38 Episode 7: Guild Recruitment (2)

Within a quiet study room on the second floor of a large residence, a bearded blonde-haired man could be seen seated behind his desk, silently reading through a document in his hand. There, it could be noted that his finger was metronomically tapping on the table at regular intervals.

"..."

As the man was nonchalantly skimming through the countless files on his desk, a sudden knock echoed through the room, alerting him.

"D-Dad..." Following the knock, a male's voice resounded from behind the study room door. "I'm here..."

"..." Whilst his eyes were still on the documents before him, he coldly answered. "Come in."

Without any further words, the door to the study room opened, revealing a young blonde-haired man standing on the other side. With a nervous gulp, he hesitantly entered the room.

"It's about time you showed up." Not giving a single glance at Landon, the man frowned, setting aside the document in his hand. "You're late."

"S-Sorry..." As his eyes anxiously landed on the giant man who was seemingly in his 60s, the young blonde-haired man bit his lips, apologetically lowering his head the next moment. "I-I was in the middle of something when Mister Duren called..."

"Is that so?" The man uttered unamusedly, his attention moving towards the next document.

"Y-Yes..." Landon timidly nodded his head.

As the blonde-haired man stood in his place, only the sounds of papers rustling against each other could be heard reverberating through the room. If one were to ignore it, only silence followed.

"S-So... D-Dad...'' After quietly standing still for a while, Landon gulped, finally breaking the silence that permeated the air. "I-Is there a reason you wanted to see me?"

"..." As the question was thrown out in the air, the bearded man didn't reply.

"D-Dad...?" Just as the atmosphere in the room grew stifling, Landon bit his lips, calling out to his father once again.

As the internal silence in the room slowly became suffocating, the man finally spoke. "Isn't it about time you stopped fooling around?"

"H-Huh...?" Upon hearing the sudden words from his father, Landon was left speechless.

"A few of my men have told me about your recent activities." Despite his son standing before him, the man didn't care to bat an eye on him. "From doing poorly on your license exam, going to lowly ranked dungeons with inferior people, having the gall of even thinking of creating a guild to even using our resources just to have fun with hunter work... Don't you think it's about time you get your act together?"

"N-No that's..." Landon's body shook abruptly.

"Landon Von Davies. I want to make it clear that the results you have produced have been nothing but disappointing," he coldly stated. "From getting B-rank on your license exam to fooling around with 'friends' who do not know their place, it doesn't seem like you're even attempting to pull your weight. Is hunter work just all fun and games for you?"

"N-No..." Landon muttered, unable to say anything further.

"If you're even remotely serious about being involved in the hunter business and wanting a place in this family, then you should open your eyes." The man stood up the next moment. "Don't you think it's about time you start proving yourself? Your brother and sister have already done so long ago, and here you are still a dead weight."

"..."

"Don't forget that you are a Von Davies." The bearded man finally turned his head towards the blonde-haired man, glaring at him. "Don't disappoint."

As the man stared straight into Landon's eyes, he shuddered. "...!"

"Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes..." Landon answered, looking away from his father.

"You may leave now."

...

"..." Exiting out of the study room with his head hung low to the ground, Landon sighed, dejectedly making his way through the hallway. "...stupid. My friends aren't lowly at all... And I'm serious about becoming a hunter. What does he know about my life? Always going on and on that I have to prove myself..."

As the blonde-haired man continued down the empty corridor, a sudden voice echoed from behind him. "Hey, Landon!"

"...?" Startled by the random voice, Landon abruptly turned around, noting the sight of an older man leaning against the walls of the hallway. "Ugh... Lance..."

"Hmm? What did the old man say to get you this down, huh?" Lance laughed, noticing the frown on his face. "Was it about proving yourself again? Or was it about how you've been a disappointment to him?"

"...whatever," Landon scowled. "I don't wanna see you..."

"Hey, hey!" Lance began walking up to Landon, soon putting his arm around his shoulder. "Don't be like that! I'm your brother!"

"..." Abruptly stopping at his footsteps in the next second, Landon reluctantly turned his head over towards his brother. "...what is it? I already got enough of an earful from Dad. You're not going to trash talk, are you?"

"Eh? Do you think that lowly of me?" he shook his head helplessly. "Look, this whole ordeal is because you haven't had the opportunity to prove yourself, right? The old man's mad at you because you've been only having fun in his eyes, not serious about anything at all!"

"But I AM serious," Landon grumbled.

"Well, whatever you're doing surely doesn't look serious to him!" he shrugged. "Since you're dabbling into the hunter business, you need to make a name for yourself if you want to show him that you can do it."

"What name for myself? I've only been a hunter for a week!" Landon frowned.

"At the pace you're going, it's going to take forever or never," Lance sighed. "He knows it very well and that's why he called upon you."

"Tch... How do you know about what I've been doing anyways?" he pouted.

"Oh come on! Why wouldn't I know?" he laughed. "If the old man knows, then I'm also most likely to know too!"

"Ugh. If I find out that you were the one who told on—" As Landon was about to continue his sentence, the man beside him placed a finger against his lips, silencing him.

"Nuh-uh!" Lance shook his head. "Now what do I have to gain by telling on you? Besides, he's got people watching us every so often! You should know that about now."

"Hah..." Landon sighed, ruffling his hair. "What do you want from me?"

"Look, look. I'm just here tryna help you!" he stated. "You need to prove to him that you're serious about your job and that you have the capabilities of showing any worth, yeah? Well, you're just in luck! I just got this dungeon opportunity on my hands that's perfect for you!"

"..." Landon glared at his brother. "What makes you think I can't get my own dungeon?"

"Oh please. Your dungeon choices are extremely horrid!" he stuck his tongue out in disgust. "An insect dungeon, really?"

"Just get to the point!"

"Here's the deal, I need to go to Muyuan in the coming days for a business trip. So, I need someone to fill in my spot for me in this dungeon!" he stated. "It's B-rank. Surely you can take it?"

"...what's even in it for me?" he frowned.

"Let's just say, it's an extremely high-valued dungeon within the hunter community. People are rushing to get spots from the association and I managed to snatch some for myself," he explained. "The dungeon is a 10-man party. So are you in or not?"