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SHADE

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This... This was the worst thing that could ever happen to them while they were essentially sneaking deep into an enemy encampment. Sure, there were worse things to happen to them like actually being found out and getting castrated for it, but this was a pretty close second when it came to operational integrity.

"What\'re your group\'s intentions in my city?"

It was a disaster of epic proportions. Currently, Shen was doing a horrible job of being their frontman, while he and Maruki stood behind the girl, hoping that the Head Intellect wouldn\'t try and question them even though she was already giving them highly suspicious looks.

"W-We\'re here ta rest and make money," Shen weakly replied, her usual confidence melting against the intense glare of the admittedly beautiful, if really unhealthy woman standing in front of her. "We weren\'t even plannin to do anythin!"

Shade inwardly grimaced at Shen\'s answer. This Head Intellect was practically grilling the girl of everything she was worth, and Shen was on the verge of spilling the beans without even so much as a fight. For a second, he thought about using [Rozen] to try and influence the situation, but that glass rectangle the woman had on her hand was practically screaming that it was a [Manifest] with the number of cracks it had compared to the rest of the woman\'s immaculate clothing. With her [Manifest] that damaged, he could only assume that she was either pushing herself to the point of almost killing herself just to use it or underneath all of this focus and intensity was a fragile mind that might just break the moment she reached her limit.

And while either of those options would be preferable to being caught out in the open like this, he most certainly didn\'t want a [Delusion] happening right in front of him.

"So how do you explain this then?" the Head Intellect asked Shen with a scrutinizing glare, the poor girl shrinking in on herself as the taller woman looked down on her. "Along with the fact that you along with the two of those behind you were spotted right beside the burning warehouse from earlier?"

Shade flinched. Beside him, Maruki was bristling with energy as if the tank was getting ready for a fight. In truth, he was also thinking that a fight would be unavoidable the more this black-haired beauty kept on grilling their mechanic. Shen was getting dangerously close to cracking, if the glow emanating from her wrench was anything to go by.

"I-We don\'t know! I was just tryna find ma friend!" Shen whined, her demeanor getting antsier with each question that got asked of her. "Why are ya asking me anyway?! Ya should ask Shade there!"

Shade clicked his tongue at Shen\'s stupid answer. Did she seriously just out them all out of annoyance?!

"I see," the Head Intellect scoffed, her cane clacking against the solid ground as she walked up to him. "And you\'re Shade, correct?"

"Yes, ma\'am," he replied, keeping his cool despite the growing anger in him to just punt Shen out of the [Rig] the next time he saw her. "And yes, we\'re indeed sellswords only hoping to make money here before going on with our voyage."

"A voyage, eh," the woman raised an eyebrow in suspicion, the smell of the burning stick in her mouth almost making him gag despite his attempts to keep the impulse down. "Tell me then, Shen there said that you knew more than she did. Why are you lot here in my city?"

With a thousand possibilities of how the conversation could play out in his mind, Shade was forced to pick the first answer he could find that wouldn\'t end with them facing whatever it was this woman\'s [Manifest] turned out to be. "As I said before, we\'re here as sellswords to-"

"Answer the damn question," the Intellect growled out, interrupting him from telling her the baked answer he was planning to give her. "We both know that\'s not the real answer."

Beside him, he felt Maruki\'s armor move ever so slightly. Meanwhile, Shen was practically reaching for the safety of her wrench, the only reason she wasn\'t doing it already being the fact that they were currently surrounded by around five Academics who were also clearly Somatics. There was no way they\'d be able to fight their way out of this, that much was for sure.

"We\'re here on behalf of our client," Shade replied with a sigh, acting as if it was the whole truth in an effort to hide the more damning reason they were there. "As for the warehouse, we were honestly just doing a Contract that your people gave us. That was an accident, and we claim no responsibility for that incident."

"Oh? So you\'re admitting that you might be responsible for this massive crater that destroyed a tenth of my city then?"

Shade kept his composure as he shook his head. "Not at all. We also have no idea as to how this crater formed."

"Is that so?" the Head Intellect suspiciously questioned. She then turned back towards Shen, the girl flinching under her gaze as she asked, "Tell me, Shen, do you think your group is responsible for all of this?"

Shade grimaced. Maruki was already giving him looks, and there was no way that Shen would be able to lie to save herself.

"N-No? I don\'t know, okay!?" Shen cried out, her wrench drawn as she held it in front of her as defense. "J-Just... I don\'t know!"

Just like that, the atmosphere surrounding them changed. The Academics around them all tensed up in anticipation of a fight. Likewise, Maruki\'s shield was already glowing blue in a seeming attempt to prepare for the inevitable.

"What she means is that we\'re also investigating the matter ourselves," Shade couldn\'t help but interrupt, hoping that he would focus the woman\'s attention back on him and away from their fraying mechanic.

"You mean for your supposed benefactors," the Head Intellect scoffed, her eyes narrowing to the point that even he was starting to feel the proverbial heat that she was fielding against them. "And who are these supposed benefactors?"

Maruki bristled at those words. There was no way that Shade would be able to lie to this woman with a straight face. Somehow, she was able to point out every lie they\'d ever tried telling to her. Even he, who was probably the best liar in their group, was unable to put on a ruse that could get them out of this woman\'s ire. Either she was just that good, or her [Manifest] somehow helped her in the same way that his [Rozen] could also help him.

If so... Just how dangerous was this woman?

"We don\'t know either," Shade vaguely responded, giving both Shen and Maruki a look telling them to stop panicking and let him deal with this.

"I find that hard to believe," the woman scoffed. "All sellswords know who they\'re working for. Even those Vestygian scum know that much."

"Well, there are still some that deal with those kinds of contracts," Shade nonchalantly lied through his teeth. "It just so happens that our group does it."

"A likely story," the Head Intellect\'s eyes narrowed, her cane twirling around her fingers as she walked around them. "I for one, believe that your group is working for the Empire. Here to steal innovations, perhaps? Or maybe you\'re here as a preemptive strike in a vain attempt to capture Marquee as a whole?"

"That\'s kind of farfetched, isn\'t it?" Shade chuckled, shrugging as he forced a veneer of bravado onto his face. "I doubt that even the Empire would be that stupid to-"

"You can stop lying now if you can," she interrupted him yet again. "I know that you all are running around under the orders of this Shizu woman."

His eyes widened, as did Shen\'s and Maruki\'s as the Head Intellect revealed her information.

"What? You don\'t think I don\'t keep a keen eye on my own city?" the Head Intellect scoffed. "As Head Intellect, I make sure that I have a close eye on my citizens. And if a foreigner enters the city, I keep an even closer eye on them the moment they enter the city outskirts."

As if on cue, the Academics around them all drew their respective weapons, their gazes narrowing as they all simply waited for their Head Intellect to say the word.

Shade took a deep breath as she felt Maruki and Shen move closer to him. They were all poised to defend themselves now, with the Head Intellect still standing over them in her position of complete dominance over the situation.

"A-Are we gonna fight?" Shen whispered.

Shade shook his head, his gaze still on the woman holding them captive as he replied, "If so, then that means that you should know where our companions are right now."

"I do," the woman scoffed. "They\'re currently climbing their way up here as we speak, and I\'m sure they must have more to say after we throw them into a prison cell where you lot certainly belong."

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