Chapter 108: He Won't Say No To Me
But hearing that this GHOST went on the island raid as well was surprising.
"He survived, didn't he?"
"He didn't just survive, he dominated the raid. The reports I got from my spies in the NSA claim that he came back from that island with barely any injuries on his person at all. And I do not know how true this might be, but they claimed that he killed multiple Calamity-class monsters that would have given high-level S ranks an issue with ease.
Is it not strange that someone who was a simple vigilante a few days ago comes out from the shadows and is suddenly capable of such unprecedented feats of strength? There are only two possibilities. Either he has been hiding his strength from the start in order to stay below the radar or –"
"He is growing at an outstanding pace."
Luna completed the man's sentence for him and the man nodded as he watched Luna staring at the image of Mark Vanitas with newfound interest. There was this gleam in her eyes that the man always saw whenever Luna found someone or something that she was interested in, and the man was glad that he brought this matter to Luna.
Luna was now more interested in Mark than ever before and she was looking down at his picture with intensity. It didn't matter if Mark was hiding his true strength or if he was growing at an outstanding pace. Both of these possibilities were interesting to her and she now wanted Mark as a part of her guild.
"Find out more about him and bring him in for a meeting. I will gauge his worth myself and find out if he is a good fit for the guild."
"That might be a problem, Madam Luna."
"And why is that?"
"Mark Vanitas has said on multiple occasions that he has no intention of joining a guild. He is adamant to remain an independent superhuman."
"That's foolish. Does he not understand the importance of having strong allies? Bring him in and I will speak to him. He will not say no to me."
"There is another problem."
Luna frowned and glared at the man in annoyance and the man smiled sheepishly as he spoke up.
"Mark Vanitas is currently under government scrutiny and he is being summoned for a hearing. His involvement in the island raid was not approved by the government, and as an unregistered superhuman, he did not have permission to go on that raid. The government is also suing Mark Vanitas for his activities as GHOST the vigilante.
It will be difficult to maneuver around the red tape and get a private meeting with him."
Luna raised a brow as she heard this. It seems that the government wasn't so stupid after all. They knew the value that Mark had and they were trying their hardest to hold onto Mark to prevent him from staying as an independent contractor.
As an independent contractor, Mark could leave the country at any moment and join the NSA or guild of a different country which would weaken the Federation of America. But since he is now under the eye of the law, he will become a criminal and fugitive if he tries to leave.
Luna knew that this would be a delicate moment, but if she played her cards right, then she could get Mark to join her guild at the end of it all. She only had to make sure that no other guild approached him before she had a chance to talk to him.
"Find out his home address and prepare a suitable gift for him. We'll go see him as soon as possible."
The man bowed before leaving the room. Once he was gone, Luna hummed as she wondered if Mark was anything like her. Would he also become someone cursed with unimaginable strength without limits?
She would find out soon enough.
But for now, she thought about how she could play her cards so she would get Mark to join her guild. Since the government is trying to dig their claws into him, Luna was sure that he would be in a distressed mood and that would make it easier to suggest things to him and make him agree. She just hoped he would not be too difficult to talk to. Luna hated people who were difficult to reason with.
She gazed at Mark's picture once more and she felt her eyes soften as she realized something that she would usually never take notice of.
"He's quite handsome, isn't he?"
…
Vroom!
The next day, Mark drove towards a tall skyscraper located in the heart of City A with his Vanitas Avatendor. Arit and Talia were also with him, and Mark came down and waited for Arit to come around the car to stand beside him. Mark was wearing a black pair of trousers and a tight black wife-beater that showed his impressive muscles.
Most of the women walking past the hotel immediately slowed down to stare at Mark in awe as they saw him! The main reason they stopped was because they thought Mark looked fucking good, but they also stopped because they recognized him as GHOST! His muscles paired well with his handsome face, and many of the women thought about walking up to him to ask for his number to spend the night with him!
Mark looked up and frowned in annoyance at the extremely tall building. He appreciated the building's grandeur, but his mind was occupied with what Arit told him yesterday about someone who came to deliver her father's package to the house.
Apparently, there was a suspicious mailman who came to deliver the package that Arit's father always sends to her. It turns out that the package had a lot of stones and cement blocks inside that made it heavier than it should have been. In fact, whoever delivered the package threw out most of what Arit's father sent to her and filled the box up with these stones instead.
Mark did not know if there was a reason behind what he did or if it was just some sick joke, but it pissed him off and made him worry about the reason behind it.
Arit told Mark that the man also started to ask Arit some strange questions after she took the package. Arit was not comfortable about some of the questions that the man asked, so she called the post office once the man left.
Arit wanted to make sure that the post office actually sent the mailman to take a survey and he was not just trying to pull her leg or do something nefarious with the information!
But after calling the post office, Arit found out that the mailman was not even a mailman to begin with! Arit gave the description of the mailman to the post office and they told her that he was not in their database. They did not have anyone matching the description among their employees and they did not send anyone to take a survey of their customers.
The post office apologized and they told Arit that they would look into it, but Arit was not able to rest easily until she told Mark about what happened.