The Starlight Sword.
Karen's face stiffened at the sight of the starlight that descended on the ground.
What is that?
Her eyes remained fixed on the sword in Osian's hand.
The sword suddenly emitted a pure white light. Is he a witch too? But witches can only be women.
The thought was crazy, but Karen didn't think the sword was fake.
She could feel the immense power of the flames, a blur of blue and white.
It's a high-energy sword that cuts through anything it touches.
At the same time, Karen couldn't help but think: It's beautiful.
"What are you going to do, try to fight it here?"Osian gave Karen a final warning.
This was the Violet Fox, so he didn't swing it right away, but he had no intention of avoiding a fight if she ignored his warning.
Karen didn't answer him, instead glaring at Ena for a moment before tucking the halberd in her hand into her waistband.
The large halberd shrank in size as soon as it was around her waist and disappeared.
"Hmm. This is getting boring. I'm out."
Karen turned and left the Violet Fox Tavern without another word.
It was a rather hollow departure for someone who had suddenly appeared and threatened Ena Grundt.
"Whoa, thank goodness."
Ronan's shoulders sagged and he sighed, having kept his back straight until then.
Diolan and Lorraine relaxed as well.
"I'm glad it's over without incident, I was really nervous that there was going to be a fight."
"You sounded pretty confident for someone who was......scared."
"Woohoo, you can't run away because you're scared, can you?"
Ronan chuckled, then looked back at Ena.
"Miss Ena Grundt. Are you all right?"
"Ah, yes. Yes."
"I'm sorry you had to go through this. But I felt like it would be worse if I left it alone, so I interjected."
"Oh, no. On the contrary, I feel sorry and I'm grateful."
Ena shuddered as she remembered Karen's appearance just moments ago.
"I didn't expect another witch to come looking for me as soon as I got here."
"I've told you, witches are quite valuable in Tirna, so it's no wonder other witches are greedy."
“Is that the place called the witches’ coven?”
Ena asked, and Ronan nodded.
"Yes. Karen, the witch that visited earlier, belongs to the Night of Walpurgis, one of only two coven's in Tirna."
"There are two?"
Osian muttered, surprised, for he hadn't known that.
"One is the Night of Walpurgis, as you've heard. It's more of a gathering than an organization, really, because it's for witches to get together and work together, to help each other get along.
They banded together to do whatever they wanted, but as an organization, they didn't have what it took.
Nevertheless, the reason it could not be looked upon lightly was because all the members were witches.
"The other one is the Witches' Tea Party."
"That's a pretty cute name."
"This one is more of a public organization. It was created in collaboration with the city of Tirna, as witches have powers but are not allowed to do anything in the city. It's where we go to deal with those who threaten the city, or when there are other important matters."
"Witches come in all flavors, I suppose."
"The Tea Party tends to be the more powerful, though, and I'm told they have a legendary witch among their ranks."
A legendary witch.
Osian suddenly remembered the witches in the game.
If witches didn't have a specific lifespan, perhaps the one he knew was still there.
The thought was interrupted by Ronan's next words.
"Miss Ena Grundt must be an outlier in that sense, a witch who has yet to find her rightful place. Now that you’re in Tirna, you'll be in direct contact with those who were previously only on the sidelines."
Ena's value was far greater than she realized.
She would be drawn into this, even if she didn't want to be.
Ena's expression sank heavily as she realized the gravity of the situation.
"But that goes for you, too, Mr. Osian."
"You mean me?"
"To be honest, I didn't think you would complete this request, and even if you did, I put the odds at less than one in ten."
"That's quite an ego-bruising assessment."
"No offense, it's an objective assessment. However you, Mr. Osian, did it like it was nothing between the mafia, the bikers, the wizards, and the Order pursuers."
This signified that Osian will be recognized as a powerhouse fixer, but it also meant that from now on, he would be the subject of gossip, facing hindrances and envy from others.
“Maybe even now, they are keeping an eye on Mr. Osian somewhere.”
So be careful, Ronan didn't bother to add.
*
Balud led his men to the meeting.
The North Blinders, of which he is a member, meets periodically as the board of directors discusses various matters.
How is the market, how are the city's factions playing out, how are the bribes to officials, how are the current projects going?
Balud was one of the directors, so it was mandatory for him to attend the meetings.
He wore his usual crisp white suit and kept his hair unruffled.
"Oh, look who it is, isn't it our always-presentable Mr. Balud? You’ve traveled a long way."
A flippant voice greeted him as I entered the conference room.
“Your words and actions are still of a low standard, Kursha.”
The speaker is a man with fiery red hair that looks like a lion's mane.
His free-spirited demeanor was evident from the way he sat in his chair and had his shirt untucked to his chest.
Kursha, one of the directors of the North Blinders Mafia.
The corners of his mouth curled up as if he'd heard something interesting.
"How's business these days? I heard something interesting the other day."
"......."
"Are you going to exercise your right to remain silent? Well, even if I had ten mouths, I wouldn’t have anything to say. Balud experienced failure against a rookie fixer. Haha!”
Balud ignored Kursha's words and took his seat.
The other seats were occupied by directors who had already arrived but none of them joined in the conversation, they just watched.
'Still suffocating,' Balud thought, slowly running a hand through his hair.
Everyone was an equal board member, but they were also each other's fierce competitors.
If one failed, it was only natural for the other to bite but if he stood still, it was only to finish stronger and more certain.
