Having returned from the As'li desert, it had been a month since Lia's boss had sent out word that he wanted to talk with Dax. In response, someone other than Dax showed up.

"That's correct. He has entrusted this matter entirely to me, any word out of my mouth should be respected and treated as his word."

Speaking in a confident manner the envoy revealed herself to be an angel which Lia judged to be a lesser one based on the sound her wings were made.

"Understood. I'll guide you through the city."

Extending a hand towards the envoy, Lia was lifted up on the carriage with the angel's help, taking a seat next to her.

"My name is Solaris. Nice to meet you, Lia."

Immediately striking up a conversation before Lia got the chance to, the beastkin cleaner was caught slightly off guard.

"N-nice to meet you Solaris… I don't know if you've done stuff like this, but this not how it's done."

"I'm aware, but this is how Dax does it."

(... This is going to be another really long day, isn't it?)

Feeling a familiar overbearing friendliness that she had when she had been to the south, Lia sighed deeply in her mind. Being guided through the city in the heart of the Empire, Solaris easily saw through the bright and clean facade.

(The Empire truly is dying. The people might still be healthy, but the cracks in the society that has been there for so many years are slowly starting to tear apart the foundation…)

Arriving at a truly ma.s.sive mansion Lia quickly excused herself after showing Solaris to a guest room after telling Solaris about the party which would be held in Dax's honour later in the night, leaving Solaris nothing to do other than call home.

"... Can I talk with Dax please?"

[No you can't, he's on a mission. As are you I believe.]

But instead of hearing Dax's voice like she had been hoping, Solaris was greeted by a not so happy sounding Lux.

"Please?"

[... Can you just please give a status report so we can get this s.h.i.+t over with?]

"Okay then, it's a scenario 9."

With great reluctance, Solaris finally answered Lux who cut off the communication after confirming she had received the message.

"... Okay, now for the hard part."

Breathing a deep sigh, Solaris took off her travel gear and prepared for the so called, 'evening party'.

-

"Miss Solaris, it's time."

"Ah, Lia. Good timing, help me out will you?"

On Solaris' request, Lia reluctantly entered the guest room.

"Could you close up my dress please?"

"You know I'm blind right?"

With a burst of short laughter from Solaris, Lia a.s.sumed that she was no longer needed and turned to leave when the angel finally responded to her rhetorical question.

"Yeah I do, I also know that you can still 'see' me without issue. Dax said as much."

"... Fine, turn around."

Having admitted defeat, Lia started feeling for whatever she needed to close along Solaris' back, finding her wings instead.

"Wow…"

"Yeah, they are surprisingly soft, right? Dax thinks so too."

"I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize, you can touch them anytime you want to, just ask."

(She really is interesting~)

After playing a bit more around with Lia (against the subject's will of course) Solaris was led to a large and overly luxurious banquet hall where she was introduced as the guest of honour. After socializing with various n.o.bles for a few hours, the parties organizer, Mr Randall finally stepped up and introduced himself. With an age which could be considered about the prime of his years, Mr Randall looked way older than he actually was. What little natural hair that was still on his head had been hidden by a toupee which didn't really fit him, his small black eyes almost sunk into his skull due to overweight and for some reason, he seemed to be constantly sweating as if he was out of shape.

"Welcome to my city miss Solaris, my name is Rudolf Randall. Although I am pleasantly surprised by being visited by such a beauty I was expecting someone else."

"Dax is preoccupied so he sent me instead. But don't worry, I have been given full authority on this matter."

"Ah, yes. My bloodhound did tell me that. Let's find a more private place to talk business."

With a slightly uneasy smile on his face, Mr Randall and 10 of his goons (plus Lia) led Solaris to an office with a central table flanked by couches. After sitting down himself, Mr Randall gestured for Solaris to take a seat on the opposing couch as goons surrounded her and Lia took her place behind Mr Randell's couch.

"Have you looked over the proposal?"

"Yes, of course. It's a bit lacking in some regards but I think we can come to an agreement with you taking your time to visit."

In a split second, Mr Randell's atmosphere completely changed, making Solaris who had been looking down on him take her job more seriously.

"That was the belief Dax held when he sent me to meet you, for that very same reason I have arrived with a bonus."

"Ah, yes. All the gold in your carriage. While that is a good start I don't think that will cover everything."

"Really? That's too bad as only a fifth of that gold is yours."

"Since when?"

"Since just now, because I said so."

Realizing that Mr Randell was trying to undermine and pressure Solaris' authority, Solaris responded by giving him the proviral stick before following along with a carrot.

"But that doesn't have to be the outcome of these talks at all, I'm only asking that we treat each other as grown people and go about this like adults."

With a thin smile on her face, Solaris slightly narrowed her eyes as she started pulling in mana from the air around her as a show of power, something which Mr Randell immediately submitted to, at least on the surface.

