Chapter 19: First Customer
Another day passed, and it was now the next day in the Ruddell Calendar.
Yawning his way out from the corridor as he took a huge turn, Cillian remained walking forward.
Now, he was going to check the club once again.
With no luck yesterday, Vin and Phillip only played cards throughout the time. They patiently waited for a customer, even though they had ideas around their heads that customers wouldn’t just come and go on their first day.
It’s not like their club had a good foundation to deal with, hence they were going to build it slowly and steadily.
If this still continued by the end of the week, either Cillian had to borrow money once more from his members or think of something that could promote their club.
He was even beginning to think that being in debt isn’t bad at all.
’Anything that can be resolved with money can only be figured out with money. As long as I don’t die of hunger in here, it is still doable.’
Cillian mused inwardly as his expression moved straight ahead to the corner of his club’s room.
Seemingly uninterested at first, Cillian’s eyes slightly turned happily wide when he saw a man standing upright in his room, hands crossed behind his back.
He wore a stoic expression and had a calm gait. Once he met Cillian’s gaze, he immediately asked.
"Is this where the club called Investigative Crew located?"
Cillian’s eyes appeared greedy.
’Is money always standing— wait, a customer. My very first customer!’
Instantly delighted, Cillian immediately removed his initial thoughts.
He acted professionally as he slowly advanced with a composed gait. Stretching his hand forward, he calmly smiled.
"You’re in the right place. May I know who you are?"
The stoic guy straightened his back and received his handshake, "I am Ethan Smith. Class 6-E. You don’t need to introduce who you are. I know your reputation."
Cillian’s smiling face froze.
’Is that supposed to mock me?’
Since he didn’t need to introduce himself, Cillian excused himself.
"Then, let me just open our doors and discuss things inside."
...
Thankfully, there wasn’t a need to clean the club room as it was well-maintained by Vin and Phillip. Even though there were cards scattered around the table, it was something that could be cleaned right away in just a minute.
"What do we owe the pleasure?"
Cillian leisurely sat down on his chair with a table in the middle of them as he carefully observed the man in the same grade as him.
’Composed and isn’t afraid to take risks. Is he a leader of their class by chance?’
With a thoughtful expression, Ethan began to tell his inquiry, his composed expression cracking down. His dark eyes appeared to be tired as his lips pursed.
’It must be something heavy—’
"It’s something related to my girlfriend Lily."
’Oh...’
That took a huge turn.
Ethan began to calmly give a detailed explanation.
"It started a week ago. No, maybe much more than that, but I just noticed it last week. While my class was planning what to do with the celebration, she was acting weird. I asked her for help even though we were in a different class, but she blatantly ignored me. Even lash out with lots of talking back. In the end, we fought.
"Then something clicked within my mind. This wasn’t the only time she shouted at me. This cold personality of hers started happening way before, probably after a week, when the school started. We barely hang out for a week, and we don’t even talk too much now. I failed to notice it earlier..."
He looked straight into Cillian’s eyes.
"I want to know why she started acting that way. Any information is good. Evidence is accepted as well."
’Why would you entangle me in your relationship dispute...?’
Cillian ridiculed inwardly while stopping himself from smiling.
With a light cough, Cillian calmly replied.
"If I accept this, what can you offer?"
As if ready to give and knowing how these kinds of clubs worked, Ethan nodded.
"I have ten points at my disposal. That is equivalent to three Merit and one point. Provide me with information, and you’ll have them. If you can garner evidence, then you can have my next monthly Merits."
’Not bad...!’
Clenching his fist in excitement, Cillian felt his mind thinking about how he should get out of his predicament of being in debt.
His mind whirred, feeling his thoughts and heart were only telling him one thing.
Accept it!
Appearing to be in deep thought when his mind was already dead set on accepting, Cillian acted just the way he envisioned how contemplating is to the other person.
Finally, after having ’decided’ to receive the task, he looked at Ethan and nodded once.
"Let’s go for it."
Cillian suddenly reached into a drawer and slid a piece of paper through to him as he added.
