The Extra's Rise - Chapter 369

Chapter 369: Winter Break (9)
“Finally, I was able to get a handle on our illustrious Guildmaster,” Kali declared, arms crossed as she fixed me with a withering glare. Her black eyes narrowed dangerously, reminding me why most guild members approached her with caution. “Oh great and powerful Guildmaster, were you truly so consumed with important matters that Ouroboros completely slipped your mind?”

The sarcasm dripping from her voice could have filled buckets. I leaned back in my chair, pretending her appearance in my study space was entirely expected.

“Of course not, Kali,” I replied smoothly, assessing her appearance with mild surprise. Gone was the formal attire she typically wore for guild business, replaced with fitted jeans and a loose black sweater that gave her a softer appearance. “Though I have to ask—why the casual outfit? Important date later?”

She shifted her weight, momentarily thrown off her rhythm. “Why? Is it weird?”

“Not at all,” I said, allowing a genuine smile. “You look cute. The whole ‘approachable human’ look works for you.”

Kali’s expression darkened, though I caught the faintest hint of color on her cheeks. “Don’t try to flatter your way out of this, Nightingale. Your charm might work on your noble admirers, but I’m immune.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I replied, gesturing to the empty chair across from me. “Anyway, what exactly requires my immediate attention? I was under the impression Ouroboros would be handling routine operations during the break.”

“The Guildmaster,” she emphasized with pointed precision, “needs to take care of certain matters personally.” She produced a tablet from her bag and set it before me with a decisive click. “Starting with this backlog of paperwork that requires your authorization.”

I raised an eyebrow at her commanding tone. “That is hardly the appropriate way to address your superior, Vice Guildmaster Kali.”

Her only response was to look pointedly away, the ghost of a smirk playing at her lips.

“Besides,” I continued, picking up the tablet with casual confidence, “Elias has already processed most of this, correct? It shouldn’t be too substantial.”

I glanced up to find Kali watching me with the satisfied expression of a predator who’s successfully lured prey into a trap.

“Not substantial?” she echoed, tilting her head with feigned innocence. “Oh, poor Arthur. This is what we in the business world call ‘karmic retribution.’ You’ve spent months dumping work on me and Elias under the pretense of needing to study.”

“I did need to study,” I interjected, feeling a prickle of unease at her evident satisfaction.

“I am also a Mythos student,” she countered swiftly, “and a year your senior, I might add. But that’s beside the point.” Her smile widened fractionally. “This is simply you reaping what you’ve sown. That isn’t just ‘a little paperwork’ you’re holding. That’s three months of accumulated guild decisions requiring Guildmaster approval.”

My eyes narrowed as I began scrolling through the document queue on the tablet. The farther I scrolled, the wider my eyes grew.

“What the hell, Kali?” I looked up at her in disbelief. “Why didn’t you alert me before it reached this magnitude?”

“Because you were always ‘too busy,’ you insufferable genius!” Kali retorted, not bothering to hide her satisfaction. “Every time I tried to schedule a meeting, you had training, or exams, or some crisis with your princesses. So now you get to enjoy the fruits of your neglect. Have fun.” She turned to leave, adding over her shoulder, “Oh, and Reika requested to see you.”

“What for?” I asked, still scrolling through the seemingly endless list of documents requiring my attention.

“Nothing urgent,” Kali replied, pausing at the door. “She simply wished to see her savior again. Her words, not mine.”

I noticed her gradual retreat and quickly looked up. “And where exactly do you think you’re going?”

“Home,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“Before me?” I asked, watching her pause at the threshold.

Her back stiffened slightly. “I’ve put in my hours for today.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, allowing a slow smile to spread across my face. “Come back and work with your Guildmaster, my sla—I mean, Vice Guildmaster.”

“You were absolutely about to say ‘slave,'” she cut in, turning to face me with dangerous calm. “I will personally ensure you never see the end of this paperwork if you try that again.”

“I wasn’t,” I protested, maintaining an expression of perfect innocence.

“You absolutely were.”

“You can’t prove it.”

Her eyes narrowed to slits as we engaged in a silent battle of wills. Finally, she sighed dramatically and stalked back to the chair across from me.

“I hate you, Nightingale,” she declared, dropping into the seat with surprising grace for someone so visibly annoyed.

“Well, that’s unfortunate,” I replied, sliding half the tablet’s workload to her personal device, “because we’re going to be here a while. Deal with it, Vice Guildmaster.”

She muttered something that sounded suspiciously like a creative death threat, but I noticed the small smile she tried to hide as she began working. For all her prickly exterior, Kali was one of the few people I could count on implicitly—even if she did enjoy watching me suffer through administrative tedium a bit too much.

“By the way,” I added casually, “when we’re done, you’re explaining exactly how you let this paperwork reach critical mass without staging an intervention.”

