The Author's POV

Four days later.

"Ugh, not this again."

My face darkened as I looked at myself in the mirror.

Wearing the same suit as when I met the other elders in Henlour, I once again struggled to tie my tie.

There were improvements, however.

Staring at my reflection in the mirror, turning around, and touching my tie multiple times, I nodded in satisfaction.

"It's not too bad."

Compared to last time, when I struggled quite hard to tie it, there were massive improvements.

Remembering how Douglas had tied my tie, I was somewhat able to mimic his movements. Thanks to that, I was able to somewhat do a good job. Was well satisfied with it.

Of course, it wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing.

Staring at myself in the mirror and fixing my hair which was still quite long, my hand paused slightly.

'They should also be there…'

Kevin, and the others. I was finally going to see them properly.

This time, not from afar.

"Huu…"

Thinking about them, I let out a long breath.

'I guess it's time.'

After thinking things through, I decided to finally reveal myself to the others.

There was no point in hiding myself from the others. Sure, the high-ranking members of the Union were there, but it wasn't like they could instantly tell that I was 876.

With the chip disabled, it would be quite difficult for them to figure out who I was.

This was why I decided to stop pretending. Of course, I was only planning on revealing myself to them. Not the Union.

Despite the fact that the chip was now disabled, and there being no concrete evidence linking me to 876, there were still many loopholes in such thought.

For example, the last sighting of 876 was in the dwarven domain. I came out of the dwarven domain. 876 is a human, I am a human...there were just too many links for my comfort.

'It's too risky to expose myself completely.'

The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how much of a risk my exposure was, but…

'I'll still meet them.'

My mind was made, and I wasn't going to change it, even if the risks were there.

I just needed to be more careful.

Fixing my clothes, and reaching out for my mask by the side of the table, I pressed it against my face and my face soon morphed into that of someone else.

"But before that, I need to take care of something else…"

There was something very important that I needed to take care of before meeting with the others again.

***

"Hurry up, we're going to be late.

Emma's voice rang from below the residence as she looked up towards a certain window.

Ci Clank—

Opening the window of the room, Kevin leaned out of it and shouted.

"Give me a minute! I'm coming."

"Wha—"

Clank—!

Kevin closed the window before she could even speak. This obviously did not sit well for her as she Crossed her arms together, and pouted in dissatisfaction.

is he slower than me? It's not like he's putting

"Maybe it's his hair?"

It shouldn't take this long to

a beautiful black dress that sparkled under the veil of the

being

"Hmmm…"

her eyes, Emma leaned forward to

look, it's the first time that I've seen you with your

"Thank you."

replied with a

times before placing her hand on her chin and muttering. "Maybe I

Gli Clank—

them heard the sound of a door closing. What

wait. I was having trouble putting

"Took you long enough."

the side. Wearing a pale yellow one-piece dress, Melissa leaned by the side of

was rare for Melissa to not wear any glasses, and today, for the first time in a while, she decided to wear contacts, exposing her

But at the same time, she always looked annoyed. This was

the stairs and arriving before

everyone is here,

watch, Emma

or we'll

"Okay."

Emma's words faded everyone headed towards where the ceremony was

they had taken a few steps, Kevin suddenly recalled something and his footsteps

"Wait, what about Jin?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

his words, everyone stopped walking and an awkward silence enveloped the

a couple of

kind of forgot he was coming…or rather, forgot

***

was being held was in the enormous white building in

place that could host the event. The sheer number of attendees was

members stayed, but they made a special exception this time,

"All done?"

"Yeah."

suit, I met up with Douglas in front

him were the others who also were dressed

but

are

fine, it's fine. Stop

a comical sight if I had to

choice, but it was

fully trusted her. Perhaps some could trust her,

her safety too. Since Angelica had helped the dwarves, she was considered a traitor to the demons. We managed to hide this back in Henlour, but the

her too much would only be detrimental to her

"Is there anyone missing?"

Douglas asked, looking around.

back

looked even more

head, I

I think everyone

"Did you forget anything?"

my suit, I shook my

have

we

headed towards the lake

his pace, I walked

met with the others

with Donna and

since I had last seen him. Since the time we split up when we first arrive. I was genuinely curious if he had met

"Yeah."

too busy attending meetings

enormous white building in the

be aware of my presence. I'll meet them at

look

my head and looked at

mask, he looked

embark on a long

didn't get much sleep, huh?' I muttered in thought, before turning my attention back