I don't want to be an elf!

If it weren't for the fact that Tokisaki Kurumi's origins and abilities are too mysterious, even Mori Ougai, the most cunning of all the bosses, wouldn't be confident that he could keep her firmly by his side. Otherwise, she would definitely have become the organization's most powerful trump card.

If properly trained, he might even be able to replace Dazai Osamu and become the next Port Mafia Boss.

However, such fantasies are just that—fantasies.

At least for now, Mori Ougai knows he has no way of gaining Tokisaki Kurumi's loyalty, let alone grooming her as the next Boss.

"Deal with your clone as soon as possible. The longer this drags on, the worse it will be for you."

With a sigh of regret, Mori Ougai turned his attention back to the topic of discussion. "I also don't want the Port Mafia to have to spare extra manpower for your branch when they are fighting the Armed Detective Agency."

"This is a consequence of my mistake, and I will naturally try my best to eliminate it."

"However, we can't let up on the bounty on Atsushi Nakajima. It's been almost a month since we accepted the group's commission, and the client is getting impatient."

"Oh? I see."

Upon hearing this news, Kurumi Tokisaki's eyes flickered slightly, but she didn't reveal anything.

While her employer's urging was bad news for the Port Mafia, it was good news for her.

She held back during her encounter with the armed detectives to buy as much time as possible, hoping that the North American "team" would eventually get impatient and come to arrest her themselves.

Only in this way can side quest two be completed.

However, she couldn't confirm the approximate time when the group would arrive in Yokohama, which prevented her from slacking off in peace.

However, since Mori Ougai has already told her that the group is getting impatient, they should take some action soon.

It can take anywhere from half a month to a month.

"I don't doubt your abilities, it's just that your work ethic makes me feel compelled to urge you to complete the task as soon as possible."

Mori Ougai glanced at her while looking at the report in his hand: "According to the intelligence I have, when you were fighting the traitorous clone, Dazai Osamu and Nakajima Atsushi were drawn over. This was a good opportunity, but you did not make a move."

"Because I don't know if there are other detective agency members lying in ambush nearby."

When Mori Ougai realized that she had gone easy on him, Tokisaki Kurumi felt a little guilty and could only make up an excuse on the spot.

She couldn't very well tell Mori Ōgai that she was 100% certain she could catch Nakajima Atsushi, but chose to let him go.

However, she was indeed in the wrong this time, and Mori Ougai caught her out.

“Being well-prepared before attacking is indeed a good idea; otherwise, a mistake will only make them more vigilant,” Mori Ougai said. “I will have all the Black Lizards on standby to assist you in your next operation and increase the chances of success.”

When Tokisaki Kurumi heard that Mori Ougai wanted to send her more people, she wanted to refuse outright.

Are you kidding me? How can she happily slack off when she's on a mission with a black lizard?

But then she realized that one of the reasons Mori Ōgai had asked her to carry out the mission with the black lizard was perhaps to test whether she was taking the mission seriously.

If she accepts, it means she also wants to complete the task as soon as possible; but if she refuses, it means she has something to hide.

After thinking for a moment, Kurumi Tokisaki decided to indirectly reject the proposal, saying, "I have other clones who can assist me. The members of the Black Lizard can be used in other places where they are needed more."

"If that's the case, why didn't you bring Nakajima Atsushi back with the other clones this time?"

"what......"

Mori Ougai seized on a flaw in her excuse, and Tokisaki Kurumi's resolve wavered drastically.

Yes, in Mori Ougai's view, the reason he didn't arrest Nakajima Atsushi this time was because he was worried that the Armed Detective Agency had laid an ambush and that their superior numbers would be used against him alone.

It was for this reason that Mori Ougai proposed sending the Black Lizards as reinforcements so that Tokisaki Kurumi would not be outnumbered.

However, Kurumi Tokisaki rejected the proposal, arguing that she had enough clones to deal with the Armed Detective Agency.

If that's the case, why not just summon a clone and fight the Armed Detective Agency members from the start?

Kurumi Tokisaki's heart raced, her mind racing as she tried to come up with an excuse to salvage the situation.

As the silence stretched on, just before Mori Ougai was about to become suspicious, her eyes suddenly lit up as she figured out how to deal with the problem.

"Because of the betrayal of one of my clones, I have decided not to release them for the time being. If more than one clone wants to betray me, the situation will become very bad."

Mori Ougai thought about it for a moment, then nodded slightly, seemingly agreeing with the reason.

"Indeed, there may be more than one of your clones harboring rebellious intentions. We need to deal with them first, pick out the disloyal clones and eliminate them, so that we won't be stabbed in the back during the battle."

Seeing that Mori Ougai had accepted the excuse, Tokisaki Kurumi let out a soft breath, her agitated emotions calming down slightly.

Indeed, this Port Mafia boss should not be underestimated.

Even when he possessed most of the information about the other party, while the other party knew almost nothing about him, Mori Ougai almost managed to expose his own lies.

If it weren't for her quick thinking, Mori Ougai would probably be suspecting by now whether she deliberately let Nakajima Atsushi go.

Kurumi Tokisaki made a decision in her heart.

In the future, when talking to Mori Ōgai, I must be 100% focused and think through every word before I speak.

To slack off under such a shrewd and highly intelligent underworld boss, one cannot afford to be complacent at all.

