“████!”

  “██████!”

  “Is this really the end?”

  “It looks that way…”

  “So after this, we won’t meet again?”

  “Mhm…”

  “I don’t want you to leave! Stay with me! I love you!”

  “…”

  “I love you too, but if I don’t do this, none of you will have a tomorrow.”

  “Maybe, in another time, in another life, we can be together again—but not now… not here…”

  “Ng?” A girl wakes up from her sleep. She looks around and sees a wooden desk, a document shelf, a whiteboard, and a ceiling fan. She also realizes she is lying on a sofa across from a glass table for receiving guests or clients, which tells her she is in an office.

  “Just now.. is that, a dream?” she wonders. “But it felt so real…” She strokes her cheek.

  CLACK.

  The office door opens and a red?haired girl with short hair walks in, holding a takeaway cup filled with hot coffee.

  “Ah, Lony, you slept in the office again!” She says to her.

  “Al? How did you know!?”

  “Your hair is a total mess, see?” Al touches her own hair to show Lony. “At least tidy up a bit. Who knows, we might get a client.”

  “Alright, alright,” Lony says, getting up from the sofa and heading into the bathroom “What a dutiful little sister”.

  “You know, even though the rent for this office is super cheap, the bathroom is pretty decent—no rats or cockroaches.” Commented Lony as she start combing her long red hair.

  “Hm…” Al sighs. “We’ve spent all our life savings to start this business.” She leans against the wall, watching her older sister. “Thank goodness I’ve already graduated from high school, but… what direction will our lives take from here…?”

  “…” Lony stays silent.

  RRRIIING.

  Suddenly, a sound like a ringing telephone comes from the office desk.

  “I’ll take it!” Al dashes over, sits down at the desk chair, puts on a headset, and presses a button on the computer.

  “Odessa & Co., Jack?of?All?Trades Agency. This is Althea Odessa speaking, how can we help you?” Althea picks up a pen and a sheet of paper.

  “Hmm… I see…” She listens carefully.

  “Is there anything we can help you with?” She answers another call.

  “Alright, don’t worry, sir.”

  “Yes, we can do that as well.”

  “Alright, thank you! You too!” Althea ends the call by pressing a button on her computer.

  “Lony, we’ve got two jobs!” Althea holds up the paper with the notes she has just written.

  “What are they?”

  “Counting the warehouse inventory for Laxmi Corp, and harvesting Mr. Carter’s crops.”

  “Ugh, Laxmi Corp,” Lony grumbles. “I’ll take Mr. Carter’s job—you handle Laxmi Corp.” She makes the decision.

  “You really don’t like them, huh?” Althea comments.

  “Of course not! They’re a predatory business, acting all high and mighty just because they’re the biggest company on the entire continent and they took so many fields you could think they’re monopolizing the market!”

  “They even hire freelance?for?hire agencies like us to count their warehouse inventory because they know our fee is cheaper than paying their own employees for extra work and overtime!”

  “But…” Lony sighs in resignation. “We need credibility if this business is going to keep running, and Laxmi Corp is the right party for that…”

  “You know, Lony, even though their payment might be smaller than their employees’ salaries, it could still be a big amount,” Althea says optimistically.

  “Well, maybe…” Lony grabs a key from the wall hook. “Come on, I’ll drive you.”

  “Okay!” Althea follows behind Lony.

  They reach the ground level garage, enter into a dark?blue van, and drive away from the office building.

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  After driving for several minutes, Lony drops Althea off in front of a warehouse.

  “Thanks, Lony!” Althea steps out of the van. “Don’t bother picking me up. I can take my own ride home.”

  “Okay, see you tonight!” Lony immediately speeds off in the van.

  A few minutes later, she arrives at a farmland.

  “Is this the right address?” She looks at the paper Althea wrote.

  “Are you from that Odessa & Co. Agency?” An elderly man with a gray beard, wearing a plaid shirt, dark?blue denim suspenders, and a straw hat on his head, calls out to her.

  “Ah, yes. My name is Apolonia Odessa. Are you Mr. Carter?” Apolonia introduces herself.

  “Yeah, that’s me.” He gestures for Apolonia to follow. “This is your workplace.”

  Apolonia and Carter reach a field that stretches across twenty hectares field.

  “I want you to harvest my ripe potatoes,” Carter says.

  “I see…” Apolonia murmurs. “Ng?” She turns her head and notices four muscled men carrying shovels.

  “Who are they?”

  “Oh, they’re laborers I’ve also hired to harvest my potatoes.”

  “Huh…?” Apolonia stares at Carter, surprised and confused.

  “You’ll be paid based on how many potatoes you manage to harvest, so give it your all!” Carter encourages her. “Oh, and the shovels are over there.” He point at a small garage.

  “I can’t lose! For the money and for the agency’s credibility!” Apolonia mutters to herself as she grabs a shovel and rolls up her sleeves.

  Several hours later…

  “998 kilograms, 999 kilograms, 1000 kilograms, 1001 kilograms…” Carter and his son count the sacks of potatoes.

  “Miss. Apolonia, your harvest weighs 1.2 tons,” he tells her.

  “Yes!” Apolonia clenches her fist in triumph.

  “That girl is pretty strong…” one of the male laborers comments.

  “Then, here’s your pay,” Carter says, handing her a stack of paper money: 0.5 simoleons per kilogram, which means your pay is 100.2 simoleons”.

