The interviews finally completed well into the night. In total, 13 Fiends and 40 Lessers were accepted, meaning only 53 of the original 168 candidates had passed. Most of the Lessers chose to be residents, just wanting a safe place to live while they pursued normal lives. Of the resident Fiends, 3 of them were college students who had no real interest in using their Curses and just wanted to complete their schoolwork.
Wental and his ability to transfer emotions was one of them. Another had the ability to turn 3d non-living objects into 2d portraits with the ability to inlay them onto any canvas of appropriate size. The last had the ability to change the maximum capacity of any container. It was the most confusing, but it seemed it had the ability to completely defy physics so more things could be stuffed into other things. It’d seem unreasonable, but the For Hires had already done something similar with most of the cash in the world just recently.
Hairionette wasn’t the only one to receive a referral for the Wandering Souls Circus either. Another Fiend had received the offer as well and about a dozen Lessers. Drim reached out to the circus personally after the interviews, and after a few minutes of panic and disbelief from a half-asleep Rallie, she agreed to come meet the bunch for an interview session of her own. In the meantime, lodging would be provided for those in waiting.
For the most part, the interviews had gone smoother than expected, albeit they took much longer. However, there had been two incidents that the Fiends had never even considered.
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{No. 1; Crucion Wirks - Human | Ahvra's Notes: Human / Useless Data / Suspiciously Average}
Of all the people that they expected may try to infiltrate their organization, a regular human was not one of them. It would be like walking into a den of monsters for the average citizen. Yet here one was, scared out of their wits as they shuffled to the chair in front of them.
“Explain,” Phon crudely cut in before the rest could say anything.
“Uhh, sorry about her,” Drim immediately apologized. “Our examiner told us that you were human. Was she correct?”
“Umm, yes,” the teenage boy, Crucion, answered as he sat down. He then carefully took out the blood-red colored contacts he’d been wearing to reveal his bog-standard run-of-the-mill brown eyes. Even though the coloration was completely unoriginal in the rest of the world, it was still one the Fiends didn’t see regularly in their daily lives.
Everything else about him was fairly average. His hair was short and followed the latest trends, and his clothing was what someone would find in any store. He was pretty slender, and there was minor evidence of muscles, but otherwise, he was just a regular teenage boy.
“Okay, then I believe you should have heard our recruitment message was for Fiends and Lesser Fiends. Humans weren’t mentioned anywhere, and for good reason. While inside these walls it may be a safe place. Outside of them we have many enemies who want nothing more than to come in here and shut us down, or even kill us. For those who aren’t being chastised, the rest of the world is certainly the better option.”
“On top of that, it seems you applied to be a member and not just a resident. That adds an entire other level of consideration and safety concerns. While we’re shunned, we still receive steady requests. That’s because there are some things humans simply can’t do, or a Fiend is better equipped to handle. Those are the kind of jobs we take. While we do get simpler ones a human may be capable of, they’re not nearly as common, and better off for them to hire a regular contractor.”
“If you were interested in the line of helping others, there are still many routes available to humans within your limitations. You could join the police, fire brigade, military, volunteer groups, become an EMT, or even join a mercenary group, though that one is considerably more dangerous. So with all that in mind, could you please tell us why you’re here.”
There was a long pause, eerily long as Crucion seemed to be coming up with an excuse or explanation, but he was certainly taking his time. “I… I’m lost,” he finally said something. “No, umm, not likely geographically. I definitely meant to come here. I’m lost in life.”
“The village I come from is a pretty small one, down near the southern mountains. It was one of the new first colonies built after the war, and my parents moved us there when I was still really young, hoping for a new start. They really loved the idea of it and put their everything into that place. It was their pride and joy, like a second child. I found the place pretty boring, and it was a simple life, but I had no complaints.”
“Life was peaceful, up until about three years ago. A monster showed up, and it tore through our defenses. Our small village didn’t have any sort of army, but we had a security team provided by the nation’s government. They weren’t the best, mostly lazy, but they could keep small monsters away easily enough and keep the peace if a fight broke out.”
“This monster destroyed them in minutes. They never stood a chance, but still managed to injure it a bit. That still wasn’t enough, though, and the monster continued its rampage. With no one else to protect us, a few of the villagers stepped up, my parents included. They’d do anything to protect the home they loved, and to protect me. And they did. After a few more injuries, the monster retreated, but my parents didn’t survive.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Two days later, we were still picking up the pieces. Things were so busy that I didn’t even have time to process the grief. We’d contacted the government, and a new security squad along with some volunteer builders were on their way to help us repair the damage. However, it wasn’t fast enough.”
