RISE OF EROS

Although Andrew, Oliver, and Gaston had entered the office, Candice was still reviewing her documents, not looking up. It was only after a few minutes that Candice finished reviewing the documents on her desk and stood up to receive them.

"Nice to see you again Ms. Candice. You look more beautiful than usual," Andrew said as he saw her get up. "You must bring a very important request to greet me with such exaggerated flattery," Candice said with her trademark smile.

Andrew sported an uncomfortable smile, as he scratched his head because he knew Candice had read him like an open book. Candice didn't make things difficult for him and still smiling said, "Well, let's stop kidding around. Tell me, Mr. Andrew, to what do I owe this visit?".

Seeing Candice put on a serious expression, Andrew stopped joking, but did not explain the situation, instead he made a small hand gesture and Oliver stepped forward to explain the situation.

"Ms. Candice, just as you said, we bring a request of utmost importance." Candice and Gaston furrowed their eyebrows as they saw that the one who would explain the situation was Oliver, but they said nothing, just waiting patiently for him to speak.

"I guess I'll give you a little context. A while back we encountered a new enemy. This man is quite powerful and we're having a hard time dealing with him without drawing attention to ourselves, so we decided to keep an eye on him while we come up with a plausible plan," Oliver began to explain when Candice interrupted him, "You want me to help you deal with this enemy?"

"Yes, but not in the way you may be thinking. You see, the situation is not as simple as eliminating one person," Oliver said in a deep voice. This gave them to understand that the situation was severe and Candice and Gaston seemed to realize that because their expression changed as they noticed Oliver's tone of voice.

"So, what do you need from us?" asked Candice and Oliver continued his explanation, "Yesterday, our agents intercepted a messenger hawk. This message had very little information, it just said to initiate the operation."

Although Oliver paused, no one spoke and they waited for him to resume his story, "At first, we thought it was a message from some ally of this guy who would help him deal with us, but one of our agents decided to follow the hawk and to our surprise the bird flew out of the city."

"An outside agent?" asked Candice, but before anyone could say anything, she added, "But that doesn't make sense, what could an outside agent possibly gain by getting rid of you?"

Oliver smiled at Candice's comment, as it was the same conclusion they had come to, so he said, "Indeed, we didn't understand either, that's why we decided to wait, however, earlier today morning, this man's right-hand man left town."

Oliver paused his explanation again, allowing Candice and Gaston to take in what he was telling them, and continued, "This man came to a nearby city and bought infected animals and slaves, so we confirmed our assumption."

"Infected animals and slaves?", Candice repeated quietly as if she was thinking something, but this time it was Gaston who asked, "What is your guess?", however, before Oliver could answer, Candice exclaimed, "¡They want to bring them into the capital!".

Andrew was incredibly surprised at Candice's deductive ability but tried to hide it as much as he could. Gaston on the other hand was frowning, as he didn't understand what it meant, but the quietest was Oliver.

It seemed that Oliver was waiting for Candice to deduce the situation and calmly continued to explain, "Ms. Candice is awesome. Yes, that's what we believe. Based on our intelligence, we believe these men are spies from other countries who want to cause chaos in the capital."

Hearing Oliver's conclusion, Gaston could not hold back and hide an expression of horror. It was a normal reaction, as the stampede of monsters had passed a few days ago and now they were facing another much more complicated crisis.

Candice, on the other hand, was more competent than him, as she was able to hide her surprise, even so, her thoughts were the same as Gaston's, and with some hesitation, she asked, "How sure are you?"

"Honestly speaking, about 70%, but if confirmation is received from our agent following the hawk, we will be able to determine if our hypothesis is correct," Oliver replied.

"So, what you need are my contacts with the nobility, right?", Candice said recovering her usual smile, being a smart woman, she came to the same conclusion as Oliver and that was that this situation could be an opportunity, although she didn't rule out that it was also a threat.

