CHAPTER 18: My Treat

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"So … what you're saying is that you saved this girl–"

"Rei." Rei quickly interjected.

"--Rei, from Johan, who mistook her as the person who had stolen his money?"

"Haha, yes you're correct on that one! Our Alair here is quite keen on finding trouble and conflict wherever he goes, it's just uncanny really."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know she had beef of all things! And besides you could call it lucky that she ran into me, the local government might actually drop our pay if they saw one of our guys just kill someone in the middle of a busy street in broad daylight!" Alair justifies his actions, his cheeks already a bit red from drinking some beers.

"Hahaha, she's got you there Section Chief!" One of the men went on to say, others laughing but also at the same time seeming like they're breaking down inside, indicating that it wouldn't be the first time they've been making unnecessary displays of violence, at least on accident.

Rei couldn't help but to pretend to laugh along with them, questioning the impulse that led her to accepting their offer, but at the same time she couldn't really complain …

"Sir Dublin, I would like to have another!" Rei said as she finished another plate of food.

"Coming up!"

She currently was in the headquarters of one of the mercenary groups working alongside Isilian government authorities in the island, specifically that of the organisation known as the Red Hilt Job Centre.

"Haha! This is your third plate, keep on eating missy! Section Chief Elena here is footing the bill after all!" The Provisions Director of Red Hilt, known simply as Dublin exclaimed, making Elena feeling a bit like her soul was about to leave her body.

"That aside though, is this one of the new special interns, Section Chief? She's quite a hearty eater and carries such an interesting aura, she would be sure to fit in!" One of the men in the room went along to ask Elena while pointing to Rei.

"A recruit …?" Rei asked, not knowing what the man who just interjected meant.

"Oh no, I haven't actually gotten around to finding anyone yet … although now that I am looking at our good friend Rei here, I would say that I could put a Yulea on her or two saying that she actually fits the job!"

'I see, so that's what this is about …'

"Ah, you must be confused. Well, for starters do you know what we–or this group rather, does around here?"

The Kingdom of Isilia was a recent addition to the Ispagnan collection of royal titles along with the Kingdom of Napoli as a package deal, the king of the former having died while his heir was lost.

The rulers of Ispagna who were related to the former king had a valid claim, and thus inherited both kingdoms to strengthen the power of Ispagna and more particularly its influence in Etalia to more efficiently counter influence of the Francs in northern Etalia and the Osmanyi Empire in the eastern Mediaterran Sea.

'You'd think that the Ispagnans would take great care to actually take care of both kingdoms considering their important strategic locations but …' Rei thought about it for a moment, and found it funny that the exact opposite happened.

Then the two kingdoms, and Isilia more especially, which was already suffering from a great lack of central authority that made the mafia not only survive but thrive in the island, was neglected even more and was only treated like a staging ground for Ispagnan military forces.

This led to an explosion of mafia group activity as more and more of their groups treated the island like free real estate, it was only until recently that Ispagna, sensing the fast-growing unrest of their Etalian subjects, especially in Isilia, decided to do something about it lest their already-weak hold was thrown off completely.

… And so they did the bare minimum they could do with their strained resources, and hired cheap mercenaries from all over to act as the muscle for law enforcement throughout the island.

Which leads down to here, the Red Hilt Association, one of the many independent military groups operating in the island operating at the bare minimum needed to keep any semblance of order on the island.

'Ah, so this is one of the many third-rate mercenary groups hired to cooperate with the weak city guards of Isilia then?' Rei thought, but obviously due to the apparent rudeness of it, it wasn't like she could just say that out loud could she?

"I'll cut you off right there, it may not seem like it but we're quite a big deal than a lot of the rabble you can see all-throughout this island."

'So she claims, but …'

"So, why are all of you here instead of in the north then? Are there not more fruitful job opportunities in Reikland? Ones that would undoubtedly provide more" Replying with this, the members of the Red Hilt looked at each other and came to a silent consensus, with Elena going on to continue.

