UH CH 13 (Patreon)

[Manager POV]

“Report.”

“Yes. It has been five hours now since Cain Bishop entered the library. ”

The Manager hummed quietly, her eyes moving as she looked at the video of Cain simply going through the Data on the main computer in the Library.

The Queen's Army Guild was one of the top most ranked Guilds in America and even in the world.

Not only thanks to their Leader, the Sword Saint but also thanks to the sacrifice of many hunters who fought on the frontline.

They were also one of the most active when it comes to hunting down monsters.

Long story short, the information they had was fucking expensive and priceless. A stifled employee deciding to destroy important data was nothing new and while she knew Cain well enough and knew that he was not that stupid, it was necessary for her to do her duty.

“Any suspicious activity, copying or erasing”

“None. What I can add is that he had been staring in the air multiple times. Most likely received system notifications.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Her eyes gleamed. She didn’t know what happened but generally multiple notifications should be something to celebrate. Was it possible that Cain caught the attention of a new Constellation, If this was so then she could appeal to the board to postpone the decision of excluding him.

But if this was so, Cain himself would have already informed her. As long as he did not give them permission, no one could see the notifications he received.

The manager started tapping her finger on the table. A habit she had taken whenever she was thinking deeply about Cain’s and the different little problems he brought to her.

He was lucky she liked him well enough to turn a blind eye to some of his mistakes.

“Should I bring information about what he is studying?” Her agent asked but the manager waved her hand in dismissal.

“I only needed to know whether he would negatively affect the database. As for what he might be researching, it’s his own privacy. Make sure to erase all the search history later on.”

“Understood.” In those words, the agent vanished in the shadow, leaving the Manager alone in the office room.

“I wonder if I should just retire.” She sighed, exhausted. Personally firing the boy she had been in charge of raising for year was already hard enough. The Queen army, once a bastion against the incursion was now filled to the brim with dirty politics and greed.

All she could hope now was to wait for the triumphant return of the Guild Leader from the Expedition in the Tower.

A Happy Princess ringing tone cut her train of thought and she sighed inwardly once again. She didn’t even need to look down to search who the caller was.

After all, only one person was assigned this specific ringtone.

Sure enough,

{Caller: Tomboy Princess Helen}

“Yeah. The day is just getting better.

Being a Manager was truly the ideal scapegoat position. No recognition when everything worked well and all complaints when things went to shit.

Truly retirement seemed more and more tempting, she had to say.

“Hello princess.”

{Susan! Is it true that you Cain fainted!??}

“Not even a greeting I see.”

The manager stayed calm and serene. She was not even surprised about how Helen already received the news. Behind that thoughtless exterior was a truly dangerous woman.

‘Worthy of her mother.’

{Nevermind that! How is Cain!?}

If only she didn’t use all that resourcefulness for a man that saw her as nothing but a childhood friend.

‘I guess this is why childhood friends never win in fiction .’

“Cain is alright do not worry. Why are you even calling me now in the first place? Shouldn’t you be working on your dungeon run?”

She could hear the girl groaning on the other side of the phone.

{We were supposed to but there was an accident. It seems like there was a hidden boss in the dungeon. The First team decided that they would handle it first}

The manager’s eyes narrowed. A Hidden boss in just a D rank dungeon was strange.

She thought back to all the reports she had been receiving. Movements in Dungeon Gate have been getting more and more unpredictable.

The situation with Russia was already complicated enough and now even dungeons were acting up.

She could feel it in her bones. The precarious peace that had been obtained after millions of sacrifices was on the verge of breaking.

“Be careful out there.” She did not bother saying more. Helen was already near D rank which would mean that she would reach her first Advancement.

In the Hunter’s world, reaching D rank was equivalent to reaching Adulthood in a way. This was the level where a rookie could be said to now have enough experience for solo exploration if necessary.

This was also the watershed. A wall that stopped numerous hunters. Forever unable to reach C rank and beyond.

The manager was not worried about Helen. There was simply no way the girl would fail at advancing further.

All she needed to do was to stay alive long enough for that.

“I am going to stop the call. Call Cain yourself later if you are worried. Stop disturbing me.”

{Hey!!…}

She immediately hung up and blocked the boisterous girl number.

She loved Helen. Truly. The girl had a good heart and despite being the daughter of a S rank hunter, she did not put air nor look down on people.

She had seen the small and sickly little lady transform into what Cain affectionately called a Gorilla and while she mourned the losses of the calm lady Helen once was, she was also proud of the woman she now became.

Still…

This and that were different matters.

“Well. It’s time to work.”

Whether the world ended tomorrow or in a few days didn’t matter.

She would be damned if she got caught doing overtime today.

Stopping a salaryman from going home on time was nothing but a pure sin after all.