The place where my appointment with the Team Leader was held was somewhere I was quite familiar with, having come here several times with her and the Guild.
Looking around as I entered the tatami-style room, the first thing that greeted me was the sight of the Team Leader sitting at the table, her legs in a butterfly position as she raised her beer toward me.
"Look who decided to finally show up."
Taking a sip, she let out a loud’Haa!’ before standing up and walking towards me.
As she did, she reached for my shoulder and dragged me in.
"Now, now... What are you waiting for? It’s time for the two of us to have our long-awaited drinking party to commemorate your promotion!"
She took another sip of her beer, letting out another refreshed "Haa" as the smell of beer reached my nostrils. Looking at the table, I could see a couple of appetizers here and there, but most of it was alcohol bottles.
’She really isn’t holding back.’
A lot of the drinks were of high proof too.
"Anything catch your fancy? Take whatever you want. Today we’re going to drink until we’re passed out."
"I’ll pass on that."
"Ah...?"
Soran’s hand paused as she looked at me with an expression akin to that of someone who had just watched their entire family be killed.
"I’ve got some stuff to do later. I don’t really have the time to drink."
"...You mean your case?"
Soran’s smile faded slightly as she looked at me.
Drink in hand, her dark eyes scanned my face from top to bottom.
In the end, she sighed and placed her cup down.
"I think you might already have heard some rumors, but there was a time when I did, in fact, try to catch VILE - 1048. In fact, it was the Guild Master who was against it. But still, I was stubborn and still took the case. I mean, I was the best. I am the best."
My brow raised.
"The Guild Master stopped you?"
"Mhm."
Soran nodded as she stared at the ceiling.
"I think you, of all people, should know how the Guild Master was."
Soran closed her eyes as her lips pulled up slightly, her body propped up by her hand behind her as she leaned back.
"He’s the type of person to maximize a person’s value in order to further his goals. Just like you, he wanted to create a legend in order to propel the Guild higher. Back then, there weren’t many people in the Guild, and thanks to his plan, we were able to quickly become a Queen Grade Guild. Naturally, a lot of the credit falls on me. I carried hard."
A cackle escaped her lips.
But soon, her smile faded once more.
"...Our momentum was at an all-time high, and we weren’t far off from reaching King Grade. So long as I rode the momentum given to me by the Guild Master, we would’ve been able to reach it within a year or so."
But you failed...
"I failed."
My heart pressed against my chest.
"I spent several months trying to find the anomaly that nobody could find. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was the best, and that I didn’t need to follow the Guild Master’s plans in order to make it big."
Opening her eyes again, Soran reached for the drink in front of her, taking a large sip of it as she let out another loud’Haaa’.
Wiping her mouth, she looked at me, her expression carrying an unusual seriousness that made it hard for me to say anything.
"You must know the feeling all too well, right? The one where everything seems to be in the palm of your hand, only for you to realize that, in reality, you’re in the palm of someone else’s hand. That you’re nothing but a puppet being controlled by forces or people above you."
This...
"It’s a shitty feeling that I wanted to get out of, and the main reason that I pushed so hard for the case."
A bitter smile formed on the Team Leader’s features.
She stared down at her drink, gazing at her reflection as it was distorted by the ripples.
"...That was my first failure."
Her lips quivered slightly.
"Nothing. I couldn’t find a single thing about it. The closer I seemed to get, the further I seemed to get. The momentum that I had built up with my image started to wane, and my reputation started to fall. In the end, I had no choice but to give up."
Soran took another sip.
"In order to make up for my failure, I went harder than I was supposed to. In order to be perfect and remove the stain of my first failure, I pushed my node more and more. And then..."
Soran stopped there, but she didn’t have to say any more.
I could more or less piece everything together from that point on.
"I suggest you give up on VILE - 1048."
Her next words made my face freeze.
Looking at Soran, she wasn’t looking at me.
"...It’s not possible."
"Just because you—"
"Well, at least for me."
She cut me off before I could finish.
Turning back to look at me, her lips pulled into a smile once more.
"I guess I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. Or maybe it was just a bad case for me. Either way, just because I failed doesn’t mean that you’ll fail. You can give it a try if you want, but I want you to keep something in mind."
Soran’s expression turned serious once more.
Looking at her features, I held my breath and didn’t say anything.
"Don’t become too obsessed with the case. If you feel like it’s impossible to solve, then just give it up. It’s okay to fail. What is not okay is sinking deeper into that failure and trying to make up for it. Just go at your own pace and don’t let yourself be consumed by your failure."
My jaw momentarily clenched at the sound of her words.
Why would I fail?
I mean, no... even then, I wasn’t the type to care too much if I failed.
I only cared because of what the failure would bring to my reputation with the’Hand’.
That was the only reason why I cared.
I couldn’t care less about failing.
"Come on."
Soran smiled, bringing her drink to me.
I stared at the drink for a few seconds, my reflection staring back at me.
In the end, I grabbed her drink and took a sip for myself.
"Haha! That’s the spirit!"
Soran’s boisterous laugh echoed across the room as she took another drink, then began drinking herself.
I didn’t know what it was with her, but somehow, every time I went out drinking with her, things just spiraled to the point where I’d find myself downing even more drinks. In that moment, I took one drink after another.
I drank and drank and drank.
And by the time I came to, my head felt as though it was being split apart.
"Ugh."
The first thing I felt when I came to was something heavy against my face.
Reaching for it, I pushed it to the side, only later realizing it was Soran’s foot as I cursed silently.
Rubbing my head, I was just about to stand up when I noticed one of the waitresses kneeling beside me, staring at me with a simple smile.
"...Ah."
It was only then that I realized the situation as I quickly checked the time and cursed again. I immediately tried to wake the Team Leader up, but before I even could, the waitress opened her mouth.
"Congratulations on your promotion, Mr. Thorne."
I stopped immediately, my head turning in the direction of the waitress as her head tilted to an unsettling degree.
"We... we... we... we... we..."
Like a broken record, she kept repeating the same words over and over again.
Until—
"...We’re... extremely happy with your promotion."
Her smile widened.
"We wish... to let you know that."