“That couldn’t be helped, so don’t worry about it.”

Upsilon recalled the moment he found Sara Greenwood in the illegal laboratory. Just before her death, she had said this to the person she seemed to be speaking with on the phone:

“Please, may you achieve what you have wanted.”

Leaving everything else aside, there was one thing he could infer from those final words.

“I think the boss’s prediction was wrong. At the very least, Sara Greenwood was more likely participating in the illegal research voluntarily, rather than under someone’s threat.”

“Hm. I don’t know who wanted to see what grand new world by developing such a new kind of poison.”

“If there is a behind-the-scenes force, won’t they make some other move after this?”

“That’s outside the scope of the request, so we have no need to think that far. Though, personally I do think… no, never mind. It’s already over, so we should stop mentioning it.”

Robert, looking a little suspicious, stared at the photo on the monitor showing the completely destroyed illegal laboratory before closing the screen.

“More importantly, Upsilon. I acknowledge the skill it took to finish a black mission in just two days, but stop being stubborn and get some rest.”

“I’m fine.”

“This time it’s not a suggestion, it’s an order. You are banned from entering Amabile headquarters until tomorrow.”

“……”

“I’d prefer to avoid the kind of mishap where accumulated fatigue causes a mistake or an accident during a mission. You’ve worked hard, running mission after mission, Upsilon. See you the day after tomorrow.”

Under Robert’s stern-looking order, Upsilon was unceremoniously kicked out of headquarters. Was this a reward or a punishment? And so, after Upsilon’s boring forced vacation ended, Ro, who met him in the headquarters lobby, heard the news that Robert had even issued a ban on entering headquarters in order to make him rest, and shook his head.

“So inflexible. If you’d just pretended to rest a little and come back, you could’ve handled one more mission, you workaholic.”

“You spent all three days sleeping like you said you would?”

“Of course. You do know that outside the bed on days off is dangerous, right?”

“What’s dangerous about outside the bed?”

“There’s such a thing. Terrible danger you’ll never understand. …Forget it, just pretend you didn’t hear that.”

Ro flopped onto the lobby chair with a face that said he had not expected anything.

“Upsilon, did you come because the boss summoned you too?”

“Yes.”

“What time?”

At Ro’s question, Upsilon checked the clock hanging in the lobby.

“In fifteen minutes.”

“In fifteen minutes? Are you sure?”

“What’s the problem?”

“What do you mean what’s the problem, that’s the time I was supposed to meet the boss… damn it?”

Normally, when missions were assigned, the default was one-on-one between Robert and the agent taking the mission. But being summoned at the same time only happened in two cases. Either Robert had mistakenly set the same time, or the agents were both being deployed as leads on the same mission, essentially as partners.

Unfortunately, Ro had never once seen or experienced the former since entering Amabile, and neither had Upsilon. A strange silence hung between the two as they anticipated what would happen in fifteen minutes.

Ro might not have thought of it that way, but for Upsilon this was an unexpected situation. Until now, whenever he was added to Ro’s missions, it had always been as an additional agent. He had never once been put in a mission with Ro as a partner.

The reasons were complex, but the biggest one was the severe gap in their experience and skill, which came from their difference in seniority. The fact that Robert, who had once flatly said Upsilon was not yet at the level to handle the same missions as Ro, had called them both today meant one thing. That while Upsilon may have fallen far short of Ro in the past, he no longer did.

“The boss got the time wrong, right? Or you got the time wrong.”

Even knowing that such a possibility was low, Ro said it with a displeased face, and Upsilon replied indifferently.

“We’ll know if it was a mistake once we go up.”

Upsilon’s gaze drifted to the lobby clock. For some reason, the clock that had held no interest a moment ago now drew his eyes. If Robert had truly chosen him as the agent to go on the mission with Ro, then he had finally caught up to Ro. After five years.

“Oh? Colt Run Pharmaceutical is preparing to enter the U.S.?”

At Ro’s small exclamation, Upsilon turned toward him. Ro was looking intently at his phone, as if he had found some interesting news. Not even a minute had passed since he had seemed dissatisfied at the thought that he might have to be partners with Upsilon.

