Chapter 66: Hostage

Perseus POV

"So you met with the queen of Olympus and decided to call and tell me now instead of telling me the moment she left?" Diana asked at the other end of the call

"The offer was pretty good though, I don't want to be on her bad side, but as she warned us of Zeus giving the opponent's clan some sort of dangerous weapon, we have to be on a look out for that."

"Well that just makes it even scarier for Cordelia to be a hostage isn't it? A perfect life and death situation for the rite of passage, accidental kills happens, rarely, but it does. It should scare her for quite a while."

We should take Hera's warnings seriously, her roman aspect, Juno, is also sometimes referred to as Juno Moneta, a warner in times of crises, so even if she warned us in her Greek form or whatever, I'm not going to take it lightly.

Her telling us lies and this being a trick is also sort of impossible for a character like her, and if she really is divorcing Zeus...oh that's going to be fun.

"Sis, why don't you take her blessing?"

"Even if you are able to negotiate for that to happen, no thanks." she replied quickly "I am already lucky enough to have you as a proxy and only met the admin once despite my refusal to be summoned many times."

"That's why I told you, just say some profanities and they'll find a way to not send you."

"Well thanks to your creative sailor's mouth, it worked quite well."

"Well at least a certain social media site/app can't cancel me cuz they don't know what I said."

*****

Cordelia POV

The clan war started and during the strategy meetings, Perseus was right, I was chosen to be the hostage and they kept every single information away from me, well as much as possible anyway.

No one opposed to me being the hostage at all, if anything, even the clan employees cheered for the newbie to be chained and possibly hanged over a mouth of a dragon.

"Alright, the participants will be Perseus' division, me, Decker and Diana." Zach announced and the clan cheered "Apart from the newbie, we have gathered the strongest members so that after we beat them unconscious, we make things even more exciting and endanger the newbie even more."

"Hey, this isn't a strategy meeting, what about who is there to help open the door and get me out of the entrapped room. You're seriously not gonna help the enemy and slow my run back to the base, right?...RIGHT!?"

"But where's the fun in winning a quick and obvious battle?" Zach pouted "Me, Decker and Diana will go to 'rescue' Cordelia, it means that we will barricade her further and make more traps while the rest defend their hostage from getting out as long as possible."

"Oh yeah, kid, don't think of quitting unless you want your whole family to be in debt and homeless, it's in the contract." Decker warned

"Isn't there one clause that say you guys can't and shouldn't willingly put me in danger?"

Decker then pulled out my contract and flipped till the last page and over my signature, with injection of mana, letters that weren't there started to appear.

'Must participate in the rite of passage that is determined by the clan after becoming an official member, no matter how absurd it may be.'

"That's...That's cheating!"

"You're at fault for not reading properly." he shrugged while the others laugh "The tower allows invisible ink on our contracts and many laws don't apply in here, so as the 2nd in command, I would like to officially welcome you again into the 'Raining Gold'."

Perseus knew this and kept it from me...no wonder they pay an absurdly amount, I bet they do it even for the veterans judging from their expressions. The handsome bastard doesn't even pretend to be guilty and just join in the fun.

I'll so tell my father about this and make him give that bastard harder assignments...

*****

After the meeting of the clan, I head back to the dorm for today since I still have to attend the academy tomorrow morning, I came later than usual so everyone else were already inside their rooms.

But a strange guest waited in the hallway, an eagle headed man who every raider should recognize due to his status.

Ezio Adler.

Perseus once given me an advice on this man.

'Whatever you do, do not trust Ezio. Even if your life depends on it, do not seek his help nor any advice from him.'

'He's much more different than his public appearances portray him as, do not ever fall for his traps or temptations. If Elliot is the strongest raider, then Ezio is the most dangerous, if he approaches you, just look friendly.'

This was before it was revealed to me that Perseus is the current number one raider in the tower, but still...

He may be an airhead sometimes, but he doesn't give me useless warnings, Perseus should be able to handle Ezio easily if he doesn't hide his powers.

"I heard you are Perseus new partner, congrats." Ezio greeted "Call me Ezio."

"I recognize you, it's an honor."

I put on a fake smile to greet the man, it is also rumored that he is a member of the clan of the Mirage Legion, some sources confirmed it so. He himself has said he is, but as a raider and the example of my contract, you shouldn't take and face everything with full on blind trust.

"So why are you in the girl's dorm?"

"Just wanted to see why Perseus choose you as his partner, ypur bloodline isn't really anything special though." he shrugged and narrowed his eyes "Though it's a strange pattern that his second partner is also a spirit."

"Spirits are usually born with more beauty and innate talent than any other race, maybe that's it, no?"

"Well I saw what I needed to see, bye now, little girl." he chuckled as he then left me there.

Just why did he come here?