"I-is it really okay for us to walk around like this?""It"s completely fine."
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"We guarantee it."
"And if anything happens Dax is protecting us."
"Now let"s visit this store next."
Drawing quite a bit of attention a girl and a boy ran around the inner part of Rochdale normally only meant for n.o.bles and rich merchants, with the latter of the 2 was almost being dragged behind the former. The girl had shoulder length silver hair and large ashen gray eyes that seemed to dart around at her surrounds constantly, as if she found it extremely entertaining to watch the surroundings. She wore a simple blue one piece dress with a hood that hid the most of her face from curious onlookers while the demihuman boy she dragged around wore a white s.h.i.+rt and brown shorts. While the 2 of them were not an unusual sight even in the inner part of Rochdale, as many n.o.bles bought slaves to act as guards for their children, their escorts were highly unusual. Staying mostly out of sight, the cloaked figures would intercept anyone that was trying to approach the children and turn them away, while doing nothing to people that just went about their day.
"Excuse me you two, can I see your identification and access pa.s.ses?"
Of course that did not cover everyone, soon enguth Iris and Abel were surrounded by city guards.
"Why?"
"Your coworker said we would only need to show it when we entered this place."
"If you want a bribe or something like that it"ll end badly for you."
As Abel hid behind Iris she fired off numerous responses to the guard that spoke out to them.
"Now now miss I just want to confirm that you"re not lost, could you please show me your pa.s.s so I can lead you to your guardian?"
Taking a pa.s.sive stance to show he meant no harm the guard crouched down to meet Iris" eye level as he put on a wryly smile to show he meant no harm as he scratched his beard scruffs.
"No need."
"We"re not lost."
"We"re just enjoying some time off duty together with this child."
"If you"re trying to appeal to our sense of pity we don"t possess any."
"Good day."
Seeing the conversation as over Iris started walking away while dragging Abel behind her, understandably this did not sit well with the guards and the children pair was quickly blocked off from leaving.
"Please cooperate miss I don"t want to use force, I just want to confirm that you are not lost."
Speaking in a more stern tone this time the guard looked at the children with slight annoyance, after all he was the law, and no one is above the law.
"Are we being detained?"
"That would be a very bad idea, for your overall health."
"Iris?"
Noticing a change in her tone Abel spoke up nervously as he looked at his friend.
"It"s fine."
Giving rea.s.surance while showing a faint smile Iris patted Abel on his head before she turned back towards the guard.
"Let us go."
"Or your superior will be very mad."
"Final warning."
Taking what he perceived like against him the guard exchanged a look with his comrades before he put a hand on his sword and rose to his feet once more.
"Okay kids you"re coming with us, I tried to be kind."
With a cold s.h.i.+ne in his eyes the guard graped Iris by the shoulder.
"That was a mistake."
Before the guard knew what was going on he was grabbed by the neck as his arm was pried off Iris" shoulder, then he was thrown away like a toy. Before he knew what was going on the guard landed on his chest presumably a few meters away and had all the air in his lungs knocked out as someone stepped on his back.
"Arg!- What the f.u.c.k!?"
Trying to get back on his feet the unfortunate guard was once more stepped on before he finally turned his head to see who the h.e.l.l dared stepping on him. Turned out it was a "what" not a "who" that was stepping, and it was glad to do so again before synthetic sounding voice rang out in the street from several sources.
[a.s.sAULTING KEY OPERATIONS PERSONAL IS A CRIME PUNISHABLE BY DEATH.]
"Units 1-4 maintain perimeter."
"5 bring up the rear."
"7 request QC line to command."
"AUAV"s a.s.sist suppression in case of threat level red."
"6 continue apprehending suspect."
"Suspect!? I"m a f.u.c.king city guard! LET ME GO!"
Trying to stand up once more the guard completely lost his temper when the drone above him once more stepped on him and pushed him further into the dirt below.
"We find that hard to believe."
"All guards were told about my and this child"s visit."
"Along with Terra and Lux"s."
"We"re envoy"s"
"Is there a need to say were from?"
As part of dealing with the aftermath of having a black operation near/in the populated city of Rochdale Dax had to do more than just threaten a few war hungry n.o.bles to prevent a conflict and ensure Terra"s team could continue traveling through Deltas. The first was a series of visits to the upper world of Rochdale and negotiation of several treaties that were never going to happen. As part of that entire ordeal Dax found a way to give Iris and all the others well deserved breaks and have Rochdale treat them at the same time. Under some vague explanation Dax had sold Iris as a sort of "cultural inspector" that needed a day to play arou- I mean tour the capital of Deltas and inspect their way of life and culture, but most importantly their deserts and sweets.
