Chapter 25 : Chick Mask! Diabolic Dominion Retaliation

"Every 5-star who received this message, please report yourself at the Mercenary HQ in the Capital. Failure to do so without any good reason will be punished severely!"

"What the heck? Is this even legal to do.. Meh.. I should ask Garry first about this.." muttered Aaron before he started calling Garry.

"You should go. It should be serious, and you will be generously rewarded since it is related to the safety of the Capital.."

That was the only thing Garry said before he hung up the call. He was also excited when Aaron offered him the serum, but Aaron refused to accept any payment.

Aaron also recalled that Garry had already collected some artifacts or artifact-like objects in the Capital. Garry would send him the location to check whether they were genuine or just fakes.

Since he had the space ring, he could keep his belongings in it once they were arranged properly. It took him 5 minutes to complete everything for the checkout before he left the hotel.

He booked a taxi provided by the hotel, which would directly take him to the HQ, a journey of about half an hour. He could have teleported there himself, but he had no reason to do so.

Upon his arrival at the HQ, he was surprised to see that there were already a few people waiting for him.

"Welcome, Mr. Steven, to the HQ. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for responding to our urgent message. I am Alex, a representative chosen by the association, and I will be in charge of your well-being here."

Aaron nodded as Alex continued to brief him about the upcoming meeting that would be held in an hour. Aaron then requested to obtain his own mask, similar to Brian (the Hawk guy) and the other 5-star mercenaries.

Alex was taken aback by the request as he hadn't expected Aaron to not have a mask yet. He made some calls and then led Aaron to the artifact department on the 2nd highest floor of the building. According to Alex, the building had 55 floors and was constructed using the finest materials available.

The building's safety measures were among the best in the country, rivaling even the royal families' living areas, such as the Royal Garden.

When they arrived at the artifact department, Aaron was surprised to see that the main door, which appeared large enough to accommodate most vehicles, gave a prompt indicating that it was actually an artifact.

[Fortified Door (Fake) - A magical door that was used to protect against physical and magical enemies. Clumsily made by an aspiring Artifact Master. Strong enough to withstand uncommon-grade artifacts and below. A few hits from a Rare-grade artifact would destroy this fake door! Smash it!]

"Damn, there's no way I'm going to smash this door... Unless... Nah, nevermind," thought Aaron as he read the description of the door.

Alex looked at Aaron strangely, wondering why he had been staring at the main door of the artifact department.

"Excuse me, Mr. Steven. We can go in now."

"Oops, sorry. I was just thinking about something else. Alright, let's go."

As Aaron entered the department, he noticed that there were no people inside. He had expected at least someone to greet them upon their arrival. The entire place was empty, but there were several doors connected to the area.

"Master Raizen... Hello, Master Raizen... Are you here? We need you for the Identity Mask for our new 5-star mercenary... Hello..."

They waited for a few minutes, and Alex continued calling for Master Raizen until one of the doors opened.

A short and chubby old man with white hair and a beard opened the door. It seemed that he had just finished one of his experiments, as a gray smoke billowed out from his room. He held a chemical flask in one hand and glanced at Alex before slowly making his way towards them.

"Huh... Are you the Golden Boy? You look different from the images sent by the HQ... Humph, I hope the mask I made will fit you well," Raizen said hurriedly, leaving them as he rushed towards one of the doors to retrieve the mask for Aaron.

"It's alright. He's always in a hurry like this. It's quite tough for him, you know, being the only one in charge of this department. We've tried to get more people to assist him, but he refuses, feeling that no one is skilled enough to create artifacts," Alex explained.

A minute later, Raizen returned with a small metallic briefcase that Aaron assumed contained his mask. As he received the briefcase, he immediately opened it to examine the mask designed for him.

"A golden chick mask?? WTF??" Aaron thought to himself, looking up at Raizen.

Raizen noticed Aaron's reaction, which further soured his mood.

"What? You don't like it? Give it back to me if you don't like it!" Raizen shouted at Aaron.

Aaron's expression immediately changed, and he shook his head before offering a smile to Raizen.

"No, I actually like this mask. I was just surprised for a moment there," Aaron lied about his dissatisfaction with the mask design. In truth, he still liked the mask because upon opening the briefcase, he had read the mask's description.

[Animal Mask (Fake) - Another attempt at replication by the Artifact Master wannabe. This mask conceals the wearer's presence from the detection of Uncommon-grade artifacts and below. It also allows the wearer to alter their voice while wearing the mask. However, this is still a counterfeit! The original version is far superior!]

"Humph, I knew you would like the mask!"

Raizen left them and hurried back into the room where he had been conducting his experiment.

Alex and Aaron continued their tour of the HQ before making their way to the meeting room.

Aaron had studied the directory given to him previously, so he had a good understanding of the layout of the building. He simply followed Alex as he had nothing else to do at the moment.

When they reached the entrance of the meeting room, Alex asked a somewhat panicked question.

"Hey, where did you hide your mask? Did you drop it?"

"No, I already put it away. Why? Do I need to wear my mask for this meeting?" Aaron inquired, curious as to why Alex was concerned about his mask.

"Yes and no. It's optional, but some people like to remain anonymous and hide their true identities during these meetings," Alex responded cautiously, not wanting to pry into where Aaron had hidden his mask.

Suddenly, the chick mask materialized out of thin air in Aaron's right hand, emerging from his spatial ring.

"Huh?"

Alex was taken aback by the unexpected appearance of the mask. However, Aaron calmly wear the mask before pushing open the door to the meeting room.

"Are you coming in too?" Aaron asked Alex.

Alex followed closely behind Aaron as they entered the meeting room. Aaron was taken aback by the seating arrangement, as he realized his seat was located at the front of the room.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of awe, especially when he noticed that his seat was on the same row as the leaders of various associations, although he couldn't identify them all. Despite the early hour, around 30% of the attendees had already arrived and all eyes were on Aaron.

"Damn it, I knew my mask looked funny! Ugh, maybe I should smash it... Nah." Aaron thought to himself, jokingly considering smashing the mask. However, deep down, he actually liked the mask. He found it quite cute, to be honest.

Aaron realized that he was the first 5-star mercenary to arrive, which explained why everyone was staring at him. As the meeting approached its starting time, almost every seat had been occupied, except for the front row seats reserved for the 5-star mercenaries.

"Where did the Hawk guy go? He should be in the Capital for the transfer mission, right?" Aaron wondered, noticing Brian's empty seat.

Alex had taken the seat next to Aaron and began briefing him, introducing the well-known individuals as they entered the meeting. Aaron nodded in acknowledgment most of the time, his superhuman ability allowing him to remember everything easily.

Suddenly, the lights in the meeting room went off, and the projector illuminated the white screen on the wall, displaying an image of a letter.

"WE GOT YOUR LITTLE HAWK AND BIRDIES! THE CAPITAL WILL SUFFER FOR KILLING OUR PEOPLE - DIABOLIC DOMINION"

The message was written on white cloth, stained with blood. Some people in the room began to doubt the authenticity of the message, as they knew Brian wouldn't be easily captured.

Murmurs of skepticism filled the air. However, the projector changed the image, revealing a distressing sight.

Brian, covered in blood, bound by ropes alongside his subordinates.

A hush fell over the meeting room, as everyone processed the shocking image.

"Err.. Is this my fault? I mean, they didn't kill them, right?" thought Aaron, feeling a slight twinge of guilt.