HP: The Arcane Thief

'What just happened?'

Everything had happened so fast that they didn't even have the time to see exactly how the dragons ended up in a heap. When the dragons first attacked him, Axel had somehow managed to slip away in just a nick of time.

The threads flashed as he appeared on the body of another dragon, and then he skipped over to the next. After that, he had just become a blurr, flashing from one dragon to another while the Dragons began fighting among themselves. It was only when he stopped loosening the strings and bound the rest to the last dragon did the members realize that the dragons had all become a tangled mess, unable to even fly in the sky.

The dragons collectively fell to the ground in a heap, while Axel landed lightly and casually walked away without needing to look back.

"He… managed to take them all down."

"While he was in that state…"

The dragons which could survive concentrated power of the whole emergency force. The dragons which would have definitely breached the defenses to deal a amount of considerable damage to the city. The dragons which had extremely tough and resistant hide which could defend against both physical and magical attacks…

Those dragons, were taken down in a matter of minutes by a 16 year old guy, while he was in a state of physical and magical exhaustion. Said 16 year old had already destroyed the rest of the hoard using those dragons.

"…I am recruiting him." The scene was just so cool that Lady Garmos had instantly declared her intentions.

Lady Garmos had no idea that Axel was taken. Being a recluse, she was even seeing him for the first time. If she wants someone, there aren't a lot of people who can say no. So, when she saw him do all those panty-dropping things, she naturally declared her intentions of recruiting him, ready to compete with other contenders who wanted him.

"Whaleshit!" Exclaimed flame elder.

Lady Garmos snapped out of her daze as she felt the whole meeting room glaring at her like she had tried to kill their puppies.

"What? He has aptitude for our Septis's magic. Naturally, he should train under me."

"In your illusions!" Said the Lightning elder. "You think he would go to the charm Septis when he has such high lightning talent?"

"I think, he would make a good commander."

?!

That line was said by the General of the Atlantian army, the highest authority equal or below the princess.

'Him too?'

The atmosphere suddenly tensed.

"General, he is only 16."

"He hasn't received formal training."

"He is an outsider. How can he be trusted?"

The general participating in the discussion would only make this more complicated and increase the competition. Thus, the elders first united to kick the wind elder out of the discussion.

"He managed to do what even the best trained elites couldn't do EVEN when he's 16 and hasn't received formal training. He was able to accurately assess the situation and come up with the best solution. As for him being an outsider, I didn't see anyone else putting as much effort as him into saving people when he could have easily left it for other forces to handle the situation."

That stumped the elders. The General's reasoning was sound and their arguments were completely invalidated.

Suddenly, the situation had become tense, with none of the members willing to relent. This was a time of war. A time of opportunities. Taking advantage of the turbulence, the various Septises and factions have the chance to increase their forces indefinitely in order to deal with the external threat. In this time, those who gain the most will wield the real power over Atlantis.

In such a time, Axel was definitely a strategic resource that they were not willing to give up on. That's why the situation had turned out like this, where all the powerhouses were fighting over one person.

The princess cleared her throat at him moment, putting a stop to the statement. "I think we are getting sidetracked here. The reason I've shown this clip is because this is another attack from the Kraken, one that was almost as successful as the last bombing, despite our best safety efforts. We had to rely on a young boy to solve it.

What we need to do right now is to carefully analyze the attack, understand where we are going wrong, and understand why a 16 year old managed to do what so many of our men couldn't."

This instantly sobered up the members.

"Besides, the boy everything is trying to recruit is already taken. It has been confirmed that he already signed the contract."

!!!

"What?!"

"How is that possible?!"

"Princess, how can you believe everything Tenebrous says? What about the probationary and judging period?"

"Yeah! Even if there is indeed a contract, then she's clearly taking advantage of him!"

"Indeed. Knowing he was new here, she managed to snatch him with poor terms just because he didn't know any better."

In Atlantis, usually, when a trainee is recruited, they first need to work on a probationary period, so that both parties can judge the compatibility. The contract is only formed after the period ends, and terms offered are based on the quality of work the recruit did in this period.

If Kyrin indeed had already had the contract signed, she must have offered very low terms to such a talent.

