In an office filled to the brim with papers, a man sat on the couch with a blank expression on his face as he stared at the piles upon piles of paperwork. Blankly staring at the void, he began rethinking his career choices. His red eyes swirled in confusion as he grunted.
"This is impossible.." He muttered underneath his breath as a single vein popped on his forehead.
"I should just burn all these down..." Just before such an idea took root inside his mind, the door opened, and a man with a peculiar looking mask entered the room.
Arkan turned his head to look at the person who entered before grunting as he saw another stack of papers were being sent to him.
The masked man turned to look at him as Arkan pointed to where he should put them.
"Put them there, don't stack them, just put them on the right side."
Watching the man putting another stack of papers to his already mountainous paperwork, he felt irritated.
"Are you sure you are doing your jobs right? Why is it that no matter how many hours i sign these papers, it just never seems to lessen? How many documents must i sign before im done with all of these!?"
The masked man turned to him and placed his hand on his hip, "Excuse you, Division Commander. Do you really think this stack is all we have? We have ten times more documents to sift and arrange! This is all before we send the final very important document for you to sign!"
Hearing him retort, Arkan glared at the masked man and shouted, "Bullshit! I swear to Almer, you guys will have your pay deducted if i caught any of you lie to me!"
Another masked person entered the room and grabbed a bat before swinging it towards Arkan's head, to which he just slightly moved his head.
Glaring at the woman who dared to challenge and even attack him, he screamed, "What do you think you are doing!? Have you gone mad!? Do you think im going to let such actions slide!? Ericka and Banny, your pay shall be deducted by 50%!"
"Shut it, you crass singlepoop! Stop trying to scare us! You, with that massive ego of yours, will never stoop so low as to make your pettiness control your actions! We are already stressed to deagh because of all these dumb documents, and now you try to do such bullshit!
"Hah!? Bullshit? You watch your mouth, you dog sucking wench! You best remember that i am your superior, which has direct control in how your career will move! You are obligated to treat me and my opinions with respect!"
"Respect? What kind of retardation experiment did you go through? You only gain my respect if you multiply my pay by at least 5%!"
"..W-What trickery is this!? How dare you try to negotiate with your direct superior!? Am i not a person of great influence in your eyes!?"
Arkan staggered as the woman placed her two hands on her hips and rested them well from all the signing she had to do for multiple hours.
Soon after, more and more of his subordinates entered his office, with more paper works in hand, and joined the fight.
The Ward 5 Branch Hunter Division Office was loud for a long time.
***
Rueben grabbed another apple and took a bite. He chewed as he looked outside. It was still the same dark view even though the sun was already out.
With the clouds covering the sun, the entire Victorian Continent was looming with dark clouds. It was dark, not too dark that you can't see in front of you anymore but dark enough as if it is dusk.
Probably due to the lack of sunlight, plant life was slowly dying, and more plants that grow in the dark grew, replacing them the plants that need sunlight to grow.
Rueben let out a sigh as he stared outside. Everything felt so peaceful, he felt that the days when he hunted beasts all day without rest were far away from him.
Tank. Tank. Tank. Whooshh.
It was peaceful for a moment before Uril entered the room with a folder and a steaming machine with her. She placed the machine and sat down, taking out a handkerchief. She wiped her sweat away.
Tank. Tank. Tank.
The machine continued to create this loud thumping noise hitting into a steel sheet as it continually spat out steam. Looking at the machine, Rueben narrowed his eyes and walked to the table.
He stared at Uril, who sighed while taking off her white coat, then sat down in front of her.
Uril turned to him for a moment before grabbing her purse under the covers of her coat and placed a small rectangular shaped thing on the table.
Rueben stared at her for a moment before looking down to see what she had just given him.
"Gum." He softly muttered while grabbing it.
He opened it and grabbed a green colored chewing gum. He placed the gum to his left hand and smelled his right hand. A faint sweet smell wafted between his fingers before he placed the gum inside his mouth.
He chewed for a moment, then grabbed the wrapper and looked for the flavor of the gum.
"Its green apple flavor." Uril spoke as she opened the machine and fixed her glasses.
"...I don't like it. The flavor." Rueben continued to chew as he opened his mouth.
Uril chuckled and grabbed a cog from the machine.
"That's odd. Green apple flavors are highly recommended by the shop owner for its high sales, you know?"