"... well, we can't really delve into the details since it is quite a sensitive matter, but we will say that it is due to a personal matter of our Captain."

"And besides, we're treated a step above the rest of the rabble here, the local government is aware of our reputation and although it is quite trivial compared to what we're used to, the pay is more acceptable than what other groups are being paid."

"Well, that would make sense …" Rei said, already verifying it when she stole Johan's entire paycheck which amounted up to 300 Yuleas, and considering the probability that he wasn't very high-ranking, the prospect of the group seemed quite good.

"Either way, what we're looking for right now is someone who could act as our … Section Assistant Intern per se."

"A Section Assistant Intern?"

"A Section Assistant Intern of our Logistics and Finances you could say, someone to do stuff like helping with managing the budget, making purchases of supplies for the group, things like that. I've a feeling you know what kind of sort of thing I'm talking about, do you?"

"Right, I have had experience in this type of thing before, my parents had me going on and off tutors, gives me some skills here and there you know?"

The daughter of a minor aristocrat from the now-gone Kingdom of Maltha, that was the new backstory that Rei could come up with, meaning at the very least a level of education that would explain her proficiency in some specific areas.

"That's really cool, for me I just learned on the job!" Alair said, complimenting Rei which brought the attention of Elena.

"... right, but enough about work, we'd like to know some things about you!"

"Haha, me? What things about me could you possibly want to know about? I'm not at all that interesting." Rei wanted to avoid questions, but it seems like it was just unavoidable in this case in order to make small talk.

"Well for starters … your hair, it's quite alluring. I've only seen the colour quite a few times before …" Elena said.

"I see, where might you have seen them before then?" Rei went on to as, getting a bit nervous but of course she wouldn't really show it in this situation.

"The Travellers, lots of them have black hair. I thought your parents would have told you, seems like Rei is unexpectedly a bit lacking on that front though!" Elena said so with a smile, while Rei felt like she was crumbling inside.

'"Our Manager Hwan from the Murim World is also a Traveller, he's quite weird and talks funny." Alair went on to add.

'He must be talking about that translation ability … that makes things a lot more complicated.'

"You don't seem to have that weird ability like he does though, maybe one of your ancestors was a Traveller?" One of the men spectating said so, grabbing Rei's attention.

"Rei, you said you were of minor nobility from Maltha right? I think myself to know a bit about some of Maltha's noble families and even have some friends there myself! Do you think you can tell me which family you're from then?"

The question rang out especially a bit louder for Rei than for anyone else on the table right at that moment, with Elena herself managing to sense the slight distress brought about by that question.

"You know that's quite a sensitive matter as well, I feel a bit like I'm being put on the spot here …" Rei went on to say in the face of Elena's abrupt question.

"But, due to the kindness that two out of three people in this group has shown me so far …" Rei herself only looked at Elena with a blank stare, before going for the glass of ale in front of her and then downing it within mere seconds.

After a few short gulps the intoxicating liquid was already gone, and although Rei quite had a strong tolerance of alcohol, she didn't feel the slight bit unnerved, only relaxed even.

"I'll tell you if you can outdrink me." Rei said as she put the mug down with a small 'pluck!' ringing on the table.

Elena finally saw that she was getting somewhere due to how Rei was obviously getting pushed more and more into a corner, the thin fabric of her story looking like it was about to unravel.

Though it was a bit uncouth that she resorted to something as uncouth as a drink-off as the final defence for her secrets … but she was no pushover herself.

"Excuse me, two beers!" Elena said, raising her hand to get the attention of the barman.

"Oh! I want to join too, give me one as well!" Alair meanwhile who was unaware of the passive aggressive conflict between the two girls only cheerfully decided to participate, taking off his silver earring as a sign that things were about to get crazy.

…

…

…

About two hours later, the entire room was filled with drunkards already, talking and laughing as they shared their stories, lots of them Rei found helpful in fact, but what more important was …

*Hic!* Elena went as she looked up at Rei, with red on her cheeks and an expression of defeat plastered on her face as while it hugged the surface of the wooden table, lying amongst several tens of mugs of emptied beer.