The princess sighed as she projected a contract on the projection. "Well, here is the contract that Kyrin's Deputy sent me minutes after the start of the meeting. If anyone thinks it's unfair and provide better terms, they can step up."

...!!!!

The terms caused a commotion in the meeting room.

"4… star? Directly?"

"Direct promotion upon meritorious actions?"

"Flexible working hours?"

"Full permission to act independently?"

"Look at the salary! She's just abusing her huge inheritance at this point!"

It is unprecedented for anyone, let alone an outsider to be directly recruited as a four star officer. Between each star, there are a number of posts, meaning one has to gain multiple promotions to increase their star ranking. At most, a new recruit will be offered two stars from the beginning. But after that, you have to rise on your own.

Before each promotion, there is a huge time interval. Direct promotion upon meritorious service means that time period can be skipped.

Full permission to act independently, meaning Axel could even go as far as killing someone in the name of Black ops, and Kyrin will be responsible for his actions.

At last, the salary was definitely higher than even 5 star authority figures. Kyrin was extremely wealthy, but to splurge so much on a new recruit is unheard of.

"Tenebrous? What is the meaning of this?"

"Are you mad?"

"To offer such outrageous terms to an outsider…"

After reading the outrageous terms, everyone turned their incredulous expressions towards Kyrin, the person who had offered them. But, Kyrin didn't seem to hear them at all.

'What… is going on?' Currently, her mind was filled with other thoughts. She had yet to recover from the clip she had watched.

That brat…. he had come back yesterday, looking like he had thoroughly enjoyed touring Atlantis and casually went to bed.

As if, he had not at all been attacked by XXXXX level creatures underwater. As if he had not just saved hundreds of tourists from the bomb blast at the exit. As if he had not just controlled numerous dragons and annihilated an entire army of monsters. As if he had not just saved the city alone.

As if… this was just a daily occurrence to him. The bastard didn't even bother reporting to her. Neither did Aki.

'Tired already? We need to work on your stamina.' Recalling her earlier words, she felt so frustrated. After what the boy had done, OF COURSE he was tired!

"Are you listening?!"

??

Kyrin turned her attention back to the situation around her. These people are questioning her on why she offered such generous terms.

Well.

They weren't meant to be. In the beginning, she was just planning to blackmail the boy into agreeing with mediocre terms. But she couldn't resist Aki's puppy dog eyes, so she ended up offering much more generous terms. But, even after that, the brat actually came and reverse blackmailed her in her own base into further adding some additional causes, resulting in this contract.

Of course, she wasn't about to reveal that to these people. Kyrin crossed her legs as she arrogantly swept her gaze around the room.

"I gave him those terms, because I have something that is called Foresight. Now looking at the clip, can any of you seriously say that he doesn't deserve those terms?"

"…." No one could object to that.

"I don't blame Kyrin. That boy can't be judged based on ordinary standards," said Lady Garmos, surprisingly in favor of Kyrin. "Right, Kyrin?"

Kyrin was suspicious of the sudden change in the chameleon's colors, but she still nodded nonetheless. Disagreeing would mean accepting that she had been the one who had been duped in this deal.

"That's why, I would like to offer even better terms to him. I am also willing to pay the full severance fees of the contract." Said Lady Garmos.

!!!

Lady Garmos simply smiled, ignoring the appalled expression of everyone. "I hope you won't mind. After all, we both want the best for the boy," she said, flicking her luscious pink hair back.

Kyrin's eye twitched at the blatant poaching of her employee, whose worth had suddenly skyrocketed. She was, of course, furious because no matter how annoying, Axel was already hers. And she didn't like it when someone covets what's hers.

But, Kyrin calmed her anger, taking a moment to think. She had some idea on what Lady Garmos was going to try. The terms were already as good as they get. If she can offer something, it would be the benefits that only Charm Septis can provide: honey trap. She would most likely try to seduce the boy over to her side by using some of the girls from her Septis. No matter how much it annoyed her, if the boy actually got seduced and left, Akiko would at least recognize him for the pig he is and stop obsessing over him while she would be paid handsomely for it.

