[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 269: Red Hood

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In the afternoon, after completing his weekly duties at the church.

Noelle went straight back to her apartment without visiting the bar.

At first, Noelle planned to go to the bar after finishing her work, but then she realized there was something she had to do.

Noelle locked the door, and changed into casual clothes, then started using summoning magic to bring Harold forcibly to this place.

Harold was a vampire still attached to him, so it wasn't difficult. After a bit of time passed, Harold's figure appeared before Noelle.

Tall man, with striking red hair. Harold scanned the room with both glances of his sharp eyes.

Previously, he was in his own room in an inn. Suddenly being taken to a different place made him very alert. Especially, as he noticed the presence of the figure of a black-haired young man with red eyes staring at him.

The man was sitting on the sofa, staring at him without blinking a single bit. Harold immediately jumped back on guard, but then the man realized something.

"Right, I should have changed my appearance first."

At that instant, the figure of the young man before him turned into a figure he was familiar with.

His black hair slowly turned white, and those blood-red eyes turned a bright gray.

" … You haven't called me in a long time. What the hell's going on? "

Harold tried to ask calmly, but Noelle herself looked surprised upon hearing that.

Then Noelle remembered. Harold doesn't know that he faked his death. So, she wasn't too surprised to see Noelle still alive here.

Noelle chuckled, and raised her foot on the table.

"Alright, don't make small talk. I want you to join my organization as a subordinate."

"Organization? "

Harold frowned and looked at Noelle with a hint of curiosity.

Noelle's response was a faint smile. He raised his hand, and a violet-colored crystal appeared above Noelle's palm, hovering at a constant speed.

"Asterisk. I want you to join as a subordinate."

" ……… "

For a moment, there was no reply from Harold. He was too shocked to know what to respond to.

"Huh? "

Only two seconds later he was able to give a corresponding reaction.

"Wait, what do you mean? An asterisk? Are you part of them? "

News of the Asterisk has already spread. Although rarely discussed by the public, the existence of the organization remains a hot conversation among adventurers or mercenaries.

Harold's shock was natural, and Noelle also expected to get such a surprised reaction.

However, contrary to what he had expected, Harold was quick to calm himself down. He looked at Noelle calmly, and snorted.

"Can I refuse? "

Noelle smile.

"It's an order."

At the same time as Noelle said that, a suffocating pressure appeared, and Harold inevitably fell to the floor with a state of near fainting.

From the beginning, there was no choice for him to refuse. Noelle at first wanted to soften a little, but that was impossible.

Charlotte's still out there. And despite Noelle's theory that the girl was the mastermind behind her own suffering, Charlotte could still be aiming to kill Harold.

Harold is the target of Charlotte's revenge, so it could be that Charlotte will show up to kill him.

Noelle wants to create a situation where she will play behind the scenes safely.

For now, Charlotte is on the list of people she's wary of. There are still too many questions about the girl, and it has not been confirmed which side the girl is on.

It would be good if Charlotte supported her, but if not, Noelle would have to prepare for a lot of possibilities.

"Alright, I don't think I need to say anything more for now. Go, I'll only give you missions once in a while, or never even."

After all, Harold's invitation into Asterisk as a subordinate was not Noelle's will. He still did not know what to do with these subordinate members.

Harold wasn't allowed to say anything. He continued to lie on the floor with a breath of tightness, and without him noticing, the scenery around him had changed.

He returned to where he had been before.

...****************...

"Now, the second … "

Noelle stretched for a moment, and times changed her appearance. However, you are not the figure of Noah Ashrain who appears, but another identity named Grei Noctis.

In a matter of seconds, Noelle had familiarized herself with her view becoming higher. At the same time, he also felt that his body was becoming heavier than usual.

"I've made Grei Noctis according to my comfort, but .. I'm still not used to this body proportion … "

Noelle was more comfortable with her usual body. It was slender, without having any useless muscles.

The power remains large, and arguably it is the most optimal form for Noelle at this time. But it seemed that it was not yet the most optimal body for him. Because he is still growing.

