Fixing Emotions

"NO-AGH!!"

With that, the last guest is cut down by Roland, ending the reception. Ever since the day he and Angela met, they've begun their work. He cleared many receptions and this was his latest one. He is soon back in front of Angela.

"Good work today, more books for us. But..."

"Hm? What is it, ma'am."

"While it is impressive to see you dispatch foes with quick efficiency, I suggest not to finish them too quickly."

"Eh? Why?"

Roland is confused at this. He was already outnumbered, fighting alone. It's great he can deal with the guests fast before any harm is done.

"You remember the first guests we had? Where the last one seemingly bursted in strength?"

"Yeah, almost got killed at that time. That would've been embarrassing."

After Pete's situation, Roland quickly kills the guests to avoid it happening again.

"Well, when I compared his book to the others. It seems to be of much higher quality."

"Really? Let me see."

Angela hands Roland Pete's book, he then compares it to the others. Angela was right, there is a clear difference in quality. Pete's book looks decent, the cover is nice, the pages are clean, and the words in it are more precise and detailed. It is clearly of higher grade than the rest, even the brand new books aren't as good as it.

"Any ideas why?"

"I've been thinking what made it different, and the only explanation was unlike the others, Pete's emotions quickly rose when he fought you due to desperation as you left him last. It seems the higher a guest's emotion level is, the higher of quality their book will be."

"So you're telling me to intentionally let them live longer so we can get better books from them? Have you ever thought about me?"

"Don't worry, like I said back then. If you die, you'll only turn into a book and I'll simply bring you back."

"*Sighs*, that's not the point ma'am."

It goes against his instincts to intentionally leave his opponents alive so as to not drag out the fight. Many things can happen during a fight so dragging it out is generally a bad idea. Unfortunately, his employer thinks differently.

"Not like I've got no choice. This was the first reception of the day, is the next one ready?"

"Yes, the invitation is ready. Now just send and wait."

Throwing the envelope into the air, it burst into light, searching for those in need of the Library.

******

In the Backstreets

In a certain part of the City, three people are going around searching for something. The group consisted of one female and two males, one of the males is clearly younger than both his companions. Despite similarities to the Rat trio, these three look much more professional and organized, their equipment clearly a grade above the Rats'.

"Tch, foiled again. I didn't go through all the trouble of becoming a Fixer to do mundane chores like this."

The man complained to his companions. It's clear his current profession is not what he imagined.

"You know how it is. Only a select few get to rise up in the ranks."

The woman tries to persuade her companion to quit his complaints. They're on a task and complaining will merely waste their time.

"But still, we might see the light one day if we start out with smaller tasks, don't you think?"

The boy senses the current mood and tries to raise his companions' spirits. But the woman disagreed.

"*sigh* I envy your optimism, Finn. But a request like "Please find my lost cat before night falls" is seriously not it. Garbage offices like ours only get garbage requests. *sighs*"

Unfortunately to the boy named Finn, it didn't work. It just reminded the two of their current lot in life.

"Yeah, Finn. You probably had better things in mind when you became a Fixer. Y'know, a bigger field to play on."

Finn scratches his neck as while he may not like it, the man is right. Becoming a Fixer, to Finn, certainly meant something different than what he's currently doing.

"Um... I mean... I'm sure I can move to a nicer Office or become an Associate Fixer someday if I keep working hard. Then I might-"

Suddenly, Finn felt something appear in his pants.

"Huh? That's odd..."

He reaches in his pockets to get it. Taking it out, he begins to examine it.

"There's this envelope in my pocket... It says 'The Invitation'."

"Hmm... Smells fishy."

Sensing a break from his monotonous work, the man quickly takes it from Finn's hands and opens it to understand what it s. The woman peers over the man's shoulded to read.

"Can't overlook something like this. Besides, if what's written on the invitation is true, those books would be of interest to several Associations."

Despite her words, it is clear from the woman's face that this is purely so she can do something exciting for once in her career.

"It is interesting...but... We don't exactly know what's in the Library, right? We should report this to the Office first and take care of it formally."

Sensing his companions' intent, Finn tries to reason with them and take the cautious approach to this. Unfortunately, their desire for something different is greater than their caution.

