Hisomi and Requin were leaning against a wall next to each other. Hisomi—the squinting, nondescript Master—guiltily averted his eyes.
“My job involves gathering intelligence from outside of our usual circles, so it would have been problematic if I wasn’t well-informed,” Hisomi rationalized.
Requin shrugged. “I believed it was necessary. We were silent about Goh because we wanted you and Cesta to concentrate on P.A. As for Hei, well, our reasons for not telling him are fairly self-explanatory.”
Hei cared about nothing other than protecting Kaizer, so there would have been little point informing him about Goh anyway.
“Organizations like ours are supposed to have backchannels for dialogue anyway,” Goh added, jumping in to provide backup for Hisomi and Requin. “Thanks to that, you now know what kinda threat the Wicked Witch poses to all of us. It was only because I was battling near the rendezvous point that Hisomi and Requin realized I was in trouble and yanked my ass outta the fire. That midget freak woulda iced me otherwise.”
Goh had been meeting Hiro, Hisomi, and Requin regularly to trade info. The locations of these meetups would constantly change to maintain an extra layer of secrecy. Goh had been on his way to tell the other Masters about the Wicked Witch of the Tower when Nazuna had attacked him.
“I was absent for this particular rendezvous because I was in meeting after meeting with the dragonutes regarding how to respond to the Human Kingdom under the newly crowned Queen Lilith,” Hiro explained. “Still, I could hardly believe the Wicked Witch had a menace in her employ who could overpower you that badly, Goh.”
“If you had been there, Mr. Hiro, we would not have needed to recruit Mr. Hei for the rescue operation,” Hisomi said. “However, we were left with no other choice, since I am poorly adept for battle, and Mr. Requin is at a disadvantage on land. It would have been impossible for just the two of us to extricate Mr. Goh.”
“Indeed,” Requin agreed. “Though I would’ve easily been able to stall for time if we’d been underwater.”
Hiro had entrusted Hisomi and Requin to handle the last rendezvous with Goh since he had been busy meeting with Dragonute Empire officials, and while the two Masters were waiting at the meeting spot, they had heard loud noises reverberating around the forest. Hisomi and Requin had camouflaged their presence and carefully approached the scene of the battle, stopping just short of the range where they felt Nazuna could reasonably sense them. Even at a distance, they could tell Goh was on the verge of being beaten.
However, Hisomi was an intelligence operative, while Requin was more of an aquatic fighter. The two Masters might have been unbeatable against run-of-the-mill monsters and foes, but this was an adversary who even had Goh, of all people, at her mercy. Hisomi had been forced to use teleportation items to bring in Hei for backup, and the three Masters had managed to intervene and rescue Goh before Nazuna could land the final blow. In return, Goh had been able to provide them with valuable intelligence concerning the Wicked Witch.
Kaizer clicked his tongue. “Fine. At least we now know about the bruiser who handed you your ass.” While Kaizer looked like the type of tough guy who’d instantly retaliate at any perceived slight, he wasn’t a fool blinded by pride, which meant despite the other Masters keeping him in the dark, he readily accepted the value of staying in contact with a Master from the rival clique. Hiro inwardly breathed a sigh of relief now that this potentially explosive situation had been defused.
“I appreciate you seeing things our way, Kaizer,” Hiro said. “And while Goh used to lead our adversaries, he’s still a proficient fighter who expresses sympathy with our cause. This was part of the reason we developed a diplomatic back channel. On top of that, we’ve received valuable information about the tower witch from Goh, so I consider him our brother-in-arms and intend to save him a seat on P.A.”
“I agree,” Hisomi said.
“As do I,” Requin echoed.
“I’m cool with that,” Cesta added. “After all, he gave me a good laugh.”
“Only if Kaizer agrees,” Hei finally said, although Kaizer simply winced without saying anything, prompting Hiro to try to win him over some more.
“Goh has a very high power level, so we should welcome his strengths, considering our needs to defend ourselves,” he said. “We now know that exceptionally powerful warriors work for the witch, so we will need all the defensive assets we can acquire to make sure she doesn’t interfere with P.A.”
Kaizer clicked his tongue again. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”
With the consent of the foreman of the P.A. project, Goh officially became part of the Dragonute Empire’s faction of Masters. Hiro inwardly breathed another sigh of relief at this outcome, since a breakdown in discussions with Kaizer would have risked stalling P.A. indefinitely. Hiro wanted to avoid any setback of that kind by any means necessary, and it was clear that Kaizer also wanted to avoid any disruptions in P.A., so in his mind, he was perfectly willing to bring Goh on board. At the same time, he was hesitant to simply embrace his former enemy with open arms, but that was an issue concerning prideful emotions, rather than self-interest. Still sitting cross-legged on the carpet, Cesta—who didn’t care about Kaizer’s sentiments at all—raised his hands.
“Uh, hello, guys?” Cesta said, a pure, innocent smile splashed across his face. “Let’s not forget, the Wicked Witch absolutely whipped Goh’s butt. I’m totally intrigued, and now I wanna go mess with her. So can I go? Pretty please?”