No matter what, the deal definitely had some merit, if it can get him away from Akiko. Thus, Kyrin just shrugged. "You guys can make the offer to him. If he agrees, I have no objection."

That concluded the matter, as Lady Garmos smiled like she had already won ownership of Axel.

"Now, can we finally get to the point? Why did we have to be saved a 16 year old in the first place?" Asked the Princess.

The question made everyone ashamed. It was hard to accept, but it was a fact that they would have suffered major losses, if not for Axel.

"Most of our forces are also busy with the Trench. The standby forces just weren't enough to deal with the threat." One of the Division heads spoke up, trying to come up with an excuse.

"So, what you're saying is that the emergency forces couldn't do together what a 16 year old did alone?" Asked the princess.

This time, no one could argue.

In the end, the general was the one to break up the silence. "It is not our forces that are weak. That's why the Kraken wasted so much power and their hidden card in order to catch us off-guard. The abnormalities are those two individuals who managed to stop it on their own."

That was the point. Their forces have been trained and composed using the centuries old well established system. They are, by no means, weak. Even the Kraken knows that, that's why they hadn't expected their attack to be stopped like this.

"Controlling the dragons… how did he even manage to do it?" Asked Flame elder. "What do you think, Wind Elder?"

Wind Elder stroked his beard. "Of course, the key factor was his ability to handle so many strings at once," he said, drawing several nods. "I never thought such a level of dexterity was even possible."

Everyone had to accept, Axel had monstrous dexterity. The way his fingers moved, handling all those threads was simply godly.

"But… that doesn't fully explain why the dragons didn't struggle to turn around. After all, they were under Kraken's control. Lady Garmos, do you have any conclusions?"

Lady Garmos, being from the Charm Septis, had several techniques to control targets that were similar. But, lady Garmos simply shook her head. "He did not use anytype of skills related to our Septis. I think… what he did line more with the methods of 'that' Septis."

A hush fell over in the meeting room when 'that' clan was mentioned. The princess's lips pressed into a hard line. The Septis in question was the Mind Septis. It is a taboo subject in Altantis.

"Has anyone investigated the kid's background?"

Kyrin shrugged. "I know him from the outside world. He's alright. Kept a terribly low profile though."

The princess nodded. "I also vouch for him. He doesn't have bad intentions towards the Kingdom. Anyways, the fact remains: He has done a huge meritorious deed. By the time the other forces would have arrived, the creatures would have already spread throughout the city. By that time, even Relic wielders wouldn't have been much help. He must be rewarded handsomely."

No one had any objection to that.

"Also, let's not forget the contributions of the Shinobi girl that was accompanying that Martin boy. I am really impressed by her Lightning affinity," said the Lightning Elder.

"Not to mention she used Darkness flames. What is your connection with her?" Asked the flame elder.

Once again, covetous gazes were cast in Kyrin's direction. But this time, the atmosphere of the room darkened several degrees. "She is Akiko Matsushima. Daughter of Akihiro Yamazaki and Haruko Matsushima." Kyrin just said one sentence.

Those who had intentions of poaching Akiko suddenly felt a chill down their spines. Akihiro and Haruko… these were Kyrin's two subordinates whose deaths she had avenged by killing three of Kraken's member's top members. If Akiko was their daughter, then god help whoever tries to covet that girl.

The princess cleared her throat. "Well, now that you mention it, I do see the resemblance. It seems she has also inherited her parents' bravery. She will also be rewarded."

After that, the meeting went on as the members endlessly discussed countermeasures for preventing further attacks and miscellaneous points. Which, Kyrin simply slept through. All she could think was: 'I wanna punch that brat for some reason.'

/.

The next morning, Axel woke up after a pleasant sleep on the watery mattress that he is quickly starting to identify as the best thing in his kingdom.

He looked at his hands, which were still feeling a bit sore. The injuries from the previous day were almost all gone, leaving a similar feeling as having done too much dexterity training.

*Crack-crack-crack*

As he clenched his hands in a fist, his fingers produced crisp cracking sounds, after which they started to function normally.

Axel got up. Today is the day Kurai sensei would finally teach them what the task force really did. But first, he had to check out yesterday's harvest.