It was a little too outrageous, and Isaac hesitated as he said it.
"What else?" Carlo asked. "Why do you think I work with the Joint Investigation Bureau? Just for a special pass?"
Isaac said, "Huh?"
"Of course, it's also because I can go over there and mooch meals without feeling guilty."
Isaac said, "..."
Wait, boss, you're an Extraordinary. You should be pretty strong, and judging by how you bought that carriage, you're pretty well-off. You definitely aren't short of money, but you actually rely on mooching meals from the bureau's cafeteria...
"And it's not just meals." Carlo walked over to the storeroom and pulled the door open.
Isaac followed him and looked inside. Several wooden shelves were stacked with supplies of every kind, from canned food and biscuits to coffee and tea. A few crates were piled in the corner.
Carlo casually pointed at his spoils. "Coffee, specially supplied to the Joint Investigation Bureau; black tea, swiped from the Joint Investigation Bureau; bullets, also from the Joint Investigation Bureau..."
Isaac looked at the items, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Does the Joint Investigation Bureau know you're so..."
"They do. They just turn a blind eye." Carlo closed the door. "After all, the crap I deal with for them is worth far more than these few supplies."
Isaac thought that Carlo was really making full use of the bureau's resources. He was practically treating the Joint Investigation Bureau like his own warehouse.
On second thought, though, the boss's rank in the Joint Investigation Bureau probably wasn't low, so taking a few supplies probably wasn't a big deal.
"So as for your meals, either come mooch off the Joint Investigation Bureau with me, or make do with what's in the storeroom," Carlo said. "There's a kettle in the living room. You can still make tea or coffee and have some biscuits."
Isaac had no choice but to accept the arrangement. It was a little different from the "room and board" he had imagined, but at least he wouldn't starve.
"Spend today getting settled and familiarizing yourself with the surroundings, especially how to use the electrical appliances. Don't electrocute yourself. Work officially starts tomorrow." Carlo issued his orders as the boss.
"Don't I get some training first or something?"
"Do you think this is some kind of respectable organization? Training? Ask me when there's something you don't understand, and if you can't ask me, figure it out yourself. That's how investigators grow."
Isaac, who had just joined an unrespectable organization, had no answer to that.
He was just about to go put his things away, particularly the books on the living room desk that he needed to carry back to his room, when Carlo called him back. "Right, there are two more things to deal with first."
"First, that wreck of a carriage outside. Find someone to get rid of it. Sell it for parts or sell it as scrap, whatever you do, don't leave it sitting in front of my door."
Isaac followed his gaze to the battered carriage outside. After racing through the night, its body was crooked, its axle gave an ominous creak, and several cracks ran through the panels of its cabin. It looked ready to fall apart at any moment.
The thing really couldn't be used anymore, but the problem was... he didn't know the people or the place in Vista. Where was he supposed to find someone who took old carriages?
Carlo saw through his concerns. "The best way to get to know Vista is to go look around yourself. Whether you can find a suitable way to get rid of this thing is up to you. Consider it your first task after joining."
Isaac understood. He was supposed to figure out for himself how the city basically worked. Without asking further, he nodded. "All right. What's the second thing?"
"The second thing-" Carlo turned his gaze to the black dog. "Whether this damn dog stays or goes."
Isaac looked at the black dog too. It sat quietly beside the doorstep, but its ears were pricked up. Isaac kept feeling as though it could hear the conversation inside.
Carlo tipped his chin toward the black dog. "You summoned it with your Spirit Mediumship, so you decide whether it stays or goes. Do I kick it back to the Wilderness, or do we keep it?"
Isaac hadn't expected his boss to leave that decision to him. After thinking it over, he went outside and approached the black dog.
The black dog lay on the ground and raised its head, its golden eyes looking at him. Isaac crouched down to meet its gaze.
He had seen some of what the black dog could do. Although Carlo had beaten it into submission with one punch, it had pulled an entire carriage at a gallop all night without getting out of breath. It was no ordinary creature. If it stayed with him, it might come in handy.
The problem was that he knew nothing about the creature. He didn't know where it had come from, or whether it might suddenly turn on him one day.
The black dog seemed to read some ominous signal from Isaac's silence. Its ears flattened back, and then it made an awkward movement-
It tried wagging its tail.
The black dog's tail moved from left to right, then from right to left, stiff and halting. It was as though this were its first attempt at expressing itself that way, and it had no idea how to do it.
Isaac stared. Carlo poked his head out from behind him. "Well, damn dog, you'd even wag your tail to stay? I despise you."
The black dog ignored Carlo outright and forced its tail to wag again. It stared at Isaac, looking as though it was trying hard to prove it was a good dog.
Isaac watched its clumsy attempt at tail-wagging and found it a little funny, but he could also feel its... effort?
"Then it can stay," Isaac said. "But first I need to figure out what it eats, where it'll live, and whether it bites."
"Ask it yourself." Carlo turned and walked back into the house. "Just don't let it onto my second floor. Give me a shout if you want it kicked to death."
Isaac watched his boss disappear by the stairs, then turned back. The black dog had stopped wagging its tail and sat up properly.
"Are you willing to stay?" Isaac asked.
The black dog nodded.
"You won't cause trouble?"
The black dog nodded again, more vigorously this time.
"Then... let's give it a try." Isaac reached out and placed his hand on the black dog's head.
The black dog hesitated. Though it didn't become overjoyed like other friendly dogs, it seemed to accept the gesture.
I can't keep calling it "damn dog" like the boss, can I?
Isaac knew the black dog probably had quite a background. After all, when it first appeared, its aura had made it look like no ordinary creature. A being like this should have a name of its own.
The black dog raised a front paw, as though it wanted to write something, but after hesitating, it put the paw down again.
What does that mean?
Isaac looked at the black dog, and it looked back at him. Man and dog silently stared at each other for a moment before Isaac finally began to understand what it meant. "You want me to give you a name?"
The black dog nodded.
Hmm... isn't this a little too obedient? Isaac felt a little hesitant about his decision to take the black dog in. Its friendliness made him feel as though it had some other purpose.