The immortality that Noelle possessed would make her stop its growth when it reached a certain stage. To be exact, it was at the moment that his body reached its most optimal state, where he could maximize his potential.

"I don't think I have the right to complain."

Noelle let out a heavy sigh, and turned her own body into a wisp of smog. He then left by sneaking through the window slit.

He did this because the supervision of the church was still not separated from him.

(Where can I find him? )

Noelle tried to sharpen her concentration and focus on detecting everything around her. As a result, he found what he was looking for. The distance was not too far away, but he continued to move quite quickly.

"Is this what I think it is? "

What Noelle was looking for at the moment was Kino, a Bounty Hunter who gave him complete information regarding Feran Cerces.

It seemed, the boy was in pursuit right now.

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"Hurry and catch him! "

He panicked, but tried to calm himself. Kino took a deep breath and began to analyze the surrounding environment.

He was already quite familiar with this place. He memorized all the turns, shortcuts, and obstacles. So, this is gonna be a big help.

Even so, the enemy also did not seem to be stupid. They divided the group into sections, and spread out to besiege Kino.

Just a moment ago, Kino was alone on his way to the bar, but then he was confronted by a group of Bounty Hunters, and ended up in this pursuit.

From what Kino heard from them, they thought that Grei Noctis' protection of him was no longer valid, and they could start attacking now.

That may be true, as Kino has not seen Grei Noctis since that day.

Kino forced his foot to turn into a sharp corner, but there was a pile of trash that had clearly just been added.

The enemy actually set up a trap to stop him.

Kino looked up, and climbed through the brick wall of a house. He intended to divert the chase by going upstairs, then back on the street after the attention of the chase began to divert.

But the plan failed.

One of the pursuits throws him with a stone, and hits right on the back of Kino's hand that supports his weight on the wall.

Kino suddenly fell, but did not allow himself to loosen his vigilance. Kino pulled out a dagger in self-defense, but unfortunately his physical ability was not so good. At most, he was only slightly more proficient than a brat his age.

That ability was no match for the crazy pursuers.

"Hehe, where are you going? "

One of the pursuers approached him, and targeted a bag containing various kinds of coins stuck in his belt.

It had been quite a while since Grei Noctis last appeared, but most people were still disinclined at Kino getting protection from him. That's why he hasn't been targeted lately.

These pursuers thought Grei Noctis had let go of his attention. But unfortunately it was wrong.

As the pursuer lunged forward with the intention of seizing Kino's bag of coins, a hard fist smashed into his face, and he instantly fell to the ground.

Then it was conscious now. The figure of the big man was already before him, with sharp eyes staring at all the pursuers.

"That's impossible …. Shouldn't Grei Noctis be gone?! Why is he still here?! Is the information wrong?! "

Noelle frowned as all the contents of the conversation entered her ears.

Who said Grei Noctis was gone? Noelle was curious about that.

He had expected that this would happen, but it was still shocking when he saw it.

When a name suddenly soared to popularity, there would be one or two people moving like parasites, clinging to that person without contributing anything. Or even, at their worst, they would use that person's identity.

Noelle let out a sigh of resignation, and walked forward. His feet coldly stomped on the face of the person he had just fished out.

"Hey, tell me more about that."

Putting aside his relaxed voice, none of them believed in it.

"Stupid, why should we tell you? Instead, you should apologize to us. Why did you take our base? "

One of the men in the group came forward, and looked at Noelle up close.

Tattoos all over his body make the thick muscles there look terrible. At the same time one after another bulges of blood vessels appeared, and he looked at Noelle with those crazy eyes.

'Base', Noelle doesn't understand what he means. But, judging from the way he said it, the base was definitely the bar where the Bounty Hunters had gathered.

(True, before Grei Noctis appeared, there were one or two ruling groups here.)

That was what Noelle knew after a bit of investigation.

It seems that the appearance of Grei Noctis caused their influence to decline.

"Hehe, I think it's good."

