The morning after returning from the C41 Hollow, Nicole had Ignis accompany her to Sixth Street, while the other three were dispatched to gather intelligence related to the C41 Hollow.
Although the Salamander didn't quite understand the point of bringing supply crates retrieved from a Hollow to visit Proxies, since it was an assignment from the boss, he kept his mouth shut and went along anyway.
Just treat it like a walk.
Thinking that, he exited the metro station—only to be knocked back a step by the overwhelming festive atmosphere.
Every shop along Sixth Street had been decorated for the holidays, and the 141 Convenience Store had even rolled out special holiday-exclusive items. Some of the discounted snacks made Nicole's eyes light up.
"It looks really cost-effective!" she said, standing at the entrance and studying the promotional poster while calculating prices. "On average, it's 10 dennies cheaper per 50 grams than before! This feels worth buying!"
To be honest, given the current earning power of the Cunning Hares, savings at this level were completely meaningless—but Nicole always got excited about the word "discount." However, the moment she noticed the per-customer purchase limit printed underneath, her interest evaporated.
"So, they lure me in with discounted items, then use purchase limits to stop me from buying freely and force me to choose other products instead." The owner of the Cunning Hares looked genuinely pained. "How utterly devious."
Her gaze shifted through the glass reflection toward the Salamander. "Wait, we can just mobilize more people to come buy them!"
Nicole pulled out her flip phone, ready to message the other members of the Cunning Hares.
"Enough, Nicole," Ignis said, reaching out to cover her phone and stopping what was, frankly, a rather childish move. "Compared to these discounts, it's better to head to the video store and get things done. Haven't you always been curious about what's inside and whether it can be sold for money?"
"Oh right, I almost fell for the thief's trick," she said harshly, though her eyes lingered reluctantly on the sale poster. "If the stuff inside sells for a good price, I'm going on a spending spree! Golden Week vacation—taking you all out! To the beach!"
Seeing Nicole suddenly fired up, Ignis couldn't help but feel like laughing. She was clearly burdened with plenty of debt, yet the first thing she thought of when imagining money wasn't repayment—but going out to have fun together.
"What about the debts?" Ignis asked.
"That's a separate issue," Nicole said proudly, lifting her chin. "Ignis, you don't know this—but if you don't maintain a state of debt, some people are very hard to get off the mountain."
"Only by staying in debt and paying back a portion after every completed commission can we consistently hire industry famous veterans. Otherwise, if they're not short on work, they won't even look at us," Nicole explained her business philosophy. "As long as the debt exists, they'll think that if they don't help us and something happens to us, they won't recover a single denny."
"This sounds like some kind of new-age PUA tactic," Ignis said, thoroughly exasperated by his boss. Still, she wasn't entirely wrong—only creditors truly cared about them.
"This is called the rational use of interpersonal relationships," Nicole said shamelessly, then turned to him. "Do you have any holiday plans? Anywhere you want to go? Though Golden Week usually comes with lots of work—no guarantee we'll actually get time off."
"Plans?" Ignis thought for a moment. "I don't know many people, and even fewer I can go out with. Honestly, I'm still not very used to the idea of taking holidays."
When the Salamander mentioned not having many friends, the sly rabbit narrowed her eyes, a smile curling at the corners of her mouth.
"Jane Doe, my dear adopted son. Why not invite her out on a date during the holidays? With weather this hot, a trip to the beach or somewhere similar—spending a pleasant day or two—would be wonderful."
"I'm not officially dating her…" Ignis tried to protest, but the rebuttal was immediately shut down.
"All the more reason to seize the opportunity. Holidays are the rare moments when working adults have time to develop relationships. If you ask her out, I'm sure you won't be rejected."
"Where can you even go during the holidays? New Eridu has a huge population—once it's a break, everywhere is packed. Calling it a date would be generous; it's more like watching crowds. The beach or anywhere else—it'll be nothing but people," Ignis said with a sigh, looking at Nicole's excited face. "If you're going to ask someone out, you should definitely avoid holiday periods."
"So, you do have plans, then?" Nicole immediately seized on that. "Well? Thought of anywhere? The beach? Miss Jane would look great in a swimsuit, right? Wait—why are you blushing all of a sudden? Hard to tell, but still."
"Drop it…" Ignis said, turning his head away, clearly embarrassed.
He had, in fact, seen Jane Doe in a swimsuit. Over those three days, they had changed outfits countless times. As a seasoned undercover agent, Jane was truly exceptional at disguises.
"Instead of fantasizing here, aren't we supposed to be meeting Belle and Wise today?" Ignis said, lifting the supply crates in his hands and giving them a shake. "Let's get the real work done first, then worry about holidays."
"Oh? So, something really did happen?" Nicole's smile widened even more. "Alright, alright, I won't ask further. Let's go—time to see the shop owners."
Watching Nicole turn around and head toward Random Play, Ignis finally relaxed a little. He knew Nicole meant no harm—she just wanted him to build relationships beyond the Cunning Hares and the black market. But his situation with Jane Doe wasn't something he could easily talk about; it was… complicated.
Jane Doe neither rejected nor accepted his pursuit. In some sense, their relationship was little more than a purely physical one.
Ignis, of course, wanted something deeper—heart, not just instinct—but Jane was firm about keeping it that way. She cared deeply about her work. An excellent undercover agent didn't need complicated relationships, nor emotional entanglements.
The Salamander suspected a fair bit of stubbornness was involved, but he didn't press the issue. He believed he could slowly dissolve those notions and eventually make their relationship official.
She hadn't even told him her real name. Still, calling her Jane Doe wasn't a problem. As for meeting up, Ignis had tried—but she hadn't replied in days. She was probably busy.
