[Faceless Hunter 2] Chapter 47: Welcome to the Radiant Accord (End of Book 2) (Patreon)

Vesper's generosity came into question when he led them into a sketchier part of town and down a back alley. Sidestepping neat piles of Tokyo trash, Xen stealthily grabbed a fleeing mouse and devoured it when nobody was looking. He was low on biomass, and he couldn't eat whatever processed human food they planned to serve him.

Randy slowed a step behind Vesper, frowning at their surroundings.

He then came to a stop.

"Hold on, Vesper, is this..."

"Yeah," Vesper said, and knocked on the kitchen door of a run-down izakaya. "It will be fine."

"I thought you two broke up," Valoria said.

"Yeah," Randy nodded. "The whole dorm heard the fallout."

"Just shut it, you two—" Vesper began, but was silenced as the door swung open. A black-haired woman with her hair tied up in a bun poked her head round, and the moment she noticed Vesper, she glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" She pushed the door open and brandished a knife.

"I—I brought some fellow Hunters—t-to eat," he quickly gestured to the rather large group of blood-soaked Hunters in the alleyway. "Is the private room free?"

The woman's anger faltered under everyone's stares.

"Did you guys just crawl out of that abyssal rift or something?" she said, much more meekly, dropping the knife to her side.

"Yeah," Randy said, smiling. "We haven't eaten for days," he said, gesturing to Xen, and the woman's eyes widened at his malnourished appearance.

"Oh my..." she said.

"Vesper also said the drinks were on him—"

"Hey. Don't tell her that," Vesper grimaced, but it was already too late.

A twisted smile bloomed on the girl's face.

"Vesper's covering the tab? You should have said so earlier." She shoved the rusty door open and gestured them inside. "The private room is right on the right. Since we are so busy, there's a 20% surcharge on everything. Is that alright, Vesper?"

"Yeah, yeah," Vesper sighed and pushed past her.

Xen found the whole interaction strange as he followed the group through a busy, hot kitchen and into a back room cut off by a sliding wooden door.

That girl is a normal human, only level 2. Why did nobody move to stop her when she was threatening one of us with a knife? Maybe she's a guildmaster's daughter or using a cloaking skill to hide her true status, like me.

That was the only explanation Xen could come up with as he sat down, wedged between Randy and Alex.

Before they were all seated, the door opened, and the beaming woman everyone feared entered and started handing out cold beers. Everyone sighed in relief as they cradled the beers, except Vesper and himself.

Vesper turned and shouted, "Hey, we didn't order th—"

"Table charge," the girl said and left.

Randy burst out laughing. "You really took us to your ex's restaurant? What were you thinking?"

Vesper collapsed onto the table in despair. "I just love the skewers here and hoped my buddy would be in the kitchen today, not her."

Randy patted him on the back. "We live, and we learn. Right?" He raised his beer and held it in the middle. "Can I propose a kampai for this reunion?!"

"Kampai!" Everyone but Xen and Vesper cheered, and beer spilled as they clashed.

"Now, Alex, I have to ask," Randy said to the man sitting beside Xen. "Just what the hell happened in there?"

Alex leaned back in his chair, beer hovering beneath his lips, a tired yet oddly peaceful expression on his face. "Well, let me tell you..."

***

The story took twenty minutes and was rather gripping from start to finish. Throughout it, Randy stole glances at Yuki, who hadn't touched any of his skewers or beer and simply listened.

Occasionally, the woman called Hina, or the glasses-wearing mage called Daisuke, would add to the tale, painting a vivid picture of how brutal the Abyssal Rift had been. The details of how Ghostwire had died seemed touchy, and Randy didn't press for more, since he knew Yuki and Ghostwire were the same person.

He wasn't sure if or when Yuki planned to disclose that to Alex and the others. So he mostly listened and nodded his head from time to time. Once the story of the Faceless Hunters and their masks came up, he exchanged a glance with Valoria and Vesper across the table.

That's a good cover-up for his abilities, Randy mused. I can see why Yuki never admitted that he's Ghostwire now. They should think he's separate people for now.

Unlike him and his friends, these Hunters hadn't seen Yuki's truly monstrous side.

"I was hoping these four could join the Radiant Accord," Yuki spoke up for the first time.

"You did mention throwing your badges away," Randy said, frowning. "But we don't even have a headquarters, and there's no money to pay salaries. I mean, we only founded the guild a week ago, and we are broke university students." He chuckled. "I'm sure the pay is better at the Guild Association—assuming they would take you back."

"No freaking way I'm going back to working for one of the big Guilds," Hina said, disgusted. "They are all rotten to their core," her voice dropped, and she leaned in, "and with them working alongside the infiltrators and their corporate greed for the abyssal rifts? I'd rather die than go back to increasing their shareholder value."

The door slid open, and Kenji stepped inside.

"How is she?" Alex asked.

Randy glanced at the giant of a man. Apparently, he had been worried about his daughter and called home after downing a beer and eating his weight in skewers.

"She's fine," he said, grinning. "My wife didn't even know I was trapped on the 11th floor, as I couldn't tell her the details of our mission. After I told her, though, I got an earful about being careless and all that."

He dropped down into his seat. "What are we talking about?"

"Potentially joining the Radiant Accord," Alex explained and smiled. "If they are willing to have us."

