"Oh good morning darlings! Was the red hair bothering you? Well I helped you then♡."
We looked at him as he stopped on our front with a grin.
We were very suprised to see him.
Amari stuttered.
"W-Was you that-"
Clown interrupted her.
"Well then, should we go to their hiding place? Don't worry, I know were it is."
Sayuri tried to speak, but he spoke first again.
"You have the Probationem?"
Sayuri gave a little jump, like if she had remembered something very important.
"Oh, we actually forgot..."
She looked at us, and realized we had no ideia what that was.
"Hm well, it's like a magic box that you need to put a proof of what you did, just so the guild can be sure that you did the mission and give you the reward... B-BUT THAT MEANS..."
She looked at Clown, she was pretty nervous and suprised.
"H-He could have rejected and not give us the mansion..."
Without saying anything about it, Clown simply moved towards the exit, going through the bar door.
With a grin he took a last glance at us.
"Im waiting for you here, take the time you need."
And so he left.
Damn, that guy is so weird...
Now, we're walking together in that forest, as always.
Im actually getting quite bored of always going here...
Clown kept that box somewhere, I think he made it disappear using magic or something.
Even thought Clown is the one that knows their hiding place, he is behind us, a bit far, observing us with a smirk on his face.
Im trying not to look back, at him, but i admit im quite nervous.
I looked at the girls faces at my side, Sayuri seems somewhat uncomfortable, and Amari nonchalant.
Dammit I hate this felling, of like everyone is too shy to say something.
Well, it's Clown's fault actually!
We've been walking for a while now, and it feels more like a zigzag...
Clown suddenly said.
"To the right darlings..."
I stopped and looked at him, quite irritated.
"To the woods again?! Oh man, im tired of going always there and then coming back to here... This doesn't make any sense!"
"Oh my oh my, stay like that... But it's a very secret place, we need to do a lot of curves. And we're actually very close now."
I hope so!
Then suddenly, someone appeared on our front.
It was a middle-aged man wearing a raccoon mask.
"Hey! Tell me your intention to cross this path!"
Just by seeing that mask, even though it was just of an ordinary henchman, made me sob and shake a little.
We 3 looked at Clown, not knowing well what to do, if we should attack him or talk.
Clown simply sighed.
"Oh, you finally appeared..."
He casually walked closer to the guy.
"Hey! I told you to tell me, what are you doing here?!"
The man suddenly looked very confused, looking at the sides like if he didn't knew who he was.
"W-What? A smoke?! W-When he..."
A smoke? There was nothing, what is he talking about?!
Clown stood behind him, speaking in his ear with a smirk.
"Don't you remember me? I think we talked before..."
The man looked very shocked, moving in a 360, trying to grab Clown, but he somehow couldn't see him.
"Please don't bother me anymore..."
And then, with his hand straight and open, Clown slapped the man on the neck, in a matter of milliseconds, which made him fall to the ground.
For a moment, Amari and I looked very suprised at him, Sayuri not quite.
Amari said.
"Y-You killed him?"
Clown tilted his head.
"Uh? Should I?"
"N-No! I thought you had..."
"Muohohoho, a clown only plays with who is something."
Nobody answered.
"Well then... Let's keep going darlings, to the right."
Without saying a word, we started to cross the woods.
I think we're all quite scared to talk...
A few moments later.
"We arriveeeeeeeeed..."
Clown said that, talking with a melody voice, like singing.
I said.
"Uh? But we're still in the woods..."
"Oh don't worry, it's right here, just give two more steps."
We literally took 2 more steps, passing a sequence of trees, and we saw something else.
A rocky place of stone, empty with nothing around, just rock and a rock wall in front of us.
No, it wasn't just a rock wall, it was a cave since there was an opening there, and it was quite large and made by hand.
Wait, the way this cave, the way the rocks are placed...
Amari shouted.
"ITS A FUCKING Raccoon!!"
Yeah, the cave was Raccoon shaped from the outside.
I yelled.
"HOW NOBODY NOTICED IT BEFORE?!"
Sayuri said quietly.
"They are a secret group, living in a very remote place, and it's quite hard for someone to go here... But I agree they should make it a bit less obvious..."
Clown looked at the cave with a smirk.
"So, everyone ready?"
We were quite nervous, but i tried to look confident while nodding.
We entered the cave, it was actually very illuminated, full of lanterns and torches everywhere.
A straight path down, only rock around us.
We walked for a few minutes, untill finally arriving a flat place.
Only ground in a big square, and most importantly, 1 big stone gate in front of us.
Clown walked forwad to the gate, and then turned to us.
"Well, here it is, the entrance... But actually, I don't think Big Sayuri or the other little girl would be interest in going this way..."
I don't think Amari noticed what he called her (thank god).
But before anyone could say something.
"I mean, bold boy would be more... Muohoho, still theres something for you two!"
Suddenly, out of 2 doors that were camouflaged in the walls, came out 2 Raccoon Killers.
"INTRUSERS!! NOW IT'S TOO LATE!"
I quickly identified them, the green-haired girl and the brown-haired boy from yesterday.
Neither is my target.
Clown said.
"Take care of this guys, Kai will fight who we wants... Bye."
"W-WAIT-"
Amari tried to say something, but Clown had already closed the gate.
The 2 Raccoon looked in shock to the gate Clown entered.
"A-AH?! T-THEY ARE HEADING TO THE BOSS?! T-THE REAL BOSS!!"
Amari got close to Sayuri, already activating Sankalpa in her hands.
"What we should do now..."
"I can't use my best attack because we're in a closed space... But let's stay together-"
"SELECT!!"
"SELECT!!"
Both of the Raccoon's yelled that while pointing at their hands at Sayuri and Amari.
The 4 disappeared.
"Ah? Where am I-... You!"
Amari was in like a big rock corridor, with plenty of space for her to move, while on her front, quite far, there was the Raccoon girl.
"Probably the same happened to Sayuri... Good grief, if it's a 1vs1 you want it's a 1vs1 you're going to have!"
About me, after Clown pushed me through the door, I instantly saw someone in the other side.
That place was huge, like a big secret room, and in the middle of it, there was a man with a hody and a Raccoon mask sitting down, just there in the middle of that open place, like if he was waiting for someone.
Seeing that face, I know who he is...
"I tried to look for you. But since I didn't find you, good you came to me."
I never wanted to kill someone before.
I want to? I don't know, this all feels so weird...
I don't know if I'm angry, scared, excited, sad, confident, I don't know how to describe the mix of things that go through me.
Im shaking but angry, im scared but I want to kil- defeat him...
I gotta do it.
Thinking about it now, how did Clown knew I had something to do with this Raccoon?
And how did he know so much about this place? There's something strange.
"I am the Raccoon's protector. Protector of what will bring the end of humanity."