Claire asked while suddenly raising her voice.

…

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Phyllis was asleep in her bed when she heard the loud knock on the door. Phyllis abruptly got from her bed. She looked outside of her window and saw that there was still dark outside. It was still nighttime. What Phyllis didn't understand was why would her butler wake her up in this u8ngodly time. Confused and irritated about her sleep being ruined, Phyllis got up and walked up to the door, and unlocked it.

What Phyllis found outside of her door was not the face of her butler. But the face of the girl who was one of her only friends. Outside of her door was Cassandra was standing in the flesh. Phyllis saw her and got irritated seeing her…

"I am sorry madam, but Lady Cassandra didn't listen to my pleads." The voice of the old butler came from behind Cassandra. He was standing behind Cassandra and had a worried expression on his face.

"We need to talk. RIGHT NOW." Cassandra said. Seeing seriousness on Cassandra's face, Phyllis realized that there was only one thing in the world that could gotten her this riled up. The agent of Merchant has made his appearance.

"Let's go and talk in my office. Butler, there would not be need for any refreshments. Please do not disturb us." Phyllis said while walking towards her study, and seeing Phyllis walk, Cassandra also started following her.

After Phyllis got in her office, she closed and locked the door behind her after inviting Cassandra in. Then she sat on the chair of her desk. She then asked Cassandra…

"So tell me everything that agent guy told you," Phyllis said.

"How did you know that agent finally came?" Cassandra asked.

"I took a guess. Now with your answer, I know that my guess was right. Now answer my first question."

"Before that, you should take a guess about the agent's identity," Cassandra said. As Phyllis heard that she started thinking about Terumi. But realized that must not be her…

Phyllis didn't who was Terumi or whether she existed or not, before she met with Merchant. After listening from Merchant that he killed Han, while with the gossip that the leader of the ghost faction killed Han, Phyllis believed that may the leader of the faction must be a man who works for the merchant. That is why in previous days she tried very hard to find out the identity of the leader of the Ghost faction. And she succeeded…

"Who?" Phyllis asked.

"You remember that Arvin… The one who has a very hefty bounty on his head given out by Alman…" Cassandra said.

"Him?"

"Yes. Him… Today when I came home, he was already in my room. He was wearing black clours clothes and had his face covered. But then he introduced himself by revealing his face." Cassandra said.

"Interesting… Did you get any glimpse of what kind of strength he possessed?" Phyllis asked.

"Not exactly… But he got into my room without alarming guards. And he also went out of my room using the front door. That showed that he had some skills." Cassandra said.

"Hmm… So what did he tell you? What are our orders?"

"Actually he said that he would give out different orders for all three of us. He told me that my assignment is to get to know those three people from the upper floor."

"Who? You mean those people staying at Cullen estate?" Phyllis asked with astonishment.

"Yes. He said that I have to make a report about their likes, dislikes… He asked me that what was my take on their personalities." Cassandra said.

Hearing Cassandra's answer, Phyllis started wrecking her brain. She started thinking about why would Merchant need them? Maybe he was trying to figure out who among them is vulnerable or could be manipulated. Behavior also could tell us that who among them is the leader. And there was also the fact that knowing their personality would help him to understand that who the easiest target out of all of them.

Hearing this piece of information, Phyllis started thinking that maybe this merchant guy is trying to start a war between the Aurora tribe and the other tribe of the Cross family….

As she was thinking there was a knock on the door of her study room…

"Phyllis it is me! Claire. Open up… We need to talk now!" Cassandra said from behind the door.