Chapter 71: Canadian Bob, No Way

I stayed quiet, not knowing exactly how to answer his question. It was pretty clear he was almost certain I could do it. His guess was impressive.

I let out an awkward laugh. "I can’t do that yet. My control over the skill is a bit limited inside rifts."

That was the only thing I could think of on the spot. I had to add something else to make it sound more believable.

"Lion Heart was the one who recommended me to the academy. He probably thinks that in the future I’ll be able to control the skill well enough to try something like that. But I can’t say for sure."

Zoen rested his hand on his chin, clearly lost in thought.

"I know Lion Heart," Zoen said, "he’s a good friend. If he believes in you, then I do too. There aren’t many trustworthy S-Rank Hunters these days, so I prefer to trust my few friends."

"Not many are trustworthy? What’s going on?" I asked.

Most information about S-Rank Hunters was kept secret. I only knew the stuff that showed up on the internet, or things I heard around, like straight from Lion Heart. But I was sure a lot of things were kept under wraps.

The situation had turned around. Now I was the one asking the questions. Zoen seemed more than willing to answer what I asked. He was a lot more chill than I thought he would be. When you hear someone is an assassin, it’s hard not to think they’d be tough to deal with.

"An S-Rank Hunter went missing recently," Zoen said, crossing his arms while still watching his kids fool around with the crystals, "and you know very well that the number of S-Rank Hunters isn’t that high, so anyone dying or vanishing causes a huge stir."

He glanced to the side, expecting me to look surprised, but that wasn’t news to me. I knew Tom, so I already knew his brother had gone missing.

"Tom, a friend of mine from the academy, is that S-Rank Hunter’s brother," I said. "So I already knew about that."

"Oh? Interesting. But do you know how he vanished?"

"Unfortunately, I don’t know that part, but I know it happened on that newly discovered continent. Lion Heart wants me to go explore it with him in a little while."

Zoen was the one who looked shocked now.

"You know quite a bit. Anyway, the point is, Lion Heart is almost certain that whoever kidnapped this S-Rank Hunter was another S-Rank Hunter. We just don’t know if they’re from the United States or another country."

I wasn’t expecting that. From what I had gathered, it sounded like Tom’s brother had vanished while exploring that new continent, which meant it could have happened inside a rift, or a monster captured or killed him outside. Those were the most common causes.

Still, a monster capable of easily taking out such a high-ranking hunter would have to be insanely powerful.

Even with Zoen saying that, after seeing someone in such an important position like Frederic, the academy’s headmaster, turn out to be a traitor in the end, I couldn’t stop thinking that a lot of things weren’t what they seemed.

"What if he didn’t disappear because of another person or a monster, but because he wanted to vanish and investigate something?" I asked. "Maybe he has a plan and just can’t tell anyone."

Zoen nodded.

"Yeah, we thought about that too, and that’s exactly why they’re sending more hunters to this new continent. The plan is to look for any clues. We need to find him, or the balance of power will be affected."

"Balance of power affected?" I asked.

"There are a few powerful countries that have more S-Rank Hunters than we do. Right now, with all this chaos across the entire world, that hardly matters. But if this monster invasion ends or slows down, that’s when we might run into trouble. Who knows, they might try to invade our country or slap economic sanctions on us."

"So the invasion really is happening all over the world. Interesting," I said.

There was barely any information on the internet about it for some reason. People were either delaying the posts about it, or they were censoring it to keep the general public in the dark. Now, at least, I was certain the invasion wasn’t just an American thing.

"Anyway, how about we talk about a mission? I need your help," Zoen said.

"Sure."

"Hey, boys," Zoen tossed the key to Zack, "once you finish up here, bring the bag of crystals and lock everything up. I’m going to talk to Vincent about something in my office."

"Understood, Dad," Zack replied respectfully.

We headed back the way we came, then went up to the top floor of the mansion. That was where Zoen’s office was.

Just like every remotely important room in the house, magic barriers protected his office.

Inside, I sat down in a weirdly comfortable leather chair. A desk sat between Zoen and me. It felt just like a job interview.

He opened a drawer, took out some documents, and placed them on the desk.

"I have a serious problem that needs to be investigated," Zoen said with a sigh. "It’s not an easy mission, and it might take you some time to finish."

I had no idea what he had in mind. He handed me a sheet of paper with information about a 32-year-old man on it.

"I have an important target who might have more information about this ongoing invasion. Before the invasion happened, they were just hunches that weren’t enough to make me go investigate, but now that it’s actually going down, I don’t think they were just hunches anymore. They were real leads. I need you to infiltrate his mansion and find out what he knows."

An infiltration mission. Great. This wouldn’t be easy at all. Luckily for me, this guy wasn’t an S-Rank Hunter, meaning the chances of me ending up dead were slightly lower.

"He lives in Canada," Zoen said. "The borders are shut down because of the invasion, so you’ll have to cross by land and sneak in illegally. By tomorrow, I’ll have a new identity for you that will show up in the Canadian database."

Zoen really was well-connected. That kind of thing wasn’t easy to get.

"I can’t take on this mission personally because I’m too well-known. Any S-Rank hunter in the country would draw too much attention. That’s why I need you to do it. Your cover will be a doctor. Our target’s daughter is sick with something no one knows how to cure. Honestly, you’ll probably be more like a caregiver than an actual doctor."

The mission didn’t seem all that complicated, but I had zero knowledge of medicine or caregiving. It would be hard to keep up the act.

"Just pretend you know what you’re doing. Look things up on the internet," Zoen suggested. "The main thing is holding out long enough to find out what he knows about the invasion, and then getting out."

I held the sheet with all the mission info, still debating whether this was a good idea. When I pictured taking on missions, I imagined diving into Rifts, killing monsters, and grabbing loot to get stronger. Sneaking into another country and infiltrating the home of someone powerful wasn’t really what I had in mind.

"What are the chances I end up dead doing this?" I asked, looking up from the paper to meet Zoen’s eyes.

"Honestly, there’s practically zero chance of you dying inside the mansion. Even if you get caught, there aren’t many people strong enough there to cause you serious trouble. Now, dying outside because of the monster invasion? That’s a different story. I can’t guarantee anything there."

I tapped my fingers on the desk for about 30 seconds, wondering if taking this mission was a good idea. Zoen didn’t seem bothered by it. He even got up to make a cup of coffee, looking out the office window at his garden.

I felt something stir inside my pocket dimension. It was Bob. He wanted to tell me something, I just didn’t know what.

"Go ahead and set up the fake identity for me," I said, "but I’ll give you a definite answer tomorrow. Is that okay?"

Zoen took a sip of his coffee. "No problem at all. You can stay in one of our rooms and get some rest tonight. Give me your answer tomorrow."

The moment I left the office, one of the butlers took me to the room where I would spend the night. The mansion was so big that even with all those people living there, there were still tons of empty rooms.

Once I was alone in the room, I decided to step into my pocket dimension to see what Bob wanted to talk about. Judging by the feeling he had sent me, it was serious.

The only way to find out was to put him on like a helmet and listen to what he had to say.

"You have to take this mission," Bob said the second I put him on my head. "I lost my memories, but hearing the word Canada sparked something. That’s where I lived before I turned into an egg!"