Chapter 26
“I have a favor to ask…”
“Flora, asking me for a favor? What could it be?”
Max’s attitude made it seem like he would casually accept whatever she said. It gave off a 'just say the word' vibe.
Feeling a bit more relaxed, Flora began by explaining the background.
“Minerva Academy requires us to complete a job experience every year as an Experiential Intern and submit a report.”
“So there’s something like that. The Academy really isn’t easy.”
Max answered as if he didn’t know, but it was something he was already aware of.
Back when he worked at Cheonmyeong Pharmaceuticals, Minerva Academy Cadets visited every year for that exact purpose.
Since they were all children of wealthy families or executives, he had seen them just kill time before heading back.
As a field worker, Max had absolutely no contact with them.
“Um, usually people go to a corporation connected to their family… I also wrote my reports as an Experiential Intern at Genesis Bio for my first and second years…”
“Oho. Are you planning to go to Genesis Bio after you graduate, Flora?”
“I don’t know. Not yet.”
In Flora’s case, just like Ellen’s, she could go anywhere. She was probably troubled because she had too many options.
Of course, as a Regressor, Max knew which corporation she would join after all her deliberation.
“Then what is the favor you want to ask of me?”
“…Could I apply to do my final Experiential Intern stint at your office, Oppa?”
“Here? You want to be an Experiential Intern at a mercenary office?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
Max was genuinely surprised. This was an unexpected move.
Wanting to experience a mercenary office instead of a corporation, maybe she thought it would be like being a sidekick in a superhero comic.
However, Max didn’t find Flora’s request burdensome.
[The requests a Mercenary handles are far from heroic… but might the attempt itself be valid?]
He couldn’t help but admire Flora’s bold spirit of challenge.
Changing one’s environment often directly leads to growth, but the unknown brings fear, making it hard to step forward easily.
[It could be a good experience for Flora.]
A corporation and a mercenary office were completely different in nature, weren’t they?
If Flora observed how a mercenary handled work, she might be able to expand her thinking and develop flexibility.
Experiencing a mercenary office definitely had clear distinctions from experiencing a corporation.
“…Sorry. It’s burdensome for you too, right, Oppa? It’s kind of out of nowhere.”
“No. It doesn’t matter. I’d be grateful if you came, Flora.”
“R-really?”
Flora’s ears perked up sharply. It was cute how those animal ears seemed to substitute for her lack of facial expressions.
“I often get requests where I feel the need for a reliable helping hand, too.”
Plus, it was a matter of Max’s personal interest and curiosity.
The condensed system of magic Ellen had shown at the hotel had left a strong impression on Max, so if the opportunity arose, he wanted to see the magic Flora currently uses as well.
“Also… I have one thing I’m curious about…”
“Yeah.”
“Should I fix the way I speak?”
“Suddenly? Why do you think that?”
“Because I’ve been told it’s hard to understand… sometimes…”
Was it because of the inversion she sometimes used?
Max considered it Flora’s quirk. He had never found it annoying or hard to understand.
“I’ve never felt that way.”
“Really? You don’t feel it when you talk to me…? Like frustration, or something…”
“Not at all.”
Intentionally changing the way one speaks isn’t easy. Having to constantly be conscious of it would cause an unusual amount of mental fatigue.
Unless there was a truly major issue, it was something that environment and experience would naturally change.
“Thank you. I’ll trust you, Oppa.”
Looking pleased, Flora took the lead and climbed the stairs.
She entered the office holding the juice she bought at the convenience store.
Sandwiches were placed on the table alongside the fruit juice and two cups of coffee.
With the food and drinks ordered for lunch set out, the three of them exchanged idle, meaningless chatter.
“By the way, what kind of request did you go on, Oppa?”
“They said an alligator appeared in the sewer.”
“An alligator? How is an alligator in the sewer?”
“Fascinating, right? I was surprised too. Whatever it ate down there, it was huge. Its hide was like steel.”
“From the looks of it, didn’t it probably eat some wastewater secretly dumped by a corporation and turn out like that? I hear that happens sometimes.”
“A similar case appeared in our textbooks - the incident where they developed Growth Promoter Type 9 for meat production - but it wasn’t approved, so they disposed of it en masse, causing the fish to grow grotesquely.”
“Why do you go around remembering stuff like that? It’s gross.”
“…It’s an incident that even appeared as a passage on the exam. I don’t understand why you’re reacting like it’s your first time hearing about it.”
Even though Flora and Ellen bickered, their bickering was much softer than before.
Max didn’t bother to intervene.
As the conversation continued, the time came when all the food and drinks were finished.
Flora stood up and gathered her things.
“You have to work too, Oppa, so I’ll get going now.”
“You’re leaving already?”
“Hurry up and go, girl.”
Flora glared at Ellen briefly before answering Max softly.
“I think I need to go because of my studies. I’ll come again next time.”
“Then it can’t be helped… Ah, Flora. Wait a moment.”
Saying he would bring her a gift, Max went into his Personal Space.
The door closed the moment he entered.
Flora instantly flipped the mood and left a warning for Ellen.
“If you do anything weird to Oppa, I won’t let it slide. I’ll be coming to check often.”
“Girl. What do you mean by weird? Don’t use that annoying way of speaking and tell me clearly.”
“You know very well. I’m telling you not to take the annoyance you have for me out on the wrong place.”
