“Are you sure you are not too tired to do this now? I understand you traveled here and even if you are not sleepy, it can be tiring,” Vathrik, the triton who was Ka’mal’s boss, asked.

Hera shook her head, “That’s ok. Like I said, Vulcan won’t be able to talk for long each day and the sooner we start this, the faster we might get the information. Also, thank you for letting my team participate in the power leveling program.”

Vathrik smiled, “Don’t mention it. It was the least we could do. And it’s beneficial to us too. If you are higher level, then we can give missions that mirror that.”

“That is true, and I imagine that high-level people are lacking everywhere,” Hera nodded.

“You can say that again,” the Triton sighed, “But who knows. Maybe Vulcan can give us the silver bullet to finish this war.”

Hera let out an unenthusiastic chuckle, “Can that even happen?”

“Honestly? It’s a hard, maybe. Try to keep this to yourself and your team, but according to some of our spies, and some of hacking to connect with the Earth’s internet, not many people are siding with the guild on this war. Maybe if we find actual proof of what the guild is doing, we can leak it and let the humans bring their army down.”

“You are being a bit too optimistic. I want you to be right, I really do. But… I don’t think the civilians would have enough pull to stop the guild. Especially since they seem to have a decent backing.”

Vathrik turned to the Empress, “What do you mean?”

“Everything I’m about to say is purely hypothetical and I have no proof of anything. But the New Dawn was investing hard on the guild. And I don’t know, it felt weird.”

“Weird?”

“Yes. They were doing some shady things. A crate of special mana infused oranges was ‘accidentally’ put on the market. A lot of level 1 people got really sick, including a friend of mine. Then when those people leveled up, they coincidentally had a mana based innate skill. Even though those kinds of things are extremely rare for people born and raised on Earth. The New Dawn offered to pay for their treatment and their level up as an apology. It was too much for something like that. It was strange how they were also connected to the guild leadership. Then a bunch of guild centers started using New Dawn training rooms and equipment. Even the bathrooms had New Dawn toilets. It felt like they were pushing a bit too hard,” Hera explained.

“I see… I can say that is still going on. To a certain degree, and I’m not saying that they are not on our radar, but sadly, war is expensive. And someone will profit from it. Maybe New Dawn started to realize the guild was going to push for something like this and they decided to pounce. But… I will talk with the other directors. Maybe it’s worth to intensify our operations related to that company.”

Hera raised one eyebrow, “You don’t have to butter me up. I’m already here to help.”

“Oh no. It’s not that. We had enough suspicious reports to put them on our radar, and that thing with the oranges is ringing some alarms in my mind. I had read about them, but didn’t know that those who ate it ended up with skills,” Vathrik continued.

“Someone probably swept that under the rug. I think it was the New Dawn, but if it was the guild, that’s even more proof. Back then, I already felt like it was too convenient for it to be a mistake. Especially since the kids who got that skill ended up joining their company as explorers.”

“Yeah… that feels weird. I’m going to see if we can have more ears in their ranks,” Vathrik nodded as the elevator door opened.

The city was purely residential, but inside the library was a hidden passage that led to the entrance of the actual headquarters. Inside there, elevators would take people into the facility where they had analysts going through any information about the movement of the humans, spies getting their disguises and tools before missions, several floors of research and development going to anything from items, enchantment, to spells. And an entire floor related to the experiments the humans were making. They had medical rooms for the victims, scientists trying to come up with countermeasures, and people searching for the possible locations of the prisons and hidden labs. Silent moss also surrounded the entire structure, making sure that no sound would leave this place.

They walked through a long corridor that was on the edge of that floor. This was the path that anyone who wasn’t part of the medical team had to take to reach any of the labs or offices here. People could take the main elevator directly to the medical bay where the few rescued individuals were recovering. Vathrik told Hera that the only person who already had the tattoo and was still alive was the same triton that she rescued from the prison. All other subjects they found died before even leaving the room they were in. The rest of the people in intensive care were those who were ‘lucky’ and only suffered physical abuse and malnutrition. Still, the triton she saved was still in a coma, and some of his wounds didn’t stop bleeding.

Hera was no healer, but maybe with her Wardbearer title, she could do something about it. It was a long shot, and Alex was more likely to do something about it than her, even so, the offer was on the table. They reached a checkpoint and Vathrik asked her to wait a minute. He had to get a visitor’s pass to allow her to go to the next area. She would get her own card key in the morning, but they needed something for today.

While waiting, the Ophidianite saw two men approach, one dwarf wearing a lab coat and a pair of thick glasses, and wore his long hair in a ponytail. The other was an elf with brown hair and blue eyes, walking with both arms behind his head. It was a bit odd, but the elf seemed too comfortable in this area. It was one thing to not let the weight of the work to overwhelm you, another to be happy about the situation. She also came to the realization that the man was more powerful than her. During the entire time she was in here, continued to focus on mana of the place and the concentration of mana inside his body was incredible. Even Vathrik who was level 61 paled in comparison.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Hello. You must be Hera, correct?” the dwarf asked, putting out a hand for her to shake.

“Yeah. And you are?” the Empress shook his hand with a soft smile.

“Baldun, one of the Spirit experts working on this mess,” the dwarf replied.

“And I’m Ziltan, don’t worry. We’ll get the information we need,” the elf stepped closer to Hera with an enormous smile, but there was something in his eyes. A glint that made her extremely uncomfortable.

“What do you mean by that?” Hera asked, hoping that this wasn’t what it sounded like.

