Rodi saw plenty of the ocean and ate lots of meat as Ekision had suggested before returning.

The sight of waves crashing on the pitch-black night sea was truly refreshing and magnificent.

Since they had been away for a day, Padrid went straight to work as soon as they returned, and everyone else was busy receiving their morning assignments and disappearing.

“Gemvil, here!”

As soon as they returned, Rodi handed over the neatly laundered uniform.

It was the first thing she had wanted to give him upon their return.

Gemvil, with a suddenly serious look, gazed down at Rodi for a moment before meeting her eyes and crouching down.

He couldn’t deny that looking at Rodi reminded him of his sister, but in truth, Rodi was infinitely smaller compared to his sister Rayleigh.

It was natural to make the comparison since Corteans were generally large in build, but even so, Rodi was quite small.

Surprisingly fearless and spirited despite her size.

When Gemvil held out both hands, Rodi placed the neatly folded uniform on them. The corner of Gemvil’s mouth lifted slightly.

“Thank you.”

“Doesn’t it smell nice? Someone else did the washing, but I folded it.”

“Who taught you?”

Rodi shook her head.

“I used to do it all the time at the orphanage, so I’m good at it. I folded clothes for all the younger kids.”

“I see.”

“Gemvil, you absolutely can’t leave now. Because you promised.”

Rodi’s words also implied that he shouldn’t give up on finding his sister either.

Rodi could easily say things that everyone else knew but hesitated to mention.

It was probably because she was still a child who didn’t know any better, but unexpectedly, Gemvil found great comfort in Rodi’s words.

“I won’t.”

Gemvil nodded and patted Rodi’s back as he stood up.

“Ow, that hurts!”

He seemed to have intended to stroke her affectionately, but his touch was apparently too rough for Rodi.

“Well, shall we go to work?”

“Yes!”

Rodi held Gemvil’s hand, having grown closer to him.

With her clothes, which Ekision had neatly arranged, now all crumpled.

***

“He’s not here.”

Not here either.

Nor there.

No matter how much she looked, Lexiard was nowhere to be found.

He couldn’t go along to find Gemvil, which was disappointing, and now she couldn’t see Lexiard after returning either.

Lexiard had clearly said he would stay here for a while.

Rodi, who had planned to explore the west wing and have fun after returning, couldn’t hide her disappointment.

She even asked the boss, but only received an indifferent answer: “He’s not coming anymore.”

‘The boss is mean.’

It seemed certain that the boss had driven Lexiard away.

After all, the boss didn’t like Lexiard being here.

With no other choice, Rodi headed alone to the general affairs office to learn the imperial language.

***

“100 points.”

“Wow!”

Padrid returned the graded paper to Rodi to show her.

The clean test paper with not a single mistake, written in one go, stood out.

“Very neat.”

“I can write without making mistakes now!”

Rodi’s proud nose and chin looked like they might shoot up to the sky at any moment.

“We can move up a level of difficulty now. I was worried, but it seems Ekision taught you well.”

“That’s right!”

“Now that you can read and write to some extent, you can receive other education as well.”

“I can write this in three languages too!”

Excited about her perfect score, Rodi busily wrote something in the blank space of the test paper.

Padrid’s eyebrows twitched as he bent over to look at her work.

Rodi had written a word with strong intimidating connotations, meaning to pin someone down, in three languages including those of neighboring countries.

“…Did Ekision teach you this too?”

At the chilly voice, Rodi’s pupils shook slightly as she realized her mistake.

That’s right, she was told never to tell Padrid about this.

“Ah, no…?”

Rodi hurriedly crossed it out with her pencil, but it was already too late.

“You shouldn’t learn such things anymore. Tell him firmly that you don’t want to learn them.”

“Yes!”

Better listen to Padrid.

Living here, she naturally came to understand the hierarchy, even if it wasn’t explicitly defined.

Just like how Rodi was the leader at the orphanage even though she wasn’t the oldest sister.

Excluding the boss, even though all the executives were supposedly of the same rank, Padrid clearly had the most influence.

“Padrid will probably say that’s not allowed.”

“Let’s ask Padrid, then.”

