Entering a room, two chairs and a table could be seen. The room was lit by a candle, lighting the area quite nicely. Although the room in itself was badly kept, of course since it was abandoned, it still wouldn’t suddenly break down. There was some writing on the walls, which was nothing important to keep in mind. “I was here.” “28290.”

Whatever all that meant. They probably held no further meaning. As much as it would be impressive that the numbers contain a secret message, I highly doubt that. Serge must’ve noticed my state since he looked back and tapped the wall with one finger.

“Oh, you’re curious about these numbers? Well, I thought it was nice to keep some memory of the number so I engraved it with a sharp rock. Yeah, it’s nothing important. Well, for you as that cannot be said for me,” he said, leaving the numbers.

“Then what about the phrase? You don’t seem the type to write that.” I mentioned, hovering my finger over it.

“Beats me. Probably some random vandalism. This place is abandoned so people are bound to write whatever for the fun of it. Though it must’ve been a long time ago since we’ve been occupying this building for some time.” Serge touched the wall, before going back to his seat.

“Hm. That’s true,” I replied, sitting on the other unoccupied.

Placing my hand on the table, I patiently waited for Serge to begin. Following my expectations, he took documents from below the table. There were many, about twenty three to be exact. He gently pushed them toward me. I grabbed one reading the contents, before placing it onto the table.

“This isn’t anything out of the ordinary.” I commented.

“By the way, is this all of the documents? The important ones, not in general.”

“Yeah, I usually sort them out for occasions like this. Plus it doesn’t hurt to keep them into neat stacks, it makes life easier.” Serge explained.

“Okay.” I responded, not really invested.

There was a lingering doubt I had. It wasn’t exactly about these documents per say, so I didn’t know whether to ask or not. In the first place it isn’t my business.

Eh, I’m curious.

“Off topic, but you need to get along with them or you’ll end up being murdered while you sleep. I’m just saying, don’t take my words too seriously,” I said.

“I can’t. It’s a mutual feeling between me and them. It’s not like I’m having a hard time being on good terms with my colleagues, it’s just specific people who get on my nerves.”

“Nothing you can do about it. All I’m saying is make sure you don’t end up being betrayed,” I said sternly.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Right. I wouldn’t want that either,” he replied, muttering.

“I also wanted to know this, but why did she act like that when she saw me? The one who you handed the slave to. I don’t remember doing anything to warrant this type of behavior.”

This wasn’t even mentioning the other one. Why are they all acting like that towards me? This was my first time meeting them, the only one I’m acquainted with is Serge Lipski, the man in front of me. Other than that, I have no relations with the people in the building. So it doesn’t make sense for her to act that way. I just don’t get the motive behind it.

“Hahahaha!” Serge laughed, hitting the table.

“This is why I like you!” he said in between laughs.

All I could do was stare at him in bewilderment. Did I say something funny? That’s strange, he usually doesn’t laugh as much as he does now. In fact, his eyes began tearing up because of how much he was laughing. Once his laughter died down, he wiped his tears with his finger.

“I really do enjoy your jokes, that’s why I tolerate others' behavior. And to answer your question, no, I have no clue as to why she acted like that. Though does it matter? You have fear installed into her without doing anything. You have access to way more options than I do.”

“Still, while being feared has its benefits, it isn’t good being feared for absolutely no reason. It seems like I’m an international criminal of some sort, which I’m not,” I sighed.

“I do get your concerns, you really aren’t known on an international level or even in this country for that matter. Sucks to be insignificant.” Serge nodded.

“Well, it is what it is. It’s better not to be known as much as certain people. You’re most likely to be underestimated due to the lack of feats.”

I grabbed another document and started reading it. I repeated this action for all of them. Meanwhile I did this, Serge left. Soon after his departure I heard faint sounds of shouting. Shaking my head, sighing, I went outside to face the situation.

To my surprise it wasn’t as bad as I originally thought, it was just Serge and the woman with the slave arguing. The girl with twin tail’s was next to them.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said hand over the slave!” Serge shouted, annoyed.

“I told you that she would take care of her, so go back to the room.” The magnet hair girl said, calmly leaning against a wall.

“Look here, I’m tired of this shit. I got other matters to attend,” he sighed, his anger subsided.

“Then go attend those matters! The only reason you got ahold of the slave is because it tried running away!” The other woman shouted, protecting the slave.

“That’s part of my job. If you have a problem go complain to him.” Serge sneered.

“Well, we’ll be taking that burden off your shoulders. You should be grateful.” The girl responded.

“Now, now. Stop fighting y'all. We’re all comrades?” A new voice appeared.

A man in his late twenties came down the stairs, tying his long sky blue hair into a ponytail. He was being accompanied by another person.

“As much as I would like to berate Lipski, now is not the time to do so.”

A demi human no older than twelve walked besides him. She had an irrational expression, clearly annoyed at Serge for some reason.

Who are all these people?