I disagree with this request.
That's not something a broker who takes a request and passes it on to a fixer would say.
"What makes you think that?"
I hadn't known Ronan long, but I knew he wasn't the kind of man who would just blurt something like this out.
My guess was that there had to be a reason.
"There are two reasons."
Ronan snapped his fingers, one by one.
"The first. The math doesn't add up."
"You mean the commission fee?"
"Yes.""I'm new to the industry, so I don't know that much, but based on the remuneration listed here, it's pretty good, isn't it?"
Compensation: 30 million.
On top of that, the company would provide additional support for potions.
In the game, potions were a very precious commodity.
They may not be as rare now as they were then, but that doesn't make them any less valuable.
For this amount of money to capture a fugitive warlock, I honestly thought it was worth a shot.
"The reward itself is certainly a good one, but we have to keep in mind that we're dealing with a warlock."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Well, for one thing, if we're dealing with a warlock, it's not like we're just going to play nice with him and get the recipe back, is it?"
"Right."
He stole the company's recipes, so he must have some sort of agenda.
There was no way he was going to give them back just because they asked him to.
"Then we'd have to at least assume a fight with the warlock, which is something most fixers are reluctant to do."
"Why are they reluctant?"
"Because it's dangerous."
"Ah."
I immediately understood why Ronan had said that.
Warlocks were a big no-no for the Fixers.
The reason was the power they wielded.
Warlocks specialize in breaking people's bodies.
Curses, disease, corruption, poison.
Even basic magic is dangerous enough that if you get it wrong, you might have to live with the effects for the rest of your life.
A fixer's body is their life, after all.
A one-off job might pay the bills, but it couldn't be a lifelong endeavor.
You need a regular source of income, and if your body breaks down, you won't get any.
You'd have to spend the rest of your life sitting on a stoop in a back alley, begging.
‘Warlocks aren’t usually pushy guys.’
Every warlock I've encountered in the game has been dangerous.
One tried to devour a city with an army of undead.
Others performed demonic descent rituals in underground caverns to open the gates of hell.
From the ruins of a swamp, he sought to overthrow a neighboring kingdom by infecting the entire swamp with disease.
Obviously, no ordinary warlock would do such a thing, and once in combat, they were no pushovers.
As someone who prided himself on being a veteran of the game, I've seen my fair share of game-over gray screens.
In hindsight, Ronan wasn't entirely wrong.
"If you fall victim to the Warlock's curse, you could be permanently scarred, not to mention laid up for days."
"I suppose so."
"Warlocks are generally avoided unless you've fought them many times."
"Uh, hmm."
I was going to say that I've killed more warlocks than he can imagine, but I decided against it.
The only time I've actually caught warlocks was in the game, not in the real world.
"So what's the other one?"
"We don't know what's behind the warlocks."
"And by behind, you mean that the escaped warlock has some sort of agenda."
"Yes. I hope it's just an accident, but you never know."
"You suspect the union or something."
Ronan nodded with a smile.
"The union is a union, but I don't like the way the company tries to use the fixers as meat shields."
"Meat shields."
"The Company has its own people. There are more than just fixers in this city.”
Fixers aren't the only ones who wield the power of violence.
Bodyguards, private security, soldiers, mercenaries, thugs for hire, hit men.
There was no shortage of places in the world where strength was needed, and the demand was endless.
Even the most powerful companies pay big bucks to protect their premises.
Blossom Tier Pharmaceuticals was no exception.
"They have their own private army, but they've asked for a fixer. What do you think this means?"
"It means that the Fixer will fight the Warlock, and when he's exhausted, they'll step in and eat him alive."
"Exactly, they don't even expect the fixers to actually catch the fleeing warlock in the first place. They think it's all about stalling him for a bit, draining his strength."
I realized that the fixer industry is complicated.
You're trying to get a job, and the client is ready to take advantage of you.
There's no insurance or welfare for this.
"Are the after-effects of fighting a warlock usually that bad?"
"There's almost a sixty percent chance you'll never recover."
"That's lower than I thought."
"That's only if they've somehow managed to ward it off with medicine and healing. Otherwise, I'd say it's over ninety percent."
"Ninety percent."
And that's assuming you fight and win.
