Harter froze. He’d expected something but not this magnitude of something. He was prepared to deal with the World Government but the Solar Council was a different story and it wasn’t purely due to the fact that they stood above everyone else, but rather how little was known about them. Which led to rumours and exaggerations.

  But maybe he was overthinking this? Maybe the rumours weren’t true?

  “I’m sorry?” Harter asked. “Can you say it again?”

  “I know this may come as a shock to you but we have a good reason to offer you a job.”

  The chairman took a seat then continued.

  “Despite your name, you decided to follow your conviction and register with the Umbrella scheme.”

  “Follow my conviction?” Harter blurted out, unsure what the hell the chairman was talking about.

  “We’ve been watching you for a while. We know your opinion regarding policing adventurers and general stance on the current situation in the world. We like it.”

  It sounded like utter bullshit to Harter. Did they think he was an idiot to believe in such a fairy tale? Not a chance. He knew what it was about.

  “I don’t know where he is.”

  “I’m not here because we think you may know where your brother is. I know that you haven’t contacted him in years,” the chairman replied calmly. Not a shred of surprise or anger on his face, while his spiritual aura was an impenetrable wall to Harter.

  “Then why are you here? I’m no one. My Talent is mediocre, I have no fame, money or High Level. I don’t understand,” Harter said, genuinely confused. This made no sense to him.

  “Things aren’t as they used to be. The world no longer pivots around Talents. They still carry a great weight but nowhere near as much as they had before the outbreaks. We’ve adapted to the new reality, we’ve changed our criteria. But yes, I won’t offend your intelligence and pretend your connection to your brother means nothing. It does, but not in the capacity you believe. It is as I said before. You knew what would happen when you came here to register. The moment you revealed your name to our system, you were flagged as a priority case.

  And yet, you did it. You did it because you believe that the world must be protected. That without a firm hand and scrutiny, adventurers and other ascenders would tear our world apart. Isn’t that right?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  It was.

  “All power must be accounted for,” Harter said, citing a passage from a book he recently read. He’d always ridiculed Keynes for excessive reading but recently found it surprisingly addictive.

  “Astute observation,” the chairman pointed out. “Pre-World Government history gave us a taste of the world without checks and balances. A terrible world. Now, however, the situation is far dire. There is more power than ever before. And this will only get worse. If we won’t stop it now. We won't ever stop it.”

  Did the Solar Council expect Harter to stop it? Harter was Level 5 without a single spell under his belt. Most of his items were second-hand or worse.

  “What do you expect me to do?”

  “You’re direct. I like that. So, let me be direct as well. I want you to work for the Solar Council as a special inspector regarding the Umbrella scheme.”

  “I…”

  “Don’t worry. You’ll be trained, taught, Levelled up.”

  He didn’t know what to say.

  “I like being an adventurer. That’s why I came here to register myself.” If he expected free handouts he would have taken them from Untainted Paradise when they’d tried to shower him with wealth. He hated it. He hated it because it was unearned and offered to him only because of Keynes. This was the same. They were giving him everything for the same reasons. “I’d like to remain one.”

  “Of course.” The chairman nodded. “That’s why the job I’m offering you is exactly that. You’ll work incognito, inspecting our cities and hunting grounds all over the world.”

  The chairman pulled a fine sheet from his spatial storage and handed it to Harter.

  “This is a brief description of the job offer. Please, take a look.”

  Harter did.

  The job was like the chairman said. They wanted Harter to be an adventurer who travels around the world. They’d let him keep the fake name, pay a tidy sum and offer a range of services available only to selected ascenders.

  In exchange, he’d have to ensure that the cities around the world follow the Umbrella scheme and don’t break the law. He liked that.

  Fuck. He really liked that.

  “Okay, but I want to read through the entire agreement,” he added.

  The chairman’s brows rose at that but his expression was bemused.

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”

  ***

  Andre observed Harter Kid leave the registrar building an hour later and could not quite believe his luck. After the mysterious disappearance of Keynes Kid and some employees of Untainted Paradise, he’d been shocked to discover that Harter Kid remained behind. At first, Andre wanted to bring the boy in and lure Keynes Kid from hiding but eventually it was confirmed by their state-of-art surveillance and divination systems that Keynes Kid was no longer on Earth.

  And so Andre made a bet and let Harter Kid live his life unperturbed. In years that followed, he realised that he’d made the right choice, and his bet was about to pay out handsomely.

  Harter Kid believed in Andre's vision, without even knowing it, that he was ready to turn himself in. Harter Kid was exactly someone Andre needed.

  A fanatic.

  And his connection to Keynes Kid only amplified his value to an absurd degree. Because Andre was very certain that one day Keynes Kid would return to Earth, and if he disliked the new world order, he’d find a difficult opponent to defeat.