"Mono/Dialogue"

  'Inner thoughts'

  Narration

  [Message/communication apparatus]

  Date: Mid April 1084

  Location: Somewhere in Kazdel

  POV: Narrator

  “Team Omikron follow the straggler on sector – 61 A, after that proceed to point Gamma and await further order.” A hooded person, wearing a full-body suit and jacket, can be seen overlooking the live combat feed. Their voice is ft and sound fake, not to mention that they just stared at the dispy unmoving.

  They’re surrounded by Sarkaz and a few Terrans that are moving about around them, they’re all moving like a well-oiled machine. Despite that, however, the Sarkaz that are there do not bother to hide their distaste for being under their command. Hate, trepidation, and fear coalesced into one.

  [Team Omikron roger… we’ll gdly adhere to Her Majesty’s decree.]

  “I expect as much. Team Beta, status report on your position?”

  [Team Beta here! Crap, we’re surrounded! They have- AGH!]

  “Understood, Team Omega re-route your position towards sector 50-B to relieve Beta’s pressure.”

  [Understood, Team Omega en route to sector 50-B.]

  “Operator Kro’tale, shift Skymirror 5 to sector 51 – B”

  “Wait for one and… Shifting as ordered. Skymirror 5 life feed is now connected.” A Sarkaz woman who is equally emotionless stared at their drone. The dispy had now shown team Beta being ripped apart by what Babel had surmised as rouge wildcards. They had been adamant in going against an attempt at peaceful contact.

  Several operators can be seen clenching their hands, wondering why they are stuck handling logistics and not out in the fray… all because of the hooded person modus operandi. If it were any other day, they wouldn’t be afraid to voice their displeasure on the tactician, especially when their loyal guard dog named Scout is absent.

  Of course, some admired the hooded figure and respected their position, it is just that when compared to those who have some misgivings, they lose in numbers. This sort of thing could be harmful to the organizational sphere and commanding chain if handled without a high degree of delicacy and care.

  Yet they all behaved themselves since she was also there. Her visage is as soft as the snow itself, her pink eyes show nothing but endless warmth, and her white hair flies on her back like a gentle cascading snow. She is draped in a modest dress of white, yet her regal countenance and bearing made it exceed the finest of silk mortal or immortal can create.

  She is none other than The King of Sarkaz, Her Majesty Theresia. If there is one thing the Sarkaz here would ever follow to the best of their ability, it is Her Majesty’s will, as they believed in her dream for a unified Kazdel and Sarkaz while also being a monarch that is so close to her people.

  But they will lie that the current person she favored the most is a certain intelligence officer, a certain feline cleric… and this hooded person who perhaps has the highest autonomy. Thus their envy had been growing, but they mostly kept it to themselves.

  “Say, Doctor… why didn’t they listen to us? Kazdel had suffered so much… shouldn’t we instead focus on rebuilding this nd we call our home?”

  “May I be blunt, Your Majesty?”

  “You may.” Her gaze never leaves the dispy, she is searing her people’s sacrifices into her very core. Thus her eyes are focused, and unblinking. It is her people who bled for her ideal, it is the least she can do to commit every drop of blood into her endless library of memories.

  Then to repay each drop of blood that in her mind be something so priceless her own body worth less than it. Yet heavy does the weight of her crown wrought on to her, but she will not stop. Thus her dream was kept awake, not for her, but for her people. Such is her resolve…

  “Because they despise any form of control, even coming from someone like you… Your dream was also seen as nothing more than a fantasy.”

  Theresia dreams of a home, one her people so desperately needed. It doesn’t have to be anything grand, to even have a pce where the cold won’t touch them would be a great start. Her dream is deemed childish, but what is a mortal without a one? Nothing but a soulless gear that keeps on toiling until they are broken and repced.

  Do not be mistaken, Theresia wished to build a pace for her people but mere dreams won’t feed the hungering masses, the cold and sick innocents taking refuge amidst the blizzard, nor will it force the ever-roaring drums of war to go silent. Thus she has to act, no matter how painful it is going to be, she has to take a stand and lead her people.

  “They are seeing you as nothing more than a liar and maniputor. They despised you for being unable to grant them the home they so desired… but most importantly, it is a lethal projection of grief and manifestation of envy for a promise that is yet to be delivered.”

  Sarkaz all around the hooded person starts to get agitated, to address their liege so casually, despite her permission, while also insinuating that Her Majesty’s vision to be impaired is grating their nerves. Theresia however, is more than intrigued by it.

  “That’s why, is it? Would you be willing to eborate further when this unnecessary feud of ours ends?”

  “I would be more than gd to do so, Your Majesty.”

