“So, both of you know each other,” Jack said. “That’s good. It will make my life easier. Now go ahead and explain his first assignment as a Cleaner.”

“Yes, we do know each other.” Her smile hid a fearsome demon behind it. “You could say that we are very acquainted. So, much so that we may have been family.”

“I’m sorry, I have no idea who you are.” Dalton rose his hand.

That seemed to make her angrier. She opened the file and read it aloud. “You will clean the world Yonia. It was assigned to Ozul, now it is assigned to you. You will clean up his world.”

“Wait, why would I clean up a world?” Dalton asked.

Ingrid looked to Jack. “Does he not know what a Cleaner does?”

“He should.” Jack stood from his chair and walked around to the front of his desk. “Dalton, do you know what our biggest source of revenue is?”

Dalton knew, it made him sick to the stomach to say it. “Assassinations.”

“No.” Jack shook his head.

“No?”

“Assassinations only make up a quarter of our revenue. Our biggest source is real estate,” Jack explained. “We isekai the people we assassinate, which in turn has a chance of making the world prosper by killing the Demon King or developing the world, and then we buy up real estate and sell it.”

“Wow.” He felt a little lightheaded. “We’re monsters.”

“Monsters isn’t the term I would use. I would say we’re sharks. We rule the sea, and we take what we want.” Jack shook his fist.

“We’re monsters.” Dalton repeated.

“Regardless or not if we are monsters, you work for one,” Jack said. “You can quit, but you won’t be able to find another job. Your father made sure of that. He’s blacklisted you to every company, in every sector of the universe. The only one more powerful than him, is us.”

“Fuck,” Dalton said.

Ingrid stepped in. “I would suggest you quit and go back to your father.”

“No.” Dalton glared at Ingrid and then Jack. “Fine, I will clean Ozul’s world….how do I clean up a world?”

“Sometimes.” Jack walked to his viewing window. “People that are sent, make the world a worse place than it should be. So, we have Cleaners clean up the mess they left. In this case it would be Ozul’s.”

Dalton groaned. Even dead, Ozul continued to screw with his life.

“Your job will be to kill the Drug Lord.” Ingrid handed him the file.

Dalton looked at the picture, his mouth fell. “This…is the Drug Lord?”

“He killed the Demon King, and now he has taken over the whole region, creating Berserkers from his human experimentation,” Ingrid said.

Dalton looked at the photo once more and shook his head.

The Drug Lord was Satoshi.

#

“You will have a team,” Ingrid said. “I will introduce you to them right now.”

After they left Jack’s office, she led him down the hall. The offices were little wrecked, but there were construction workers fixing the place up.

“The building has been ruined a bit.” Ingrid explained. “Ozul had changed many rooms to fit his twisted needs. He turned the cafeteria into a wedding altar. It is costing millions to renovate the office, but we have needed to do so for a long time.”

“Uh-huh.” Dalton nodded. “Can I ask, do we know each other? You don’t seem to like me so much.”

“I like you,” Ingrid said, a darkness was pouring from her smile.

“I don’t think-”

“You’re imagining it.”

“I-”

“You’re imagining it,” she said, strongly.

And that was the end of that conversation. She led him to the end of the hall and stopped at a door.

“Behind this door is your new team. They are among the best candidates I could find, and I can guarantee their pedigree.” Ingrid opened the door.

A bright light blinded Dalton as he took a step in. When his eyes got used to it, he saw the people that were on his team.

He looked at the three twisted people in the room. The buff man that was posing in front of a mirror, Malcolm. The quiet woman reading a grimoire, and muttering under her breath, Eira. Then there was a catatonic and alive shaved headed man that took a moment for Dalton to recognize, Riot.

Dalton turned back to Ingrid.

“You’re setting me up for failure, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Ingrid said once more in a very polite but frightening tone. “Like I said the best.”

“They are not the best!” Dalton yelled. “They are the worst!”

“Hey!” Malcolm held his chest as if he had been stabbed. “That hurt!”

Eira was sitting there, reading a book. She held up a hand to greet him but did not take her eyes off her grimoire. Under her breath she was muttering something, and her grimoire was glowing a dark purple.

Drool left Riot’s lips, and he muttered only one thing.

“Neo Mechawoman. Lumberjack.”

Dalton did not know what was going on with that, but he did not want to touch it.

“Eira is alright, but the other two aren’t necessary. In fact, why is Riot here? Did he not get isekai’d?”

That made Riot cry even more.

“Due to some circumstances, he had decided to work here once more, of course, for minimum wage.” Ingrid explained. “Seeing as all four of you know each other, I will be brief. Read the folder with all the mission details and meet here at eight.”

The door shut, and the air was silent.

Malcolm was the first to speak as he rubbed his beard and giving Dalton a thumbs up.

“You look a lot more ripped. Did you perhaps, feel inspired by me and my muscles?” He posed, showing his bulging biceps.

“No, I was trained by a ninja that liked to poison me and smell me while I was sleeping,” Dalton crossed his arms. “Let me make this clear to all of you. If you fuck with me, I will destroy you.”

“Oh!” Malcolm’s eyes shined and he stepped in front of Dalton. His pecks started to dance. “Did the little quivering boy grow a pair? Do you think you can take me and my mus-”

Dalton chopped Malcolm’s stomach. He doubled over and gasped for air. Eira took notice, closing her book and putting it on her lap.

“So, it you have gotten strong,” she said. “That is excellent. My evaluation of you rose from a worm to a bee. Congratulations.”

“That’s not much of a difference. They’re both bugs.” Dalton crossed his arms.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw movement. Dalton grabbed Malcolm’s wrist and tightened his grip on his wrist. Malcolm opened his mouth in a mouthless scream. When he dropped his gun, Dalton caught it, and disarmed it. The bullets fell to the ground and Dalton tossed the revolver on the other side of the room.

Malcolm gaped. “What is happening here?”

“What is happening here is that things are going to change.” Dalton growled, pulling Malcolm close. “No more using me as bait.”

“No fair, you can’t powerup!” Malcolm yelled. “You’re supposed to be the butt monkey. Especially since Ozul is gone.”

“I’m not your butt monkey,” Dalton said.

Malcolm sighed, scratching the back of his head. He then turned to Riot. “Well, I suppose he is the new person, so-”

Dalton tightened his grip on Malcolm’s wrist. “No butt monkeys. No using him as bait either. No more of any of it. From now on, things are going to change.”

Malcolm seemed taken aback. He turned to Eira looking for help, but she had returned to reading, and then to Dalton. He stood up and hovered over Dalton like a towering giant. “Well, well. Look who grew some balls. You’ve decided that you had enough of this have you?”

“Did you not just say the same thing a moment ago?”

He pulled a rifle out of his beard.

“What?”

Dalton threw a punch at his face, but Malcolm expected it. He caught the blow with his other hand, it felt like hitting a steel bar. Then he took a step back, pointing the rifle at Dalton.

“Looks like you’re still going to be the butt-”

Dalton kicked the rifle out of his grip. He gave Malcolm a very hard stare, and the man wilted.

“Not bad.”

“No more!” Dalton said once more. It wasn’t a request. It was a demand. “Do you understand?”

Malcolm nodded his head fervently.

“Good. Then, I’m going to go home now.”