Chapter 218: Meeting The Black Snow Company

I watched from behind as Levi and Nisha stepped through the entrance. Before they’d made it two steps, the lady bolted toward them and leaped onto Levi, nearly taking him off his feet. He staggered back, arms wrapping around her instinctively.

“Levi!!”

The man followed at a more measured pace. Brown-skinned, grey-eyed, with black hair that fell across his forehead in damp-looking strands. Glasses perched on his nose, held in place by a cord that looped behind his neck. He moved with the easy confidence of someone who knew exactly where he stood in the pecking order.

He reached Nisha first and pulled her into a brief embrace. Then, as Levi finally extracted himself from the lady’s grip, the man turned to him.

“You made it back alive.” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “That’s a relief.”

They clasped hands, and Levi grinned.

“Why would I die? That would be unfair to you.”

The man’s eyes went wide, and he sharply adjusted his glasses by the corner of the frame.

“If you don’t want to be unfair to me, then perhaps we should consider…”

“Granny!” Levi shouted, cutting him off before he could finish. He was already moving, crossing to the old lady standing at the entrance and folding her into a hug. He had to bend nearly in half to reach her.

“You shouldn’t be out here. Who stressed you?” He shot a glare at the bespectacled man. “Was it Milo?”

’So that’s Milo.’

Levi swung his gaze back to the old woman.

“Don’t mind him. He can be so annoying.”

The lady fixed him with a look of mild disgust.

“Did I say I was complaining? You’re the boss. Of course I should come out to greet you.” Her gaze shifted, settling on me with unsettling directness. “Besides… didn’t you bring an important visitor?”

I stiffened as her eyes met mine. Her grey hair was tied back without a single strand out of place. She looked like something cut from a Victorian painting, pearl necklace and earrings catching the light, a dull white gown flowing to her ankles, one hand resting on a wooden cane. The effect was almost theatrical in its precision.

I tried to look away, but Levi spoke before I could.

“Oh, of course. Everyone, meet Cade. He’s an Otherworlder.”

A strange silence suddenly enveloped the front of the base.

In that stillness, Levi gestured toward Tristan as an afterthought.

“And this is Tristan. You know Tristan.”

Still nothing. The lady, the two women in black-and-white servant attire standing behind the old woman, all of them just… stared.

Then the girl stepped forward, her face becoming less distant as she approached.

Long midnight-blue hair spilled down her back in glossy waves, catching hints of teal where the light touched it. Like moonlit water folding over itself. Her eyes were a piercing turquoise, too vivid to be merely decorative, holding a quiet confidence that felt older than her soft features suggested.

A pale dress clung to her figure, simple in cut but made delicate by small ornamental ties at the sides. They accentuated her frame perfectly and made it quite evident that her chest fell somewhere between small and non-existent.

At least her lower body seemed to compensate, almost as if the creator had started getting serious when he reached that area. But it wasn’t anything extraordinary. Not even close to Maggie.

’Although…’

Her smallness had its own allure. I just wasn’t sure if I was into that kind of allure.

“You’re an Otherworlder?!” She whipped her head toward Levi before I could even open my mouth. “Is he going to be working with us from now on?!”

Levi grabbed her collar and shoved her back a step.

“Not everyone appreciates you shoving your pretty face at them, Cress.”

Instead of fighting back, which everything about the past few seconds suggested she would, she merely squirmed in a strange way. Almost pleased.

“Levi… you think I’m beautiful.”

Meanwhile, the old woman stepped forward and studied me for a long moment. Then she exhaled.

“This one looks like trouble.”

Levi chuckled.

“As expected of you, Granny. You’re not wrong.” He glanced at me with something like approval. “But that’s what makes him interesting.”

The old woman shook her head.

“What a weird one you are.”

Levi turned to me with a small smile.

“This is Grandmother. She’s our accountant.”

Grandmother fixed him with a tilted glare.

“Accountant? What is that supposed to mean?”

Levi chuckled again.

“Ah, right. Accountant sells it short. She’s in charge of our finances as a company, but she does more than that. She makes sure everyone and everything that needs to get paid gets paid. And nothing gets traced.”

I lowered my head in a respectful greeting.

A smile blossomed across her face, warm and sudden, and she took my hands in hers.

“Welcome to Black Snow, my child. You can call me Grangran.”

I returned the smile.

“Grangran. Thank you.”

She laughed, delighted. “Right away! I like him already!”

’Didn’t she just say I looked like trouble? Does she have dementia?’

Levi laughed and continued the introductions.

“The girl is Cressida. She’s one of the company’s primary combat assets, alongside Nisha and Po. Rank C Regular Summoner. A fearsome ranged combatant.” He paused, his expression turning wry. “Even I don’t want to be on the receiving end of her firearms.”

I stiffened internally at the word.

’There are firearms in this world?’

Of course there were. Why was I surprised? There had to be, considering the level of technology I’d noted since arriving. The mechanisms were different, of course, heavily dependent on spirit essence, which honestly made them even more interesting.

The midnight-blue-haired girl planted herself in front of me, smiling with entirely too much energy.

“Welcome, Cade! Glad to meet you!”

I managed a smile back.

“Thank you, Cressida.”

The two servants stepped forward, and Levi gestured toward them.

“These are Ophelia and Odelia. They help with mundane chores and anything else you might need.”

Both bowed their heads in perfect sync. Black hair tied into matching ponytails, pristine skin, deep dark eyes. It would have been easy to mistake them for twins based on their features alone.

But they weren’t. The differences were there if you looked. Ophelia’s skin tone ran warmer. Odelia’s cheekbones sat thinner on her face, and she stood slightly taller.

’Actually, I take that back.’

They had far more similar features than differences. The resemblance was almost uncanny.

Levi watched me with an expression that suggested he was enjoying this.

“And no, they aren’t twins. They aren’t even from the same mother. Not blood related at all.”

My eyes widened.

I had no issues believing they weren’t twins. But that they weren’t blood related at all sent a genuine shock through me.

“Ah… I see.”

He let out a satisfied breath.

“Okay then. Introductions over. Let’s head in.”

He paused. Turned back.

“Oh, and I know you’ve all been busy, but we have a job. A big one.”

The atmosphere shifted immediately. Grangran’s expression hardened. The lightness drained from the room.

“Owie! Come on!” Cressida’s complaint cut through the tension. “We only just finished one! Let us rest!”

Ophelia and Odelia looked moments away from collapsing where they stood.

“How big?” Grangran’s voice, ancient and measured, steadied the room somewhat.

Even Milo leaned forward, waiting on Levi’s response.

But it was Nisha who answered. She curved one corner of her lips upward.

“Manhattan big.”

Every eye in the room went wide.

“What?!”

“We’re finally going after them?!”

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