Rei looked at this feeling a bit smug, and a bit confused herself as she downed another mug in front of the defeated Elena.

'That's … weird …?' Rei thought to herself as she examined her condition, the smell of alcohol was all over her, yet it did not feel like she just drank several mugs of beer.

She did not even feel a bit light-headed or at the least bit tipsy, and although she felt satisfied with the food she ate so far, having consumed enough for roughly four people so far, she felt like she could go for more …

'Reina … you bitch, just what have you done to me …?' She was forced to grimace upon rethinking her experiences so far, but settled down quickly after drinking another mug.

"Oh, I guess everyone's just out of it again now." One of the men who were still a bit right in the head said as he walked up to Rei.

"Miss … Rei? Was it, it's been fun getting to see the Section Chief like this, but at this point I think she needs to go to her room and retire for the day." The man said, prompting Rei to stand up and brush herself a bit.

"Right, well I'll be seeing–" Rei was about to leave when suddenly Elena went and held her hand again, and quite firmly too.

"Reiii … don't go yettt … there's still so much more … *hic* … that we need to talk abouuut …" Elena said as she tried to sip more of her unfinished mug still.

"Ohoho, I see that the Section Chief has grown quite attached to you. I was quite worried when she rushed out in the morning so hurriedly and suddenly, so it's nice to see her relax like this."

"Right …" Rei said dismissively as she tried to get Elena off of her, but it just seems she wouldn't budge.

"She's quite determined when she's like this and there's little that can be done otherwise so can I ask you for a little favour? You only need to bring her to her quarters on the third floor, three doors down the left." The man went on to say, basically instructing Rei.

"Well, I don't know … I have something I need to do …" Rei lied through the skin of her teeth, not really wanting to accompany this smelly drunk to her bed.

"I would say it is the minimum you could do after eating four people's worth of food and drinking twenty-six mugs of ale." The man said, basically pressuring Rei to accept.

'Tch …' Rei could only spit rambunctious insults in her mind, patting Elena's shoulders and telling her to stand up, continuing a nice expression of course.

"Ah, and I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Winsley." He ended.

"Charmed." Rei said as she shook his hand and pulled Elena up, getting her arm on her shoulders and supporting her whilst she was still trying to finish her beer as they started moving upstairs.

'Right here … was it?' Third door from the third floor.

Sighing at how she would be able to leave soon, Rei opened the door with her free hand and inspected Elena's quarters, quite similar to the room Rei woke up in just today, not much decorations around, indicating that she wasn't much a big fan of things like aesthetics.

No sign of dust or bad odour anywhere, everything was tidy, perhaps a bit annoyingly tidy as it reminded her of Kon back in her old world.

Though if there was anything of note, aside from a desk with papers and a mirror, it would be a half-open drawer wherein Rei caught the glimpse of something that appeared to be silver, and the smell of which reminded her of Alair–

*Hic!* Elena hiccuped once more, knocking Rei out of her ace detective moment.

'Right, no time for dilly-dallying.'

Rei laid Elena down on her bed, wiping sweat off her brow as she went on back to the door.

However, just as she was about to leave …

'!?'

Rei immediately ducked out of the way of the speeding mug which crashed against the wooden door, bouncing off of it.

"Hey, what the hell was th–!?" Rei went on to turn around, about to shout angrily at Elena, before being interrupted by Elena moving much faster than she initially expected.

*Thud!*

The sound of the door closing was synchronised with the sound of Elena kicking Rei to stick to the wall, and pointed her finger at Rei.

"Fire." A small flame flickered by the tip of her finger, pointed at Rei.

"Elena, what in god's–!?" A scowl forming at her face, Rei spoke, but was quickly interrupted by an annoyed voice coming from Elena who pointed her flame-painted finger closer.

"Enough of the charade!" The flame by her finger grew more strongly, and even Rei's skin had started to sweat and heat up a little because of its intensity and close distance.

"Just what are you, Rei?"

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