David Nicolai.
He is one of Pyroxene official representatives and works in the ministry of foreign affairs. Unfortunately, she had known him since she was a young girl.
"You could say he's a crazy fox who had cut his own tail for the bear." She huffed as they made their way to the conference room.
"A fox and a bear?" He raised a brow.
"Hm? Have you not heard the tale?" She huffed, "It's an old tale up north of Pyroxene. It talks of a bear who had a beautiful and long tail. One day, the fox want to play a prank and taught the bear how to catch fish with his tail. The bear trusted the fox and stuck his tail into the icy river. However, in the icy winter, his tail was caught in ice. The bear trusted the fox completely and waited throughout the cold believing he could catch some fish too. However, as he dozed off, the fox alerted him of a fish he did not catch and his tail snapped off. Since then, the fox steered away from the bear."
"So, it's a tale of deception and revenge." Rollo huffed, "But a fox cutting his own tail for the bear?"
Hoshi shook her head in disappointment, "If you still cannot figure it out, then simply brace yourself with your eyes peeled."
As they arrived, a slim fox beastman spoke up as they opened the door, "So rude. Since when have I cut off my own tail? It's still perfectly intact."
She scoffed, "I was just testing to see if your ears were still intact as well."
"As you can see, they're perfectly well." He laughed as he leaned back in his chair, "More importantly, is this the young trouble making candidate I've heard about? You've picked quite an unusual candidate, Princess. Much like yourself. Trouble makers. I had imagined you'd go for the baker your master often buy croissants from."
"I see your nose is also in working shape. However, it's unfortunate that I've not decided to open a clinic in Pyroxene. Otherwise, I'd love to see what's the matter with your mouth." Peony laughed, "The child will be acting as witness to the meeting today. So, shall we now begin or does your old man have another request for me?"
He laughed as his tail swished behind him, "Please, despite his cold appearance, he is kind enough to remember this unfilial son and offered firewood to keep the son warm. Also, can this kid really act as our witness?"
"It will suffice." She shrugged much to Rollo's annoyance.
"By the way, what did you bring today? I know you never come to our meetings empty handed."
She feigned a sigh and pulled out a stack of paper from her ring then plopped it onto the table, "Perfect. I just so happen to have brought you some more wood. However, you tell me if it is Cedar wood or is it firewood?"
"Cedar? Lemme see..." He took the papers from her and gave it a quick skim as the edge of his mouth pulled back with a sneer. He slapped the paper softly in his hands as he watched her curiously, "Hmm... I think it will suffice."
"Oh? That's unusual. You don't need to conduct any tests?" She raised a brow.
"Hm..." He smirked, "It's doable. I've already seen how you do your tests. I'll promote your idea to the higher ups, but you just gotta do a little something for us?"
"Nope- Wait, us?" Peony frowned, "It's unusual for the foreign ministry to actually request aid. What's the strings attached?"
"That's if you agree to help us, headmage."
She folded her arms, "What are your clues?"
"What clues?" He opened his palms acting clueless.
"I see... Then, I will just have to go through the old process, after all." She reached for the papers.
However, he swiftly took it back and frowned, "Hold on. How about a trade?"
He set a new stack of papers down as she paused, "Looks like you've set the trap and are out for the hunt. But, will you catch him?"
"What choice does that old man have?" He smirked, "With this, the deal is done."
He took the papers and smirked, "Don't worry. I'll put up my end of the deal as long as you do yours."
She scowled, "Quit treating this like a bribe. This is why your manager always needs stomach medicine."
"That's what I love about them!" He laughed.
She sighed as David got up and patted Rollo's head, "You sure got it tough having her as your predecessor. Just let me know if you need any stomach medicine too."
As he walked out, Rollo frowned, "Wh- what was all that?"
"Hm? He's agreed to help us out as long as we give him a hand with the government's mess." She sighed, "Or better yet, his family's mess."
"You got all that just from this conversation?!" Rollo's eyes widen in disbelief before shaking his head, "But to mix your personal affair with work-"
"Did you remember? That part in the diary when the judge took in the bell ringer?" She hummed, "Just as how his work got involved with his personal life due to work. Nicholai's involvement was no different. Have you heard of the Fellowworth family?"
"Fellowworth? Of course." He nodded, "It was written all over the papers when I was in middle school. It was the biggest tremor in society. To claim the inheritance and title of his family, the third son took the life of the second son while he was in college and then took the life of his eldest brother under the act of an unfortunate accident. It was only revealed when a worker in his firm acted as the whistleblower. However, what does that have to do with him?"
"David was the whistle blower of that incident."
"What did you say?!" Rollo muttered in disbelief, "But the family was once the top in the field of human resources and ran a multimillionaire theme park before it became bankrupted under the new head. Why is someone in that field working in foreign ministry?"
"Nicholai was set to study the field of business management and work under the head directly. However, he secretly did a double major and studied government, foreign language and culture."
"Secretly?"
She nodded, "His father was a high ranking official and wanted him to follow in his footsteps. However, David was in a poor relationship with his old man and followed his own interest behind his back. So, when he worked for his old man, he entered through the backdoor."
"Worked for his father? But, he was a whistleblower-! He's a member of that family?!"
She shook her head in disappointment, "Took you long enough. David Fellowworth was his birthname. However, he never got along with his family after a certain incident. So, he was determined to go his separate way for a long time. After he married, he took on his spouse's family name and found a job with the foreign ministry. He and his spouse worked together with the head of foreign ministry to uncover the truth of the Fellowworth family and, when they were done, he blew the whistle on his family."
"And, the filth was uncovered one after another." Rollo covered his mouth with his handkerchief.
"Naturally." She nodded, "Now, he's trying to indirectly cleanse the Fellowworth family name. It has been years, but it looks like he finally found clues. All this time, his old man has been sending letters to his son to bail him out. However, it's only been making it easier for his child to gather more clues from him."
She handed the papers to him as he looked through it and his eyes widen in surprise. He frowned, "Who is he?"
"His cousin." She stated calmly, "The original successor of the previous head."
He found that she was correct from the next page as he looked through the rest. He frowned as he continued, "So, he's looking for his cousin? Why is that? He can't possibly be thinking of plopping that guy as the new head."
She shrugged, "Who knows."
"Are we going to intervene?"
"Depends." She shrugged.
"On what?"
"If it is annoying."
She got up and walked away with Rollo hurrying after her, "But, they gave you a task! From the Foreign Ministry, no less!"
"Then, you do it." She yawned and placed the papers in his arms.
"Wha-!" He gapped in disbelief.
"You are the next candidate. If it bothers you so much, you can always take the ropes." She smirked.
"Ugh..." Rollo hesitated.
Leaving the room, the two walked down the hallway when she noticed the familiar man walking out of the room. Surprised, Rollo raised a brow, "Head- Um, former vice-headmage."
"Just Axel will be enough." The tall man sighed, "I'm no longer the headmage or vice-headmage anyway. Calling me Tropin will just make it worse. You have my permission to call me by my first name in private."
"So, how did it go?" She huffed, "Did it work?"