Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 589: Being nice is free Part 2

A couple days passed after their meeting to address the company's budget and things were starting to look much better. Most of the crew members had started to investigate the POIs discovered by Emma and managed to find a few cryptid nests, though this time Nika only dispatched a party after letting Luna perform a thorough study on the information available.

This allowed the parties to fight only against beast rank cryptids making it an easy way of making money for the company, training the rookies and even furthering Luna's research after reading the reports.

And the best part was that due to incursions outside the city being forbidden the price of flux orbs had skyrocketed and the entity rank orb Uriel's party obtained was sold at the stunning price of 150k credits.

"Good morning, I'm glad to see you're healed." Uriel greeted Jon before getting in line for breakfast obtaining only a slight nod in response.

"That was very impolite of you. He's been so good with you and you keep acting so rude towards him." Seiren said after Uriel exited the cafeteria with a sandwich.

"I'm telling you, there's something wrong with that lad. He's been acting all nice to me but I can see through his mask." Jon snorted without taking his eyes from Seiren's generous cleavage.

"Quit talking to my cleavage or I'll put on a sweater on top." She crossed her arms to cover herself, though she inwardly smiled at Jon's shameless behavior. After all they've been through she didn't mind him staring at her with his lustful eyes anymore and she actually wore revealing clothes on purpose to lift his mood.

"Please, don't. I'll go back to Texas tomorrow and I'll miss them... you! I meant you." Jon hurriedly apologized, but the only thing crossing Seiren's mind was the fear of going back to the fallen city.

"We don't have any business there, just focus on getting your strength back and then..."

"And then it'll be too late. Once you become a holy rank hunter food and rest isn't enough to get you back in top shape. My body can heal from normal wounds faster, but my flux is a different story. It doesn't come from air, well, it actually does come from air and most things.

The problem is that my flux pool is so large I won't ever be able to recover if I remain trapped in this cage." Jon winked after saying the word large, which not only informed Seiren that he was already feeling better but also reminded her of why he didn't get along with him when they met.

"You're a creep."

"I'm your creep." Jon winked again.

"No."

At the same time that conversation ended, Uriel had just arrived at the gym where Bella patiently awaited for him. Her mouth watered as soon as she watched the half eaten sandwich on his hand, but she shook her head and put on a serious face.

"You even went to grab breakfast before coming, how rude of you."

"Why are you complaining anyway? I made it in time." Uriel shrugged.

"Whatever." Bella said coldly, inwardly scolding her past self that was so excited to meet with Uriel alone that she took too long to get ready and didn't have enough time for breakfast.

"As we agreed, I'll answer your three questions. You wanted to know my age, where did I study and..." Uriel stopped mid sentence when he noticed that Bella shook her head.

"That was before, now I'm more interested in more important matters. Remember, if you don't answer honestly I won't join your company, but even if you do that only means I'll think about it depending on what you offer."

"That was our deal." Uriel shrugged once more and took a bite out of what was left of his sandwich making Bella's stomach grumble. Uriel noticed and quickly finished the sandwich before the thought of even asking came up to her mind.

"Fine, then stand over here." Bella pointed at the spot directly in front of her and only then did Uriel see there was a circle drawn on the floor.

"Interesting... It looks like a runic circle."

"It is a runic circle."

"That's what you say, but the runes don't make any words."

"You can translate them?"

"Barely. I don't speak ancient nordic, but I studied them extensively to find clues about an even more ancient language. That was the first question by the way." Uriel hurriedly replied before she could take back the question.

"No! Why am I so..." Bella realized her blunder in time and composed herself." Nevermind. This runic circle will emit a bright light if you lie to me. Keep that in mind before answering. Are you in possession of any cursed artifacts? If so, what is it and what does it do?"

"And here I thought you wanted to get to know me better." Uriel sighed with a helpless expression on his face.

"I do, but this is important." Bella said sternly.

"Would it be better if I showed you instead of answering?" Uriel said with a casual tone and Bella nodded, but not before examining him to see if he had brought it along with him. Great was her surprise when instead of reaching for a pocket Uriel extended his pals in front of him and a leather cover book appeared in his hands.

Temperature instantly dropped a couple degrees and an ominous black aura surrounded the book in odd shapes that somewhat resembled human body parts trying to climb out of a hellish prison made of tar. Although it was just flux energy, it was so dense it seemed to have physical form and Bella flinched back almost exiting the circle.

"Put that foul thing away!" She managed to shout as her wind barrier activated purely out of fear and Uriel pretended to struggle to store it back in his museum just to prolong her suffering a few more seconds. "I knew it, I knew it and yet... where did you get it?"

"Sorry, no more questions. I think you just wasted your questions. Anyway, this is the end of our agreement. Now you're free to go wherever you want, but if you want to stay here you'll have to join our company and work. We don't like freeloaders." By we, Uriel meant only him.

No one in the company would care if there was another mouth to feed, especially the male members who had been enthralled by Bella's dazzling appearance and cold attitude.

"You're not going to ask me to stay?" Bella stuttered. Her plan was to make him beg her to stay and she would make sure to get the best conditions. Little to no work, no hunting a good pay in the form of physical contact and the opportunity to seduce Uriel until she became pregnant then going back to her family.

"Why should I? Don't get me wrong, but you're nothing special. The society might hold you in high regards because of your elemental affinity, but your power means nothing when coupled with the little hunting experience you have. We'll need to feed you, train you and even then your allegiance will remain by the side of the society."

"I don't have anything to do with those guys! If I join your company I'll be loyal until the day I'm fired!" Bella's claims were accompanied with a bright flash of light emitted by the circle.

"It works both ways, doesn't it?"

"No." Once again the circle lit up.

"This is interesting. We could use something like this for our interrogation room."

"You have an interrogation room!?" Bella echoed.

"It doesn't matter, what matters is that I can't trust you. I'm willing to give you a shot, but you'll have to put in a lot of work and also prove your loyalty."

"I will!" Bella exclaimed just to prove him wrong and Uriel smiled when the light didn't flash.

"She's ready, come in." Uriel shouted and Nika climbed out of his shadow and opened the door to let Medusa and Luna inside.

Bella's mind was spinning so fast she couldn't realize it wasn't Uriel the one who fell into a trap and she couldn't even remember her intentions to take advantage of Uriel and his company.

"If you're really willing to join us, you'll have to share with us what you know about... that." Uriel said.

"About what?" Bella tilted her head.

"Don't make me say it, it upsets Nika." Uriel muttered, but Bella remained without a clue.

"Witchcraft."

"Artifacts."

"Make up," Luna, Medusa and Nika spoke at the same time, then Nika defended herself. "What? Can you really blame me for envying her looks?"

"You don't need any of that to be pretty." Uriel complimented her with the faint hope that Nika wouldn't ask him to buy expensive make up from his souvenir shop.

"I know, but I want to learn anyway." Nika shrugged as the rest closed in on Bella, leaving her no escape route.