Under the Veil of Night

When it was already late at night, Kanae slipped away from her mansion again. It has been a few months already, but the guards were still unable to sense her when she went away. Even though they were all in high alert because of the incident, Kanae's skill allowed her to walk around them without getting noticed. She has already become an expert in terms of slipping away from one place to another one.

"Have you gathered them all?" Kanae asked when she arrived in the abandoned building they used to gather a few times.

Jason nodded his head. Right now, he was dressed as Oro while Kanae dressed as Rei. They would not tell their real identity to these men no matter how much they trusted them.

"Rei, you're here," one of them spoke up and greeted loudly.

The others quickly turned around before greeting Kanae politely. Each of them was acting very respectful to Kanae.

"I believe that you all have recovered from the battle two years ago," Kanae nodded her head back to them. They seemed to be far stronger after they survived from that big incident in that place.

The leader nodded his head. "Two years is a long time, so we no longer have wounds left."

"First of all, I want to thank you all for coming here today and help out in the mission," Kanae started. "I have done my investigation about you all and found that many of you become unemployed because of the incident."

The men looked towards each other sheepishly. Because they took a long break from their work, they lost their job. Some of them managed to scrape here and there from doing odd jobs, but it was simply not enough to allow them living without worry. Returning back to the Black Street was all they could do to earn enough for their life.

Some of them managed to live on as it has taken a long time. However, their lives were filled with difficulties to the point that they had to bet everything every single day. It was tiring, yet they didn't have any other choice.

"I have some jobs offer for you all," Kanae started. She had wanted to strengthen the guards in her house and workplace for her sister because she doubted the street was going to be safe after the series of incidents that happened lately. In addition, she could use the rest of them to work in the company.

Even though many of them might lack the qualification in terms of education, there was never any need for high education to become a guard. At the very least, she didn't need them to have one.

"Really?"

"We're willing to come!"

"Yeah, if it's a job offer that you say, we're going to take it!"

Seeing their enthusiasm, Kanae explained the job to them and the fact that it was not under her. However, it didn't deter their spirit. In a matter of minutes, she had gotten more than 200 people who were willing to work in the various places that she offered.

"Oro, do you mind taking care of them all?" Kanae asked the man beside her. She was not that good in terms of handling this kind of thing.

Jason shrugged. "I can send them to the girl later. You just leave them all to me. I believe you have somewhere you want to go."

"Yeah, thank you very much, Oro."

"You're welcome."

After handing the process of taking them into the company to Jason, Kanae traveled on the Black Street again. This time, her destination was her master's, Master Rudy, place.

"You're still in one piece, brat?" Patrick asked the moment he saw Kanae came closer.

Kanae took off the cloth that she used to cover her face. "Senior Pat wants me to die?"

"No, but I thought you would be wounded when facing with someone who used the drugs," Patrick answered lightly. He stood up and inspected Kanae up and down. There was barely any wound on the girl's body.

"I'm perfectly fine, Senior Pat," Kanae smiled.

Patrick nodded. He could see that very well. Sometimes he wondered whether this little girl is a human being or not. Her capabilities were too abnormal.

If only the other knew what he was thinking, they would surely have the urge to smack his head.

Who's the real monster? You or her?

Matt shook his head. "You should just accept the fact that you have a great junior, Senior Pat."

"A great junior? Are you referring at how great you are because you pass out easily when facing me?"

Matt: "…" can you please not target me?

Kanae smiled as she saw her seniors bantered with each other. Although Patrick was someone unfathomable to her because of his antic, she still felt that this senior of her was rather peculiar and funny.

"Oh, Rei, you have returned," Master Rudy walked out from the building. His hand was holding a big saber that he had just polished while his shirt was ruffled because of his business so far. Polishing any kind of blade was the activity that he usually did.

"Master," Kanae greeted. "Thank you for the warning you give me."

"Warning?" Master Rudy's eyes landed on Matt. "It's something that he wants to tell you personally by himself. There's no relation with me."

Matt chuckled. "Don't listen to him."

"What? You doubt your Master now?" Master Rudy sat down near them. "I already hear all that happen from Matt. You sure have a rough life, little brat. No wonder you can grow up this fast."

Kanae rolled her eyes. "I'm growing up normally, Master."

"Not physically but mentally," Patrick chirped in. "If not, how can a woman be that short like you?"

"I'm not that short!" she already grew up to reach the normal height women usually had. It was not too tall, which might be due to her gene, but it was clearly not too short.

Patrick chuckled. "Compared to me, you're very short."

"It's because you're the monster one."

"What? You dare to say that to your senior?"

This time, it was Kanae's turn to argue with Patrick about her height. Master Rudy shook his head as he saw the two of them bantered like that. He knew that his first disciple loved to make trouble, but he didn't expect for it to last even after he was this old.

Well, it didn't seem like Patrick would ever change his habit in his lifetime.

"You two look like brother and sister," Matt remarked.

