The offer

"Himura Natsuo, what a pleasure having you here! I’m Richard More, the head of the Anti-Silence Unit, delighted to make your acquaintance." The man behind the desk smiled politely.

"As you might have imagined, I wanted you to come here because I have an offer for you, but first, take a seat." He pointed to the two chairs in front of him.

Natsuo sat down on one chair, while Gregory let Olive sit on the other one and he stood behind Natsuo.

"So, what’s your offer?" asked Natsuo.

Richard laughed amusedly.

"Don’t rush, why don’t we chat a little before?" He folded his hands under his chin. "I heard that you’re able to heal Silence and defeat silent monsters too. Is it true?"

Natsuo nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah, it’s true."

"I would like to see one of your miracles with my own eyes." Richard waved his hand and the other soldier in the room placed a cage on the desk.

There was a dying bird inside.

"This bird is affected by Silence. Would you mind healing it for me?" Richard asked.

Natsuo took his guitar from the case, hung it around his neck and started tuning it. Richard observed him with curiosity.

When he was done, Natsuo cracked his knuckles and rubbed the strings.

"Listen carefully, I’m gonna blow your mind" he said.

He started playing one of the most difficult guitar solos he knew. His fingers moved extremely fast in the fretboard, even Olive was astonished.

Richard watched him, dazed. From that thing he was using came a loud noise he had never heard. It was strange, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

Slowly, the bird, that was slumped on the bottom of the cage, got up under Richard’s shocked eyes.

When Natsuo ended the guitar solo, silence fell on the room. Everyone was waiting for the bird to twit to prove that it was really healed. After some time, the creature hopped and twitted happily.

Richard’s eyes widened, while Natsuo grinned satisfied. Gregory was also impressed, it was the first time he saw Natsuo healing Silence.

Richard cleared his throat and composed himself.

"Really impressive, Himura Natsuo. I didn’t imagine someone who could heal Silence would really appear, one day." He glanced at him with a cunning smile. "So, why don’t you join the Anti-Silence Unit? With you by our side we’ll be able to eradicate Silence, once and for all."

Natsuo thought about it. The Anti-Silence Unit was a military organization: if he joined them, he could say goodbye to his rockstar dream. His deeds would be associated with the Anti-Silence Unit, instead of his name. This would put a limit to Rockstar Isekai’s fame. Also, he didn’t want to become a soldier, but an artist.

Olive and Gregory glanced at him, waiting for his response.

"I’m sorry, but I have to refuse" he said.

Richard seemed surprised by his response.

"Can I ask you the reason?"

Natsuo smiled smugly.

"I’m not going to limit my ambition: a rockstar is not made for the military. I want to report to myself and I won’t let you take the credits of my music." He got up and put a hand on the desk. "But, don’t worry, I won’t leave without giving you anything."

He took a pen and wrote something on a piece of paper that was on the table.

"You can take my autograph."

Natsuo pushed the paper with his name written on it toward Richard, then turned his back to him.

"Gregory, Olive, let’s go" he said.

Gregory’s left corner of the lips slightly rose up. He knew that Natsuo wouldn’t have accepted Richard’s offer: it would have been too boring. He put a thumb down in Richard’s direction with a mocking grin depicted in his face and followed Natsuo.

Olive was still a bit startled by the situation, but she got up and followed the other two out of the room. Before exiting, she turned to Richard.

"See you at our concert!" she said, then winked.

They closed the door behind their back, leaving Richard alone with the other soldier. Richard was too stunned to speak. The soldiers of the Anti-Silence Unit were considered heroes, anyone else would have paid to accept his offer. Nevertheless, this guy refused and even looked down on him.

Richard laughed amusedly. He took the paper with Natsuo’s autograph and put it in a drawer.

"Himura Natsuo, great things await you."

Natsuo and the other two were walking through the corridor.

"Are you sure you wanted to refuse his offer?" asked Olive.

She had always dreamt of becoming part of the Anti-Silence Unit; seeing how fast Natsuo refused to join them was a bit surprising. Anyone, at least once, had wanted to become a member.

"Yes, it would just limit our fame. And they never said they would take all of us, so I had to refuse. As I said, I won’t leave any Rockstar Isekai member behind" Natsuo replied.

Olive put her hands on her chest and lowered her gaze, moved. Even in that situation, Natsuo thought about them. He could have chosen to leave them for his own good, but he didn’t. He was more thoughtful than he was letting on.

"Thank you" she said heartedly.

If he had accepted, she would have had to give up on her dream and return to her daily life at the inn: no more rock, no more freedom, no more anything… She was really grateful.

"For what? You’re my vocalist, remember?" Natsuo patted her head. "I won’t let you go back now for sure."

Olive looked up, blushing a little, and nodded happily.

At that moment, the sound of a bell ringing entered through the window and reached the corridor where the three guys were.

"Unit 2 requested, get ready to leave! White silent monsters spotted on the north side of the hill!"