Waylen’s POV
“What the fuck do you mean you lost them?! How hard can it be to track down a few low tier scum!? You said, and I quote, ‘Do not worry yourself sir, you do not need to get involved.’ Big fucking mistake that was! Heads will roll if we don’t find them soon!” I scream angrily.
“But sir, at the time, we did not fully understand the amount of manpower that was used in this heist. You must understand that the highest tier we have on retainer is tier 7 sir, and we sent him out on a diplomatic meeting last week to Balance City, our options were limited at the time. We have already turned almost half the city inside out with truthtellers to attempt to find the culprit, it’s only a matter of time before we find a lead.” The tall, gaunt butler says confidently.
“You better, or it’ll be your head to hit the ground first.” I state. “Last thing any of us want is to have to tell the empire, I’ll be up to my neck in ‘favors’ for at least the next 20 years if I have to get them involved with a bounty and such. I’ll give you one week to find these guys. Am I clear?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. Now speaking of leads, I heard one of our top trainees for our new espionage and discretion force was attacked last night during the heist. What was her name again?”
“Mary sir.”
“Ah yes Mary, send her in why don’t you. I don’t feel like looking at your ugly mug any longer.”
“Right away sir.” The butler says before quickly turning and leaving.
‘Man, ordering people around like this sure bring me back to my military days.’ I muse to myself.
After reminiscing for a few more minutes, I hear a short knock at the door. I recollect myself before sternly telling her to come in.
Looking at her come in, I quickly remember which recruit she was. About one year ago one of my guys stumbled upon her sneaking around the slums. He assumed she was up to no good and confronted her. After a short altercation, he was impressed by her knife and general combat skills for someone so young, and unawakened at that, so we through out an offer and here she is.
‘I’ve got to say I’ve been impressed with her progress in the reports given to me by her trainer. Two combat prodigy feats, and both in combat masteries. She’s got to be one of the strongest unwakened within the region, if not the planet. When she awakens, she’ll just be an even bigger monster. I must find a way to keep her in my retinue.’
“Is there something you needed sir?” She says, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Ah yes, excuse my manners, a lot on my mind. You understand how it is.”
She nods.
“Well to the matter at hand, I wanted a full combat report of your battle last night. Don’t exclude any details, every bit of information helps.”
She nods again before quickly and methodically describing her fight with a young, unawakened man.
“You said he used spiritual energy? But didn’t you also say he was an awakened?”
“Yes sir. It is my belief that he unlocked his core in the middle of our fight, seeing as he was just as surprised as me.”
“Interesting…” I say thoughtfully, “Any possible idea what he was doing in there? It’s not like he was doing much.”
“It is my belief that the group who coordinated this heist originally planned for him to disguise as a party goer, then when I exceeded his expectations in combat, he quickly called for a ‘plan b’ of sorts.”
“I see, estimation of his combat potential?” I ask curiously.
I see her visibly scowl before touching the wraps on her arm and saying,
“Most definitely a sword prodigy trait. I estimate his mastery to be about at about 13 or 14, maybe even 15 if he gained a level in our fight like I surmise.”
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My eyes widen at this. A mastery at 13 or 14 before level 1 indicates a prodigy only seen on earth every hundred or so years. Even thinking about that last monster makes me shutter in disgust.
“How sure are you of this assessment?” I ask quickly while leaning forward slightly.
“Almost positive.”
I lean back and sigh in my chair.
‘This changes things. If this is true, I want to nip this in the bud, and fast.’ I think.
“Ok Mary, good work, you may leave.” I say dismissively.
She bows before quickly leaving.
“GODDAMNIT!” I scream while pounding my fist into my desk, obliterating it into scrap.
After a few moments of heavy breathing, I recollect myself, and call for a butler.
“Clean this shit up, and have the troops look for anyone with this description. Tell them anyone unawakened, wielding a beat up sword needs to be investigated. Set this to priority A.”
“But sir, the items in the safe are already priority A…”
“Did I stutter?” I growled out.
“No sir. Right away sir.”
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Mary’s POV
“Goddamn fucking asshole, fuck this stupid fucking mission…” I mutter angrily while walking away from Waylen’s office.
