Osian was puzzled by Fernando's words, but then he understood.
He saw Fernando's eyes scanning the others as he told them to be careful.
Why did Fernando say be careful?
Did he know something else they didn't?
"I'll go back to my post now."
Before I could ask, Fernando was gone, taking Muerte with him.
[It was nice to meet you, even if our first meeting didn't go so well because you tried to kill me!]
Muerte, floating by Fernando's side like a ghost, waved to Osian.
The combination of a skeletal woman who seemed more alive than a living person and a man who seemed deader than a corpse was very unusual.
The world is a big place and there are many different kinds of people, Osian thought, but Fernando's warning was not wasted.‘But the most important thing right now is the ghost.’
The power of the ghost seems to stir up some part of my memory.
I'm sure I've seen him before, but I can't remember where.
Maybe if I see him one more time, I'll realize it then.
'It came out at night and was forced to back off today, but given its belligerence, I doubt it will go away.’
That means he could show up again the next night.
Vowing not to let him get away this time, Osian called out to Elise.
"You."
"Elise."
"......."
"Elise."
"Yes, Elise."
It was Osian who took the first step back in response to Elise's adamant insistence that he call her by her first name.
"I don't know what the hell you're doing here, but......."
Osian was about to say more, but Elise cut him off.
"You're lying."
"What?"
"You lied."
Elise pointed a finger at Osian.
"The name. You said Albert."
"Oh."
It occurred to him that when he first met Elise, she had asked Osian what his name was.
Osian, who had an antipathy toward warlocks, didn't want to give her his real name, so he lied and said Albert.
‘I didn't think much of it at the time,’ he recalls, ‘but now that I think about it, I realize it's the same name as the Mayor of the 33rd District.’
That wasn't the point.
"I lied about my name."
"......There's no reason for me to give you my real name in the first place."
"Why?"
"Because."
That's it.
Osian opened his mouth to say something, but then clamped his jaw shut.
He didn't want to give his name because, frankly, she was a warlock. Part of him wanted to say, "What if you use it to target me or curse me?”
But the rational part of his brain knew that was a very classist thing to say, and he held it in desperation.
Nowadays, warlocks are a recognized profession in society.
Of course, some people still shy away from it because of its unique image, but on the other hand, there are many people who admire warlocks.
Knowing that, Osian could no longer speak so casually against warlocks.
Or, more accurately, he had to suppress his instinct to do so as much as his reason would allow.
‘I can't help the physiological revulsion I feel.’
The memories of fighting warlocks to the death were still embedded in his body.
He still instinctively recoiled at the sight of a warlock.
However, he's not as verbally abusive as he was in the beginning, so he can say that he improved quite a bit.
That's why he can talk to Elise like this.
"I just didn't want my name out there at the time."
"Why? You're a fixer."
"Does it matter now?"
Sensing this was going to be a long conversation, Osian changed the subject.
"You were commissioned by Maria Goldiron. What was it for?"
"A favor for a friend."
"......Wasn't that just a story?"
Maria had looked at Elise and said friend, but she hadn't expected Elise to say friend favor.
"Of course I get paid."
"Then it's not a favor."
"Why not?"
It's not like she's getting paid for being a friend.
‘I mean, what kind of basic common sense would you expect from a warlock?’
Osian shook his head inwardly.
If any other warlock had heard his inner thoughts, they would have been furious.
In this case, it was because Elise was unusual, not because she was a warlock.
"So, what were you asked to do? Are you here to find that ghost?"
"The ghost?"
"The one you fought just now."
"Oh, the blue one."
"......Yes, the blue one. Was he the object of this favor?"
Elise shook her head.
"No?"
"I was asked for something else."
"What do you mean, something else?"
"I’m here to protect Maria."
Elise's answer was quite surprising.
*
The next day Osian came to Delan's office again.
"There must have been a lot of noise last night."
Delan was nonchalant about the fight that had torn a hole in the mansion.
Osian turned to Delan and asked him bluntly.
"Why exactly did you hire me?"
"Hmm."
Delan's eyes lit up with an intrigued smile.
"Apparently, you heard something based on what happened yesterday."
"There was quite a crowd."
"Did you see my brother?"
"Yes. He's hired some wizards from the Salaman school."
"What an asshole."
A sudden outburst.
Osian shrugged it off. In truth, he was thinking the same thing as Delan.
"A coward and a momma's boy, and so is my second sister. Too much greed and vanity but not enough ability. The youngest is better, but she's still immature and young."
Why is he telling me this?
Osian waited in silence for Delan's next words.
"I'm a bastard."
Delan's confession was shocking.
But the way he said it, it felt like he was saying, "I ate soup this morning.”
Sebastian's eyes widened in surprise.
"Master!"
"Never mind, Sebastian. There's no point in hiding this."
Delan threw his hands up in the air in annoyance.
"An illegitimate child, that's a surprise."
"Why? Because I inherited the old man's temperament in the thickest of ways?"
"I won't deny it."
