Roroa
Walking out of the office, Mona saw Phesx Caolia out. As he stepped out of the door, she called him in a soft, low voice. “Fox, are you still bothered by your reproductive conditions?”
“No,” said Phesx, “It wouldn't have changed anything, so no.”
“Well then, prepare for tomorrow, and don’t ask too many questions. You don’t have these chances so often.” Mona said, nodding at him. Phesx faced her and blinked before asking, “How much do you know?”
“Not that much,” Mona lightly smiled after puckering her lower lip, “As your successful therapist, able to hold you back from ‘scaring’ too many therapists in PSD’s sphere of influence, I was told a few more things… They are very confidential, and even if they weren’t, I wouldn’t talk about them. You… have a long path ahead.”
“Um… well then,” Phesx frowned a bit before nodding. He thought for a moment, his eyes darting around, before voicing, “After this… mission, or task, whatever it is. Will I have to continue seeing you still?”
“Of course!” Mona nodded, she then fell silent, just staring at him with a sincere gaze. Not having to hear more words, or a joking phrase to ‘lighten the mood’, Phesx breathed a little more at ease. He nodded and turned, walking out of the lobby before going down the stairs.
… Phesx walked out and headed to the Plastics Recycler Factory. He couldn’t just wait, though. Before entering the factory, he deviated and took a walk around the entire district. But with his impatience, and even a tiny bit excited state, he only wasted a little over an hour to return to the factory. So he took more walks until the early morning was giving rise to its first lights.
At last, Phesx Caolia went into the factory and walked to the receptionist, but she just looked at him. When he walked to the counter, the double backdoors opened, with Butler coming out of them, staring at Phesx.
“You’ve come. You could’ve just enter and we would have begun at night, you know?” Said butler. Phesx blinked, lightly parting his lips as Mena narrowed her eyes and restrained as ever giggles she almost burst with.
“Uh…” Phesx didn’t know what to follow with. Butler gestured inside, “Shall we begin?”
Phesx shrugged, pressing his lips together as Mena opened the little door around the counter for him. Butler didn’t wait for him and started walking. Phesx could only follow a few meters behind. They walked for quite a few minutes before Butler went up some stairs.
A minute later, they arrived at the highest floor in the building. Phesx Caolia looked around, being here for the first time, with many special agents wearing armor and even bulletproof vests of the top-notch quality. They had green painting on their bodies and face; Green Blood, guarding everywhere. There was an occasional guard with white painting between them, White Blood.
Butler guided Phesx to a wide, spacious room with a large meeting table in the middle and seats with slightly tall backrests, all made of the same wood and with the same color.
There weren’t many people involved, but there were still quite a few here. Butler gestured to Phesx so he could sit while the others chatted to each other a little longer before taking seats in front of him, on the other side of the table, and quite a bit away.
“Phesx, these are some of the Piya Sanctum District’s captains of the Green, White, and Red Blood factions. They are each following their leader captain,” the Butler introduced the people to Phesx, all monumental to the District. Now, Phesx knew he wasn’t being played around. Butler gestured to a man. “This one here is the Green Blood’s leader captain, Nauer.”
Nauer was a white man with black eyes; blond, and tall. He was rather young compared to the other 2 leader captains. He was military, it was that obvious, but his hair had an elegant style.
The other Captains around him were a little older, but also of similar age to his, or even a bit younger. However, that seemed fitting for what Phesx saw in the other small groups.
Butler gestured to another man and introduced Phesx, “This is Lian, the White Blood’s leader captain.”
Lian is a black, old man, with also a military touch to himself, and brown hair and eyes. At least from whatever wasn’t white or gray. Lian looked well above 100, maybe even 110 years old. Besides Emer, this was the first time Phesx saw someone this old in the secret world. He almost felt a little respect straight away.
“My- our Red Blood’s leader captain chose not to come here, rather to grieve a master’s death. Instead, there’s what is considered the leader captain’s right and left hand.” Butler nodded to a brown, old man with balding hair before turning his head to Phesx Caolia.
“One of these will be your leader in the near future, not too long from now. But that’s not entirely what you’re here for,” Butler seemed to get straight to the point. Phesx listened attentively. Egoaiz Prein continued, “Phesx, you have been spoken of very well. Any firsts or seconds you’ve sparred against praise and envy you, we must say.”
The other leader captains slightly nodded their heads, with Nauer blinking in understanding. Phesx randomly blinked, though. These buildups for ‘buts’ were always big.