If you fight and lose, 90 percent is nothing.
You just die.
"It's worth a shot."
"What?"
"It's worth it."
"I don't understand what you just said, do you mind explaining a little more?"
"You said it's dangerous to capture a warlock, and the client wants to use me as a scarecrow to observe and then intervene."
"Exactly."
"Then think of it the other way around. Why don't we just capture the warlock quickly, without risking anything, so they don't have time to intervene?"
Of course, who wouldn't?
But I was strangely confident that I could do it.
Given my physical abilities, it wasn't impossible.
"Mr. Osian. Let's say it's possible."
"Not supposed, but possible."
"Ah, yes. I stand corrected, let's say it's possible."
"It is possible."
"Even if it is, there's no need for you to take this case, Mr. Osian. It's not as if you're in dire need of money."
"I suppose there are other fixers besides me."
“It’s natural because it’s not a nomination request.”
I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair.
In fact, it's not like I can't understand why Ronan is trying to stop me like this.
There's no reason to take on an assignment that's fraught with such risks.
If I know there's a minefield, I'll go around it, not across it but Ronan was looking at me now like I was tap dancing on a minefield.
He wasn't exactly wrong.
"Me, too," I said, "I'd rather have a safe way to make money.”
The original me might have been more cautious but now I was the character I was playing, a righteous, adventure-loving, brave wanderer.
And so, in a small way, my own existence has merged with this wanderer's personality.
I'm a little more reckless and a little braver than before.
'Even so, it is purely my will to fulfill the request.’
I was dropped into the world of the game I was playing.
Not just any game, but hundreds of years into the future.
It was a completely different place.
I don't know how long I will live here.
Maybe I'll never go back so I need to accept this situation and adapt to it.
No, more than that, I thought I needed to be more proactive.
"If you can't avoid it, enjoy it," they say.
I know that's a bit of a stretch, but I was thinking of this as a bit of DLC.
DLC stands for DownLoadable Contents, and in packaged games, it's things like new expansions, additional patches, and content.
I've been playing this game for a very long time and enjoying it.
I've been to places no one else has been, and I've killed a lot of hidden bosses.
I'm the one who stuck with the game until the 99th ending, even though I knew there would be no more patches.
For me, it was a different world than the one I knew in games.
As a person who loves games, I couldn't be more thrilled.
‘It's not that I haven't thought about going back to the real world.’
Honestly, it was better not to go back.
I don't think I'd have any friends or family, and I'd have a life of work.
That doesn't excite me at all.
But this world is different.
Just thinking about what's ahead and what's around the corner makes my heart race.
So even risky assignments that others would shy away from were like new content for me.
‘I sound like a crazy person when I say that.’
I laughed to myself.
Of course, that's what I said, but I'm fully aware that this world is real.
The people who live here are not data, but living human beings.
The landscape I see is real, not a monitor screen with a UI.
So I'm going to live my life accordingly.
First of all, I had to make money, a lot of money.
I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet but it's never too late to think about that, so I thought I'd take the job.
It's a job that others shy away from, and if I can pull it off, my reputation will grow, and better jobs will come my way.
"......You're serious."
"I'm not going to take the job as a joke."
"Whoa. I don't think you'd listen to me even if I tried."
"Can we do this as soon as possible?"
"Can you give me a moment?"
With that, Ronan headed for his private office on the second floor.
He seemed intent on cross-checking the information on the request, just in case.
If his behavior so far is any indication, Ronan Rolland is a man of deep thought and preparation.
'He's also got a certain shrewdness about him.’
In an adversarial position, he's suspicious, but in a team, he's strangely reassuring.
He will never do anything half-heartedly.
‘Maybe he'll assign someone to me for stability, or maybe he'll use his broker authority to reject them.’
That might get me in a bit of trouble however, I can't show any evidence that I can fight well against a warlock.
-rattle.
Just then, the bell on the tavern door rang loudly.
It was louder than usual, so it was clear that the new customer was not the usual lively one.
As I turned my head to stare at the entrance, the person who had just entered also noticed me and our eyes met.
"Kek."
She looked like she had chewed on something for a moment.
I smirked at Lorraine, the beautiful gunslinger with ivory hair.
"Great."