  The dispy shows that the battlefield is stagnating, and Team Beta is now truly and well surrounded. The air is thick with tension that perhaps they would be the first casualty since the unification of Kazdel… but then an unexpected upset occurred.

  “Commander! Skymirror 4 has detected a vehicle approaching from the north!” The hooded person takes in the minute details regarding the vehicle. After that, they just step back from the dispy and head towards the elevator’s direction.

  “Leave them be.”

  “C-Commander? But they’re negative on our arts identification beacon.”

  “Scout is back with her, thus the situation is under control. Order Team Hesperides to prepare, the lost and rogues shall surrender soon enough.”

  “… Understood, commander.” The Skymirrors operators and the surrounding Sarkaz are incredulous, but they must follow orders like a well-oiled machine. The logistics sections are moving about while the field operators are coordinating for the upcoming csh.

  “Make sure to prepare the logistics, they have just returned from their respective assignments.”

  ‘Along with an extra guest, someone I had been intrigued to know more…’ A sentence they uttered only towards themselves. Usually, a mercenary intruding upon Kazdel would be received in a bsé manner, but exceptions exist…

  The Doctor then stepped back from the command module and walked towards the elevator. They waited for a while until the elevator opened.

  “It appears you have something in mind?” Theresia can’t help abstaining from her curiosity on the matter. The hooded person just stood there for a moment before turning around and replying, their tone level but there is a touch of warning in it.

  “I do, Your Majesty.”

  “May I come with you?” Despite asking for permission, the King just strode towards them. Her stride is unbroken and her bearing is resolute, in a way she had answered her question.

  “If Your Majesty insists, but do bring either your security detail with you or a royal guard at the bare minimum.” She adopted a thinking pose, then her face lit up in a smile.

  “… Hmm~, Ascalon come forward please.”

  “Acknowledged, Your Majesty.” A dark magenta-haired female Sarkaz suddenly made themselves known from the shadow. Other operators that are present, especially Sarkaz, of which they have been so focused on their duty, felt dread chilling down their spine.

  Ascalon then kneeled in front of her King, who sported a frown from it. She starts to get annoyed with this excessive deference.

  “Ha… Ascalon, you mustn’t kneel every single time.” Theresia immediately bent down to present Ascalon with her palm opened. Ascalon was hesitant at first, but to keep a King waiting is worse, thus the female Sarkaz relented and took their liege’s hand.

  “Your orders, My King?”

  “Will you accompany us? Doctor had something in mind, and I must see it for myself not to mention that I do need to talk with them, sooner or ter… which is why it would be better to do it now! I can’t wait to pam- I mean help the children with their studies.”

  “Your will is my command.” Ascalon sported a slight but natural smile before her face returned to its stone-cold persona. She melted back into the darkness not long after. With her around and stalking from the shadow, no one can harm the King of Sarkaz…

  Sector 51 – B

  “Where the hell is our reinforcement!?” A brown-haired Sarkaz said while firing his crossbow towards a hostile position from cover behind a rock. He is the second in command since the team lead was incapacitated by a stray grenade explosion.

  [Beta 2IC, this is Omega Actual, we’re 5 mikes out! Hold on!]

  “Omega Actual! Her Majesty be praised! Am I gd to hear from ya!” He dodged a counter crossbow bolt, nicking his helmet a tad. Things are looking up, at least… or not.

  [Shit! Ardin, they have improvised vic on their side!] One of Ardin’s teammates informed him of a dire development. Then it came forward, a car that had been armored up with a pair of ballistas mounted on a pick-up turned technical truck. Before long, the ballistas are all firing, with an absurd speed for a semi-auto-loading weapon.

  One of his teammates was almost killed when a ballista bolt whizzed past their shoulder, impaling itself deep inside a rock. While his team’s remnant is being shot to shit, another teammate of his starts diving into despair.

  “Damn, that hooded bastard! They sent us here to die!”

  “Un, get a hold of yourself!”

  “They are trying to eliminate us Ardin! Can’t you see that it is all part of their pn t-” Ardin just spped him to come back to his senses. Ardin disliked the hooded doctor, but he won’t lie that in terms of tactical acumen, no one can beat them.

  “Get a grip will ya!? If we die, we die for Her Majesty’s ideal! Besides, they won’t do shit without reason! So eyes forward then shot back or go tend the wounded and shut the hell up!” Ardin’s words made him return to his senses, so he did as he was told.

  To his left, he can see several Sarkaz swordsmen come barreling down, while to his right are several ranged hostile, a mix of conventional and Arts units. They are being boxed in with only these ruined walls and rocks for cover, things are not looking great, to say the least.

  The back and forth is getting worse for them each second. Ardin is getting desperate since he can’t bear the fact that some of his comrades since the unification war will be amongst the first casualties of future conflict.

