Chapter 10: The Reward?

The moment they got out of the car, an incredibly tall building appeared before their eyes. It was about 300 meters, and it was a structure of expensive black material with many large windows. It didn`t have any embellishments or extra decor elements, it looked quite simple, but at the same time, quite formidable.

It was a branch of the Phantom Association.

A lot of drones constantly flew around the building, guarding the surrounding area. The territory itself resembled a large garden and looked quite impressive: all kinds of trees, flowers and other plants, what, to all appearances, were cared for by a real professional. Many paths, laid out of expensive stones, led directly to the building. Also one could see several artificially created brooks all over the territory. Some of the trees had bizarre fruits on them. This place looked unbelievable and the contrast between the nature and technology created strange, exciting sensations.

The whole garden was surrounded by a high stone fence and the gates that let people in, were like a gate to paradise.

An ordinary stone fence is rarely used now. After all, these days everything was run by AI and plasma gates with automatic detection system were more popular option to protect your home and more appropriate here. But the branch of the Association of Phantoms didn`t need to worry about protection, no one would dare to barge in, otherwise he would have been killed before he had time to take a step.

Richard slowly approached the gate and just opened it, calling with gestures for Charles and Stroph to follow him. The guys had never seen a branch of the Phantom Association before, for them this place seemed inaccessible. Looking at the building itself and the garden around it, their eyes began to sparkle, and following to Richard they were approaching the entrance of the building.

At the entrance, they were checked by AI, after that they began to climb to the ninth floor without using the lift, which caused Stroph`s discontent: "Why are we walking up the stairs if there is a lift ...".

"Guy, movement is life, if you don`t move, you will soon turn into some old man". Richard answered him calmly.

"Yes? Then why were we driving here by car and not on foot? Movement is life, isn't it?" Stroph could not understand the logic of Richard, although the fact is, that for him every extra step was like a 10 km marathon.

"Boy, you can`t walk a couple of floors, not to mention going on foot to the branch? After five minutes I would have to carry your breathless body on my shoulders" Saying these words, Richard continued to rise without paying attention to Stroph. All this time Charles was silent, looking at the interior of the branch of the Phantom Association.

While they were climbing, he managed to see many people working at the computers. Everything looked like some kind of new-fashioned office of a rich company. A lot of drones carrying coffee and a great number of people sitting in chairs in front of a huge number of holograms. The work was in full swing, but it wasn`t like a place where the fighters from their city gathered.

After a couple of minutes they reached the ninth floor, it wasn`t different from all the previous ones.

They approached a large wooden door and then Richard put his finger on a special sensor. His eyes were subject to the same check, and he also entered some kind of password. Only after all these procedures, the door opened.

You should know that the building was incredibly huge and the part which they had passed, was only a small area of the building itself, it can be called an office component.

When Richard opened the door, he led them along a long corridor. On their way, they opened more doors and arrived in the office of some man.

His office looked very rich. An expensive leather sofa, a chair made of real oak. There were a lot of expensive appliances in the form of computers and screens, located on a large table and on the walls.

The man was sitting in a chair with his legs thrown on the table. He was looking at documents floating in front of him in the form of holograms, and was smoking some kind of cigar. But he wasn`t dressed as some office worker at all. He was wearing a knitted gray sweater and simple beige pants, with large green sneakers on his feet. He had short blond hair and green eyes. He looked like he was about forty years old.

The man immediately noticed them and said: "Oh, who I see, Richard, what brings you to me?" His voice was very calm and he looked very relaxed. On hearing him, Richard immediately answered, "Anthony, I responded to the call for help at the high school where Tyrone was sent. He was killed by the Demonic Armored Ogre, but when I came there I didn't have to do anything. These guys were able to kill him with their own hands." Saying this, Richard pointed his hand to Stroph and Charles, standing behind him.

Anthony began to examine the young men and then said: "Did they manage to kill a monster of rank 3? Amazing guys, and Tyrone, apparently, was just a garbage, it looks like we just wasted resources on him. Come here, guys, I think we should get to know each other better.

After his words, Charles and Stroph came up, took chairs and sat down in front of Anthony.

"My name is Anthony Jones, I'm the manager of the Phantom Association's branch in Silver Wings City and I'm curious to know exactly what happened at your school." He put all the holograms aside and stared at the young men in front of him.

A few minutes later Charles told him everything what had happened from the beginning of the exam until they entered his office.

"Obviously, I must say, you, boy, have just exceptional shooting skills. I have one sentence to both of you, but before you do, tell me what you want as a reward, don`t be shy" Anthony was very calm and his voice was clear.

"What can we ask for as a reward?" Stroph immediately asked, he was very interested in the rewards.

"Money, weapons, resources, even information about the techniques, name it and I`ll say what you can get for the murder of the Demonic Armored Ogre."

"Money, how much can I get?

"50,000 sempets, you can get it right now, do you agree?" Anthony answered him quickly. It seemed that such a large sum wasn`t a problem for him at all.

It should be understood that the average monthly salary in their city was about 2000 sempets, so 50 thousands was an incredible sum for an ordinary schoolboy.

"I agree", Stroph immediately agreed.

"Okay, tell me the card number, I'll transfer everything." After his words, Stroph quickly said all the necessary data and received his reward, he was satisfied with this amount of money.

Immediately after that, a notice appeared before him.

[A common level history is received - "The reward from the Phantom Association"].

<So much! I just received a reward for the murder of monster> Stroph was surprised and pleased with the reward, he didn`t expect to get so much, and in general, that he would get something.

After that, he immediately checked the effect of history.

["Reward from the Association of Phantoms," the effect - gives a small chance that rewards from others, may be slightly more than originally.]

<Yeah, as if I suddenly can improve the skill of negotiator, hopefully in future will be able to get something worthwhile.> The effect was at least quite mediocre, but Stroph got it for nothing, so there was nothing to complain.

"And what about you, young man? Even though you didn`t kill the monster as your friend, but you definitely contributed" Immediately after Stroph, Anthony turned to Charles.