In the capital, on one of the main streets in the city…

Going about his business, Straf notices a sign on a building stating for sale, details inside. The large, two-story building is in a very central location within the city, and it's hard to go anywhere without passing by. He enters.

Within the building, an elderly man is reading a small book with squinted eyes, his eyes drift up from to Straf, and he sets the book down on his table, but not before bookmarking the page with a red string.

「Ah, hello. Are you here for the building?」

The old man asks, looking at Straf with tired eyes.

「No, I'm here to rob you blind.」

Straf grins, walking in further and looking around with his hands in his pockets.

「Wha!?-」

「Of course I'm here for the building, what did you think? Don't get a heart attack suddenly, geezer.」

Straf scoffs at the old man, and shrugs his shoulders. The old man sighs with relief, clutching at his heart.

「You young people… Gonna drive me into early grave… Well? Are you interested? It's 50 gold coins. No negotiatin', not a coin less.」

The old man asks, insistently tapping his finger on the table.

「50 coins? That's pretty steep for just a building.」

Straf comments, still looking around as he walks closer to the old man's table.

「If you don't like it, get out. It's 50 coin, take it or leave it.」

The old man does not relent, and stares continues to at Straf's handsome face with tired eyes.

「Tsk. What do you need the money for, anyway? Is your last wish to be buried with your wealth? Can't blame you, it's all the rage just about everywhere.」

Straf spreads his hands.

「I'm retiring. I like this place, it's close to everywhere, but you need to be a young man like yourself to pay for it, which I'm not.」

The old man points at Straf, and shrugs.

「Yeah, could have fooled me.」

Straf says as he pulls the chair out and takes a seat, as if the home was already his.

「Ho ho ho hohoho… Flattery will get you nowhere, sonny. 50 coin. I can see you like the place, and I can tell you that I took good care of it in my time.」

The old man carefully laughs, making sure not to be too amused for his old heart.

「Yeah, I'm wondering where I'll find the mold.」

「There ain't any. If there was something to fix, I fixed it. You won't find mold, rot, rusty hinges, or a single cockroach. How about it?」

The old man leans on the table towards Straf, and asks.

「If I paid you right now, how fast can you pack your shit and get out?」

Straf's bored eyes lock onto the old man's bored ones, and he asks.

「I only need my books and basics. I'd be out by tomorrow.」

The man shrugs, and taps his hand on the book in front of him. His brows rise, and he blinks when Straf's [Portable Storage] opens. Straf pulls out a heavy coin sack, and puts it down on the table with a heavy clank. The purple whirl disappears, and Straf unties the sack, and starts placing gold coins on the table.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

「Fifteen… Twenty… Man, I'm glad this is going to be a thing of the past soon. You don't even know, old man.」

Straf pauses counting for a second to give the old man some insider information, then resumes counting.

「Count it.」

Straf points his hand at the coins, then throws the rest of the coin sack into his [Portable Storage].

「Don't have to. I already did. How many times do you think youngsters tried to trick me? With age, you learn to not get fooled.」

The old man says, and scoops the coins closer to himself.

「I'll bring you the deed. Give me one day to pack myself.」

The old man takes the pile of coins, and slowly creeps upstairs. Each step on the steps produces a characteristic creak. The old man returns, and hands Straf the deed for the building. Straf exits, and takes a look at the building one more time.

「Cool. I guess I can use the warehouse for everything else for now… Time to check how my little corporation is doing.」

Straf grins, then shrugs. He sets out towards the city's main gate…

…

In the not-so-dark room, elsewhere…

A gathering of old men around a large round table sit in stone thrones, arguing loudly over each other.

「Settle down! Everybody settle down! Let me remind you, regardless, we made the right choice!」

The man with a graying beard exclaims with his hands up.

「So what!? Is this a joke!? This is the third time we've been assembled! First we're told that Rankor is invading, and now that they've been beaten off!? By one man, at that!?」

Another man shouts, though the mood in the room is now in order and under control, as other old men eagerly await their turn to shout, too.

