CHAPTER 20 - First Day
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"Your handwriting is quite pretty, I knew you were a good fit for the job the moment I laid my eyes on you!" Elena said, basically applauding Rei as she inspected the newly-written documents upon her hands.
The eventful day of waking up to a new place, almost getting killed, having a feast, and getting interrogated and forcefully inducted into the black company known as the Red Hilt Job Centre had ended, and Rei had officially started her first day.
Rei was currently writing up reports and documents for contractual affairs with the local administration, transcribing Elena's words into paper, compiling records, approving requests, and approving operations among the likes.
The printing press had been invented far beyond the time that Travellers in their Beginner Dungeons had appeared, but anything close to a typewriter is yet to be brought forward due to any prototypes being turned to dust due to the Heavenly Restrictions.
Printing is thus, still a rather cumbersome and limited process restricted to things like books and scripts which would need to be produced en masse, leaving much of the bureaucracy to scribes who could write very well.
"Do I really have to do this? I mean like it's pretty obvious that this is the work you've been laying off for several days, why can't you do it?" Rei complained.
"To each according to his ability, if I recall correctly isn't that quite a popular quote among the many Earths of your kind? Though I guess I still don't know where you're from the many Earths all the different Travellers are from, or a Murim World or some other shithole out there."
Conveniently enough though, Elena left out the second part of that quote being 'To each according to his needs', completely dodging the prospect of giving her a suitable salary that matches the value of a skilled labourer that she was supposed to have.
"Besides, it's what you signed up for is it not?"
'Yeah, under duress that is …' Rei couldn't help but sigh.
Literacy rates throughout Yuropa have risen significantly throughout the years of Travellers influencing politics, with every Traveller's Free City rising to almost a complete literacy rate, but still it wasn't to the point wherein half of the continent would suddenly be able to read.
The literacy rate in the Kingdom of Ispagna for example was less than ten percent, similar to many of the backwater parts of Yuropa, a shameful amount compared to their wealthier former domain up in the Lowlands, the Niederlander Confederation that has boasted being the most literate entity in Yuropa at an astounding eighty percent literacy rate.
Isilia on its own has a literacy rate of about five percent, that is to say that there is strong emphasis on finding educated individuals to run the place meaning that Rei's value as an educated individual that could handle contracts, write well and consistently, and organisational skills should have landed her an acceptable salary quite literally anywhere else that she applied to.
But …
'Fifty Yuleas a month …' Rei couldn't help but seethe, seeing as how this amount was this piss-poor region's equivalent of a McDonald's cashier minimum wage.
Yes that's right, the McDonald's Corporation has not only survived in the 24th Century, but has thrived as one of the world's megacorporations, even having a paramilitary force to be reckoned with back on Rei's Earth.
But that was another topic entirely.
'I'm sorry, bureaucrats that I have mistreated …' Rei couldn't help but apologise to the people who ran her organisation behind the scenes back on Earth.
Speaking of her organisation, Rei couldn't help but wonder how the real deal that runs the show, Kon, was doing right about now.
'If only he was here …' Rei couldn't help but sigh again.
Elena, perhaps seeing this reaction, went on to decide to give Rei something resembling what she thought would be positive reinforcement.
"Oh come on, it isn't that bad, we're like a family here!" This sentence from Elena managed to trigger several warning senses inside of Rei, only making her perception of her current workplace as something to be abhorred rather than appreciated.
'This really is one of those black companies isn't it …? Rei thought as she leaned back and rubbed her forehead in anguish, her attention as well as Elena's being took by the noise of a sharp knocking on the office door.
Tak!
Tak!
Tak!
"Who is it?" Elena responded.
"It's Alair, the lord needs your help specifically to solve another one of the usual 'disputes' we encounter from time to time." The voice of Alair could be heard past the door, mentioning something along the lines of a 'lord'.
"..." Rei only awaited silently at this, thinking about who this lord could be, and she already had a very likely idea.
That being the lord of the region that Red Hilt was working under at the moment, his name being mentioned a lot in the papers Rei had been working on all throughout the day.
"Alright, since it's your first day I'll call it off right here. Be prepared for a full working day tomorrow however." Elena said as she stood up and adjusted her gloves, pulled out a hand mirror from her desk and quickly adjusted her hair.