  He knows hushed tones and rumor mills had been noisy regarding the split between Her Majesty and Lord Regent. It was truly a shame that Sarkaz is always divided, he always heard the tale of old when Sarkaz was unified before the Westward Migration almost 2 centuries ago… as reality is just a sick rollercoaster of bnd jokes after bnd jokes using Sarkaz as the material.

  Thus he pulled a grenade pin and prepared for the ultimate sacrifice. He is afraid, undoubtedly so despite his previous bravado, especially after he proposed his team lead just yesterday… but he’ll be damned to let the rogues kill her or worse. Which is why he made his peace with the one he held dear second only to his king.

  ‘Sorry, Milia, guess I’ll leave the boys and gals in your hands.’ He was about to sprint, straight towards the vehicle that was pinning them down with extreme prejudice. Until a familiar voice was heard in their unified comms link.

  [Team Beta, Scout here, sorry for being te.] Multiple sniper shots were heard, and all hit their targets without even a millimeter of deviation. Miraculously, however, a lot of them is enough to just incapacitate the opponent, of course, the vehicle is still a problem…

  “ROOOARRGHH!” Until a bck metallic dragon just flipped it upside down. Not long after, it used its appendages to rip the metallic vehicle like a piece of paper being thrown into a shredder. The battle had flipped immediately, he reflexively uttered his thanks.

  “Thank Her Majesty… Scout and that feline is here…” He just colpsed where he stood, and not long after he saw the outsider walking straight towards him. The feline face is as irritating as usual, a mix of exasperation and pity that just gnawed at him, but he will lie that he wasn’t at least feeling thankful.

  “… Thanks…”

  “Just doing what a doctor needs to.” She starts bandaging and treating his wounds, he can finally see that 8/12 of his teammates, him already included, are lying on the ground. He was been fighting back with a deep gash on his leg and shoulder, while Un and the others were busy stabilizing the rest of his team while Milia was unconscious with a bandage over her head.

  He turns his head back on the battlefield. Scout is doing an excellent job sniping several rouge Sarkaz from god knows where. The Feline Doctor’s pet is doing a ludicrously terrifying job of tearing what’s left to shred. He did notice an oddity that had occurred, however…

  ‘These rogues’ movements turned disorganized.’ He took note that everything had gone haywire the moment those two arrived on the battlefield, which is odd considering that the enemy has a commanding force somewhere that has been giving his unit hell. He decided to forget it, this thing sounded like something above his pay grade.

  The battlefield had been flipped, what was once a certain doom had turned into a decisive victory. With the fact that there are wounded operators might put the decisive victory into question. Regardless, everyone has their definition of victory.

  With the clean-up in pce, the Doctor and Theresia had just arrived on the scene. While the Doctor stepped away to lead the aftermath crifications and battlefield casualties management, the King headed towards a Sarkaz that doubled as quartermaster and ptoon commander, being shorthanded as they must make do.

  “How are the fallen?” Her voice is thick with mencholy, she doesn’t want to put up a harsh measure. The reality of the situation and the Doctor’s urging on the matter had dissuaded her from exercising her forte, the future is uncertain and there are still grounds to cover.

  “Excluding the wounded which numbered around 11 souls across all of our teams, we have none on our side. Although for the heretics-” She frowns at the quartermaster's choice of words, as far as she can see there are no heretics. Her reprimand is a touch harsher and disapproving,

  “They are still my subject, and they are still Teekaz’s sons and daughters. Please, I implore you to regard them with dignity as befitting their nature and blood of being our brothers and sisters.”

  “P-Pardon me, Your Majesty. As I was reporting, the belligerent Sarkaz had lost 27 souls, we had managed to detain 119, of which a third is made up of children and non-combatants.”

  “Great work, please ensure that their wounds are mended and that none of them go hungry into the night. Kazdel has enough tragedies as is, thus we do not need further entry into its bloodied tapestry if possible.”

  “By your will.” The quartermaster immediately did as he was told. When she can feel that everyone has been moving about to do their duties, Theresia’s arts fred gently, like the soft caress of the wind and serene moonlight upon a clear night.

  Soon after, the despairing people can feel their tightened hearts thawed, and some of the crying children finally fall asleep, no doubt too stressed by this whole incident. She felt a little tingly but paid it no mind. Theresia then walked towards the Feline doctor that is tending to the wounded.

  Kal’tsit took note of her gaze and arrival thus her focus is now locked solely towards the King of Sarkaz after finishing her medical duty. She seemingly ignored the existence of that hooded figure who was moving about and overseeing the surrendering remnant of hostile forces.

