Organ rental company in another world

The day after Norn settled Arno, Mussolo's invitation arrived at his mansion.

The messenger was a young rabbit-man dressed in the chieftain's uniform. He neatly handed Norn letters sealed with wax, then stood there waiting for a reply.

Norn opened the envelope; inside was only a short line of text:

"Mr. Norn, please come to the Chief's Palace tomorrow at noon. I have important matters to discuss. — Musolo"

There were no formalities, no small talk, and even the invitation was extremely simple, just ordinary parchment with the chief's private seal on it.

Norn stared at the line of text for a while, wondering what Musolo wanted from him.

Has Arnold's affair been discovered?

No, he checked when he went to the cave yesterday; there were no signs of anyone passing by. Besides, the cave where Arno is hiding is much further out on the outskirts of the city, and the patrolling guards wouldn't even be patrolling there.

Or perhaps the families of the deceased merchants went to the chieftain's palace and Mussol wanted him to testify?

Norn thought this was more likely. After all, he was the sole survivor of that massacre, and for the merchants' families who wanted answers, going to him was the most direct way.

"Tell the chief that I will keep my appointment on time," Norn told the messenger.

The rabbit-man nodded and turned to leave.

The next day at noon, Norn changed into clean clothes and walked to the chief's palace.

The chalk-paved avenue gleamed softly in the midday sun, lined with shops on both sides, their cries of vendors rising and falling. Since the human trafficking case was solved, the security in Miguang City had improved significantly. The number of guards patrolling the streets had doubled, and the number of prostitutes who used to hide in alleyways had also decreased considerably.

As Norn walked down the street, people would recognize him from time to time, nodding and whispering among themselves.

"That's Lord Norn, the one who saved those children."

"He's really handsome. I wonder if he's married."

"I heard he can also use magic, and even Captain Berto couldn't beat him."

Norn walked through the crowd without changing his expression, but a little uneasy inside. If these people knew that he was sworn brothers with the monster who slaughtered merchants, he wondered if they would still look at him like that.

The gates of the chieftain’s mansion were wide open, and two fully armed bear-man guards stood at the entrance. When they saw Norn approaching, they saluted him.

"Lord Norn, the chieftain is waiting for you in his study," one of the guards said.

Norn entered the mansion and walked along the corridor he had traversed several times before, arriving at the door of Mussolo's study.

Pushing open the door, Mussolo was sitting behind his desk, a large pile of parchment documents spread out in front of him, a quill pen in his hand, his brow furrowed as he wrote something on a piece of paper.

Hearing the door open, it looked up, a smile shrug on its bear face: "You've come? Have a seat."

Norn sat down in the chair opposite the desk, his eyes scanning the documents. He noticed that most of them were about food rationing and tax collection.

"What do you want from me?" Norn asked bluntly.

Musolo put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, clasped his paws on his stomach, and stared at Norn for a long while before speaking: "The night before last, a tragedy occurred at the Banquet Manor outside the city. You should know about it, right?"

really.

Norn's heart sank, but he remained outwardly calm: "I know, I was there at the time."

"You are the only survivor." Musolo's tone was calm, as if stating a fact. "I heard from the escaped servants that it was a gray-black humanoid monster, more than two meters tall, covered with white cracks, and with a horn between its eyebrows."

"Yes, that's it." Norn nodded. "It killed everyone, and I escaped when it wasn't looking."

"You're lucky you came back alive." Mussolo said, standing up, walking around the desk, and standing in front of Norn. "After you escaped, did you see which direction that monster ran in?"

Norn thought for a moment and pointed in the opposite direction from the cave where Arno was hiding: "He ran that way. I was too scared to pay much attention, but it was probably in that direction."

Musolo nodded, went back behind his desk, and wrote something down on a piece of paper.

"Is there anything else?" Norn asked.

"Yes." Mussolo put down his pen, took an envelope from his desk drawer, and pushed it in front of Norn. "Take a look."

Norn opened the envelope; inside was a letter with lines of text written in beautiful handwriting. He quickly scanned it, his brow furrowing.

"The Patriarch of the Theocracy is coming to Miguang City?"

"To be precise, he has already arrived." Mussolo's tone was somewhat heavy. "This morning, as soon as the city gates opened, an old man who called himself Dante entered the city and came directly to the chieftain's mansion, asking me to send someone to help him find something."

