Chapter 45
After finishing his ball game with the rabbit boy at Emmaus Medical Center, Max visited several real estate agencies located in District 14.
He witnessed firsthand the dizzying monthly rents.
‘···It’s not easy. I heard they don’t even easily give loans to a Mercenary.’
Finishing his real estate tour, Max sighed heavily as he walked.
As he was heading to the station to return to his office in District 27, his Smartphone vibrated.
Bzzzt! Bzzzt!
The number displayed on the screen belonged to the Mercenary Association.
Max’s eyebrows furrowed.
‘How long has it even been since they gave me the Angel’s Feather···.’
They couldn’t have made a mistake and given me the wrong item, right?
I already swallowed and digested it, so I absolutely can’t give it back.
“Yes. Speaking.”
─ Max-nim. This is the Bohemian Mercenary Association.
A familiar voice. It was Meredith.
─ Are you available to talk for a moment? It won’t take long.
“I don’t mind. I wasn’t doing anything in particular.”
─ Then··· I would like to visit your office regarding a request around the time your recovery is complete.
Thank goodness. It was a welcome call offering work.
For Max, who had received his District 41 Request Reward as an Angel’s Feather instead of credits, this was truly like sweet rain after a drought.
“I’ll be ready and wait for you.”
─ Also, the Association President will be accompanying me, just like last time.
“It must be an important request. I’ll keep that in mind.”
If the Association President was moving personally, it was obvious. There was a high probability it was an extension of the District 41 request.
Max continued to imagine while talking with Meredith.
“I can just say I reached the 5th-tier that day and negotiate.”
He hoped this request would also hit the maximum limit for the payment.
As Meredith had informed him before, the Short-term Request limit for a 5th-Tier Mercenary was 300 million credits.
Just having that would give him breathing room for moving his office. A Long-term Request would be even better, needless to say.
─ Thank you. I will send you a message with the date and approximate time of our visit by the end of today.
“Understood. I’ll see you then.”
Ending the call, Max raised the corners of his mouth.
What great timing.
Max’s footsteps, which had been heavy with worry over the rent, became light.
Max returned to his District 27 office a few hours later.
Flora and Ellen entered the office, shoving each other’s shoulders.
“You two are getting along well today, too.”
Both of their gazes snapped over simultaneously to refute Max’s words.
Reading the change in his tier with the unique senses of a Magic Noble Family, Flora and Ellen froze in a daze.
“Oppa···?”
“Wait, what is this? Is this real?!”
Forgetting to shove each other, the two strode closer.
Max simply laughed, enjoying their reactions.
Anyone would agree it was an absurd picture. There was nothing to say.
“Are you some kind of bamboo, Oppa? How’s your tier shooting up like this?! In all my hair··· no, since my horns sprouted, I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“I’ve never seen this kind of speed either···.”
Ellen had first met Max when he was at the 2nd-tier, but Flora had seen him at the Hotel at the 1st-tier, making it even more astonishing and fascinating.
It was shocking enough when he breezed past the 4th-tier as if it were nothing, but as the Person next to her aptly put it, his growth was truly like bamboo after a spring rain.
“Now I can finally see eye to eye with you two. Up until now, my dignity as the boss was a joke.”
It was a Mercenary Office in name, yet the boss was lower in tier than his Part-timer; that was a weird picture too, wasn’t it?
On top of that, it finally provided a minimum semblance of form for when Flora would later come as an Experiential Intern.
As Max handled it calmly, the two slowly regained their composure.
Flora gave a small smile and offered her congratulations first.
“···I should have congratulated you first, but I was so surprised I couldn’t speak. Congratulations, Oppa.”
“Thanks.”
Through the heartwarming atmosphere, a certain dragon poked her head in.
“So, are we going to a Meat Restaurant today?”
“A Meat Restaurant?”
When Flora shot her a look as if asking what she was talking about out of nowhere, Ellen smirked, raising one corner of her mouth.
“Didn’t you know we went to a Meat Restaurant to celebrate the day Oppa’s tier went up?”
Knowing that Ellen would be delighted if she lost her temper or showed a change in expression here, Flora opted for what she considered a mature response.
“Then we can just go today. It’s a celebration for Oppa, so I’ll pay.”
“Aren’t you just paying with the Crimson Howl Family Card? You’ve never earned your own money, have you?”
“···I have, actually? I earned some as an Experiential Intern.”
“Hah! The employees were probably too scared to make you do anything, and you call that earning?”
It was their usual Bickering, creating an atmosphere where an ordinary Person wouldn’t even think of intervening.
Max knew the best tactic to end this situation at once.
“You two really are close. It’s nice to see.”
“Are you crazy?! I’m getting goosebumps!”
“Oppa. Don’t say things like that···.”
