The phone was vibrating on the desk, but I felt it was a pain to answer. It is a hot summer in Sweden now, and I am sweating and napping at work to avoid doing anything interesting for the coming days. The vibration stopped, and I kept resting my head on the desk until the vibration from the phone started again. It felt like my head was vibrating with the phone, and someone must have thought they needed to reach me, but it was too hot outside, and I don't feel like doing any assignments when the weather is like this. Luckily, the phone stopped, and I thought, this moment, I could go back to napping. I was so wrong, and it started again. I lifted my head and grabbed the phone with a not-so-kindly voice:
"Why do you people keep calling when I don't answer after the first two times?"
It was quiet on the other end for a couple of seconds before a female voice said:
"Veronica is on her way to you; I called to warn you so it doesn't look like the last time you were asleep in the office."
I quickly checked the display on my phone. I noticed that Trissy called me to warn me about Veronica's visit.
"Ah...shit! Whenever she visits or has an assignment, I almost always get killed when accepting the job. It is summer; I won't take it from her no matter what. I know it must be something special; otherwise, she wouldn't visit personally the office. Fine! Thanks for calling me and giving me a heads up, Trissy!"
"No problem, Taz!" She said and hung up the phone.
I put the phone down and sighed for myself before the door opened without even a knock on the door. Of course, it was the silver-haired witch; she was a witch for real, but very beautiful, and she was always dressed in business clothes. She walked up to the desk and bent over it to smother my cheek with her hand; well, it is not weird because Victoria was the one who adopted me after my mother died and my sister disappeared.
"How long are you going to smother my cheek, Victoria?" I asked her.
She stopped immediately and started to laugh while sitting down on the chair. Her blue eyes and the complete set of clothing were all grey to match her white hair. It was like a match made in heaven but for clothing.
"It has been a while, Taz. How are you doing?"
Oh, I knew this one; she would butter up to force me to accept the assignment she had in mind; this was to trick me into her game.
"Eh...Good! How have you been, Victoria?
"Good. Thank you for asking!" She responded.
The antenna is on high alert right now in my brain.
"So! What do I have the pleasure of meeting the head of the Van Polan Organization just like that, leaving Paladin Woods and coming into Stockholm? I asked her.
Her smile lit up even more now, and I thought for myself that I was screwed now.
"Well, I have got an assignment from the Valiant family."
"I knew you didn't come here just for a checkup; why would you personally visit Stockholm from the outskirts of Paladin Woods without notice that you were coming? I knew It must be something special if you came here alone."
"Yes, It is! Also, I think it can be a good chance for you to do other assignments like this instead of spending time between the Stockholm office and Paladin Woods.."
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I was unconvinced because I would only do routine surveillance on a demon the last time she came here on a personal visit. It ended up in many areas in Paladin Woods, and several blocks were destroyed in Stockholm. It was so bad running for my life that Victoria had to temporarily release a guy from prison and take in some weird older guy who was only dressed in costume and even had a tie.
"Last time you had some assignment for me. I almost ended up being killed, and I barely survived that. I won't take any suicide assignments, no thank you! Ask the other two guys." I argued to try and slip away from the assignment.
"Sorry, Taz! Berk is on a search and rescue assignment, and he will be gone for a long time, so we sent him to Valiant. Zark has another job that will take a while, so sending him on this assignment is impossible. So, only you are available as a private investigator; the request was specially made from the Valiant Kingdom."
Okay, that is a good explanation, but she is hiding something. She wasn't smiling anymore, and the look on her face meant serious business. I know Victoria well; this looked more serious than the demon job. I should at least listen to what she has to say.
"So... What is the assignment?"
"Glad you asked! I was hoping you could travel to Valiant and investigate the disappearance of 50 hunters who have gone missing during dungeon looting. It is not unusual for maybe one hunter to disappear, but to have that many disappear in the same Dungeon, and they have already sent in even A-rank hunters that did not come back. They have all been missing for three months, and a request came in for someone to take the assignment from Earth. Because so many hunters are missing in the Area, everyone is afraid to go into the Dungeon anymore, so a request came in from the Valiant family to the Van Polan organization to send someone to investigate."
I looked at her, knowing that something sounded weird.
"You are kidding. If 50 hunters have disappeared from the Dungeon, they should close down the whole Area and not let anyone in, right?"
"Well...I suppose, but we do have an agreement with the Valiant family, and this can be something good for you in a fresh and new environment."
Now she is trying to talk me into it. Why would I accept an assignment in a dungeon I had never been in? I agree; she adopted me and took care of me all these years, but sending me to death is not directly one of my biggest wishes right now.
"Hell no, Victoria! I won't take this assignment."
"Well, it is good that you mention Hell. I think one of the levels in the Dungeon is actually like Hell. If you take the assignment, I can guarantee that you will find information about the murder of your mother and the disappearance of your sister in the orphanage."
I have been searching for years, trying to find any information about the murder of our mother and my sister disappearing into a portal together with the four creatures.
"You are bluffing! I have looked for the four creatures for several years without finding any trace of them. I am an investigator; I should have found traces of them during all these years. How come you come today and inform me about this?"
"Well, I received a complete report from everyone entering the Dungeon, not only the hunters who entered the Dungeon for the last year. I saw a picture of one of the creatures entering the Dungeon. Even though you have been looking for the man with the green hand, this one can tell you where to find him. If you succeed, I will allow you to keep investigating at Valiant if you find the lost hunters, dead or alive."
I turned around and looked out the window, trying to think. I need to know why an attack occurred in our orphanage twelve years ago. I need to find the truth of what happened to my family.
"Fine! I accept the assignment. If you lied to me, I will take over one year of paid vacation when I return." I uttered with my back to Victoria.
"That is great! I will send the information and the address where you need to meet tomorrow."
I turned towards Victoria while she went up from the chair and went around the table, gave me a warm hug, grabbed both my cheeks, and said:
"You can do this! Your father was a half demon and half human, and your mother was a half angel and half human. You have more potential than you have been showing."
She released her hands from my cheeks and walked out of the office when my phone vibrated, and I checked through my phone for the information about the assignment. There was some information about what to do when I arrived in Valiant, and the last page was the risk assessment for this assignment. It was in clear text that the risk of getting killed in this assignment was 99.9 per cent.
"Ah...For Fudge's sake." I uttered in the empty air.
It would be an understatement to call this a suicide assignment, more like an assignment going into death.