Norn's heart skipped a beat. Dante, the most powerful magician in human history, the High Priest of the Aro Church, a figure even Louisa addressed as her junior. What was he doing in the City of Light?

"What is he looking for?" Norn tried to keep his voice calm.

"They didn't explain clearly, only that I should send men to search the outskirts of the city, saying they're looking for a grayish-black humanoid monster." Mussolo stared into Norn's eyes. "It looks a lot like the thing you described."

Norn's mind raced.

Dante wanted to find Arno, and he came all the way from the Papacy. This shows that Arno's background was far more complicated than he had imagined, so complicated that it required the French emperor's personal intervention.

"Are you planning to help him find one?" Norn asked.

"I've already sent men out," Mussolo said, "but I don't intend to go too far. It's not good for the Papacy to overreach. The Hierophant wants something on my territory, and I'm already being accommodating by cooperating. If he wants to mobilize my army, he'll have to give me a better reason."

Norn breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, there was a knock on the study door.

"Come in," Mussolo said.

The door was pushed open, and a guard came in and saluted Musolo: "Chief, the envoy from the Holy See has come again, saying he wants to see the survivors of last night's banquet."

Mussolo looked at Norn, who hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Bring him here," Mussolo said to the guard.

The guard obeyed and left. A few minutes later, an elderly man with white hair, wearing a brown robe, entered the study.

Norn met Dante in person for the first time.

He was much older than Norn had imagined, his face lined with wrinkles like a dried-up riverbed, his skin hanging loosely on his bones, his brown robe draped loosely over his body, making him look as if a gust of wind could blow him away. But his eyes shone with an alarming brilliance, like two polished obsidian stones, as if every secret had nowhere to hide in his gaze.

Dante's gaze lingered on Norn for a few seconds before turning to Mussolo: "Chief, is this the survivor?"

“That’s right.” Mussolo pointed to Norn. “This is Norn Pierre, the hero who saved those trafficked girls.”

A strange light flashed in Dante's eyes as he looked Norn over again: "You're Norn? I've heard of your exploits."

Norn bowed slightly: "Your Majesty is too kind."

"Don't mention it." Dante approached Norn, his sharp eyes fixed on him. "I have a few questions for you about what happened that night."

"Please speak."

"What did that monster do when you saw it?"

Norn repeated the story he had prepared beforehand: "It rushed out of the woods and killed many people. I escaped when it wasn't looking."

"Did it chase you?"

"I chased after it, but couldn't catch it. I hid in the woods, and it gave up after searching for a while."

Dante stared into Norn's eyes, seemingly trying to discern the truth in his words. After a moment, he asked again, "Did you notice anything unusual about it?"

Norn thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth to make it seem more believable: "It has a red light on it, like a shield, and it also emits red lightning."

Dante frowned slightly: "Red lightning? Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"I'm sure," Norn said. "I was very close to it and saw it very clearly."

Dante was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Thank you for your cooperation, I have no other questions."

After saying that, he turned to Musolo: "Chief, I hope your soldiers can find that monster as soon as possible. It is very dangerous, and the consequences will be unimaginable if it is not dealt with in time."

"I understand," Mussolo said. "I'll let you know as soon as I have any news."

Dante nodded, turned and left the study.

Watching Dante's figure disappear at the end of the corridor, Mussolo turned to Norn: "What do you think of that old man?"

"Very strong," Norn said. "Extremely strong."

"I'm not asking about his abilities," Mussoro shook his head. "I'm asking, do you think he's trustworthy?"

Norn thought for a moment and said, "He is the Holy See's Emperor and the Supreme Leader of the Yaro Cult, so he should be trustworthy. But it's not normal for him to personally come to Miguang City to find a monster."

Musolo nodded: "That's what I think too. So I'll continue to send people to search, but I won't be too aggressive. If that monster is really near Miguang City, then let it stay there. As long as it doesn't harm my people, I don't care."

Norn breathed a sigh of relief, but his expression remained unchanged: "The chief is right."

After leaving the chieftain's mansion, Norn did not go straight home. Instead, he walked around several streets to make sure no one was following him before turning towards the outskirts of the city.

He had to get to the cave as soon as possible to tell Arno the news.

Dante has arrived and is looking for it. If Dante finds Arno first, Arno will surely die. Although Norn has not spent much time with Arno, he can sense that Arno is not evil; it is just a newborn baby who knows nothing and kills only out of fear and hunger.

He wanted to move Arno to a safer place before Dante could.