"That's right. We know you have a friendship with Marques Valoide's wife and we believe, he has the ability to make this situation known to the proper authorities," Oliver said smiling as did Candice.

Listening to Oliver, Candice fell into deep thought. Not because she was evaluating what she should do because she had already determined that at the moment she deduced what was going on, but rather she was evaluating Oliver's ability to gather and analyze information.

"Mr. Andrew, you have an impressive subordinate," Candice said smiling at Andrew, who replied, "Well, he certainly is a great ally." This comment, again surprised Candice, as the implications of Andrew referring to Oliver as an ally left much to be said, but she merely smiled.

"So, Ms. Candice, what do you think? I don't think I need to explain the pros and cons of this situation, do I?" interrupted Oliver, causing Candice to focus on him again.

"It is not necessary, however, you will understand that I cannot notify this without confirmation," Candice said seriously, but Oliver was unfazed and replied, "Of course, what we want to know is if you will help us with this issue, if our agent confirms that the hawk belongs to a foreign force."

"That's not necessary to ask. I don't want an epidemic in the city. Business is troubled enough after the stampede, I don't want to think about what would happen with an epidemic, but I want to ask, what do you want to gain?" asked Candice curiously.

"Although, certainly helping you would allow you to eliminate an enemy, but I don't think you just want that do you?", Candice added and Oliver went on to answer, "That's right. It's really nice to talk to an intelligent person. We want benefits, but nothing over the top, this situation will benefit you just as much as us."

Candice was impressed by Oliver's words but said nothing, just waiting for him to continue. "Whatever merits the empire awards for this information will be yours. If you think we deserve some, we won't refuse, but what we really want is help dealing with another enemy."

"You seem to have a lot of enemies, Mr. Andrew," Candice said again looking at Andrew, who could only laugh wryly and say, "What can I say, I have a lot of valuable things and a lot of vultures stalking me."

Although Andrew's comment seemed like a simple sentence, Gaston and Candice understood the implications and practically at once said, "Johan?"

"Indeed. The wolf, finally showed his claws and our confidence was damaged. However, getting rid of him will be problematic because of his connections, so we need help," Andrew replied with some anger.

"We believe that, if our guess information is correct, the empire will retain the nobles allied with him and allow us to deal with him," Oliver added and continued, "Also, with Johan disappearing, we would need a new distribution channel for our products. We understand that Ms. Candice has some investments in the beauty sector, right?".

The implications in Oliver's comment made both Candice and Gaston narrow their eyes because they knew what Oliver meant was that they would be the new channel and they were very clear about the value of the rejuvenating creams.

"I see. It's really not a bad deal, but it's only applicable, if the information is truthful," Candice said without changing her expression, but inside, she was resigned that the information was real, as she would gain a lot from this deal.

After that, a strange silence fell in the office and when Candice wanted to start the conversation again, she was interrupted by the flapping of a carrier pigeon that came through the window.

Not only Candice and Gaston were surprised at the strange timing for a carrier pigeon to arrive, but Andrew and Oliver were also surprised, as the pigeon that came in was one of the ones they used to communicate with Candice.

The pigeon landed on the window frame, but no one moved to pick up the message. The four looked at each other and it was Andrew who broke the silence, "Can we?".

Candice didn't respond, just nodded her head, giving him to understand that they could proceed and Oliver walked over to the pigeon and took the message. Unceremoniously Oliver opened the message and began to read it.

Since it wasn't very long, he finished reading it quickly and passed it to Andrew, who didn't delay either. Andrew gave a slight smile and handed the message to Candice.

Gaston wanted to intercept the message, as he was still on guard with Andrew and Oliver. Certainly, he considered them allies, but that didn't mean he didn't have his reservations, after all, there were no eternal allies, only eternal benefits.

However, before he could move, Candice had already picked up the message and began to read it. She didn't linger long reading it either and when she finished, she plastered on a smile that could make any man fall in love and said with some traces of joy, "I guess we have a deal."