“Let’s head up.”

After ten minutes with no real conversation, Upsilon spoke first. Only then did Ro check the time and slowly rise from his seat. A little later, Ro stood before Robert’s office and lightly knocked on the door. When Robert’s permission to enter came from inside, Ro walked in with Upsilon.

In normal circumstances Robert would have greeted them with something like good morning, or asked if they had enjoyed their vacation, but even though Ro and Upsilon had come in, his serious gaze remained fixed on the documents on the table. Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Ro and Upsilon exchanged a brief look, and Ro spoke first in an attempt to lighten the heavy mood.

“Boss, you’re sure you called me and Upsilon together? I’m kind of hoping this was a mistake and you just set the same time by accident.”

Only then did Robert’s gaze move to Ro and Upsilon, and he formed his usual gentle smile.

“Ro, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but yes, I did call you together. I trust both of you had a nice vacation.”

Robert’s deliberate confirmation that it was no mistake made Ro shrug lightly as if he had expected it. In the meantime, Robert shifted to the sofa in the center of the office and invited the two agents to sit. It meant the explanation would be long.

“Have either of you heard of the name Ashford?”

That was Robert’s first question after Ro and Upsilon sat down. At the unfamiliar name, both Ro and Upsilon remained silent, and Robert continued.

“Even if you don’t know the name Ashford, you’ve probably heard of Ashburn Arlen. That name is more famous in the U.S.”

“Isn’t that a global investment company? I know they do a lot of education, healthcare, and charity work in a rather unusual way.”

Robert nodded at Upsilon’s words.

“Exactly. Ashburn Arlen became famous because, despite being a foreign company, it has been making a good impact by returning a large portion of its profits to American society for decades since entering the U.S. And the owner of that Ashburn Arlen is the British ducal house called Ashford that I just mentioned.”

The Duke of Ashford family was a modern aristocracy praised as financial magnates who moved enormous capital across the United States as their main stage, and as nobles who have thoroughly practiced noblesse oblige for centuries. But they were also an extremely closed-off family, with many things shrouded in secrecy.

The fact that many people, like Ro and Upsilon, were unfamiliar with the name Ashford even though Ashburn Arlen was active in the U.S. was proof of that. As Ro listened quietly to Robert’s explanation, he leaned forward as if he had figured something out.

“So, boss. You’re saying some request came in from that secretive Ashford ducal family?”

“That’s right. And directly from the current Duke of Ashford himself.”

As he said that, Robert set down the document he had been looking at since before Ro and Upsilon entered the office, or more precisely, the letter sent by the Duke of Ashford. At the end of the handwritten letter containing the request, a flowing cursive signature sat beside a clear red seal, the emblem of the House of Ashford.

“As the boss says, the Ashford ducal family sounds like a place that carries out its moral responsibility as a modern noble family and capitalist, or something along those lines… so why would such a place request Amabile’s services?”

Upsilon asked, looking at Robert. A house like the Ashford family making a request to Amabile, a private intelligence agency in a foreign country rather than in Britain where the family’s main residence was, meant it was something that could not be disclosed publicly at the very least.

Robert also thought that given the Ashford family’s long history, there should have been no connection to Amabile at all. The problem was that reality did not seem to agree.

“The internal circumstances of the Ashford family seem complicated, but to put it simply, Ashburn Arlen doesn’t seem to be as upright as it appears on the surface.”

At Robert’s answer, Ro’s face turned indifferent.

“Oh, is this the old cliché that’s even been used as movie material? A company everyone thought was good, but then it turns out it was a brutal evil corporation that even the devil would cry over?”

“I don’t know the details yet, but in summary, that does seem to be the case. What’s unusual, though, is that it wasn’t someone else but the head of the Ashford family who exposed Ashburn Arlen’s true face.”

“Oh, come to think of it, you said the owner of Ashburn Arlen was the Ashford family. Doesn’t the CEO listen to the owner?”

At the question, Robert looked at Ro quietly, seeming lost in thought, then shook his head.

“No, I don’t think so. The Ashford family’s influence over Ashburn Arlen is absolute. If anything, the CEO would be the one watching their step.”