He walked toward the guild.

And internally, he began rehearsing the exact phrase with which he was going to open the conversation with Mira.

The door to the Greywall Guild was about to close when Nathan, at the last second, sprinted and jumped inside.

Mira was at her usual spot behind the counter, finishing filing the day’s reports with the mechanical efficiency of someone who’d been doing this exact closing procedure for years. A small oil lamp was already lit beside the main ledger, anticipating the natural light would run out soon. Behind her, the wall clock read approximately half an hour before official closing.

No one else was in the lobby.

Mira looked up when Nathan entered.

Her eyes focused on him with the specific attention of someone processing several things at once.

"Hunter Voss."

"Mira."

"You came back."

"I promised I would."

"You arrived just before closing. By coincidence, I suppose."

"Absolute coincidence. Yes."

Nathan walked toward the counter with the specific stride of someone trying very actively not to look like he was coming to show off. Which, considering he was specifically coming to show off, wasn’t working entirely. His face tried to maintain neutral professionalism. His eyes, however, gleamed with an additional component that Mira identified instantly.

"Hunter Voss," Mira said, before Nathan could say anything. "Before you open your mouth."

"Yes."

"I received the notification."

Nathan stopped a step from the counter.

"What notification?"

"From Client Brenwick. Confirming that the package delivery was successfully completed this afternoon. Paid in full plus additional bonus. Formal request to include a positive note on the contracted Hunter’s file."

Nathan was quiet for a moment.

*Brenwick sent a positive note to the guild.*

*After discovering the contents were a member of the organization that betrayed him.*

*Sent a positive note.*

*That’s information in itself.*

"Ah," Nathan said, recomposing his expression. "That. Yes. The delivery."

"It arrived at the guild approximately an hour ago. Before you arrived. Which leads me to a very specific question."

"I’m listening."

"This morning, you came here to report that the delivery had failed. That you’d been intercepted by bandits. That you lost the package. That you accepted the corresponding penalties." Pause. "And now, miraculously, I receive a client notification that the delivery was completed in full. No penalties. With bonus." Another pause, longer. "Does this pattern sound familiar to you?"

"What pattern?"

"The first time you appeared in this guild, four days ago, you came without a Seal. You walked out the door without a Seal. And approximately ninety minutes later, you returned with one. One that doesn’t appear in any Pantheon record. That the verification device validated as authentic anyway."

"That was a separate event."

"Hunter Voss."

"Mira."

"It’s exactly the same pattern. You show up with a problem. The problem seems unsolvable. You briefly disappear. And you return with the situation inexplicably resolved. The explanation you give never fully covers the gaps. And the final version that reaches my counter always, without exception, benefits Mr. Voss."

Nathan stared at her.

*This woman has approximately two months of professional patience remaining before she decides this is worth formally investigating.*

*I’m going to have to handle this more carefully in the future.*

"Mira."

"Yes?"

"Are you accusing me of something specific?"

"No. I’m recording a pattern out loud, which is a professionally neutral way of letting you know the pattern is being recorded."

"Understood."

"But right now, technically, the client confirmed delivery. The file closes successfully. The penalties are voided. Your second mission is recorded as successfully completed. Congratulations, Hunter Voss."

"Thank you."

"Your F-Rank Hunter file currently shows two missions accepted, two completed. A perfect record. For a newly registered Hunter."

"I appreciate the acknowledgment."

"It’s not acknowledgment. It’s observation."

"Acceptable."

There was a silence.

Mira looked at him for another second. Then, with a gesture that was almost imperceptible, she internally accepted she wasn’t going to get more information this afternoon and returned to standard professional mode.

"Anything else, Hunter Voss?"

"Yes, actually." Nathan leaned slightly over the counter. "I came to notify the guild that I’m going to be away from Greywall for approximately three weeks. A private mission. Not through the guild. But I wanted my file to register the absence so it doesn’t affect my active Hunter status."

Mira went very still for a moment.

"Private mission?"

"Yes."

"What kind?"

"Escort."

"Escort."

"Yes."

"Hunter Voss."

"Yes?"

"Are you telling me that barely four days after your initial registration in this guild, after completing two missions—one of which was a delivery for a client who just offered you permanent employment according to the notification I received—you now also have external private contracts?" Pause. "Is that what you’re telling me?"

"That is what I’m telling you, yes."

"A private escort mission that came to you, an F-Rank Hunter, in four days?"

"Things happen."

"Things don’t happen that way."

"Apparently they do with me."

Mira looked at him for a full moment.

Then she laughed. It wasn’t a broad laugh. It was a short, controlled snort—the specific sound of someone who had decided the situation was too absurd to continue treating with professional seriousness.

"I don’t know," Mira said, still with a contained smile, "if you’re a ridiculously lucky guy, or if there’s something very strange behind everything you do."

"Does it have to be one or the other?"

"Statistically, yes."

"Maybe I’m both."

"That’s what worries me most, honestly."

"Mira."

"Yes?"

"I’m going to give you some advice, in confidence." Nathan leaned slightly further over the counter, with a slow, specifically provocative smile. "Remember my name carefully. Because before too long, I’m going to be an S-Rank Hunter. And you’re going to be able to tell everyone you knew me when I was nobody."

Mira looked at him for exactly two seconds.

Then, dramatically, she placed both hands on the counter. Leaned forward. Adopted the most exaggeratedly impressed expression Nathan had ever seen on her. And said, with a voice loaded with the most carefully calibrated sarcasm