“Let me ask, and I want you to consider your answer.” Eira pressed the knife against his cheek. “Where is Dalton?”

“He took the day off,” Malcolm said. “I swear.”

Eira tilted her head. He’d seen that look enough to know she did not believe him.

“Then let me ask, why do I have the Transportation Department asking for your head on a platter?”

“Don’t know…” He looked away.

She stabbed his knee. Malcolm did not yelp in pain. It was painful, but Eira had stabbed his knees so many times, he knew that she was going to pop up kneecap if he did not give her a satisfactory answer, and he didn’t want to use another potion to heal it.

So, he met her in the eyes. “I took him with me to gamble last night, but I lost some money because the boy actually won. Nikolai accused me of cheating.”

“Did you?” Her stare intensified. “Did you?”

“Well yes. I stacked the deck against him. Picked out the worst cards possible. He still won.”

A shrill laughter cut through their conversation. Ozul saw bent over, holding his sides. “That’s hilarious. So did he die?”

Malcolm blinked. “Why would he be dead?”

Ozul frowned. “Because you probably sold him to that potion master like the other newbies you were supervising?”

“This is why you should hurry up and isekai Satoshi,” Eira said. “He’s been here for three years.”

“I’ll do it when I do it!” Anger flared in his voice. “Stop nagging me about it. He’s just taking his time to get ready.”

“The only world I put you in charge of has become hellish landscape of misery and death. Your world’s Wellness Index are in the negatives” Eira jiggled the knife in Malcolm’s knee. “But we went off track. Did you sell our newest subordinate to the potion master?”

“No.”

She popped his knee. That made him open his mouth to scream. Her hand struck and covered his mouth.

“Let me tell you the situation, Malcolm. The Transportation Department has made it clear that they will send their worst candidates to us. Candidates they have been saving for centuries. I just got sent the idiot that invented baby powered cars.”

“Baby powered cars?” Ozul frowned, crossing his arms. “What is that?”

“What do you think? It’s literally a car powered by a baby.” Eira explained. “He believes he is the greatest inventor and plans to make more baby powered devices in a new world.”

Ozul cackled, clapping his hands furiously. “That’s great! That’s awesome!”

“You think it’s funny? Well, let me show you the one that got assigned to you.” She took a file from the top of her very organized desk and handed it to him.

Ozul looked amused and took the file. That smile faded as he delved deeper in it. “I’m getting a grandma that cut off the genitals of young men…”

“You should wear protection when she comes after you.” She handed him a condom.

“This won’t protect me.” Ozul handed it back to Eira. “The size is wrong. The size of my wonderful sword is XXXL.”

Eira rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Malcolm. She let go of his mouth so he could scream.

“Mother fuck!” Malcolm swore.

“What did you to him?” She flicked the handle of the knife. It reverberated against the bone. “Tell me.”

“Okay, fine, I did. I sold him to the potion master, but he should be fine.”

“This is the third one you’ve sold to that woman. Get him back, before she kills him, and I have to do another report on how our newest co-worker died.” She pulled the knife out of his knee.

Ozul’s terminal beeped. The two ignored that though. Malcolm bitterly viewed his mangled knee and sighed.

“Can you pass me the potion in my drawer?” He held out a hand.

While she was cleaning her knife, she reached for his drawer. “Your potion addict has drunken it.” She held an empty bottle.

“That’s the decoy potion. There is one under the pan of the drawer-”

Eira lined up another empty one right next to his decoy potion. Malcolm swore under his breath.

“Satoshi!”

“Any other ones?”

“Yeah, there is one-”

“Hey, don’t mean to interrupt you two.” Ozul waved his terminal in their faces. “But it looks like Malcolm is right, Dalton is alive.” His expression grew dark. “And he’s at a job interview.”