Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 130

Chapter 130: Deal
With one more burden placed on his shoulders, Hans walked out of the building, not before saying goodbye to Emily of course.

He used his {stealth} skill to coat himself and escape the observant eyes of all the reporters, who would then remain for hours waiting for him to come out of there without any results.

As soon as he returned home, he lay on his comfortable bed and risked falling asleep.

The long travel had drained him, and he still hadn’t completely recovered, he had also used some of his mana to use telekinesis against Kenta, so he had already wasted a bit of what he had recovered.

He still had many things to do, but he felt so tired… so… sleepy…

Twelve hours later…

The sun was nowhere to be seen, and in its place, the moon shone brightly upon the city of Chicago, reflecting itself on the river, painting the skyscrapers, and showing the way to anyone who needed some guidance.

Hans was one of the people who needed light since as soon as he opened his eyes, welcoming him was his dark and difficult-to-see-through room.

‘What… where am I…’

Hans got up, his mind was confused, and his vision still wasn’t back at its best.

‘Crap… I fell asleep.

I can’t believe it!

I must’ve been really tired because there was no other reason for me to fall asleep so suddenly.

It sure felt good to come back home after such a long trip.’

For the first time in the last few months, in which Hans had been continuously meditating, training, and teaching on repeat, he finally caught a breather and relaxed for a bit.

Even if he had just come from three days of sleep, those were imposed by his body to recover, while this time the sleep was completely for leisure and relaxation.

He opened the window and watched out.

In the distance, the image of the city’s buildings painted by the white light of the moon looked majestic, like a city of the heavens.

And just a few minutes later, the sun began to rise, mixing its light with the moon’s to create a masterpiece of scenery.

In the meantime, Hans was hypnotized by the view, and his mind was wandering a mist his countless thoughts and worries.

It was that evening of spring, while a refreshing breeze caressed his face, that Hans’s most tormenting question began to sprout inside his hearth.

“Why do I have these powers?”

Hans couldn’t bring himself to understand that.

Almost half a year had passed from the moment of his awakening, and yet he still hadn’t found a single clue about his powers.

“I wished for the power of an omniscient god…

Is this what it got me? Have the Heavens listened to my will? Or am I perhaps just living a long dream?

And in both cases… is this all I can do?

I can grow stronger than anyone, and I could then save my family… and then?

I could save humanity, and be crowned as a hero… and then?

What can I do in this position of mine, where the powers I hold stretch longer and wider than anyone else’s?’

At that moment, only someone came to Hans’s mind.

Elijah.

‘Did… he also feel what I am feeling right now?

Is that one of the reasons for his choice?

Is what I have been doing the right thing?’

With even more doubts in his mind than what he had before falling asleep, Hans’s mind still felt clearer than ever, and with his thoughts refreshed by the morning breeze, he decided to start his day by taking care of the most troubling matter in his agenda.

He dressed up, left the house, and began walking alongside the shores of the Chicago River.

In the meantime, he took out his phone from his pocket and searched in his list of contacts for the person he wanted to call.

‘No… not him… not her… and… there he is!’

On the screen was a simple name: Dwarf.

It wasn’t the name of anyone he knew, but the dean had basically forced him to change this person’s name to this because she had always been at odds with him.

It was the association branch leader of the NY branch.

“Bzzz… bzzzz… bzzzz…”

“- who is it?”

Replied a tired and fed-up voice from the other side of the phone.

“Good evening, it is the first time I have called you on the phone, but we met just a few months ago”

‘This voice…’

“Oh… it’s you! It is Good to hear your young voice, I really can’t stand old geezers anymore, so If calling me was someone with an old voice I would’ve probably hung up”

‘Hans remained quite shocked by this…

“Ha…Haha… have they done something to enrage you?”

“Enrage me? They are doing everything they can to get fresh air like me out of this leading position of mine.”

“Fresh air?”

“Yeah! Fresh air! Even if I am past my forties I’m still considered young for a leader, and those old dudes from the headquarters don’t like someone younger than them taking such a position.”

“Oh!” Hans’ eyes lit up when hearing this, it was the perfect chance to get everything he wanted in a single call, and he could’ve even made it seem like it was him doing the other a favor.

“I think I might have something that could shut their mouths”

Said Hans confidently.

“Huh? Really? What is it?”

“Well… you know, even if I trust you like an uncle, I will first need you to promise me something.”

“Huh? What do you want?!”

“You know… This poor powerless young man is afraid that his people might not like him as soon as he returns to Chicago, so he wonders whether it would be possible to take back his obligation to be a branch leader”

Hans had made a deal that stated that as soon as his period of teaching ended he would have to return to Chicago and act as a branch leader for the rest of the mandatory two years.

But Hans had no intention of doing that, so in exchange for the information he was about to give he asked for this obligation to be lifted.

On the other side of the phone, the NY branch leader was really confused by many of the words used in Hans’s phrase.

[poor]? He was a high-ranking awakened who could earn millions of dollars a year without even working every day.

[powerless]? He was a monster who could kill an S-ranked monster and higher as proved in the currently viral video.

[not liked by his people]????? The youngest high-ranking mage ever, first in trending, loved by all ‘The List’ fans, and all the teenagers.

What was this guy going on about?

‘So shameless!’ thought the man.

But he couldn’t do anything else, he had to accept the deal.

For the past few months, the pressure from the higher-ups had been getting heavier and heavier, and his position as the American representative of the Association had been slowly drifting away, also because of the rise in fame of the Los Angeles association leader, who had gained a lot of fame from the recent events.

He was almost sure that if the Academy’s professors managed to complete the Improbable Gate raid in time he would’ve lost his position as the American branch leader.

He needed something to prove his worth, and if that something could be obtained by making a little promise to a young employee it wasn’t all that bad.

Also, the association valued Hans, and didn’t want him to view them as enemies, so holding on to him without letting go could’ve caused quite a headache for them in the future.

Handling someone who became a high-ranking mage at the age of eighteen wasn’t an easy feat, and it would be even more difficult in the future.

“Alright, but if the information you provide me isn’t important enough, I will take my word back.”

“Yes, yes… of course, do you think I would ever tell you something useless?”

“Huh… lately I don’t even trust my own shadow”

“Hahah…

Well, let’s get to the point, I’m sure you already know, but could you tell me once again what is the objective of the Association, and the reason why it was founded.”

“Ah?! Of course… It’s to manage the awakened and ensure that none of them can cause harm to normal citizens”

“Then… following that idea, what would the Association’s biggest enemy”

“The red tyranny without a doubt… where are you trying to get?”

“Let me finish.

What do you think would happen if an official leader such as yourself would take care of an entire branch of the Red Tyranny’s illegal operations?”

“Wait- are you trying to tell me that…”

“Yes, imagine how the higher-ups would react If your image suddenly skyrocketed from something like this.

What I know… can give you that kind of image….

So?

What do you think about that?

Do we have a deal?”