It seems that it was quite important, and Rei wasn't really in a working mood so she didn't really question it.
"Hey Rei, do I look alright? Elena asked as she turned towards Rei, perhaps thinking her own judgement to be insufficient in this case.
'This lazy lovestruck bitch …' Rei couldn't help but hit Elena with a scowl.
"Don't talk to me as if we're friends." Rei coldly replied, wishing to establish a firm boundary against someone she couldn't really fool into thinking that Rei was a nice girl.
"But Rei, we are friends aren't we? And as friends I am inclined to tell you that although just like your writing you look very pretty yourself, you'd be a lot prettier if you smiled more."
"Whatever then, if you say so."
"Hey now, is that any way to talk to your boss?"
"There's no purpose to keeping up appearances with someone like you."
"Hm, I guess you're right then." Elena agreed as she pulled up a stack of multiple papers and pushed them on Rei's desk.
"Just deliver these to the following places on the top of the list and you can call yourself free for the rest of the day." Elena said, tapping the note on top and then opening the door to welcome Alair.
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Rei never remembered papers to be this heavy, but then again with the kind of strength that enabled her to do feats like pulling the head out of human bodies, spine and all, not much she carried came as heavy to her.
Rei was currently carrying a stack of papers to multiple facilities in the Red Hilt headquarters, currently on her way to the last destination, the Infirmary, before calling the day.
Even though she was always known as good at adjusting, being able to decipher new languages in seconds, even she could tell that this was going to take a while to get used to.
'Either way, now would probably be a good moment to start getting used to it …' Rei sighed as she turned a corner, and–
Crash!
"Sorry about that, I–" The person who bumped into Rei would stop their words halfway through.
"No no, it's no trouble at all, I should have been watching more close–" Rei was already starting to apologise much to her own annoyance, at least that was until she looked up and saw the guy that bumped into her.
In the many number of shoujo mangas out there, this would have typically been the time wherein a high-stat overperforming male lead would have bumped into Rei, helping her out with the papers she so clumsily dropped and falling in love with her, being a very convenient plot point that would drive the plot for the next hundred chapters.
But …
This was the harsh reality.
'!?' It was Johan, the first person on this world to have a bone to pick with her, enough that he tried murdering her on the spot.
"You … you have quite the nerve coming to pick a job here of all places after what you pulled yesterday." Johan squinted his eyes upon seeing Rei with a brooch on her blouse that signified approval as a direct assistant of Elena.
'I'm here against my will though!?'
"You may have used that silver tongue on Elena and Alair, but you better watch your back, you rat." Johan gave Rei a death stare, but compared to what Elena displayed earlier this one was something that Rei could afford to take as a joke.
A sharp pain struck her head in the midst of this however, leading Rei to put her hand to her head as she collected her papers.
"Hah, I see you really were so weak to have suffered brain damage upon being merely bumped into, but it can't be helped. If you don't want more brain damage then I'd highly suggest behaving yourself or hightailing it out of here." Johan would go on to adopt a condescending tone towards seeing Rei have a moment of weakness.
'Should I just kill this brat in his sleep …?' Rei was seriously pondering sneaking into Johan's room so she could stab him in the neck at his most vulnerable moment but calmed herself down, noticing that the sharp pain in her head was influencing how she was thinking.
This was the guy who tried to kill her just yesterday morning, she needed to keep a cool head if she wanted to survive. A headache easily influencing her decisions would not get her very far in this world.
Or she thought of it as a simple headache at least.
"Oh, what ever could you mean …?" Rei just looked up at him, greeting his hostile stare with a mocking smile.
"You know what I'm talking about you fucking rat, you better not try that display of thievery you tried on me yesterday. Elena won't have your back forever."
"Ah … so this is what that's about?" Rei would go on to say, but in reality that was obvious to anyone.
Rei could sense that Johan was powerful in his own right, and that led to quite a high head, at least higher than average people, and certainly much higher than those bestowed without the Goddess Ylen's grace, mana.
"You know if you weren't so mentally stunted you wouldn't have lost your damn money now would you? Especially not to a 'fucking rat' like me, actually, isn't it more humiliating that you lost it to a Forsaken rat like me of all people?"
Rei couldn't help but smile as she dished out her retort, remembering what ticked off Johan yesterday morning and that he couldn't do anything about it especially now that the two of them worked in the same place.