  “Your Majesty, my sincerest apologies for my te arrival and please be mindful of your condition.”

  “No worries, you arrived just in time also um… tehe~… Welcome back, my friend!” Theresia just hugged Kal’tsit on the spot, completely disregarding Kal’tsit’s reproach, and of course, it caused the usual reactions but those weren’t important. Kal’tsit is hesitant to reciprocate out in public, thus she settled with letting her friend have her fill of being cuddly.

  “Thank you.” Her thanks also sound uncharacteristically sheepish. Theresia then leaned in closer to Kal’tsit, whispering in her words using a very old Teekaz dialect, practically impossible to understand for modern-day Sarkaz.

  “Kal, can you lead me to her?” She widened her eyes before answering, a tad harsher out of worry.

  “… Although I had indeed deemed her cooperative, it is not safe for you to meet her directly. She is still too much of a wild card, and every second of her existence in Kazdel will only invite problems.”

  “How so? You were appraising her positively on how her conduct was truly professional for the st few days we had chatted. Surely she wouldn’t do anything that would be counterproductive? Besides, I have the best security echelon with you and Ascalon around at the moment.”

  “Operator Ascalon, please support me to make Her Majesty see reason.” She goes back to using the standard Teekaz dialect. No answers are given, Theresia smiles triumphantly while the Feline Doctor can only stare at her. She then deadpanned her piece of protest on her unruly King.

  “…Please do not coerce your Royal Guard.” Her voice is truly and well honestly exasperated, Theresia is a brave woman… too brave sometimes that it gives everyone else a headache or two…

  “Hehe~ I know not what you’re implying~ so~… pretty please?”

  “… Do follow me then, but just in case stay near Mont3r or I’ll ground you when we get back.”

  “Yeah, yeah, sure… I can’t imagine if you’re actually my mom, the nagging would be atrocious…” The King huffed in annoyance, Kal’tsit held the urge to sigh exasperatedly and that seemed to prevent the addition of several more decades under her belt from being exhaled. Thus the both of them left the scene.

  While they are conversing, a certain hooded figure has already made their move.

  POV: Theresia

  “Theresia, let me warn you something.” With us being out of earshot, Kal’tsit can address me more casually. But even then she mostly did so when she had something really important to share… just what should I do to alleviate her obnoxiously stern and fatigued demeanor…

  “What is it Kal?”

  “She can have a feel for emotions. She had probed mine several times, mostly subconsciously but still, do be very careful.”

  “Hmm… an empath is it? There used to be a lot of them…”

  “Indeed. Paranoia and envy were a deadly combination to concoct a pack mentality, just because someone led them to, doesn’t diminish their hand on the tragedy.”

  “Your majesty, please allow me to go first.” Ascalon manifests herself, positioning her body in front of mine, keeping me safe behind her. Honestly, I get that they’re all worried, but coddling me this much can severely exhaust them. Yeah, it is hypocritical, but sometimes it would be better if they look after themselves first.

  “… Granted.” I’m honestly really, really weary to be this pampered…

  We reached the shack soon after and then Ascalon opened the door. Inside the seemingly run-down and forgotten shack, we found several unconscious Ancients sprawled about all over the pce. Each one sported what appeared to be concussion wounds with their limbs tied, very roughly if my eyes weren’t fooling me.

  ‘It’s this worse… just how many out there are targeting us, targeting Kazdel? If brother had taken note of this, the whole thing would have gone haywire immediately while emboldening his resolve and stance.’

  Naturally, it made me frown at how many races are around here… the worst possibility in all likelihood is already moving in motion. Still, where is the mercenary? I can feel that she has yet to leave the region, it is just that I have a hard time pinpointing her current location.

  “She had done a wonderful job if nothing else.” Kal’tsit’s tone is back to being as lifeless as ever, but there is also loathing seated deep within.

  “… Are you really that mad?”

  “I’m not mad, more like failing to keep things in line better… I wondered why I keep working together with them…” We headed towards a room on the left, Kal’tsit seems to have the whole area mapped already. No doubt it’s The Grey Serpent’s fruit of bor.

  “That’s called being petty.” Kal’tsit just pointedly ignored my words, she doesn’t like them huh…

  “Ascalon check that room.” My dear friend said before once again putting her body in front of mine, and I can see that Mont3r is ready to protect me anytime.

  “Acknowledged.” She pces her hand on the door knob, before kicking the door open anyway. Inside this separate room, we found a badly torn and damaged Sarkaz. His eyes were gouged out, while his legs were smashed. His hands are being nailed to the chair, and his breathing is non-existent, the poor man had left this world.

  “… Is this the one, Kal?”

