Lorraine's trembling pupils turned toward Osian.
There was no light in her cloudy, sunken pupils, which made her look frightening and eerie.
"What the hell, why? Why you?"
"Uh, sis, your true colors are coming out."
Ena pointed at Lorraine, but Lorraine was in no mood to respond.
She knew Osian deserved it, but it still felt wrong.
Ronan laughed and shrugged.
"There's nothing as ugly as jealousy."
"What the hell!"
"Mr. Osian has increased the budget for the 33rd district, and he increased his authority by using the rebuilding as an excuse, so how happy must the mayor be?"On top of that, he's developed a good relationship with Princess Orlea and a good image as a politician.
Although he still had a long term left in office, it was encouraging to see that his chances of re-election in the next district elections had increased.
"Hmm. But more than that, the fact that they gave him this much money makes me think there's something to it."
Ena Grundt's insight was unexpectedly sharp.
"Yes, you're right, paying this much money is a form of courtship for Mr. Osian, a way to get you to work for him."
"Well, is that okay? He's the mayor of the district! If he's willing to hand over such a large sum of money, his obsession with Mr. Osian must be out of the ordinary......."
"I'm not interested in government officials."
Osian's words cut through Ena's worries like a knife through butter.
"Besides, there's no law that says I have to go under them."
"What?"
"That man probably didn't expect me to be tempted by this amount. It's more like 'take it if you want, or leave it if you don't'."
"Even with this much money?"
"Because I'm in a position to move that much money."
Osian said in a firm tone.
"I'm a fixer. If you want to treat me like a government employee, pay me accordingly."
Lorraine's eyes widened in surprise at Osian's attitude.
Even for someone who had handled money in her own life as a fixer, the sight of it made her shudder, but Osian was treating it as if it were garbage on the street.
‘Is he not even freaking out right now?’
Lorraine thought to herself.
From the way he looked, it was obvious that he was the child of a wealthy family somewhere.
No wonder this amount of money didn't affect him.
However, Osian's true feelings were different.
‘Such a large sum of money, it's too much for me.’
Osian's stomach churned.
He could tell that Albert thought well of him when he paid him this much money.
'It probably means they'll give more if I join them. But if I take the bait without thinking, I'll be hooked for good. They'll make me work harder than what they paid for.'
Before he fell into this world, Osian was an office worker, a cog in the machine so he understood the intent behind the reward better than anyone.
‘Plus, being a knight makes it even creepier, somehow.’
I remembered a time in my past life when I felt something similar.
Was it when he was a retired sergeant in the army, and his old staff sergeant, whom he had gotten along with, offered him coffee.
Or when he was a graduate student and a professor asked him to eat.
At that moment, Osian felt a strong human instinct.
‘If I walk in, I'm doomed!’
He felt the same way now.
Because he didn't show any sign of it on the outside, Ena and Lorraine mistakenly assumed he hadn't faltered at all.
Ena clapped in unison.
"Well, that's good news, and I think we should bake a cake to celebrate!"
"You know how to make a cake?"
"Yes. I learned to bake."
Did learning to bake mean you could make a cake easily?
Lorraine stared at Ena with a hot look on her face.
There was a difference between a baker and a patissier, a pastry chef who makes cakes and desserts.
The latter was arguably more difficult.
"Do you know how to make other desserts?"
"Oh, yes. I can make pretty much anything."
"......."
Considering that certified pastry chefs specialize in making desserts for the royal family, Ena was pretty high-end.
Lorraine shook her head.
"I wonder why we don't have any sane people in this office."
"You do realize that applies to you, don't you?"
Ronan pointed out, but Lorraine didn't even pretend to listen.
Ena disappeared into the kitchen with her groceries, leaving Lorraine to slump into a chair and slump against the table with nothing to do.
It wasn't that she was bored, but rather that the amount of money Osian had gotten paid today had stirred her a bit.
"Me too, I want to make a lot of money......."
Ronan and Osian pretended not to hear Lorraine's grumbling.
What can you do, this is the reality.
Lorraine didn't really take it to heart anyway, so she'd be back to normal in a day or so.
Just then, the door to her office opened with a click.
"Is this Violet Fox?"
Osian's eyes widened at the sight of his guest.
The newcomer was not human.
He was stocky, green-skinned, and his lower molars protruded past his lips.
‘Orc?’
The newcomer was an orc.
‘Orcs were supposed to be monsters.’
In Osian's memory, orcs were one of the barbarian races, the monsters that antagonized playable characters.
Sure, he knew orcs had a culture of their own, having seen them live in tribes but basically, orcs were monsters.
That's how the Orc came into Violet Fox.
He wore a form-fitting black suit and rimless glasses over his eyes.
‘An orc wears a suit and glasses?’
He knew that warlocks were out and about, and that there was even a school for them, but he had no idea that a monstrous orc could speak fluently and integrate into human society.
Whether Osian was surprised or not, Lorraine's head snapped up from the table the moment she saw it.
"Yes, this is Violet Fox, are you here with a request?"
