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"Um... I-"

Ashton was about to clarify that he had not killed the Hydra, but merely injured him. However, Astaroth stopped him in his tracks. A Crisik was bowing to him, Ashton might not recognise it, since he did not know much about them, but Astaroth saw an opportunity and wanted to seize it.

The Crisik were honour-bound creatures. Some of them even went so far as to kill themselves to protect the sanctity of their pride. They were creatures who honoured their word and deeds no matter how hard things got.

To have such a creature bowing before an \'insignificant\' creature like Ashton was an unprecedented event. Back when Astaroth was still \'alive\' in the sense of the word, he barely saw a Crisik offering respect to the Xyrans like this.  That\'s why Astaroth wasn\'t going to let Ashton\'s stupid mouth lose out on a potential backer.

p [Whatever you do, do not accept you have killed Hydra. But don\'t deny it either. Let him think whatever he wants to, that\'s it. Even if he discovers you did not kill hydra, you\'ll have an excuse to say that you never said you killed him. Win his favour from now on and who knows? Maybe your time as a mercenary would be a good one.]

Ashton pondered upon Astaroth\'s plan and ultimately agreed with him. In the mercenary world, having a strong backer was as essential as being good at the job. Just the situation from before was a great example.

Even though Ashton was stronger than the mercenary group, he still had to think before messing with them. If he had a strong backer as well, he wouldn\'t have to take shit from them and get rid of their sorry assess without wasting a minute.

\'After seeing the way they behaved around Mazton, it\'ll do me good to be on his good side... which I already am.\' Ashtn thought and immediately jumped into action.

"Please sir, you don\'t need to behave so respectfully towards me." Ashton said in the politest of voice, "If anyone should be bowing, it should be me. Seeing as you helped me out of the mess I created."

"Strong and humble, that\'s a rare combination these days." Mazton smiled and extended his hand, "My name is Admiral Mazton, you might not know of us, but I belong to the ancient and honourable race of the Crisik. Humans and us... used to have a good relationship for some time."

"I see... it\'s a pleasure meeting you, Admiral. But I\'m not a human anymore. I used to be, but then I was forced to change for a ritual."

"Mutation or not, you\'re still a human at heart. Unlike those space humans that we encounter every so often, you actually behave like the humans I remember about. Oh, where are my manners? We should chat in a more comfortable place. Please join me, I would like to discuss some things with you."

Ashton agreed and they entered the elevator. So far, even with his rank 2 privileges, he only had access to two underground floors where most of the mercenary association was located and a couple of upper floors which happened to be a basic shopping area.

With enough money and reputation, he would be able to buy weapons, gear and other materials from these floors. But that was it. On the other hand, Mazton had access to the entire tower since he was working directly under the owner of the tower who also was one of the seven S-grade beings.

Mazton led Ashton to his suite located on the top floor of the tower. The security of the floor was surprisingly tight and to Ashton\'s surprise, only those who were above level 150 were working there. In other words, all of the guards there were A-grade.

Upon seeing them, Ashton realised why no one wanted to mess with the association, not even those Gold Water Mercenaries. Going up against an organisation like that was... well, suicidal would be the light way of putting it, but you get the gist.

After a quick security check, Ashton was allowed to follow Mazton into the meeting room. Even then, the guards never left Mazton\'s side.

"Just ignore them. It took a while, but I got used to them. So much so, I often forget that I\'m not alone." Mazton joked, "You can imagine the kind of awkward positions that has led me to."

"I can imagine," Ashton anxiously smiled, "If you don\'t mind me asking, what am I doing here, Admiral?"

"Straight down to business... Alright. Firstly, I would like to apologise for the behaviour of our staff. My team has already reviewed the security footage where the Gold Water Mercenaries tried to drug you." Mazton informed him with all seriousness, "I have already sent a strongly worded letter about their behaviour to their superior, so you don\'t have to worry about them in the future."

"Secondly, I saw you were wanting to take up a job, and I think for someone of your calibre, I have just the kind of job. Obviously, whether to accept it or not strictly depends on you. Finally, on behalf of the mercenary association, I\'ll be funding your trip in case you accept to do the job."

"I heard a lot of things about the Association, but no one told me you can be this generous..." Ashton replied while taking the tablet containing job details from Mazton.

"Whatever you have heard is correct." Mazton chuckled, "The association does not give a shit about low-ranking mercs. It\'s the same in your case. However, I have a personal interest in you because of the achievements registered to your ID as Reaper."

The atmosphere around the room dropped tremendously the next moment. Ashton thought he might have said something to upset Mazton, which was far from true. Mazton mood had nose-dived but Ashton wasn\'t the reason for it.

"You might not know this, but the Hydra killed a lot of my kin back when he was living freely. I have been wanting to get rid of that bastard myself for a while now." Mazton mumbled while massaging his temple, "That\'s why when I got to know about your achievement [Hydra\'s Adversary] I was ecstatic. Finally, someone had gotten rid of that ugly multi-headed freak."

He continued, "I was on the way to meet you and thank you when I saw what those Gold Water Mercenaries were up to. I shouldn\'t say this but I wanted to make sure I had the right person, so I waited for a while for you to do something."

"And when you saw their punch did not hurt me in the slightest, you decided to intervene." Ashton completed Mazton\'s thoughts, "Thank you for it. Otherwise, I would have ended in quite a pickle, to be honest."

"Haha, as they say, all\'s well that ends well." Mazton got up, "That being said, I\'m afraid I have other things to deal with. I\'ll have to end our meeting here."

He handed Ashton a golden badge with a sword and a gun engraved on it, "You can read the file and take as much time as you want. If you decide to accept the quest, just show the badge to a robot and they\'ll provide you with the necessary equipment. Lastly, it was nice meeting you, Mr Reaper. Have a good day."