“The monster came back after licking its wounds, more pissed off than before. I still remember it, that burning rage as it stared me down; its first victim. I didn’t have time to react, barely able to scream to warn everyone else. I was dead for sure, but nothing happened. Eventually, I was able to open my eyes. And there he was, The Slayer, standing gallantly before me with the monster dead at his feet. He’d killed it faster than anyone else could even take notice. After that, he left without a word.”
The rest of the story wasn’t really necessary, as just the mere mention of Drim caused everyone to get the gist, but Crucion still gave a few more details. “A while later, things finally returned to normal. We mourned our losses and rebuilt, but I was alone. Well, I wasn’t alone alone. I was basically adopted by the entire village. They made sure I had enough to eat and checked on me regularly since I was still too young to work.”
“I can never repay them for what they did, but at the same time, I reached a breaking point. I just couldn’t take it anymore: the pity in their eyes grew more every time I saw them. So eventually, I just ran away. It’s shameless, I know; to turn my back on those who helped me, the place my parents gave their lives to protect, but it just hurt too much to stay.”
“I’ve been wandering for a few months now, taking odd jobs where I can. It hasn’t been steady, but it’s the most fulfilled I’ve felt since my parents died. Though no matter what I did, I could never get that image out of my head: of the brave man standing before me, who saved our village in seconds. If I could follow such a person, or be of help to them in some way… That’s where I wanted to be.”
“So when I saw the recruitment message, I couldn’t help myself. Didn’t even think about it really. Got these fake contacts and a fake Curse Mark on my wrist. I knew I’d be found out eventually, but I underestimated you guys for sure. I just… I don’t know. This is what called to me. I want to be here, even if I can’t be part of the team. I don’t want to be a resident either, though. I want to do something to contribute here, even if it’s the lowest position.”
“The Fiends For Hire is my hope, the most hope I’ve ever had. So please, if you’re going to send me away, let it be because I’m a burden, because there was something I couldn’t do. Let me prove that I can be useful, even as just a human. All I’m asking for is a chance.” Crucion bowed deeply, placing himself at their mercy.
“Well, I’m sure we could make you a Lesser if you really wanted,” Phon offered.
“Phon, what the hell?!” Drim was bewildered by her even suggesting this.
“Well, making him a Fiend would be much more difficult, but it’d be an interesting challenge.” Phon seemed to be taking this seriously.
“No, that’s not the problem!” Drim was getting legitimately annoyed, which made Phon’s words all the more surprising, since she’d normally avoid anything she could that’d upset him. “We’re not in the business of making Fiends, and we definitely shouldn’t be encouraging or enabling it.”
“This is just how it is, Drim,” Phon insisted. “If someone wants to become a Lesser, they’ll find a way. It’s honestly not that hard, and takes a bit of a disturbed person to try, but it’s very attainable. Though if they don’t do their research properly, they could end up killing a lot of innocents beforehand. So wouldn’t it be best to offer them a safe environment where they could be sure a bad person was killed?”
It was hard to argue against this rationality. Logistically, it made a lot of sense, but morally… Well, it didn’t matter and Drim didn’t need to pose his rebuttal even further. “No thank you, I’ll have to decline that offer either way,” Crucion politely turned it down. “It feels like I would be taking a shortcut. If I become a Lesser or Fiend someday, that’ll just be what fate has in store. But I want to be useful on my own merit, with what I can do right now.”
“Hmm, well… I wish I could say that was a test, but can’t take that credit,” Drim admitted. “Because of that response, it tells us a lot about you, and I’m willing to give you a chance… As normal staff, for now at least. You’d work under our Head of Staff and do whatever she tells you. She’s exceedingly strict, and you certainly wouldn’t have it easy.”
“As for the rest… being a member and going on jobs, well we can just play that by ear and see how things go. If you’re fine with those terms, we can consider you, but you’ll still need to be interviewed of course.”
“Yes, please, I’ll happily take that offer! Throw whatever you have at me. I’ll take it head on!” Crucion was finally getting fired up for the first time today, the burden of secrecy now lifted off of his shoulders. What followed was a very standard, very boring job interview that a normal human would go through countless times in their lives, but it still ended in Crucion’s favor.
<{No. 1; Crucion Wirks; Status: ACCEPTED>
Fiends For Hire Text Conversation 12
Date: October 6th 2077
『Drim: Sorry about springing him on you like this so suddenly Mallea. I hope he doesn’t interfere with your work too much.』
『Mallea: It’s alright, I could actually use some help right now with these new resident requests. Go ahead and send him my way and I’ll get him started with moving luggage and some other tasks.』
『Mallea: Seriously, I worry about some of these new residents. It’s like they’ve never done anything on their own before.』
『Drim: Well if any of them or Crucion give you any trouble, let us know and we’ll take care of it.』
『Mallea: Don’t worry about it Drim. It’s nothing I can’t handle. Sometimes killing with kindness is the best solution after all.』
『Drim: Please do not actually kill them Mallea』