Bright and early, Monday morning, Reyn is dressed in her usual work attire. Having already eaten, Reyn makes sure to place her packed lunch into her leather bag, before going out. With care, Reyn makes her way to the nearest subway station and carefully reads the stops and transfers for the subway lines.
Satisfied, Reyn purchases a subway card, before heading on her way. Having left early, the subway station is not yet as full as it would be at rush hour. Reyn makes her way to her destination, before finally safely arriving at her last station. Reyn makes her way to the office building and enters the lobby. The front receptionist glances up as Reyn smiles and says in Anatolia, “Hello, I’m Reyn Mephistopheles, I was transferred from the main company to this branch.”
The pretty receptionist nods and says, “Right this way please, Miss.” The receptionist leads the way to an elevator and presses the fifth floor. The receptionist hands Reyn a key card and says, “The accounting department is on the 5th floor. Your supervisor is Chief Chén.”
Reyn nods her thanks as the elevator door opens and the receptionist goes back down. Reyn makes her way to the office that reads, Chén. Chief Chén is a sleeked back gray-haired man with glasses. The older man glances up with surprise at Reyn and in English says, “Yes, how can I help you?”
Reyn replies in Anatolia, “Hello, sir, I’m the transfer from the main company.”
Chief Chén gapes at Reyn’s words. It wasn’t her being fluent in that language that surprised him but her age and gender. He had been under the impression that the senior accountant was a male bachelor of 25 years of age. Coughing, Chief Chén says, “I see. Well, then please allow me to show you to your office.”
Chief Chén shows Reyn to her small office and says, “This will be your office, should you have any questions please ask. Once Mr. Yáng arrives he will fill you in on the details and the project.”
“Thank you, sir,” Reyn politely said hiding her annoyance. It’s not that she wasn’t expecting the frowning up her age and gender, but at least her boss could pretend that wasn’t the case. With a sigh, Reyn makes herself comfortable until a middle-aged office worker appears. Though startled, Mr. Yáng does a much better of hiding his surprise at Reyn’s appearance.
Mr. Yáng smiles and kindly says, “Hello and welcome, I’m Mr. Yang. Please allow me to show you, what we’re doing.” Mr. Yáng proceeds to properly explain the details of the project and where it had been left off from. With a smile, Mr. Yáng asks, “Do you have any questions?”
“Not right now, but when I do, I will ask,” Reyn replied.
Mr. Yáng flashes a tired smile and says, “Good. However, since you’re new, why don’t you have lunch with me and some of the office workers?”
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“Sure,” Reyn politely accepted. It couldn’t hurt to familiarize herself with her co-workers. Mr. Yáng nods his head in reply, before returning to his desk to work.
By lunchtime, the entire office was abuzz about the new senior accountant. Not only was the new accountant a Usonian, but a young female at that. The entire accounting floor was made up of mostly male workers except for the clerical aides who were female. But the female aide’s cubicles were all together and they certainly would not be eating with an accountant and especially a foreigner at that.
Keeping her face poker, Reyn at lunchtime follows Mr. Yáng and two middle-aged compatriots out of the office to a nearby restaurant. To her relief, the air is awkward at first, but soon enough it warms up as Mr. Yáng introduces his two associates, “Mr. Zhào and Mr. Huáng.” Mr. Zhào was a grizzly faced man with a widow’s peak and Mr. Huáng, is a rather short man. Reyn herself was 5 ft. 7, but Mr. Huáng was rather short in comparison to the average male population.
As they eat, Mr. Zhào kindly asks, “And what of your family, Mephistopheles, are they fine with your going so far away from home?”
Reyn pauses and carefully replies, “My parent’s both died in an accident when I was only thirteen-years-old.”
Mr. Zhào becomes flustered and hastily apologizes, “I am so sorry, I did mean to be rude.”
“No, no, it’s fine. But my foster parents were surprised that I was going so very far away to work. But since I can always video chat them, they’re not worried,” Reyn swiftly replied back.
Mr. Zhào lets out a sigh of relief as Mr. Huáng snorts at Mr. Zhào’s faux pas. Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Reyn quickly asks about their wives and children. The three men begin to happily talk about their wives and family creating a happy atmosphere. By the end of lunch, the four of them were rather good on terms with each other and the three men had gained a good impression of Reyn. Not only was she polite, but rather honest and sincere. At the end of lunch, the four returned to work and get back to what they were doing.
At the end of a productive workday, Reyn is rather tired from the first day of work. With some relief, the workday ends as the office workers begin to trickle out. Reyn waves goodbye to her three newfound work friends and heads towards the stairwell. Rather than taking the crowded elevator, Reyn takes the steps to stretch her legs and give her time to decompress.
Reyn suddenly pauses on the 3rd floor and frowns. Demons were rather sensitive to the scent of death, but what was strange is the faint trace and presence of a mana signature still left in the air. Reyn’s eyes widen as she remembers the whispers in the office about the office worker who tripped and fell to his death. But if that wasn’t the case, then the only logical conclusion is that someone had pushed him. And not just anyone, but someone with power. And if so, that meant, there was something fishy going on, but even worse, that other party were her worst fears realized.
Reyn thoughtfully goes home and eats her dinner, before tidying up for the day. Now, she could look further into the incident, but she wasn’t sure of what was going on in the first place. However, from now on, she would be on her guard. There was a possibility that said mana user would return to the scene of the crime a second time. With that in mind, Reyn heads outside of the city to a vast ley line to absorb mana all night long, before returning to her apartment to get ready for work. If being a Demon King taught Reyn anything at all it was to be prepared because humans always cheat in the end!