My Infinite Investment System

Chapter 16: Application Pending

The contract reached the club inside a plain folder, copied at the risk of fees larger than its owner had earned during two years on medical hold.

Nia placed it beside her résumé, then remained standing until Mika pointed toward a chair.

"We interview people at eye level here," Mika said, tapping the chair with one finger, "sit before Ryan mistakes posture for a clause."

Nia sat with the brace on the table, keeping the injury visible while her documents replaced the speech she had practised outside.

The first page described a delayed E-rank retreat that had ended her field work.

Her guild kept charging equipment rent, medical-ward fees, plus mandatory training access, leaving her trapped between immediate repayment and debt growing against income she could not earn.

’The folder had arrived with a price tag,’ Ryan thought, tracing the fee schedule, ’which was the guild’s preferred form of introduction.’

"Why preserve the roster status?" Ryan asked, watching his pen approach numbers Nia had stopped questioning.

"Dropping it converts treatment into personal debt within ten days," she said, resting her good hand beside the brace.

"I stopped believing they would repair the arm last year," she continued, "but belief is not an accepted payment method, so I kept attending reviews where nobody touched the brace."

The private view completed its first Personnel profile while Ryan checked her account against the incident records.

[Name: Nia Brooks]

[Age: 26]

[Public Rank: E]

[Class: Shield Support]

[Potential: B]

[Core Condition: Stable]

[Primary Bottleneck: Untreated Arm / Contract Debt]

[Primary Ambition: Return to Field Protection]

The profile had found Nia quickly.

Eligible actions opened beneath the profile, with every option carrying failure conditions instead of promising that B-grade potential would solve her life.

Treatment occupied one line, contract purchase occupied another, plus equipment replacement and training access waited beneath both.

’It had found four ways to spend money before offering one way to make it,’ Ryan thought, reading the conditions, ’the balance felt familiar.’

Ryan requested the incident report, ward invoices, plus every amendment signed after the injury.

Nia opened a cloud folder hidden beneath two years of tax records, then watched him sort the files by date.

The report credited her combat leader with an orderly withdrawal, though body-camera timestamps placed his order forty-three seconds later.

That delay put every combat hunter ahead while Nia held the corridor alone.

Medical invoices repeated the same treatment with cleaner formatting, since the guild billed six specialist reviews while only two records carried a clinician’s signature.

"The other four appointments lasted under eleven minutes," Ryan said, placing the timestamps together, "they billed observation at specialist rates, then added the balance to your exit debt."

"I expected someone to ask eventually," Nia replied, studying the two signed records, "I hoped it would be a regulator, though they keep forwarding me to guild dispute resolution, where the same answer arrives with a different case number."

"That office reports to the executive who approved your medical hold," Ryan said, turning the signature chain toward her, "your appeal returns to the person collecting the fees."

Nia read the page she had carried for two years, then looked from Ryan’s E-rank licence to the black spear resting behind his chair.

"Can you get me out?" she asked, keeping one finger on the signed records.

"I can price a route out," he said, closing the incident file, "you decide whether the terms improve your position."

Mika brought Nia onto the club floor during setup without naming the second half of the interview.

She asked Nia to help with a supply case before the first customer arrived.

The first grip placed weight against the brace, so Nia refused it and rotated the case until her good side carried the load.

Mika waited without praising the choice until an early customer raised his voice over a disputed tab.

He stepped too close to the bartender before security received the call.

Nia moved first, placing her uninjured side forward while the braced arm protected someone she had never met.

Mika corrected the tab with one look at the receipt, then walked Nia toward the office after security removed the customer.

"Was covering her training or habit?" Mika asked, watching Nia’s feet instead of her brace.

"The training survived longer than the arm," Nia replied, flexing fingers the brace allowed her to move.

Mika opened the office door and held it with her shoulder. "Good answer," she said, "I watched your feet, and you moved before his volume changed."

Praise from another injured hunter tightened Nia’s expression before she controlled it.

’That was the reference Ryan could not request,’ Mika thought, reading Nia’s face, ’the one written in a bad room instead of a guild database.’

Ryan called Nia’s guild human-resources office while Mika reviewed the remaining invoices.

The representative buried every answer beneath active recovery pathway and member-supported care arrangement.

During the call, Mika sent Ryan three public rosters from Nia’s old team, each showing a support hunter placed on medical hold before debt-funded reassignment.

"Nia Brooks remains valued," the representative said after Ryan requested written definitions, "her present status protects access she would lose through voluntary separation, and our office strongly advises her against damaging that relationship through outside representation."

"How much treatment did she receive during the last twelve months?" Ryan asked, keeping the invoice total open beside him.

"Clinical scheduling falls outside this department," the representative replied, returning to the script.

"Then tell me how much you billed," Ryan said, watching the call timer pass another minute.

The call ended with promised clarification instead of a number.

The number stayed absent from every reply.

Nia waited beside a meal she had tried refusing twice while Ryan reviewed the position with Mika.

Funding the buyout, treatment, and equipment would consume most of their settlement reserve.

Nia’s instinct to shield strangers could become guild culture or another excuse to spend her body.

Ryan priced three outcomes on the planning wall, then removed the one that gave the guild control over her recovery.

Field recovery remained possible, permanent support reassignment remained safer, plus treatment without employment remained honest, because each path returned control to Nia instead of charging her for the right to leave, while the guild’s option made no sense to finance.

"My answer is yes," Mika said after reading the final incident note, keeping her voice from carrying toward Nia at the bar.

"You reached that quickly," Ryan replied, checking the treatment estimate again.

"You priced the contract," she said, tapping the photograph of Nia in front of the bartender, "I watched her move while afraid, refuse an unsafe lift, then protect someone without waiting for permission, so we found the same answer from different sides."

Their offer funded treatment, purchased verified debt, plus provided employment with an affordable exit.

It turned Ryan’s first recruitment offer into the opposite of every trap that had built Northstar.

Nia read the offer three times before touching the salary line.

"Where does the amount increase if I recover faster than projected?" she asked, following the milestone table with one nail.

"It does not," Ryan said, pointing toward the table, "your salary increases when your field capacity does, but the debt never grows."

"What happens if I leave after treatment?" she asked, keeping one finger on the exit clause.

"Then you leave," he replied, watching her read the sentence again, "the clause exists to be used, not admired."

Nia looked toward Mika before returning to Ryan. "What is the catch he refuses to explain?" she asked.

"He will make you read every contract," Mika said, sliding a pen across the table, "sometimes aloud, usually when everyone wants food, and if a clause looks too friendly he becomes personally offended until somebody explains who profits from it."

After the final review with both founders present, Nia formally signed the conditional offer.

Ryan requested her transfer while Mika scanned the signed pages into a folder with two copies.

Her old guild answered within an hour with equipment depreciation, ward access, plus administrative release costs.

The total exceeded every stipend Nia had received during the previous two years.

Freedom had become a number their operating reserve could not reach.

The reserve had one afternoon left.

’The offer had worked until the old guild added a second lock,’ Ryan thought, comparing the totals, ’which meant the next move had to pay for both.’

Ryan extended the black spear across the commission board until its point stopped beneath the highest-paying logistics clear.

"We are taking this dungeon," he said, leaving the spear against the board, "their deadline will purchase your freedom before this one expires."