Sweet Spices

Chapter 7

"Let me get this straight," Chance said while looking at his cousin who was sitting in the middle of the cafe. The groceries that he just bought was neatly placed on the table in front of him while Chance and Elise was sitting on the opposite of the table like a pair of interrogator.

"You decided to make me one of your employee less than 24 hours I've been in this city without even telling me about it?" Chance said with his arms crossing in front of him.

"Well... It's not official yet. Besides, I'm still planning to, you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Roderick replied with a small awkward laugh.

"Uh... 'planning to'? You already revised the work table and even created an announcement that this café will open all day. You call that 'still planning' ?" Elise decided to jump in and also looked very upset.

"It's not an announcement, I only talk about it only to regulars and I definitely add 'maybe ' in front of it."

"I haven't got my classes' schedule yet. Heck, the orientation was still next week," Chance sighed and looked back at his cousin. "Look, I definitely going to help you run this place. After all, you let me stay here, my mom will kill me if she finds out I'm freeloading. But! Let me catch a break... I almost got killed by a slend*rmann," he continued with exclamation on the end.

"Okay, Sorry. I guess I'll delay your Aegis registration paperwork," Roderick said as he tapped his phone before he shut his mouth in realization. His eye looked at both Elise and Chance who definitely hear his plan. The looks on their faces immediately shrunk Roderick to his seat.

"No no no no, I haven't done anything except planning it. I swear!! Please put that chair down!!" Roderick said, pointing at the chair which was an inch above Elise's head.

"Give me one good reason you rushed this thing out without my agreement," she demanded with a threatening aura that made Chance even move couple steps backwards.

"If the other organizations find him before we register him to Aegis, they will and definitely do scout on him. And, if they do pick interest in him, they'll persuade or even forced him to work for them," Roderick explained and continued after he took a small breath. "But, if he was already registered in the agency, they can't manipulate him to work for them."

"Whoa whoa. Agency? Aegis? Organizations? Am I being targeted by some secret services?" Chance cut Roderick explanation. As if the sudden employment for the Café wasn't enough, his cousin also wants to register him to some kind of agency, he definitely wants some clearance.

Elise sighed slowly lowered her chair. Her eyes stared at Roderick as if want to say 'I'll spare you this time' before she looked at Chance. "It's... Ugh, This wolf... Yes, Aegis, the agency he was talking about is secret services that deal with the spirits and anything related to it in this region," she said.

"And what about the organisation you said earlier?" Chance asked.

Roderick stepped in and answered his question, "Unfortunately, the number of people who can interact with spirits was less than enough to deal with all of the trouble caused by spirits. To make matter worse, our agency isn't the only one who sought for new members. Private company, mercenary, or even criminal organizations are racing to bring members in because the people who can do the job is scarce."

"Can I just stay away from all of this? Quietly?"

"Uhm...," Roderick took a few seconds to think before he answered with a bitter face, "Few people did try... Not working so well because they need to live their life knowing that a lot of people are after them."

"Plus they need to deal with the spirits too," Elise jumped in. As much as she dislikes Roderick's rushed decision, she understands how important it is to be one of the Agency.

"Dang it..." Chance cursed as he sinks deeper into his chair.

"Rough world buddy. Hey, at least you have me," Roderick said as he winked. "I'm going to make breakfast for our customer, Elise can you flip the sign please?" He said before walking towards the kitchen.

Elise sighed before she went through the front door. The girl tapped Chance's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, it's not as hard as you think. Soon you'll learn the thing we met last night is not a big deal."

Chance looked at her and wasn't sure if she trying to comfort him or she was telling a fact. From what he saw last night, she does take down the sl*ndermann pretty quickly. He checked his phone and saw the date. 24th of July, a week before he even started his first class. "Great... Looks like I'm going to be busy for the first week..." He smiled weakly before went to upstairs as he heard a faint doorbell as he stepped on the stairs. Aside from the heated discussion earlier, the small café is starting its day rather peacefully today.