“You have been granted 1st Grade rank,” Butler dropped it. The others were silent and stared at Phesx Caolia, while he nodded and didn’t know why everyone was silent. Knowing this was the moment, Butler added, “You should know, everyone starts at threes, few at seconds.”
“…” Phesx’s body paused on the spot. He had nothing to say to himself other than knowing what was coming next, and that there was no way out. ‘Oh.’
“There isn’t really a reason to promote someone from a recruit to an agent of the highest rank available. The training isn’t meant to make ‘godly monsters’ of the secret world, no. That comes with time, independently of our training, but the agents themselves.”
“The 3rd Grade isn’t weak, as you might know. It might be below the superiors you had in Riverlye. It’s the same when in comparison of other lagjs, but only the most optimal agents are granted 2nd Grade this early because of their other qualities. Yet, Phesx, you’ve shown you have more than a few extra qualities, even before joining the training regimen.”
“Your fellow new special agents will also wonder why you were given such treatment, and you wouldn’t want that, would you?” Butler looked at Phesx with upturned eyes. Phesx Caolia didn’t know what to do know, there was nothing he could use to navigate through this but to acquiesce.
“Hence, the Piya Sanctum District has decided to give you a worthy task to demonstrate it. This won’t only put your killing skills to the test, nor will it only last a few days or weeks. A lot of commitment is needed, a lot. Understood? Analyze it now, you’re departing in 4 days.”
Butler passed him a small folder with just a couple of documents inside. Phesx listened to Butler until he finished, taking those documents out to read at last. There were many names on a section, pertaining to what he believed to be a worker registration.
He was to aid a VIP client, something that already put pressure on Phesx Caolia and made him wonder. Just how ‘amazing’ does an entity become to have ties to task the PSD with such aid?
Reading through the necessary ‘skills’ for the task, Phesx understood many things. He had to work as a bodyguard, manager, trainer, morning, noon, and night relaxing sessions' instructor, even acting as human emotional support.
Furthermore, he was to protect his client with utmost regard, with possible threats against criminal activity, living in the outskirts of civilization, in a rich area far from immediate rescue. Phesx Caolia was to cooperate with the client’s security team and coordinate everything for the client’s wellbeing.
“May I know why is this necessary t-” Phesx shook his head in dismissal before looking up at Butler, but the latter shot words like spraying bullets. “Your ultra Mintip left arm’s integration cost is this. Completing this mission will grant you 3 years off the debt, where your monthly fee will freeze and you can focus on other parts of your special agent’s life. Don’t you want to craft again? Our facilities are much better than in Riverlye, aren’t they?”
“They are…” Phesx nodded with vacant eyes and longing before looking at the piece of paper Butler slid through the table. Picking it up, he read it and fell silent. Phesx’s eyes lost all apprehension and sense of reality. He slammed the paper down, saying, “When do we depart?”
“You will meet and escort the client to the safe house late at night. Adequate clothing and devices will be delivered to your apartment here around the corner. The rest will be delivered to you in the limousines.” Butler elaborated in a good mood.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
‘Is my acceptance this good of a deal for the District?’ Phesx Caolia thought before sighing. He stood up and looked down, slightly supporting his body on the table. Looking up, he addressed the leader captains and Butler, “Thank you for the opportunity. I will do my best to accomplish it successfully.”
With that, Phesx turned around and walked out of the room. Once he was gone, the leader captains exchanged a few glances with Butler before speaking among themselves. “He doesn’t seem bad.” - “It’s still too early. What a strange mission that is, anyway.”
Butler didn’t chat much, merely asking a Captain for something before the latter took a cup and tea out. He drank as the leader captains continued chatting. He seemed relaxed, contented, and crafty. However, the easygoing in him was still there, if only accompanied by the machinations for the future.
. . .
4 days flashed by.
Phesx spent a lot of time with Mena during the last few days, ignoring all training nonsense and his ‘fellow recruits’ who seemed insulted when he no longer went there. Regardless, Phesx learned from her about everything he would need from cybernetics. She also wrote a few manuals for him to study.
Unlike before, maybe due to the increasing knowledge of new things, Phesx wasn’t too slow to get onto the subject’s truths. He wasn’t fully prepared for it, but he was learning. While he needed more weeks of preparation and other experts in the field to work it out, he was no longer an incompetent mess on the topic.
