When Johan woke up after seeing Merilyn’s eyes a second time, he was in his bed.

  His body felt light as a feather, and his head absurdly clear. This had started to become a new pattern, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.

  Falling unconscious pretty much left him with no way to defend himself. Maybe Cara would be down there guarding him again.

  Well, he couldn’t say for the future, but he didn’t mind the current situation.

  “You’re finally awake.” Merilyn looked at his face; his head was still in her lap.

  It was the next morning, and he could tell from his relentless alarm, but Johan crossed his arms, still in bed. Another question dominated his mind.

  “Were you here the entire night?”

  She sat at the edge of the bed. He, too, was one turn away from a kiss with the floor.

  “Something like that.” That didn’t answer his question, and he had only asked it for courtesy’s sake.

  “You have no intention of getting out of bed, do you?” She tilted her head, the purple locks tumbling down her shoulder like a waterfall.

  “I always stay in bed an hour after waking up; it is a routine I have followed for years,” Johan answered sagely, concentrating the best he could.

  “Sure, you have.” She gave a light giggle, twirling a lock of his hair in her fingers.

  “Is it just me, or do you really see me as a little kid?” Johan didn’t know if he should be offended or giddy. Quite the conundrum.

  “Well, I’ve always wanted a child of my own, and you are pretty much a child in front of me.” Merilyn shrugged.

  Johan wanted to ask why she didn’t have a child, but the red cloth wrapped around her eyes seemed to be the reason. As a matter of fact, his danger sense had been pinging in his head for a while.

  Am I going crazy, or are there finger marks on her shoulder? It’s as if an invisible hand held her, although Merilyn wasn’t bothered by it.

  But once in a while, she would shrug her shoulder, and the marks would vanish for a moment, only to come back with more force. And now, he could feel her annoyance build up little by little.

  I want to ask what it is, but I feel like I shouldn’t. Before his stupid actions brought that annoyance to him, Johan decided to stop playing around.

  “So, have you thought about what you’ll do from now on?” Merilyn continued, not even a slight change in her tone.

  Johan scratched his cheek. Although he had said that he’d call Yuna, the real goal was to join her guild. But with how things were, that wasn’t the best option.

  Guilds and Clans were like competing companies in the same business. The moment they see one of their competitors get an edge, in this case, Johan’s potions, they’d gather together to pull it back down by hook or by crook.

  The push and pull between guilds and clans was quite common, worst part, the Association had to maintain a neutral stance on this matter. So he couldn’t bank on Merilyn’s help as the Association President.

  On top of that, the Mage Tower wouldn’t leave him, and by extension, any guild he joined alone when the Detoxifying potion business came to light.

  In a way, he would create more problems for Yuna than he could help her with if he joined now.

  And, Yuna’s new guild, with only one team, would have to go against guilds and clans with decades of history and influence in Hunter and political circles. Although he knew Yuna wouldn’t bat an eye over this, he didn’t want to create more headaches for both of them.

  Merilyn waited for him to gather all his thoughts, smiling to herself as if she could see the gears in his brain turn. She might actually see them, he wasn’t sure.

  Now that his head had cleared, he could understand how overpowered and deadly her class was. It could even peek into his memories, not to mention the lifespan transfer for healing.

  Humanity was truly lucky that Merilyn wasn’t some supervillain hellbent on fixing the world.

  “Don’t set up flags now.” She clicked her tongue, disappointed.

  “…You’re not gonna turn evil, right?” Johan asked, cold sweat running down his brow.

  “If I, at any point in my life, were to become evil. I wouldn’t be alive right now playing with your hair.” She smiled.

  However, Johan didn’t feel the least bit assured by it; in fact, it only deepened his dread. That was until she hit his forehead with a devastating finger flick.

  “Your avoidant behaviour is out again.”

  “Heh, my bad.” Johan rubbed his burning forehead with an awkward smile. “There’s only one solution for this.”

  A solution where he could help Yuna’s guild without bringing trouble to their doorsteps. There was only one solution to this problem, and he felt like he finally had it.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  However, before he could speak it, there was a soft knock on the door. And if one couldn’t tell who it was by the respectful knock, the hesitant voice that followed made it clear.

  “Teacher, are you awake?” Eugene’s words were like a whisper, almost made him question if this kid was trying to wake him up or put him back to sleep.

  “I am awake.” With a reluctant look, Johan finally got out of bed and opened the door.

  Eugene straightened up, two cake boxes in his hand that he almost dropped. First it was donuts, then a whole cheesecake, and now two cake boxes.

  If Johan didn’t tell this kid that he was feeling ok now, Eugene might buy a cake shop in the coming days.

  “Be careful, these are expensive.” Johan caught the cheesecakes; he could tell by the smell alone. He did feel incredibly hungry now.

  “U-Uh…” Eugene’s focus stayed inside the room, on Merilyn, who still sat on Johan’s bed.

  “Oh, the Association President decided to drop by again.” He closed Eugene’s slackened jaw; he didn’t even know the kid could open his mouth that big. Almost looked painful.

  “Hello, kiddo, I wasn’t able to talk with you last time.” Merilyn waved at Eugene as Johan pulled him into the room. Johan had sent him away when she came with Lucas. And he only gave him a rough rundown about the deal the next day.

  “How’s your mother doing?” She asked as he stood there like a deer in headlights.

  “S-She’s fine, very healthy.” Eugene bowed, as if he faced some yakuza boss. It seemed they were acquainted before.

