“Hmm…”
He groaned as he set a steaming white cup on the desk.
The amber colored liquid settled in the ceramic. Kirk’s brewing method combined efficiency and artistry, producing a fragrant tea without wasting expensive tea leaves.
However, the amber liquid was fueling a blood-red conversation.
“Of the two people who attacked Zig, one’s head was crushed to the point of no recognition. The other one was successfully captured. He is now in custody, and proper measures are being enacted.”
“That’s why Zig was hurt when he came home yesterday… I see. It doesn’t sound like a task for an adventurer.”
A mercenary was expendable; no one would question the death of a convenient pawn. He was also far cheaper than hiring an adventurer, since the guild wouldn’t need to risk losing one of its members.
Siasha wasn’t pleased by this insinuation and her gaze bore down on Kirk.
The cup rattled, the tea making waves under her gaze.
However, Kirk didn’t get the position of vice president on a whim, nor was the title decorative. He had been caught off guard the last time Siasha threatened him, but he had already seen it once. He wasn’t about to fold now, especially when he knew he had done nothing wrong. He wasn’t as soft as that.
Besides, Siasha wasn’t truly angry at him. The power in her gaze was much weaker compared to the time Kirk banned Zig from the guild and when she split the door in half earlier.
“We are both using each other,” Kirk said coolly. “Rest assured, I’m paying him appropriately. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting things to progress so quickly. Violent as he is, he’s great at his job.”
Since he and Zig both agreed to the terms of the contract, he didn’t feel like a third party had any right to complain about it.
“Hmph… Sly fox.”
Siasha narrowed her eyes at him, knowing that she didn’t have as much information as he did. Kirk ignored her and sipped his tea. She could only purse her lips, recognizing fully well that she was only taking out her frustrations on him.
“So what will you do? I don’t think it’s my place to say, but he doesn’t seem like a man who appreciates outside help in his work.”
“It really isn’t your place to say. Yes, I know that much about him.”
Siasha turned away, Kirk’s words hitting her where it hurt. She could already see Zig refusing her offer to help him. She knew that better than anyone else. However, she was fed up with only being able to wait for him to return.
“As a fellow industry worker—no, as an adventurer, I simply cannot rest while the culprit is out there, perhaps plotting something worse! That is the only reason why I am here.”
Siasha clenched her fist, demonstrating her desire to see the wicked be brought to justice.
“I see. Perhaps there is hope yet for this generation if a young adventurer is so affected by her comrades’ deaths.”
Kirk stared at her, expressing his admiration for her, though his expression remained unchanged.
But let’s think about this, he thought to himself.
Whatever Siasha’s motives were, more pawns on the board were never a bad thing. Since she already knew about the situation, it would be much better to use her than to ask her to keep quiet.
“Then I believe I have just the task to satisfy your thirst for justice. Will you help me?”
“Very well. How much?”
“I thought doing good was a reward in itself, friend?” Kirk said, his words implying that she stop making the shape of a coin with her fingers.
Siasha smiled brightly, traced the edge of her cup, and stared at him with her azure eyes. “Indeed, justice is what motivates me. But if a certain someone wishes to express his gratitude in a concrete manner, who am I to refuse? Friend.”
Cold sweat formed on Kirk’s brow.
Zig was not on official guild business. It went without saying that his payment came out of Kirk’s own pocket. Of course, he made a sizable amount of money from being vice president, but the amount he was paying Zig was going to dent his finances.
But he needed all the help he could get. If his predictions were correct, the more hands, the better—and the more competent, the better.
He had already heard reports about Siasha being a promising young adventurer. Her performance during the rescue operation corroborated that. But even without the rescue operation, he already knew firsthand that Siasha was different.
If spending his own money was what it took to enlist her…then it was a sacrifice that Kirk would have to make.
“I’ll think about it.”
“I look forward to hearing how it goes.”
As he nodded with a heavy heart, his dear friend put on a beautiful smile in return.