Randy shrugged. "I told you, I don't mind so long as Yuki approves, which he clearly does. While the guild is founded in my name, he's the one who calls the shots around here. But don't you guys have families and homes to pay for? Can you really just leave the Guild Association?"

Alex frowned and exchanged a glance with the others.

"It would be a little difficult, but I could make ends meet for a while. Kenji? Will your wife be alright with it?"

"After telling her I almost died doing their dirty work?" He snorted. "She would love me to quit. Besides, she has a day job. We can survive until the Radiant Accord makes some money."

"Daisuke?"

The red-faced mage seemed more unnerved by the idea. "I have debts to pay. It would be tough—"

"It's fine!" Hina slammed her beer onto the table and seemed rather drunk. "My F-Father is rich. He can invest in us." She pulled herself out of her chair and toward the door. "I haven't spoken to him since I chose to become a Hunter, but... whatever, let me make a call."

***

It was evening, and Randy stood in an empty office on the top floor of a rundown building. Markings from the last tenant's furniture still marked the concrete floor, and the paint on the walls was peeling. The place smelled damp, and the windows rattled when a train passed by below.

Randy wandered around the place with the others. Since lunch, they had all gone home to wash and change, and Randy had to admit Alex and especially Hina looked far better in casual clothes and not stained with blood.

"Mr. Sato, what do you think of the place?" the real estate agent, a plump man in an aged suit, asked Hina's father politely. The man was tall and proper, with the aura of a no-nonsense CEO. He glanced at his daughter, who had sobered up since lunch.

"Well?"

Hina nodded.

"It seems my daughter approves. I'll buy it." He turned and calmly left while the real estate agent fumbled about. "Hina, have the agent send my secretary the documents. I have a meeting nearby."

"Thank you, Dad!" Hina grinned and waved her father away. She then walked over to the group, curling her hair behind her ear. "Now we've got ourselves a place. I know it needs a little work, but this is all I could convince my dad to invest. Oh, and we need to pay him back as soon as possible."

"That should be too hard." Randy glanced around and chuckled. "This place is worse than the dorms. But you know what, I feel good about this place. It matches our humble beginnings, and we can always expand later."

He turned and held out his hand.

"Hina, Alex, Kenji, and Daisuke. Now that we have a place, it's truly my pleasure to formally welcome you to the Radiant Accord."

Vesper snorted. "Bro, they are older than us. You sound way too in the role."

"Still mad about lunch?" Randy raised a brow at his friend.

"I personally love the warm welcome," Hina said, and shook his hand. "I'm also looking forward to learning more about you," she told Yuki and held out her hand.

Yuki stared at it, and hesitantly shook it like Randy had.

"Glad to join the team," Alex said with a grin.

"Me too," Kenji said with a nod. Daisuke simply shook his hand and went back to muttering about something.

"I'm going to do some online shopping. We need tables and chairs at least," Hina said, pulling out her phone.

Randy smiled, walked over to the large window overlooking the train tracks, and stared out at the cityscape glinting in the twilight. Helicopters roared overhead, and he saw blue lights flashing in the distance.

Something was going down.

"More Abyssal Rifts are opening across the world," Hina said as her phone buzzed with alerts. Randy felt his phone going crazy in his pocket too.

"Should we do something?" Valoria asked, having pulled out her phone too.

Alex nodded. "We should. But dare I ask, what is the Radiant Accord's plan moving forward?"

Randy found himself turning to Yuki.

The elven healer sat in a half-broken chair from god-knows-where, his white-masked face propped up with one arm. Charlie the cat sat in his lap, brought over from Vesper's dorm room.

"The answer is simple, isn't it?" Yuki leaned back and stroked Charlie's fur. "We need to get stronger—not only as individuals, but as a guild. With the infiltrators controlling all the major guilds from the inside with sweet promises, we don't have to worry only about monsters from the dungeons anymore. Everyone and everything is a threat to us, and this world's continued existence."

Yuki paused and looked at them one by one. Randy felt himself involuntarily straightening. For a tiny elf, he sure had a presence.

"The other Faceless Hunters and I can keep you safe. We can guide you and help you level up. The question is, are you willing to do what it takes?"

Everyone nodded.

Yuki chuckled. "Good. Then let us enter the dungeon together under the banner of the Radiant Accord. I have many things to show you all."

[Author Note]

This marks the end of Book 2 and the series.

Yes. Faceless Hunter is finished.

There's certainly enough content for another book or two, with a few unresolved plotlines to follow, but this is where I'll be stopping. I picked this series back up over a year ago because I liked the concept and wanted to prove to myself I could write a second series alongside my main one, Reborn as a Demonic Tree. I also wanted to try my hand at self-publishing.

All of those personal goals have been achieved. Unfortunately, Faceless Hunter never found a wider audience, and I made many mistakes along the way while writing and marketing it, which resulted in a subpar performance on Amazon and other platforms.

That's not to say I'm not extremely grateful for the small but dedicated audience that has followed this book to (a rushed) completion. You all helped me keep going despite the abysmal backend earnings and bring Xen's story to this point.

Thank you.

The Patreon will now be paused. For anyone who just subbed, feel free to request a refund. I do plan to start writing a new story either this week or next and will likely slowly upload it to this Patreon page. I hope some of you will stick around to give it a try!

To Xen's story and many more to come, thank you for reading.

-Xk :)