Kirk was working with the hustle and bustle downstairs as his background music. The scratching of a pen was soon drowned out by a knock that echoed throughout the office.
“Come in,” he said without lifting his eyes from his papers.
The door was opened with polite aloofness.
“Umm…Vice President?”
Kirk sighed and put down his pen. He looked up to the source of the quiet and pensive voice. This was one of the new receptionists. What was her name again?
“Yes?”
He couldn’t remember, so he tried to play it cool. The guild wasn’t so overstaffed that he could just intimidate every other new hire that interrupted him. He didn’t smile but reassured her with his tone that she could proceed.
“There’s someone who would like to see you. Are you available?”
“A guest?” He took out his notebook where he kept his appointments, but couldn’t find anything down for that day. However, these things did happen on occasion, so it didn’t bother him.
“A representative of some trade association, I take it? Tell them I’m busy. Maybe another time.”
Just as Kirk was about to return to work, the new hire shook her head.
“That isn’t who is looking for you,” she continued. “It’s actually one of our adventurers.”
Kirk looked quizzically at her. “An adventurer? Name and class?”
When she mentioned who the adventurer was, his curiosity turned to distress. It was like witnessing a tornado come right at him. Kirk burst into a barrage of excuses, rare for a man known for his reticence.
“I’m not here. Tell her I won’t be back until tomorrow, at least. Oh, and if she comes looking for me again, make up some reason to turn her away. Do you understand? So troublesome… Young people these days are so quick to resort to violence. They’re no better than animals.”
“Vice President…”
“You should be careful too. No matter how good one looks, character matters most. One cannot just go intimidating people to get what one wants. No wonder that man is so grim…”
“Vice President!” The new hire raised her voice suddenly, startling Kirk into silence. His mouth hung open as he looked at her.
“I apologize for not telling you earlier…but she’s already here.”
As apologetic as she sounded, she seemed like she was telling him to shut up. It took a few moments for the reality of the situation to sink in. Kirk looked at her closely and finally noticed her legs were shaking as she leaned against the wall, her eyes fearful of whatever was on the other side of the door.
The door creaked from an anomalous presence, a creak that sounded like screams.
“I see.” Now he understood everything.
All tension escaped his body. His eyes gazed at the void, looking like a patient who had accepted his death. Why didn’t he realize sooner? Maybe he was tired. Maybe things have been going too fast lately…
Kirk answered his own question in an attempt to escape his situation.
“I’mgoingbacktowork!” the new hire yelped, quickly leaving him to fend for himself.
And so, the catastrophe slowly approached Kirk.
Kirk was a man who thought it foolish to worry about past mistakes. There was no use crying over spilled milk. If you had time to cry, you had time to deal with the situation you were facing. Giving up and adapting were important facets of human life.
So, Kirk calmly thought about what he would do next. Even when the sturdy door to his office was blown apart, only a single bead of cold sweat ran down his face.
Siasha, the walking catastrophe, stood before the freshly split door, the biggest smile on her face. She walked into the office, her hair fluttering from overflowing mana, and called out to Kirk in a sweet voice.
“Kirk, Kirk, Kirk… Our beloved Kirk Wright, guide of adventurers. I am deeply grateful that you would take time out of your day to see a lowly adventurer such as I.”
She sang her words with a practiced grace and bowed, her long hair almost touching the floor. She didn’t seem like she was used to this, and yet she maintained an eerie air of elegance. Although she made a show of humbling herself, she had lost none of her poise.
If anything, Kirk thought to himself that he had never felt so undone in his entire life by a single greeting.
As these thoughts ran through his head, he responded with a firm and noble nod. “Of course. You’re always welcome, Siasha. We are here to serve our adventurers and lend an ear to their troubles.”
“Yes, but of course! Although we fight on different battlefields, we are comrades, nonetheless.”
A farce—that was the only word to describe this exchange. But it was a necessary farce. Kirk wasn’t about to ruin it by calling her out.
“By the way, Comrade Kirk, I do believe that the door to your office is quite fragile. I thought you would have had a better one installed.”
“Ha ha ha. Oh, but Comrade Siasha, that was not a double door, you see.”
“Goodness, how clumsy of me!”
Her face bloomed into a smile. A man oblivious to the situation might have fallen in love with that grin, but the air suddenly grew cold. Although Siasha maintained her expression, the look in her gaze had become icy. It was enough to make it feel like the temperature of the room had dropped. Kirk felt a menacing chill running down his back.
