Before they went out to meet the other Department Heads, Aries made Cole sign a formal job applicant form and some contract papers.

The job form was digital like everything else and Cole signed on it using the tablet which automatically came with a stylus. But for the contract, Aries brought out two sheets of paper which looked aged and quite weathered.

One was similar to parchment from the Medieval Ages and came with a quill and pen while the other was filled with characters that Cole recognized to be "Zhonghua" characters that came with a calligraphy brush and an inkstone.

"Hmm? Aren"t these Zhonghua characters?"

"Zhonghua? This is a piece of Enchanted Paper〈Huaxia Zone〉It allows the user to create agreements that the parties involved have to obey or divine judgment falls upon them. It"s the place where all those Chinese people from the〈Times Zone〉disappeared into."

"Eh? So... The people from Zhonghua are basically just Chinese people? What"s with the different name? Looks like I"ll have to pay a visit when I have the chance."

"Anway, I"m a.s.suming the other one serves the same purpose?"

"Yeah, except it"s from the〈Fantasia Zone〉They have the same purpose but there are a few minor differences."

Aries handed the two papers to Cole to which he made sure to read thoroughly. Although considering how important of an organization〈S.T.E.L.L.A〉seemed to be, he still wanted to look out for any funny clauses or clever wordings that could be used against him.

"Don"t worry, the contract is perfectly balanced."

Then out of nowhere, Libra appeared crouching over Cole. Cole didn"t show any surprise on his face since he had already speculated that Libra would pull a stunt like this since they just did it earlier this morning.

He wouldn"t even be surprised if the moment he left the office, Libra would disappear again.

Aries expressed shock on her face when Libra appeared out of thin air but it quickly changed into that of familiarity.

"Oh, Libra! You really did form a contract this dude. Looks like I really shouldn"t have gone and a.s.sumed things just like that."

"I"m surprised no one has overthrown you yet if you a.s.sume things like this all the time."

"Oi, this is only one of those rare occasions, okay!"

Cole had seriously thought that it was a miracle she hadn"t been overthrown by one of the other Department Heads.

But he then realized that probably due to money being one of her weak spots, she probably learned all she could just so she could enjoy even one more coin of that sweet moolah.

After Cole had affirmed that the contract was indeed in no way biased against him, Cole signed the two papers with their respective... pen? Writing equipment? Whatever.

He handed the papers back to Aries.

"That"s a nice signature. Cole Steward... That"s your name?"


"Ah, I haven"t formally introduced myself have I?"

Cole stood up and extended his hand towards Aries.

"Cole Steward, A transmigrator."

"Eh? Okay... Rory Konrad, also known as Aries. But when in public, please address me as Aries. It"s the same with the other Department Heads and will now apply to you. We"ll go meet them."

"Rory? I guess it suits her."

"Transmigrator? Is he joking or is he just like..."

Cole introduced himself as such just because he didn"t think any harm would be brought if other people would know of such things. He waited for an opportunity for Felicia and Eva mainly because he had a.s.sumed they had a close relationship with the previous Cole.

Both of them had their own thoughts running through their head when a figure burst into the room.

"President! Sir Cole!"

To be more specific, it was Crux. He was covered in dirt and was breathing heavily which made it seem as if he had run a great distance just to alert the two of something when he was just a few feet away.

"What is it?"

Aries glared a bit at Crux due to him coming in unannounced and him forgetting to knock. Despite her looks, Aries valued politeness very highly.

"The Queen of the Demon Realm... Queen Lucille is coming to visit!"

"What?!"

"Oh."

When she heard Lucille"s name being uttered, Aries"s face changed into one of both shock and delight while Cole didn"t really have anything to say about the matter.

Cole was planning to ask Aries as to what exactly they were supposed to do when Aries dragged him out of the office and practically threw him into one of the still-working elevators and pushed the close b.u.t.ton as fast as she could.

But on the way, she gave Crux a thumbs up to signify his good work to which he simply responded with a dumbfounded gaze.

".... What the..."

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"Umm... Aries, shouldn"t I be meeting my co-workers?"

"Don"t worry! They"ll probably also be there to greet Lucy."

Cole had also guessed such considering that Crux even went to alert her, the President. But he also had doubts about it since he could have just done so because it was obvious that Aries seemed to have a close relationship with her.

Her face would switch from her leader-like facade before melting into one of pure bliss for the entirety of the short elevator ride.

*Ping Pong*

The elevator doors slid open and Aries had already fully regained her composure and Cole had kept his emotionless face on the entire time.

