Chapter 1005 (2/2)

Tatiana scratched her neck as she looked uncomfortably down at the terminal. “Please, make this quick, Helen. I have a meeting with the government in about ten minutes.”

“Plenty quick,” Helen’s reply was short and clearly annoyed. Tatiana crossed her fingers under the desk, hoping this walking timebomb hadn’t done something else that would keep Tatiana up at night with stress dreams. “It’s just… it’s so damn boring around here. I have to go farther and farther to find monsters worth fighting. Do you know how much I walk each day? Can we… like ship some strong monsters into the area? Maybe buy a high-Level Dungeon?”

Tatiana kept her smile polite. At least she’s focusing her violence on monsters. I can work with that. “There aren’t any Villages close to us, you know that. But the Level of monsters is slowly rising. Have you tried going down to Lake Apollo? I’ve heard-”

“Of course,” Helen’s tone was bitter. “I found a good amount of grubby fish monsters, but I cleaned out the entire lake area yesterday. I’ve had to go further South to the river. And even there, the monsters have started running away from me! Has there been anyone else suspicious up there? That bloodthirsty guy wasn’t strong, but at least he was mildly fucking entertaining-”

“Nothing here, just paperwork,” Tatiana replied as brightly as possible.

“Ugh.” Helen hung up the call after a brief pause and a sky. Although she didn’t know much else about the minutia of running a company, she certainly understood that she wanted nothing to do with paperwork. Which was why Tatiana had kept Helen at bay by bringing it up as much as possible.

How long will you be gone, Randidly…? It’s only been a few days, but I’m already at my wit’s end… The government has been quiet since Helen assaulted the police, but how long will that last? And now that their representative requested a meeting…

Shaking her head, Tatiana checked the time. 1:19. Which mean her half hour of break time had already dwindled to eleven minutes. When you included the time Tatiana planned to spend reviewing her notes about the specific government representative that was visiting… her time had basically gone up in smoke.

Tatiana sighed and collected her notes.

Lee Holloway was originally a lobbyist that was at the center of Zone 1’s scientific block that controlled Congress for the greater portion of the post-System government. Eventually, he was pulled from the lobby groups to working for Congress proper, as an aide for one of the top ten most influential figures in Congress. Since then, Lee had moved rather rapidly between a number of aide positions for different Senators, but they had one thing in common: they were all known associates of Senator Heathridge.

Tatiana tapped her lip as she regarded the series of names. Then she tried to recall as much as she could about Senator Heathridge. You’ve never held this specific dagger, but it’s clearly one you’ve kept with your friends. And I predicted the individual targeting Erickson Steel would soon make a move… has it been you this whole time, Heathridge…?

Tatiana looked up sharply at the sound of the intercom. It was from the front desk; it appeared that Lee Holloway had arrived early.

Clicking a button to indicate the man should be sent up immediately, Tatiana walked over to the cabinet and removed the completely empty bottle of her favorite Donnyton whiskey and set it on the desk next to her work area. Then she pulled several piles of meaningless earning reports and set them haphazardly around her chair and desk.

Tatiana paused briefly in her work when several papers fluttered to the floor around her desk, but that only made her smile in satisfaction. She then walked to the windows and pulled the blinds closed. The office became dark and disheveled.

Suddenly, it seemed that Tatiana was beset by a sea of accumulating problems in paper form.

To finish off the illusion, Tatiana poured herself a glass of a rich amber-colored iced tea. She took a sip and smacked her lips in pleasure. Bitter as the day I was born. Perfect. Let’s see what sort of hammer is about to fall. Let’s hope to god that this man doesn’t think he can play chicken with Randidly Ghosthound.

Lee Holloway looked exactly like someone who worked in government as a career wheedler; he wore a three-piece suit and his dark hair was slicked back with oil. His beard was impeccably trimmed.

When he entered the room, Tatiana took careful note of the way his gaze went to her face and never once flicked down to the empty bottle of whiskey on the desk or the glass of amber liquid in her hand. He was good at what he did, but that also made him relatively predictable. He would save that card for when he meant business

Gotcha.

“Tatiana,” He boomed with a confident laugh as he strode forward and took a seat at one of the leather chairs in front of her desk. “How are you? You truly as young and beautiful as the rumors say.”

“Ah… well thank you.” Tatiana looked down demurely for just long enough. Then she quickly looked back up to his face and then away. “I’ve been expecting… I mean, how are you? What.. ah, what brings you here?”

“Of course, I should have guessed.” Lee winked at Tatiana. “Business before pleasure, I should have expected as much from a successful woman like yourself. So I’ll get right down to it. I represent certain interest groups… and I’m sure you realize that considering the recent activities of Erickson Steel… Zone 1 would eventually need to find a solution to this strange conundrum that makes every happy....”

Tatiana forced her face into a polite smile. To have no reaction prepared would be too amateur, might alert him that this is just a ploy. Better to immediately buckle down and show some capability. “Ah…? You must be referring to the recent shift in distribution strategy. I had no idea that Senators would be interested in such things.”

“...yes of course.” Holloway seemed amused. He winked at her again. “Based on that specifically… I’d like to inform you that the government of Zone 1… would like to sponsor a Village being founded on Erickson Steel land. We really think that if Erickson Steel wants to become a traveling hub… we should do everything to support that venture. You continue to supply the quality steel, and we will build the infrastructure to make this the second Orchard! What do you think?”