Just as Ignis was mentally wrestling with the mouse-like Thiren lady in his head, Nicole stopped walking. They had arrived at the video store entrance. Seeing the boss push the door open, the Salamander hurriedly chased Jane Doe's image from his thoughts. This was work time, after all—personal troubles could wait.
"Huh, your sister's out?" Nicole's voice came from inside.
"Yeah, she went to check whether nearby shops have any Golden Week plans," Wise replied casually. "We're thinking of going out during the holidays, so we asked them to keep an eye on the store for us."
"You're still doing that this year? So, any destination in mind? Tell us—we can use it as reference too."
Nicole's barrage of questions left Wise a bit dizzy. He noticed the Salamander standing outside and quickly found an excuse.
"Instead of that, maybe let Mr. Ignis into the garage first. With his size, blocking the doorway isn't ideal."
"That's because you didn't make the door bigger. Honestly, even a slightly larger Thiren would struggle to get in."
Nicole stayed inside the shop while Wise came out the back, opened the garage's iron door, and only then did Ignis step in.
"You're here—perfect timing! Come on in!" Belle said cheerfully. "Golden Week pre-heating has started, and the streets are packed! I was worried you'd get stuck… outside for a long time! Come, find a seat—make yourself at home!"
Nicole's words left the two men in the garage utterly confused. It almost sounded like she was the owner here.
"This is my home… right?" Belle said, equally bewildered.
"Oh please, we're practically family at this point—no need to stand on ceremony!"
"Nicole…" Wise said helplessly. Even he was at a loss—though this kind of overfamiliarity was very much her style.
"Ah! Almost forgot someone else is here," she said, heading toward the garage. Belle followed. "Alright! Everyone's here—time for me to explain the commission!"
"So, you do remember you're the client. I almost thought Random Play had changed ownership," Wise said, clearly displeased.
"Ahaha…" Nicole laughed awkwardly. "You're too funny. I was just showing enthusiasm as a longtime customer."
"I hope that enthusiasm extends to the payment process. And stop using new-customer vouchers when renting films—you've been a 'new customer' ten times already," Wise said with his arms crossed.
"Alright, alright, let's put the small stuff aside. Take a look at this!" Nicole turned and pointed both hands at the supply crates Ignis was holding. "This is the target of my commission!"
"This is… a supply crate?" Wise looked at the boxes in the giant's hands, puzzled.
"That's right! One question—can you open them?"
"Why is it boxes again?" Belle looked uneasy. After all, the last time Nicole and boxes were involved, Phaethon's Inter-Knot account had been wiped out. "Fairy?"
["Negative. The lock used by this preservation unit is not an intelligent carrier. I cannot intervene,"] the smart assistant replied immediately. ["Note: this is not due to insufficient capability on my part, but because the device's technological framework is too backward to qualify. Reiterating—this is not my fault. This is its fault."]
Quite the prideful AI.
"Nicole, we're Proxies. If you want locks opened, you should find a locksmith," Belle shrugged, indicating they couldn't help.
"Boss, I told you—we can just smash it open," Ignis said calmly, unhooking a hammer from his waist. "No need to come all this way. Trust me—it's a one-hit job."
"This thing isn't ordinary!" Nicole hurriedly stopped him. "A few days ago, a small Companion Hollow designated C41 completed active suppression and was officially declared to have entered the 'decline phase' by the Hollow Investigative Association. It'll gradually collapse and disappear within about two weeks."
"Normally, even declining Companion Hollows are heavily guarded by New Eridu Public Security, since they're still dangerous. But Golden Week is coming up, and a lot of manpower's been reassigned to maintain city order—so C41 developed a security gap!"
"Some opportunistic Hollow Raiders found a perfectly preserved large warehouse inside C41. The exterior was made entirely of special alloy resistant to ether corrosion, and inside were loads of unopened supply crates! I heard someone even found extremely valuable weapons in them!"
"C41 Hollow hides tons of high-value supply crates!" This rumor has already spread through the Hollow Raider intelligence circles—soon it might explode across the Inter-Knot!"
Nicole's eyes gleamed as she spoke, words pouring out nonstop. Even setting the crates aside, the people who looted C41 had already made a fortune.
"So, this crate came from C41 Hollow?" Wise asked, his gaze fixed on the box in Ignis's hands.
"Exactly! Where there's profit, there's the Cunning Hares! If C41 really hides wealth, I, Nicole, won't miss this chance!"
"And when it comes to Golden Week, you can't enjoy a holiday without money!" Nicole was practically bouncing. "I'll find a locksmith, and you can look for partners to explore C41 Hollow and bring back more crates—then we'll see if I'm right!"
"And then… let's turn this holiday into a truly golden week!"
"This doesn't have to be so complicated," Ignis said, placing the crate on the ground. "Compared to a locksmith, I'll be faster."
"Wait! Don't smash the contents along with the crate!"
Nicole panicked and rushed to stop him—but the Salamander's hammer was already coming down.
BOOM—!
With a resounding crash, the crate's shell shattered, revealing what lay inside.
A full crate of rifles, still sealed in grease.
"So there really is something in there," Wise narrowed his eyes.
"These… could definitely sell," Belle said, interest piqued.
"You idiot!" Nicole nearly lost it. With the crate broken, there was no way to openly carry this stuff through the streets—and they hadn't even driven today.
"Simple. Someone will be interested—and they'll come collect," Ignis said, pulling out his phone and making a call.
"My dear Markus, interested in buying a batch of weapons?"
Once the call connected, he got straight to the point.
===BREAK===
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