In this way, his identity as Grei Noctis would have a considerable influence on the Bounty Hunter. This is an advantage Noelle should take advantage of.

Norlle walked forward, and faced the crowd of people who started to surround him.

"Even if he came here, there should be no way he could beat a lot of people."

(That's what everyone thinks before they get slapped in reality.)

One of the men approached Noelle with her tongue out. He was about to say something, but a powerful jolt hit his chin, making him clench his teeth firmly.

As a result, the tongue he was sticking out was cut off, and fell to the ground with blood accompanying it.

No one is aware of what happened. However, by the time they realized, it was already too late.

The person whose tongue had just been severed had also just regained consciousness, and what he saw was the long leg of Grei Noctis kicking his chin.

"Acst … "

He took a few steps back, covering his own mouth which continued to bleed.

"Loser," Noelle said with a cynical smile as she swung her arm to the side.

One by one the people who surrounded him fell down, and only one person remained.

He had no idea what was happening, but seeing that the bodies of his comrades were completely unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief. However, that calmness collapsed when he saw Grei Noctis' smile.

"Are they not hurt? Well, of course, because all that's broken is their hearts."

Only then did he realize the existence of a thin, red needle scattered on the ground.

All the needles then melted into liquid, and went towards Grei Noctis, coating his one hand like a glove.

Grei Noctis approached him who could not move, and patted his shoulder twice.

"You better tell everyone I haven't left. This boy is still in my protection."

After saying that, Noelle then threw the man away from the scene, and turned to look at Kino.

Kino's condition was much better than he thought. The boy remained calm despite the many corpses around him.

Noelle looked at each of the corpses, and stuffed the four corpses into his spatial warehouse, and set fire to the others.

The four bodies he will use for his plan later.

"Are you okay? "

Noelle asked Kino, and the boy replied with a nod of encouragement.

"Yes, thank you for saving me."

"Not to think about. This is part of my promise."

In fact, it is rather difficult to provide twenty-four hour protection on a Kino. After all, Noelle did not have idle time for that long, and she could not continue to watch him through the familiar.

If Kino was in danger with her not watching, then Kino would definitely not be able to be saved.

Kino was a candidate for the subordinate members of Asterisk. You could say he is an important person. Noelle could not let the boy roam around with such a fragile guard.

To overcome that, Noelle had prepared a small plan.

"Hey, how about you work for me? "

Kino tilted her head. "I'm sorry, but what does that mean? "

"Working as my personal information agent. You and all your team members will be paid a decent price, and of course, you're still free to take a job outside as long as it doesn't leak any information about me."

A simple offer, but very important for Noelle.

It was difficult for him to gather information alone. So, it would be best if he had an agent working for him. That way, he could obtain information without needing to expend a lot of effort, and he could focus on anything else.

But of course, Noelle did not expect that Kino would accept it easily.

"It was a tempting offer, but .. I still have to discuss it with all my team. Does that not matter? "

...****************...

"The group I've been in, Red Hood is actually a small group. At first it only contained seven people including me, but then it grew to thirty after my other colleagues did the recruiting," Kino explained as she opened the door of an old building.

The building is in the suburbs. A building that the group bought at a cheap price. Of course, the facilities were nothing, but Kino and his other colleagues did a massive renovation so it was worthy of being called headquarters.

Currently, Kino is taking Noelle, or precisely Grei Noctis to the main headquarters of Red Hood, the information agency formed by Kino.

Upon entering the building, what greeted him was a living room that could be found in any home. According to Kino's explanation, the place was a guest reception room, and where they received personal requests from customers.

The Red Hood members' gathering room was upstairs and underground. For now, Kino brought Noelle underground, because that was where everyone gathered.

"It just so happens that all my members have gathered after completing the investigation into Feran Cerces, so I can discuss it with them now."

That nice. In this way, Noelle's time will not be wasted much.

After descending from the stairs, Noelle saw that there were many people gathered in a large room with a lot of furniture.