「That's right! How many times will we have to return here!? What if we decided to back out of the plan, only to find out the next day that it was a mistake to do so!?」

「That's right! What's with the sudden disruptions!? Everything was going smoothly until now!」

「Colleagues, please!」

The man with a graying beard exclaims again, raising his hands. The men settle down, and go silent.

「Ear, please clarify. You are certain it was just one man?」

The man points to Ear, who is sitting with his fingers interlocked and his elbows on the table.

「No. Fellow gentlemen, you must understand… It is my men that are certain of what they are saying. And what they are telling me, are the rumors that they have heard from the soldiers. In my long, long, long years of experience, I can safely say, no rumor is baseless. The only unknown are the facts of the matter.」

Ear separates his hands to spread them as he explains the nature of his network, nodding his head and looking at other men seated around the table.

「I see. In other words, it's more likely true, than it is not?」

The middle-aged man asks.

「Precisely.」

Ear clarifies, nodding his head.

「And who is this man? How exactly did this happen? You are expecting me to believe that a single man turned away an entire army?」

Another man indignantly asks Ear from across the table.

「I am working with my network to hammer those details out. When I have something, I will let everyone know.」

Ear replies, and a brief silence falls on the room.

「Ahem. Colleagues… While the coin plan is proceeding smoothly, I believe it would be prudent to come up with back-up plans right now, in order to avoid any surprises. Let's hope we will not be assembled unexpectedly again… And let us prepare for the eventuality of something going wrong.」

The middle-aged man with graying beard says, and most of the men nod in silence…

…

In the evening, in Ossen…

Straf hops off a public transport wagon, along with a few other people. The women on the wagon assemble into a little circle and immediately begin discussing something in a hushed tone, glancing at Straf and giggling as he walks towards the sewer entrance, now chained with multiple thick chains.

He pushes the door to the sewer in with his shoulder, and the chains shatter, then drop onto the ground with a heavy clunk. Straf continues otherwise unimpeded to Thieves Incorporated headquarters beneath the city.

「How is my world's best repossession company doing?」

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Straf asks as he enters the former Thieves' Guild hideout.

「Straf!」

The orange-eyed woman exclaims, and hops up to Straf.

「Girl.」

Straf snaps his fingers, and points at Nona. He then turns away and heads towards the CEO, causing Nona to furrow her brows in surprise by how quickly the interaction ended.

「Uh, don't go anywhere, I have stuff to ask you.」

He momentarily turns his head over his shoulder and says one more sentence towards Nona, and walks up to ex-Thieves' Guild boss's table.

「Haven't seen you in a while, lad.」

Fost says, and glances at his gem-encrusted tankard. He takes a large gulp out of it, and sets it down and away from Straf's reach.

「Yeah, I was kind of busy. Earnings call time, how much profit are we speaking?」

Straf shrugs his hands, only momentarily pulling them out of his pockets before returning them to where they were.

「…What?」

Fost asks, shaking his head with a confused expression on his face.

「Money. How much money did you make?」

Straf shrugs his shoulders, staring at the CEO with bored eyes.

「What do you mean? What's it to you?」

Fost shrugs his hands, leaning back in his chair with furrowed brows.

「What do you mean, what's it to me? I'm the owner, remember? Now, how much profit have you made, as a company?」

Straf asks, becoming perplexed himself. He spreads his hands, and asks again.

「Uh. Since you left? Nona… How much the guild has made since then?」

Fost turns to the orange-eyed girl, peeking past Straf to see her.

「Why are you asking me?」

She tilts her head, keeping her hands clasped behind her back.

「Because you are the one who for some reason keeps track of that.」

Fost points his finger at Nona, and shrugs.

「Uh… Before Beard turns it into coin? I don't know, 300 gold coins total?」

She places a finger on her face as she thinks.

「More like 120. Do you think I can just turn hot jewelry, silverware and other junk into liquid gold like I'm some sort of mage?」

Beard chimes in with crossed arms. Straf sighs and rolls his eyes.

「Yikes. Missed earnings right from the get-go, huh? Okay…」

Straf snaps his fingers and points at Fost. A brief silence begins, as Fost and Straf lock gazes.