  “Yes, he was the one who's guilty of inciting the rest of the rogues to go against you, or more aptly put, against Babel. Disillusions can cause a person to react negatively with a rationale that is no different than a coping mechanism.” She then scanned the room for anything, aside from the rundown nature of the whole pce, there seemed to be nothing.

  “Nyx is probably predisposed with another matter, just goes to show how quickly your Tactician had moved.”

  “They moved quickly indeed, no wonder my brother hates and fears them…” I miss the day when I can just talk normally with him. How we would sometimes do silly things, those days are long gone now…

  ‘He is hellbent on realizing the future only for Sarkaz using his method… Such a thing would lead us to destruction. A complete one, not even a chance for splintering if this gamble of his failed…’

  Dismissing my reminiscing, I kneeled on the dead Sarkaz and saw through his memories by putting my hand on his temple. I see spires of lights, mobile cities’ marvels, which are glittering in the distance. I then saw several shadowy figures giving him the order for this meaningless incident.

  Some of his memories have been jumbled out together, but I’m not here just for that. I’m here to do my duty as a king who bears the history of our race, every single one of them is precious in my eyes. I can never, for the life of me, hate any of my subjects regardless of their disposition.

  With the memories drawn, thus came the feelings and wants… his emotions are pouring into me. I can feel his envy when he saw the glittering spires for those who scorned his homend, I can taste his hunger when he once scrapped the junkyard for food, and I can feel his rage when he was a child only to be bullied, sullied and left nameless.

  This is his life, and I recorded it. The title of King of Sarkaz was never been a grandiose one in my mind, each king is a tapestry of tragedy since the arrival of those so-called invaders. An arrival I used to scorn, but then I realized it was going to be an infinite cycle of endless rains and reigns of bloody future if no one wished to take the first step.

  The Adventurer King was betrayed and having been forced to watch as his people suffer, to then enact a bloody revenge. He wages a bloody war, but his vengeance ends up an empty one. His people remained dead, and he was broken thus ending his adventuring galntry.

  The Cyclops King foretold her doom and watched as her people stabbed her to death. Her people, scorned and feared by both Sarkaz and Terrans alike, are now seeking refuge in the frigid tundra of Samifjord, locked into an eternal war against the unnamed corruptors… and I can feel their souls dwindling… they’re losing…

  The Great King of Teekaz once led our people against the invader, we won just as much as we lost and he lost heart. His swords grew heavy with the blood of invaders, while his hearts grew weary by the death of his subjects… how much blood left needs to be spilled?

  And many more Kings that are no doubt greater than I in power and prowess…

  ‘… I wonder… what tragedy awaits me?’ My mind is psing back into uncertainty, not for myself no. I’m afraid for my people to wage a senseless vendetta, just thinking about it drove me mad with grief. We can’t reach the peace we so desire if violence is at the forefront.

  Suddenly I can feel Kal’tsit’s hand on my shoulder, I look up and watch as she gazes upon me with clear concern…

  ‘Right, this is not the time for me to reveal in ifs scenarios, thus I must move forward and prove to the Royal Court that my pacifistic approach is not a mere fantasy.’

  “Your Majesty, she is here,” Ascalon informed us about her arrival. Standing up before giving the dead body one st look, I then strode to meet the one that had intrigued my friend and also garnered our Tactician interest.

  “That so? Very well then.” I did say that I’m eager to meet the Grey Serpent but I have mixed feelings now. We’re walking back to where we entered, yet I can feel her pulse of emotions. It is woefully aberrant, coated with frigid exterior, in nature but also … warm and welcoming … This is not what I expected from an allegedly no-nonsense and unrepentant mercenary.

  POV: Nyx

  “What a fucked up region…” I said to no one in particur, that the very st remnant of Opfor was a teenager. I tried to reason with them, only for them to charge at me with explosives, more damningly the emotion that I felt was fear… fear of me… the rest is history from there.

  ‘You win some, you suffered a lot more…’ It left a bad taste in my mouth, the average civilians don’t know me thus their unabated hate but mercenaries do. Which caused the overreaction I had received from the poor little Liberi. Life is shit, but what can you do…

  ‘This whole stick made me recall that one time I got assigned in Aldebaran IV… mass hysteria is the worst possible manipution you can commit…’ This pce is also like the Balkan from my old world but with an added modifier of being hated by everyone and anything that can fuck and kill.

  Right now I’m walking back towards where the rest of the detained saboteurs are, it was concerning how many cndestine ops are moving about. Thankfully, I managed to neutralize them all before becoming a kind of concern, and with the evidence in my bag, my job is complete here.