Here it was. Kirk braced himself, doing his best to pick his words with the utmost care.
“By the way, Kirk, what were you talking about earlier?” Siasha asked, tilting her head like a marionette. “It was quite strange. Something about a man being grim?”
“I just think that the mercenary under your employ is a little too stern for his own good. If he took on a more friendly manner, perhaps he might attract more clientele.”
Knowing that he had struck a nerve, Kirk did his best to steer the conversation away from his earlier faux pas. He thought he did a pretty good job.
He had heard from the stories told about Siasha and Zig that their relationship was quite complicated. Zig himself said that they were client and mercenary—nothing more, nothing less. Still, her attachment to Zig was quite peculiar. Calling it love, whether romantic or platonic, wasn’t quite right either.
However, Kirk had no intention of even bringing it up. It was far too dangerous.
She elegantly placed her fingers to her chin and nodded, seemingly accepting Kirk’s excuse.
“I see. Yes, I suppose Zig can be quite intimidating. And that was all you were saying, yes?”
“Of course. I have no complaints about Zig’s work ethic. As someone who stands by his side, you should understand why.”
Because you’re Zig’s partner, Kirk tried to say between the lines.
Subtle flattery was most effective when you didn’t want to further anger the one you were talking to. Siasha quietly tried to discern the meaning behind his words. Her smile remained as her gaze—cold as ice—and seemed to pierce through his own. Her azure eyes were as beautiful as gemstones, though they were as cold as the rocks you found on the side of the road.
“Very well.”
The sensation of time itself had become strange at that point, but that was over now.
Siasha turned away, seemingly losing interest, and with it, the pressure Kirk felt lightened. Kirk took a deep breath quietly, so as not to be heard. He felt as if his own words had somehow shortened his lifespan.
“Right, while we’re on the subject of work…” Siasha said, as if remembering why she had come to see Kirk in the first place.
Meanwhile, Kirk was thinking about how he would need to educate his staff on what to do if she wanted to see him. Actually, even Kirk forgot that she must have had a reason to see him if she came all the way here.
“Can you tell me about the job Zig is on?”
He wanted to give himself a quiet pat on the back for not furrowing his eyebrows.
A dangerous person was sticking her nose in a dangerous matter. That fact alone was enough to give him a headache. Kirk was already in the middle of investigating Zig’s claims, and he really didn’t need any more on his plate.
“I’m sorry, but even the guild doesn’t have all the details on the matter yet. I can only give you my assumptions to avoid unnecessary confusion. Surely you understand?”
Kirk barely had conclusions after Zig brought him all the results he needed. However, he had no reason to tell her that. As talented as Siasha was, she was still a mid-class adventurer. Thus, he told her that he couldn’t divulge any sensitive guild information, thinking that she would understand and leave it alone.
“Do you not understand the reason I came here today?”
Kirk had thought wrong.
Siasha had no interest in the guild’s internal affairs and couldn’t care less whether the incident was intentional.
“I want to know what kind of job Zig is on. That’s all.”
“Even so. I would still have to tell you much of the same information.”
With Kirk reaffirming his position, Siasha let out a lament.
“Oh, Kirk. I am saddened! Saddened by the fact you would abandon a friend in need. Why, cracks may start appearing in our friendship. Wouldn’t that be a frightful thing?”
She approached him, boots clicking on the floor, until she reached his desk and sat on it.
Tap tap. She tapped her fingers on Kirk’s desk to draw his attention.
“Our friendship is supposed to last forever. But what if…what if cracks started appearing?”
Once Kirk was transfixed by her tapping, Siasha looked at him and clasped a hand to her chest. “My heart is overflowing with sorrow. No, I would never want cracks to form in our friendship! For if it did…the sorrow that will come out may swallow you whole.”
Siasha tilted her head ever so slightly, as if to ask “do you understand?”
Kirk swallowed, sensing the thinly veiled violence behind her words. He had once read in a book that a smile could be an act of aggression. That book had been mistaken. To a weaker person, anything an aggressor did could be considered hostile.
“I…see. No, you’re right. That will not do.”
“It certainly would not. You are the only one who can protect our friendship.”
So, go on. Siasha motioned, extending her right hand—which had been the one on her chest—toward him.
“The power of friendship.” Her open palm looked like it was demanding his life to be placed upon it.
“The power of friendship.”
Kirk could do nothing but comply.