This last year has been the worst year of my life. Not only does the academy send me out on some stupid mission for the past year in some nobody galaxy, on some nobody planet, in some nobody city, but then they tell me to get a job for some nobody tier 11 who thinks he’s the shit.
On top of that, somehow some backwater hooligan manages to actually keep up with me in a fight. The worst part is, I even helped him! Can you believe it? I helped some loser slum rat who can’t even afford a nice sword become even stronger than he already was!
‘Though I can’t complain too much, as I got some pretty nice gains from it too. A full level two both my Knives and my Kicking masteries, both of which have only become harder to level since turning mastery level 10. And that fight might’ve given me some insight into my own core.’
“Ugh, at least I’ll be graduating to the awakened school soon so I can finally get of this piece of shit planet…” I mumble.
I quickly make it to my living quarters, after which I proceed to do routine checks for wards, electronic signals, or any other oddity. Then I pull up a golden tile, to reveal a box with several wards and locks placed on it.
I bypass the wards and locks, before taking out a thin, rectangular piece of magitech with multiple buttons. I then proceed to fiddle with the buttons. A minute into clicking buttons, a hologram appears with the face of a stern older woman.
I quickly state, “Code is 28756436, Kelath Gammaru, of the 786th graduating class of Rodenburrow’s School of Espionage and Spy Work for the Unawakened, reporting.”
“Message received Ms. Gammaru, now enough with formalities, what do you have to report dear.” The stern lady loosens slightly revealing a warm smile.
I visibly relax before reporting the events of the past couple of days in much the same manner a child would tell a mother what they did at school that day.
“Hmm, interesting… This boy you speak of might be a rank 3 talent, maybe even rank 2.” The older lady says amusingly.
“Really?! That high? I’m a rank 4 talent, and he seemed to struggle quite a bit with me.”
“That’s because of your little knife in the side trick you love to pull so much. If you hadn’t managed such a devastating blow so early in the fight, things may not have been as even as you think.”
“How would you know? It’s not like you were there and saw the fight happen… right?”
“Oh please dear, you really think we send you guys on these missions alone? They’re training for a reason.”
“Then what’s the point of all these reports I do if you already know what happened?”
“Practice like you play Ms. Gammaru, we don’t want you guys thinking you can get lazy, now do we? Plus I love talking to you about how you kid’s missions are going. Ah, I remember when you were all just so little, you all were so spoiled back then.” She says, while smiling warmly.
“14 is hardly little.”
“To me it is.” She pouts jokingly.
I sigh before saying, “Anyway, so what’s the plan with this kid? Are we gonna catch him and turn him in or what?”
“Oh gods no, what a waste of talent that would be, for now I’ll let some higher ups in the Empire know to be on the lookout for him. God knows what a disaster it would be if he went running away to another country. For now, we are gonna try and delay his bounty for as long as possible so either our guys or the Empire’s guys can get to him and give him some offers. Most likely we'll offer him a way to work back what he owes. If he declines, well, let's just say if we can't have him, no one can.” The once kind smile looking rapidly more and more sinister.
“Why can’t the Empire just drop the bounty?”
“The short answer, politics. The longer answer, the Empire can’t afford to look like it’s giving special treatment or consideration to any matter. This would cause a hell storm of owed favors, political bargaining chips, and litigation. Not to mention the ravenous dogs that are the other surrounding powers, when they get a whiff of political strife in the Empire, they’re going to take as many bites out of the Empire as they can.”
“I see…” I say, placing my hand on my chin to ponder the sudden implications.
“Don’t think to hard about it, as long as we get to him before he can high tail it out of here, all things considered, things would work out pretty well; a new talent for the empire, you get some political favor by finding him, AND it would make our school look better when I show people the recording crystals of your little scuffle.”
I tilt my head in confusion, “What recording crystal?”
“Oh I can see the headlines now. ‘Rodenburrow’s students can contend with tier 3 talents?!’ Yes this is perfect.” She says, smiling evilly.
“Hello? What recording crystal?! You better now show people me getting my arm torn open!” I exclaim.
“Anyways, toodaloo Ms. Gammaru. Good luck with the rest of the mission!” She says before the hologram cuts out.
I briefly sigh before muttering, “Why me…”