  I had already told Kal’tsit and my client where I detained them, and if luck would have it, I might meet the King. Scout had told me that the current King is a down-to-earth type of gal and Kal’tsit had drilled it into my skull about this King being one of the best. Which made me even more suspicious that Kal’tsit was here but not under Laterano’s direction. Speaking about the king…

  ‘I had yet to meet the Sarkaz King, but Kal’tsit is all praises on her. I had a hard time believing it really, like what kind of numbskull believes that pacifism without martial prowess would work? Hopefully, I just misunderstood her words because that’s dumb as shit. You can’t uphold justice and order merely with flowery nguage…’ I sighed exasperatedly, but also found this King’s idealism to be an out-of-pce but extremely adorable one…

  I can now sense 3 distinct emotions within the pce of my destination, one, in particur, is bzing like a mini sun, that’s her then? But there are also dozens of others stalking me, they must have loved their Qu- I mean King.

  Quite confident in my assessment because I can feel their emotions stronger after that fated beat down of mine. Adding in on the fact, I feel even less tired than I already had ever felt before and my body healing and regeneration factors are even faster after my full recovery…

  ‘Did I just get a software update or some shit? Or am I evolving? Did I perhaps too kinky for pain, thus seeking greater thrill because my body got too accustomed? Just what the hell is happening? And the cause was most likely…’

  “Heh… a real beat down alright.” Fixing up my appearance, and some splotches of blood that had marred my face and… uh…

  ‘How the fuck should I act around a monarch in this world again? Dealing with a Count or Duke was bad enough… meh, I’ll take the safe route.’ I opened the door confidently to meet them.

  “You’re back, Nyx.” There is a white-haired, pale-skinned Sarkaz, this must have been the King, judging by how the other two are being positioned. Another one is a pale-skinned, with dark magenta hair, Sarkaz that is positioned nicely in case I think of anything funny, so a bodyguard.

  Then that st one is my newest Feline acquaintance… and judging from how close she is with the King while the King’s bodyguard eyes are completely on me, she is not with Laterano… The Cleric part was bullshit indeed.

  “Yeah, I’m back Doc, catching up on the stragglers takes time, and then… Greetings, Your Majesty Theresia.” I bowed a little to get a feel for how to do things. From what I can understand from Kal’tsit’s hours of lecture, she won’t mind frankness but let’s py it safe and push the envelope from there.

  “Welcome to Kazdel, Lady Baroness. I must thank you for your splendid work as the King of Kazdel.”

  “It is nothing, Your Majesty, just doing my job. Say, is there anything you wish to talk with me?”

  “Well, I have several things to talk about…” Thus we talked about both serious and… surprising, field, topics of conversation. Theresia asked me about several serious topics like how I preserved food better, what is better between pacification and annihition, and why someone of my caliber showed reluctance to serve anyone… those are the serious ones.

  The mundane conversations are… soup recipes, why am I wearing all drab colors, do I fancy someone, but most jarring of them all… am I willing to teach her how to fix the ventition system and how to do general maintenance on the air conditioner. I was honestly stunned because no offense, she doesn’t look like someone who likes physical activity.

  I reflexively deadpanned such an opinion, much to my chagrin on that faux pas, but she just ughed it off and her serious face regarding that ventition maintenance procedure made me feel funny. Her female bodyguard was silent throughout the whole thing, while Kal’tsit said something every once in a while. This brings us to this point…

  “Lastly, I’m curious, verily so, on what a Non-Kazdelian has to say about our situation.” She didn’t say any more useless pleasantries and honestly asked me. Damn it, her emotion is genuine, she wants me to be brutally honest.

  ‘Ah, crap. I mean, in all honesty, Kazdel is just fucked to put it as dumb as possible. Now, how do I word it nicely? Uh… let’s be diplomatic first since that magenta girly is now boring a hole into my face with those eyes of hers.’

  “Pardon me but, that’s a sensitive question and I don’t think I have much positivity there to say.”

  “How about we just talk normally, without the fir and pomp? Even I get tired with this you know?” She smiled while tilting her head cutely, I’m starting to doubt that she is the King. Well more power to me by speaking normally.

  “Alright yeah, if I can be really honest… it’s fucked.” The dark magenta-haired Sarkaz immediately flinched, she’s shocked that I used such a crass nguage huh? Also, the rest of her colleagues should ease up on the bloodlust there.

  ‘Damn, I can feel it like a needle.’

  “Well, that’s not untrue…” Her face looked pained and her smile faltered… why am I suddenly felt bad? Did I do something wrong? … Wait a minute…

  ‘Now that I think about it… why am I being so overly casual in tone? Sure I talked this way too with Vincent, but that was because I respected him for his personality and had known him for long enough.’ Hold on, using him as a comparison doesn’t sound fair… He is a goofball who can legitimately be threatening, but a goof nonetheless. Who can I compare with a better ground… ah she can work.

