A/N: Sorry about missing last week. I think I'm back on track now. To be concluded soon, I know I've been a little slow. Sorry about that.

Vishnal thought nothing of entering with his boss that morning, despite the sly looks and whispers that followed. Lest picked up on that right away and ignored it, but hoped that it wouldn't affect his secretary in any way.

Immediately Lest proceeded to his office, but Vishnal stuck around the lower levels to distribute the coffee and collect anything of importance.

The others all said a hushed good morning, as Kiel and Leon had already spread the rumours to the morning crew. The ever oblivious secretary didn't suspect a thing.

Of course Leon, completely undaunted by tact or common politeness, had to make the comments everyone else was too courteous to make. "Look at you, trying to get ahead in the company?"

"Of course, I always aim to do my best." Vishnal said with oblivious delight.

"By sleeping with the boss last night?"

"I didn't sleep with him, I slept in his guest-" It clicked in his mind then, what Leon was implying. Immediately his cheeks burned and he struggled to maintain composure. "Wait, no, it's not like that!"

"Oh sure. I bet you're the kind of guy to do anything to get ahead. That oblivious nice guy persona is all an act, isn't it?"

"No no no, you've got it all wrong!" While he fretted, Leon just grinned. By now even Vishnal knew he was falling right into his mind trap, but he didn't quite know how to avoid it. "I wouldn't sleep with the boss to move up, not really-"

"Oh, so you'd do it for free then? I'll be sure to let Lest know."

"NO! Don't tell him that!" Suddenly he began to sweat, and he was too gripped by panic to come up with a feasible way out of this.

"Yeah, I know. He wouldn't believe me if I said that anyway." Leon said, now growing bored of tormenting the excitable Vishnal. "It's all good, you should tell him yourself though. He'd be delighted to know you'd willingly offer yourself."

Vishnal fell silent, unable to think of a proper retort. He wanted to deny the allegation, but found himself hesitating.

"Anyway, get back to work." With his tone loaded with dismissal, Vishnal could tell his regularly scheduled tormenting had come to a close. Mixed feelings filled him, and he wasn't exactly sure how to articulate them, instead he just nodded cordially to Leon and took his leave. Remaining silent would certainly be the best course of action to avoid more taunting.

On his way to his office, he was passed by an annoyed looking Lest carrying a long sword. He almost brushed past his unit, but offered a passing glance. Confused, Vishnal questioned, "what are you doing with that weapon sir?"

"Going out, I heard my farm is under attack by common pests."

"Attack?"

"Exactly as it sounds, but I don't think it's serious. I'm just going to remove them by force."

"Oh, is this a common occurrence sir?"

"More common than I'd like, more annoying than anything."

"Will you be alright?"

"I think so. If I can't take them, no one will anyway."

"Are you going alone?"

"I usually do." Lest said with confidence, almost daring Vishnal to challenge him.

Vishnal didn't have time to pause and contemplate the bravery or perhaps bravado in those words, and immediately responded, "I can't let you do that, I'm coming too sir!"

"Sure, what is your weapon of choice?"

"I uh, dual blades sir."

"Some in the trunk, get 'em when we get there. Let's go."

"Right."

This would be the first time Vishnal had ever used his combat training in any meaningful way. Still, he was confident in his abilities, and wanted to make a good impression as well as protect his boss from harm. It would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous, but he wouldn't let anyone know that.

Little was said as they drove. Lest went over the possible threats they were up against, mostly insects that ate vegetables or the unfortunate palm cat that just happened to wander there. Sometimes magic based monsters would appear to take his rune energy, and those were usually the worst since the damage they do can be intangible. Lest concluded the trip by telling Vishnal to fall back if he was hurt, and that he'd take care of any injuries later on.

They arrived and Lest quickly assessed what they were up against. His farm had been overrun with beetles and fairies. Lest sighed, but jumped in without hesitation. "Vishnal, go for the beetles, they're less tricky than the fairies."

"Yes sir."

Lest took off, coming at the fairies with precise strikes. Vishnal took his weapon and attempted to do what he was told.

Vishnal didn't have much time to pay attention to what Lest was doing once he entered the battlefield. It wasn't an unwinnable fight, but he did sustain some minor injuries. Nothing he couldn't patch up later, however. As the fight progressed, he began to notice how they moved and how best to counter their stabs.