Patrick placed his hand on Kanae's head. "She's my future little sister in law."

"What?"

"That cold brat Kevin has interest to this girl?"

"No!" Kanae yelled angrily. She pushed Patrick's hand away from her head. "There's nothing that happen between the two of us!"

Patrick put his hand on his chin. "Oh? I'm pretty sure that I see you two dating in the office a few days ago."

"I'm not dating him! He already has a fiancée too," Kanae's face contorted slightly as she recalled about that fact. No matter what, she knew that she would never be able to stay with him.

Master Rudy recalled about Alice and Celine. The problem of the love life of Kevin was something that he too was uncertain about. Many women wanted that man, but he didn't want to have any relation with them at all. All these times, no one ever saw him got close with anyone.

"If you want to be his fiancée, I can make it happen," Patrick said proudly. All that he needed to do was wrecking the elders again. He had done that once in the past for his girlfriend. There was nothing wrong with him doing it again.

Master Rudy frowned. He still remembered what Patrick did more than a decade before. "You know how much of a mess that was before, right?"

"What? I'm just doing like my heart told me."

"If you want to create trouble, you should make sure that you won't implicate me," Master Rudy snorted. He was already Patrick's master at that time. The incident made him got troubles with the elders of Ryukalin Clan. It wasted too much of his precious training time, so he didn't wish to get involved anymore.

Patrick grinned. "Don't you want to see foolish expression on Kevin's face?"

Master Rudy thought about it for a moment. It has been a long time since he could see any kind of expression on that boy's face. Aside from being annoyed with Patrick, Kevin barely showed any other expression.

"Is it possible?"

"I see him smile at this girl."

"Good, if you can make it that way, I'll support you all the way," Master Rudy immediately changed his decision.

Kanae was utterly speechless by the sudden change that the two of them had. She hadn't said anything, but they already started to make the decision for her.

"I'm not going to get into Ryukalin Clan," she interrupted. "I can't live my life forever in the Black Street."

"Why? You're very suitable here," Matt raised his hand. "Even if you have a life in underworld, it doesn't mean you can't have a life under the light."

She knew that, but she couldn't have a normal one if she came under Ryukalin Clan. Besides, she no longer wanted to make her sister worried by doing missions on the Black Street anymore.

"I want to have a normal life," Kanae answered slowly.

"It's for your sister, right?" Patrick asked. He had searched about Kanae and found out that this girl loved her only family member very much. For that girl, she had almost met her creator numerous times.

Kanae smiled wryly. "Don't you already know about that?"

"Yeah, kind of," Patrick scratched his head. He also has a brother that he loved very much, so he understood slightly that feeling. Living in this kind of world, the thing that he didn't want to happen was losing his brother.

He heard the news of his brother's death in the prison. It has nearly driven him insane because of rage. However, he couldn't go out yet because it was not the time. He was still emotionally unstable and kept on making a mess. Rather than destroying his own clan because of that, it would be better for him to destroy the prison.

His heart wouldn't bleed afterwards because of the cost to repair this way.

All he did was destroying half of the prison to vent out his frustration. After that, he no longer listened to what happened to Ryukalin Clan too much as he simply didn't want to know. Training and making trouble in prison became his daily habit and only decreased ever so slowly.

From the elders, he only knew that they picked one of the elder to take care of the matter for the time being. As it turned out, they pushed Kevin for the position. It made him angry that they didn't tell him they forced the young brat to the position, so he made ruckus afterwards.

The elders were nearly driven insane because of him.

Though, if he had to be honest, he was not satisfied yet. These elders should all accompany him for more training session as punishment, but Kevin didn't allow it because that way, no one would be able to work.

Master Rudy patted the girl's head. "We won't force you to do anything, brat. However, let me tell you one thing. Whenever you want, we will accept you. Whatever the reason, be it change of situation or change of heart, we will welcome you with open arms."

"Yes, you can come here at anytime," Patrick opened his hand widely. "This is truly a great place that's very suitable for someone like you. Rather than wasting your talent in those boring jobs, it's better to just be free here."

"Senior Pat, I'm sure that she's different with you," Matt shook his head. "There's no way she'll create trouble like you."

"What? I'm sure she's also a troublemaker!"

"I never see her create any trouble so far."

Listening to Matt's words, Kanae smiled bitterly. She had created countless problems for her own teammate in the past. It was to the point that they termed her as a reckless captain. Not to mention, she was quite a naughty kid back when she was still very young.

Master Rudy chuckled. "As you can see, everyone here likes you and welcome you with an open arm. So, if you ever feel like joining the Underworld for a long period of time, just come to us."

Seeing the kind and genuine smile on her master's face, Kanae felt very grateful. She looked back to her master with a wide smile. "Thank you very much, Master."

"Don't just smile at him! You should be grateful to me too," Patrick interrupted.

"Let's just have a spar, Senior Pat."

"Hah, you think you can beat me? Bring it on!"