I want you

This might turn troublesome, Belialthorn thought. Why was a Lord coming to their table? Was it to do with what he was hiding? He doubted it was that.

"What should we do?" Rota whispered furiously, her eyes darting from Belialthorn to the now-arrived Lord.

Belialthorn didn't have the chance to reply because Alaric spoke first.

"Wonderful evening to you, Hunters." His voice was smooth and carried with it the confidence of those used to authority.

Rota stood up hurriedly and bowed to the standing noble. "Evening, My Lord."

Belialthorn took his time standing up, his chair dragging on the floor was the only sound in the room as everyone looked at the one man who was taking his time to address the Lord. Even if the Keenreavers lacked that much power, they were still Noble.

Belialthorn was Noble too though he was never used to authority even then he nodded coolly like one Lord to the other. "I assume you are Lord Alaric? Good evening."

Rota sucked in a breath, her heart missing a beat as she heard Thorn speak. She straightened and looked at Thorn in bewilderment.

She knew he was an arrogant man but surely he would not act arrogant to a Lord! Even though Rota didn't like the Nobles, she still sucked up to them!

But Alaric did seem offended, he even smiled, showing perfect white teeth. "I am Lord Alaric Keenreaver, heir to Havenbrook."

Belialthorn raised his brows, it had been a little test to see how he would react and it was surprisingly calm. Time to probe a little dipper.

Belialthorn widened his deep blue eyes, made his face slack, and raised his voice. "Heir to Havenbrook? You mean you are the powerful Heir to this great town?" He bowed deeply. "You must be the second most powerful person in town then except for the Lord himself!"

The Hunters in the room shifted restlessly as they waited for Alaric's reaction. Everyone knew the Keenreavers were the least powerful.

It was his Knight that reacted, her hand— Belialthorn just saw it was a female armor— went to the broad sword hanging on her hips but Alaric gave a tiny shake of his head and her hand wanted back clasped to her back.

Alaric himself did not react, his face was now a mask and his smile was hidden behind narrowed pale blue eyes. "I assure you I will be."

He didn't give them time to digest his declaration before he continued, smiling as he asked. "So what are your names?"

Belialthorn pointed at Rota. "This is my partner, Rota and I am Thorn."

Alaric's eyes widened so fast that Belialthorn would not have noticed it but he was looking at him as he said their names and he caught the surprise look on the Lord's face. Why did he look surprised? Has he heard their names before?

Alaric continued, his voice and face smooth. "Nice names."

What? Nice names? Belialthorn didn't know what Alaric was playing at, why was he after low-level Hunters? "If you don't mind... My Lord. Have you heard our names somewhere before?"

Alaric's eyes narrowed as he debated if he should speak or not but he opened his mouth and spoke. "I have."

Rota felt Belialthorn became still and the aura around him changed, turning from carefree to danger-ready. She could feel the subtle tension so she went for a laugh, her laughter so sudden, and uexpected everyone turned to look at her in surprise. "You have heard our names before? Hope it wasn't about something bad!"

Alaric chuckled. "The Holy Church gave me your names, and and told me you have the most potential of all lower Grade 1 Hunters."

Immediately the aura around Belialthorn changed again, like a sword leaving its stealth, ready for slashing. "The Holy Church told you our names? I don't know the Church keeps eyes on Hunters."

No, they don't, Rota thought. Unless the Hunter was High Grade or special enough that the Church had noticed them. The only reason that the Church would keep an eye on low-gradeHunterss....

... was if they had done something so threatening. Belialthorn thought as he followed Rota's line of thought. And that meant only one thing for Belialthorn and Rota. The mutant monster. The Church must be aware that they killed it or at the very least suspect them.

But what was Alaric's place in all this? From what Belialthorn knew, Alaric was the Church's opposition, unless they struck an alliance. Belialthorn smiled. "Potential? You flatter us, Lord Alaric. We are nothing but low-level Hunters, we have done nothing to deserve the praise of the Holy Church."

The people in the room hung on their every word, pretending to drink or eat.

"Nothing to deserve of praise? Aren't you the lower Grade 1 Hunters who had no mentors or instructors and yet went out every day to slay monsters and grind? A caster and a warrior! A team made up of only two members!" Alaric's voice kept gaining volume through his little speech until he finished with a flourish.

".....is that true?" A murmur began.

"A team of two Hunters? How are they doing it?"

"They never even have an instructor."

"What are their classes?"

"Don't you hear? A warrior and a Caster. How the two survive out there is a surprise."

"Maybe they are High ranking pretending to be low levels."

"Really? People do that but their's nothing to gain!"

"Well, there are lots of weird people out there."

Murmurs swept through the room and Belialthorn clenched his teeth. Was Alaric aware that he was pretending with his true powers? He doubted it. So what was this noble playing at?

This was what he wanted to avoid the most. Attention.

And this was not the type of attention he could do away with his powers. Killing a noble would bring about more attention, the worst type of attention.

First, he had to know what Alaric wanted. He locked cold eyes on Alaric. "So what does the Lord want with us lowly Hunters?"

Alaric looked at the two of them and smiled. "I want you."