"This is our contract. It involves clauses of breach of agreement, confidentiality clauses, and the certainty that this job is valid and has been approved."
Cillian shrugged with a smile.
"Legal needs. Not like we can just say ’call it a day’ and ’trust me’, right?"
Ethan frowned before he received the paper, his face devoid of any expression as he proceeded to sign the contract.
Each stroke of his pen made Cillian’s heart flutter as his lips grew wider.
Rustle—!
Due to how disheartened Ethan was, he didn’t need to read the contract entirely, but Cillian wouldn’t cheat his way out of a customer, especially if it involved the academy laws.
When it comes to that, he will have to face the wrath of Freya if they ever come across each other in a trial.
Tap—!
The moment Ethan was done, Cillian immediately pulled the contract towards him and quickly hid it under his drawer.
"May I know a bit of information about your girlfriend Lily?"
Ethan solemnly nodded as he conveyed everything that Cillian needed to know.
Of course, private stuff remained private, and he didn’t utter a single thing that might destroy Lily’s reputation.
After fifteen minutes of being fed with information, Cillian halted writing the information he received. He received an initial payment of one Merit, and the rest would be decided once the task was finished.
"We’re done."
Ethan stood up from his place and was about to exit the room when he turned around and asked.
"When will I know the result?"
Cillian, wearing a confident smile, lightly relaxed his back down to his chair and answered with a resolute voice.
"Soon."
Slightly reassured, Ethan left, leaving Cillian alone in the room. Fiddling with the silver coin in his hand with an M stamp in the middle, he giggled.
This was Merit, the highest currency in the academy.
As for the Points, copper coins with a P stamp in the middle are used to exchange for a variety of stuff, like buying food or borrowing an important library book.
But it had the greatest use, which was used as a conversion for Merit. Three points are equivalent to One Merit.
And with Merit, one can buy a bunch of stuff in the Market or use it to perform certain deals, such as the situation with Cillian and Ethan.
Almost abruptly, the door opened, revealing the two other members of the club.
’Is that...?’
At first, they are confused after Ethan leaves their room, then they look at Cillian to confirm their suspicions.
Raising his hand, he fiddled with a Merit coin in his hand and chuckled.
"We have our first customer, boys."
Phillip immediately congratulated him while Vin silently closed the door and sat down near the table. The moment they relaxed, Cillian told them everything that he and Ethan had discussed.
"Do you need any of our help?"
Vin asked after hearing the explanation.
Cillian nodded as he replied.
"Yes, but I’ll be the one taking risks. All you need to do is gather external information and sew some clothes for me. I’ll tell you about the result once this is done. Of course, there’s a fair share of rewards between us."
Seeing that Cillian was being true to his words, both members gave him a nod.
By the looks of it, if the task that wasn’t given to them didn’t require much force, they’d likely receive a point, but if it required too much work, they willingly let him receive all the payment they would have received.
"Ah right, have your classes received the news for the celebration? What information did you two gather?"
Cillian switched the topic and went ahead with the celebration since it is an important matter that could lead to either good or bad developments.
No matter how cliché it is for Cillian, it is entirely different if he were now inside that cliché.
A lot of developments might happen, and Cillian might find something that he could use to either have some fun or save his life.
Their discussion didn’t take too long, though, since it was just announced yesterday. There isn’t any groundbreaking news that has surfaced yet.
...
Standing in front of his door in the middle of the night when everyone was leisurely sleeping, Cillian touched the knob and began twisting it.
He was planning on beginning his preliminary search regarding Lily, Ethan Smith’s girlfriend.
The nighttime was an ideal time to venture out toward the school where his freedom was large, but that still posed certain risks.
One of them was getting caught with patrolling night guards. Alas, that didn’t pose a problem to him right now since he was wearing the same outfits they used.
All of this is because he wanted to end it soon. He was eager to finish the task and received the rest of the rewards.
"Now then..."
Walking outside, Cillian’s original face changed into that of an old man full of wrinkles before locking the door behind him.
