Of course he heard her correctly. Her voice was replaying in his mind like a glitched tape.

But still...

"..."

"..."

'Hold on...'

Hope's hands twitched as he stared blankly at her.

'This just got dark...'

And Hope didn't necessarily mean the room, although the shadows do seem to have grown thicker as the conversation took a different turn.

The past eight months, Hope was a part of...what?

Hope blinked before speaking.

"I can assure you...that my teammates and I have not been involved in some trafficking-"

Master Leda raised her hand.

"No...That's not what I meant."

"..."

'Then fucking explain...' Hope silently thought.

"Sigh...When my cohort reached your group, what they found in the cargo were people. People who proclaimed to have VIP tickets to board the Arks in Acheron in which were predestined to sail to Quadrant III."

'Quadrant III?'

'I was supposed to be on the ship. On that damn ship!'

'Take me. Please. Take me to the ships. I'll pay you anything! Anything!'

'When I get to the port! I can pay you!'

The voices spiraled in his head from the man earlier in the great hall. Even the image sneaked into his mind: desperate eyes, distraught face.

Acheron was an exclusive society with its strict entry and identification process, so already the concept of smuggling citizens through was a big crime. Even if people throughout Quadrant I had enough currency to access the Arks, it usually applied to the Acheron citizens as the ocean was just outside their window. Escorting groups of citizens from city to city was difficult as it was. If one place was enough to satisfactorily dwell in, then there was no reason to move to another location.

But even so, tickets to board the Arks were expensive that not many had the luxury of buying. That was because shipments were usually exclusive in transporting cargo of ammunition, artillery vehicle operators, armored suits, food supplies, clothes, etc.

But to smuggle civilians to another continent? What the hell was the government thinking?

'Although he said he bought his own ticket, the question is how or why...'

Was there a hurry to move these people that the government knew but Hope didn't?

Or did they simply feel entitled to start fresh somewhere else?

No. Hope thought he shouldn't get ahead of himself. Maybe the government just started branching to the rest of the cities for that offer.

Hope began to speak again, although cautiously. "There's already a public queue for boarding...although small as it is-"

"And yet your convoy took a route through Mirror City that avoided the main checkpoint." Master Leda said as she slid a finger on the map from the city down further south to an open land. "Great lengths to take if it was a public queue."

"..."

'Alright...so I guess I was involved in some black market deal or whatever...'

Hope blinked as he looked down at the map.

That would make sense as to why they crossed the rocky terrain...

Although, even so, the convoy still had taken a slightly different route than from what Hope had originally taken on. But that was another question for another day.

Either way, it was not a normal route that a normal convoy would have used.

'Tsk...Not my fault. I just took on a damn job.'

Even if he participated in this operation willingly, Hope didn't receive any benefits from it. He couldn't recall his life becoming any easier after completing these operations. Food didn't taste colorful. His room remained plain. Treatment was the same.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

So, Hope thought he was probably, in a way, a victim of their schemes.

'That doesn't sound any better...'

In the silence of the room, as the glowing pollen floated around and the flowers opened their petals like ears to listen, the world suddenly felt bigger and more ominous at that moment.

Leda's eyes studied Hope's expression, and as if resolving any of her doubts, she frowned and looked away.

"An Army Reserve soldier you said...I guess we had high expectations of you for this sort of knowledge."

Hope brushed off her words as he looked back at Mave who still smiled and sat in the tall wooden chair observing quietly their conversation.

'Might as well be a throne with the way she's been acting.'

But if what Master Leda was saying were true, and those rescued people inside this building were once a part of his group, then where were the rest of them?

"So?" Hope asked. "What's become the rest of the group?"

Mave stretched her lips into a mocking smile.

"Does it not concern you of the crime you've partaken in?"

"No," Hope answered nonchalantly. "That's not my problem. And you can put me in chains later if that puts your conscience at ease. But I've told you what I know. So, what happened to the rest of the group?"

So what if Hope was involved in a crime?

With his Flaw, Hope could easily disappear just by stepping out of the room as if he were the wind itself or the shadow of the night: indistinguishable.

Maybe the people in that group captured too had kids of their own like the sleeping mother downstairs or had lovers or siblings instead. But Hope felt no attachment towards them. He only knew of their proper existence at this moment and that didn't kindle any moral obligation either.

The people weren't his responsibility.

