How did you get involved with the Moore Family?
This was the question Arata wanted to ask the most right now. But he couldn't ask it, so he could only say something entirely unrelated.
"Alright, Noriyuki Natsume, you win. We can continue our deal."
Seeing Arata compromise, Noriyuki let out a long sigh of relief. He lowered the pen and paper in his hand and said, "Then hand over the Poppy Devil's corpse. I'll keep your secret safe."
Arata nodded, cut his finger again, and drew a seal on the ground opposite to the one from before.
Soon, the ground flashed with black light.
The Poppy Devil's corpse surfaced from the earth.
"This is the Poppy Devil's corpse. Take it."
"Where's the head?"
"The head is missing."
"Arata, don't play tricks. They want a whole corpse."
"Alright then, you can have the head too."
With that, the Poppy Devil's head also surfaced.
Noriyuki inspected the corpse back and forth, terrified that Arata might have held something else back.
Just then, a dark shadow suddenly swept over their heads from the sky.
Sensing it, Arata immediately bared his bladed claws.
"Who is it!!" Arata demanded.
Noriyuki hurriedly turned to look at the shadow that had landed.
"Don't be nervous. I am from the Moore family."
A young man holding a baseball bat, wearing a baseball cap and uniform, slowly walked out from the shadows.
"Why are you here?"
"To collect the corpse, of course. But I didn't expect you guys to complete the mission this quickly."
The baseball guy twirled the bat in his hand and casually rested it on his shoulder.
"I didn't expect someone from the Moore family to actually seek outside help."
"Arata, don't speak." Noriyuki hurriedly called out Arata's name. From his expression, it was clear he was utterly terrified of the Moore family.
At the same time, he desperately didn't want Arata to offend them.
"I apologize, my friend here doesn't really know how to watch his mouth," Noriyuki quickly explained to the baseball guy, his tone and expression full of extreme caution.
"It's fine. I actually really like this kind of outspoken person, because they don't beat around the bush with me."
The baseball guy wasn't angry at Arata's rudeness; rather, he seemed highly appreciative of it.
"We can work together long-term in the future. You can have as much money as you want."
"As expected of rich people. But the 10 million reward this time seems a bit low."
If it were anyone else offering a 10 million reward, it would have been fine.
But coming from the wealthiest and most powerful Moore family, there was no way Arata would pass up the chance to hike up the price.
"10 million? I believe I gave him 60 million."
"60 million? Holy sh*t, Noriyuki, how much of my money did you embezzle?!!!" Arata rushed in front of Noriyuki and interrogated him.
"Sorry, Arata. I lost a fortune gambling and am drowning in debt, so I could only give you 10 million."
"It's fine, I'll give you another 60 million. Consider it a token of my goodwill. After all, I was the one who leaked the info to the Poppy Devil."
"You leaked the info?" Arata frowned.
"That's right. I just wanted to use you to test the Poppy Devil's strength. But I didn't expect it wouldn't even be able to control you. That proves it truly isn't as fierce as it was back in the day."
"F***, I became a tool," Arata said, putting his hands on his hips. "But for the sake of giving me an extra 60 million, I'll let bygones be bygones."
"Excellent. Also, my collection of the Poppy Devil's corpse is purely a personal endeavor, it has nothing to do with the Moore family. You can treat this as a partnership with me, not the Moore family."
"I don't care who it is, as long as the money is right," Arata said coolly.
"Then I'll be taking the corpse." The baseball guy stepped forward and stuffed the Poppy Devil's corpse into a body bag he brought with him.
Then, he hoisted it effortlessly onto his shoulder.
"If there are any missions in the future, I'll notify Noriyuki and have him contact you. You two are friends, right?"
"Yes, friends for over a year," Noriyuki replied.
"Wait, where's the money?"
"The money has already been placed in your car."
As soon as he finished speaking, the baseball guy vanished into the alley.
Arata quickly ran to his car to rummage through it.
He noticed an extra briefcase on the passenger seat.
When he opened it, it was entirely filled with US dollars.
"Holy sht, rich people sure are something!! They gave me 60 million US dollars." "Don't get too excited. It's actually 60 million Yen, just converted into a little over 400,000 US dollars." "F, had me celebrating for nothing."
Arata snapped the briefcase shut and looked at Noriyuki again.
"How did you get this gig?" Since the baseball guy had said their partnership had nothing to do with the Moore family, Arata naturally wasn't afraid to ask openly.
"Introduced by someone else. We've worked together before, I just didn't know he was from the Moore family back then. It wasn't until he said he wanted the Poppy Devil's corpse that he revealed his identity. He said collecting corpses wasn't for the Moore family, but for his little sister."
"His little sister? Don't tell me his sister has a fetish for devil corpses."
"Arata, watch your mouth." Noriyuki nervously scanned their surroundings.
"He's already gone. My hearing is very sharp right now."
"Whether he's gone or not, you still can't just say things like that. He's from the Moore family, after all," Noriyuki said helplessly. "As for what's going on with his sister, I have no idea. But making money together is what's most important."
"Making money my ass. You only gave me 10 million out of a 60 million reward. Doesn't your conscience hurt?"
"I gave you 10 million and gifted you 3 devil corpses. Those three corpses are worth at least 20 million."
"What are the other two devils?"
"The Mantis Devil, and the Flea Devil."
"Just hearing the names tells me they aren't that strong. Definitely not worth 20 million."
"So do you want them or not?"
"I'd be a fool not to take them. Also, you still owe me 30 million."
"You just got 60 million and you're still asking me for money!!"
Noriyuki felt that Arata was even greedier than he was.
He then opened the back of the truck.
Both corpses were stored in tanks.
To save time, Arata directly absorbed the two devil corpses right there in the truck.
"Contracting the Corpse Devil sure is great. As long as you sacrifice a devil's corpse, you gain the power that devil had when it was alive. Even if you can't inherit 100 percent of the power, it's still not weak."
"Jealous? If you're jealous and have the skills, go contract a devil yourself."
After absorbing the two devil corpses.
Arata felt his blade skills and jumping ability increase significantly.
"Compared to other devils, I'd rather contract the Corpse Devil. As long as you keep collecting corpses, you get stronger." After joking around, Noriyuki asked seriously, "You definitely contracted more than just two devils, right?"
"Do I need to tell you everything? For all I know, you might turn around and expose me for money, so I have to keep a few cards close to my chest."
"Alright, it's getting late. You should hurry back and check on Power."
"No need. The one controlling Power isn't the Poppy Devil."
"You went back to check?"
"I don't need to go back to know. I'm going to take a nice hot bath in a bit. Tomorrow morning I still have a duel with Makima."
Arata finished speaking and got into the Mercedes.
Without giving Noriyuki a chance to ask any more questions, he drove off into the distance.
"A duel with Makima? You really are getting more and more insane."
Looking in the direction Arata had left.
Noriyuki shook his head helplessly.
Then, he got in his truck and drove away.
After the two left, a dark shadow leaped down from the sky and landed on the ground once again.
His gaze followed the direction Noriyuki and Arata had left, and a smile crept onto his lips. "After searching for so many years, I've finally found the most suitable man for my little sister."