Although Leon had already felt an ill foreboding when the Red-haired Director paused suddenly, hearing the outcome of his failed investigation made his heart sink, turning half cold.
"What does 'not very optimistic' mean?"
"It means exactly that, those two investigators rated you extremely poorly."
Looking at the evaluation form in his hand, which, although passed judgment, was filled with almost nothing but "bad comments," and demanded that, as the branch director, he closely monitor Leon, the Red-haired Director frowned and summarized,
"Perhaps it's due to our bureau's past bad reputation dragging you down, although there's no evidence linking you to the Ryan Blood Night incident, they still insist you are highly suspicious, at the very least having condoned Bobby Laien's mass slaughter. They also believe that your stable mental state is a pretense, that you usually repress your true thoughts for a long time, and despite your low desire for wealth and power, you have a very high affinity with the demon-type Anomalous Object representing greed, proving that you probably have even more dangerous desires and pursuits.
"Moreover, Camus, that senior investigator, even suggested in the evaluation form that your understanding of the world might be skewed, and that deep down you disregard the rules, harboring significant dissatisfaction with the current regulations.
"If given the chance to rise to a high position, or to possess a sufficiently powerful Anomalous Object, you would surely not adhere to the Purification Bureau's statutes but would instead try to evade the headquarters' jurisdiction, acting recklessly based on your own understanding and ideals..."
Wasn't that... a bit too much of an insight from that old guy?
Listening to the evaluation, which was less precise and appropriate and more like his mind had been dissected and printed directly onto the form, Leon began to sweat coldly, realizing for the first time how formidable the investigators were. Even though we barely interacted, just sat in the office chatting for a while, he managed to see so much? Did I... show myself that blatantly?
"However, you don't need to worry too much, while they rated you poorly, they haven't caught any solid evidence."
Seeing Leon, whose eyebrows were tightly knotted and face somewhat darkened, the Red-haired Director, feeling he had dragged Leon down, sighed and comforted him,
"Although the bureau values the investigators' opinions, it equally values concrete evidence, these can only be classified as personal opinions of those two investigators.
"Until they find tangible evidence proving your nefarious intentions, this investigation report doesn't have a major impact on you. With my guarantee, your application for Anomalous Objects won't be affected, it's just that promotion will become extremely troublesome.
"If you can't find a way to change this impression, forget about becoming a branch director, you might be stuck at a Level Three incident handler for years without any further advancement."
So... this evaluation result only affects my "future," doesn't it?
After hearing the Red-haired Director's words, Leon couldn't help but breathe a small sigh of relief, as long as they weren't suspecting that I orchestrated the Ryan Blood Night, losing a mere future is fine!
Though internally he didn't care much, he still needed to show some attitude. After considering a bit, Leon put on a face of "indignation" and said,
"Can a few baseless conjectures ruin a person's future? Is the bureau just going to watch them talk nonsense ? Can't anything be done to deal with these investigators?"
"There actually is a way..."
Seemingly recalling something amusing, the Red-haired Director's mouth couldn't help but curl up, then he said,
"Next time you get into trouble and they come to investigate, go all out to pick fights with them, preferably make them your enemies."
"That's pretty much what people at our bureau do."
The Red-haired Director shrugged and said,
"Anyway, those investigators have a prejudice against our bureau, and they won't say anything nice during regular investigations, so we might as well make enemies with every investigator who comes. As long as they don't catch any real fault, the credibility of the investigation results actually diminishes, directly minimizing the impact."
Wow, is that even possible?
Hearing this unconventional solution, Leon couldn't help but say in speechless amusement,
"No wonder... I was wondering why all the investigators seem to have a grudge against our bureau..."
"Emma and the others have no choice, making enemies with the investigators proactively is better than being on the bureau's watch list every few days, where you're scrutinized for everything you do."
The Red-haired Director sighed and said,
"I originally thought you wouldn't need to resort to such things, but it seems you can't escape in the end... never mind, stop thinking about it for now, hurry home and deliver the hair to your siblings, then pay a visit to Prince Joshua at the Royal Palace to see if he's related to all this."
"Why are you silent again? Why do I feel like you're quite resistant to seeing that Prince?"
"Well... I'm not exactly resistant to meeting him, I'm mostly worried he's resistant to seeing me..."
Leon forced a chuckle, briefly recounting what he did at Ryan Manor, then suggested to the speechless Red-haired Director,
"Director, considering Prince Joshua's character, if I go to ask him, he might not cooperate. How about I wear a mask to disguise myself, use the Black Goat to secretly observe, and you send someone else to accompany me?"
Seeing the once diligent and dependable Little Leon starting to quickly align with the troublemakers of the bureau, the Red-haired Director opened his mouth as if to warn Leon about something, but ultimately gave up, rubbing his temples and pointing outside,
"Go find Emma, she's free now, let her accompany you."
A crisp cracking sound resonated as an exceptionally exquisite ceramic vase was violently hurled against the wall, shattering like a certain prince's fragile ego.
Seeing his own heavily swollen left cheek in the mirror and the slap mark on his face that seemed to mock him, Prince Joshua's freckles involuntarily twitched.
He lifted a foot and kicked the table beside him, toppling the elaborately carved red pine table onto the carpet. Recalling being slapped in the face in front of hundreds of guests and having someone spit on his face yesterday, Prince Freckles couldn't help but let out another hysterical howl.
"Ah! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!"
"Damned Duke of Lionheart! Damned Leon Layne!"
"Kill you, kill you, kill you! I'll definitely tear you to pieces!"
Seemingly not satisfied with just voicing his anger, Prince Freckles hefted a chair beside him and hurled it with all his might at the door, crashing it open with a loud bang, revealing a trembling maid in the hallway and a man and woman exchanging glances behind her.
What on earth did you do yesterday? Why does he hate you so much?
From the look Senior Emma cast, Leon, wearing a mask and cloak, read her curiosity and responded with an awkward smile.
Yesterday... I proposed to his sister, that's why he seems to hate me so much. He's probably a siscon, I guess?