An Employee

"Hmm?"

Ethan was sitting on the ground, surrounded by eight books around him. He is holding a book vertically while trying to peer through these mysterious pages of knowledge. He is doing this for like an hour and yet he was only understands one thing.

That is… HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND A SHIT ABOUT IT.

He remembers her telling him to treat mana diagram as a language but…It doesn't even have any basic pronunciation at all! They just look like scribble from a toddler! If she had told him, it is the book she used during her childhood then he would have believed her without a shred of doubt!

Hmm? Raven in childhood…Ahem, that will be illegal.

Back to topic, It is hard to even understand the direction of base of the words, he is even doubting if it exist in the first place! Even music notes are more comprehensible than this shit!

Ethan fell backward and hold the book correctly while trying to understand it. First chapter was only about introduction so he speed run through it. He is in important basics now that need to be known if you want to understand Runes. All Runes Diagrams are always drawn in circles. Mana circulates around the diagram with mana frequency that needs to be calculated and analyzed by user.

Mana circulation is more like geometry than drawing. You need to be precise with control and mana should always flow in calculated and analyzed frequency that is deduced by mana frequency. Ethan feels a dull panic pain in his heart. What would happen if he gives up…?

Ethan raises his head while lying down and slammed it backward into the ground.

"Huu."

A numb pain penetrated his heads. His head cleared slightly as pain took hold of his attention. He is only wasting time, feeling miserable. He needs to finish all the books on rune diagram at the end of the week! This is the only books that need to be memorizing while later two is more about practice and calculation. It will take more time for later books, so he is planning to give at the least 10 days to both.

Ethan looks through books. He is reading pages one by one while understanding and memorizing everything by using his skill. What needs to be remembered is not the book but its meaning. He need to understand every words of this witchcraft and remember them as it is. He comes to a certain understanding about Runes after finishing the whole basic chapter in two hours.

Runes Diagram is truly similar to language. You first learn about alphabet, then words, then sentence, then paragraph and then a complete book.

Ethan suddenly remembers about Practitioner level. Raven had told him that he needs to understand concepts that he is trying to influence by Runes. He needs to understand alphabets to pronounce a word while words should be understand and arranged with some grammar to form a sentence. You need learn advance grammar, format and many more things to write a paragraph. When you finally joined all paragraphs, a story will be formed.

He suddenly found himself terribly interested in it. He only wants to learn it as mean of strength at first. Now, He found himself genuinely interested in it. Runes are, like, mysteriously language of gods that more you decrypt and understand, more you wants to learn it. It is like running in hallway with the exit being the only source of light.

He sits cross legged and laid the book in his lap and starts studying diligently.

*

Raven comes down and looked at him surrounding himself with the books like tower and sitting in the middle of it. He seems to be paying great amount of attention toward it.

She hides her presence and waited for him to take the rest. She had learnt it herself so she knew how terribly enticing it can be, once you start learning. It like solving riddles while every hundred riddles will reward you with great satisfaction that you can't just describe by words. It is boring for those who have hard time memorizing things but a great addiction for those with strong mental strength.

Runes mainly relay on mental strength while using other source of mana. It is good for those who lacks in other stat yet have overwhelming mental strength.

Ethan rested on the floor while looking up. He can tell that his situation is not entirely hopeless. He can read and understand book without any problem. He almost completed another chapter about mana diagram but it wasn't any practical knowledge. He starts wondering when he is going to get some practical knowledge and try it out.

"Take a break for now."

Ethan turned around at her voice. She was standing just a meter away from him while bending slightly to look at him.

"You have no intention of helping me, do you?"

"…Ethan, take another note from me, if you know something already. You shouldn't ask about it again, it only lowers your confidence."

Ethan just closed his eyes. Ethan really doesn't understand her at all. He already gives up on understanding her completely yet her actions failed to prove her intention. She just mixes her intentions with her action so well that it is hard to tell what she is thinking.

"Fetch some information for me."

"…Why does it sound like you are dumping your work on me?"

"You do remember that you are my employee, right?"

"…"

"…"

"Tell me about it."

*

Ethan was standing in front of mirror while adjusting his waiter suit. Raven had asked him to do a simple job. It is to hear the conversation and tell her words to words. He simply knocked out one of the waiters and took his place.

It is small café with around nine table arranged in four square with counter in the front of exit. There are transparent mirror along the exit that let you see through everything. An almost perfect place to take care of backhand deals.

