As I'm preparing to get dressed in my room, my phone starts ringing. Unknown caller. I guess my message got delivered.
I grab the phone and answer:
"Hello?"
I hear a strangely distorted voice coming from the other end:
"Matt. You stole something I own. I want it back."
"Isn't it a bit harsh to treat a woman like she's just an object?"
"She's merely one of the tools at my disposal. To treat her like a person would be to overvalue her."
Totally charming. I'm glad I never had to work for someone like that.
"I don't know why you sent her after me, but I'm open to having a peaceful discussion. If you answer my questions, I'll give her back."
The voice responds, clearly angry:
"Who do you think you are? I could level the area where you are and grab her myself at any moment! You have no leverage here! There's nothing you can..."
I hear a faint whisper, and the voice comes back, seemingly calmed down.
"Very well. I shall meet you at the Main Plaza tomorrow at noon. I will not contain my anger should you fail to show up."
Before I have any time to reply, the call ends.
I'm the one with the hostage, but the mysterious individual still acted like they were the one with the upper hand here. They must be pretty confident. But then again, the Assassin is higher level than me, and it seems likely that her boss is even higher level than she is. At least the Main Plaza is a public place, there will be plenty of witnesses if something happens.
While still only wearing my boxers, I leave my room and to go the fridge to get myself a glass of cold water. While I'm there, I grab an apple and quickly warp space into a bead around it. If it's still fresh in a month, it'll mean that time doesn't flow in these things.
"Weren't you more muscular than that?"
From the sofa, Cal is looking at me.
"Yeah, but I guess I let myself go since I started university."
"I thought being an adventurer would keep you somewhat fit by default, but I guess you still have to be careful."
It would be a bit of a pain to explain that this might be the result of some mysterious power I awoke recently, so I just nod and head back to my room.
It's noon the next day, and I'm sitting at a small table on the Main Plaza, eating ice cream that I grabbed from a nearby stand. The people I'm meeting already know what I look like, so I'm waiting for them to find me.
Eventually, a group of five shady-looking individuals starts walking towards me. Four of them are wearing the standard black and featureless uniform I've already seen, but the fifth person, who walks in the middle of the formation, is in a large trench coat. He doesn't appear to be wearing any armor at all, except maybe for his face which is covered by a metal mask.
The leader sits on the chair in front of me while the others position themselves behind him, like bodyguards. Without wasting a second, he asks:
"So, where's the woman?"
I recognize the distorted voice I heard on the phone.
"Right here."
I place the bead on the center of the table.
"Are you messing with me? I don't know what that is, but it's not my tool."
"She's inside, don't worry. I can free her up whenever I want, but you haven't answered my questions yet."
The masked man moves back in his seat and crosses his arms before saying:
"Go ahead, ask. But be aware that I will only answer what I feel like answering."
"I'm the one with the hostage. If you refuse to answer my questions, I'm not giving her back."
"And I'm the strongest of us two. If you refuse to give her back, I'll force you to release her."
So that confirms my suspicion. He's confident because he's stronger than me. Not that beating me up or killing me would do him any good, but I should avoid putting myself in danger.
"So, who are you people? And why did you try to kidnap me?"
"We're an organization without a name. Our goal is merely to seek out adventuring talents and uh... Make sure they reach their full potential. You have unique powers, so we wanted to help you, in a way."
"Help me? By abducting me?"
"Everything must be done in the right order for the process to work, and you didn't seem like you would join us willingly."
"And what's that 'process' exactly?"
"That, I can't reveal. But don't believe that we've given up on you. All shall be revealed soon enough."
That's pretty ominous. He can't do anything while we're here, but it's going to be a pain to have these guys on my back all the time.
"Is there anything I can do to convince you to leave me alone?"
"Aside from accepting our generous offer and joining us? No. You're too valuable. Everyone knows you thanks to the little stunt you pulled during the invasion."
Now he's treating me like an object too. I guess they somehow managed to find someone who saw me transform that day and tracked me down. I wonder if the NAA know about them.
"I'll simply keep fighting back and taking hostages if you send people after me again. Are you certain this is something you want to keep doing?"
