An Important Guest
An Important Guest
[Max Mercenary Office]
The sign produced by the Bohemian Mercenary Association had arrived.
I had agonized over whether to include specific words or the district number, but in the end, I went with my name.
Since the primary goal was to make the name known. Not as Max Steiger, but as Max the Mercenary.
'Now I can finally take guests.'
Along with the office contract, the refrigerator, sofa, desk, and water purifier I ordered arrived one by one, reversing the previously desolate atmosphere.
The initial interior design was completed by placing a tin can filled with a large quantity of lollipops on the computer desk.
I considered going out to buy some potted plants for extra decoration, but I decided to stop there.
This was because the female employee who had visited before to arrange the request had returned with 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 deployment today. An important guest is coming."
"It is related to a request, but it's a different matter, so you don't need to worry. It won't take long."
Max checked his smartphone.
There was still plenty of time before the Crimsonhowl mother and daughter were scheduled to arrive.
After receiving the gift from the employee and guiding her to the sofa, he tore open a coffee packet placed on top of the water purifier.
Max asked as he made his own drink.
"I have black coffee and fruit juice. Which would you prefer?"
"Coffee is fine."
As soon as Max placed the coffee on the table and sat across from her, the employee began the conversation.
"I'll get straight to the point. The Association has decided not to deduct the commission fee from the reward for your first request, Max-nim."
Looking at the sentence alone, it was clearly good news.
Nevertheless, Max's expression became ambiguous, as if he couldn't quite figure it out. He was perfectly aware that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
"What do you want?"
"There are some details that need confirmation. I'd like to ask you directly, Max-nim."
"I suppose the result of blowing up the target wasn't enough of an answer. And the explanation I gave over the phone seems to have been insufficient as well."
"Exactly as you say."
"A 2nd-Circle mercenary is at best a consumable for the Association... what are you so curious about?"
The employee did not deny Max's words.
She simply asked the matters that needed to be identified.
"First of all——."
She filled in the details that couldn't be conveyed over the phone through conversation.
The employee, who meticulously recorded the contents, pressed her temples with her pen and wore a serious expression.
"...Black veins on the face, and eyes with only the whites remaining. Based on the symptoms, there's a high probability it's White Rampage."
"What is that?"
When Max asked while feigning ignorance, the employee gave a stern warning.
"It's a doping drug that ruins lives."
"Well, all doping drugs are like that."
"No. This is different from the doping drugs circulating in the market."
"How is it so different? Addictiveness?"
"Addictiveness is one thing, but the side effects are particularly severe. If it were a side effect that destroyed the body, it could be replaced with machinery, but if the drug damages the mind, there is no technology to replace that."
"Oho."
So they know exactly how serious of an item it is.
"Furthermore, the massacre of the employees of Ghost Logic, the employer... it's a story that leaves many questions if we're to say it was done simply because they were high on drugs."
"I was surprised when I saw 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, perhaps considering the possibilities.
Max waited quietly.
"Max-nim. By any chance, did you see what was loaded in the truck that was the target?"
"I didn't have the chance to look. I was so harassed by those two junkies that I just wanted to lie down immediately."
"...I see."
Max threw a fundamental question to the employee, who seemed to possess a lot of information.
"Is there something for the Mercenary Association to gain by digging deeper instead of just finishing the request? If you keep sticking your feet in like that, you'll lose the trust of the clients."
Since the Mercenary Association, which should just do what they were told, was acting like a detective, it was hard for Max to understand.
However, it seemed they had their own reasons.
"It's difficult to tell you the details, but even though our Association has power, we aren't at a level where we can move while ignoring the giant corporations of Heize."
"I suppose if you follow this trail up, there's a corporation that's hard to go against. Asahi Technology? Vector Mobility? Cheonmyeong Pharmaceuticals?"
Max intentionally mixed Cheonmyeong Pharmaceuticals into the sentence.
"It is difficult to speak on that part."
However, the employee didn't show even a flicker of movement.
'Is there really no connection? Or is she just incredibly good at controlling her expression...?'
The employee stood up as if she had heard all the necessary information.
She showed her courtesy, saying she would see him when there was another request, and left the office.
"Huh?"
Following the address Max had sent, Flora arrived in front of the building in District 27 and checked the sign again.
Her pointed ears twitched with doubt.