"You speak of the old man as if you had seen him."
"A successful investor who discovered a gold mine and made a fortune on the back of it. A man like that would be cool and collected, but also passionate."
That was exactly what Delan looked like to Osian.
Delan smirked. It was an affirmation of Osian's words.
"Anyway, I'm a stain on this family. The last thing we need is for the world to know that the old man had an affair. If anyone should be obsessed with that, it should be him."
"So you're saying it was Dyke who......took you away?"
"I don't know why. Perhaps it was a whim, or perhaps I inherited more of his own temperament than his eldest son. The old man who brought me to the mansion didn't talk to me much afterward."
Still, Dyke had certainly provided Delan with material abundance.
The fact that he was living in the mansion and having such a nice room was proof of that.
"However, apart from the old man, the mistress and my older brother and sister don't really like me."
"No wonder, for to them you are a stranger."
"At the same time, I might be someone who could take away their inheritance. Beyond that, it's partly because I'm so talented. While the old man was still around, everyone kept quiet and watched their steps."
"Not now that Dyke's down."
Delan scoffed.
"We don't know when the old man's going to wake up, and they're going about their business like they’re baking beans in a blazing fire."
"No, it's more like doing something because they're sure it won't happen."
"......also. You weren't a bad choice."
Delan nodded, his demeanor softening at Osian's answer, which cut to the heart of the matter.
"It was a good thing for me. The ghost gave me an excuse to hire a fixer to help the old man, but I couldn't afford anything less than a fixer of your caliber."
"If I'd called in someone with a better reputation for strength, they'd have felt the crisis and used their hands first."
His brothers, who had been staunchly opposed to the idea, backed down when Ellen said he was looking for an inexperienced fixer, not a famous mercenary.
"You're just a fixer," he says, "and I'm sure they're thinking, 'What's the point of calling a guy like that?’”
"And you found me in the meantime."
"Yeah."
Delan had come this far, and he wasn't holding anything back from Osian.
"I heard the news just in time. The assassination of Princess Orlea. Terrorists or something, they made a big deal out of it, wreaking havoc in the streets, but she didn't die, because she had one fixer by her side."
"So that's why you called for me. If I could protect Princess Orlea from such horrors, you're sure I can protect you from the hands of your siblings."
"The other fools don't seem to realize your true worth."
That's where Delan excelled.
He took after his father, Dyke, but he also knew better than anyone what it was like to be the underdog.
‘He never let anything slip through his fingers, even the smallest things.’
Ordinarily, people wouldn't have paid much attention to Osian, partly because Albert deliberately withheld information.
However, Delan took advantage of the concealment to deduce what Osian was doing and recognize his true worth.
The world is full of people who don't believe what they see.
Delan only had second-hand information about Osian, but he recognized something extraordinary about him.
He had an almost intuitive sense of investment, evidence of Dyke Goldiron blood running thick in his veins.
"Have you spoken to the butler?"
"He's neither my enemy nor my ally. He's just a man who swore allegiance to my father."
In other words, Dustin, the butler, couldn't help.
‘So that's why he told me to be careful.’
I finally understood the meaning of Fernando's warning.
Dustin would stay out of whatever was going on in the house.
As long as it doesn't directly harm Dyke.
"And it's not just Delan, either, the youngest of the family seems to have inherited quite a bit of his father's temperament.
She's a carefree little fellow.
She instinctively sensed something was amiss in the house and brought Elise along as her escort.
She doesn't have a normal sense of crisis either.
She's not a bastard, so the eldest son and second daughter have no reason to attack her, but it never hurts to be cautious.
‘What an interesting family. The eldest son and second daughter are fools full of vanity, but the illegitimate youngest child has strongly inherited their father's temperament.’
Even a normal family is a good place for a fight, but a billionaire's family?
It was a perfect situation for someone to die.
"Still, I didn't think the ghost was real."
Delan twiddled his fingers.
He'd thought he'd been being modest, but to hear that there really were ghosts, and that they were even menacing, was a bit of a surprise even to him.
"You don't have to worry about that. I'm sure I can catch it this time."
"You're so confident."
"Isn't that why you called me?"
Delan's eyes widened at that, and then he burst out laughing.
"Yeah, I did."
Delan's shoulders shook as he stopped laughing and turned to Osian.
"Today will be the day. I'm sure last night's events have made you impatient. Can you do a good job?"
"Make sure I'm paid well."
"An exemplary and satisfactory answer."
Rising from his seat, Osian turned to Sebastian before leaving the office.
"Perhaps today, you should show me something, too."
"......."
Sebastian didn't answer.
Osian smirked at him and left the office.
*
Night fell as Osian stood still in the hallway with his sword dangled in one hand.
The mansion was bathed in light, then the power went out again.
"I see, you felt it too."
With a chill, a bluish ghost appeared before Osian's eyes.
"I knew you would reappear before me. Now that I see you again, I think I know who you are."
White flames rose above Osian's sword.
"A shard of my power."