There are two pool tables, a dart board, and a counter table for drinking.

Most of the people there were sitting on some randomly placed chairs, looking busy playing with their own teams, while others were relaxing on the sofa while playing poker.

When Kino and Noelle entered, they stopped their activities and greeted Kino. Some were wondering about who the person their chairman was carrying was.

(A boy like him leading this big group? I think he's amazing ..)

Noelle was once the admin of a group called Black Marine, but she was just one of the admin administrators. There are still many other admins with the same position as him. You could say he is not the leader.

Indeed, because it was Haku who made the group.

(Ohh ..).

While scanning her surroundings, Noelle's gaze was fixed on one person.

She was a girl, looking very young with a completely reserved appearance.

He sat in a corner, reading a book with a title that was already out of sight. The girl's gaze was also fixed on him, and he instantly widened his eyes in surprise.

Noelle remembered her name was Leyn, the girl was a witch who placed a tracking magic on Noelle, as she checked the information of the Bounty Hunters in the rented house.

Kino regained consciousness with Noelle's gaze, and she hurriedly explained.

"That ... we're short on personnel for tracking and investigation, so .. I recruited him to join."

"That's good," Noelle replied as she shrugged her shoulders casually.

He did not mind Leyn's presence. Instead, it got even better because Leyn was a talented person and had great potential.

Noelle didn't want the girl to fall into someone else's hands.

Kino climbed onto a small podium, and called everyone's attention in applause.

"Everyone, I have something we need to talk about."

Explanation brief. Without taking much time, Kino had already delivered Noelle's offer to everyone there.

As a result, many agreed, and only a few hesitated.

This is an incredible opportunity. From another point of view, it's like they're getting a regular customer who will pay them a high cost.

Moreover, some people there knew very well the wealth of a Grei Noctis. It was impossible to refuse his offer.

Naturally, Noelle was happy with this result. The discussion went well, and the group of Red Hood informants Kino led was officially under the auspices of Grei Noctis.

Other formalities such as contract letters will be taken care of later. For now, the result has been set.

In addition, Noelle still had another offer.

Noelle took a few steps forward, took out a chair from her spatial warehouse, and sat there.

"Additional offer from me. What if one or more of you turn into vampires? "

What a strange offer. Everyone, including Kino naturally thought so.

To them, vampires are a race of legends whose existence itself is still a question mark. Of course, it felt like the offer was like a lie. No one wants to believe it. But–

"Before coming to this place, your chief was chased by a bunch of assholes who thought I was gone. Now you guys are a valuable asset to me, so I don't want to lose a single member. Making you vampires will make it easier for me to keep an eye out, and even if I'm not around, there will be one of you who can save Kino."

Every vampire Noelle created would develop an inner relationship with her. That would make it easier for Noelle in many ways, including surveillance.

Vampire-turned-members can also become Kino's bodyguards, as the standard strength of the vampire race is no longer comparable to humans.

"So, how? Will anyone accept my offer? "

Noelle did not plan to repeat this offer again. If no one volunteered, then he would just create a new familiar animal to keep an eye on Kino and everyone.

While that's hard to believe, the reason behind Grei's offer makes perfect sense. It's hard to resist.

Even so, only a small percentage of people raised their hands. Each of them were six men and two women.

There were eight people in total, but that was enough. They should be an extension of Noelle's hand.

"Alright, I guess it's just you."

Noelle shrugged her shoulders casually, then took out two metal tubes filled with her blood.

"What'sthis? " ask one of the candidates. She was a young woman with a stern face.

"My blood. Each of you must drink this. It's up to you to drink it when, but when it does, you may fall asleep or feel paralyzed for some time. Don't worry, it's just a side effect that lasts a short time. You'll be fine after."

" ……… "

Somewhat doubtful, but they chose to believe.

About the side effects, it's not so bad. Noelle still vividly remembered the pain she had gotten when she first turned into a vampire King.

However they would only be ordinary vampires, so it should be fine.

(Well, this is gonna be okay. Chloe is too.)

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