"*scoffs*, I ain't about to feed a garbage Office that won't feed me. We're going if you don't wanna."

The man tells off Finn before he and the woman pulls out their pens to sign.

******

In the Library

Angela turns to Roland.

"They call themselvee Fixers: do you happen to be friends with them?"

"What?"

Roland is confused by Angela's belief.

"Look, assuming all Fixers know each other is like pucking two random pedestrians and hoping they know each other."

He even begins using his hands like puppets to emphasize his point.

"Your question is basically asking these two strangers, "You're both humans, so you must know each other, right?" You get what I mean?"

" *sigh* I should expect to see many different kinds of Fixers if what you're saying is true."

"Pretty much."

Roland shrugs as he says this.

"Well, time to greet the guests."

Angela snaps her fingers, and goes to greet the guests.

******

At the Floor of General Works

Roland plays around with his sword to pass the time. Eventually, the guests arrive.

"Are you the ordeal the woman mentioned?" Asked the man.

"Yep, beat me and you'll get books. I beat you, and you become them instead."

The two draw their blades and charge at Roland. Roland rushes them amd surprises the duo by being able to knock both of them off their feet from the force of his charge.

"What the hel-"

Roland kicks the woman away so he can focus on the man first and keep her alive to raise her emotions. He then kicks the man off the ground, forcing him to get on his feet to fight.

"Bastard. Take us seriously!"

While the man barely did any combat due to his low rank, he still had some experience. He knew that Roland could've finished both him and his partner and is intentionally letting them live.

This enrages the man. He swings at Roland furiously, but Roland easily dodges every one of them. Roland strikes the man's sword out of his hand,  forcing the man to use his fists. Roland catches his punch and stabs him in the neck.

"Gagh..."

The man falls down as Roland pulls out his blade, turning into books in the process.

"No... No way..."

The woman gets up to see her partner's death. She knew that her partner was strong, and is demoralized by how quickly he was killed.

Roland turns to her and charges, forcing the woman to be on the defensive. It fails, Roland soon knocks away her blade and slashes her, sealing her fate.

She falls to the ground as she dies.

"D-Dammit... I wanted... To cli..."

She soon turns into books.

"End of that reception."

Roland is teleported from his floor.

******

Roland meets Angela again.

"Hey ma'am, work's done."

"Good. I want you to look at this."

She then shows Roland an invitation, but the color is different than the others.

"Red... So this reception will somehow move up our progress?"

"Correct. That Finn kid seemed to have done what he suggested to those two, and triggered a chain reaction that makes us connected with the Office he's working in."

She then sends the invitation.

"Let's see what happens next."

******

At Yun's Office

Finn is meeting someone across a table. The other person is a blonde man much older than Finn, he wears a long coat and is well-dressed. He is Yun, the boss of the Office Finn works for.

He takes a puff of his cigar as he listens to Finn.

"Sir, they still haven't responded back to us. Something must have happened in that 'Library'."

Finn is clearly worried for his coworkers depsite their attitude towards him. Unfortunately, Yun doesn't care.

The man breathes out smoke, turning to Finn as he waves off the boy's concerns.

"Plenty of Fixers disappear without a trace. Whether they died or ran off, further lack of response means a violation of contract, and they're facing expulsion from my Office."

Yun says, as if losing a job in his eyes is just as bad or worse than dying while no one bats an eye.

He puts down his cigar, and looks at Finn while grasping his hands in front of his face.

"And there is too little evidence to back up your claim about this 'invitation'. A door appeared out of thin air when they signed the paper, and they disappeared into that? Could be rih people's shenanigans, or a Wing experimenting with its singularity."

He looks at Finn coldly and says his judgement.

"'Yun's Office' does not have any time to spare with things like that."

Finn is intimidated by Yun's words, bit steels himself and argues.

"I might still be a Grade 9 Fixer, but I can sense that something's off about this."

"Oh really? How tragic that such good instincts of a Grade 9 Fixer are wasted on our humble Office."

Yun says with a sarcastic tone. He then glares at Finn with an expression that leaves no room for argument.

"..."

Any bravado Finn has quickly leaves him.

"Listen up, little frog in the well, in this city, insane events happen every second of the day, most of which you haven't even heard of.