"I s-sincerely apologize!!! Miss cultural inspector!"
Realing who he was talking to and remembering the morning briefing he had not really paid attention to the guard"s face turned ghastly pale.
"Guards sure are slow witted around here."
"We"ll make sure to note that in my a.s.sessment."
---
"Are you holding up?"
"Yeah, I"m just a bit nervous."
In the very center of power in Deltas 2 figures were about to walk into a grand hall. The former was clad in a completely black form fitting suit with a red tie, so called formal wear for h.e.l.lwalkers that contrasted greatly with her amber red eyes, pale scarred and muscle toned skin and blonde shoulder length hair that was done up in a traditional qiton braid. Her companion besides her wore a fiery red dress that hid her toned and muscle packed body and made her look like a delicate flower, of course Terra was not happy about that fact and that could very much be seen in her bright red pupils.
"Relax a bit will you?"
Putting on a playful smile Lux snuck a finger under Terra"s long and smooth black hair before tracing it up her neck.
"HII! COULD YOU NOT?"
Letting out a girly shriek Terra truly looked like she was about to murder her superior as she spoke in a willful and rage filled tone while still keeping a perfect smile, something she had learned growing up in a n.o.ble household.
"Wow~ That sure is a scary look you have there."
Looking like she was quite enjoying herself Lux had a short chuckle before she completely dropped her smile.
"This is work too, look alive."
With Lux going ahead by herself Terra took a second to collect herself.
"Unit 2, water please."
Holding out her hand, a Reaper drone in a similar suit as Lux handed her a bottle of water that Terra took a quick sip of before she followed after Lux. Terra and Lux were currently visiting key n.o.bles of the Deltas kingdom in order to (among other things) ensure they had safe travels through the kingdom, the n.o.bles treated the chance to meet representatives of the so called "Galactic Empire" as a great chance to gain national (and personal) favor, therefore as soon as the 2 representatives showed themselves at the party they were quickly surrounded.
(This is a bit much…)
Keeping a perfect diplomatic smile as she made short and non engaging and vague answers to a endless barrage of shameless questions and semi s.e.xist praise Lux thought she was prepared for the n.o.ble"s of the world of magic, but she had falsely compared them to high level executives from her home. These n.o.bles were extremely persistent in their questions and didn"t seem to take no for an answer, but after an hour she was finally somewhat released and retreated to the drinks table. Looking towards Terra that still entertained a slew of different people dressed in colourful clothing with a ridiculous amount of frills Lux realized that she truly was a n.o.ble"s daughter.
(Fascinating..)
Looking at Terra, Lux tried to absorb and learn the way she moved and kept herself, so she could use it to tease her later.
"So this is where you went miss Lux."
"Ah, count Storm and barron Roland. After speaking for so much I figured I would sample the local drinks."
Covering her mouth with her hand Lux put on a cordial smile and acted slightly embarra.s.sed as she mentally rolled her eyes at the most annoying n.o.bles she had met so far.
"In that case I recommend the wine from my domain to the south, it has a sweet taste that"s easy on the palet."
"Or if you dislike wine I recommend there"s mead specially made in my town, the sweetness is unlike any other alcoholic drinks."
(They"re totally looking down on me huh?)
Seeing the to n.o.bles in perfect sync recommending sweet and girly drinks Lux was inwardly disgusted as she acted like she was pondering the dilemma with care, before deciding that it was not worth it in the end.
"That sounds like wonderful choices, but I"ve found something even more interesting."
Letting her hand dance over countless choices as she walked past the 8 some meters long table filled with only the finest drinks, the count and barron pair"s faces paled when she stopped on a heavily tinted bottle.
"Miss Lux, that one is properly not for you."
"Why don"t you try another one? I recommend..-"
With well practised movements Lux removed the cork on the bottle and poured herself a gla.s.s as the pair tried changing her mind Lux quickly took a large swig.
"Hmmm~ 40, no 45%. Good deep flavor that"s been enhanced by blending several different "cuts" of wine before and doing a extended time on cask. I both smell and taste brown sugar, vanilla and multiple fruits. A excellent drink indeed."
Displaying an alluring smile as she perfectly a.n.a.lyzed the hard liquor she was drinking neat without issue the count barron pair were briefly stunned.
"Miss Lux are you really okay with that?"
"It"s fine~ I"ve been properly enlightened about the joy of drinking hard liquor."