"You–" Johan was about to say something, but calmed down.
"Just know that I'll be watching you, rat." Johan said as he went about his way.
Rei only breathed a sigh of relief when she couldn't feel the lingering presence of Johan's mana anymore, before then starting to pick up her papers.
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Rei entered what seemed to be the infirmary part of the headquarters, with the White Cross on the front double doors and all that, entering with her back turned as she was carrying papers.
There she was greeted by the very familiar smell of iron, of blood. It stimulated her head once again, almost getting her to drop her papers before adjusting herself.
Rei feeling moisture next to her lips would reflexively bring her hand up to wipe it, finding …
'Drool …?'
It was that feeling again, the feeling that Rei had when she first got a glimpse of Elena's mana …
… and the feeling of when she first interacted with the Essence of Gluttony.
"Maren, you've got a guest." A man with bandages covering many parts of his upper body, likely the source of the blood that Rei smelled, went on to call.
"Ah, you must be Rei, correct?" A pretty woman who looked to be about in her thirties, in the traditional Ylenist priestly garbs went on to greet Rei, walking towards her.
"That's … correct, yes."
'How do you know that though?' Rei thought, but as if the cleric could read Rei's mind, she then went on to answer.
"Some of the lads came here early this morning asking for hangover medication, the topic of a black-haired girl called Rei and the Section Chief having a drink showdown was a pretty heated one, and seeing as how you're not Hwan Seong, I assume that would be you then?"
"Well, you're correct on that one."
"Right, and seeing as how you're here carrying papers even after yesterday, I think it safe to assume you got the job?"
"Word spreads fast I see …" Rei would once again rub her forehead upon hearing this information, not knowing what she should feel about such a thing.
"Lovely, the name's Maren, Red Hilt's Clerical Physician … well, the only one in fact. I sense you're a bit erratic yourself, you'll fit in just fine."
'I honestly hope not …'
"Well, here are the new documents that you've been asking for." Rei would hand over the stack of papers to Maren, papers that detailed local production on medical supplies available for contracting such as alchemical labs, manufactories, and parishes among the likes.
"It's about time she got to doing her work, I–" Maren would say as she took one of the papers, being cut off due to shock at what she saw, and silently read over more of the papers before coming to a conclusion.
"Holy Mother, this place really is a shithole …" Maren said, looking at the situation.
To put it simply, there wasn't much they could work with locally, and they would have to buy the missing goods they needed from either the black market or from foreign merchants at inflated prices.
If they were working their usual pay grade as they did up north, this would have been fine at the price of reduced profits, but they weren't, and if they tried to budget the group's medicinary capabilities at full capacity then
"Lives in the end are measured in gold …"
Meaning that some corners would have to be cut.
"I'll fill out the things we could probably both afford and need, and then send it to Elena or the Captain for final approval by tomorrow."
Rei was a bit surprised that a cleric which seemed to be quite devoted to the Goddess Ylen could cuss so freely, but as someone who cussed regularly she wasn't really in a position to judge.
"Speaking of which, is there anything wrong?" Maren would go on a tangent, asking Rei about her condition.
"... I don't think so? Does it seem like something's wrong?"
"Hm … I can't exactly point it out … but you look like you've been starving ever since you came in." Maren said, making Rei think about that statement for a moment, looking idly before she would give a reply.
"Is that how it looks like …? I've already eaten plenty for lunch and breakfast though …" Rei would state.
Rei roughly knew of the implications of having an entity directly tied to the very concept of Gluttony within her, taking care to not leave anything to the strength of will alone whenever possible.
"I see, may just be a problem with your psyche then, have you overused your mana latel–not I guess …" Maren offered another theory but was quickly shut down when she took a good look at Rei.
"You peeked." Rei would go onto comment seeing Maren's reaction.
Rei knew exactly what Maren did, that being using Advanced Mana Sense on her, specifically to try and gauge the situation of her mana veins only to see that Rei was Forsaken.
"It's … just something that comes as a natural habit when working this profession, I apologise." She bowed a bit.
"It's alright, I don't really mind." Rei would dismiss the slight violation, not really wanting to start any fuss.
"Well if it's not a problem with magic, or any sort of physical deformity then I don't think I can directly help in that case."
"I see …" Rei was just going to have to tough it out then.
