Chapter 54: Following

Kate stood in her office in the Daron, staring out of the window into the distance, her phone placed to her ear.

"You could have easily secured it for us." A deep voice came from the other side of the phone. It sounded calm and confident, the type of voice that you’d believe when it told you something but also not trust in certain situations.

"I have my reasons for wanting it to be this way," she replied.

There was a long pause in between.

"I have always trusted your ability to make decisions, but you have a way of being overly eccentric that worries me." His voice said. It paused for a few more seconds.

"Why would you throw away the opportunity to get the core at the cheapest possible rate?" he asked.

"Because the person involved is an investment to me." Kate said. She stretched her free hand and placed it on the window. "He is very important to the next few years of my life and my businesses."

"Hmm? This person is that important to you?"

"Yes, he is, Father, and that’s why I decided to allow it to be this way," she said.

"Hmm, then tell me, what did he do that was so exceptional? What did he create? What action did he take that caused you to have this much trust in him?" he asked.

"Most of it is a feeling and nothing else, but he was the one that made me purchase the shares from the last dungeon that was opened, and now it is an S-ranked gate.

There are other little things as well. But even beyond that, the fact that this nobody was able to get his hands on the core and safely bring it out tells enough."

Her father was quiet for a bit. Then, after what seemed like a minute, he spoke.

"You know your mother was like you. When she had first met me, I was a nobody, really, and there was nothing that anyone would want to do with me, and yet she seemed to see past all that to a better future.

She knew that staying with me would be good because, for some reason, she could see a future for me that even I was incapable of seeing.

You have her eyes and her ability to discern."

"Yeah, it’s sad that Mum never got to see the full growth of everything that she had dreamt of and worked on with you."

"Haha, she was happy with what she got to see before she left, and I know that wherever she is, she is looking down at me and saying, ’I told you so.’

I’ll fly in tomorrow and attend this auction, not just for the core but because I want to meet this man who has managed to gather so much of your attention."

Kate let out a soft smile. She nodded her head.

"I’ll make arrangements for your arrival, Dad."

They said their goodbyes, and he cut the call.

"Seems your father is in a better mood."

Her assistant stepped out of the darkness and said.

"Not quite, but Father has trust in me, even as he trusts no one," she said and placed her phone down.

She turned around and faced her assistant.

"How are the preparations for the auction going?" she asked.

"Everything has been set up, and it will be held at the Star Halls. They have been planning an auction there for a while, and now they plan to use our auction to facilitate theirs as well."

"I have no issues with that. The core is meant to be the last thing and the main event, so that works perfectly fine."

Kate sat down at her table and then interlocked her fingers. Her eyes turned to slits, and she looked at her assistant.

"What about the assassins that attacked Leon? Have you found out who they are and where they are from?"

She had known about the attack, and she knew that Leon had handled it somehow. She did not want to ask him questions about how he had done it, but she still wanted to handle the people that had tried to attack him.

"Yes, I put the whole team on it, and they have found more information on it.

The assassins were subordinates of an A-ranked assassin called Sonic. He seemed to have been hired to take out Leon."

"Hmm, and who was the person that hired him?"

"The name is..."

[....]

Sophia walked through the dark streets on her own. She had insisted that she needed to come get some things from her old apartment. Leon begged to follow her, but she refused, stating that she was a hunter and he needed to stop worrying.

Leon still did not allow her, though. He wanted to ensure her safety, so he told her it was either she went with him or she did not go. She agreed to stay, but when Leon went to take a bath, she snuck out.

She wanted to clear her head as well, and the walk alone was very much needed.

"Leon is getting more awesome by the day," she said as she walked down a street. She had a crazy smile on her face, with love in her eyes.

She then clenched her fist. "He keeps helping me and saving me, and I’m standing behind and watching. I wanted to be the one that saved and protected him so that he keeps falling deeply in love with me more and more, but now I can barely stand by his side.

If I am not careful, I’ll lose him to all the women that are flocking around him."

The idea of that enraged her so much that her hands began to let out cold ice fog.

Then suddenly, she felt a presence following behind her. She stopped and turned around.

"Hiding will not help. I know you are following me already," she said in a calm voice.

She waited there for a few more seconds for the person to come out.