"Okay, fine. Let's drop the bulls.h.i.+t. My organization lost a lot of money recently, how are you people planning to make up for that?"

"Money of course, but not just for free. In exchange for covering 150% of your lost revenue, Dax is asking for 2% of your future yearly earnings with a minimum payment of 1% of your last year's earnings per year."

"... Why do all this?"

Having been presented with the reason why his operation had been attacked, Mr Randell struggled to understand Dax's reasoning. If Dax wanted to press into Mr Randell's territory take over operations he could, or at least Randell judged it would take a lot of blood to keep Dax from doing that. With that a.s.sessment in mind, it didn't make sense for Dax to go through all this trouble just for a few percent of his revenue, unless-

"So you're planning on increasing our operational capacity and reap a seemingly insignificant part of my revenue?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny any ongoing plans for ongoing operations."

"You suddenly sound like people from my day job… Well, I'll take that as a suggestion for me to make my own speculations. Fine, you have a deal."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr Randell. The carriage and all its contents are yours."

Shaking hands after having worked out the minor details, Mr Randell and Solaris both had smiles on their faces, that is until Solaris left the room to retire for the night that is.

"Lia, come over here please."

"Yes, - Arg!"

Before Lia could even finish her sentence, Mr Randell punched her in the face with all his might, sending the beastkin flying across the room.

"Have you forgotten all that I've given you over all these years Lia!? How I fed you, clothed you!? If you hadn't f.u.c.ked up so badly on that a.s.signment to the As'li lands I wouldn't have had to agree to such an embarra.s.sing deal!"

With a completely red face, Mr Randell started shouting at Lia as spit flew out freely from his mouth.

"S-sir, I'm so-"

"I don't want to hear your f.u.c.king excuses you cur! This is the last time you f.u.c.ked up! You're useless to me now!"

Stepping down hard on the still healing wound Dax had inflicted on her, Randell looked at the beastkin with rage clearly visible in his eyes, she had screwed up for the last time, all this was her fault. If only Lia had done her job, Randell wouldn't have to bow his head and act like that winged b.i.t.c.h was his equal, he wouldn't now have to pull on his connections to a.s.semble forces to crush that 'Dax' figure who had f.u.c.ked with his business.

(Why?)

While Randell continued to take out his rage on Lia that was the only taught that went tough her head. She didn't understand why Randell was suddenly so upset at her, after all, she had done everything for him after he took her in.

(Why are you so mad dad? I did everything you asked of me perfectly.)

Feeling strength leave her body each time she had the air forcefully knocked out of her lungs as Randell stepped on her, Lia didn't even try to resist in the slightest, all she could muster was to silently cry as she was kicked to death. 

The only reason she suppressed the sounds of her tears was that she felt it might bother Randell.

"Excuse me Mr Randell. Even if I try to I can't really lie down and try to sleep when I hear all that."

But all of a sudden Solaris returned to the room, her crystal clear and beautiful voice sounded strangely cold to Lia, but she figured that was because of her blood loss.

"What the f.u.c.k do you want!? We made our deal, f.u.c.k off I'm taking care of some personal business here!"

Las.h.i.+ng out at Solaris who interrupted his business, Randell was unable to see that her thin smile now held an entirely different meaning.

Her eyes were no longer smiling, not even in the slightest.

"It seems like your employee is no longer useful to you, how about we strike another deal?"

Walking further into the room, Solaris allowed herself to be surrounded by Randell's goons as she continued talking.

"How much for her?"

"What? You want this useless cur?"

"Yeah, very much so. She would be a great personal a.s.sistant."

Having heard the proposal in its entirety, Randell seemed to calm down slightly as he took a gla.s.s of water from his office table and drank it as he walked back over to Lia who still laid on the floor bleeding.

"Hmm…. Sure, that is a good deal."

"Then-"

"But no, this cur is mine. If you want your own, go find one on the street or in the nearby wh.o.r.e house, there should be plenty there."

Setting down his gla.s.s after finis.h.i.+ng his conversation with Solaris, Randell turned his back to the angel as he took off his jacket and once more focused his attention on Lia.

"I urge you to reconsider, Mr Randell. It would be very bad for your health if you didn't."

"What? Do you think I'm scared of you, miss angel? Just because you have a single pair of wings don't think for a second that you're some kind of living G.o.d. I have serval angels on my payroll, multiple of them are in this building."

Turning his attention back to Solaris as she had managed to annoy him enough, Randell walked right up to her and looked the angel directly in her eyes.

"It seems like you don't appreciate my hospitality, so I'll only say this once: f.u.c.k back to whatever hole you crawled out from and wait for your money, but if that's too long of a wait you can just earn some yourself. I'm sure plenty of people want to try and-"

Completely zoning out the idiot in front of her, Solaris sighed inwardly as she started collecting mana.

(It really did turn out to be a scenario 9…)