"I can, however, perhaps prescribe the use of Continophine pills?" Or at least that's when Maren offered drugs as a supporting solution.
'Continophine pills …?' Rei wracked her head for any such information on them, only to find nothing that would even imply the effects of such medicine, whether it be from the Royal Library of Matlha's old records of medicinal and support solutions, or her own world's combined pharmaceutical knowledge.
"They're one of the many medicines developed using the otherworldly knowledge of Travellers, a depressant that mildly influences your head … does little to help though for those that are truly addicted to something however."
'Travellers … I see, so the knowledge I gained is dated then? That makes things a little inconvenient …'
"Cheap too, so no worries."
"I see, is there anything else?" Rei would inquire if there was anything else, but most likely there wouldn't be.
"I would say just satisfy your desires, but it doesn't seem to be working out for you, so how about trying to get some sleep yet?" Maren would rub her chin, suggesting something that seemed to be unrelated to Rei's problem.
"Sleep …?" Rei hadn't even considered the option, preferring to stay up quite late at night due to a variety of reasons.
Rei thinks this at least, but ends up sleeping whenever she got too bored.
"Right, it's the cruel option for the masses who aren't able to get their fill in this world … after all you can't be hungry if you're asleep, right?"
'Well … the logic does make sense, so it theoretically should work!' Rei was already feeling quite optimistic.
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It didn't work.
Rei couldn't sleep at all.
Rei couldn't at all fathom it as she bit into her fifth loaf of bread, and her eleventh stick of jerky.
The coarse and sandpaper-like texture reverberated throughout her body, yet didn't take the time to consume water as would usually be recommended for the poor blokes that had to eat these things during an extended campaign.
It wasn't enough.
She had been eating enough food today alone to make a normal girl her size die at the very least thrice over due to overeating, yet she didn't feel the least bit heavier or satiated.
'It's not enough!'
The searing pain inside of her head and stomach flared up even more than they have already been these past hours.
Rei knew what it was, but had been attempting to subconsciously ignore it to protect herself, to shield herself from that thing, that thing called the Demon Lord of Gluttony in the vain and stubborn delusion that her body was mostly what she still knew.
But it wasn't, Rei knew that and she knew that what came with this new, and frankly annoying burden was a tendency to fall victim to one of man's most primal motivators.
It was, of course, hunger.
Hunger to the point where she couldn't control herself and ran out of her room to the building's kitchen and started digging into the group's provisions.
She couldn't even take the time to cook, and even ate eggs raw without a second thought.
'A new smell … no it's something I've smelled before!' Rei suddenly paused her consumption of Red Hilt provisionary stockpiles, and turned her head around to the new presence that has graced her in the middle of the night.
"You know, this is coming out of your paycheck right?" Dublin didn't bother mincing words seeing the utter mess Rei had made in his kitchen.
"Kugh!?" Rei clutched her stomach in pain, making Dublin worried and contemplating whether or not he should call for Maren.
The smell … the smell of the human flesh intoxicated her …
No, to be more specific it wasn't the smell of human flesh, it was the presence of mana that drew her so.
She wanted to pounce at Dublin at that moment, taking him by surprise and satiating her desires … no, her needs.
But Rei stopped herself just before she lost control, not because it would be silly considering the place she would be doing the act of murder, and then cannibalism in, but rather the direct consequences of even attempting to do so.
Namely, serious bodily harm, most likely resulting in an untimely death.
Rei could sense it, if she honestly tried attacking Dublin right here then she would be met with nothing but death, unaware of the method used to kill her.
'Even the cook has hands …'
She isn't being nice to everyone aside from Johan in this place for no reason, she was being nice because they could genuinely kill her off if she so much rubs them the wrong way if they wanted to.
No, it had to be somewhere else, someone weaker, someone that anybody on the face of the Gaiya wouldn't miss.
"Rei? Where are you going?"
"Haha, it's nothing. I think that I'm feeling a bit unwell, so I ought to get some fresh air." Rei said, barely keeping a good enough convincing expression on.
Dublin, seeing this just sighed seeing Rei like this, and then went on to say his goodbye.
"Well, be safe out there. Crime thrives at this hour after all." Dublin said before leaving Rei to her own devices.
It was clear now, what Rei needed to do.
'Right …'
She had to go out to hunt.
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