Hayden's erudition was not yet at the level of being able to read and write twenty languages by the age of thirty, but he still had some knowledge of ancient magical languages, such as Sanskrit. This sound, in Sanskrit, probably means something like "flower of dreams" or "flower in a dream."
dream.
Is Karen's dream to purify the earth?
Or perhaps this flower embodies some kind of dream of hers?
074: A good boss?
December passed quickly, and it was January of the following year.
Before anyone knew it, Angela had been by Hayden's side for almost a year.
On the night of March 26th last year, Hayden returned home drunk from Adam's wedding banquet. In his drunken state, he used primal wish magic to accidentally "transform" Angela's soul and infuse it into the body of a clockwork doll.
Half a year has passed, and Hayden would sometimes ponder in his spare time why he was able to conjure up Angela's soul. Was it because of what he ate or drank? Or was it because of the unusual celestial phenomena that night? Hayden even re-examined the star charts and looked at the lunar phases, but he couldn't find anything unusual about it.
"It can't really be that sincerity alone will bring about miracles, can it? Are you kidding me! Do you think I can conjure up another one if I get drunk again and make another wish?!"
Hayden may have been sarcastic, but he certainly didn't believe it. Besides, misusing primitive wish magic could be harmful. Not only would it waste a lot of magic power, but with bad luck, it could even cause self-destruction. A year ago, Hayden might not have cared much about his worthless life, but things were different now.
He's been living such a comfortable life since he got Angela, why bother messing around with primitive magic again? What if he accidentally self-destructs?
So, when people are doing well, they naturally don't want to die, and they might even become a little lazy. Fortunately, Hayden still had the ideal of developing medical potions to help people and he couldn't let go of his concern for his friends, so it was impossible for him to really become lazy.
So, after visiting Karen's Flower Magic Shop, Hayden still had a lot to do over the past month.
Hayden had said he would never start a company, nor was he the kind of person like Alastor who could build an organization. He considered himself a blue-collar mage and had no interest in being a capitalist. So, regarding the matter of the military recruitment agency, Hayden was determined to leave it all to Angela to handle. Whatever tricks she could come up with was up to her; if she couldn't or messed it up, so be it.
And to be honest, Hayden really didn't think Angela could mess it up.
Karen had said that Hayden possessed the ability to foresee the future, a claim Hayden had never believed. He himself practiced divination and prophecy, but always considered it unreliable and only for reference—damn it, he wasn't named Trelawney.
Even though he didn't say it aloud, Hayden had a vague feeling that it wouldn't be long before Angela would come up with something even more outrageous that would scare him half to death.
But that should be something for the future, right? It's not like Angela is going to suddenly come up with something new for Hayden right now, is it?
So, on the one hand, Hayden also had to take care of a few other things.
He didn't concern himself with the mercenary company's affairs, but he still had to take care of Eric. They'd given him the Valkyrie's Heart as a grand gift, hoping to gain the guidance and support of Hayden, the pinnacle of the urban mercenary world—regardless of whether Hayden himself acknowledged this, everyone said so and believed it—so now that Hayden had accepted the gift, even giving it to Angela, how could he possibly ignore this apprentice who had brought his own provisions?
Moreover, Hayden has been eating Angela's food for nearly a year, and he's gradually becoming more and more extraordinary, somewhat resembling a cyborg. More interaction with Eric might allow Hayden to learn something. The secrets of the gods are difficult to grasp, but cyborgs, as secondary Coordinators, are clearly a good source of inspiration for Hayden.
But then again, what could Hayden possibly teach him?
This was really hard to think of, so much so that Hayden even had to spend time preparing lessons for Eric during this period... But these are just minor details, and we can talk about them slowly later.
Today, Hayden is having dinner with a little girl at an open-air Thai noodle stall filled with the soothing atmosphere of an evening.
The noodle stall owners, a couple, adored the little girl and were delighted to see Hayden, filling their bowls with spicy noodles. Despite her dirty running shoes and tattered pants, the little girl ate with great joy.
Who is this little girl? Why is Hayden eating out with her?
It's actually quite simple: Do you remember the morning Eric first came to visit Hayden, when he beat up a few thugs in the burger joint and protected a little beggar girl?
