Chapter 604 Constructed Conflict
Ater had told Rey that the last member of the team was a surprise.
Since the latter liked surprises, despite being curious about who would be recommended, he decided to wait until the day of departure to find out.
All Rey knew was that the person was a woman.
And so, upon seeing Yuri and Kara approach him at full speed, he had no idea who Ater was trying to recommend or if this was simply some prank that was being pulled on him.
It seemed obvious which one was the choice, but Rey knew his Familiar had a twisted sense of humor at times.
'If that's the case, this isn't funny.'
~FSHUUU!~
Yuri came to a sharp halt almost as soon as she neared the group, creating a dust cloud that nearly hit everyone. However, Esme dispersed everything with wind the moment the cloud appeared.
'Oh?' Rey stared at her with a smile, and she gave him a thumbs up. 'Nice!'
He wouldn't have been affected regardless, and he would have actually prevented the dust cloud from hitting anyone. Still, the fact that Esme took the initiative first was impressive.
"Huuu! That was quite the ride, wasn't it, Lady Kara?" Yuri said with her bright, cutesy smile.
Rey knew not to be deceived by that look, though. The girl before him was a killing machine, and he had confirmed this with his very eyes.
Even apart from what he saw, after hearing certain stories from members of the Reaper Group—including Rebal and Asher—he was convinced that this girl felt nothing when decimating her enemies.
Her kind of skewed perspective was dangerous to people like him.
"Y-yesss…" Kara seemed lightheaded as she dismounted from Yuri's back, stumbling a few steps as she struggled to adjust her glasses.
Her hair was a mess, and her eyes still seemed to lack an ounce of focus.
"You're late. What happened?" Ater ignored all of this and went to both ladies, his hands in his pockets as he cooly interrogated them.
"A-ah! Sir Ater… Sir Raly… Sir Rey… good morning to you both!" Yuri bowed her head as she addressed them, once again being clumsy and cute.
Once again, Rey guarded his heart from the effects of her obvious front.
"The carriage we were supposed to take had an issue. The spare carriage was also being repaired, and it wouldn't have been done on time. The others are all on delivery since we've been so busy recently. After trying to contact a proper ride unsuccessfully, I was called to bring Lady Kara here myself."
In essence, she was the fastest mode of transportation at that point.
"How clumsy can you people be? Why didn't you do a proper checkup before today? If you had done that, you would have recognized that the carriage was faulty. A functional spare should have also been placed in case of such scenarios."
"I-I understand, Sir Ater. The person in charge of that will surely be punished appropriately. You have my word."
The moment Rey heard those words coming from Yuri, he had a very bloody flashback. He didn't know what she meant by punishment, but he didn't even want to ask.
'Relax, Rey. Now that they're a legitimate business, the punishment could be changed from slashing body parts to slashing wages.'
There was no need to have such a negative view on employees of his own business.
"Still… I believe I already spoke to Rebal about procuring new carriages as soon as possible. That was last week. Why is there still a shortage?"
"T-that… I do not understand such complex things, Sir Ater…" At this point, Yuri seemed like a child being bullied by an adult.
She shrank back and her tone trembled.
Despite his usual disposition of her, even Rey was beginning to feel bad for the poor lady. He looked around to see his classmates look away quietly.
'It seems they also experienced this side of Ater when I was asleep.'
Ater had never really nagged Rey, so he didn't particularly know how it felt. Still, looking at the scenario playing out before him, he could rightfully surmise that it felt less than pleasant.
"Sir Ater, please take it easy on Yuri. She's in the security division, so her knowledge in the production and procurement field is lacking…" The entire thing was stopped once Kara's voice echoed in the air.
She still seemed a little disoriented, but her face and simple dress seemed put-together—at least, for the most part.
"Really now? I don't know if you'd like to elaborate in her stead, then?"
"Well, the problem right now is scarcity within the market. Supply of the products in their finished form is very low, and so… expensive. Looking for the most efficient method for achieving maximum profit requires procuring parts and materials, while having our own artisans and experts piece them together."
"And why hasn't that been done?"
"It has. The work to assemble them is underway, but as you'd expect… it'll take a bit more time than having the finished product from the get-go. The spare carriages and the carriage planned for today were scheduled for repair by replacing the old parts with some newer ones we obtained. Unfortunately, there was some error in logistics, causing the delay."
Kara rambled on and on about what she suspected caused the delay and mistake, and by the time she was done, she flexed her glasses and bowed her head.
"Once again, I apologize for being late." Her simple black jacket, coupled with a casual green shirt and dark trousers, fit tightly with her smaller frame, as she engaged in proper courtesy.
Yuri saw this and stiffly bowed once again.
Ater chuckled upon seeing and hearing all this, turning his head to Rey while speaking.
"See, Master? I told you she's pretty useful."
As soon as Rey heard all of this, he realized what had happened. In the first place, it was very difficult to believe that a large organization like the Reaper Group would have such a logistics problem, especially when they were dealing with the owner of the business.
The main and spare carriages would have been checked multiple times, yet there still seemed to be some sort of issue with it. That meant…
'Ater, were you behind this?' Rey's eye widened slightly.
Did Ater create this scenario and by generating false conflict in order to prove something to Rey? If that was the case, then it was just too diabolical.
'Kara was the one who suggested Yuri piggybacked her here since it's the fastest means, despite being so uncomfortable. That shows she can improvise, and she's willing to do anything to achieve her goal. Her analysis is also very detailed, and she explores every possibility in her field of expertise without leaving a hole unresolved.'
She even guessed that there could have been some sort of internal sabotage, though she discredited this point due to her inability to grasp a motive.
If she knew Ater a bit more, perhaps she would have pointed him out as the prime suspect.
'She's impressive indeed.' Rey concluded with a smile.
He could see Belle looking a little miffed for some reason, though he couldn't guess why.
'I'll just stay out of it…'