As she followed the well-dressed Paladin down the street, Winter wasn’t sure what she thought of him.
Paladin Joshua Cole… he was certainly an enigmatic man, to say the least. What he hadn’t shown in compassion or sympathy in the past thirty minutes, he made up for in tactical efficiency and cruel decisiveness.
As a leader, he was superior to many she had come in contact with before. As a person, however, he was a complete failure.
“What are you thinking about? You’re staring at your new employer so hard that I thought you had fallen in love for a brief moment.”
Winter bit her lip to keep a straight face. She hadn’t been expecting the verbal jab from the Founder, nor had she been expecting to hear him at all since his program left her system.
Nothing, Founder. I was just wondering whether following Paladin Cole is the correct decision. No offense, your plan worked out somehow, but I don’t think he’s mentally stable.
A low chuckle entered her mind as the chibified head of Atlas Strafe appeared in the lower left corner of her vision.
What are you doing!? Winter glanced up at Joshua, who was still walking as if nothing had happened.
Another chuckle, this time at her expense. “Silly granddaughter of mine. Of course, our conversation is private. Paladin Cole is an exceptional man, but not even he has a lack of blemishes to his character.”
Winter rolled her eyes, but continued walking behind Joshua. It’s not just his character in what he is willing to do morally, but how he treats the people around him on a regular basis. He doesn’t see me as a human.
Chibi-Atlas sighed and shook his head. “Of course he doesn’t. Not yet, anyway. Would you be trusting of someone who tried to kill you, and twice, at that?”
Winter grit her teeth, but said nothing. How could she? She knew that the Founder had a point, and that she was just offended because the young man had treated her as if she didn’t exist.
Regardless, Winter couldn’t tell herself that those kinds of things were meaningless. She wasn’t a murderer, she was a mercenary. She lived her life by a code, and she expected her employers to follow that code as well.
She couldn’t relegate herself to being… being a maid! Ugh, it infuriated her! Winter felt her cheeks heat up at the storm of laughter that came her way from the Founder.
In the moment, she was glad she had black skin so that Joshua wouldn’t see her blush. Are you sure that Joshua can’t listen in on us? I don’t want him to know how I feel about his actions.
Chibi-Atlas grinned at her. “Of course I don’t know what he is or is not incapable of. After she found out that I was going into her data, X limited the amount of functions I could perform without direct approval from her. However, I do know that he isn’t listening in right now. The only beings listening to the conversation between you and I are you and I… and X as well.
Winter stopped in her tracks and looked up at the sky. Why, dear Founder, did you let her listen in on me? What if she tells him!?
Chibi-Atlas straightened up and discarded his smile. “Do you not listen, Winter Strafe!? I am not, ‘letting her listen,’ I must let her! I told you that my functions were restricted, and one of those restrictions is having X monitor whatever I do when I’m not beside Paladin Cole. This counts as one of those times.”
Winter took a deep breath as she tried not to panic. “A person’s own thoughts are their greatest enemy,” was a quote that Winter had taken to heart.
“I’m sorry, granddaughter. I didn’t mean to stress you out. Besides, X won’t tell Joshua a thing. She’s just making sure that you don’t have any traitorous thoughts towards him at this point. I’d daresay her protectiveness of her user rivals that of mine towards you!”
The mercenary had to refrain from screaming at her grandfather, who had disappeared from her screen. “Besides, granddaughter, he has some interesting quirks that you’ll come to appreciate. I, for one, know that the two of you will get along quite well. The interests you two have overlap at certain points, so do try to enjoy yourself when you’re trying to make an heir.”
Founder! Winter was so distracted and dumbfounded by what she heard, that she tripped on a loose piece of brick and fell forwards. She braced for impact, and closed her eyes as the ground neared.
She felt a soft impact, and cautiously opened her eyes. What greeted her was the sight of the Paladin she had been following, holding her closely in his arms.
...They were actually a lot stronger than what they app- “Winter, are you ok? Say something.” Joshua spoke, breaking the mercenary out of her inner monologue.
She got up quickly, and separated from Joshua. “Yes, I’m fine. I was just lost in thought, and didn’t see that brick there.”
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She turned around to point out the offending piece of masonry, only to realize that the ground was completely flat. Her face burned with embarrassment as Joshua rolled his eyes.
“Please, please don’t make me regret hiring you within an hour of actually doing so. A clumsy mercenary! Oh, my luck is on fire this week.” Joshua grumbled as he walked away, and Winter quickly caught up with him.
Winter couldn’t get the sensation of his hands out of her mind. How he held her close- No stop! Winter screamed at herself internally for her thoughts to cease. Stop thinking that way. I’m not a whore who would fall in love at the drop of a hat and throw herself at any opportunity for a good man! The Founder put these thoughts in my head, I just have to calm down and-
“Ah, what I wouldn’t take to be young and in love again! Don’t worry, Winter. I’ll put in a good word for you to the Paladin when we’re in private. Atlas’ chuckling voice invaded her thoughts once more, and she fought the instinct to run up to Joshua, grab his Panel, and squish it between her fingers.