  Eugene is from a big family, as I guessed. Well, it wasn’t hard to guess; the kid stood out from the rest even when he tried not to.

  Johan could only shake his head as he took some plates and spoons from the kitchen attached to his room.

  After a much-needed and indulgent breakfast, Johan left the shelf stocking to Eugene and picked up his phone. Going through his meagre contact list, he found Yuna’s number.

  Merilyn had left a few moments ago, quoting work, but he knew she wanted to give him space. Taking a seat in the potion workshop, he finally pressed the call button he had dreaded for so long.

  The ring went once, and then twice.

  Maybe she was still on the Hell island still? He didn't know how long her mission was. The magik interference there was strong, so normal calls wouldn’t work. And he hadn’t got a Hunter phone yet.

  “Guess I’ll try in a few hours, or maybe later at night?” As the call ended, Johan pocketed the phone and focused on the mart.

  He stuck around the mart today, even if Eugene handled most of the work. It wasn’t until midday that he stopped checking his phone every few minutes and made another call to Yuna.

  This time, she picked up before the first ring went through.

  “Hello, Yuna…” Johan scratched his cheek; he didn’t even get to take a deep breath and prepare himself.

  “You take too long to make calls.” She sighed.

  “Yeah, sorry about that.” Johan sat down in his chair, almost chuckling. “Are you free this week? I have something I want to discuss with you.”

  There was a lot he had to explain to her, and he wasn’t sure how she’d take it. Yuna could be very stubborn with certain things, so he needed some time to prepare his explanations and arguments.

  “I’ll be there tomorrow morning.” Yuna, however, seemed to care less about anything.

  “T-Tomorrow?” Johan expected it would take her a while to handle the Tower report and such, but this was quite the sudden change.

  “I will touchdown on the coast at midnight, it will take a few hours to go through checkups, but I can make it to your mart by 7. So, prepare yourself as much as you can in that time.” Yuna’s flat words came through like a Gatling gun.

  “Ok… tomorrow at 7 then.” He could only admit defeat here; pushing would only make it worse.

  “Good… then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Yes, see you tomorrow.”

  As the call ended, Johan let out a huge sigh. Whenever he tried to plan things, they backfired in his face. Should he stop planning altogether?

  No, that sounded much worse.

  “Let’s only prepare half and random bullshit go for the other half?” With a shrug, Johan made two more calls.

  These were two people he needed for his big plan.

  Lucas White and Merilyn Faust.

  Along with Yuna, these two would become the initial safety net he needed to survive the brutal attention of the Hunter world.

  ***

  After preparing everything for the next morning, Johan entered the Tower to get some rest and fresh air. When he stepped on the dewy grass, it felt like weeks had passed since he came back.

  The tree in the middle had grown as usual. The Golden Pear tree he had planted had also bore fruits. The sherry leaves and ruby berries seemed to be doing even better.

  As for the vegetable farm, it had grown from 400 square meters to 500 now. Eunally and Nunally ran over immediately, leaving behind their tools and work.

  “You two have been working hard on my behalf.” He accepted their hearty hug with a smile and patted their cute little heads.

  However, the two pulled him to the cherry tomato area with building enthusiasm. And, Johan understood the reason when he reached the cherry tomato plants.

  In the midst of green, he saw a flash of purple. Soon, a creature with its big colourful wings sat on his extended hand with its fuzzy body.

  It was a butterfly with each purple wing as big as his palm, with bright white veins and dotted blue at the edges. It looked at him and tilted its head to the left, its antennas swaying gently.

  [Parakeet would like to be your friend]

  [Accept/Decline]

  Johan pressed the accept button on the familiar blue window. Getting the signal, the butterfly gave him a bow and went back to dancing among the cherry tomato plants.

  Name: Parakeet (Tower Butterfly)

  Rank: —

  Skills: Flight Lv. 4, Dynamic vision Lv.3, Evasion Lv.2

  Special Note: A special species produced by the Tower to balance the ecosystem.

  “How did it get here?” Johan wondered, but the bigger question was, who named it Parakeet? It looked more like a Monarch Butterfly.

  Even his naming sense wasn’t this bad.

  As he was trying to figure out the culprit, Eunally pointed at Cerberious. This dog had made the potion workshop its personal nap room; only now did he step out, stretching as the three heads yawned.

  Still, Cerberious did get Johan a pollinator so he couldn’t be harsh with it. Above all, the way Cerbie’s face lit up spotting him was priceless.

  “You did a wonderful job!” Johan dove in for a hug, at least he pretended to. With a big smile, he gave the extended paw, one meant to block his face, a fist bump. “Gotcha.”

  As he smirked, Cerbie barked back with a big smile, eyes turning in small crescents. The remaining two heads weren’t looking very happy as he smirked. But what could they do? Bite him?

  If I keep pushing my luck like this, they might actually bite me. Johan lay down in his hammock, swaying slowly in the calming wind.

  “It feels nice today, doesn’t it?” He asked the rabbit duo on his chest, but they had already fallen asleep.

  Cerberious had also fallen asleep, near the hammock, under the tree’s shade. The only one who answered him was Parakeet, spinning over Johan’s head. He wanted to rename it Mony or similar, but it was ok.

  There was no need to stress that much over something like this. He had an important morning coming up. Probably the most important one in his lifetime.

  He had already put up a notice that the mart would remain closed, and he also told Eugene to take a break for the day.

  Now, he had to wait for them to gather so he could finally get this train on the right track.

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