The little girl had said she had come to New Jersey to find her family. Her father had been murdered in a dispute involving gang smuggling. She herself was wandering around looking for her brother, but had no leads. So Hayden made a deal with her: if the little beggar could tell him any interesting stories from the streets, he would help her find her brother.
This condition was originally just a casual remark; Hayden didn't expect the little girl's information to be of any real use. Unexpectedly, the little girl actually came to him today and told him something: "I haven't seen any Volkov family members on the streets lately. I heard they've stopped doing smuggling."
Isn't this what I beat him up for?
Hayden nodded, taking it as a sign of understanding.
This didn't seem like a reward-worthy piece of information, but Hayden had made her agree to it beforehand, essentially to find a reason for her to work hard while also giving her a helping hand. So after the meal, Hayden quickly went to help the little girl find her brother.
As a result of his search, he discovered something strange:
This little girl's brother is now working as a truck driver for Karen!
Almost all the employees at Karena's flower shop were young women who had just graduated from university and were being pressured by their families to get married, but who didn't want to. However, presumably to ensure a stable supply, she also maintained a small fleet of her own transport vehicles outside the shop, with several large trucks and drivers regularly helping her deliver goods. These drivers, of course, weren't recent graduates; after all, frankly, not many recent female college graduates would be willing to be truck drivers.
The little beggar girl's brother happened to be one of the truck drivers.
Hayden immediately contacted both sides and sent the little beggar, who had been homeless for two months, back to her family, thus bringing a happy ending to everyone. However, Hayden was still a little worried about the working conditions of these blue-collar workers, so he took the opportunity to ask the older brother what it was like working under Karen.
The very first sentence this guy uttered stunned Hayden:
"What? You only need to work ten hours a day?"
The little girl's brother nodded repeatedly: "Yes. Although the boss doesn't pay us drivers any more than other places, we only have to work ten-hour shifts a day, and we can even get one or two days off a week! She even pays out of her own pocket to buy us insurance!"
This is truly astonishing.
Although it was only for a few months after graduation, Hayden wasn't completely absent from work. He remembered that when he first joined the company after graduating from university, he didn't get a single day off in his first month, working a staggering 150 hours of overtime. It sounds incredibly alarming, but in reality, most office workers experience this kind of treatment nowadays.
Even in better companies, shouldn't it be at least 996? You'd be more accurate to say 996 is a blessing for the company!
So, the people under Karen's command only need to work ten hours a day and can rest four to six days a month. To say it's tough is still very tough, but compared to other places, what is it?
So while Hayden sighed, he couldn't help but feel a little confused.
What exactly is Karen's purpose in doing all this?
Ultimately, what Hayden is most concerned about lately is actually Karen's "troublesome matter".
To determine whether Karen is trustworthy, one must ultimately observe her actions. Whether someone is human or divine, a mule or a horse, their style of doing things will eventually become apparent over time. Therefore, Hayden initially spent money and manpower to inquire about Karen's recent activities, and he actually uncovered some interesting information.
First of all, Karen has indeed resigned from her job at the Mitra Corporation. However, not everyone in the Mitra Corporation's New Yatu HR department knows Karen's background, let alone who her father is. In fact, perhaps only a few of her superiors know. Therefore, Karen's resignation hasn't caused much of a reaction within the Mitra Corporation yet; only her superiors are feeling a bit uneasy.
Of course, Karen's father already knew. But what he was thinking now was something Hayden couldn't possibly find out.
Secondly, Hayden initially thought that Karen's flower shop employees were all young women who had just graduated from university, pressured by their families to get married but unwilling to, were imitating the behavior of Diana (Artemis), the goddess of the hunt and chairman of the Mars Group. That strange goddess had always enjoyed gathering a group of young girls or fairies from the mountains and rivers to form a women's hunting party, where they would hunt and travel.
Young girls who remained devoted to the goddess Diana were blessed with immortality and eternal youth. However, if these girls wanted to marry, date, or have sex—Diana would immediately turn hostile, not only banishing them but also punishing them. It's truly unclear whether she was a goddess of lesbianism or a goddess of feminism.
But that's getting off-topic. Hayden doesn't yet have the capacity to criticize the gods. The main point is that, judging from the young female shop assistants around Karen, who were dressed beautifully and received good salaries, he initially assumed Karen was also playing the Roman goddess archetype.
