Chapter 10
[Max’s Mercenary Office]
The signboard produced by the Bohemian Mercenary Association had arrived.
He had debated whether to include a specific word or the district number, but ultimately went with his name.
The primary goal was to make his name known, not as Max Steiger, but as Mercenary Max.
[Now I can receive customers too.]
The Refrigerator, sofa, desk, water purifier, and other items he had ordered along with the office lease arrived one after another, changing the previously desolate atmosphere.
Placing a tin can filled with a large number of lollipops on the Computer Desk marked the end of the initial interior decorating.
He wondered if he should go buy a potted plant as an addition, but the decorating ended here.
The female Employee who had visited previously to arrange the request had returned, bringing a diffuser as an opening gift.
“Max-nim. Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m perfectly fine. But I can’t take any requests that require me to head out today. An important Customer is coming.”
“It is related to the request, but it’s a different matter, so you don’t need to worry. It won’t take long, either.”
Max checked his Smartphone.
He still had some time before the Crimsonhowl mother and daughter were scheduled to arrive.
After accepting the gift the Employee handed him and guiding her to the sofa, he tore open the coffee packet he had placed on top of the water purifier.
Max asked while making his own drink.
“I have Black Coffee and Fruit Juice. What would you like?”
“Coffee is fine.”
As soon as Max placed the coffee on the table and sat opposite her, the Employee began the conversation.
“I’ll get straight to the point. The Association has decided to waive the commission fee for your First Request Reward, Max-nim.”
If one looked only at the sentence, it was definitely good news.
Even so, Max’s expression became ambiguous, as if he didn’t understand, because he was perfectly aware that nothing in the world was free.
“What do you want?”
“There are some details that need confirmation. I’d like to ask you some questions directly, Max-nim.”
“I guess the result of blowing up the target wasn’t enough of an answer. And the explanation I gave over the phone must have been lacking, too.”
“That is correct.”
“A 2nd-Tier Mercenary is, at best, just a consumable for the Association… What are you so curious about?”
The Employee did not deny Max’s words.
She simply asked about the matters she needed to grasp.
“First of all…”
They filled in the details they hadn’t been able to convey over the phone through their conversation.
The Employee, having meticulously recorded the contents, pressed her pen against her temple with a serious face.
“…Dark blood vessels on the face, and pupils leaving only the whites of the eyes. Based on the symptoms alone, there’s a high probability it was White Rampage.”
“What is that?”
When Max asked, pretending not to know, the Employee warned him sternly.
“It’s a doping agent that ruins lives.”
“Well, all doping agents do that.”
“No. This is different from the doping agents circulating in the market.”
“What makes it so different? Is it the addictiveness?”
“The addictiveness is one thing, but the side effects are particularly severe. If the side effect is physical ruin, it can be replaced with machinery, but if the drug damages the mind, there is no technology to replace it.”
“Oho.”
She knew very well how serious a substance it was.
“Furthermore, the annihilation of the employees of Ghost Logic, their employer, leaves too many questions to simply say it was done while intoxicated on drugs.”
“I was surprised to see it too. If rumors spread, the Association that sent mercenaries to Ghost Logic will have quite a headache.”
“…”
The Employee fell silent for a moment, as if a possibility had come to mind.
Max waited quietly.
“Max-nim, did you happen to see what was loaded in the target truck?”
“I didn’t have time to look. I was so harassed by those two junkies that I wanted to lie down right then and there.”
“…I see.”
Max threw a fundamental question at the Employee, who seemed to know a lot of information.
“Does the Mercenary Association have something to gain by digging into the details instead of just ending it with the completion of the request? If you keep sticking your foot in like that, you’ll lose the Client’s trust.”
It was hard for Max to understand why the Mercenary Association, which only needed to do as it was told, was acting like a detective.
But it seemed they had their own reasons.
“It’s difficult to tell you the details, but even though our Association has power, it’s not to the extent that we can act while ignoring the massive corporations of Haze.”
“It seems there’s a Corporation that would be hard to go against if you trace this matter up. Asahi Technology? Vector Mobility? Cheonmyeong Pharmaceuticals?”
Max intentionally mixed Cheonmyeong Pharmaceuticals into his sentence.
“It is difficult to speak on that matter.”
However, the Employee didn’t show the slightest reaction.
[Whether there really is no connection, or if she’s just incredibly good at managing her facial expressions…]
The Employee stood up from her seat, as if she had heard all the necessary information.
She showed the courtesy of saying she would see him next time there was a request, and left the office.
* * *
“Huh?”
Flora, who had arrived in front of the building in District 27 following the address Max had sent, checked the signboard again.
Her sharply pointed ears twitched in question.