  “Wow, thank you so much!” the red?haired girl beams in happiness as she takes the money from Carter.

  “Hey, miss,” one of the laborers calls out to Apolonia. “You’re really strong. What’s your secret?”

  “Hmm?” She looks puzzled for a moment, thinking. “I don’t know… I just working out every day.” She pulls out a business card. “I also run a freelance?for?hire agency. If you ever need our services, just give us a call!”

  At evening, an exhausted Apolonia returns to the office carrying a cardboard box.

  “Ah, Al…” She finds her younger sister working at the computer. “Lony…”

  “While we were both busy with our respective jobs, there were six missed calls, six potential jobs we let slip…”

  “…” Apolonia falls silent and drops herself onto the sofa. “We have to recruit some Talents, but how are we going to pay them?” she mutters.

  “By the way, how much did Laxmi Corp pay you?” she asks her sister.

  “Only 75 sims. How about you?”

  “I got 100 sims! And I also got some of the potatoes I harvested!” Apolonia opens the box she brought in.

  “Whoa!” Althea gasps and walks over to the guest table to look at the potatoes. “With this, we don’t have to worry about breakfast and lunch tomorrow!”

  “And since today’s I make it big, we can treat ourselves!” Apolonia pulls out her smartphone. “We can have dinner that isn’t just Yamaumi cup ramen!”

  “But I like Yamaumi ramen!” Althea complains.

  “Ekh!” Apolonia startles. “Fine… we’ll order another Yamaumi specialty dinner…” She types into a food?delivery app.

  A few minutes later, four hamburgers, fries, soda, and a plate of fried chicken katsu with teriyaki sauce for dipping is placed on the guest table, being devoured by the two Odessa sisters.

  “Yum!” Apolonia comments as she bites into a hamburger.

  “Delish!” Althea says after dipping a piece of katsu into the teriyaki sauce and taking a bite.

  “Hamburgers really are Aurelia’s tastiest invention!” Apolonia remarks. “But, historically, hamburgers originated in Siegelfeld when their soldiers put their ration meat between two slices of bread”

  “Really? So they come from Siegelfeld Kingdom?” Apolonia looks at the bite marks on her hamburger.

  “Oh, and the chicken too!” Apolonia points at the fried chicken katsu on the table. “Doesn’t Aurelia also have fried chicken like this? Why did you choose the Yamaumi version?”

  “Aurelia’s fried chicken is too greasy and oily,” Althea comments. “Yamaumi’s version has juicier, tastier meat.”

  “Is that so?” The two sisters chat and laugh as they eat their dinner in their agency office.

  The next day.

  “Lony, we’ve got a new job!” Althea shouts, handing a slip of paper to her older sister. “Clearing a monster nest in the Romswell frontier town?” Apolonia reads the assignment.

  “How much is the client offering?” she asks.

  “250 sims.”

  “Alright, I’ll take it.” Apolonia grabs her black suit jacket-coat-hoodie hybrid from the coat rack and her van keys.

  “It’s your turn, old friend,” she says, picking up a sword sheathed in its scabbard and fastening it to her right hip.

  “Lony, what about your Crystals?” Althea asks.

  “I got some reserves left, don’t worry!”

  After that, Apolonia climbs into the van and drives off alone toward the vast desert.

  “Romswell town is about fifty kilometers from Initium, where my agency is… that’s really far,” Apolonia says, checking the GPS on her smartphone.

  “Just because ‘Frontier Spirit’ is the national identity of the Aurelia Sovereignty, doesn’t mean they have to literally build their towns at the frontier!” she grumbles, still steering the van toward the client’s destination.

  One hour later…

  “I’m from Odessa & Co.,” Apolonia introduces herself to a group of cowboys, ranchers, and farmers.

  “Thank goodness you’re here,” says a man in a formal suit with cat ears and a tail. “I’m the mayor of Romswell. About a month ago, a Magnus Lupo nest appeared roughly two kilometers from here.”

  “Those monsters are disrupting our supply routes!” shouts a man with dog ears.

  “Yes! We’re also afraid to graze our livestock near that place!”

  “Alright, I understand the problem…” Apolonia takes out a sword, a sheet of paper, and a pen.

  “I’ll clear that nest, but I need your signatures here. Since this job is dangerous, you’ll be my witnesses for life insurance, and this agreement will also make sure you don’t go back on your promise to pay me once the work is done.”

  “…” The group looks at one another.

  “I agree,” the mayor replies.

  “Then the contract is in effect,” Apolonia says, tying her hair into a ponytail.

  Then Apolonia drives to the indicated location and finds a cave.

  “So this is the nest?” She turns on the small flashlight mounted on the left side of her jacket for light.

  “Grrr…” After walking several meters inside, she comes face?to?face with three black?furred wolves, each about 100 centimeters tall.

  “Here we go, Outis,” the red?haired girl says, drawing her sword.

  “Rawr!” The three wolves leap toward Apolonia.

  “Haaah!” She swings her blade in return.

  Minute by minute passes. After navigating several tunnel turns and cutting down dozens of Magnus Lupo, Apolonia stops at a dead end.

  “Is this the end of the cave?” She looks around. “That means I’ve defeated all the Magnus Lupo here, and the nest is cleared!” She clenches her left fist in triumph. “I didn’t even use up many Crystals.”

  “Time to head back to Romswell and collect my pay!”

  SHING.

  Suddenly, a blinding white light flashes from behind her.

  “W?what?!”

  To be continued.