「…What's your name again?」

Straf asks, squinting with one eye at Fost.

「How could you forget!?」

Fost slams his hand on the table, shouting in wide-eyed shock at Straf.

「Hey, my bad, I should know the name of my CEO at least. However, most everyone and their dog feels obliged to introduce themselves to me and wants me to know them by first-name basis. Do you all think my memory is limitless? If I remembered everyone's name and face, there would be no more space left for historical facts and cool tidbits.」

Straf explains with a smirk, glancing at the rest of the corporation's workers as he spreads his hands, shrugging.

「I'm Fost! Fost! Remember that!」

The CEO slams his hand in indignance.

「Okaaaay, alright. Now, listen here, Fost…」

Straf extends his finger and leans on the table.

「You either make 150 gold coins by the next month as pure revenue, or your ass is out, and I have to find a new CEO. You can forget about a golden parachute, we're not there yet.」

Straf warns, pointing his finger at Fost's face, nearly poking him in the eye.

「…What the fuck is a parachute, Straf?」

「Exactly. Invent one and sell it if you must, but I want to see 150 gold.」

Straf smirks and straightens out. Fost shakes his head in further confusion.

「You… Nona, right? Come with me for a second.」

Straf snaps his fingers again, and points at the amber-eyed girl, gesturing her to follow him out of the guild. They leave, and walk a few steps outside into the sewer tunnel.

「Where's your daughter?」

Nona asks, tilting her head.

「Da- What fucking daughter? What?」

Straf stammers, furrowing his brows heavily as he spreads his hands.

「You had a cute little girl with you the last time, where is she?」

Nona asks, and places her palm level at around the height Lily is.

「Wha-? You mean Lily? She's not my fucking daughter, she's a 1012 year old vampire with abandonment issues. And she let me know something interesting.」

Straf scoffs, and points at Nona again.

「Huh?」

「So, who was the demon? Daddy couldn't resist a succubus, or mommy was into kinky shit?」

Straf grins, placing his fists on his hips.

「What? What are you talking about?」

Nona blinks, her amber eyes stare at Straf in utter confusion.

「Come on, I know your little secret, you don't need to pretend. I don't actually care. Do you really think I would if I babysit a little girl vampire?」

Straf chuckles, grinning and spreading his arms.

「I- What are you talking about, Straf?」

Nona asks with a serious face, slowly becoming visibly angry.

「…What, you mean you don't know?」

「Know what!?」

Nona asks, raising her voice. One of the guild members peeks his head out from the corporate headquarters.

「Tsk. Come with me.」

Straf grabs Nona's arm, and pulls her deeper into the sewer's darkness. Once sufficiently out of everyone's earshot, he slams his hand onto the wall, blocking Nona off from the way back.

「Are you seriously telling me, that you don't know that you're a demon?」

Straf asks as he grins. Her expression shifts from neutral to angry.

「What are you talking about? I should hit you just for that-」

「Tsk, come on. I read in a book that orange, or amber eyes aren't exactly common. Nobody seems to care, but you haven't seen anyone else with eyes like yours, have you?」

「What? But-」

Nona pauses, and blinks as she stares blankly at a random point. The anger on her face turns into confusion.

「…That doesn't mean anything. I'm supposed to believe you? Even if what you are saying is true, what if your book is wrong!?」

Nona angrily pushes Straf away. Though he can see her push coming, he simply lets her. Her amber eyes glare at him, full of apprehension.

「I mean, it can be. But what are the chances? If you don't like the idea of being a demon that much, you can cheer up. The bestiary said you're a half-fiend, at least. That's why I'm asking which side of your family is in bed with the devil.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders and adds a little tilt of his head, as his hands return back to his pockets.

「I am not a fiend, my father was an honest man, and my mother died when I was young! Leave me be, you bastard!」

Nona storms off back towards the corporate headquarters, glaring at Straf as she stomps away.

「Hey! Chin up, it could be worse! It could be an incestuous government-corporate relationship! Oh, wait. Heheheh…」

Straf shouts down the sewer tunnel at Nona, and she disappears behind the tunnel's curve…