'I'll leave the role of the mad dog to Kursha, who has never gotten along with me. He knows it, and he's willing to take on the role.
It's a ploy.
If you don't react and ignore him, he'll just go off into the weeds.
But contrary to Balud's thinking, Kursha was not about to let go of the opportunity he had just gotten.
"I think our director has grown weak. He can't even take on a single rookie fixer.”
"......I don't know what you're talking about."
"I mean, maybe your skills are too rusty."
Kursha's scowl brought Balud to life.
Balud lifted the glasses on his face with his fingers.
The lenses glowed white, making his eyes invisible.
"Well, would you like to check it out here and now?"
"Oh, that's funny."
Kursha chuckled, showing his pearly whites. His red hair flowed in the breeze.
Throwing cold water on the heated atmosphere was an elderly man, his face gray with age.
"Enough, both of you. The chairman will be here soon."
At that, Balud and Kursha jumped to their feet.
Balud maintained his usual demeanor, as if he hadn't said it in the first place, while Kursha snorted.
‘Judging by that reaction, it looks like he wasn’t able to properly fight against that rookie fixer.’
Despite their snarling relationship, Kursha knows Balud's skills.
In an organization with a long history, the North Blinders, a northern barbarian who joined one day out of the blue, has risen through the ranks.
Balud is a skilled fighter in his own right, but he is even better at manipulating people.
As such, his departments were centered around services and manpower.
He made money with people, unlike everyone else who made money with things.
So the other board members didn't like him very much.
They thought it was outdated and crude.
‘It's a very barbaric thing to do, but it's the real deal.’
He was intrigued.
Who was this brilliant fixer, who had taken in the rumored witch who had asked for asylum?
It's amazing that he took on Balud alone, not with a team, and even survived the Order hounds that followed him.
I don't know if he survived the encounter or if he was lucky enough to escape.
Survival alone means that Osian is a rare breed of fixer these days.
‘Violet Fox's office, right?’
An office that is one of the very few in the fixer world and has managed to maintain its gray status under tight regulations.
‘Wahahahaha, this is interesting. I'll have to check it out when I get a chance.’
*
"They say there's a new witch in town."
A dark room.
A thin voice echoed in the pitch-black darkness, coming from a table with nothing but a white tablecloth spread out in front of it.
The words were met with an exclamation from the other direction.
"Oh my. Is that true?"
"Yes. I heard that she was chased by the Order of Petra, but they say she arrived safely.”
"That's good to hear. The outside of the city must still be harsh on us, and I can't believe there are still children alive."
"I suppose that's why the Night of Walpurgis has already begun."
"That's faster than I thought."
"We're late."
Rumbling laughter echoed throughout the room.
They sip our tea, set their teacups, pour a fresh pot of black tea and chat.
This was what a witches' tea party was like.
"I have some exciting news."
At that moment, golden flames leaped up from the center of the table.
At the sound of the voice, all the laughing witches fell silent.
Though invisible, all eyes were focused on the golden flames.
"I hear there is a fixer who has brought a new witch safely to the city."
"That's remarkable. Not a wizard from the Tower, not a criminal organization from the underworld, but a simple fixer."
"He survived the Purification Judge, and she told me a very funny story."
"What is it, big sister?"
"She said he uses starlight."
At the mention of starlight, the witches around them murmured.
"I thought it was gone," said the golden fire.
"Only time will tell if this is the reappearance of a legacy from the past we thought was gone."
The decision would be made afterward.
To let it go, to take it by the hand or nip it in the bud.
*
"Hmm."
~The top floor of a restaurant overlooking the city~
Grace Seeker stared out the window, swirling the wine glass in her hand.
"So I wasn't wrong after all?"
The man had done it again.
Of course, rumors like this are kept to those in the know, so it's not like he's about to make a big name for himself.
Grace Seeker knew instinctively that this was just the beginning.
"Hoo-hoo. Fun."
Life in the city was about to get a little more interesting.
*
"Especially those who failed to recruit the witch after this, they'll be even more hostile to Mr. Osian."
"I suppose so."
"That's the way it is in this business: you look up to someone who's better than you and you try to trip him up somehow. There's awe, but the desire to take his place is stronger. It's like that here."
That was the underworld of Tirna.
With this, Ossian had stepped into it for good.
Now, even if he tried to escape, he couldn't.
The only way to survive the hell and quagmire he has entered is to keep moving forward.
"There will be many crises ahead."
Nearly fighting with Karen like he did just now was only the beginning.
"More people."
Tirna's guards, enforcers, gangs, criminals, wizards, warlocks, and the Inquisitors of the Order.
"More dangerous and powerful organizations."
The Fixer's Union, the city's big business, the Mafia, the Warlock's Guild, the Tirna Defense Force, the Witches' Tea Party.
"The lesser-known powerhouses."
The Blood Brotherhood, the Night of Walpurgis, the Twelve of the Holy Order, and other secret societies that lurk in the city.
“Mr. Osian will gradually wear out, sometimes clashing with them, sometimes collaborating with them, sometimes ignoring them.”
For a moment, Ronan's smile fades and his expression turns serious.
"Are you prepared for all of that?"
Ronan thought that it was inevitable that Osian would get scared and withhold his answer here.
It was the same with Diolan and Lorraine.
"There's a lot more variety out there."
But Osian was different.
In fact, he even had a sly smile on his face.
"Interesting…Anyone's welcome."