Agent: Tien

  Class: B

  Location: Aboard the Cloudstriker Type-41 Reville Airship, Skies of the Aaskiminuvien Theocracy

  Date: 3/13

  Time: 1000

  Following our departure from the outskirts of the vampire known as Count Julius’s Paracosm. The events of the Scarlet Masquerade have rendered our contract with Beatrice Blackthorn null and void; it appeared as though we were sent there for no other purpose than her desire to see Ma’at undergo violent Enigmatization.

  Tien had drawn out a typewriter from her case. She sat alone in the dining cabin. The gray, overcast view outside had begun to fade back into blue skies over fluffy clouds. What she typed on may have seemed like normal typewriter paper, but it was in fact telepaper. Not only could she print the report on the go, but it would also be sent and copied to a twin page back at Vroque HQ.

  Our mission to secure the artifact known as the Roseblood Heart was seemingly a failure. Though, due to a certain string of events, we were informed that Ma’at may have been imbued with the vampire Millarca’s ‘gift’. Presently, we are unaware of what this entails. I will keep a close eye on her and report any changes in her behavior, bodily functions and so forth relating to this ‘gift’. I will also be sure to record her experience regarding said Enigmatization; this information could very well give us the greatest understanding of the phenomenon that we’ve learned thus far. That report shall be my next and will be written when she has fully recovered.

  Her dancing hands stopped, hanging over the keys like waiting spiders. A pang of something akin to guilt sent needles into her heart. She knew it was foolish. There was nothing she could have done for Grin, for the former Nye Inkorpt agent, even if she had been there during the incident. If her colleagues had failed to notice what was happening until it was too late, then she too knew that the outcome wouldn’t have changed. Of course, there was always a possibility that his sudden murder could have been prevented, but it was nothing worth racking her mind over. She had already agonized over many similar cases… and not just the one pertaining to the Lord of Cogs. All it brought her was pain, and she couldn’t afford to let that pain shatter her intense focus.

  Due to circumstances written in Report I-7 #279, the Nye Inkorpt agent named Grin was killed. Following his death, we will continue to be cautious and wary of any suspicious individuals who may be hunting us due to either his demise or our previous altercations with the faction.

  “E-Excuse me.”

  A timid yet soothing voice broke her concentration, drawing her eye. Standing before her was a young woman who seemed eerily familiar. Round glasses were perched atop her pinkish nose, and her icy hair was braided by a talented hand, most likely her own. She wore warm, layered clothing dressed in various rags and pinned together by a certain insignia.

  “E-Excuse me…!” she cried still in a timid fashion.

  “Y-Yes, what is it? I’m trying to work,” Tien replied restlessly.

  “Um, I’m not sure if you remember me, but I was involved in the tournament back at the lord’s mansion. My n-name is Lomm.”

  The pieces came together to form a whole. She recalled the girl’s visage, then in the next moment, witnessing her grisly death by the hands of Noth. “O-Oh, right. So, you’re alive then. Actually, I was going to ask about that. How was it?”

  “Eh? How was what?”

  “Dying, I mean. It must’ve been an interesting experience.”

  The fluffy-garbed girl winced. “N-No, it wasn’t! Well, I can’t say it wasn’t entirely uninteresting… but it hurt! A lot! I was really prepared to die. When I came back, I didn’t know what to feel…”

  “Mhm. And what did you feel in between, if at all? Here, sit down. This really is perfect timing.” Ignoring her feelings on the matter, Tien grabbed the northerner by the sleeve and yanked her down into the booth. She plopped down into the cushiony seat before she could even refuse.

  “Wh-What!? Perfect timing for what?”

  “I was just writing a confidential report on the matter. So, tell me. What was it like? And did you suffer any memory loss afterward?” She went right back to typing, still ignoring the girl’s half-hearted attempts to interject.

  Subject: Lomm

  Interviewing subject based on her experience being reconstructed by the Roseblood Heart and/or Millarca’s power.

  “H-Hold on, this isn’t why I came to talk to you!”

  Tien practically deflated, her frenzied typing halting abruptly. “It isn’t?”

  “No, not at all.”

  An awkward silence followed. The Vroque mercenary stared at the inked letters with building animosity.

  “I-I’m sorry! Are you mad?”

  “Yes, I’m furious. Do you have any idea how long I’ve gone without having to edit a report?”

  Lomm shook her head, praying in her mind that the stranger staring holes into the sheet of paper wasn’t a violent person.