“Jeez, I have my pride too. Do you think I’d do that?”
As soon as their conversation ended, Max came out of the room.
He had a bright expression, holding a box in each hand.
“Take this one to mother. And this one here is yours, Flora. I bought it based on my own intuition, so I don’t know how it’ll be.”
“I’m really, really curious… but I’ll open it when I get home. Thank you.”
Flora was aware that her reactions were abysmal. Even if she were moved the moment she opened the box, she wasn’t confident she could express it outwardly, so she wanted to check it alone and send her thoughts via message.
Max simply nodded, telling her to do whatever was comfortable.
“You took the subway here today, right? Let’s head out together.”
“It’s fine. You need to guard it, Oppa. the office.”
Flora forcefully sat Max back down as he tried to stand.
It was done with one hand, far too easily.
“Anyway, you worry too much, Oppa. It’s not like she’s a kid. Leave her be.”
Ellen tossed out a remark from the side.
Flora scrunched one eyebrow and changed her mind.
“…Oppa. Just to the station, please.”
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After confirming that Flora got on the subway and returned, Max ignored his mental fatigue and turned on the computer.
As he spent time browsing the news, it became afternoon.
Around the time Ellen usually came to work, provocative articles suddenly began plastering the internet all at once.
[‘Table of the lower class’ Gaia Food, Suspected of Distributing Substandard Ingredients…]
[Gaia Food Chairman, Circumstances of Data Destruction Right Before Search and Seizure…]
[From Savior of the Lower District to butcher… The Cruel History of Gaia Food]
[Gaia Food Purification Process Manipulation Suspicions… Sudden Spike in Unexplained Stomachaches Among Consumers? Investigating Causal Relationship]
There was no mention of White Rampage, but the outpouring of various bad news gave certainty that Haze’s Agency was bringing down the guillotine on Gaia Food.
[It changed.]
A difference had emerged from the future Max remembered.
Of course, he didn’t think that he had saved the citizens of the Lower District here. If he started weighing right and wrong, he couldn’t make a living as a mercenary.
[Who pulled the strings?]
The information Max had handed over was definitely enough to bury a small corporation.
But he was curious about who used it and how.
[Plus, given the destructive power of the information, the fact that it only blew up now is very late.]
Did Gaia Food’s backers only today execute their scapegoating?
If that were true, this issue might lead to a situation where it would affect an even larger corporation.
The client who targeted Gaia Food’s information likely had the corporation that executed the scapegoating as its actual goal.
“What are you looking at with such a serious face?”
“A corporation caused an incident.”
“Hmm~ Can I put some merch in your room, Oppa, so I can take it when I get off work?”
“Looks like you finished inspecting it. Do whatever you want.”
Ellen, who went into the room with her merch bag and came back out, pulled out a lollipop and giggled.
“Jeez, the room smells like a man. Air it out a bit.”
“It’s only natural for a man’s room to smell like a man. It looks like we have guests, so prepare some coffee.”
“Tch, why is your intuition so good?”
As soon as Max finished speaking, the office door opened.
There were three guests.
“Excuse me.”
Meredith from the Bohemian Mercenary Association.
She was an employee familiar to Max and Ellen. She was holding a metal briefcase in her hand.
“Young man. Excuse the intrusion.”
“…!”
And next to her was the old man who had extorted 10,000 credits from Max under the pretext of fortune-telling.
It wasn’t Max, but Ellen who fiercely crumpled her expression.
“What did you come all the way here for, Old Man?”
“Hahaha! I am in the position of managing the Association’s mercenaries, am I not?”
It was a situation where anyone could read the old man’s identity.
Max guided the old man to a seat.
“Association President. Please, have a seat.”
“Oho, thank you.”
A burly man who looked like a bodyguard moved to follow the old man. Half of his face was metal, and complex codes continuously scrolled through one of his pupils.
And even the prosthetic arm was poking out from under his suit.
What the bodyguard had equipped wasn’t an ordinary prosthetic arm and eye.
That was a high-end model, renowned even in haze.
[He’s showing off a precious item.]
Max marveled as he sat opposite the old man.
“Drink some water, Old Man. Coffee for you, Unni.”
Ellen gave Meredith coffee and placed a paper cup in front of the old man.
When the bodyguard behind her sent a silent glare, Ellen glared right back.
“What are you staring at, you piece of scrap metal? Do you want to die?”
“…”
Right before Haze’s Traditional Principle of Power spread through the office.
The old man and Max opened their mouths at the same time.
“Haha… Ludwig? Do not get on Ellen Clements’s bad side. Even I won’t be able to save you, so lower your eyes and apologize.”
“Hey, hey, hey! They’re guests, guests.”
The two of them also understood Ellen’s annoyance.
She had given permission to let the Association President know of her existence, but showing up at the office out of the blue like this was unexpected.
“My purpose for visiting today is not to greet the esteemed person of Clements, but to meet the young friend who completed the Self-Sacrificing Request.”
It was a relief.
If he hadn’t had any purpose, it would have meant he really just came to gawk at Ellen Clements.
Ellen’s face also calmed down a bit.
“You mean me?”
“Yes. I’d like to have a little chat with you.”
When the old man sent a glance to his employee, Meredith.
Meredith placed the metal box she had been holding in her arms onto the table.