“What’s the catch?” asked Delphi. She crossed her arms and frowned at her boss.

“The catch is that I don’t want you completely screwing this up for me,” replied Antioch. “Our high value target can single-handedly make us obsolete if he so chooses!”

The black haired woman glared at her boss for a few more seconds before replying. “Alright, so who’s the new team member?”

“Someone more important than any of us deserve, honestly, but we got lucky. I’d like to introduce you all to my boss’ boss’ son, Chudsworth Bosson!” Antioch let loose a much too wide grin as he stepped aside to let a young man walk past him into the room.

The suit he wore was colored in the standard department gray, but the material was beyond anything anyone in the room had seen before. Some kind of silk, but the threads were so fine and immaculate that he had might as well have been cloaked by a smoggy sky. On his lapel was a purple pin lined with gold that did well to act as contrast to the rest of his wardrobe. His hair was red and his eyes were brown with irises that seemed to glimmer like crystals as he walked towards the trio with an extended hand and collected smile.

Nash was the first to react by rolling her eyes.

While Antioch winced at the reaction, the newcomer thankfully didn’t notice her behavior and locked eyes with Delphi.

“Chudsworth Bosson, a pleasure,” the newcomer introduced himself. “I can see that you feel quite hopeful about my addition to your team, yet also a hint of trepidation? No, it is a fountain of trepidation! It wounds me how you doubt me so!”

Delphi immediately schooled her expression into a blank stare.

“And surprise!” continued Chudsworth. “Though as an Empath, it is no surprise to me!”

“He’s the real deal!” exclaimed Antioch from the front of the room. “He can read the emotions of anyone nearby. And it’s magic based too, not like that fad with kids these days thinking they’re in touch with everyone around them.”

“And A-ranked at that,” said Chudsworth, pointing at the pin on his lapel. “Certified by the Royal Magic University!”

“It means he can read people from their mental emissions alone, which won’t tip them off,” added Antioch. “Perfect for stealth!”

The newcomer then extended a hand towards Nash. “I see from you miss, a… searing hatred?”

The blonde haired woman didn’t reply, simply continuing to shake the man’s hand and glare daggers at his lapel.

Chudsworth traced her gaze towards his lapel and frowned. “I find my sense in fashion to be quite impeccable, I don’t see why it enrages you so. This suit alone cost three thousand gold pieces, that should be worth commendation no matter what you think of its aesthetics!”

Nash’s grip tightened and the newcomer winced before pulling his hand away and slowly offering it to Ted.

“Oh and from you, I see… I see… huh. I don’t believe I see much of anything. Oh! Are you employing some sort of magic or psychic blocker?”

“Not at all, Chudsworth,” replied the other man with a much too practiced grin. “I simply don’t feel anything at the moment. I usually don’t.”

“How peculiar, I’ve never encountered someone who can feel nothing, even at rest,” said the newcomer. “What does invoke your emotions, in that case?”

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“Don’t ask him that,” said Delphi.

“Stabbing!” replied Ted.

“Uh…” Chudsworth’s expression froze as the sound droned out of his mouth, but he continued shaking the bearded man’s hand.

Nash let out a wry grin that the newcomer immediately picked up on.

“Ah, you’re now feeling happiness! I’m glad that getting closer to you all brings you so much joy, I’m sure we shall all become much closer in due time.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Nash, her face souring once more.

The room’s inhabitants fell into a quiet lull, processing the change that was happening to the team. Delphi herself took the longest to realize that things were different now owing to the fact she was operating on little to no actual sleep. But by the time she realized it was her boss who dropped this newcomer onto them with a smile, it was too late.

“Alright, I’m going to get going now,” said Antioch, quickly making his way out the door, and shouting one last request at the group. “And make sure to take care of Chudsworth, it’s my reputation on the line with my boss’ boss here!”

The door slammed shut, leaving the four teammates in the room by themselves.

“So what’s our latest mission then?” asked the newcomer, turning to the others with a puppy dog smile. “Telling the hero where to find some ancient magical armor? Or maybe alert him to a settlement under siege by the Dark Lord’s forces? I do wonder what aid he can bring them.”

The room went silent again. The three others stared at Chudsworth, trying to pry out a wry smile or glint in his eye from his completely innocent facade. But the pure expression continued unabated.

Nash’s mouth was the first to open up in surprise, followed by Delphi. Ted simply looked on with his own stereotypically polite smile.

“Guys?” Asked Chudsworth. “So what’s my first mission?”

“First mission,” began Delphi. “Yeah, first mission! We need you to head over to the archives and get me the locations of all of the pieces of the hero’s holy armor. It might not seem glamorous, but this information is imperative to-”

“Leave it to me!” exclaimed the newcomer as he turned around and strode out the door.

The room was quiet once more, everyone holding their breath as the sound of Chudsworth’s footsteps began to taper off. Once they were finally inaudible, Nash spoke up.

“Aren’t there like four dozen pieces of armor in the set?”

“Not to mention, each previous owner of each piece has their own separate record that points to the next one. And they’re all sorted by the owner’s name,” said Ted.

“I figure that should give us some time to talk about our actual plan,” said Delphi. “Maybe an hour or two before he’s kicked out of the records room?”

“Or fifteen minutes before his spoiled ass calls it quits,” added Nash. “But why are we even bothering with that stuck up Magical University graduate? They’re all bad, and he’s probably worse with daddy’s support.”

“Look, I don’t like him either,” replied Delphi. “But Empath rankings are incredibly objective, he’s almost definitely the real deal if he has that, whether or not ‘daddy’s influence’ had the test proctor go easy on him.”

“I’d like to see ‘daddy’s influence’ make the proctor go harder on him, then we’ll talk.”

Delphi didn’t respond to that. Instead, she continued her previous chain of thought. “We can’t do anything about the spy in the hero’s party yet, but we can at least figure out what he’s up to and maybe even put us in a better position to take him on.”

“What do you recommend for that, Delphi?” asked Ted. “And how does this relate to Chudsworth? We really ought to find a good codename for him, though there won’t be much point for one if I get to stab him first.”

“How about ‘Nepo’? I think that’d be a good fit.”

“We’re not going to call him Nepo! And no stabbing him!” shouted Delphi. She let out a sigh and answered Ted’s first question. “Since Nep… I mean Chudsworth obviously doesn’t have a clue how we or the HIA operates, why don’t we just have him do what he thinks we do?”

“Provide honest guidance for the hero to protect the kingdom?” asked Ted.

“Exactly,” said Delphi with a snap of her fingers. “Even if the spy has similar empathy magic to Chudsworth, the spy won’t be able to figure anything out if the man believes he really is an innocent quest giver! So let’s just make up an innocent sounding quest that gets what we want out of the hero and the party.”

“And throw in some questions or lines to get a reaction out of the spy so we can figure out his intentions,” added Nash.

“That goes without saying,” the black haired woman said with a smile.