"Don't worry, I came here myself today to make sure you wouldn't be able to do that anymore. And looks like our transport is ready. You're coming with us."
As he says that, I suddenly feel someone attaching a collar around my neck. Its effect is familiar: the magic within me slows down, just like when I was wearing the bracelets yesterday. They had no intention of coming in good faith, this was all a trap!
The leader gets up, puts a hand on my head, and gently says:
"Sleep well."
I feel a wave of magic going through my head, and fall unconscious.
When I wake up, I'm laying down on a cold cement floor. My whole body is wrapped in magically-reinforced rope, and I'm still wearing the magic-suppressing collar. In front of me, the masked guy is sitting on a plastic lawn chair. The rest of the room is empty and featureless, and the lack of windows makes it impossible to know what time it is.
The masked man gets up and puts the bead containing the assassin in front of me.
"If you get her out, I promise to go easy on you."
"I can't get her out with my magic suppressed like this."
"Ah! Of course, I should have known. It's okay, I'll simply ask again later."
Leaving the bead there, he goes back to sit on his chair.
"Welcome to one of my many hideouts, Matt. This one is my favorite to meet new people in, but you'll have plenty of time to explore the other ones once you've joined us."
"I already told you I wasn't interested. Intimidating me isn't going to change my mind."
"I don't need you to be interested, I just need you to be here. Soon, you'll be more than happy to do everything I ask you to do."
What does he mean by that? Does he intend to brainwash me in some way?
He continues, seemingly changing the subject:
"Earlier, you asked me why I was going after you. I can now answer. Do you know why adventurers get stronger when they kill monsters?"
"A small amount of the monster's power is transferred to them."
"Exactly! And the reason that amount is small is because our body needs to convert it into energy we can actually use. Now, tell me, what do you think would happen if a human killed another human?"
Killing another human? I hadn't really thought about it, but since we also have magic power within us...
"I assume the same thing would happen?"
"Close! The truth is that, since humans can already use human energy, the transfer of power is much more efficient when they kill each other!"
That sounds like it has extremely dangerous implications.
"So what are you getting at?"
"Oh, it's very simple. The best way for an adventurer to level up is to kill other adventurers. For the sake of mankind, I gather young adventurers who have the potential to grow very powerful, and I make them fight in gladiatorial battles to the death against weaker adventurers my organization captures. You'd be surprised by how much the rich are willing to pay to see people spill each other's blood!"
That's horrible! How many adventurers has this madman killed?
"And what happens once one of these adventurers manages to escape and tell the world about this?"
"Nothing. No one here is fully in control of their thoughts. Once my favored adventurers have gotten strong enough, I sell them to free companies, increasing my profits even further. Of course, I make sure they can't talk about it at all. Even the 'noble defenders of mankind' will disregard the ethics of my operation and pay me large sums if I can secure them high-level adventurers. As long as they don't ask too many questions, I'm happy to conduct business with them."
"And what am I in that plan of yours?"
"You? One of my favored, of course! I will train you until you reach level 100, and then let the world know you're Aurora before selling you to the highest bidder! Just think of the millions I will make thanks to you!"
He starts laughing uncontrollably. The whole situation is made worse by the voice-distorting mask, causing shivers to run down my spine.
I need to find a way out. I don't want to be forced to kill other adventurers, and I certainly don't want to have my memories played with. Who knows how much that could mess my life up?
He loudly drops a knee next to my face, surprising me, before saying:
"Now, don't think about trying to escape. I'm level 100, you know? Officially, I was killed in a dungeon, just like all of the adventurers I bring here as fodder for my chosen, but the truth is that I knew my power was wasted on monsters. Humans make for much better prey, don't you think?"
He starts pulling my shirt down, revealing the bottom of my neck. That's where I sensed the anomaly in the Assassin's flow of energy.
"I will now brand you, and you will become completely loyal to me. Don't worry, it's only going to hurt a bit."
A brand that makes me loyal? Some kind of mind control technique, then? I know high-level adventurers sometimes get unique powers, but I've never heard of anything like this before. I try to free myself up, but without being able to use my power and with the rope as strong as it is, I can't move at all.
I feel his palm on my neck, followed by a searing pain. I scream, but there's no one to hear me.