Taking a deep breath, Kurumi Tokisaki maintained her elegant smile and said, "Give me a week, and I will use that time to properly deal with the other clones."

"A week? You have more than four clones?" Mori Ougai asked.

During the previous battle between Tokisaki Kurumi and Akutagawa Ryunosuke, a total of four clones appeared.

However, if there are only four clones that need to be dealt with, it obviously wouldn't take a whole week.

"Yes, Mr. Mori, currently I have two..."

Kurumi Tokisaki paused for a moment.

"Twenty as many as that."

Chapter 51 The Yaksha's Visit

During the time she fought Ryunosuke Akutagawa, she did indeed only have four clones.

It wasn't because she deliberately concealed her strength; it was simply because she was limited by time constraints at that time and couldn't summon more clones.

Just three days ago, in order to summon the unique clone of the Four Heavenly Kings, Kurumi Tokisaki spent almost the entire night harvesting outside, summoning nearly two hundred ordinary clones before finally managing to summon Bandage Three, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

She originally planned to tell Mori Ougai the truth and tell him that she had two hundred clones.

But then she thought about it again, and for Mori Ōgai's heart health and sleep quality, she thoughtfully reduced the number to one-tenth.

Two hundred clones—that number already exceeds the total number of all official members of the Port Mafia, including those with superpowers and ordinary people in the combat, finance, assassination, and intelligence groups.

Not to mention that all two hundred clones have the ability to infiltrate the shadows and control flintlock pistols. Even if they cannot control Zafkiel, just based on these two abilities, any one of the two hundred clones could be called a superhuman.

Although he is a weaker superhuman in combat, he is still a superhuman.

Two hundred clones mean two hundred superhumans.

Even the powerful port mafia has no more than twenty people with superpowers in its organization.

It's no exaggeration to say that Kurumi Tokisaki alone is an army.

If Mori Ougai knew that he had two hundred clones, he would definitely not be able to sleep.

Mori Ougai remained silent for a long time, his slender fingers tapping lightly on the table, a strange light flashing in his deep eyes.

He seemed to want to say something, opened his mouth, but then gave up.

Although Kurumi Tokisaki thoughtfully stated that there were only 20 clones instead of 200, even 20 clones are still a force to be reckoned with for the Port Mafia.

Especially when this force is not controlled by those in power.

“I’ve approved your request for one week,” Mori Ougai said. “But after one week, I would like to see you lead your clones on a mission to capture the bounty target and eliminate the traitorous clones.”

"Of course."

"Now, you can leave."

"As you wish."

Kurumi Tokisaki retreated into the shadows of the office and disappeared.

After she disappeared, Mori Ougai turned on his computer, wrote down the information and clues he had learned from his conversation with Tokisaki Kurumi, and uploaded them to the database.

Combining the information he had previously obtained, Mori Ōgai tried to connect them, thinking and summarizing as he went.

Deleting most of the previous speculations about Tokisaki Kurumi's supernatural abilities, Mori Ougai slowly wrote:

1. Kurumi Tokisaki's flintlock pistol is suspected to be a creation of supernatural power; the energy bullets it fires can easily pierce through the human body.

2. Kurumi Tokisaki can infiltrate her own shadow and appear anywhere covered by shadow.

3. The clock phantom that appears behind Kurumi Tokisaki is called [Zafkiel]. It has twelve abilities to manipulate time. The six known abilities are: teleportation (time acceleration?), time stop, summoning itself from other timelines, reading memories from objects, healing injuries (time reversal?), and infiltrating shadows. The remaining six abilities are unknown.

5. There is no clear upper limit to the number of clones that can be created; currently, Kurumi Tokisaki has around 20 clones.

6. The clone does not have the ability to manipulate time, but can use shadows and a flintlock pistol; its estimated combat strength is that of an average superhuman.

7. The clone has its own consciousness and will, and may conflict with or even break with the original body.

8. Kurumi Tokisaki's past personality is vastly different from her current personality. She has undergone a tremendous transformation, which is suspected to be her biggest secret.

After uploading all the intelligence he had compiled to the database and having the intelligence team analyze it, Mori Ougai let out a long sigh of relief.

While he couldn't say he had completely mastered it, Mori Ōgai had at least learned about some of Tokisaki Kurumi's abilities.

However, the more he learned, the more wary he became of this girl of unknown origin.

Kurumi Tokisaki only revealed a portion of her abilities, yet he already felt helpless.

This is not a good sign.

Just as Mori Ougai was pondering various things about her, the phone next to her suddenly rang.

This forced him to temporarily stop thinking and pick up the phone.

"Lord Ougai, I have completed my mission and am on my way back." A gentle and mature female voice came from behind.

"Kurenai, you're really efficient this time." Mori Ougai recognized the voice. "I thought you wouldn't be able to finish the mission for three or four days. Has something special happened?"

In the Port Mafia, besides the Boss, there are five executive positions.

The team includes the head of the combat team, the head of the funding team, the head of the assassination team, the head of the intelligence team, and a team leader responsible for training new recruits.

After the defection of Osamu Dazai, the former head of the intelligence group, the intelligence group was merged with the assassination group because there was no suitable replacement.

The leader of these two groups is the woman who is talking to Mori Ōgai.