Chapter 31: From Comic to Reality!

The temperature was dropping with autumn approaching. August was ending, and it was showing in the orange leaves slowly covering Victoria Street trees.

Unlike the others, who exhaled light white smoke, her green lips exhaled heavy grey clouds like a locomotive.

Adjusting her jacket a little tighter, Vivian let out a soft sigh as she stood in front of the blue-domed building, where workers were repairing the roof and entering and exiting.

In Azshara, it is pretty common to work on Saturdays until noon, especially for civilian builders.

This time, she was dressed in a thick yellow dress with bronze details, and a bronze tiara held her hair back. She came ready, her briefcase with all the documents she would need in her right hand.

Today was Saturday, the day she had agreed to start working with Harvey Wayne.

Leaving Briarwood Chambers had been easy enough, if a little awkward. She'd barely worked there for two weeks, shy of her third. Even if it were any other workplace, it would still be weird to leave.

When asked, she had barely explained that she had been offered a better opportunity elsewhere. While that was impolite, she didn't care much if she was honest.

It fell into her role as Barbarian, after all.

'Besides, you don't often meet such strange fellows as him. How could I miss such an opportunity?' Smiling sideways, Vivian let the cigarette fall from her lips, and as soon as it hit the floor, she crushed it with her heel, stubbing it out.

With her crime for the day committed, the lawyer entered the firm with a smile. Her heels echo across the tiles.

She passed by the workers, who glanced momentarily at the beautiful lady and quickly turned their attention back to what they were doing.

Several people were coming down and up the stairs. They were not dressed in the thick, sharp clothes one would expect from Blue Collars, but they were in good clothes, elegant even—clothes one would wear to work in an office rather than a construction site.

'There are a lot more people here...' Noting the increase in staff, the barbarian whistled in surprise.

With the funds the firm had, or rather, did not have. Vivian knew hiring that many staff along with the renovations and repairs would be impossible. So everything had to come out of Harvey Wayne's pocket!

She doubted that the Church would pay for this firm, so it was very likely that Harvey Wayne himself had hired all these people.

'How much money does that guy have? He must have a decent fortune to implement all these changes so quickly.'

The Church of the God of Knowledge and Knowledge must pay much better than she had thought...

Her sight moved for a moment, quickly finding the well-groomed man from the last time she came a few days ago. Approaching him, Vivian wasted no time.

"Hey Lanero, I have a visit with Mr. Wayne. Is he here?" She said flatly and somewhat bluntly, stunning Eleanor a bit.

The assistant looked at the woman who had spoken to him, a little confused, looking a little familiar. He had to look at her face for a few seconds before he could remember where he had seen her.

'It's that rude woman from last time!' Eleanor grimaced, his mood flaring up a little.

Remaining professional, he gave a slight bow and pointed elegantly with his palm towards the stairs.

"Good morning, ma'am. Yes, Mr. Wayne is in his of-"

"Don't care." Like last time and having gotten what she wanted, Vivian cut him off and started her way towards the stairs. Leaving behind a frozen Eleanor.

Lowering his hand, the man pressed his lips together, and one eyebrow twitched vigorously.

"I hope Mr. Wayne doesn't hire someone like her! She'll only bring trouble..." Beatrice said in her usual tired tone, approaching Eleanor from behind with a cup of coffee still steaming in her hand.

She was not alone as Clara accompanied her, her own cup of coffee in hand.

Both were wearing clothes that, while warm, were a little lighter than one would expect with the temperature dropping. This was simply because their office work ensured that they were always in a warm place.

Looking around and seeing they were more or less alone, Eleanor hunched slightly and whispered, "I just hope it's not what I fear. If Mr. Wayne turns out to be someone like Mr. Dieter, I'd look like an idiot. I don't want to regret giving this place another chance.

"I still don't know how Mr. Wayne convinced me to stay," Eleanor confessed incredulously.

Clara looked at him sideways, calmly, "Mr. Wayne doesn't seem to be that kind of man. Besides, don't compare him to him. In the one week he's been here, he's done more than that guy did in the four years he's had the firm."

"Don't remind me, Mrs. Clara..." The assistant complained with an exasperated sigh.

It was a miracle that the firm had survived until today. It would have been abandoned after two more months of mismanagement and bad investments.

"Besides, we can't forget that he paid the firm's debts out of his own pocket, "Clara whispered. "The only people who do that are one of three: Stupid people who don't know how to use their brains, stupid rich people who can throw both money and dirty laundry away, and lastly, the highly ambitious ones who want to achieve something.

"In my eyes, it's clear which class Mr. Wayne falls into."

The older members looked around, from the tilers fixing and replacing tiles to the masons and carpenters fixing the walls. Finally, they looked at the newer workers talking to Thomas and William, asking what they should do.

Beatrice gave a subtle nod and took a soft sip of her bitter coffee: "I hope he's the kind of man who knows what he's doing..."

...

"Next time, I'm going to set a clock aside to measure how long it takes you to get here," Harvey said as he lowered his red fountain pen and looked up at Vivian, who snorted ungraciously.

"It's 7:40. It was only ten minutes." She groaned a little. It wasn't that late; what was the deal?

"It'd be 15, and I'd be the one looking for you," Harvey commented, shooting her a bored look.

While there was no threat, the barbarian couldn't help but be startled.

"Understood." Straightening with a jolt, Vivian replied nervously.

She didn't want a high-level leader of the Wise Owls chasing after her; thank you very much!

Said man shook his head softly, the corners of his lips raised in clear amusement. Raising a gloved hand, he pointed it at the seat before the desk.

