Moving Up in the World

Turns out, Emilia had slept at the ministry overnight.

So, while she was noticeably less neat than usual, the Office itself was in good order.

Oliver was there an hour or so early, he had planned to clean up had there been another mess, but they were able to get straight to work.

Chatting with Emilia, Oliver found out about the upcoming evaluations, where certain Lower Officials were elevated to Middle Officials, Middle to High, or the reverse in the cases of poor performance.

Apparently, the rankings were not a direct power structure, but more the magnitude of responsibility that was allocated.

As a Lower Tax Official, Emilia had responsibilities pertaining to the taxes paid by two streets in the city.

There were less independent Lower Officials who manned desks or directly assisted High Officials, but the takeaway was that they did more mathematical grunt work, where Middle or High were more supervisory.

A Middle Tax Official would be responsible for a larger area, or an area that otherwise included complicated economics– such as a market street. All Middle Officials had a team of unofficial people like Oliver working under them, with no exceptions.

High Officials were somewhat different, as they moved into more of an overseer role, making sure numbers added up on a more broad scale, rather than in a specific area.

This seemed like a simpler workload on the surface, but the High Officials did miscellaneous tasks for the ruling family and in coordination with other institutions. Whether it was important domestic work, inter-city trade, or tithes to the capital city.

Suffice it to say, you work well, you move up, get more work and more pay.

Emilia seemed pretty keen to hurry up the corporate ladder, Oliver had a suspicion there was more to it than career ambition, but he wasn’t about to pry.

Actually, he was. ”Why would you want to be a Middle Official, considering it’s just harder work?”

“Do I pay you to ask questions?” She responded flatly while comparing legers.

“No ma’am.” Guess that topic is off limits.

And with that, they stopped talking. Getting there earlier, Oliver was able to work for longer, Emilia had already made up for their missed work the day before, so today’s work was purely excess. They were able to finish at a normal time.

Oliver shouldered his bag, and held out a closed fist to Emilia rather than go straight for the door. She looked up from the last document she was finishing.

“... What?”

“Fist bump.” If she didn’t fist bump, maybe he should have gone to Terique after all.

She raised her fist, and bumped it. “Like that?”

Oliver smiled, did the fist bump explosion, and walked out the door happier than he would have. It was easy to forget his troubles, but he still went on patrol.

—

Oliver got home around sunset with some food, Levi was already back.

Neither had found anything, and Levi didn’t seem to have gotten into any trouble.

With a home and a job, it seemed as if Oliver finally had some semblance of stability, which he found both terrifying and comforting.

Terrifying in the sense that he could probably live out his whole life in this place.

He wasn’t going to settle for that as long as he had the drive to see his family again, but how long would that last.

If Oliver was here for 30 years, would he give up?

“... N-naaah.”

Across the dining table, Levi looked up, “What?”

Oliver didn’t want to share this depressing thought with a nine year old boy, “It’s nothing.”

As unproductive as it was, they didn’t talk about getting home.

Levi didn’t need that.

—

Two days passed, It was now the 20th, and they’d had to deal with a couple more events of sabotage.

According to Emilia, the evaluation was 10 days away, and internal politics at the ministry was picking up.

Oliver made his way back from another unsuccessful patrol, arriving at the apartment around sunset.

He tried to push away poisonous thoughts of how many people he was unable to watch for. At least there hadn’t been any executions since he found Levi.

He swung his way up the staircase, carrying food for him and Levi in a paper bag.

He knocked for Levi to let him in, but his fist moved the door.

It was ajar.

Oliver dropped the food.

He pushed the door open.

“Oliver Crest, is it? I am here for a little home visit.”

Oliver flinched in the doorway, face darkening. “Why?”

The man had the same smooth and deep voice as the one that had intruded on him his first morning at the ministry. The blonde Official was sat comfortably in one of the dining table chairs, lithe elbows rested on long slender legs.

The man was practically a giraffe. Levi was tensed up on the chair next to him, shooting pleading looks at Oliver. He didn’t seem to be harmed.

The Official offered Oliver a seat, as if it wasn’t Oliver’s apartment, but Oliver was not in a cooperative mood.

“To whom and what do I owe the… inconvenience?”

The Official frowned, but shrugged as he spoke. “I am High Official Curtis Ledrein, I have come with an offer of employment.”

As if he was presenting the most appealing opportunity in the world, Curtis beamed, “You seem skilled enough, so I have come personally to scout you for my team.”

Again? And a High Official this time? Oliver didn’t need to consider this offer though, how could he work for someone with no regard for personal boundaries?

Oliver, still in the doorway, said simply, “Leave.”

Curtis raised an eyebrow, “What if I double your pay?”

Oliver’s eye twitched, “Leave.”

Curtis narrowed his eyes, and stood.

After doing so, he patted a shivering Levi on the head, and turned with the most fake smile Oliver had ever seen. “It seems Official Steel is quite the personality.”

Curtis walked right up to Oliver, unsettlingly close, “We’ll have to come to a different arrangement. What compels you to work for the girl? What could compel you to do the opposite?”

Oliver had thought that not taking a step back might show his confidence, but feeling Curtis’ breath on his forehead was gross, so he sidestepped the lanky man.

