I! Cleaner!-Chapter 449 - 387: Secret Technique Mark

"Sorry..."

With the sigh of the middle-aged man with a square face, the golden archer centaur emblem surprisingly emerged directly from the mirror and floated in front of Leon and the red-haired director.

"It’s not that I don’t want to help, but the Watcher’s Palace can’t afford any mistakes, so..."

"I understand."

Surprised to see the archer emblem in the air, a smile appeared on the red-haired director’s face. She then grabbed Leon’s wrist and slightly nodded, saying:

"You have no choice either. Compared to us, ensuring the safety of the Watcher’s Palace is more important."

"I... sigh... I’m sorry for you."

Somewhat guilty towards the red-haired director, the Archer Director sighed, turned around preparing to leave, but upon noticing the action on the other side of the Celestial Globe Mirror, he suddenly turned back, full of surprise.

"Wait! What are you doing?"

Seeing the red-haired director holding Leon’s hand, ready to imprint on the archer’s emblem, the middle-aged man with a square face hastily exclaimed:

"Stop! That’s meant for you! What use does my secret art seal have for a level three Cleaner?"

"Don’t worry, Lord Archer."

After pressing Leon’s hand to the golden pattern, the red-haired director shook her head and said:

"Leon is much more exceptional than you think. Even if I had your secret art seal, I couldn’t catch up to the King of Nightmares, but if Leon has it, it might even have some miraculous effect!"

"..."

"Fine, do as you please!"

Glancing at Leon, who has remained silent and showed no "aura of a strong person," the disappointed middle-aged man with a square face shook his head, then left the range of the Celestial Globe Mirror, dragging along the curious Director of Pisces.

Similarly surprised, the Director of Taurus, after noticing the little red cross on Leon’s collar, revealed a knowing look and then returned to a kind expression, smiling as he encouraged:

"Good luck, young one. If you can really help Olivia through this crisis, I’ll make sure to give you a great gift!"

"..."

"Ah!"

After someone pinched the soft flesh on his arm, Leon snapped back to reality with a shiver, and hurriedly thanked:

"Thank you, Lord Taurus, I’ll do my best!"

"Yes, but also remember to be careful. If it’s really impossible, don’t force yourself, and Olivia, you as well..."

After reminding Leon and the others to be safe, the Director of Taurus seemed to remember something, glanced at Leon’s face, and then hesitated a bit before saying:

"Also... if you still want to drink, once this matter is resolved, I can send over a batch of wine without Word Spirit added. This time you..."

"Cough cough cough!"

Not expecting her to suddenly bring this up, Leon, who was examining the secret art seal, remembered the extremely spicy wine from the Realm of the Dead. Instantly, his expression became awkward, his face flushed, and he waved his hand nervously:

"I quit! We’ve quit drinking! No need to..."

"Drink! We want to drink!"

"Alright, just wait for it!"

Seeing Leon’s mouth forcibly covered, the Director of Taurus couldn’t help but smile and shake his head, then proactively shut off the Celestial Globe Mirror.

...

It’s great, I didn’t expect an unexpected gain.

Retracting her hand after covering Leon’s mouth, the red-haired director rubbed her shoulder against him, then gleefully put away the Celestial Globe Mirror, smilingly asked:

"Have you figured out the secret art seal of the Archer Director?"

Upon hearing her words, Leon subconsciously looked at the panel.

[Name: Sagittarius Secret Art Seal (Secret Art, Temporary)]

[Appearance: A golden centaur holding a longbow, when exposed to direct sunlight, a coronal-like brilliant glow appears, revealing three bright golden arrow patterns]

[Ability: Can temporarily use the "Abnormal Strengthening" secret art of the Sagittarius Palace]

[Cost: Each time targeting an abnormal object, using the archer’s secret art will consume one arrow. After using all three arrows, this temporary abnormal object will disappear on its own]

[Archive: Inspired by the conviction of Olivia, the Virgo branch director, combined with the guilt of being unable to help, the current Archer Director of the Clean-up Bureau condensed this secret art seal at the cost of three years of his life, which can be used a total of three times.

