After a few hours, Amon's eyes instantly opened and he got up. To him, waking up so suddenly was of no concern, and he was pretty used to it. He checked the time; it was a half-past noun. At this time of day, the Den was open and served lunch to its early patrons. As he didn't want to bother eating at the hotel, Amon just changed his clothes and headed out of his bedroom. He left his cloak in his room as it was not only soaked in blood but also rather conspicuous after the events of last night. As he got to the elevator, a young woman gave him a quick smile. She was dressed in a drab outfit consisting of a plain shirt and some black pants. Amon responded in kind but paid no further attention to her.

Sensing his disinterest, she gave a slight pout as she was quite confident that although her outfit was unremarkable, she was still quite cute. In the interest of being polite, she tried to strike up a conversation with him. "Have you heard the news about what happened yesterday evening? They say two terrorists assassinated the guard's captain! How awful!

Amon couldn't help but feel his face twitch a little. Were this any other situation, he might have felt like she was testing him, but this was too much of a coincidence. At this point, ignoring her wouldn't do him any favour, so he had no choice but to respond.

-Indeed, I wonder who could do such a thing. I hope the city is still safe.

Towards his acting, Amon was confident that she wouldn't find out the truth. He felt a bit weird having a conversation about his actions as if some alien monster did them, but the situation forced him to.

-Sure makes you worry! Are you here for work?

-Indeed, I was sent here to conduct some market research. My company fears some severe loss in profit soon, so I came to try and find a solution.

-How bizarre! I was also sent by my company to conduct some research. However, in our case, we're trying to expand to new markets and felt that New-Paris was the right move. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ven. Pleased to meet you.

With those words, she extended her hand. Amon couldn't help but feel slightly irritated by the elevator who refused to come and free him from the pure agony that was this conversation. He dared not show his discontent on his face, so he plastered his best fake smile and shook her hand.

-I'm Amon, pleased to make your acquaintance."

At that moment, the elevator arrived, and the door opened. Acting like a true gentleman, Amon let Ven enter first but just as the doors were about to close, he suddenly exclaimed. "How my, how careless of me! I seem to have forgotten something in my room; you'll have to go on without me."

Without waiting for Ven to respond, he dashed back to his room.

In the elevator, Ven was too startled to respond, and before she knew it, the doors had closed, and the elevator had started going down. It seemed that Amon fellow didn't want to talk to her. She shrugged her shoulders, and although dissatisfied with his attitude, she blamed his lack of good taste.

Back in his hotel room, Amon was happy to have escaped such a tedious encounter. He wasn't anti-social by any means, but he was here on a mission and engaging in small talk about that very mission with strangers was something he wasn't willing to do. He was aware that he acted somewhat unnaturally, but it wasn't bad enough for someone to be suspicious of his reaction.

After a few minutes, he went out again, and this time there was nobody at the elevator. Sighing in relief, Amon went down to the lobby. The hotel he was staying in was rather luxurious and followed the minimalist design that was in vogue in the Order right now. As such, the lobby was devoid of gaudy decorations and only a few small black sofas and some abstract sculpture decorated the hall.

Today, he was wearing a simple white shirt that showcased his sculpted body and some black jeans. Although this wouldn't be the best attire to fight in, Amon wanted to look as normal as possible and avoid fighting while Bel and he were doing some surveillance.

Outside the hotel, the streets were calm, but that was to be expected of a mostly residential district in the middle of the day. Without delay, he headed towards the fifth district, where he would meet up with Bel. Last night, the trip had only taken him about an hour and a half, but since he couldn't borrow the alleyways and the multiple shortcuts they offered, it took him twice as long.

He arrived at The Den without incident and could see Bel was already seated. He was about to join him when he noticed the number of empty plates that were piling up in front of him. It was like a sports team had had a whole three-course meal when it was only Bel who had eaten.

Amon was aware of his monstrous eating habits, but he had always tried to restrain him a bit when they were in public, but it seemed he had arrived too late. Bel's face without the hood was emaciated. Well, It would be more accurate to describe his whole body as emaciated. His arms looked so thin that a gust of wind could probably break them.

Over the years he had worked with him, Amon had guessed that it came from his augmentations that were having a significant toll on his energy consumption, but he could never verify it as Bel was very secretive about himself, like all Ravens. He wasn't ugly by any means, but his greasy mid-shoulder length dishevelled hair and half-assedly cut beard made him look very unkempt. However, his piercing blue eyes housed a spark of madness that couldn't be seen at the first look, but Amon knew how Bel could be.

He had not witnessed any of these incidents himself, as they were from before the two started working together, but there were reports of Bel committing horrifying acts. These ranged from torture to gratuitous killing to even one claiming he had eaten the flesh of an enemy. Amon wasn't sure whether or not to believe these rumours as in the five years he had known Bel, there had never been such an occurrence. The fact he didn't see it happen didn't mean it didn't happen, but Amon wasn't dissatisfied with him as a partner.

Amon nodded towards the waiter who looked at Bel's table with despair in his eyes. He also doubled as a dish cleaner when they weren't that busy, and he felt like washing this table would be his job. Sensing this, Amon slipped him a few bills and patted him on the shoulder. A look of gratitude appeared on his face, and he left a menu with Amon as he took Bel's plates back to the kitchen.

"So you're finally up eh. How was your night?

-Not too bad, I was able to get back without a problem. How about you?

The two of them talked in a low voice, but they didn't bother speaking in code as The Den was mostly empty and their table was at the back, where no one could hear them.

-I met some thugs on the way back, but I took care of them.

-Did you leave any traces behind?

-I made sure to kill them without spilling a drop of blood, and I hid their body rather well so it should take some time before they're discovered.

As he spoke, Amon noticed Bel's hands were covered in a thin layer of bandages, and he remember he had been burnt by the pyromancer in the fight last night.

-We should get you some gloves. Those bandages are suspicious. Since we couldn't kill all of them, we should avoid wearing anytime that could lead to them identifying us.

-What a shame, if only we could have gotten rid of them all. Have you contacted HQ? I did, but they told me you would be in charge of this one and that I should ask you for the details of our next assignment.

Amon was a bit surprised by this as it was rare for them to put one person in charge of a two-man team. Usually, both would work in tandem. For HQ to make this decision meant they were testing him on some level. If he could complete this mission, he would most likely see a rise in the ranks or some other benefits. Amon had been in the Ravens for 15 years which made him a junior member of the organization. Compared to Bel who was pushing seventy-five this year, Amon had a lot to prove.