“When we’re done,” she countered without looking up, “you’re going to apologize to Elias. He’s been covering for you since September.”

Fair enough. Ouroboros might be my guild, but these two kept it running while I played hero at Mythos. Perhaps it was time I remembered that.

I stifled a yawn as I flicked to the next document—a request from the Alchemists’ subsection for additional funding for rare materials. Quickly scanning the details, I spotted three unnecessary expenditures and one legitimate need. With practiced efficiency, I annotated my observations, approved the essential portion, and sent it back with instructions.

“That’s the fourteenth request you’ve processed in ten minutes,” Kali remarked, her voice somewhere between impressed and annoyed. “It takes me at least twice that long for half the output.”

I glanced up at her. Three hours into our paperwork marathon, she’d abandoned her perfect posture, now slouched in her chair with one leg tucked beneath her. Her hair, previously immaculate, had been hastily tied into a messy bun, with several rebellious strands framing her face.

“It’s pattern recognition,” I explained, already moving to the next file. “Once you’ve seen enough resource allocation requests, equipment proposals, and mission reports, you start to identify recurring elements.”

Kali muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like a creative insult.

“What was that?” I asked, not bothering to hide my amusement.

“I said you’re insufferably efficient and I hate you,” she replied clearly this time, stabbing her stylus against her tablet with unnecessary force. “Some of us have to actually read the entire proposal instead of just… whatever it is you do.”

“I read them,” I protested mildly. “I just read quickly.”

“Inhumanly quickly,” she corrected. “It’s unnatural. No one should be able to process information that fast.”

I shrugged, not bothering to explain that my previous life had involved absorbing and analyzing massive amounts of data daily. “Consider it one of my many talents.”

Kali rolled her eyes so dramatically I worried she might strain something. “If your ego gets any bigger, we’ll need to reinforce the ceiling.”

We settled into a comfortable working rhythm, the silence broken only by the occasional tap of fingers against screens and Kali’s increasingly creative cursing when she encountered particularly dense reports. The guild office’s automated lighting had dimmed to evening mode, and outside the windows, Westhollow’s skyline glittered against the night sky.

“This is ridiculous,” Kali declared after I finished another batch of approvals. “I’m barely at twenty percent of my queue, and you’re already—” she squinted at my progress indicator, “—seventy-three percent done? How is that even possible?”

“I told you, I’m just—”

“Efficient, yes, I know,” she interrupted irritably. “It’s still annoying. Some people have to sleep occasionally, Nightingale.”

I paused, suddenly aware of the shadows under her eyes. “When was the last time you took a break? And I don’t mean today—I mean in general.”

Kali looked away, pretending to focus on her screen. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Kali.”

“Fine,” she conceded with a huff. “Things have been… busy since you’ve been away. Elias handles the technical aspects and field operations, I manage administration and finances. We’ve had an influx of new recruits after Ouroboros’s publicity from the Redmond incident, plus three new subsection proposals that needed evaluation.”

I felt a twinge of guilt. While I’d been advancing at Mythos, my guild had been expanding significantly—largely due to my own actions—and I’d left the burden of managing that growth to my two lieutenants.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I should have been more present.”

Kali looked up, genuine surprise flickering across her face. “Did the great Arthur Nightingale just apologize? Should I check for signs of the apocalypse?”

“Don’t get used to it,” I replied dryly. “But yes, I mean it. I’ll be more involved going forward.”

Something in her expression softened slightly. “Well, that’s—”

A gentle knock at the door interrupted whatever she’d been about to say. We both turned to see the door slide open, revealing a young woman with striking violet hair that fell in gentle waves to her shoulders. Her eyes, the same unusual shade of violet, surveyed the room with quiet intensity before settling on me.

“Reika,” I said, rising from my chair. “I thought we weren’t scheduled to meet until tomorrow.”

Reika Solienne smiled softly, stepping into the office with the fluid grace that characterized all her movements. At eighteen, she was two years my senior, though her delicate features often led people to underestimate both her age and her capabilities.

“Elias sent me in,” she explained, her voice carrying the subtle musical quality I’d noticed during our first meeting. “He mentioned you were finally addressing guild matters and thought I might want to see you.” The slight emphasis on ‘finally’ wasn’t lost on me.

“In other words, he thought I should get all my scoldings in one convenient evening,” I observed wryly.

Reika’s smile widened fractionally. “I would never presume to scold the Guildmaster.”

“She wouldn’t need to,” Kali interjected. “I’ve covered all possible reprimands thoroughly.”

“I’m sure you have,” Reika replied, her serene demeanor a stark contrast to Kali’s evident frustration.

‘Arthur, you were telling me she doesn’t like you?’ Luna said in my mind, ‘Look at her, if that is not a girl in love, then I don’t know what is.’

‘You don’t know what is it,’ I responded.