The Cat That Moved In

After that, when I went out to the backyard, Azu and the others happened to be on a break.

They were refreshing themselves with drinks that Elza had presumably prepared.

Elza herself was busy tending to the nearby vegetable garden.

Azu, who'd been sitting, noticed me and scrambled to stand up, but I gestured for her to stay.

She was still breathing hard, and I could see white steam rising from her body.

She must have been exercising intensely in the cold, driving her body temperature up.

"Good work."

"It's nothing. I need to make sure I don't waste this time."

A fine mindset, but resting when it's time to rest is just as important.

"Alexia said she'll come by later. I'm borrowing Finn for a bit."

"Something you need? I can't go looking like this, so let me shower first."

"Sure. I'll be waiting in my room."

I called Finn over, returned to my room, pulled out parchment, and started working out the contract wording.

Contracts formalized in writing were guaranteed by Kingdom law.

That meant you had to be meticulous with the wording, or you'd pay for it later.

Apparently some people even tried to swindle the other party with deliberately misleading clauses, but did they never consider what would happen when they were caught?

If the deception was deemed malicious, the punishment could be exile or even execution.

And yet every year a handful of people still tried. Truly baffling.

First, I drafted Kazusa's contract.

The terms weren't particularly complex, so a straightforward contract would do.

Employment conditions, liability disclaimers, compensation for Kazusa.

I wrote it all out.

Once Kazusa and I reviewed it together and both signed, it would be binding.

For identity verification, we'd use magic stone powder.

It was made by crushing a magic stone and mixing the powder with a special plant sap into a paste. You pressed your thumb into it to leave a thumbprint, and your personal mana would flow into the powder, leaving a unique imprint.

I didn't fully understand the mechanics, but apparently an imprint made with someone's own mana couldn't be forged even by the most skilled mage, making it invaluable for identity verification.

I was just finishing up when there was a knock at the door.

Finn had arrived.

I told her to come in, and she stepped into the room.

She was dressed in her usual black-based shirt and trousers.

A jacket was draped over her shoulders against the cold.

"Your hair's still wet."

It seemed Finn had just toweled off after her shower and come straight here.

I pulled a towel from the shelf and walked over.

Leaving it like that in this weather was asking for a cold.

When I approached with the towel, she snatched it from my hands before I could do anything.

I'd planned to dry her hair myself, but apparently she'd handle it.

"I appreciate the thought, but you can be a little too attentive sometimes, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing."

Finn scrubbed vigorously at her hair with the towel in both hands.

Once she seemed satisfied, she tossed the towel back at me.

I'd throw it in the laundry basket later.

"So, what is it?"

Finn plopped into a chair and reached for the snacks I'd set out.

I'd prepared the beans she was fond of, and that seemed to have been the right call.

Was this the kind of thing she'd been talking about just now?

For a merchant, actions that improved the other party's impression of you were practically a necessity.

What ultimately clinched a deal was more often the impression you left than the profit margin.

I'd heard of deals falling through on perfectly profitable ventures simply because the other party found the merchant unacceptable.

Merchants pursued profit, but they were also human beings.

You tended to think well of someone who lowered their head to you, and poorly of someone who acted high and mighty.

So you did everything you could for the other party, even if only to improve their impression of you slightly.

All of it for your own benefit, ultimately.

Polite language, non-confrontational phrasing, knowing the other person's preferences. None of it took much effort, but the returns were enormous.

Best of all, bowing your head cost nothing.

I could hear Finn crunching through the hard beans.

I set out coffee so her throat wouldn't get dry, and she piled brown sugar onto a spoon until it was overflowing before dumping it in.

"You're the only client who bothers setting out snacks and drinks for someone like me."

Finn scoffed with a half-exasperated gesture.

Then she drained the coffee in one go.

"Ugh, so sweet…"

"You put in too much sugar."

"Calories matter. Calories."

The social standing of assassins was never high.

Those who hired them tended to be wealthy or powerful, so it was easy to imagine they were treated as disposable tools you moved with money.

But I didn't think of them that way.

Assassins were human beings, just as merchants were.

Cross them, and they'd bare their fangs eventually. Treat them well, and they'd take your jobs again.

That said, I'd never actually met any assassins besides Finn, so this was all speculation.

"So, what is it?"

Finn crossed her legs and hooked her hands behind the chair.

"How about staying here and working with us for a while? I've had you help out on an ad-hoc basis before, but depending on the situation, the time lag causes mix-ups like last time."

If Finn had been around during the ducal house incident, things would have resolved much more smoothly.

The casualties would certainly have been fewer, too.

"… Hm, well."

Her voice was small and noncommittal.

She was probably weighing various things.

"You already know I can support you to a reasonable degree. What do you say, now's as good a time as any. We don't even need a written contract if you'd prefer."

A verbal agreement was simply a matter of trust between individuals.

Either party could break it without legal consequences if they chose.

"Hmm."

Given Finn's personality, if she were going to refuse, she'd have done so already.

The fact that she hadn't shot me down immediately meant there was room.

"Fine. I don't mind hanging around here for a while. I've cleared out my base, and it's a pain to rent a room at an inn every time."

"Oh. Good."

"Don't look so pleased. I'll still collect my pay, and if I decide I need to leave, I'm leaving. So no contract needed. Keep the compensation the same as before, and that'll do for now."

"Works for me. When you've got nothing to do, just make yourself at home."

Another worry gone, and the weight on my heart grew a little lighter.

Finn was enormously reliable in both intelligence gathering and fieldwork, so she'd be someone I could count on as I scaled up the trading company.