However, now that he knows about the little beggar brother's job as a truck driver and his treatment, his answer is naturally different.
If it were merely the gods favoring beautiful young women and boys, then it wouldn't be anything unusual. Since ancient times, having good looks has always been an advantage with the gods; this has happened all over the world, and countless beautiful young women and boys have been chosen and favored by the gods.
However, the truck drivers under Karen's command were not handsome men or beautiful women.
Some gods also show special compassion and kindness to mortals with special talents. This is an ancient tradition that remains largely unchanged even in the modern pantheon.
However, these mortals had neither special talents nor handsome appearances, yet Karen (the gods) still treated them as human beings, which was quite astonishing.
While Hayden had his brother take his sister home, he kept a close eye on the matter and pondered it carefully.
It's important to understand that treating employees like human beings actually increases the operating costs for capitalists. This isn't something a boss can decide on a whim. Of course, there are well-meaning capitalists, but precisely because they are well-meaning, they increase the company's operating costs, and their profits are actually lower than those of ruthless, exploitative bosses.
In the long run, only the fittest will survive. The more benevolent bosses will be eliminated by the laws of capital, leaving only capitalists who exploit their employees in the world.
Given Karen's background, how could she not understand the importance of learning from history?
But she still chose to do it.
After much deliberation, Hayden could only consider two possibilities: on the one hand, Karen had, after all, worked as a corporate slave in a large company for several years under an assumed name, and deeply understood the suffering of ordinary workers; on the other hand, Karen was probably very confident, unafraid of the market competitiveness of this business, and dared to provide employee benefits.
However, although Kallen's flower magic was unique and rare, Hayden still felt that its market potential was quite limited... unless she could fix "Sabunikaf".
If Karen were to successfully cultivate this miraculous flower that can absorb pollution and purify the earth, she might even have the potential to create a new large company—of course, it's just a potential, since there's a good chance it could be snatched away by another large company along the way.
But in any case, what exactly is the deal with the flower that Karen created?
After much thought, Hayden finally decided that since he couldn't figure it out, he should ask someone!
Of course, you can't ask Karen; it's pointless to ask her. Hayden has to get something useful from other people, from people he doesn't care about, before he'll believe anything.
So Hayden ended up going directly to the Dark Witch Abigail. He told the little witch that he knew a god and wanted to know if her lineage was related to poison...
Do you know how confidential the knowledge you're asking me is?
After hearing what he said, Abigail's lips twitched.
Why should I tell you such important secrets about the gods?
This dark witch is actually just like the priests and witches in ancient religions. For them, the relationships between gods and family genealogies are secret knowledge passed down from father to son, mother to daughter, or master to disciple. Why would they casually tell an outsider?
So Hayden scratched the back of his head: "Then would you like to be my godmother? We've only ever heard of fairy godmothers, having a witch godmother is quite a pioneering move—"
So the witch simply kicked him out of the bar. Apparently, she didn't like the joke.
The matter was eventually put on hold, but Hayden couldn't help but feel a little more trust in Karen.
Another half month passed uneventfully.
One evening in early February, when Hayden came out of his studio after completing an experiment, Angela came to find him and talked about something concerning Karen.
“Master, you once said that you would not concern yourself with matters concerning the Military Mercenary Commune, but this matter is related to Miss Karen, so I feel it is necessary to inform you.”
Her expression unusually troubled.
“Miss Karen’s flower shop sent a rather strange mercenary request to our commune, requiring us to act as guards in the wilderness.”
075: To get rich
This enormous, frog-like monster was the size of an African elephant. It leaped out of the swamp, brandishing four writhing tentacles and a long, fang-filled mouthpart. For some reason, it also had three extendable, pointed eyes on its head.
Fortunately, Eric possessed the eyes of an eagle, the speed of a leopard, and even greater speed than a cheetah. A powerful electric current propelled his body, making him move even faster than the giant frog. His body flashed like lightning, the beast's tentacles and fangs grazing him, instead being deflected by the momentum of its pounce into vulnerable positions. Seizing this opportunity, Eric raised his fist, lightning crackling in his hand—
"no!"
Juliet, who was watching from a short distance away, screamed.
"You can't use lightning! Your psionic energy will contaminate the biological samples!"
