Chapter 958 (2/2)

Randidly scratched his head awkwardly. Well, no one can be good at everything… if this doesn’t work I can just proceed directly to Tatiana’s office from the outside. Or send her a message to come fetch me, although that feels a bit embarrassing.

“Nope. All I have is my word.” Randidly said. And then he laughed to himself because hundreds of miles away from Donnyton and that lingering violence, a receptionist at the door of a business he owned stopped him dead with a simple request for proof. This place didn't care about the turmoil in his chest. And he didn’t have the heart to force the issue publicly as he understood she was just doing her job.

A job that was likely listed under the security guard’s job description, yet it was clear that man had no intention of assisting the young receptionist.

Strangely, Randidly felt oddly liberated by the fact that the demonstration of power he had made with images in Donnyton meant nothing here. Even more strangely, despite Randidly’s frank admission he had no proof, the young woman continued to look at him. The two stared at each other, bright yellow and emerald considering each other. Then, after nodding to herself while keeping her eyes fixed on him, she picked up a phone at her desk and dialed a number.

A few seconds later, she tsk’d in annoyance and set the phone down. “Ms. Tatiana is in a meeting, but I can take you up to wait outside her office for her to finish.”

As if finally catching onto the fact that this was not going the way that he had expected, the security guard looked up and frowned meaningfully at the receptionist. With a practiced motion, he adjusted his belt and sniffed loudly.

“...thanks, I’d appreciate it,” Randidly said slowly, following the young woman’s gesture and heading toward the stairs. Behind his back, he felt the young woman stick her tongue out at the security guard behind Randidly and then follow him down the hall and into the stairwell. Scowling, the security guard watched both of their departing figures without saying anything. With light steps, the young woman caught up to him and moved swiftly upward.

For the eight flights of stairs up to the top floor of the Erickson Steel administrative building, both of them remained silent. In fact, Randidly was quite content to send out waves of Aether, continually monitoring the type of people that were housed in this building. It was immediately clear to him that Tatiana had down an impeccable job in personnel selection. Even after casually scanning, he felt several individuals using management or planning Skills that were over one hundred.

That Level wasn’t much compared to Randidly, but since Erickson Steel was a relatively new company, to have so many talented individuals under its roof still seemed impressive. As they moved up the stairs, Randidly idly watched the bobbing of the young woman’s ponytail as his brain gathered and sorted information.

When they reached the top floor, she held the door open for Randidly. After a brief pause, he walked through onto a plush carpet that felt exceedingly delightful to feel on his bare toes. He stretched his toes wide and pressed them deep into the soft maroon cloud on which he was currently floating.

The receptionist's eyes dipped down to land on his feet. Her gaze lingered there so long that Randidly tilted his head to the side and twisted to look at her. Randidly smiled slightly, unsure of what to say in the face of her frank observation.

Her immediate reaction to being caught staring at his feet was to blush. “Ah. Well, what’s the point in having stuff like this is someone doesn’t enjoy it, right? Please have a seat on one of these couches. When Ms. Tatiana’s meeting is over, you can head on in; the rest of her schedule today is free.”

“Are you a gambler?” Randidly asked lightly.

The young woman blinked. The bright amber of her eyes flickered in confusion.

With a small smile, Randidly gestured to himself. “I understand what I look like. It’s a tall order to go out on a limb and believe that I’m the mysterious and absent founder of the company, the titular Erickson. I would understand it if we had met before, but you are a new hire, right? There’s no way we have met. Yet you brought me up here, clearly angering your coworker downstairs. So, are you a gambler?”

The young woman grinned at him. “Maybe we’ve met and I am simply such a minor character that you’ve forgotten.”

“I would remember you,” Randidly said calmly. He turned his Aether scan toward the young woman. Instantly, he felt her Class and Level. Meticulous Technician, Level 37. But Randidly’s attention was immediately drawn to the fact that her Careful Preparations Skill was at Level 179.

Minor character, huh…

The young woman’s smile shrunk. Then she shrugged. “There’s something about your eyes. It feels like you aren’t someone who would lie. At least, that’s what I believe. And besides… with the System, what about life isn’t a gamble?”

Then she closed the door and left Randidly alone with the plush carpet and his delighted toes. Shaking his head, Randidly turned and headed toward Tatiana’s office. If nothing else, he needed to let Tatiana know that it was a waste to have such a talented individual working as a receptionist. And the fact that she had managed to get to Level 37 meant that she wasn’t a slacker when it came to fighting.

As Randidly approached Tatiana’s office, he immediately sensed that it was her and Tykes within. As such, Randidly knocked briefly on the wooden door and then calmly opened it to step through.

Both bodies within turned quickly to face the surprise intruder at the door, but the harsh rebuke that Tatiana was preparing for whoever dared interrupt this meeting died immediately when she saw who pushed open the door. “Baloo!”

Randidly winced. Seeing his reaction, Tykes chuckled and stepped closer to pick Randidly up in a bear hug. “Man, it’s good to see you. Means that we can stop playing around with these fucks.”

Grinning at them both, Randidly said with amusement. “So, we have a problem with the competition? After your messages, I was worried that they were interfering with us directly. But after looking around the factory… honestly, it seems like we are doing well. So what’s the problem?”

“If it was as simple as another business just suppressing us and looking for the formula, don’t you think I would have solved it myself? Have some faith in me… Mr. Ghosthound.” Tatiana said his name with a conscious effort. Then she shook her head. “Competition and pressure we can handle. We’ve dealt with it so far. But recently, they’ve changed their strategy.

“What we can’t compete against… is tariffs. Because Erickson Steel isn’t constructed in the Senate approved industrial districts of Zone 1, raw material suppliers are taxed when they sell to us, a ‘foreign’ business interest. We can pay a little extra for the materials to compensate them for that… but that tactic has been slowly bleeding us of our liquid funds. While we've been petitioning to change the law, we were blindsided by another rule they are trying to pass.”

Tykes grimaced. “There is a bill proposed that would require all foreign business interests to employ government-licensed quality control agent, as we are making industrial-grade metals. In all of Zone 1… Erickson Steel would be the only company affected by this bill. We are being targeted by someone with political power in this Zone.”