He'd almost finished them off when he sensed something odd drawing near.

Somehow a fairy had made its way over to him, and before he noticed, a blast of light energy had been fired at him. He took a direct hit. Pain spread throughout his body for only the briefest of moment before it absolved completely in an instant. Behind him, a marginally worried Lest appeared to be cloaked in a green light.

"Hey, stand down a sec, okay? I got this."

Wide eyed Vishnal did what he was told and immediately ran behind Lest on his now completely responsive legs. He didn't even bother trying to make sense of what just happened.

Now protecting Vishnal, he stood his ground. Despite fighting these monsters before, he now had to think of the welfare of his inexperienced secretary. His position remained stationary as he summoned up magic to take out the threats instead. His secretary had closed his eyes, but he could still hear what was going on.

There were a few impacts that could be felt even if Vishnal wasn't taking the attacks directly. Still, Lest didn't flinch for a second. A few gusts later, and the surrounding atmosphere fell silent, only the sound of the breeze permeating the stillness.

There remained no danger, but Vishnal had his eyes were still shut. "It's all good now, the coast is clear."

Slowly Vishnal opened his eyes, the coast was indeed clear. No trace of the invading monsters remained. "Wow sir, simply amazing." Suddenly a flurry of questions formed in his head, but he was too dumbfounded and confused by what just happened to vocalize any of them. All he managed to say was, "somehow I made it out okay, even after taking a direct attack…"

"You're fine, you didn't think I'd let anything happen to you, right?

"Of course not." He may have been rattled, but he was still able to tap into his more lighthearted side, "think of the lawsuits right?"

Lest smiled bitterly. "Exactly. But aside from that, I still wouldn't let anything happen to you, or anyone important to me. Lawsuits are just that little extra push to keep everyone in good shape haha."

"I see." He fell silent, as he made sense of everything, and coming to terms with Lest's ability to use magic. "So you can use magic, sir…"

"Yeah, it's a side effect of consuming rune energy. Pretty good right? We're working on a way to use it in such a way to cure illnesses. So far we can heal physical damage, but that's it." At that, he hugged Vishnal, smiling. "You felt it right?"

"I did, thank you."

"If you feel a little strange, I apologise. Healing IS a form of love magic, so you might be feeling some odd effects. I'm not really all that proficient with it yet."

"Love magic, huh." This didn't seem to bother him at all. Instead, he felt oddly flattered. "Does that make people fall in love?" It sounded like a strange and obvious question, even to his own ears. Perhaps that was one of the odd effects Lest warned of, but he didn't think his boss would do something so questionable to him.

"Well, actually, no. My research team classified it as such, but I'm not sure why. We're just working on the curative properties of love magic at the moment. I'm not ordering any research on that subject either. Could you imagine if someone like Leon had access to magic like that?"

For some reason, Vishnal became focussed on the fact that love magic had been used on him. Factoring into what Leon said earlier, he started suspecting that maybe there was some truth in that taunting. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking. He ignored the question about Leon completely, hugging his boss and contemplating if he should say something or not. Later on he'd try to make sense of the taunting and the information he was just given. "Well sir, I'm glad that no one was hurt."

"Well, technically you were. Magic can feel strange if you're hit with it, and not used it." He released his secretary then, looking him over and assessing the damage. "I'll take care of your suit, it's definitely shredded beyond repair. Not used to taking rigid horns huh? Next time, if you choose to come, I expect you'll be better prepared." His tone fluctuated slightly, it was unclear if he was joking or not.

"You're right sir, thank you for showing me how far my training has slipped! I will redouble my efforts!"

"Somehow I knew you'd say that. I also know that if I say you don't have to come with me next time, you're going to reject that suggestion outright." He smiled, apparently not bothered by the battle at all. "But you know? I think that's what I like best about you."

"I uh, thank you sir." It was unclear if Lest was mocking him or not, but he'd take it as the truth, feeling lighthearted and flattered.

"Anyway, now that we're here, we might as well assess the damage and tend to the crops. I know that's not what you expected to do today, sorry about that."

"I've come to expect the unexpected sir." Vishnal replied with a warm smile. At the very least, he could spend the rest of the day with just his boss, and he could at least make use of his now very unprofessional shredded mess of a suit he was wearing.