Recruiting

Maximus decided to do what he had planned, pass on this information to Seraphina. He then asked the guy for more information but there was nothing more important, the rest of the information was just about the additional payments and benefits promised by the people who were recruiting.

When they were about to leave, Chester looked up at him nervously but didn't dare speak. Maximus got the hint, taking out a wad of cash from his utility belt, he handed it to the man and watched as the man's eye lit up with joy.

Watching the immense amount of joy, warmth and brightness his eyes radiated as they looked at the cash, for a brief amount of time, Maximus felt the world might be real after all but quickly dismissed that thought. Everything needs to be rationalized.

After his work was done, he quickly left without bidding the man goodbye and ran over to a secluded place. Once he reached a tucked away corner of the city where darkness was all over the place, he entered it and called Seraphina.

"Hello?"

"I've got the information."

"Shoot. I have everything ready, and will give you the results as soon as I am done. Are you busy or in a threatening situation?"

Maximus once again glanced over his surroundings and even made sure every device Seraphina gave him was working as it was supposed to. He calmly denied being in a threatening situation to which she positively replied and asked for the information. He quickly relayed,

"They are recruiting them to scout some place. The gang people they are recruiting themselves don't know where they are supposed to scout, just that the people, in this case, that organization, responsible for recruiting would be sending them there and they just need to come back with information about everything about the land."

He then proceeded to tell her about the payment and all the additional benefits as he didn't know if that would be useful in her endeavor.

There were clicking sounds on the other end of the phone while he made sure nothing untoward happened on his end. Constantly keeping his ability activated, he made sure to not let anyone sneak up on him.

It was approximately 2 minutes later when she finally replied again,

"There are a lot of important people gathering at one place. It's also where some of the people from the organization I've tagged are gathering."

"Wait wait, tagged? Is this what I am imagining it is?"

"Yep, I've put trackers on them, in the electronics they carry more precisely. Don't worry I haven't gotten caught yet, it would be difficult for them to do so haha."

She cackled at the end, emanating vibes of an ancient witch who successfully made a potion. For a second he hesitated about who he was associating himself with but eventually trusted his judgment. These guys were absolutely good and more or less compatible with his values and moral compass.

He wasn't that good of a person either. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being good and 10 being evil, he was lying comfortably on the gray area of 4.8~5 if he so rightfully proclaimed. According to the terms of novels he had read, his moral inclination could be called chaotic good.

Isabelle was probably 2 or 3, with how strongly she always advocated justice. The one good thing about her though was that she also recognized the means they had to take and didn't butt her way in. she wouldn't speak up if the group did something which didn't follow her moral compass.

Adrian was around 4, but a complicated one. He was a lighter version of his girlfriend. He stayed on the good side with good morals but also didn't care about getting his hands dirty. Don't get him wrong, like Isabelle, he just recognized the necessity of doing so, and had to steal his heart while doing it. In normal times he was entirely a normal good man.

Seraphina could be called a 6, 7 or probably even 8. Whenever he stayed near her and watched her moves in the night, it gave off a feeling that she held very little emotions. It could be a mask for all he knew, someone who took up the burdens of making that decision but it was what it was eventually. She gave those decisions and they simply carried it out, although it definitely helped that they were dealing with the gang members. Lessening their mental burden.

Waking up from his short stupor, he heard more clicking sounds on the other end and heard her voice again,

"It seems we'll need to check out what they are up to."

"Alright, what time tomorrow?"

"Not tomorrow, today."

"Huh?!"

Maximus was genuinely confused, how did such minute information, according to him that is, turn into them taking action urgently? His response conveyed that well, to which Seraphina excitedly responded,

"The last time this happened, it was around ten months ago you geddit? Ten months ago! —"

"So?"

"Yea wait I am coming to that just listen, after this happened, the amount of supernatural beings that organization could employ increased. You geddit? Why would they suddenly join that organization? Any other company would easily give them much more money if they said they were a supernatural being and would protect them."

Something clicked to Maximus, he recalled the deal he had been given by the organization about increasing his physique and even upgrading his ability. Even Adrian seemed to have given him the earlier half of the offer. Isabelle said it was mana crystals which was the said resource, one which refueled the energy and probably also what increased physique. His eyes lit up, without realizing, he again interrupted her,

"They got mana crystals from that place?"

"You were recruited by that organization too?"

For a second his heart beat went up but he replied calmly,

"Why would you think so?"

"How else would you know that the organization used mana crystals to recruit these supernatural beings?"

Maximus quickly realized the blind spot in his reply. Indeed, how else would he know that? But he quickly salvaged the situation using his brains,

"Then why are we only targeting the supernatural beings from that specific organization? Other companies or organizations should've done the job too, right?"

"Hmm, you're smart."

Maximus heaved a mental sigh as he listened to her, Seraphina was really smart. But he nevertheless heard her say,

"Then why do you have that organization's phone? Did you think I won't recognize it when you asked me to check for any problems with that phone?"

Ahh shit. He kept making idiotic blunders left and right. But based on what he knew about her, the situation was far from serious. It was very likely that she was simply messing with him, else she wouldn't have brought it up in the first place and simply plotted against him.