“I mean that after a few hours with me. That Vulcan guy will be singing like a canary. And since it’s a Spirit, we won’t even have to waste time cleaning up the blood,” Ziltan winked. He was clearly trying to be friendly with her, despite what he was saying.

Hearing that Hera snapped, she called her entire court out, except for Forge. At the same time, she used her tail to grab Ziltan’s leg and pull it up, making him fall to the ground. Livy and Lurize jumped on his shoulders and growled with their faces close to him. Viper and Crimson wrapped their tails around the elf’s legs and started to squeeze. Nimbus was beside Hera, his wings covering her sides to protect the Empress from any attacks. The rest of her court all appeared around Baldun, the tips of the blades ready to pierce his throat, eyes, and torso.

“No one is touching him!” Hera snarled between her teeth before screaming, “Vathrik, is this what you are trying to pull?!”

The triton came rushing out of the checkpoint together with a couple of guards that already had their weapons drawn, “What is going on here?!”

“You are going to torture him? That’s why you dragged me here?” Hera asked without looking away from Ziltan.

“What? No! Why do you… Ziltan? What are you doing here?” Vathrik gasped.

“Boss… you said you needed someone for an interview, that there was a Spirit that wasn’t telling what we needed. And I was already talking with Ziltan so I brought him along,” as Baldun spoke, the court got closer to his skin.

“From trauma! I needed someone from trauma for an interview! Vulcan is a victim, not a prisoner!” Vathrik yelled, his eyes shown an anger similar to Hera’s even if much less intense. The triton turned to the Empress, “Hera. I am so, so, so sorry. They shouldn’t be here, and I swear on my life that no one is trying to hurt Vulcan. Ziltan, get the fuck out of here!”

“Fine,” Ziltan, who was on the floor still with a large smile despite everything that was going on, shifted, trying to get up. However, between all the titled blades holding him down, he wasn’t able to just move, “Oh?” he opened an even bigger smile and suddenly appeared a few meters behind Hera and Nimbus, “Aw. And I really hoped you could keep up… but maybe you can.”

The Empress noticed that Ziltan was trying something. After shifting, mana enveloped his body and flew past her. It was clearly a teleport skill, or maybe a spell. Either way, her eyes could follow his movement and she was already looking at him before he even appeared.

“Well. I won’t bother you here. The boss told me to leave,” Ziltan waved and continued walking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A skill has ranked up

Awareness Rank 2

You are able to notice more about yourself and your surroundings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Why is that popping out?’ Hera frowned while still facing the elf, even if she was no longer paying attention to him.

‘Isn’t that the skill you got when you and Silah broke up? Remember how you hid it because it hurt to think about it?’ Daskka replied.

‘Oh… right. I guess it shows up since it wouldn’t appear on my status screen,’ Hera replied, trying to cool off after this entire situation.

‘S-s-sorry, Hera. I-I-I got too angry,’ Dusa said.

Hera didn’t even realize that she was being influenced by Dusa, but even if she was, she felt like her reaction was very on brand with herself. But this did create a problem. She would need to change her court soon. Especially if she was going to be power leveled.

“Hera?” Vathrik noticed the change in her demeanor, “Are you ok? Again, I’m really sorry. This was just some miscommunication.”

“It’s fine,” the Empress waved him off, “I’m sorry, too. I just heard that someone was going to hurt Vulcan, and I snapped.”

“That is completely understandable. I would have a similar reaction if anyone talked about torturing someone important to me,” Vathrik nodded.

“Do you really do that? Torture people?” Hera looked at him, all the titled blades turning to the triton.

The triton stared her in the eyes and gave a solemn nod, “For the record, it’s not our first option. Nor second, third, or fourth. Hell, it’s not even our hundredth option. We only do that if we are truly desperate. And Ziltan… well. We need someone who knows how to do that.”

“Is he the only one?”

“No. We have 5 people in total. He is the only one in the headquarters right now, but I can show you the list of people if you want.”

Hera nodded, “Yeah. I want that. It would make me and Vulcan feel better.”

“Ok, I will show you the list before we start everything. Are we still ok to interview the Spirit?” Vathrik went straight to the point.

“We are. This is too important to just blow everything just for this. But let me be clear, if anyone tries to harm him on purpose, this is over. I’m leaving. If you try to stop me, then either I get to leave after hurting people, or someone gets my legacy,” Hera didn’t have to say anything else. The implication was there.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Sovereign Stofin explained to me your position. Despite not being part of the Alliance Council, you have an honorary seat, being the leader of your own species. I can't disclose information beyond a certain security level, but we will give you the respect your position deserves. You are also trying to help us, and we don’t want to force you to do that. There is no need to be rude if you are already willing to do all this,” Vathrik said with a smile.

“I appreciate that,” Hera smiled back, her anger finally subsiding.

“Great. Soooo…. Do you mind letting Baldun here go?” Vathrik gestured to the side. Her blades, who were ready to rip him apart, still surrounded the dwarf.

“Oh! Sorry, yeah, everyone, come back. Don’t hurt him,” the Empress called her court back, but she didn’t recall them. It made her feel safer to have the entire court around.

“No, no. It’s ok. No one got hurt,” Baldun let out an awkward laugh, “I’ll go get the trauma team. Also..” he turned to Vathrik, “I’m taking PTO for the rest of my day.”

Vathrik nodded, “You don’t even need to put a request. Just go home.”

“Sorry about that,” Hera said just before the dwarf skittered away.

“Well… I have you visitor’s pass, so let’s just head to the room we have available.”

Hera nodded and started following the triton. She hoped that at least now, she could just help them figure out how to stop the guild. Or at least have Vulcan give them some useful information.