Late at night, since the time has come. Phesx exited the factory, where a fancy, silver car waited for him. After bidding farewell to Mena, he was brought to the destination where he’d meet this client. The driver was a WB, whose eyes on him were curious and intrigued. Phesx ignored it, though.
Everything he was taught in the PSD training regimen, including some things he was already used to, such as management and overall logistics, were meant for tasks like these. Phesx Caolia wasn’t nervous, but he was a little uncertain.
When he arrived at a bakery shop in the center of Proteros, the capital city, Phesx Caolia saw some people walk out of the building with many little boxes. Everyone coming out with a pattern, following a certain route, wore suits. One of the suited up workers was giving a note to a person who followed them out with smiles that indicated his greed, wearing a rather tall chef hat.
Looking at them for a moment, Phesx watched the sides of the street before taking his glasses, hat, and skull mask off. He threw them into the silver car before crossing the street. The other side had several parked limousines taking up more than the entire street for themselves.
“…” There was no way Phesx would present himself to his client with his ‘disguise’. It would also attract attention too much, and while the limousines didn’t help, he wasn’t supposed to cause attraction to his client, whom he was to grant protection instead.
However, Phesx was still noticed by a person who wore a strange black and dark purple mask on, who everyone else was following and encircling when moving towards one of the limousines. The mask had mostly black, with the purple filling just the right places, and more towards the center, contouring the eyes, nose, and above the philtrum.
The guards stopped, looking at Phesx with trepidation, which only increased when they saw his pupils, lighted by the bright streetlights. The person with the mask, who wore an old-fashioned uniform and semi baggy pants, who was clearly a woman, spoke out.
“This is your second chief from now on,” she said, “Stop blocking the way. How am I supposed to meet him?”
The guards stepped away. Unsurprised, Phesx walked to her. The young woman’s mask was like 3 drifting waves collapsing yet still high atop her forehead, with a similar design below her nose. Her temples were fully covered by more of that dark purple, looking as delicate as the waves atop and above her mask.
The section below was more delicate and small, letting her lips free from grazing the design, but the top had more grandeur, with a niche yet fitting image. There were bright tiny pearls spread in lines, curving in a few places around her mask, adding to its already beautiful design with a bit of brightness.
“Are you my client, Roroa?” Phesx Caolia asked the young woman, considerably shorter than him, but she was still tall for a standard measure of young women. Her hair was a visibly beautiful, long, golden blonde hair, like a cascade down her hips. She looked up at him, asking, “Is it necessary to ask that? Who else would treat the country’s most wanted ‘criminal’ in centuries to come?”
“Talking gives way to many things people like me can explore in seconds and recognize my client, an impostor, or a bored idiot.” Phesx walked to the limousine they were walking towards to before, opened a random door, and waited for her to come in.
The young woman crossed her arms before her belly, looking at Phesx with a slight tilt of her head to the left. She relaxed her arms, swayed her noticeably childbearing hips and stopped before him. She looked up at him, her creamy white golden skin became more prominent with the angle and better lighting. Easier to notice by the ordinary eye.
Phesx couldn’t see her eyes beneath the mask, but he could feel them on him, darting around to examine his face. With a single blink, he said, not changing his face, “I’m not that alluring, I know. I didn’t mean to upset you with my words, but I must be direct and blunt if I must. You’re my client, not a lost child somewhere.”
“I appreciate the professionalism?” Roroa said in a deep, slow paced tone. Somehow, just somehow, Phesx Caolia could feel she lifted her right eyebrow. Roroa further stated, “Yeah, you’re not really handsome. I’m sure we will work closely together.”
With that, Roroa entered the car, but not without turning her head, flinging some of her golden blonde hair, and shouting to the only female guard who didn’t look like a minion of hers. “Yoali! Bring the information. Brief… what name do we use, alias? Or just a real name?”
“Fox.” Phesx hesitated not, telling his previous alias, which he didn’t know if another person had it already. It wasn’t really a unique one, after all. Roroa sat and nodded, keeping one leg outside before resuming, “Brief Fox of our conditions. I’m tired and want to look through the window. Mn, pass me the cookies first.”
Yoali, a blonde with blue eyes, very tall, and a little muscular even above her uniform, walked to them with a box from the bakery shop. She gave them to Roroa, who licked her lips without fear of being seen. As Roroa moved to the left of the limousine and opened the box, exposing the delicious aroma, Yoali turned around and grabbed a few boxes and laptops from the attentive guards.
