Nightmare Mythos

"Ugh…"

Clearly exhausted from being thrown by a barrage of questions, Cesar had to leave the main hall. He wasn't even pressured by their questions but the problem was himself.

By the looks of it, he ran out of social battery. Being with people just doesn't suit him, and even more so if he had hidden enemies that might be probably observing him from afar. He had to be even more extra careful.

Cesar went through the second floor which is still inside the main hall for the main event.

"Tired already kid?"

Being approached by a particular someone, Cesar raised his head up and observed the individual.

He didn't know when was the last he had met this person but he was finally glad that a familiar face showed up.

"Sir Baron,"

Baron, the one that was with him on the selection when he drank his Nightmare Potion, nodded once and replied.

Resting his hand on the wooden rail as they watched the main hall in the same manner as Cesar, Baron replied, "It's been a while,"

"It's really been a while," Cesar retorted back before looking at the other figure beside her as he added, "Who might this person be?"

The woman beside Baron waved her hands at him before introducing herself, "My name is Deane. I'm a Brigadier General. I'm someone who can be said as a boss, Sparrow. Nice to meet you,"

Cesar respectfully nodded, realizing that this individual was probably the most powerful person he had ever met if talking about the Army Rankings, as far as he could remember. After all, the brigadier general is much higher than the colonel rank.

In terms of Academy rankings, she had the same position as Arnold.

'Baron's friend… I'm jealous,'

Cesar then put his gaze on the main hall before asking, "For you guys to approach me, is there anything you want, sir and madam?"

Baron shook his head and informed, "Are you already aware of the bounty that has been placed on you?"

Cesar gave a curt nod.

Probably half of the attendees of the banquet were aware of the bounty that Cesar had in his head. They either didn't care about it or tried to avoid raising such a topic at a banquet that was directly focused on him.

Looks like Baron informed it out of goodwill.

Baron then added, "It's good that you are aware. This makes it even easier to raise up a deal,"

'A deal?'

For some reason, Cesar didn't like the sound of that word but he remained silent. Out of respect for Deane, he kept his composure in check.

Seeing no violent reaction coming from Cesar yet, Baron let the person beside him continue.

"I'm going to be blunt with you. When you receive your awards later on, and they ask what you will do about it. Tell them you will be working under me,"

Cesar frowned at that group of words before replying, "Work under where?"

"Where? Of course, under the Nightmare Corps," Deane sounded as if she was making that obvious, "If you joined the Nightmare Corps under my jurisdiction, you'd be set on life. Additionally, the rewards you'll receive will already exceed your imagination unlike when you're in the Army. Well, the Corps are still under them but we have much freedom in our movements,"

Cesar listened very intently to the deal before asking another thing, "Why someone like me?"

Deane's gaze fell below before retorting, "Let's say I'm very curious about your talent. And also to tell those people from the hall that I'm already interested in you. There will be only a few more people who will touch you what has been marked by me,"

'Am I being auctioned? Do I look like an item to you?' Cesar mused inwardly, not showing his disdain out from his face.

Still, he made his actions clear that he disliked the option of accepting the deal. Hence instead of giving an answer, the only thing Deane received was silence.

Even if it was slightly disrespectful on Deane's part, Cesar didn't give a damn about it right now.

That was until Deane gave another offer.

With a low sigh, she added, "Honestly, I can give you a lot of time to think of an answer but for your own safety, you have to decide if you'll be my enemy or ally,"

Cesar felt the situation was starting to turn dangerous. With how Deane used her tone and put those words together in one sentence, he cast a dangerous glance and retorted.

"My hands are full but I'll take you on if that's what it takes. So if that's a threat, then we're going to have a problem,"

Deane who had been emotionless throughout the time she had conversed with Cesar, couldn't help but form a sly smile around her lips.

"Ballsy Sparrow,"

Cesar already had one hand in his pocket to equip the Librarian's key for any situation that would trouble him. Deane seemed to also not like the attitude he was giving to him hence she started to put a bit of pressure on him.

"All right, madam. You can stop now,"

Baron who was good enough to convince Deane to take this a step further, looked at Cesar and continued, "You too, kid. We don't want to have any trouble from here on out. And for the note, I'm not part of any kind of deal that Deane had to think of right now. It was entirely her intention,"

"Hey, why are you making this as if it was my fault?"

Baron shook his head and replied, "Fighting a kid is already one matter but forcing them to work under you is different. Of course, they would feel suspicious and doubtful,"

"Hey, don't lecture me now. If those bastards managed to get someone as talented as him, they would never shine. I'm not going to make the same mistakes again,"

Seeing them bantering on each other, Cesar finally found the chance to escape to the second floor since it seemed also not safe for his peace.

With already two troublesome situations he had to face when not even an hour passed, Cesar felt already tired.

Cesar went to the bathroom to cleanse himself out. Experience tales at empire