Rueben turned to her as he chewed, "Where did you buy this? I didn't know candies were being sold again."
Uril rolled her eyes, "Worry not, the manufacturer of the gums come from legal stores. The name is Jamie's Assorted Candies from Ward 21 if you're interested in buying more."
He chewed the gum for a moment before spreading the wrapper and spat the gum into it. Then he closed the wrapper and stood up to grab the trash bin.
Throwing the wrapper, he placed the trash bin back down and went inside the restroom.
"I thought you liked apples." Uril shouted as Rueben placed toothpaste unto his toothbrush.
"I hate apple flavors. It just doesn't taste like real apples." Rueben started brushing his teeth while looking at the mirror.
Uril took out another gear and stared at her machine for a moment before bending her lips to the side. She then put down her tools and stretched her arms.
"Apple flavored candies are made from real apples, you know? It's much sweeter, but it's because it's candy. Not like they added some artificial sediments into it."
Rueben finished brushing his teeth and spat it out.
"Yes, i know. But it lacks a certain appeal to it compared to real apples, like, it's not that geniune or something."
He placed his toothbrush down and wiped his mouth with a table cloth.
"Though i do have to wonder where you get the confidence to trust that apple flavored candies are made from real apples and not from something else?"
"I have worked inside factories before. I only stopped after i graduated and became a doctor." Uril pointed at her head with a smug smile as Rueben got out of the bathroom.
Shaking his head, he went to the window and opened it wide. Letting the wind inside to ventilate the entire room. Uril continued to tinker with her machine whilst taking notes on the side.
It has been two weeks since he was put into this place, it felt like he was trapped and he desperately wanted to break free but remembering Uril's words of him at the brink of blood drunk, he didn't want to risk transforming inside the city and hurt people.
So he obediently stayed still until they made sure that he was combat ready. He thought that it would bore him, being stuck inside the room for Almer knows how long, but it was surprisingly a great experience.
Maybe i should take the commander's advice and slow down a little. I am of no use if i turn into a beast. He muttered as he looked at the somewhat empty streets of Arkvem.
He stayed still, staring at the outside world, like an observer before a quiet sound of explosion suddenly sounded in his ears.
Turning to look at the source, he found Uril with a palm sized gear in her hand, then he turned to the machine she brought and found that it had black smoke rising from the inside.
Uril fixed her glasses while clicking her tongue in annoyance, then she grabbed what he thought to be a wrench and pushed her arms inside, seeming driven to fix the mess she made.
Rueben stared at her for a moment before walking towards the table and sat down beside her.
"What seems to be the problem?" He asked as Uril grunted.
"I tore apart a locking mechanism. This is a dwarven item cube where they store valuable books, the Book Box, as i'd like to call it. I wanted to disable the locking mechanism and see what's inside the box, but as you can see..."
"What you did only triggered a mechanism that burned whatever is inside?"
Rueben leaned over as Uril nodded her head.
"Unfortunately, you are correct. I didn't know that the dwarves made such a thing. If this happened to me, then this must've also happened to the other locksmiths." Shaking her head, Uril wiped the tears that fell from her face as she gritted her teeth.
"Damn... This thing cost me half my salary, and i wasted it all..."
Rueben looked at him before shaking his head, he grabbed the machine and her tools and looked inside.
It was a mess of wires, cogs, and gears arranged in a perfect ratio. But it seemed that Uril's tinkering made it a mess. He saw a small cube like object inside with smoke coming out of it and pursed his lips.
He reckon that was where the book was held before it got burned to ashes. He then started looking for screws and found none, fair enough. He grabbed the small container that held flammable liquid and yanked it out.
Then, he stabbed a tool inside the edges of the cube inside the machine and pulled.
"You can't force that open. It is made of ganium, an ore that..."
"The ore which would vibrate and spread the force? They used such a thing just to keep the books in?"
Uril nodded her head while sighing.
"Pretty expensive just to keep some books, and even created contingency plans if somehow the Book Box came into someone else' hands."
The two tinkered around the machine for a while, letting time pass by.
Uril silently stared at Rueben's back, remembering what the director of the hospital told her about Rueben. Her eyes let out a hint of sorrow before shaking her head.
Its about to be finished soon. She muttered silently while Rueben continued to piece the machine apart carefully.
If she and her team manage to find a cure for the disease, then maybe she can help him.