When they stepped out of the elevator, there were a total of 5 people that seemed they held some kind of power in the organization with their appearances that were noticeable even among the plentiful amount of unique faces there were in〈S.T.E.L.L.A〉

2 of them belonged to ones that Cole had already met before. It was Gemi and Mini. They were sitting on one of the lobby"s sofas and were casually viewing something on their tablets.

There were 3 new and unique faces that Cole had noticed. One of them belonged to a young girl that seemed no older than 10 or 11 years old.

He had noticed her first mainly due to how out of place she seemed in comparison to the others.

She had wavy blonde hair that could be described as golden and ocean blue eyes that reminded Cole of one of his few friends back in his previous life. She was wearing a frilly dress that was a mix of light blue, white, pink and white boots with gold embroidery that had engines embedded at the back of them which gave the girl a pure and innocent image that felt slightly off.

"... I bet that she"s a 100 to 300-year-old grandma inside. And probably Virgo since she"s never gonna get rid of it like that since no one here is stupid enough to take jailbait."

There was a faint figure of a woman that floated near her but Cole didn"t include her in his face count and concluded that she was the girl"s Contracted Spirit or possibly something else.

Another one was a man dressed quite shabbily and only some baggy jeans and a gray jacket on him and he had some stubble and some intense eyebags. He was intensely typing on a laptop and seemed to be around the same age or a bit older than Cole.

His hair was black but had a few azure highlights popping up from here and there. His eyes were the same shade of blue like his hair highlights and he had sneakers that had boosters similar to the girl"s attached to them.

Considering that there weren"t any specialized Mechanica features that stood out and the only features that said that they were Mechanica were their power-shaped pupils and headphones in exchange for ears.

Cole thought that there were either Support-types or maybe a Sub-type that he hadn"t been told about yet.

The last one was a man who reached well over 2 meters in size. He was extremely buff and had his hairy chest popping out of his white polo that was rolled up to his elbows showcasing his equally hairy arms which had a cla.s.sy black vest similar to Cole"s on top.

The sofa he was sitting on was one made with future technology so it probably wouldn"t break any time soon. Probably.

His face was... Eye-catching.

Well not really his face, but more like what was covering his face. His head was covered in a black Bull skull that shared the same futuristic traits as everything else in the building and also had streaks running across it but unlike Aries"s, his streaks were yellow and had horns extending out of it that glowed an earthy yellow and it felt as if the could bash through anything.

The place where the eye sockets were used as a place to put his headphones through and there was a line that ran from one end to another horizontally that served as the visor part for the helmet.

There were similar pieces of metal that covered the exact same places as Aries and Leo.

As for Leo, Cole could tell that with the timid nature of his, there was no way he was a Department Head and just probably had the name.

Aries and Cole walked towards them to which Virgo(?) enthusiastically waved when she saw us while Pisces(?) and both Gemi and Mini were still focused on their own things.

Taurus(?) seemed to notice them and just gave a solemn nod.

"He seems cool..."

"Oi! It"s only you guys here?"

Aries felt irritated on the inside that all of the Department Heads couldn"t spare a single bit of time to welcome her precious little Lucy.

"Those ingrateful sc.u.m! To think that they"re Department Heads!"

"Umu! The rest are still swamped with work and don"t you remember that Lil" Leo and Aquarius were sent on a mission?"

"Oh, that"s right..."

Virgo(?) replied like a cheerful little child but the tone she used when addressing two other Department Heads was that of a mom talking about her mischievous little kids.

"You"re a responsible leader... You"re a responsible leader... You"re a responsible leader..."

After hypnotizing and reminding herself that she should be a good leader. She then inhaled and exhaled repeatedly as if to expel some kind of stress.

"Aiya? Who"s the good-looking man behind your back?"

"I"ll introduce him later. Anyway, Lucy is...!"

Aries was about to explain to the people present about the grand welcoming plan she had thought of up in her head even though Lucille could arrive at any moment.

"Ah, Leader. Budget increase please!"

"You can talk to the man in charge later. Anyway, Lucy is...!"

Unfortunately, she was then interrupted by Pisces(?) with the raise of his hand.

〖Leader, I would like more recruits to train.〗

"You can discuss it with the person in charge later. Anyway, Lucy is...!"

She was then interrupted again by Taurus(?) whose voice reminded Cole of that one character in a certain anime that looked a bit like a monsterized Crab.

"Leader, you have some dirt in your hair."

"Leader, Lucille dislikes people openly showing their abdomen."

"You can-- Wait, really? Where?"

"Umm, Aries. Lucille has just entered the building."

Gemi and Mini took up the opportunity to mess with Aries for a bit but Aries didn"t have enough time to actually check if she was dirty or not when Cole announced the arrival of a familiar guest.

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