But his teammates were.

Forgotten or not. He was still their team leader.

Of course, he did not need to explain that to the Masters. Him being involved and knowing bits of this situation were enough of his credentials to even stand in this room.

But clearly, they wanted more information from him.

And he couldn't provide it it seemed...

Mave continued to smile before signaling her eyes to Leda.

Leda let out a small scoff. "Alright then, soldier."

Master Leda walked past him and then pointed southwest out the glass dome.

The glowing pollen dimmed slightly as if hushed by an inaudible command, and Hope could see tall black shadows leaning against each other in the distance like drawn inked lines next to a larger shadow—most likely the city's center tower.

"Sector Five. When my cohort and the convoy were near reaching the city's center, chaos unfurled itself." Leda's red locks fell against her face as she turned to Hope, her brows furrowed. "Regrettably, soldier, at the same time a new wave of monsters hit us, there was also an ambush attack from that Sector. Practically bombing the freeway that separated us in action."

Hope paused as he absorbed her words.

Ambushed.

Attacked.

Bombed.

'They're hostages...?'

Suddenly, images of his teammates raced across his eyes like a montage film. Then their voices. Then the memories: Their comic grins; their ridiculous questions they'd entertained themselves with; their shared training; the battles they've endured; the stretched hours of guarding together.

He could see their faces almost clearly now...

The memory of them might feel real as he recalled and relived it, but their absence could also be felt.

Silently, he had...high expectations for their safety. Even if it meant for him to be fallen behind, if it were them then there should've been no problem. So, the constant thought of them did not impede his mind as it probably should.

Should he have rushed here faster?

Hope felt his reality dissolving from his memory's control until he started to feel his hands clenching into tight fists, his nails digging into his palms as he met Leda's gaze.

There was a new spike of coldness hitting his core that he didn't know how to describe...

"Master Leda." Hope said in a flat voice, yet Leda's eyes narrowed as he spoke. "Are you saying you've failed to protect the group?"

A shadow crossed her eyes. "Careful, soldier. They're lucky I was even there in the first place. I did not fail my duty."

"No. You're human." Hope said, almost in dismissal.

He supposed he wasn't any better since he too failed to be there. Not that he was elevating his level of dignity. But he did not need to hear excuses from her. The fact was. She too failed.

"You're not at all a demigod or a hero as people proclaim you all to be."

Wait for the Awakened they said.

The Awakened will come and clean up the mess they said.

'The Awakened picks up the slack and buy you damn comrades some time.'

An officer's voice echoed in his mind as if to solidify Hope's insignificant self.

All these expectations from the Awakened were stuffed in people's throats when they too had damn limits of their own.

Hope had seen it. And heard it.

There were rumors of Awakened increasingly dying in the past couple of years or so. Of course, the government hid the real numbers from the public eye so their faith wouldn't sour. But Hope remembered a glimpse of their bodies being carried away. They looked no different than a mundane human with all the false glamour sucked from their faces.

Gray skin rotted just the same.

Lifeless eyes.

Pale lips.

They died the same. And they bled the same.

An annoyed expression filled Leda's face.

"Now how could y-"

But Hope turned away. If she wasn't going to properly cooperate then maybe Mave will. "Where's the path to reach Sector Five-"

Woosh-

Hope stopped speaking.

Suddenly, Mave stood threateningly close to him.

Maybe standing wasn't the right word...

At the moment, she could pass for a puppet with the support she was given.

Whether it was the cause of his Attribute or not, there she was inches away from his face, eyes staring intently into his own. At the edges of his vision, Hope could see vines had wounded their way around her arms and torso as if to entrap her in their limbs. Vines came from the ground and pushed her up to stand while others came from above and held her in their supporting strings as if there was an invisible puppeteer.

But who else could be behind all of these tricks?

Obviously, from the flowers at the border to the garmented walls in the great hall, to the thriving bloom of nature in the glass dome like some otherworldly garden.

It was her.

And whatever weakness she had was sealed away with her hubris.

"Soldier."

She spoke with an empty smile, and yet her yellow eyes brimmed with such regard at his. As if he were an item, a prey, a prospect that finally piqued her interest.

"If what you desire is beyond those walls, to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, breaking tooth and nail for them, then you must answer this question."

Hope narrowed his eyes.

"Are you truly willing to sacrifice yourself for your people?"