Lorraine's eyes were sparkling, Osian looked away and Ronan shook his head with a low, aching sigh.
"What's wrong with her?"
"She smelled money."
"Hmm?"
Osian squinted at the orc.
He hadn't realized it until he'd been concentrating on the orc, but upon closer inspection, the suit he was wearing looked out of the ordinary.
Even so, he was dressed as frugally as possible, but what was it about Lorraine that she recognized at once.
Regardless, Lorraine turned to the orc and asked.
"Mister, I'm Lorraine Ponk. As Violet Fox’s veteran fixer, I am confident that any request will be successful!”
"Uh, is that.......?"
The orc, momentarily taken aback by Lorraine's aggressive approach, asked calmly.
"Isn't there a fixer here by the name of Osian?"
"......."
Lorraine's face cracked into a smile.
Ronan chuckled softly, covering his mouth with his hand in amusement.
Lorraine shot Ronan an intense glare, telling him not to laugh.
Ronan raised his arms in acknowledgment, then turned to the orc.
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Ronan Rolland, broker here at Violet Fox."
"Ah, yes. Nice to meet you, I'm Sebastian."
Osian nearly sputtered at the sound of the orc's name.
It was purely because of his body that he didn't.
It was too archaic for an orc name.
The orc who introduced himself as Sebastian spoke up.
"I am here because my lord is in search of a capable fixer."
"Hmph. And your master?"
"Delan Goldiron."
It was a name Osian had never heard before but Lorraine looked different.
"Goldiron? The Goldiron family that supposedly owns the gold mining rights?!"
"You know them?"
"How could I not? It's a very famous family! They discovered a gold mine and rose to prominence!"
They mined for gold, they got it, and they must have great wealth.
Osian wondered why he would come to such a place to seek a fixer.
"I'd like to see the fixer, Osian. Is he not here today?"
"It's me."
Osian stepped forward before Ronan could introduce him.
Sebastian's eyes widened behind his glasses at the sight of Ossian.
"Oh, you?"
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, no. I'm sorry. You're so different from what I thought you were."
Sebastian hadn't known what Osian looked like until he came here.
All he knew from the rumors that had reached his ears was that he was a fixer of considerable skill.
Sebastian knew that fixers usually did rough work, so he'd always thought of him as a very rough-looking man, maybe even a bit rugged.
But he looked like a nobleman.
It was the exact opposite of what he had imagined and the strange thing was that he didn't find it unpleasant, despite the spontaneous half-smile that came out of his mouth.
"Yes. I heard you were looking for me, what is your request?"
Sebastian, who had served a number of masters in his life, still prided himself on his ability to read people.
Osian was obviously a nobleman somewhere, he thought.
A man like that working as a fixer. What kind of unspeakable past did he have?
But such trivialities were not the point, so Sebastian gathered himself and answered the question.
"My master, Mr. Delan, is looking for someone of your caliber."
"Highly skilled. Why?"
"......I apologize. It's a family affair, and I'm not comfortable discussing it here."
Sebastian's intention was simple.
The only way to get the full story was to accept the request.
However, it was clear that he didn't feel comfortable doing so, as he seemed a bit coy.
It's like trying to hide the truth from the other person and acting shamelessly on purpose, like forcing yourself to wear clothes that don't fit.
"Is it not because of the property?"
Ronan interrupted, blurting out the words.
Sebastian tried to pretend he wasn't, but he couldn't stop his pupils from fluttering.
Osian looked at him and realized at once that he was a novice at this.
“I heard a story recently. The head of the family, Dyke Goldiron, is in despair.”
"That, that's......."
"Even though we tried to hide it as much as possible, rumors were bound to spread since someone so active has stayed out of sight for several months. Considering he is now approaching 80, it's not particularly surprising."
"......."
"Delan is the third son of the family, as far as I know, but that doesn't mean he's gathering fixers......."
Ronan's eyes narrowed even further.
"You're doing something that requires the use of force, is it to determine the heir?"
Sebastian let out a small sigh.
Having come this far, he couldn't keep it a secret any longer.
"Well, first of all, what you just said is mostly correct about Mr. Dyke's current moodiness, and about the heir. But that's not the whole story."
"You mean there's more."
Hoo-hoo.
Ronan grinned with amusement.
Sebastian's stomach clenched at the suspicious smile.
Ronan's grin made him look terrified.
An orc was intimidated by the smile of a human two heads shorter than him.
Osian was also strangely convinced.
There was something about Ronan's smile that sent chills down the spine of a stranger.
"......Why is everyone looking at me like that?"
The problem was that Ronan himself didn't recognize it.
"Hmmm. Well, to continue the conversation, we're not ready to name a successor yet, because there's something we need to take care of first."
"A problem to solve. I'm intrigued. What exactly is it?"
"A ghost."
The word came out of Sebastian's mouth completely unexpectedly.
"A ghost that wants to take Lord Dyke's head, and I want you to get rid of it."
At the same time a strange current ran through Osian's brow.
This was a hunch that he should accept this request.