I Would Rather Be a Rogue [BL]
Chapter 129: Job Negotiations

Chapter 129: Job Negotiations

Felix went to the witch’s house without the boxes. Yes, he was supposed to bring them to the witch... But! Couldn’t the witch at least help him out by casting a spell that would shrink the boxes or something? So that Felix could bring them all in one go, without running back and forth with the wheelbarrow? It shouldn’t be too much to ask, right?

Besides! It was the witch’s fault in the first place. He could have had all the boxes delivered to his door by Kade. Sure, he may not have known that Kade would bring double the amount of each requested ingredient... But even if he hadn’t, it would still be a lot! If the witch wanted Felix to be the one to receive the ingredients so much, why couldn’t he at least ask him to do it in the witch’s house? Then Felix wouldn’t have a problem with transporting them now... The witch knew he didn’t have a car!

Either way, he decided to leave the boxes at home for now, while he went to meet with the witch. He would just deliver them later, if the witch asked him to!

Remi was already gone. He had sneaked out shortly after dinner, while Felix was doing the dishes, probably to prepare for the visit. Thus, as soon as he was done, Felix put on his jacket and shoes, tucked Vivi in the pram, and headed straight toward the witch’s house.

The door opened after the first knock, letting Felix in. Just like the last time, he left the pram inside, right by the door, and passed the simplified version of the maze with his pup in his arms, until he reached the usual meeting room. Since the waxing gibbous was shining brightly in the sky outside, the inside of the witch’s house was appropriately dark. As for the witch... He was sitting on the chair, in the male version of his witchy outfits... With the spiky hat still stuck on his head, covering his eyes.

As if Felix hadn’t seen him without the hat already.

Still, he knew that trying to get the witch to admit anything wouldn’t work... And he himself wasn’t quite ready to talk about that night, so he just let out a quiet sigh, put Vivi in the cradle, and took a seat opposite the witch.

"I’m glad you decided to stop by today," the witch smiled. As if he hadn’t been the one who made Felix come! But Felix was too distracted by how seductive the witch’s voice sounded to point that out. "How was your first shift?"

"It was... okay." Boring and monotonous, but still alright. However, "If I may... I would like to discuss my duties once again."

"Oh? Is there anything you didn’t like?" the witch tilted his head.

"...Yes. If possible, I would prefer to avoid meeting with your clients."

Felix was still trying to stay low-key, after all. Meeting all sorts of people, both human and supernatural beings, who requested the witch’s services, would be the opposite of that... And he didn’t want to attract too much attention. Even if he were under the witch’s protection, if a wrong person took notice of him, or worse, recognized him somehow... Things could get messy.

Luckily, the witch had no problem with this condition. "Of course. I only requested you meet with our client today since it was someone you introduced, while I had other matters to attend to."

Felix lifted his brows, giving the witch a long, doubtful look.

Other matters to attend to? Lounging on Felix’s couch and climbing onto his lap didn’t seem like particularly important ’matters’... It was just what the fox did every day.

But, since the witch agreed to his condition, he would let it slide.

"Alright. So, my duties will be... Keeping track of the orders, ingredients, and the accounts?" he asked to confirm.

"Yes, that’s mostly it. You can also help me with brewing the potions."

"...How? I know nothing about potions," Felix pointed out.

"It doesn’t matter. I will tell you what to do..." the witch smiled.

Felix hesitated for a moment. Asking someone ignorant for help seemed counterintuitive, it would probably be more efficient for the witch to work alone... But a chance to witness how the magic worked behind the scenes didn’t come every day. Felix had to admit he was a bit curious, thus, he nodded his head, "Alright. When should I start?"

"How about tomorrow? We could start brewing the potions for that cursed Alpha."

Cursed Alpha? The witch probably meant Kade’s father.

"Alright," Felix agreed.

"As for your salary..." The witch stated a quote.

Felix’s eyes widened.

It was around four times higher than Felix’s monthly spendings!

And that wasn’t all, since the witch soon added, "That is only your base pay, of course. You will also receive bonuses for every potion you help brew. If that’s still not enough, then how about..."

"It’s enough, I’m satisfied with it!" Felix quickly reassured. It was already too much, accepting any higher payment just wouldn’t sit right with him! Brielle might have told him to milk the witch as much as he could, but... As long as he had enough money to support himself and his daughter, plus a bit left to save in case there was any emergency, Felix was satisfied.

"Great." The witch waved his hand, summoning two pieces of parchment, an ornamental bottle of ink, and a feather quill. He quickly scribbled out the details of the deal... That is, their employment contract, in his usual, ornamental handwriting, signed it at the bottom, and handed it to Felix together with the quill. Felix quickly scanned the text, confirming that everything was as they had discussed...

And then he paused, as his eyes reached the bottom.

"...Your name is ’Remi’?" he couldn’t help but ask.

"It is, isn’t it?" the witch smiled.

"...The same as my pet fox?"

"What an amazing coincidence!"

Felix stared at the witch... at Remi, dumbfounded. ’Remi’ was just a name he had given the fox a long time ago, when he didn’t know that his fox was the witch (although he had already some suspicions regarding his identity). It couldn’t possibly be the witch’s name... Even though he didn’t know what his real name was, and neither did Brielle.

He didn’t know what was more surprising: that the witch adopted this name he casually came up with, or that he was using it while still pretending that he and the fox were not the same!

Eventually, though, he let out a sigh, and grabbed the quill to sign the parchments. If the witch liked the name, then so be it, Felix had nothing against him using it!

As they sat in the witch’s house, in the dimmed candlelight, completing their contract, neither of them was aware that in the forest miles away, something made its way toward Silverfall...