The abnormal object locked by this seal, upon its next activation, will have its effects greatly enhanced, lasting until the end of that use. The specific degree of enhancement is equivalent to the "Abnormal Strengthening" secret art personally released by the Archer Director]

[Evaluation: These are the three strands of life-saving fur that the Archer Bodhisattva got by burning lives, make sure to treasure them and never use them to enhance your forged abnormal objects]

[Contamination Value: 0.1]

"I’ve pretty much figured it out..."

After reading the note "at the cost of three years of life" in the archive, Leon said with a somewhat complex expression:

"Actually, although the Archer Director is a bit stubborn and his words sound a bit indifferent, he seems to be quite a good person."

"Yes."

Hearing Leon’s words, the red-haired director nodded and said:

"The Archer Director is upright and serious, emphasizing rules greatly. Though not as amiable as Lord Taurus, he’s certainly not a bad person. The Director of Pisces is a bit quirky, but also can be trusted.

Or one could say, aside from Aquarius, among the remaining eleven directors, although they each have some small issues, most of them are still quite good."

"..."

Most of them are quite good... does that imply there are one or several that are not so good, maybe even terribly bad?

Understanding the implication of the red-haired director’s words, Leon couldn’t help but ask:

"Not even directors are necessarily good people... Director, has the Clean-up Bureau always been this disorganized over the years?

For instance, right now, with such a major issue of the King of Nightmares invading, just because the Scorpio Bureau director doesn’t get along with you, they don’t have to come over to help? Haven’t any of the past directors thought about managing this better?"

"It’s not that no one wants to manage it, but how do you manage it?"

The red-haired director sighed and spread her hands helplessly, saying:

"The directors don’t need to be mentioned, whether they can inherit the secret arts depends on their aptitude. In the past, there were many times we couldn’t even gather twelve directors, and the star palace and secret arts represented by the directors are some of the most important trump cards of the bureau.

Even if a qualified person is a rotten person, having a director is better than not having one. After all, no matter how rotten, they are still a person who won’t wholly turn to the Evil Gods or similar existences that want to destroy humanity. At critical moments, they usually can step up."

"..."

In that case, that’s true as well...

"As for the branch offices, they are even more troublesome."

Patting Leon’s shoulder, the red-haired director continued:

"Each branch’s Cleaners are basically recruited and trained little by little by the branch director personally. Most Cleaners below the branch director have never even been to the headquarters in their lifetime.

They basically have no way to contact the headquarters, and orders received are all conveyed by the branch director, so they’re not familiar with the situation of the headquarters... for instance, you and I, if orders from the headquarters conflict with mine, whose would you follow?"

"That’s simple."

Without any hesitation, Leon immediately replied:

"If you haven’t been drinking, I’ll follow yours; if you have, I’ll follow the headquarters."

"..."

Ugh, should have used another example...

Seeing Leon give an answer without even a moment’s hesitation, the red-haired director rolled her eyes and said in exasperation:

"In short, the directors of the branches hold considerable power and autonomy.

Among them, the Non-Zodiac Branch directors are weaker, only able to suppress ordinary True Gods with the help of the star palaces, and are relatively obedient. However, the directors of the Zodiac Branch and the directors are the same, with Leon Values between 60 and 70, and without considering secret techniques, their powers are basically equal.

And someone like me, whose max Leon Value with the star palace’s blessing can break 70 points, making me slightly stronger than many directors at the Zodiac Bureau. As long as we don’t openly break with the bureau rules, the headquarters can’t do much, you understand?"

"I mostly understand."

"If you understand, then let’s get to work."

Leaving several strands of vibrant red hair on Leon’s shoulder, the red-haired director retracted her hand, stood up, and left, saying:

"Let’s get going, Leon. We might need this when dealing with the King of Nightmares!"

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