-Vol 4: To The North Pole!-

-Natasha, the punk-themed girl-

“You are the last one to arrive here!” Suddenly the man sitting next to Kenshin spoke. His voice was neither loud nor slow, just enough for everyone to hear. Kenshin turned his head around and looked at the man who had just spoken. He was then surprised to find that he was not from Japan but speak Japanese fluently as if he was in Japan all his life.

As it was his first time coming out of his own country, and being a high school drop out, Kenshin didn’t know any other language except some English and Japanese. He was nervous that there would be a language barrier, but it seems these hunters knew different languages.

“Yes, I am sorry for the delay!” Kenshin apologized worriedly.

“No problem, we all are from different countries. As such, the factor of distance should be counted!” the man laughed and waved off Kenshin’s worry.

“Thank you!”

“Ugh! You Japanese are too stiff, relax a bit will ya!?” the man berated Kenshin for being too polite. Kenshin only followed the courtesy of his country, but it seems as if he was called too stiff for that!

“I-I see!” Kenshin could only stammer in response. He was rendered speechless at his hype-ness.

“It’s good to relax sometimes. So, I saw you being shown the finger by that girl just now, do you know her?” the man asked. There was a certain wonder in his voice.

“No! It was my first time seeing her.” Kenshin said embarrassingly. This man had seen it when she showed her middle finger to him.

“Haha! No wonder! Her name is Natasha, a hunter from Russian Branch.” The man happily provided.

“You know her?” Kenshin asked.

“No! But I know about everyone sitting here, at least the rough information on them.” The man proudly exclaimed, of course in a hushed voice.

“Heh! Really?” Kenshin asked skeptically.

“Hoh! From your face, it seems you don’t believe me, then let me prove myself. Ask what do you want to know?” The man proposed first.

“You can give me information about everything?” Kenshin asked again for confirmation.

“Of course, but for sensitive information, it will cost you something!” the man laughed.

“Is that so! Then let's see, say something about me!” as he didn’t know nothing about anything here, Kenshin asked something that he knew very well.

“Haha! That’s something very easy for me.” saying so, he retrieved an ePad from his pocket and typed something in it.

“Let me warn you, believe me, or not, I don’t have any private information on you, only those that were made public.” The man warned first, then he continued “Your name is Kenshin Muto, a 24 years old hunter, who had awakened his magic skill. Your introducer is Suguro of Mito branch. Do you need to know more?” smiling cheekily, the man raised his eyebrows at him.

“No! I believe you.” Kenshin hastily stopped him from saying more. He was very scared that this man would peer into his private information. Although what he said were all publicized information, but it was only Mito. From the looks of it, this person was not even from Japan, let alone Mito. Kenshin was now curious about how he managed to dig out so many information on him.

“Haha…thank you! My name is Paitoon. As you can guess from my name, I am from Thailand. Nice to meet you!” Paitoon said while extending his hands for a handshake.

Just as Kenshin was about to touch his hand, a sharp but feminine voice sounded from across him.

“You better not touch his hand. He had a skill that allowed him to read other people's mind by touching them.” the speaker was none other than, Natasha, the punk-dressed girl that showed him ‘the finger’ when he first came inside.

‘What?’ like a lightning flash, his both hand disappeared behind his back. At the same time, he glared at the Thai man.

Seeing this, Paitoon laughed awkwardly before taking back his hands. At the same time, he gave Kenshin a disdain filled look at his naivety. After that, he didn’t look at him anymore and started fiddling with his ePad. For the sake of safety, Kenshin also slid a few centimeters to the side, away from the man.

Then he looked at the punk-themed girl and smiled in gratitude.

“Thank you.” He spoke with all the sincerity that he could muster.

On the contrary, the lady behaved strangely. Her face became tomato red, as she glared angrily(?) towards Kenshin.

“Bitch!” she spat out before turning her head away from him. If one could see her face, they would have seen how red it had become.

“pfft!!” the sudden action of the girl made everyone sitting there snicker.

Now it was time for his face to turn red-as-tomato. Kenshin was very embarrassed. It was his first time meeting such an exotic lady. After that, he didn’t speak anymore and chosen to remain silent.

A few minutes later, he found it very painful. That’s because, the lady, Natasha was glaring his way for the past few minutes. It was very painful because every time he looks her way, she would turn her head away with a ‘hmph’. It made Kenshin, really, uncomfortable. It was to the point that he started sweating nervously.

It was very awkward for him to be stared so intently by the girl.

Just as he was about to explode and ask the girl what’s her problem, a commotion attracted his attention. The door to the room suddenly clicked open; a blond girl dressed in an all-black leather battle dress and holding a meter long sword entered inside in large strides. Her cold and calculating eyes locked onto everyone sitting as an invisible pressure bore on everyone.

Kenshin widened his eyes as the pressure bore on him. It was very similar to his Death Stare, only much more powerful. From the instant the pressure entered his psyche, he instinctively activated his Death Stare skill to counter it. There was an invisible battle going on inside his mind. Even then, Kenshin only managed to decrease the effect by 20%, on the contrary, his skill was gaining experience like crazy. Even his WIL seemed to have increased by one point.

Who was this girl with so powerful willpower? Kenshin wondered as he frantically used his skill to counter her mental pressure.

Unknown to him, every other hunter in the room were also facing similar difficulties. But since they don’t have a skill, that could counter it like Kenshin does; they bore all the pressure instead.

At the same time, the leather-dressed lady inspected every one with her piercing eyes and a disappointed light flashed on her eye. It was because none of the hunters standing here could handle a bit of her aura.

She was very disappointed at the incompetency of these people.