Thanks to Eric's lifelong love of martial arts, he was able to quickly change his move at the critical moment. As the lightning missed its target, he swiftly flipped up his long black coat, drew his magic spear from his belt, and locked onto the swamp monster before him—
"no!"
Juliet called again.
"Shooting monsters with guns will also contaminate the samples with gunpowder and metal residue!"
Eric finally snapped: "Huh? Are you serious!?"
But the giant frog of the Magic Swamp charged at Eric again. This time, Eric really didn't have time to dodge.
The next instant, two writhing tentacles lashed out at Eric. The sharp teeth tore at his black coat, failing to penetrate the black dragon hide's defenses, but Eric was still violently sent flying, skimming along the swamp before landing face-first in a mud puddle. However, despite the obvious wounds on his hands and face, Eric quickly scrambled to his feet, blood trickling from his fingertips.
“Anesthetics and other drugs are also unsuitable. Directly applying spells to it will negatively affect the sample's aura, so this is all I can give you!”
As Juliet spoke, she cast a protective arcane spell, enveloping Eric in a semi-transparent blue shield.
"Go for it, Eric! You're the best!"
Eric felt so angry he was about to vomit blood: "You want me to kill a high-risk magical beast with hand-to-hand combat?!"
The young witch didn't reply, but that was clearly what she meant.
The customer is a god, especially since this employer is truly a deity. Left with no other choice, Eric drew a cyan metal battle axe from his waist and angrily leaped towards the swamp beast. The swamp beast roared and pounced again, but this time, its tentacles and fangs failed to harm Eric.
He swung his battle axe with all his might, channeling all the strength into the weapon he had forged himself. The axe sank instantly into the beast's back, causing the giant frog to roar in agony, blood splattering everywhere. It staggered back, flinching, but Eric didn't stop. Attack after attack, he soaked the axe blade in even more blood, mercilessly cleaving the giant frog's head again and again until the beast finally collapsed at Eric's feet, lifeless.
"You fucking wanted biological samples!"
Eric put away his axe and glared at his ex-girlfriend. Juliet stuck out her tongue and quickly grabbed her tools, running over to collect samples.
Hayden, who was standing at a distance to support them, looked at this scene and stroked his chin: "I understand now why Eric doesn't care much about being jilted, while Juliet is still hung up on her ex-boyfriend."
Just spoil her, okay?
Hayden didn't directly help Eric, after all, even if he were to be a mentor, he couldn't spoil his apprentice too much, but the scene still looked quite interesting.
It would be even more fun if they weren't in the wilderness of a swamp right now.
Beyond the modern city lies not only wilderness, desert, and ice fields, but also a swamp south of New Asia. Some might find it better than the desert, at least surrounded by various low-lying plants. But looking at the brown swamp and feeling its distinctive stench permeating the air, Hayden could only say it was a matter of personal opinion.
This land, forgotten by modern people, retains the cold and sticky dampness of winter. Green duckweed floats on the surface of the stagnant pools, while withered grass and rotting thorns stand in the swamp like the corpses left behind by past prosperity.
No modern person would like to stay in such a place, and perhaps even primitive people wouldn't.
But Karen needs a group of guards. She needs to hire a team of mercenaries to protect her and several shop assistants as they come to this desolate swamp to collect samples and conduct experiments.
However, most urban mercenaries dislike working in the wilderness, especially guard duty. Guard work, which "may" involve combat, pays far less than jobs that are geared towards immediate battle, and the added hassle of protecting others is inherently more complicated. From a military perspective, it is generally believed that protecting one person on the battlefield requires at least three people, or even more.
So what about hiring a more reputable military employment company? Of course! But the price will naturally be higher.
So this troublesome job passed around among the middlemen and eventually ended up with the "retribution military employment agency" that's been making waves in New Seattle recently.
After hearing the details of the job, Angela immediately brought Hayden over and got him involved in the mission, though no one knows why.
Incidentally, besides Hayden and Eric, Angela also arranged for a group of former student mercenaries from Yolanda to help with the guards. But they weren't the focus this time, so there's no need to elaborate. In the hazy fog, Hayden, a sufficiently professional mercenary, had already led his team into the northern part of this swamp. What initially appeared to be a vast swamp was actually composed of many ponds, soft mud, and numerous clogged waterways. The more extensive and larger swamp area was further south, but that wasn't their target this time.