The negotiation, or rather the heartfelt conversation between friends, was coming to a close.
Siasha had finished her tea and was about to get up to leave when a series of rushing footsteps could be heard approaching the office.
“Mr. Kirk, there’s—what happened to the door?!” The owner of the footsteps was confused about the state of the office door, but Kirk urged him to continue.
“Don’t worry about that. What happened?”
The middle-aged, neatly dressed employee stepped through the doorway, eyes wandering until they reached Siasha. He approached Kirk and whispered in his ear.
“Right.” Kirk motioned the staffer to leave and turned toward Siasha. He remained expressionless, but whatever the man told him didn’t seem to be good news.
“The assassin has been killed.”
Siasha’s suspicions were put to rest immediately. Although she understood what he said perfectly well, his lack of emotion made her pensive for a few seconds.
“Hmm?”
Siasha tilted her head and twirled the ends of her hair before finally speaking. “What are you people doing?” Siasha said in a low voice, a dangerous gleam in her eyes. “I can’t believe you let your only lead die so easily.”
Now they had no way of finding the culprit. Whoever it was, they would be more careful in going about their business, making the search even more difficult.
“All of Zig’s efforts and wounds…wasted,” Siasha growled and narrowed her eyes. “Shall I give you an excuse to get new glasses?”
A fist-sized rock was now floating over her palm. The rock crackled with energy, audibly creaking from the immense mana being poured into it.
Earlier, she had only been lashing out. Now, she was angry.
Although her fury hadn’t turned to bloodlust, it was still enough to freeze an ordinary man in place.
And yet Kirk was smiling.
“Hm?”
Siasha tilted her head at his incomprehensible response. His smile only deepened.
“I see. Seeing you with Zig had me fooled, but you’re much quicker to resort to violence than he is. I suppose that’s common enough in the adventuring business.”
It was then that Siasha realized what Kirk was saying. Zig wasn’t an intellectual, but his wealth of experience more than made up for it. He knew that someone would come to silence the captured assassin.
“Wait a second…”
“It is as you expect.”
Kirk nodded kindly and told her about his discussion with Zig earlier in the morning.
Zig and Kirk discussed what to do with the assassin in custody.
Getting a competent hit man to talk was extremely difficult. Although they were hired for their killing skills, they were also required to keep a tight lip. No matter how good they were at killing, an assassin would be out of a job if they talked about their clients at the first sign of torture.
High levels of pain tolerance were necessary, as well as a resistance to drugs. In desperate situations, some could even lock away their own memories using a secret code. However, people had limits, especially when it came to torture. As powerful as someone was, it was only a matter of time before their minds and bodies were broken by extreme pain.
The catch was that you didn’t know how long that would take. If the victim did hold out, his body usually didn’t, and he would take whatever he knew with him to the grave.
And so, Zig and Kirk decided to keep security on the lighter side. They didn’t actually reduce the number of assigned guards, of course, but rather, the guild went through due process before they interrogated the suspect. These days, it wasn’t necessary for a suspect who was caught in the act. Procedure was only followed if the suspect in question was a person in a position of power. The whole thing was an unspoken agreement.
However, there were individuals in the world obsessed with proper protocol. These people were called sticklers. They allowed one such stickler to process the suspect and as expected, he went through the proper channels. The guild couldn’t lay a hand on the assassin until the powers-that-be gave them clearance.
“Fortunately, our culprits caught a whiff of this and came to silence our hit man.”
“I see… And the hit man’s killer?”
“We’re chasing them as we speak,” Kirk said with a sharp gleam in his eyes.
Siasha squeezed her fist, erasing the rock bullet.
“I thought you wanted me to get new glasses?”
Kirk’s smile was smug, despite the undercurrent of violence the conversation had thus far.
Siasha’s only answer was a wry smile as she put her hands up in surrender.
“I did. But it seems you can see well enough.”