Amber stared at Snapper suspiciously. "... Since when were you such a polite gentleman?"
"Guess you don't know me as well as you think you do."
It almost seemed as though he were talking to himself, as he mumbled his words while barely looking Amber's way.
"Hold on a minute," she said, as if suddenly coming to a realization. "Wolf, how were you even able to afford all of that equipment? No one gave you any money."
"Actually, Larg did… right after Mel asked him to."
"MEL!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? WHY THE HELL WOULD SHE–?"
"Keep your voice down, Amber. You can't just go around talking about a noble princess behind her back." Snapper worriedly tried to calm Amber down as she furiously leapt out of her seat.
"Oh please," she chuffed. "I can say whatever I want about her. It's not like she's here to fight back." Amber faced me again. "You still haven't answered me. Why would she pay someone she's only just met?"
Those bright, saffron-colored eyes of hers seemed to be burning more ferociously than usual, which made her appearance much more intimidating.
I gulped in fear of her wrath before I spoke.
"Umm… during our session with Larg, she claimed to have overpaid him for the information, and asked him to share some Mida with me since I'm just a poor beginner. That's all." For some reason, I felt like I had just been interrogated into a confession.
"Hmph, that better be all," Amber pouted as she sunk back into her chair. "You need to watch out for her, Wolf–she's definitely the crazy type."
Trust me, I'm already well aware.
...
After a few minutes of phatic exchange between us all, we began to worry about Larg's whereabouts as he was still yet to return.
The most concerned appeared to be Snapper, who repeatedly tapped his finger against the table in frustration.
"Where the hell is he?" he muttered. "Don't tell me the bastard decided to drink himself to sleep again?"
Snapper hit his face with his palm in utter disappointment as though his suspicions were pretty much confirmed already.
"Is it true that he actually sleeps on the streets?" Amber queried.
"That's just a rumor, but I'm pretty sure it might have happened a few times in the past. He has a home, and if he doesn't show up soon I'll be heading over there to wake him up myself."
"Can't we just leave without him?"
"The guy's an experienced Collector with a decent rank. Since I'm not confident that I can babysit you guys all on my own, I think we're gonna need him."
Amber frowned after listening to that reply.
I then watched May, who was nervously fidgeting with her hands while silently staring at the floor again.
I quietly encouraged her to speak her mind. "If you want to say something, now would probably be the best time."
She lightly nodded to me before taking a deep breath.
"Umm, M-Mr. Snapper?"
"Hmm?" His attention was stolen by her.
"Do you know anything about the Voiceless Viper?"
"... What!??"
Snapper looked around the room like he was making sure no one else heard what she just said.
"Are you crazy? Why the hell would you want to know anything about the Voiceless Viper?" he asked, quietening his voice.
"W-well, you see… "
May went on to explain her reasons for becoming a Collector, while giving a brief summary of the events that took place during her past. Amber gave a shocked reaction while Snapper's expression only hardened slightly.
"I heard from my father that you're a famous Voltaire from the North, so I assumed you might've known something about the Viper."
"I see… I guess your reason makes sense now," he said in a less intense manner. "You have quite the story there. It's hard to believe that both you and your father survived a confrontation with the Viper himself, and for this long too. He's made sure to take good care of any witnesses during those 14 years."
"I know…" May agreed. "It makes me wonder if he's been trying to hunt us down ever since."
"All the Viper's victims had circular holes in their heads," Snapper re-established while pressing a finger in the center of his forehead. "There hasn't been a death like that for a while now, so I kinda doubt that."
Although it was true, May still had a hard time believing that.
"Some Voltaire's don't even think he existed, since they've never actually seen him before."
"Really?" Amber interjected. "Wouldn't they have met him during Voltaire training or whatever?"
"Who knows," Snapper shrugged. "Everything about the Viper is just rumors and speculation. People don't actually know if he even was a Voltaire, or if he actually wears a mask."
"But... I'm sure I saw him that night…"
May claimed to have been exposed to some parts of the Viper's appearance, which she could describe to us.
Snapper didn't seem too convinced by this. After all, May was only three years old when she first saw him.
Nevertheless, we all leaned in, simultaneously focusing our attention towards May.
"A-although it's quite blurred, I remember an image of him being quite large… almost monster-like. He also wore a hooded cloak like he was trying to blend in with the darkness, so I couldn't see his clothes."
"How about his face?" Snapper asked eagerly. "Was he wearing a mask?"
"It was impossible to see anything behind his cloak, so I'm not sure if he was wearing a mask or not. Sorry…"
"Okay, how about his weapon?"
"I-I couldn't really get a good look at it either. All I know is that it was very long… something I've never seen before."
"'Something you've never seen before', huh?"
"Mhm," May nodded, "and it released some kind of high speed projectile too."
Snapper rubbed his fingers against his chin, then folded his arms.
"It's probably an X-card."
An X-card? I thought.
There are various 'card types' in this world.
Three of the most well-known are Tool cards (cards that can project attacks and other abilities), Manifest cards (cards with techniques and abilities that the user can naturally perform themselves), and Summon cards (cards that can summon beasts or sentient objects).
However, an X-card (also referred to as a Tool-Ex card) was something much rarer and known only to a minority of the entire population.
Larg previously mentioned that it was a special kind of tool card that allows the user to summon a weapon of an unknown path or variant–something that doesn't naturally exist in this world.
"I also believe his weapon might be an X-card," May confirmed. "Even my father's never seen a weapon like that before."
Snapper then asked if her father, who briefly fought against the Viper, was able to see any of his cards.
May shook her head.
Apparently, after Quinn had injured him, the Viper was only focused on escaping.
Using his weapon, he fired a projectile at Quinn's leg so he couldn't catch up to him.
"However, I'm almost certain that he has an evasive ability, or a utility card that allows him to become invisible."
She got this impression from how the Viper had suddenly appeared behind her adoptive father the night of his death, and the way he was easily able to escape Quinn during their short battle.
"That would explain why no one's ever seen him," Amber commented, "because they're physically unable to."
"Makes sense," Snapper concurred. "If he can turn invisible that would make him practically impossible to catch. That would also explain why your biological father was never able to find him. For all he knew, the Viper could've been watching his every move, just waiting for the right moment to strike."
"Okay, that's… absolutely terrifying…" Amber shuddered.
"The Viper's nothing but a coward." I watched as that same anger from before reappeared upon May's pale face. "He's just a lowly coward that hides away in the shadows, waiting for his opponents to let their guards down."
May's raw frustration was displayed by her clenched fists.
"I've heard some other Voltaire's say the same thing, but most of them are practically terrified of him."
"Does that include you?" Amber asked, seemingly curious.
"No... unlike you, I've actually got some balls."
Amber rolled her eyes in response to Snapper's awful joke.
"Maybelle." Snapper's stern expression melted into a gentle cast of fraternity, causing May to react in a startled manner.
"Y-yes?"
"I'd like to help you hunt down the Voiceless Viper."
May's mouth widened in surprise, unable to fully process his words.
"I'd also like to help…" Amber included. "Even though he totally freaks me out."
"You guys... thank you."
Maybelle was shocked, yet delighted to hear that we would all be joining her on her quest.
"No need to thank us. We're a party now, so we're in this togeth—"
Just as Amber was about to finish her sentence, she suddenly pursed her lips while facing me.
We both stared at each other with a sharp glare of acknowledgement.
"Is something the matter?" May asked us, noticing that we were both acting strangely.
However, it was merely our natural instincts that caused us to react to the sound of footsteps rushing toward the Collectors station.
"Someone's coming," we said, right before the doors were brutally swung open.