Apostles were Demon Hunters with special powers like command over the forces of nature, transformation, and illusion. According to their strength, they were delineated into categories, the Star, the Moon, and the Sun.
New Apostles like Ye Qi were assigned into the lowest level of the Stars. Only by having their power upgraded could they join the ranks of the Moon, while Sun Apostles had complete mastery of their powers.
Even though the separation might seem simple, the difference between each level was huge. Moving from Star to the Moon ranks required a categorical evolution of the Apostle's power and that was something most Apostles wouldn't be able to accomplish in their lifetime! This meant that those with the Sun rank were fewer than a few!
Due to the power these rankings represented, with the agreement from the Moon rank Apostle, the Demon Hunter headquarters would assign the Apostle to take over the handling of a region! Unlike Old Walter, who was nothing more than a glorified mobile announcement board, these Apostles would have absolute control over the region! To put it simply, they would be the shot-callers!
However, even with such lucrative benefits, the number of Apostles who would pick up such a role was nearly zero. At the end of the day, Apostles were Demon Hunters; they preferred to live a life of freedom, thus giving opportunities to people like Old Walter to wiggle their way in.
Ever since he’d become a Demon Hunter, this was the first time Ye Qi had met a Moon rank Apostle in person, even though it had been months since he’d arrived at the headquarters. Therefore, he started to study the man.
The middle-aged man wore a simple black sweater that covered his neck underneath his wind-breaker, and the lines on his weathered face gave him a sense of maturity instead of tiredness. However, the thing that caught the young Demon Hunter's attention the most was a pair of black and white guns that were holstered on his waist. Even though he could only catch a glimpse of the gun grips, from the ancient trimmings on the gun alone, Ye Qi could tell those were not simple firearms.
Jacob asked in a hoarse voice, "Captain, how is the fatality rate?"
"We have 9 injured or dead active knights and 25 injured or dead training knights…"
Alice started to make the tally. Her voice was laced with open sadness—these were her friends and comrades; they trained together daily, so of course she would feel attached to them.
When Ye Qi heard Jacob speak, he noticed the unnatural hoarseness in his voice, and his gaze landed on the neck of the sweater the older gentleman was wearing—he was trying to see whether he could spot an injury there. This was because Ye Qi was sure the hoarse voice was caused by an injury to the vocal cords.
No wonder he is wearing a sweater with high neckline in summery Summer Crinkle, it is to hide his scars! But I wonder what the cause was? There aren't many creatures who have the capability to harm a Moon rank Apostle, probably a Noble Vampire or some experienced werewolf?
"And you are Ye Qi?" Probably because he could sense the young Demon Hunter's gaze on him, Jacob turned to smile at Ye Qi, adding, "Your infamy precedes you, the most destructive Apostle the headquarters has ever received."
"I know this sounds like a complete cliché, but I'm innocent!" Ye Qi explained facing the mock-accusation. After all, for both incidents with Carlos and Paki, he was on the moral side of things, even with this Moon rank Apostle, he stood his ground and elaborated slowly, "I was merely defending myself."
Jacob shrugged before asking, "Then, Ye Qi, what is your opinion on what happened tonight?"
Did he just ask me?
Ye Qi was surprised—even though he’d participated in the defence, the Cavalry Captain was standing right there; she should have been asked and not him. Even after Alice, there was still Titan and Noah, why would Jacob ask for his opinion?
He suspects this has to be with the Dirk family? So he wants me to confirm it?
"The enemy forces first used the ogres to distract the camp's attention, and from that fact alone, we can confirm that this assault was carefully planned. Furthermore, there was an Apostle-level assassin among the enemies, so they came from a powerful background…"
Ye Qi revealed his earlier analysis, but he left out the part about the Dirk family. Even though Jacob appeared to be a friendly person, this was the first time they had met, so he was not going to tell him everything. Ye Qi was not such a rash person.
"Let's return to the headquarters first!" After listening to Ye Qi, Jacob moved onto the next step of the plan immediately. "Captain Alice, I hope you can settle everything in the camp as soon as possible; I wish to see the full report on this incident by tomorrow morning!"
"Yes, sir!"
Back in the headquarters, the amount of soldiers guarding the place had doubled and everyone carried an air of alertness about them. The tension in the air was high.
In the Tower of Governance, six chairs which represented the highest power in the headquarters were arranged around a circular table and all of the chairs were seated.
Suddenly, one of them broke the silence by asking, "Ferdinand, what do you plan to do about this?"
Ferdinand pushed his hair back and placed his finger on the blue mark on his forehead. After closing his eyes for a moment, he opened his eyes and said with a smile, "This is not an internal conflict but an overly ambitious group of rats. We don't even need to get involved; we'll have someone handle it."
"Is that so?" The first speaker responded, after a moment's silence, the person added, "Then, who shall this 'someone' be?"
"How about Jacob?" Ferdinand suggested slowly, "Ever since he joined the Moon rank, he has kinda disappeared into the background. If he proves himself worthy, we will send him to take over the Lagoon region."
"Agreed!"
"Agreed!"
In an area around Dusty Copse, with the yellowish sand covering the sky, John waded through layers of dead leaves and bark, heading towards the spot of greenery not far away. Several bald eagles perched themselves on the dead trees, staring down at John.
"This is ridiculous! Why would people make a place like this their hideout? For a sense of mystery? This is stupid!" After he dealt with a poisonous snake that was hiding in the dried leaves, John grumbled with great dissatisfaction, "Truly their living area fits their style. It's barren and can’t see the daylight!"
After grinding up another poison scorpion that came out looking for food, John disappeared again into the wall of yellow sand…