With that completely blank file of his, anyone looking at it would think he was just someone muddling through life. Otherwise, why would every other lawyer pick an intern, leaving him for the absent Moore? No one wanted to bring trouble upon themselves.

And someone with James Bennett's personality—he actually nodded after seeing that file? What a joke.

If his relationship with James Bennett as teacher and student back then had been harmonious and pleasant, he would definitely suspect that James Bennett recognized him and reluctantly made an exception.

But unfortunately, the reality was that if James Bennett really recognized him, he might have been kicked out of the office even faster, and wouldn’t get a single cent of that three months’ salary.

Senior Professor Carter was quite confident about this.

“I did agree at the time,” James Bennett said, “but now I’ve changed my mind.”

“But you’ve never gone back on your word before,” Fitz said. “You’ve never said no after agreeing to something.”

“Well, now I have.”

“……”

Fitz looked like she was about to snap her heel.

“The three months’ salary is my compensation for going back on my word. Have him go find Moore in half a month,” James Bennett said.

“Huh? What?” Fitz quickly blinked at William Carter. “Find Moore?”

James Bennett replied coldly through his nose, “Mm.”

“Find Moore?”

“……”

“Not dismissing him?”

“……”

Even though James Bennett was already casually replying to messages on his light-brain, clearly not wanting to answer such questions, this stiff silence was just another form of agreement.

Now William Carter was completely confused: So angry you don’t even want to look at me, yet you’re not dismissing me? Not only are you not dismissing me, you’re even giving me money? Are you sleepwalking, my friend?

“Bennett, honestly, I think you’re acting weird today,” Fitz voiced what William Carter was thinking.

Of course, that was only for a moment, because the next second Fitz grinned and said, “But you’re especially likable! If you really dismissed him, it’d be a huge hassle. After all, we have an agreement with Metz University—suddenly dismissing a student comes with a pile of paperwork. I’ve been getting screen and text fatigue lately; just seeing documents makes my heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys ache.”

After a long silence, Senior Lawyer Bennett finally replied, “I get intern fatigue.”

Fitz: “……”

William Carter: “……”

“All right, no matter what, you’re full of human warmth today,” Fitz praised him irrationally. “Harris must think so too?”

As she spoke, she turned to look at William Carter.

Harris? Who?

Senior Professor Carter smiled and met her gaze for five seconds.

In those five seconds, the entire office was filled with suffocating silence. Fitz's high heels were about to break again.

After five seconds, William Carter finally remembered that fake name—Edward Harris—that someone had given him.

Harris, Edward, either character alone sounded rather...

William Carter automatically replaced “Harris” and said, “I said a lot of inappropriate things in that hour earlier, I’m really sorry, so I’m a bit embarrassed to speak now.”

“It’s all right, newcomers always make a few small mistakes. It’d be strange if they didn’t…”

Miss Fitz rambled on about negligence, mistakes, and forgiveness, as if circling around a huge topic. In the end, even James Bennett, who had been reading documents on his own, couldn’t take it anymore. He looked up and said, “So when are you transferring this intern to Moore?”

Fitz coughed. “I went in circles just to say that.”

“Mm?”

“Can’t transfer.”

“…Reason?”

“I was too quick. His registration has already gone through all the procedures and is under your name. The bar association has approved it. It can’t be transferred.” Fitz glanced at him.

James Bennett: “So you didn’t get a single thing I asked for done?”

“No, actually I did get one thing done,” Fitz said. “I applied for a salary advance.”

As soon as she said this, William Carter’s asset card chimed with a “ding” notification.

Unfortunately, he’d only had this smart device for a few days, hadn’t changed any settings, and it was still in default mode. So a clear electronic synthesized voice announced—

Payment received: 4680 Xi

Type: Salary advance

Source account: Office asset card James Bennett

Operator: Aileen Fitz

Balance: 5022 Xi

William Carter: “……”

All that could be said was that the efficiency of the Southern Cross Law Firm was terrifyingly high at times like this.

You didn’t even ask about the situation before handing out money?

And it was James Bennett’s money.

The office fell into dead silence again. For a moment, it was hard to say which part of that notification was more dizzying.

A moment later, Fitz turned to William Carter with an incredulous look: “If you didn’t get the salary advance, your asset balance would only be a little over 300 Xi? How would you survive?”

Even James Bennett, who had never looked at him, turned his gaze over.

William Carter shrugged and smiled nonchalantly. “Luckily, reality isn’t a what-if.”

Maybe his balance was so shocking that even James Bennett was stunned. That noisy “dismissal” incident in the morning ended up fizzling out. William Carter officially moved into Lawyer Bennett’s office and received the owner’s acknowledgment and tacit approval.