[Max’s Mercenary Office]
Seeing the name hanging there, she didn’t feel like she had come to the wrong place.
But it was unexpected.
[Doesn’t the Steiger Family hate mercenaries…?]
That wasn’t all. The father-son relationship she had seen at the meal also weighed on her mind.
Feeling an inexplicable tension, Flora climbed the narrow stairs. The office door was wide open.
As Flora cautiously appeared, Max, who had been sitting in his chair with a Lollipop in his mouth, smiled and stood up.
And Flora read it.
[He’s gotten stronger.]
Max Steiger had reached the 2nd-tier.
He wasn’t just at the entry level, either; there was depth to it.
“Ah, you’re here! You’ve gone through a lot of trouble coming all the way to District 27. Please come in.”
“…Excuse me.”
Upon entering, Flora held out the bag she was carrying.
“Here you go. The side dishes.”
“Thank you. But where is Enri Crimsonhowl-nim?”
Because Max was so eager to greet her and express his gratitude, Flora barely managed to speak.
“I ended up coming alone. My mother had something come up.”
“That’s a shame… I would appreciate it if you could tell her that I’m truly thankful and will enjoy the food.”
At his polite words, Flora nodded.
Max guided Flora, who was standing blankly, to the sofa.
“Please, sit comfortably.”
“…”
“I have Black Coffee and Fruit Juice. What can I get you?”
“Juice, please. I can’t drink bitter things…”
Max put the side dishes straight into the Refrigerator and sat opposite Flora.
Placing the drinks down, it was the same setup as with the Employee earlier.
“Come to think of it, I only mentioned that I was moving and couldn’t give you the details.”
“If you had told me, I would have brought one, an opening gift…”
“Haha! It’s fine.”
He hadn’t known because they had barely spoken at the meal the other day.
Flora used a peculiar inversion in her speech every now and then.
[Did Flora use this kind of speech pattern during this period?]
It was quite cute.
The brutal image Max had of Flora softened.
“I don’t know if I’m taking up your valuable time off from the Academy.”
“No. I don’t do anything special even on the weekends.”
“That’s a relief.”
The Max Steiger that Flora perceived was gentle. Both his appearance and personality were completely different from his father, Layton Steiger, to the point where one wouldn’t think they were blood relatives if not told.
Did he take after his mother’s side rather than his father’s?
“I have one thing I’m curious about.”
“Please, feel free to ask.”
“Is running a Mercenary Office okay?”
It was a question with a transparent meaning.
Max raised the corners of his mouth and used Psychokinesis to bring over the tin can full of candies.
He took out a Lollipop and handed it to Flora.
“It’s a bribe.”
“Yes? A bribe?”
“If the Steigers ask, it can’t be helped, but for now, I’d appreciate it if you could act as if you weren’t interested and didn’t mention it.”
Max knew.
The Steiger Family could not show an interrogating attitude toward Flora.
“I’ll do that. I won’t be the first to mention it to the Steigers.”
“Thank you.”
Flora looked at the candy and faintly raised the corners of her mouth.
It was a natural smile that Max was seeing for the first time.
Their small talk continued smoothly.
“I think mother will want to keep giving you side dishes in the future. She really loves cooking and makes large portions. Will that be okay?”
“I have no reason to refuse.”
He would have to prepare something to repay them for the side dishes.
He also hated eating and simply wiping his mouth clean.
“I guess we’ll be seeing each other regularly.”
“It’s an honor.”
“And, um…”
Flora dragged out the end of her sentence, hesitating.
She looked as if she had words in her mouth but was hesitating to let them out.
At this sight, so different from her past self, Max waited quietly.
Flora cautiously brought it up.
“Please speak comfortably.”
“Pardon?”
“Your speech: You’re older than me, so there’s no need for you to use honorifics.”
In Haze, age was a useless decoration.
Money, martial prowess, and connections were everything.
That was why Flora’s words were novel.
[How refreshing.]
Feeling intrigued, Max tossed a compromise to Flora.
“Then let’s both speak comfortably.”
“M-me too?”
“When we look at our relationship, isn’t that right?”
“That’s…”
After pondering carefully for a long time, Flora finally nodded.
Max showed a satisfied smile.
“Come hang out if you’re bored. You don’t need to have any business here.”
“Yes… No, okay…”
The ensuing small talk with Flora, who began to feel extreme awkwardness after dropping the honorifics, lasted about ten minutes.
When Max asked a question, Flora would only show affirmation or negation, having discarded her formal speech.
The gathering only ended after Flora got over the ticklish feeling she got from using informal speech.
“Get back safely.”
“Okay…”
After seeing her off to the place where the Crimson Howl vehicle was waiting, Max returned to the office and turned on his computer.
[Should I post a job opening for an Employee while I have the time?]