Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]
Chapter 24: New names, New Faces

Chapter 24: New names, New Faces

Who knew the best sleep Kai had ever managed in this world would come after days of travel, a giant city, and the constant threat of an S-Rank assassin knocking on his door. He woke feeling surprisingly refreshed, the morning light soft against the curtains of his inn room in Voltra. For once there had been no A-Rank beasts, no forest fog, and no Elias standing over his bed. He stretched, still half-believing the quiet would last.

Then came the knock.

Kai froze. He already knew who it was.

"Rise and shine, partner. Guild day."

Kai opened the door and immediately regretted it. Elias stood there fully dressed, looking far too awake and far too pleased with himself.

"Why are you this excited?"

"Because this is our first official day as mission partners."

"Temporary mission partners."

"The difference is meaningless."

"It is extremely important."

Kai groaned and shut the door on him.

"Come on! Where to?"

"Stay there! I have to Change"

"Awwwn let me see! Just a peek please" kai could swear he could hear the scumbag moaning. He felt his skin itch. He dressd quickly and opened the door to a drooling Elias who was in an akward pose.

Kai couldn’t look, he Knew what it was

"You fucking pervert"

"Come on! I was just admiring you"

"That is no way to admire someone"

Their argument continued all the way down the stairs. The innkeeper watched them leave with the expression of someone who had already decided both of them were slightly insane.

Before they could report to the Voltra Adventurer’s Guild they needed temporary identities. The mission was sensitive and the Guild did not want them walking around openly advertising that they were investigating disappearances. In a quiet side room of a smaller Guild office they received the documents.

Kai studied his carefully. His temporary name was Ren Arclight.

Occupation: independent researcher.

Reason for being in Voltra: cataloguing regional magical anomalies for a private client. Temporary F-Rank Adventurer registration and travel papers were included. The System recorded it at once.

[Temporary Identity Registered.]

[Identity Separation Protocol: Active.]

[Primary Identity: Kai Valerius.]

[Operational Identity: Ren Arclight – Concealed.]

Elias’s papers listed him as Vesper Cain, a freelance security consultant with prior contracts in several major cities. Kai glanced at the documents and then at Elias.

"This looks... used."

Elias smiled.

"Assassins tend to keep a few identities warm. Vesper has been useful before."

Kai decided he did not want to know how many others existed.

"My name is fine," Kai said. "Simple. Easy to remember."

Elias looked him over.

"It doesn’t suit someone as beautiful as you."

"I will leave you behind."

"I withdraw the comment."

He was clearly not sorry.

The Voltra Adventurer’s Guild itself left Kai speechless. It was not a single building with a quest board. It was a massive complex that felt like a city inside the city, blending advanced magic with sophisticated architecture. Multiple floors rose above the main plaza. Magical displays floated in the air showing available quests. There were registration departments, quest management offices, information services, medical wings, training arenas, equipment halls, investigation departments, monster research divisions, intelligence offices, and private meeting rooms. Transportation counters offered travel arrangements across entire regions.

Kai stared, mouth agape.

"What?" He said, this was almost similar to an ultra modern mall back from his world.

"It’s massive right?"

"It is"

"The normal size of an adventurers guild in a big city"

"This is normal?"

Elias shrugged.

"For a city the size of Voltra, yes."

When they presented their documents Kai’s F-Rank status immediately drew a look from the receptionist. She glanced at the papers, then at Kai, then back at the papers. The silent question was obvious: why was an F-Rank accompanying an S-Rank on a restricted mission? Elias stepped in smoothly.

"He’s my partner for this job."

"Temporary partner," Kai corrected.

The receptionist did not care. The mission authorization from the previous city was already on file. She processed the documents and directed them to a private office on an upper floor.

Their field agent was waiting. Her name was Seris Vane. She was a woman in her early thirties with sharp dark eyes, short practical hair, and the calm posture of someone who spent more time reading reports than swinging swords. Her specialty was information networks, city bureaucracy, and long-term case tracking. She greeted them with a professional nod.

Ren Arclight. Vesper Cain, i am Seris Vane nice to meet you. I’ve been assigned as your local contact. You’ll handle the field work. I’ll handle logistics, access, and whatever the city records can give us."

She spread a thick set of files across the table.

Kai was a tad bit surprised by her quick efficiency but instantly came to appreciate it.

"Twenty-seven missing persons over the last four months. Six confirmed missing Adventurers. Four previous investigation attempts. All of them either failed or went incomplete. The cases look disconnected at first glance—different districts, different races, different occupations, different times of day. No clear monster signature. No large-scale destruction. People simply vanish."

Kai and Elias began reviewing the documents. Maps of the city, witness statements, last known locations, and the thin reports left by the earlier teams covered the table. Kai discreetly used Arcane Eye on several papers that carried faint magical residue while the System quietly organized everything he saw.

[Case Data Organized.]

[Missing Persons: 27.]

[Confirmed Missing Adventurers: 6.]

[Previous Investigations: 4.]

[Current Common Factors: Insufficient.]

[Potential Pattern Detected – reliability low. Additional data required.]

Elias leaned back.

"I want to talk to people. Documents lie. People sweat."

Kai shook his head.

"Documents leave patterns. People forget or hide things on purpose."

Seris watched them argue for a full minute before speaking.

"You’re both right. You’ll need both approaches. The city is too large to cover everything at once. You’ll have to choose a starting point."

She activated a large magical projection of Voltra. Hundreds of districts lit up across the map. Several of the disappearances clustered near major transportation routes. Others sat close to areas with heavy Adventurer traffic. Neither observation was enough on its own.

"Your first assignment is not a direct confrontation," Seris said. "Visit the district of the most recent disappearance. Speak with the selected witnesses. Verify the timeline. Check whether the victim had any unusual connections. Determine if the previous investigators missed anything. Once you have that, we reassess."

Kai studied the map, feeling the weight of the task. Millions of people. Thousands of streets. And somewhere inside all of it, people were disappearing.

Elias leaned over his shoulder to look at the same map. Kai immediately pushed him back.

"Personal space."

"We’re partners."

"Temporary partners."

Seris quietly closed the door behind them as they left the office with their temporary identities, city maps, case files, and first assignment. The System delivered one final notification.

[Temporary Investigation Team Established.]

[Operational Partner: Elias (Vesper Cain).]

[Field Contact: Seris Vane.]

[Mission Preparation: Complete.]

[Next Phase: Investigation.]

Kai pointed a finger at Elias as they walked back into the vast Guild plaza.

"One thing. If you ruin this mission because you can’t behave, I will personally throw you off the tallest building in Voltra."

Elias smiled.

"Which one?"

Kai’s eye twitched. The mission had not even started yet, and somehow he already had a headache.