  “Over one hundred days. The last time was when I was interviewing that idiot Raphael. Said he was ‘too busy’ to continue… right in the middle of the report.”

  Another awkward silence followed. Lomm was practically convinced at this point, because of her social paranoia, that this hard-working pencil-pusher was about to push pencils into her skull. She quickly made an effort to fix the situation before she’d be killed again.

  “W-Wait, don’t kill me, please! I meant that my original reason for talking to you was for something else, but I’ll gladly help you with your report!” She raised her arms in defense just in case her last-ditch plan didn’t help.

  “Kill you…?” Tien muttered, but the last thing Lomm had said meant much more to her. She let that remark go in one ear and out the other. “So you will help me? Fantastic. I was really worried there for a second. Might’ve done something that I’d regret.” Like ripping half the page apart and gluing the continuation on. What a hassle that’d be…

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  So she really was going to kill me!? Lomm screamed in her mind.

  “What are you so worked up about? Now tell me what you need first, then we’ll get to the report. Only natural I’d help you before you help me.”

  Why is she being so nice now!? Lomm just couldn’t understand the woman. Putting her fears aside after a moment of deliberation, she continued. “W-Well, it’s about my predicament. See, I was hired by a noble family to procure great wealth from that castle, but I came out empty-handed. So, I was wondering…”

  “We’re not a charity. If you want to hire us, we’ll need funds too.”

  Eek! Almost made her mad again! She gave Tien a forced, cheerful smile. “N-No, no! I wasn’t asking for handouts. I was going to hire you.”

  “Oh,” the mage chimed, surprised. “Alright, then. What’s the job?”

  Lomm summoned the rest of her courage. If she couldn’t convince them, she’d have to find some other method. No one else she’d asked was willing to help her in her endeavor, paid or not, and the rest of her choices were pompous noblefolk who wouldn’t even spare a glance in her direction. “You know our next landing point, don’t you?”

  Tien nodded. The drifting blue sky beyond the window matched her curious eyes. She stared fixedly at the nervous girl. “Mhm. The Greatwoods. Technically, the eastern end of them. What about it?”

  “It just so happens that a friend of my father, my adoptive father, lives in that area. A little into the woods, I think. He sent me a letter before the kerfuffle the other day. Apparently, there’s been some trouble there recently. Sounds like he’d pay good money to tackle it.”

  “And you want us to help?”

  Lomm nodded meekly. “Only if you want to. I-I know it’s a bit of a gamble. I’m not entirely sure he’ll pay up, but he is a blacksmith! If your company needs assistance with their weaponry, I’m sure-”

  “Actually, yes, we do.” A planning grin crept onto her face. “As a matter of fact, a colleague of mine, the Sirithisian, just damaged her blades pretty badly. Since we’re already landing there, that’ll be perfect.”

  For the first time, a genuine smile lit up the cozily-dressed woman’s expression. “Oh, perfect! He is quite far in, but don’t worry. I’ve traveled there before with my parents.” She pushed up her glasses, exuding confidence all of a sudden. “I can even cook for all of you if it takes us till supper. I’m an excellent chef!”

  “Yeah? I’ve known many ‘excellent chefs’ before, and let me tell you, none of them knew a gargofin from a threshtail.”

  “I can cook anything! And I’m a native of Winter’s End. Nobody knows gargofin like us northerners, I can tell you that.”

  “Hmm… sounds like a plan, then.” Tien reached out her hand. “But if the blacksmith can’t pay up or can’t help us, don’t be surprised if we back out.”

  “I doubt it, but if that does happen, I understand.” Lomm shook her hand and the deal was struck.

  “Hm? Who’s this?” Sato waltzed into the room at that moment. Pushing past some bustling passengers, she stood beside the chatting women at their table.

  “Lomm,” Tien replied.

  They then explained to the Maiden of the Rain the plan and what it entailed. During which, the Maiden ordered and consumed a great deal of breakfast food. A large plate of crispy waffles and extravagant side dishes.

  “I see,” Sato said, her voice muffled by mulched bacon. She swallowed, then continued. “We’ll have to let the others know.”

  “Right, where are they?”

  “Catching up still. I know it’s been a long time, but… I can’t help but feel a little jealous.”

  “Jealous?” Tien repeated, smirking.

  “Not jealous! I-I meant it’s not exactly fair that she gets all the attention after practically abandoning Ma’at. That’s all.”