“I wonder if Padrid knows about this?”

Everyone might joke around and pretend not to listen to each other, but they always heeded Padrid’s words.

Padrid was respectful to everyone regardless of rank, but he definitely had an aura that couldn’t be casually challenged, just like the boss.

Still, she hoped Ekision wouldn’t get scolded…

Rodi glanced nervously at Padrid.

“Padrid, please don’t scold Ekision.”

Padrid, who had been neatly filing Rodi’s test paper, looked up.

His cool, almost cold, sky-blue eyes stared at Rodi.

Though his face seemed expressionless, one corner of Padrid’s mouth lifted slightly.

“Are you saying you want to cover up your colleague’s mistake?”

“Yes!”

“Hmm, then you’ll have to share the responsibility, which means the rookie’s salary will be reduced. Is that acceptable?”

Reduced salary…?

Her wages would be cut…?

She remembered Hailo teasing Ekision about his salary reduction recently.

Rodi slowly lowered her hands from Padrid’s desk and stepped back.

“On second thought, I think it’s okay if only Ekision gets scolded.”

Padrid pressed his lips together to suppress a smile at Rodi’s quick retreat.

He had unconsciously reached out to pat her small head but lowered his hand and continued organizing as if nothing had happened.

“That’s how serious the responsibility of your words is. But since you got a perfect score today, I’ll set aside Ekision’s punishment.”

“Really?”

“Don’t learn such vulgar words. There are mountains of better things to learn.”

“Yes!”

Relieved that Ekision wouldn’t be scolded, Rodi’s response grew louder.

“If he tries to teach you again, you may hit him.”

“But Padrid said violence is bad.”

“Ekision and Hailo are exceptions, so it’s fine.”

I see! That was a new teaching.

“Yes!”

Rodi, who had been carefully observing Padrid attending to his work, cautiously opened her mouth.

“But I want to do something cool now…”

“Do you want to take on a mission, rookie?”

Rodi nodded.

Learning the imperial language from Ekision was good, and learning to distinguish types of gems by their colors was also good.

Learning about different poisons and currency values from Jin bit by bit, and even learning self-defense from Horas and Hailo, though mostly through their pranks, was all good.

But apart from that, Rodi wanted to take on cool missions like the other employees.

To reach her dream goal as quickly as possible.

‘I want to get rich soon!’

Padrid unlocked a drawer with a key and took out two black pouches.

One pouch contained gems that sparkled at the slightest light, and the other contained ordinary stones that could be picked up on any road.

Rodi, now confident, had a gleam in her eyes.

‘He probably wants me to choose the gems.’

It was too easy for Rodi.

“Now, let’s use a very simple example. The rookie and I have successfully completed a mission together. The client offers an additional reward and says to choose one of these two. You choose first, rookie.”

“Obviously this one!”

“Why did you choose that?”

“Because this is just a stone, and this is a sapphire…?”

Even as she said it, Rodi felt a little sorry.

By choosing the sapphire, Padrid would naturally be left with the ordinary stone.

Should she have offered to share the sapphire?

“Then I can take this, right?”

Padrid pointed to the pouch containing the plain-looking stone.

“Yes! You can have it.”

“Thank you. Thanks to the rookie choosing the cheap sapphire, I’ve received a gift worth more than the mission fee.”

“Huh…?”

Rodi had a blank expression, not understanding what he meant.

Padrid took out the stone and held it out to Rodi.

When she received it in her palm, it was so heavy that her hand immediately dropped.

Even though it was just a small stone.

She hadn’t realized how heavy it was because Padrid shook the pouch so casually.

Padrid also took out the sapphire and showed it to Rodi.

It was a sapphire as small as Rodi’s fingernail compared to the stone.

“This item is worth at least 100 times more than the sapphire you chose. It’s not just a stone, but what’s called a magical beast’s heart. Usually, they’re dried for storage, but ones this large are rare.”

“A magical beast’s heart?”

“It’s the main ingredient for magic stones, which sell for more than gems. This one in particular is also used to make teleportation scrolls.”

Rodi’s mouth fell open. 100 times?

At this moment, she wished she could trade her ability to see through things for the ability to turn back time.