Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 93

“Ok, so now we know Hans isn’t a traitor”

said the dean, covering her ears to cut off any noises she heard from outside,

Since the screams of the director telling her that traitors don’t cook pancakes was already enough noise for the whole day.

“Then who could it be? I really don’t know, I haven’t done much of a background search on the teachers since, other than Jackson and the deceased Scarlet Evans, that were employed by me, they were all recommended by the other branch leaders, but I think it might be time for us to do so.

I’ll send Jackson to check onto their past in the night market.”

The night market, a place where everything you want to know can be bought.

Bringing there the right sum, everything can be known, from the number of fish in a public pond, to the darkest secret of the world leaders.

No one knows how they do it, but everything under the sky can be found out by them, and adding something else onto that, the night market is a property of the same secret agency that runs the trade centers all over the world.

The owner of both, the awakened holding the title of ‘Money Maven’, is a woman whose even face is unknown, only one thing is commonly accepted by everyone:

If someone where to ever list the richest people to ever step foot on the planet, then she would undoubtedly be the first.

The money that passes through the two markets everyday is enough to buy a country, and her fortune can’t help but grow, it’s to the point that money gains and loses value whenever she makes a move.

To contrast her, the governments had even though of printing a huge amount of cash and cause a massive inflation, but they were stopped with her simple threat of closing the markets.

Which caused most of the awakened to rebel.

She simply offered a paradise for them, almost no taxes on the sold items and no informations made public, in adequate words, she was seen really positively by all the powerful hunters, that had to sell their battle’s spoils.

In an anonymous way, she established the market just two years after the catastrophe, and gathered enough power to rival the association just a couple of years later.

And then, six years and a half later, she had made her markets one of the three biggest forces directing the course of human history, together with the association and the Red Tyranny.

The association being considered as just, and the Red Tyranny as evil, the trade center had taken a neutral position, so both of the other forces always made sure to avoid making an enemy out of it and tipping the balance against them.

Goes around rumor that someone once asked the best way to assassinate the president of the United States, and the market didn’t refuse the request, instead asking a commission of twenty billion dollars.

That’s what the market association is, and yet…

“You are telling me they refused to give you information about Hans?!”

“That-that’s what happened, I’m sorry” apologized Jackson, bowing his head.

“Don’t.

It’s not like you could do something to get the information out of them.

Thank you for your work”

“My pleasure”

The teacher left the room, while the dean watched the documents all over her desk.

Even with detailed information about all the other teachers in front of her eyes, she couldn’t help but think about Hans’ story.

What could’ve been so important to be hidden even by the night market?

She was kept awake the whole night by this question, and when she finally gathered enough courage, she decided to call the security director of the association once again.

“Who is it?” Replied the voice on the other side of the phone.

“I-I’m the Los Angeles association branch leader”

“Uh?!! What are you calling me for this time?! Who else do you want to spy on?! Perhaps an ice cream maker.

No, maybe a balloon artist.”

“C-calm down, I know it might seem strange, but I have called once again for Hans”

“For Hans again?! You dumb woman! Have you not learnt anything? How dare you accuse a gentle and innocent pancake cook?!

That’s it! I’m hanging up, go and cook some pancakes, maybe it’ll cleanse your soul a bit”

“Wait! There is something really important! His information! the night market won’t give us his information!”

The voice on the other side, that seemed ready to start a war in order to defend the innocent pancake maker, suddenly shut up.

Three seconds of silence followed, in wich the woman thought the other side might’ve thrown the cellphone on the ground, breaking it.

However, after the three seconds of absolute quietness, just a low toned voice came from the machine:

“Are you sure” asked the man seriously.

“Yes”

Replied the woman with a feeble voice, afraid of what was about to come back as a reply.

But contrary to her expectations, the reply wasn’t loud nor aggressive, just a simple and straightforward:

“Fuck”

‘Huh? Fuck? Is he alright’

Thought the woman, too afraid to say it out loud.

“No way right? No way!” Mumbled the man.

“Can I help with anything?”

She asked, unaware whether she should’ve done it or not.

“What.. what did they say when you asked information? Have you gone there in person?”

“Huh? I don’t know, I have sent one of my most trusted aides, I’ll call him here right now”

“Fast! Fast!”

“Alright, alright, I’m going!”

She run towards Jackson’s office, since she couldn’t simply call him while being on the phone with the security director.

Without even knocking on the door, she sprinted inside his office, catching him off guard.

“Jackson!”

“Y-yes?”

“What did they say? What did they say when they refused to give information about Hans?”

She grabbed his shirt holding him in a way to get his mouth close to the microphone, so that even the person on the phone could hear the reply.

Panicking, he answered the truth, not thinking twice about it.

“Th-they told me that information is not available”

When he spilled the answer, she let him go, and pressed her phone’s microphone against her ear, ready to catch even the simplest sound of the other’s reaction.

“Fuck”

‘Huh? Fuck? Again? Are we sure he’s alright?’

“I-is anything fine? Should I call Hans here?”

“No! Don’t! Quick, tell me who’s close to him, or anything you know about him.”

“Huh? Why’s that? Is everything fine?”

The reply this time came quickly.

“Hey! Do you want to know something?

Since the market has been established all over the world, we use the price they give for commissions to understand their limits and the importance of the information.

I’m sure you’ve heard about the story that someone once asked how he could’ve killed the US president haven’t you”

“Yes”

“Well, that’s not just a story, not to talk about the president of the US, we once asked the weak point of the Red Tyranny, and they gave us a commission price of a trillion dollars.

But… there is one and only one case in wich they’ll deny the request.

And that’s is… when we ask information about their leader and officials.”

The woman finally understood what the other side was getting at, and the familiar word spilled from her lips:

“Fuck”

Jackson watched her amazed, rarely in the ten years working under her he had heard her cursing, and every time she did, a tempest big enough to swallow them whole was about to burst.

What was it going to be this time?

Not even providing an explanation, she walked out of the man’s room.

‘Fuck, that was dangerous, luckily she didn’t see it’

thought the man, ripping apart the piece of paper in his hand.

Walking towards her office once again, not her nor the person she was on the phone with spoke a word, continuing their conversation only once she had locked herself in her room.

“Who do you think he is?”

Asked the dean quite worried.

“I don’t know” replied the security leader.

“But if i were to make an assumption, then he’s probably one of their trusted leaders, or an acquaintance of their leader”

“He’s a big fish huh?”

“Yea, it seems so”

The woman once again had a sudden realization.

“Wait! What if it’s simply a bait to make us believe that? They could’ve easily fabricated a false past, and it wouldn’t have caught my eye in the least”

“If that had been an option, then I wouldn’t have had such a reaction from the beginning.

They have never once told a lie in all the test we have made, so we have come to a conclusion, even if it’s only an hypothesis for now, we suspect that their leader has prohibited any kind of lies to be told.

And that means that…

Hans is one hundred percent part of their organization”

“Hahaha…

laughed the dean exhausted…

“Fuck”