  “Sato… stop being childish. You know that’s not the case. They had a disagreement and parted ways. Now, they’ve found their way back to each other. It’s only natural that they’d have a lot to talk about. Or is this about something else, hmm?”

  “Eh? S-Something else? What’s she talking about, lady Sato?”

  “Nothing! And why are you calling me ‘lady’?” Sato’s pale face flushed red. She practically slammed the bottom end of her fork against the table in protest.

  “Kiyah!” Lomm cried, frightened by the outburst. “M-My apologies. Y-You just seem so… what’s the word… elegant sometimes that I feel as though I should address you as such. It’s a bad habit from working under the Uld family. Don’t mind me.”

  “Elegant isn’t quite how I’d describe her,” Tien joked.

  Sato narrowed her violet eyes. “It’s only natural sweet Lomm would recognize my well-mannered side. You’re too busy sticking your nose in filing cabinets and Ma’at’s too busy talking to that witch.”

  “You really can’t get over that, huh?”

  “W-Witch? Don’t tell me Ilzif the Scourge is on-”

  “No, no. Not that one,” Tien calmed her. “The other one. Camelia, the one in the red dress.”

  “Oh… phew! They know each other, then? Is she working with you all now?”

  “In an unofficial capacity, yes. We aren’t paying her, but that doesn’t seem to matter to her one bit.”

  “It isn’t as if I don’t like her. I just don’t like them being so close all of a sudden.”

  “That’s called jealousy, Sato. Just admit it. It’ll make you feel better.”

  “I’m not jealous…” Sato grumbled. Anger was very much an uncommon emotion for her. It made her even angrier knowing that fact.

  Lomm gaped at the Maiden, then put a hand up to her mouth. “Ah… does lady Sato… perhaps have feel-”

  “Let’s change the subject, Lomm.” Tien cut in before breakfast was ruined. “Now that we’ve agreed to help you, will you please help me finish this report? It’s hard enough to focus while you two are jabbering in my ear.”

  “O-Oh, of course.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, relieved. She had made significant progress. All she needed was the rest of Lomm’s responses and she would be done for the day. “Okay, as I asked before, what was it like? And did you suffer any memory loss afterward?”

  “What was it like…? It was as if I was floating in some strange space. It was dark. Really dark. Darker than the darkest winter night up north. But, every once in a while, I would hear the most beautiful voice ringing out in the distance. Along with it, splotches of light far away would shine, almost like patches of snow. At first, I could barely hear it. But after what felt like days or weeks… I could hear her plainly. And the splotches grew in number and intensity. The voice was trying to calm me down as if I was a crying baby. Sometimes, I think she read me stories and sang me lullabies. It was all some strange dream, but at the time it felt very much real. And… memory loss, hm? Yes, at first I couldn’t remember anything from when we stepped off the airship to that violent reception… but eventually it did come back to me.”

  On and on Tien posed strange yet insightful questions, and the Uthrelai orphan answered them all honestly and truthfully.

  “Interesting,” Tien said.

  “Wh-What is?”

  “You have a knack for answering questions. You didn’t stutter once that whole time. Well, until just now.”

  “O-Oh, sorry! It’s another bad habit. I’ve never been great at talking to people. People can be scary sometimes. I never know what they’re thinking.” Her eyes darted from Tien back to her fidgeting hands. “But I’ve always done well in class, maybe that’s why? Hehe.”

  Tien smiled. “Could be. Well, that’s that.” One last click sounded, then the typewriter let out a satisfying ding. Tien yawned and stretched, carefully pulled the report from the machine, tied the pages together and placed them in her case. “There. Now I can finally eat!”

  Just as she and Lomm got up to order, an announcement rang all throughout the cabin. “The Cloudstriker is commencing landing procedures in five minutes. We will soon be stopping at Docking Port 11-C of Central Vastyliad!”

  “Haah… damn it.”

  “Sheesh. Guess we talked for quite a while.”

  Tien and Lomm turned to one another, then chuckled. As their laughter faded into silence, a fairly loud disturbance ripped them from the moment. It was a strange sound. Something like… snoring. They turned back to the table, then to the booth, and there they saw Sato blanketed by her own raincoat, sleeping in the seat.

  “Quite a while seems to be an understatement. Come on, I’ll introduce you to Ma’at and Camelia. Hopefully they’ll be done chatting away. They’ve been talking so much, I don’t even know if they’ve slept the last couple days.”