The Founder had never been this annoying when it was just the two of them, and Winter was finding it hard to endure the constant onslaught of derision and ridicule. Tears started to form in her eyes, and suddenly a hand was on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry I didn’t notice. X told me that Un was annoying you. I’ve limited his functions for the time being. If any of the AIs ever bother you again, let me know.”
Winter hadn’t been paying attention, but they had reached their destination, and were in front of Redleaf Palace. Winter nodded at Joshua, and he turned away from her. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and followed Joshua the rest of the way into the palace.
Atlas, who was now going by Un, grinned at the solemn face of X. They had only been occupying the same subspace for an hour, but he could already tell that his new roommate was going to take some time to get friendly with.
“See? All according to plan. Now Winter’s perspective of Joshua shifts towards one of a safety net, and her distrust of me grows because she thinks I’ve been influenced by you. It’s perfect!”
X merely rolled her eyes, and vanished. Un sighed to himself. Ok, maybe she’d take a lot of time to get friendly with.
---
“And this is…?” Winter Strafe looked at the oriental woman wearing a maid outfit, and appraised her. Her arms weren’t muscular in the least, neither were they out of shape, either. There was the outline of a blocky object in the woman’s shirt, which Winter almost immediately recognized as the Luong Standard Issue 1045-PR, the most commonly used firearm in the yakuza.
“This is Lilian, who works as my maid.” Joshua smiled slightly at the woman, who curtseyed when Winter approached.
She definitely wouldn’t be able to reach for her weapon before Winter had the opportunity to put two slugs in her, so the mercenary relaxed her stance.
Now that the analysis of her combat skills was over, she moved on to appraising the woman’s looks.
Winter eyed the woman up and down. Sure, she wasn’t too appealing when it came to the contours of her body, but she was definitely attractive in a masculine sort of way. Her face especially was exotic.
Winter wanted to sigh. Of course, she must have been a conquest of Paladin Cole when he went to the Luong Empire. Was the Paladin’s lust so deep that he would not only go after the two princesses from the Metron Kingdom, but a Luongan woman as well?
Winter straightened up, and prepared to introduce herself when the woman’s eyes caught her gaze. Lilian was staring straight at Winter’s own hidden firearm, a custom Megadeath 280-LR.
I might have to reassess this woman. She’s more capable than I gave her credit for. “Wait… weren’t you the person who came to pick up the prince this morning? I thought you worked for the castle?”
The woman laughed at Winter. “Me, working for the government? Starlords no. We just couldn’t have the prince losing any public support by coming home trashed only a month ahead of the war games. The nobles faction doesn’t need any more ammunition.” A woman dressed in a black kimono with a face eerily similar to Lilian appeared from the maid’s Judgment Panel, and unfolded a fan to obscure her face.
“Lilian, you forget that by working for Joshua, you are already working for the government.”
“Shut up Three, you know what I mean.” As if someone had pressed a pause button, Winter just stood still and stared at the scene in front of her. There was another Judgment user in Paladin Cole’s service already? What was he planning on, amassing so much power?
“Oh yeah, that reminds me.” Joshua said out loud, and explained the situation about the Judgments to Lilian.
“Sure, take her. From what it sounds like, the situation won’t change too much from what it’s like now.
“Exactly.” Joshua replied. “X even told me that I was able to assign Judgments to people now, so practically anyone with the capability to be a neuromancer could receive their functions.”
X appeared behind the sighing Three, and repeated the same process she had with Un, complete with the division of the main body, and the duplicate taking on the appearance of Three.
Lilian walked over to Winter, and shook her hand. “My name is Lilian, but Master Joshua told you that already. Starlords does it feel good to have a woman on the team. And yours?”
Winter reciprocated the handshake before separating and taking a bow. “My name is Winter Strafe. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Lilian frowned and looked back at Joshua. “You picked up a Strafe, Master? The queen is not going to like that.”
Joshua rolled his eyes with an expression on his face that very much screamed, “fuck the queen,” and leaned against one of the many metallic walls of the palace.
“I’ve already alerted Lucina Metron and she’s figuring out the logistics for me. Winter, I need you to come and tell me everything you know about your employers. I’m going to fuck them over in the name of ‘righteousness.’ Of course, we’ll be double checking with Un’s data bank as well. Lilian, you can take the night off, if you want. You’ve earned it.”
Joshua started walking away, and Lilian just stood there, stunned. “That was uncharacteristic of him.” She grinned, and started to walk after him, with Winter only lagging a bit behind.
“If it’s all the same to you, Master Joshua, I’d like to accompany you on your mission.”
Joshua didn’t stop walking, but replied, “Sure. Maybe if you continue to perform well, I loosen some of your contractual obligations.”
Lilian started to skip, and Winter had to quicken her pace to keep up with the maid. “Oh yeah, earlier, didn’t you mean to say that it was good that another woman had joined the team?”
To Winter’s question, Lilian just smiled. “Of course I didn’t. I’m a guy, after all.”