“Leave. My. Apartment. Now.” Oliver was keeping it together.

Curtis frowned, not concerned with Oliver’s insistent request.

“How about… Ah! Stop working for her, or there will be consequences!” The Official smiled smugly.

Consequences?

“Hmmm.” Curtis glanced sidelong at Levi. “I have something in mind.”

Oliver was becoming more and more… angry…

“What part of ‘leave’ is so difficult to understand?”

Curtis smiled, too wide, "Very well. Let me just say, if you don’t make some changes quite soon, there’ll be more to regret than some sullied documents.”

However goofy Curtis’ countenance, a threat was a threat.

Oliver struggled against good reason, which was to de-escalate. He could even give in to Curtis’ demands without much trouble, he’d only been working for just under two weeks, he didn’t hold much loyalty to Emilia.

But Curtis wasn’t offering a negotiation, he was offering a threat. Oliver didn’t do well with submitting or admitting defeat. If the Official knew that, they were riling Oliver up on purpose.

Giving in to his impulses, Oliver bared his teeth. “Regret? If you so much as inconvenience a hair on mine or Levi’s head, you’ll learn the meaning of the word.”

Oliver reached for the Official’s navy collar, but Curtis grabbed Oliver’s arm in an iron grip, and bent over him, filling his field of view.

Oliver didn’t back down, but Curtis seemed to enjoy this. “Think about my offer, I will see you around.” He released Oliver’s arm and walked out of the apartment.

The click of the door resumed the passage of time in the room. Oliver was awash in anger, mostly because of Curtis, partly because of his own actions.

He glanced at Levi, who was watching, scared.

Oliver had made things more dangerous for Levi, without taking his opinions into account.

Adults are supposed to be responsible.

Oliver averted his eyes, and started taking some deep breaths. After a couple minutes, feeling calm enough to act normally, Oliver asked, “Levi, did that man say anything to you that I should know?”

Levi, now conscious of Oliver’s temper, hesitated for a few seconds, but answered, “He… I was trying to keep out of sight, but he spotted me as I was listening to people walking down the street. I didn’t know he was there, but he followed me all the way to our apartment, and appeared when I unlocked the door.”

“He told you this?”

“Yes, I should have- should have been more careful.” Levi started hiccuping, “I’m sorry, I said I was going to be careful.” His voice wobbled.

Oliver felt the oppressive air as Levi struggled to hold back tears, “I’m sorry too, I made it worse, so don’t feel bad.”

He walked up to the boy, still curled on the wooden chair, and hesitated, because he didn’t know Levi, but kneeled so they were eye to eye. “I made a mistake, I will try to fix it, we’ll be fine.”

Levi kept trying to be strong, to not cry, but he became overwhelmed with the emotion he’d been holding back, “I jus… I wanmy daaad.”

And it all flooded out.

Oliver knit his eyebrows, almost crying himself. He sat there, useless, ineffective, a failure. Who was he to comfort Levi? Levi had kept it together so far.

Levi kept crying, trying to wipe the tears out of his eyes, but it was useless. They just kept coming.

He clearly didn’t think he could rely on Oliver.

Stone-faced, Oliver went out to pick up the dinner he’d dropped, which was cold by that point.

Both of them began eating, Levi between hiccups.

“Well, we might have to rethink you going out by yourself.”

Levi looked up at Oliver, visibly shaken. Nodding seriously like an adult, when any boy his age should be given reprieve.

They sat in silence for a while, thinking. Levi sniffling.

Oliver raised his head, as if he’d decided something, “... Look, we can go information gathering together, every second day. I’ll cut back on excursions outside the walls, they haven’t turned anything up.”

Levi nodded at that, firming, becoming less dejected.

“How long had you been in this world by the time I found you?”

“Um, more than a week.”

“... That– I’ve been thinking, maybe people aren’t still appearing. Maybe it was a one time event. That lines up with when I appeared.”

Levi considered this, “That must be why nobody else has shown up.”

Oliver snapped his fingers, “Exactly. I’ll still go, but by this point, people are either in a city or otherwise stable.”

Both of them sat straighter. Some direction, at last.

“... That still means you’ll need to stay in the apartment, pretty much most of the time.”

Now that he thought of it, how did parents manage to work full time jobs with children at home… Levi was a primary school student.

School, community, information.

Oliver thought. Are there schools for children in Willowhaven? No, even if there was, Levi’s capable of more than that. Not schools for children– something helpful, a weak point in Oliver’s understanding that needs shoring up.

If not schools for children– The Scholarium, a seeming cornerstone of this society. Magic, culture, government.

“Levi, I have an idea, maybe you’ll be able to do more than simply go around listening to people.”

Levi raised his head, “What?”

Oliver, inappropriately given the bleak atmosphere, developed something of a mischievous glint, “... Would you like to learn magic?”

Levi widened his eyes. “The Scholarium?”

“You’ve heard of it?”

“I know that only rich people go there.”

“Anybody your age?”

“Y- yeah there is. Rich people, like I said. Do we have enough money though?”

“Well, I guess we'll figure that out.”

They had new problems to navigate, but that was fine.

Call it improper, but neither could help but grin.

Now we’re getting somewhere.