Ethan just showed the manager that waiter identification and said that he will be taking his place due to some urgency. Manager was more than happy to accept him for extra helping hands.

Ethan looked at wall clock in front of him. There is still about a minute left. Raven is probably utilizing his memorizing power for this job.

"Raven should be quiet strong mentally, isn't she?"

When Ethan asked her about rune proficiency level, she avoided it. Since she doesn't want to talk about it, He can only suppress his curiosity about her.

Ting.

Bell above the door rang and a man with western beard comes inside.

Ethan looked at him from the corner of his eyes while pretending to be taking order from the customer.

"…Excuse me."

"Hmm?"

"My order…"

Memorize.

"It is Mocha Latte, right?"

"Hmm, I thought you were not paying attention but looking at your new customer."

"…"

"My Order?"

"…R-right, I-I will-l bring it."

'This woman! Can't she scold me in lowered voice? What would I have done if he heard her?'

Ethan still went ahead and took inform the counter. He won't be able to hear their conversation unless he was one table away from them. His companion is still not there so he needs to think of some way that will let him hear their conversation. Memorize will take care of everything as long as he heard their conversation.

It wasn't too long for his companion to come. It was actually a woman, a beautiful one at that. Her red-brown hair and curvy body is only thing that was noticeable as she sits on the mid table, right in front of the western beard man. Ethan didn't know about her but he can tell that woman was anything but simple. Her body language is stands out in itself.

The Western beard man looked at her and changed his seat across her after asking her permission. What a stage play. They made it look like both of them just meet and man wants to hit on her.

Ethan still move toward them to take orders. He asked both of them for their orders, possible looking for some opening but he only found disappointment.

Ethan looked at them from the counter. They are into casual talk…He suddenly remembers what Raven had told him. It was to remember their whole conversation!

Ethan looked around and the find the woman who was scolded him before. She was the only person closest to them. He just gritted his teeth and move toward her. He put on a smile while keeping his expression in a check to not release any emotion.

Her hand with I-Link was resting on the table while she was taping on her I-link screen continuously with other hand. Seriously, He wants to punch the person who said that women are clumsy when it comes to technology!

Ethan sits across her and looked at her with a smile. He is getting good with maintaining his expression. He doesn't know why but maintaining his expression always comes natural to him. He won't be able deceive people using it but he can easily hide his emotion behind a smile. It might be related to his past but since he has no way to recover his memory now, he didn't give it too much. There are more problems in front of him.

"…Are you going to add another drink for inconveniences?"

She shoots him a glance up and looks down again. Ethan turns silent his eyes lost its smile while barely restrain his mouth from twitching.

"…No…Just what inconveniences are you talking about in the first place?"

"You first ignore your customer, which is me, while you molested another customer with your eyes and finally you sit across me without my permission. I do believe that this coffee should be free…and some coupon should be appreciated."

Ethan was perplexed by her talk. He was expecting her to give him cold shoulder while he will try to converse with her while also trying not to offend her. But what's wrong with her?

"…Let's put aside first and third aside, second one is totally a bribe isn't it? Bribe is not good thing, you know."

"Molesting is also not a good thing, you know. It is actually a crime if you ask me."

"…I am more interested in you."

Her fingers stop moving as she raised her head with a smile. Her head was tilted slightly with her eyebrow raised slightly. Ethan knows he finally got her attention. He wasn't too worried about not listening their conversation. He can use memorize to remember everything at exact details as he was living in that moment.

"…"

"Chris."

"…Hmm?"

"My name. It's Chris."

"Hmm…You look really young. I wonder if I should tell you my name."

Ethan is wearing a face mask and clothes that hide that will hide his weak body. He was even wearing shoes with thick sole that increase his height to some extent yet she still found out.

"…Do you not like younger men?"

"…I don't hate them but…It's more about personality. Let's just say my past experience wasn't good."

"You got me curious, tell me about it."

She smiled and pointed her finger toward empty cup.

"You want another one?"

"…I do want one but I was hoping a handsome gentleman offers it to me."

"Hey, there is no relationship in business."

She didn't say anything but smiled at him while looking in his eyes. Ethan found himself unable to say anything. He ran toward counter and ordered it for her. He will just put it on the real waiter name. He already owes him for working his shift. It won't be a problem. But how the hell did he ends up treating her?

Ethan just keeps talking with her just like that while always sneaking glance at the two targets who are conversing with each other in some unique ways. Their words sound different, like, they are deliberately using difficult words for conversation.