Phesx Caolia lifted his left eyebrow, surprised at the preparation. He asked Yoali as she picked those things, “Are mine packed somewhere already?”
“Yes, they are, sir Fox.” Yoali said, still busy getting a few more things in her arms. She added, “Sir Fox, would you mind getting in first? Sit beside miss Roroa, she usually sways in her sleep and might mess with my briefing.”
Phesx blinked before silently nodding. He checked the interior and saw Roroa look in his direction, turning to stare ahead after seeing it was him getting in first after her. She grabbed a cookie with strawberry scent coming from it before taking one bite after another.
He sat on Roroa’s right. Just as he lifted his butt to move a little farther away, Yoali went in and rushed to his side, sitting with a wide smile on her face as she said, “Good. Now, let’s begin.
“I’m Yoali, sir Fox. Miss Roroa’s security chief. I will be working with sir from now on, until miss Roroa’s staying in the outskirts finish.” Yoali presented her hand. Phesx looked at it before slowly shaking hands, telling her, “No ‘sir’ needed. Fox is enough. I like it just like that.”
“Mn, well then. Mister Fox, you will be miss Roroa’s chief security officer. You should have any access to the precinct, the villa, and the workers. If you need any new orders, like acquiring weaponry, equipment, or more workers, please talk to me. It can take from a day to a week to have something arrive to the villa.” Yoali explained.
Phesx Caolia nodded, inquiring, “What are the most likely dangers?”
“There are alarms for organized crime’s involvement. It seems to be a small group, but they are still a danger to miss Roroa. We have everything we need, but compared to the unknown, we are outmatched. The best we can do is form a net and protect miss Roroa until the danger has been dealt with. It would probably take 6 or 9 months. It’s the time we’ve experienced before.”
“Mn, what are the combating capabilities of your team?” Phesx asked, registering these few bits of information. Yoali reminded him, lowering her chin a bit, “Your team, s- Fox.”
“Oh,” Phesx semi nodded. Yoali elaborated, “We don’t have much, but we can receive some guidance from you, if that’s okay. All the guards have been further screened by PSD, but the other workers are unrelated. They do know the importance of miss Roroa’s safety, and what happens if there is anything suspicious.”
“They are not affiliated to PSD? Nor the government? How come you don’t have that time to properly screen people?” Phesx Caolia asked with a frown. Yoali pressed her lips, “We ‘waste’ more of that time with the guards. We can’t have the same every year, they must take turns.”
“Talk to me about the villa,” Phesx let go of the subject and faced ahead. Yoali began explaining as much information as she could, and answer whatever question Phesx had.
… Hours were spent like this, with the two exchanging information and ideas, and Yoali advising Phesx, as he barely knew this security team and the task’s location. Furthermore, this was the first time Phesx was leading something since Preut. It was an enormous task, for that matter.
More than several hundred guards, and a couple hundred of servants to take care of the mansion and see the surrounding precincts around the mansion. They exited the capital city somewhat quickly, only taking about 2 hours, but the road beyond was much slower.
They went through many curves, surrounding the precious environment which persisted since the AO, and spent another 6 hours to arrive near the ‘neighborhood’. It was an incredibly rich zone. The location was an open land with many forests surrounding several dozens of villas. Each one was lavish and greater than any other in the entire country, perhaps.
Preut’s wealthiest residences were nothing compared to these. Roroa’s village was the largest, and also the furthest apart from any other. It also had the largest plains with a lake in the not-so-far distance. Phesx could already tell his body feeling things when knowing he’d be living here for some months.
There were more than a dozen limousines, clearly showcasing the wealth only someone such as a PSD’s VIP client should have. They moved these many people in one go, with wider spaces rather than extreme lengths. Some were still in trucks, following behind other limousines while those armored ones protected the rear.
The ‘convoy’ moved into the villa, opening the gates with the security chief motioning with a device. Meanwhile, Phesx had a sleepy head lean against him for more than half the journey. This was a reminder that he was the only special agent aboard on the task.
Not only was Roroa, who slept on his left shoulder, and sometimes rested on his chest, an ordinary civilian, with a status he wasn’t aware of. Yoali and everyone else in the security team were but civilians, only having so much training and willpower.
Regardless, Phesx had no intention to ‘train’ these people. As for the servants, he might seem interested to watch them. Phesx lightly moved the sleepy head on his shoulder, ignoring the strawberry scent coming from her mouth and the box. She also had a few crumbs around her lower lip and chin.
…