[Manager POV]
"Report."
"It's been five hours since Cain Bishop entered the library. "
The Manager hummed quietly, her eyes flickering as she looked at the video of Cain going through the data on the library's computer.
The Queen's Army was one of the top-ranked guilds in America, and even the world, thanks mostly to their leader, the Sword Saint, but also to the sacrifices of their many Hunters who fought on the front lines.
They were also one of the most active guilds in hunting down monsters.
The information they had gathered was fucking expensive—almost priceless. A disgruntled employee who decided to destroy important data was nothing new. While she knew Cain was not that stupid, it was necessary for her to do her duty.
"Any suspicious activity? Copying or erasing?"
"None. He had been staring into space multiple times. Most likely he's receiving system notifications."
"Huh. Interesting." Her eyes gleamed. She didn't know what happened with Cain, but multiple notifications should be something to celebrate. Was it possible that he had caught the attention of a new Constellation? If so, then she could appeal to the board to postpone the decision to fire him.
But if this was the case, Cain should have already informed her. As long as he didn't give permission, no one else could see the notifications he received.
The Manager tapped her finger on the table, a habit whenever she was thinking deeply about Cain and the problems he brought to her. He was lucky she liked him well enough to turn a blind eye to some of his mistakes.
"Should I bring information about what he is studying?" Her agent asked, but the Manager waved her hand in dismissal.
"I only needed to know whether he would negatively affect the database. As for what he is researching, it's his own business. Erase his search history when he is done."
"Understood." At those words, the agent vanished in the shadows, leaving the Manager alone in the office.
"I wonder if I should retire." She sighed, feeling exhausted. Firing the boy she had raised for years was hard enough. The Queen's Army, once a bastion against the incursions, was now infected with dirty politics and greed. All she could do was to wait for the triumphant return of the Guild Leader from the expedition in the Tower.
A 'Happy Princess' ringtone cut her train of thought, and she sighed once again. She didn't even need to look down to see who the caller was.
After all, only one person received this specific ringtone.
Sure enough:
{Caller: Tomboy Princess Helen}
"This day is just getting better and better."
Being a Manager was truly a scapegoat position. There was no recognition when everything worked well, and nothing but complaints when things went to shit.
Truly, retirement seemed more and more tempting, she had to say.
"Hello, princess."
{Susan! Is it true that Cain fainted!??}
"Not even a greeting, I see."
The manager stayed calm. She was not surprised that Helen had already heard the news. Behind that thoughtless exterior was a truly dangerous girl.
'Worthy of her mother.'
{Nevermind that! How is Cain!?}
If only she didn't use all that resourcefulness on a man who saw her as nothing but a childhood friend.
I guess this is why childhood friends never win in fiction.
"Cain is alright, don't worry. Why are you even calling me in the first place? Shouldn't you be working on your dungeon run?"
She could hear the girl groaning on the other end of the phone.
{We were supposed to, but there was an accident. It seems like there was a hidden boss in the dungeon. The first team decided that they would handle it.}
The manager's eyes narrowed. A hidden boss in a D-ranked dungeon was strange.
She thought back to all the reports she had been receiving. Movement in the Dungeon Gate had been getting more and more unpredictable. The situation with Russia was already complicated enough, and now dungeons were acting up, too.
The precarious peace that had been obtained after millions of sacrifices was on the verge of breaking. She could feel it in her bones.
"Be careful out there." She did not bother saying more. Helen was already near D-rank which would mean that she would reach her first Advancement.
In the Hunter's world, reaching D-rank was equivalent to reaching adulthood in a way. This was the level where a rookie had enough experience for solo exploration if necessary.
This was also the watershed, a wall that stopped many hunters, who forever could not reach C-rank and beyond.
The Manager was not worried about Helen. There was simply no way the girl would fail at advancing further.
All she needed to do was stay alive long enough for that.
"I am going to hang up now. Call Cain yourself later if you're worried. Stop disturbing me."
{Hey!!…}
She immediately hung up and blocked the boisterous girl's number.
She loved Helen, truly. The girl had a good heart and, despite being the daughter of a S-ranked Hunter, she did not put on airs or look down on people.
She had seen the small and sickly child transform into what Cain affectionately called a Gorilla, and while she mourned the loss of the calm girl Helen had once been, she was also proud of the woman she now was.
Still…
This and that were different matters.
"It's time to work."
Whether the world ended tomorrow or in a few days didn't matter. She would be damned if she got caught doing overtime today.
Stopping a salaryman from going home on time was nothing but a sin, after all.