You won't have time to be feeling 'off' about aomething when there's numerous other things that need your attention. If you can't even present visible evidence right now, it's not worth looking into."

He turns his chair to look out the window, indicating that this conversation is over.

Finn was about to leave, until something familiar appeared right in front of him.

"What about thay envelope right in front of you, operator?"

"... What?"

He turns around amd, sure enough, a red enevlope is on his table. Thinking it was Finn, he grabs him by the collar and interrogates him.

"You little brat, trying to pull a cheap trick on me?"

"I-I-I didnt do anyting, I swear!"

Seeing Finn's frightened face, Yun knew he was telling the truth and lets go. He then takes the invitation and examines it.

"Get out for a moment."

Fiin quickly takes this opportunity to leave.

As he examines the invitation in his hand, he thinks of an idea that can save his Office. He pulls out his phone and contacts someone. Soon, someone picked up his call.

"Hey Eri. This is Yun's Office. Got a good lead this time and I need back up."

The person on the other side says something, causing Yun to contemplate their words.

"..... I'll have my contacts lend me some cash so I can hire a few."

More chatter from the person named 'Eri'.

"... No seriously, I have a good feeling about this."

The person tells Yun something.

"... True, it can end up failing like you said... I can check just one more time if you want... I'm not exactly fond od this method, but...."

He looks at the door where Finn left amd makes up his mind.

"Yep, I have one guy fit for the job."

'You want a bigger field to play? You're in luck kid.'

******

In the Library

Angela contemplates what she learned.

"It seems Fixers must report to their Office  before they can even begin working."

She turns to Roland for his Fixer experience.

"Well, that's formally the case. I could bypass that since I am a one-man Office, though."

He then looks back at Yun's actions.

"Fixers aren't any better than Syndicates when it comes to greed. And it looks like this guy's trying to exploit a naive kid, too."

The ringing signalizing a guest has appeared was heard.

"Exploited or not, he still a guest. Ready yourself."

******

Finn enters the Library and is amazed at the place.

"Woah... So this is the Library..."

He remembers Yun's words to him before.

"Yun said we might even get sponsorship from an Association if I succeed. I'll do my best!"

*snap*

Angela appears before him.

"Greetings, Fixer. I am Angela, the librarian of my role's namesake."

'She's pretty...' Thought Finn.

He shakes off his thoughts and remembers his purpose.

"Hello, ma'am. I'm Finn, a Fixer at Yun's Office. Is it true that I can find 'books' containing lots of information in this place?"

"Yes, of course. You were given the invitation for that exact reason. May you find your book in this place."

With those words, she bows and sends Finn to his ordeal.

******

At the Floor of General Works

Finn is teleported right to Roland, confused at his sudden teleportation.

'Damn, he looks way younger in person.'

"Hey kid."

Finn turns to Roland after his call.

"I'm your opponent, all you have to do is beat me and the books you want are all yours."

"Really?"

Surprised at how straightforward rhis place is, Finn pulls out his blade and readies for combat.

"I'm Finn, a Fixer of Yun's Office. Don't underestimate me just because I'm only Grade 9!"

'Shit, this is more pitiful than I thought. Forget raising emotions, no need for suffering.'

With his mind made up, Roland charges and immediately slices Finn's head off. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, Finn didn't even knew what happened.

"This is mercy, honestly."

******

Roland appears before Angela with a tired look on his face. Said tiredness is not from physical exhaustion.

"Oh boy. It's not all that delightful to see such a young rookie fall like that, all things considered."

Angela raises her eyebrow at Roland's mutterings.

"You said yourself that our way is quite polite and fair before, didn't you? That 'most of the time, people's lives are taken away by others without any consent or agreement'. "

Angela gets up to Roland, causing him to step back amd listen to her words without any distractions.

"The Library is different. People who enter this place have agreed to risk death to gain what they want. They even sign the paper to show such agreement."

She even pulls out the invitation as proof of her words.

"No coercion or compulsion is involved in this process. They make their own choice and pay accordingly."

Roland digests her words and reply with merely a shrug.

"Well, yeah, fair point. But still, it kinda feels dirty in a way."

"Just keep doing your job properly. Let's rest for now. We can wait for any events concerning Yun's Office considering what happened today."