  ‘I talked like this with the Duke of Windermere too but because she actually treated me much fairer compared to other dukes, baring her usual scheme to get me to swear fealty of course… but this just felt different… something is influencing me to open up some more… is it arts? Innate empathy? Or it’s just purely by her charisma?’ I’ll put it for ter since we have entered an uncomfortable silence, thus I must finish my opinion.

  “But that’s not all. I can understand the fact that your people respect you as a person and your title as the monarch of this war-torn nation, but only a smaller encve truly endorsed your point of view. They look at you like a na?ve child, which makes you both adorable and insufferable. I will not hold any illusion that some of them are even under the impression that you’re somehow being swayed as a trophy and puppet king.”

  “That’s enough.” The dark magenta Sarkaz cut in, she is now actively gring at me. Hmm… it felt like if we fought it would be a close one, like the Emperor’s Bde but she is more dangerous in a different way… how interesting…

  “Don’t like a dog that keeps on barking? Also, who the fuck are you anyway? You stood there like a statue I thought you were a doll.” She frowned at my choice of word and Kal’tsit just sighed. Theresia seems to be a tad confused but in a funny way.

  “You don’t need to know me and what does an outsider know about wars we had fought? Not to mention that you don’t even have a sliver of loyalty in your bones, you’re just a war profiteer.”

  “Precisely because I am a war profiteer I can speak my mind.” I take a few steps forward and she does the same, The King says nothing and watches our chat with interest while Kal’tsit is observing impassively.

  “Yet it doesn’t change the fact that you utilized hypocrisy as a shield… Even if you’re able to speak your mind, you still adopted that rigid speech pattern goes to show your cautious nature.” Using polite wording to mock me, I like this girl.

  “Well, duh. Her Majesty asked me to speak pinly, and where were we? Ah, yes. The King of Sarkaz is someone they respect, but do not obey. Why? Well, it doesn’t take a genius to know the answer. You, Sarkaz, are too well versed in war like me, violence is our lingo. If I can say anything with confidence, habits die hard.”

  “You’re insinuating that we know nothing but war?”

  “No, I was insinuating how broken those rebels are. I’m not so much different in mentality with them, thus I empathized with their predicament more than you know it.”

  No more words are exchanged, but I can see how her hand is subtly moving towards her knife. Well, I’m guilty of the same crime with my hands already on the gun and my dagger in the first pce, the surroundings are moving in to box me, and this is getting interesting… Before Kal’tsit decided she had enough.

  “I suppose that’s enough. Nyx, my other colleague had messaged me that your payment is ready while you’re too engrossed.”

  “Oh, so soon? Where?” Me and I talked about the specifics some more, but nothing too noteworthy. Theresia is listening with interest while this magenta girl eases up both her and her colleagues’ bloodlust.

  “Just head towards the sector I marked in your terminal. I need to reiterate the importance of my contract to you, just think of it as a test run for your new occupation’ soon.”

  “Alright, alright, I already agreed to be your little canary so chill out a little on that scowl of yours, else you’ll have creases formed beneath your eyes and atop your forehead.” Her straight lips twitched a little while Theresia stifled a giggle from escaping her lips. Wait I need to add a little something…

  “Oh, and Your Majesty, you’re exactly as what Kal’tsit and Scout told me. Sarkaz’ paragon of your design… but if I may be a bit more impudent… always watch your back.” Theresia opted to just smile at that little extra I gave her.

  POV: ???

  “How was it?” I asked the Pythian woman in front of me regarding the job I inquired of her.

  “Couldn’t be any better, Doctor…”

  How should I put this, she is trained as a soldier but her bearing was unlike what I had seen for so long. Akin to, or that’s the truth, having been trained by an epoch long gone, her tactical prowess too was more akin to being molded by different stratagems and civilizations.

  I know since I have disposable eyes and ears.

  ‘She clearly understands the importance of range in combat, her style of room clearing was a no-brainer, unlike Elders and Ancient. She is confident in herself, but her training is first and foremost the primary foundation. She did py around a little, but it was a clever attempt to confuse her enemy. She never neglected to use every bit of cover, without a shred of false pride in it. Nyx is also capable of terrorizing her foe to be extremely nervous, thus prompting mistakes on their part.’

  Her style of ranged combat but still capable of CQC proves her to be someone you don’t want to fight in an open space. Thus several pns come to mind, each with a theoretically high degree of success without heavy casualties on our part. Unless she shows more of her hidden cards that are still undoubtedly hidden…

  Well, I can put on my assessment for ter since the situation is deteriorating rapidly, and I must get rid of meddlesome anomalies. Technically, she can be considered one, but an exception was made. Regarding those anomalies…

  ‘A pity that an extreme method must be utilized…’

  “The evidence I requested?”