[Max Mercenary Office]
Looking at the name hanging there, it didn't seem 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 dinner table also weighed on her mind.
Flora felt an unknown tension as she climbed the narrow stairs. The office door was wide open.
As Flora cautiously revealed herself, Max, who was sitting in a chair with a lollipop in his mouth, stood up with a smile.
And Flora read it.
'He's gotten stronger.'
Max Steiger had reached the 2nd-Circle.
And it wasn't just the beginning; there was depth to it.
"Ah, you're here! You went through a lot of trouble coming all the way to District 27. Please, come in."
"...Excuse me."
As she entered, Flora held out the bag she was carrying.
"Here it is. The side dishes."
"Thank you. By the way, where is Enri Crimsonhowl-nim?"
At Max's action of wanting to give his greetings and thanks, Flora barely managed to squeeze out her voice.
"I ended up coming alone. Mother had some work come up."
"That's a shame... I'm truly grateful, and I'd appreciate it if you could tell her I'll enjoy the food."
Flora nodded at his polite words.
Max guided the awkwardly standing Flora to the sofa.
"Please, make yourself comfortable."
"..."
"I have black coffee and fruit juice. Which should I get you?"
"Juice, please. I can't handle bitter things..."
Max put the side dishes straight into the refrigerator and sat across from Flora.
With the drinks placed, it was the same setup as with the employee earlier.
"Come to think of it, I only mentioned I was moving and couldn't give you the details."
"If you had told me, I would have brought something. An opening gift..."
"Haha! It's fine."
She hadn't known because they barely spoke at the previous dinner.
Flora used a peculiar inversion in her speech quite often.
'Was this the way Flora spoke during this period?'
It was quite cute.
The fierce image Max had of Flora began to dilute.
"I hope I'm not taking away your golden time off from the Academy."
"No. I don't really do anything special even on weekends."
"That's a relief."
The Max Steiger Flora felt 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-related if not told.
Did he take after his mother's side more than his father's?
"I have one thing I'm curious about."
"Please, feel free to speak."
"Is it okay? To run a mercenary office..."
It was a question whose meaning was transparently revealed.
With the corners of his mouth turned up, Max brought the tin can full of candy over using Psychokinesis.
He took out a lollipop and handed it to Flora.
"It's a bribe."
"Huh? 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 didn't mention it because you weren't interested."
Max knew.
The Steiger family could not take an interrogative attitude toward Flora.
"I'll do that. I won't be the first to mention it to the Steigers."
"Thank you."
Flora's lips curled into a faint smile as she looked at the candy.
A natural smile that Max was seeing for the first time.
The small talk continued smoothly.
"I think my mother will want to keep giving you side dishes in the future. She really loves cooking and is very generous with her portions. Would that be okay?"
"I have no reason to refuse."
I'll have to prepare something to repay her for the side dishes.
I also dislike the act of just eating and wiping my mouth clean.
"It seems we'll be seeing each other periodically."
"It's an honor."
"And, um..."
Flora trailed off, hesitating.
She had words in her mouth but seemed hesitant to let them out.
Max waited quietly at the sight, which felt so disconnected from her past self.
Flora carefully spoke up.
"Please, speak comfortably."
"Pardon?"
"Your speech. You're older than me, so there's no need to use polite speech."
In Heize, age was a useless decoration.
Money, martial power, and connections were everything.
That's why Flora's words felt new.
'This is fresh.'
Feeling intrigued, Max threw a compromise at Flora.
"Then let's both speak comfortably."
"M-Me too?"
"Looking at our relationship, isn't that right?"
"That's..."
After agonizing over it for a long time, Flora finally nodded.
Max showed a satisfied smile.
"Come visit if you're bored. You don't need to have business or anything."
"Yes... I mean, yeah..."
The small talk that followed with Flora, who began to feel extreme awkwardness once the polite speech was dropped, lasted about 10 minutes.
When Max asked a question, Flora would respond with just affirmations or denials while having dropped the honorifics.
The meeting ended only after Flora shed a layer of the ticklish feeling she felt from the informal speech.
"Get home safely."
"Yeah..."
After seeing her off to the place where the Crimsonhowl vehicle was waiting, Max returned to the office and turned on the computer.
'Should I post a job opening for an employee while I have the time?'