Both Bart and Orville looked at Otto in unison when they heard his absurd reason. Orville, in particular, has this strange glint in his eyes as if he were mulling over something.
While Bart was more direct and retorted with a frown, "Don't spout nonsense. Even if Jack has some connection with the Killer Skull Society, if he's really a permanent member of the Zodiac Warrior Alliance, then do you think the Dark City will dare to kill him?"
The Dark Extermination Order of the Dark City was no secret to anyone. It was the highest rank kill order issued by the Dark City, a kind of wanted order the city would release against their enemies.
Normally, this order is only issued against individuals, but a few years ago, the Dark City released this order against the entire Killer Skull Society!
This leaves many curious about what society had done to make the Dark City so furious, but the reason remains a mystery to this day.
Anyhow, this makes the life of the skulls extremely difficult in Dark City, and they all have to hide their real identities and tread extremely carefully whenever they are inside the Dark City.
Not only that, but many people who were interested in becoming Dark Noble were hunting skulls like mad dogs because it would give them Dark Merit Points, which generally could only be earned by clearing Dark Missions.
That's why those skulls didn't dare to reveal their identities because once discovered, anyone could kill them in Dark City; there was no punishment.
Now Otto's calling Jacob a spy from the society was putting a huge target above his head, and if this kind of rumor was spread, even the Alchemy Guild won't be able to middle if Dark City decided to act.
However, Jacob's identity as a Permanent Member would still give him at least a chance to come clean.
Because every skull will have a brain chip inside its head, and there were many ways to detect them in the Dark City. So, this accusation could be easily resolved. Still, it would be a stain on the person's reputation.
Otto also knew this, and he was planning to use this method to cause some strife between Dark City and Jacob. At the very least, it would make him leave the Alchemy Guild building.
But this plan was supposed to activate after Braylon's visit. However, now that Otto saw Orville's unusual interest in Jacob, he knew Orville was up to something here, and he couldn't be good.
So, he just lit the fire and decided to see if the winds would come or not.
"Oh, my mistake. It was just a slip of the tongue. How could young fellow Jack have belonged to that society of misfits? It could be that he was able to escape from their grasp. We should ask him some time on a drink." Otto laughed in embarrassment as if he really blurted it out without thinking.
Everyone knew the Dwarf race was quite straightforward, so Bart nodded in understanding while Orville merely chuckled without saying anything.
Afterward, Bart and Otto led Orville toward the meeting room, where the meeting would start after Braylon's arrival.
As for Jacob, they no longer mention him again since they knew things would become apparent in this meeting. Jacob was already invited by Rita, so he should be here. At least, that's what they thought.
---
Jacob, at this moment, was still reading the book and had been since Rita ran away after his abrupt 'invitation.'
Still, she didn't forget to slap him, though, which dodged by Jacob without much effort. This only made the blushing elf even more embarrassed and furious, and she could only run away while calling him 'scoundrel beast.'
However, Jacob has little impact since he was used to the term 'one-night stand' and wasn't embarrassed at all after being rejected. It was just a fleeting emotion that was suddenly aroused after he heard Rita's answer.
Now, he has completely forgotten about it as he was immense in his studies. At least Rita won't look to disturb him anymore, and he will look for her himself when he wants to enter the magic smith workshop.
As for Braylon, he was even less important.
However, when another knock on his door rang, Jacob knew he should create a sign of 'Do not disturb' and hang it outside his door.
But he knew it wasn't needed because only a few people could approach his door because his apartment was inside a Senior Grandmaster Rank level workshop, and not anyone could enter.
Furthermore, if Jacob had bothered to look around the facility, he could have easily discovered a function of this facility that would completely block it for even the Senior Grandmasters.
Frowning, Jacob stood up and moved toward the door as he knew it wasn't Rita because this heartbeat was quite different from hers.
Just as he opened the door, he looked down and saw a gnome standing there with a pale expression. He was the same gnome who led him to the test facility when he was taking the Senior Grandmaster test.
"What is it?" He coldly asked.
The gnome named, Cidery felt he was standing in front of a terrifying existence and quickly blurted, "S-senior, I'm your floor assistant. Please forgive the intrusion, but I just received a message from the top floor that Senior Braylon has arrived, and now everyone is waiting for you."
Jacob remained expressionless, "Why are they waiting for me?"
Cidery was speechless by this response and didn't know how to answer, so he uttered while stuttering, "I-I-I do… don't k-know!"
"Then go find out." Finished saying, he closed the door before Cidery could react.
Having no choice, Cidery could only run away to get the answer with an ashen expression.
This was his first time experiencing such a situation. Usually, a senior grandmaster would just go as long as they were summoned to the top floor without asking for any reason. However, Jacob not only didn't go, but he was asking for a reason.
Thereupon, Cidery again came back with a pale expression and knocked on the door again. When Jacob appeared with the same dismissive look in his eyes, he quickly reported, "They say Senior Braylon wanted to meet you!"
Jacob then nodded his head before he closed the door leaving one sentence behind when he almost made Cidery faint with trepidation.
"Tell him to get his ass here if he wants to meet me!"