  “Sure, there was a lot of evidence… also who the fuck made a fort within a fort inside a tunnel? Took me some time to clear out the whole pce… had a mind to colpse it all but I can’t.”

  She just threw a whole bag of evidence on top of the table. Scout rummaged around the inside and showed me several videotapes, a whole map of our current area of operation, and also several encrypted files and messages.

  “Can’t you just tell me your name? Or was Babel your name of some kind?” She suddenly asked me while Scout and I were deciphering the gathered evidence.

  “I’ll neither confirm nor deny, except if you agree to be under our employment.” My hand and eyes never stopped while answering her question. It is barely an inconvenience for me to multi-task between hundreds of mental activities.

  “Nah… sounds like a total hassle with a different set of problems.” A fair assessment and since I had changed my names again and again, I found little use for it… although if she needs one…

  “You can call me by my callsign…Odysseus.” I can see her face scrunched up, for the tiniest bit, in either surprise or disbelief, before she settled to just sigh wearily.

  “Hah… better than nothing, Doctor… Odysseus …”

  ‘Hoh? Does she understand the name? How careless… or that’s her angle? Fascinating then…’ but back to the gathered intel…

  ‘This is worrisome, but nothing more than a juvenile attempt of destabilization, our opponent is not them but the Military Commission, or specifically speaking, Theresis. ‘

  I can say with complete confidence, that civil will erupt in 3 weeks, and we need to secure as much manpower as possible. Luckily that obstinate confidante of mine had conferred a sizable amount of financial support. I had encouraged Theresia’s view on accepting mercenaries when necessary, but I also coaxed her to turn them on her side permanently.

  We conversed some more, a much more mundane topic like what the prices of food outside of Kazdel looked like, she answered to the best of her knowledge, but I could sense that the prices of ingredients for improvised weaponry were off. Either she wished to hog the knowledge about the weapon’s monopoly or she didn’t want to attach a target to her back.

  “How does my performance panned out for you?”

  “It’s adequate, you are as capable as your reputation uded you. I would expect no less from someone that Kal’tsit also took interest in.”

  “… you too, huh?”

  “Naturally and have you done the other thing I requested?”

  “Yep, I won’t ask why you paid me to do that, but hey? More compensation for me.”

  “Precisely, it’s always a pleasant occasion to deal with a clear-cut businesslike manner.”

  “Yeah whatever, so… my pay?”

  “You may inspect the content now.” I gestured her to look inside a briefcase on the right side of the table. She nodded while pulling the briefcase her way to confirm its content. After that, she looked into what was inside, and despite maintaining her stoic mask, her eyes showed her satisfaction.

  “I’m starting to be afraid with how many intelligence networks were spanned and spying on me… Well, I show what I can. Thanks for the purified gold bars.”

  “You should indeed be careful, being prepared was never wrong.”

  “I guess that’s all? Nice doing business with you.”

  “Likewise, now you should leave Kazdel, exactly how Kal’tsit told you to unless you wish to spend another decade here.”

  “Yeah, yeah… I know and I’m still a retively busy woman…”

  [END OF CHAPTER]

  Author’s Note:

  Hello there, this is me, me, and I, the author who is a tad frazzled… I am frazzled, holy shit.

  A small question: Do you guys prefer her name to be the Localized one as "Theresa" or the correct pronunciation of "Theresia"?

  Like what I had said (typed) in the previous chapter, Nyx's part in Kazdel is brief, she won’t take part in the civil war since although that will be extremely profitable, she has no interest in it while Kal’tsit doesn’t want to give more reason for fracturing Babel. The Doctor however has several pns in mind if she does join in.

  Babel is not Rhodes Isnd, the majority of their members are made up of either mildly distrustful to purely nationalistic, read; belligerent, Sarkaz who sees both Kal’tsit and the Doctor as outsiders that are maniputing Theresia, it gets “better” as time goes by but still… Adding Nyx into the mix will only invite the good ol’ organizational conflict, thus I pulled her away.

  Of course, as the war goes on, Odysseus (Tentative Name) will be known as the dreaded Ghost of Babel. Silencing anyone who has misgivings on their command, although I need to reiterate that they are still forgiving and reasonable… until they aren’t.

  Especially with how Nyx has already thrown her hats with CM for the foreseeable future. Nyx's work ethos is to commit until she and her employee’s vision no longer align.

  She will, however, come back for that research data, which Kal’tsit had set aside some time to decipher, only time will tell if it’s enough though… That’s all really…

  Update as usual, and my anxiety is fring up again…

  Ciao