"I will be taking my lunch break now," Dante said as he took off his rubber gloves and apron.
It was 12:00, the time around which the employees of Blue Ember pause their work to get some sustenance. Such a big establishment couldn’t afford to have everyone stop working all at once, however. For that reason, the employees in every section divided themselves into several batches and scheduled their breaks, taking turns eating just to ensure the operation doesn’t stop.
Dante wasn’t having any of that, however. As he walked away from his post, the other dishwashers regarded him with looks of displeasure. Their contract said nothing about taking turns and organizing their breaks, and since he wasn’t there to make friends, he disregarded their opinions and stopped working as soon as the clock hit 12:00.
He got the nastiest of looks from none other than Ben, who stood at the door leading to the kitchen, arms crossed as he glowered.
"I better not find you sleeping again!"
Dante gave him the middle finger and went on his way. Earlier that morning, while Dante was resting before in the break before his shift started, the pale goblin lost his temper and went on a rant about how sleeping on the job wasn’t allowed. Dante took that chance to very calmly explain that he wasn’t in the mood to put up with a fat fuck’s BS.
Ben hadn’t bothered him ever since and even kept his distance during the first three hours of their workday. Who knew that a honest conversation would be all it takes to convince someone with such a nasty personality to fuck off?
Though it was lunch break, Dante had other plans for his forty-five minutes of free time. He headed to the employee’s bathroom and entered one of the stalls and sat down on the toilet, but not before checking the rest of the stalls and making sure no one was there.
Fortunately, whoever handled designing this part of the hotel didn’t cut costs by making the partitions so small that people could peek on neighboring stalls. The space was almost entirely sealed so Dante didn’t have anything to worry about.
’Alright, Volcan.’ He said. ’Give me 8-3.’
Threads of light erupted from Dante’s chest, and the next instant, he was wearing the dark suit of armor. All of a sudden, the interior of the stall felt a lot more cramped. Coupled with the ever-present strain threatening to rip him apart, the discomfort Dante felt was magnified several times over.
If there was one positive to the situation, it would be that not moving decreased the strain somewhat, allowing him to last longer in the armor.
[Activating Spatial Awareness.] Volcan said. [Currently gathering data...]
Dante didn’t have much to do while his resident AI did his job. Just staring at the door in front of him would have been a waste, so he started fiddling with his NIM, trying to find something to keep him occupied. He noticed that he had some unanswered texts and decided to answer them.
The first one was from Jonah asking when he was going to visit Yukimura, like he promised. Things had gotten busy as of late so he kept delaying the matter, but it would be a bad look if he kept doing so.
For that reason, Dante told the old officer that he planned on dropping by this weekend. He then sent a message to Boris asking him to prepare a few things for him and asked that he go in his stead if he wasn’t available.
The big guy replied instantly, saying that he had no problem with that. He then sent a message informing him that Lev had asked when he was going to send the machines they had discussed.
During his one-week break, Dante had rented a warehouse and unloaded all of the machines from his Storage. He simply forwarded the keycode to the big guy and let him handle the rest.
Boris complained about all the work being delegated to him, so Dante promised to treat him to lunch next time they met.
Victor appeared to have sent in a message a few hours ago, but thanks to the productivity app having disabled his notifications, Dante didn’t notice at all. The fixer commanded him on a job well done, saying that Rose was more than satisfied with the night she had spent with him.
Dante replied with a very long and angry message telling the fixer that he wasn’t a gigolo and to stop renting him out to cougars. He also demanded a bonus for his trouble, but the fixer decided to ignore that part, instead asking why he hadn’t exchanged contacts with the purple-haired woman.
Not wishing to discuss the matter any further, Dante blocked notifications from the fixer and moved to something else. Not long after, Volcan announced that he was done, but his tone told that something was off.
[I was unable to collect data from certain parts of the building.] He explained. [It is difficult to believe, but it appears this hotel contains something capable of blocking Type 8-3’s sensors.]
He went ahead and constructed a 3D model of the skyscraper with the data he managed to gather. Several sections seemed to be missing, leaving behind empty clouds of darkness that spread through a few sections and sometimes entire floors.
Dante had a hunch when his resident AI informed him of what was happening so it wasn’t too shocking when he saw that the entire floor containing Klaus Stahlwölfe’s mansion was blacked out.
’This... might be a bit troublesome...’
Dismissing the armor, Dante leaned forward as he scanned the model. Spatial Awareness had always seemed like a supernatural ability so having it fail for the first time didn’t feel right.
Not knowing the mansion’s exact layout was one thing, but without knowing the exact location of the individuals residing in it made creating long-distance portals without being noticed was next to impossible.
’So much for finishing the job on my own...’
[I might be able to gather more data by getting close...]
’Yeah...’ Dante shook his head. ’Let’s just hope thing doesn’t get to it...’
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