Just one comment about them getting along was enough to trigger an allergic reaction from both, cutting off their argument instantly.
Max seized the initiative in this opening.
“A Meat Restaurant is fine, but Flora, is there anything else you want to eat besides meat?”
If it were the Association President or his father, maybe, but he had no intention of making Flora pay.
It was only right for the Person whose tier went up to treat themselves.
“Oppa. Aren’t you going to ask for my opinion? Even if I’m just a Part-timer, isn’t that too much?!”
“Let’s go in order. I have to ask one by one and gather opinions.”
“Hmph~”
The destination was quickly decided after that.
Flora strongly appealed to visit the Meat Restaurant Max and Ellen had gone to.
Max, practically unemployed due to his increased asking price, closed the office without a worry and spent his time leisurely.
* * *
A week after Max reached the 5th-Tier.
The day the Association President promised to visit Max’s Mercenary Office dawned.
However, the first Person the Association President was to meet was not Max, but Usagi.
Usagi, who didn’t have a Mercenary Office, had come all the way to the Association, and the meeting with the Association President took place early in the morning because she said she had no time.
The people present in the office were the Association President and his Bodyguard, Ludwig.
There were four in total, along with Meredith, who would record the information and situation, and Usagi, who would receive the request.
The Association President sat across from the masked Usagi and began the conversation.
“Usagi. You seem busy. Do you do other work besides being a Mercenary?”
“I have to make a living.”
“How is your physical condition?”
“I’m perfectly fine. I can go on request anytime.”
The Association President observed Usagi closely.
‘Let’s see···.’
There is a famous saying that a Diviner doesn’t even know the date of their own death.
It wasn’t wrong.
The Association President had never read his own future even when looking in a mirror.
However, indirect deduction was possible.
If he were certain that the failure of a request would directly lead to a negative outcome, he could predict it by looking at the face of the Person carrying out the request.
“Hmm.”
As the Association President focused intently, the flow became faintly visible.
Without missing a beat, he advanced the conversation.
“For this request, I want you to attend an Auction House that doubles as a Social Party.”
“Understood.”
“You’ll have to change your face and infiltrate under someone else’s name. You won’t be an Employee cleaning the hall, but someone directly involved with the auction participants.”
“I will do that.”
Usagi gave a refreshing answer, as always.
When it came to requests, she didn’t even hesitate.
“You must be careful not to arouse suspicion with your actions, so we will provide your attire. I also plan to recruit a reliable Mercenary for this sort of thing. You will move together.”
“Understood. Is it a Short-term Request?”
“The party and auction will run for two consecutive days, so it is a Short-term Request.”
“The amount?”
“130 million credits.”
“That’s the limit. I’ll do it.”
She continued to show her willingness to participate even before seeing the detailed materials.
Usagi’s obsession with money was enough to surprise even the Association President.
“Your answers are so refreshing that it’s almost bewildering on my end. This request is particularly dangerous. You could die.”
“It’s always been like that.”
“···Good. We will provide a different model for your prosthetic arm. A Combat Model might arouse suspicion, so switch to a Daily-use Prosthetic Arm and adapt to it by the day of the request.”
Usagi nodded in understanding.
Meredith told her to receive the compiled materials and exchange her prosthetic arm once the meeting was over.
The Association President watched Usagi closely.
She was hard to read. The lines were so blurry that it made his vision feel stifled.
“Where did she receive intervention?”
It was a flow very rarely seen on battlefields or in a Hospital.
The blurry lines existed, possessed by those who had overcome a crisis where death was all but certain, thanks to good fortune.
That was why it was strange.
Because the injuries Usagi sustained during the Harbor Request weren’t supposed to be to that extent.
“To say in the District 41 request she was destined to die, but all three of them survived.”
The Association President stopped reading the flow due to fatigue.
Rubbing his wrinkled eyes, he made a casual remark.
“Usagi, do you have any thoughts of replacing your prosthetic arm after this request is over? It seems like a model that falls far short of allowing you to perfectly utilize your skills.”
“It’s impossible right now. I will do so when the time comes.”
It wasn’t wrong to say that Usagi’s actual potential was being suppressed by a cheap prosthetic arm.
But the Association President’s own sort of ritual was also mentioning and promising a future after this request was over.
“It might have been needless meddling. Anyway, I’ll leave the request in your hands.”
“Mhm, I will carry it out properly.”
“Do you have any other questions?”
“I’ll contact the Association if any questions arise after looking at the materials.”
Usagi hurriedly exchanged her prosthetic arm, grabbed the materials, and left the Association to make it in time for her Part-time Job.
As soon as the series of procedures ended, the Association President headed to Max’s Mercenary Office, accompanied by his Bodyguard Ludwig and Meredith.