Bringing her fist to her lips and pretending to clear her throat, Vivian heeded the unspoken command and sat down. Placing her briefcase on her lap and her fingers on the latch, she pressed.

Click!

Just as she was about to start pulling out her documents to present to the man, his voice stopped her.

"What are you doing?"

Raising her eyes, Vivian looked at him, a little lost: "I'll give you my documents so you can check them so I can be hired?"

'Wasn't it obvious?' She said the last in her heart, not having the courage to say it to his face.

At her response, Harvey gave her a flat look. "Documents that are fake?"

'...' Vivian stared at him for a few seconds in silence. Her body unnaturally still.

"Wow. Looks like you saw a ghost." Harvey hissed in surprise at how white she had become, "Don't worry. I couldn't care less if your identity is fake, you could be a man, and I wouldn't give a damn."

Waving his gloved hand back and forth disinterestedly, he added, "Do you know how many people with false identities enter the country?

"As long as you do no harm and keep a decently low profile, we couldn't care less even if we wanted to."

"O-oh..." Stumbling a little, Vivian couldn't help but sigh a sigh of relief. For a good moment, she thought something was going to happen to her, but luckily, it was just a horrible scare.

Click...

Closing her briefcase, she placed it at her side, the corners of her lips quivering uncomfortably and the tips of her ears a little red.

'Of course, he would know. He is an official, after all.'

If she could investigate him, it was obvious that Harvey Wayne, a Wise Owl, could do the same. And much more easily, considering he didn't have to worry about getting caught.

As she thought about her slip of the tongue, Harvey pulled some papers out of one of his desk drawers and held them out to her.

"Just sign this, and you can start working here. Take your time to read it if you like, but finish before 8; I have a job for you that I need you to complete as soon as possible."

"What kind of job?" Vivian asked as she grabbed the spread-out papers and carefully reviewed them.

Harvey laughed softly, "It's pretty simple, don't worry. I want you to help me change the name of the firm."

Vivian nodded at his words, entirely agreeing with what he wanted to do. Without looking up from the contract, she replied, "You now have the titles and name of Apex Financial Solution, and the previous owner gave you total control without any conditions or restrictions. We would only have to visit the Hacienda on Pondred Street in the Euclid District to change the name.

"They are open daily, so we only need the documents I mentioned. We can go once I finish what I'm doing."

While the firm had once been respected and valued, its name was now nothing more than bad publicity that would drive away potential clients. The most obvious move was to change the name, to show that the firm was no longer the same as before, and to gain more confidence from people wanting to walk through its doors.

With that in mind, she added. "Do you have a name in mind?"

Harvey laughed softly before saying with a knowing smile, "You can say that~"

Following her instinct, Vivian didn't decide to probe the subject but changed it. Raising her 'employment contract' and eyebrow, she pointed to a part of it.

Having gone through Lawyer, legal documents and their trappings were her specialty, so she had already reread it four times and found no traps. Her salary and schedule were all in order.

There was only one thing that confused her.

Returning to a specific part of the contract, she asked: "I understand about Legal Advisor, but why is Personal Secretary also added?"

At her question, the member of the Wise Owls didn't answer immediately; he just gave a short laugh, his eyes twinkling a little.

"I have to keep an eye on you, remember?" Harvey replied sweetly, his smile teasing.

Vivian could only press her lips together, suddenly finding herself extremely uncomfortable.

This guy was not only dangerous, he was also weird.

'Grandfather always said that members of the Wise Owls had their quirks. Though I doubt he was referring to this...'

A while later...

After signing the document and making their recruitment 'official,' Vivian and Harvey left the office, carrying the briefcase with everything needed for the firm's name change.

The former group watched as their boss left the building with complicated looks on their faces.

After a few seconds of looking at each other, the first to break the silence was an expressionless Beatrice.

"I thought he'd like them younger... But Mr. Wayne seems to like his wine well aged." She said, her lips slightly raised at Clara's giggle and Eleanor's blush.

Both women looked at the younger man and could only chuckle.

How easy it was to tease the young.

...

The next day.

Pitado Street. Unit 3-6, Klein's apartment.

Putting down the newspaper, Klein could only rub his forehead to soothe his headache.

'What's going through that guy's head?' The detective was at a loss.

Was this some kind of signal? A way of saying it was safe to talk in the real world?

'Considering his personality. I'm sure it's just another way for him to tease me.'

'Why couldn't the housemate be someone quieter? I don't know if I want to imagine what he did on Earth; maybe he was a mobster. It would make sense; he's quite the personality.'

'You're as bold as Emperor Roselle, Mr. Chariot. I bet you two would get along wonderfully. Though at least you used something fictional. Not from a real person! In that respect, the Emperor still beats you.' Klein lampooned a little as he read the name on the advertisement.

It wasn't on the front page, and it wasn't a big statement. It was just a small rectangle in the business area, more towards the middle of the paper. Maybe some journalist heard it, or the man decided to pay for some publicity.

<>

A new beginning.

We left the past behind but didn't abandon it; we learned from it. Apex Financial Solution is no more. A new company will take its place and build on it.

Wayne Enterprises awaits you on Victoria Street, 7:30 am to 6:00 pm.

If you have a business idea or need an investment for a project you are working on, we are here to help.

Your future and comfort is our priority.

<>

Klein sighed again.

Chariot not only had the look, the name, the resources, but now he had the company.

'The only thing missing is that he also has the Batcave somewhere... Maybe some Robin, too, why not? He has the resources, and considering he dared to hand over one of his men to me, a Hidden God, he has manpower too.'

On the bright side, now he had a topic of conversation when they officially introduced themselves.

But to be honest, he was more of a Marvel guy.