Kisuke did his best to stop himself from laughing out loud at this sudden development and did his utmost to glare at Stralit with fury, "Have you forgotten what those Evies did to my home? I didn't expect to meet a sympathizer of such a group, much less, an official of an opposing force."
"Right. However, you just haven't realized the scale of these two forces. If a world could have multiple races, cultures, and beliefs, why couldn't these two civilizations that are on a galactic scale be the same?"
Stralit sat down on her bed and disregarded Kisuke's angry expression, "I'm sure that's true in your world too, right?"
Kisuke didn't answer her question but asked his own question, "What do you hope to achieve?"
Stralit began hesitating. Although she tried to pretend that her pause was just her thinking of her goal, it became apparent to Kisuke that she was hesitating whether to say her wish, 'Is it a lofty goal of standing on the top of the hierarchy? She doesn't really strike me as such.'
Soon, Stralit sighed as she couldn't think of anything else aside from her real goal, 'It sounds ridiculous, but I guess I'll just be honest. It's only this little guy, after all. If he doesn't believe me, then I'll just make a more convincing excuse later.'
With a reminiscing and gentle smile on her face, Stralit answered, "I just want to walk and hang out with my friend in broad daylight without being judged or persecuted."
'...Now that I've said it out loud, it's really ridiculous. Just so that I could play around, I'm willing to make contact with our worst enemy... It's really laughable.'
Stralit was about to think and say a less 'unbelievable' reason, but Kisuke didn't allow her, "I see. Then what can you provide me?"
Instead of answering, Stralit stared at him, dumbfounded.
"What? Are we negotiating or not? Just kill me then."
"W-wait! Wait! Aren't you too harsh on yourself!? Wait, before that! You believed me!? Something as absurd as that!? Aren't you too naive!?" But after getting past her shock, Stralit finally noticed the change in Kisuke's demeanor.
'W-what's this!?' All this time, the aura that Kisuke is giving is that of a small beast baring its fang to protect itself. However, that suddenly changed. He's still the same small beast but it's as if the shadow he's making is a cunning demon that is waiting for its chance to devour her. She blinked her eyes again, but the instinctual image returned to how it was before, '...Was that just my imagination?'
'I only intended to reveal a bit of my aura but she still saw too much,' Kisuke thought to himself, 'That's one very sharp sixth sense. It's going to turn into my disadvantage if I reveal too much right now. For now, I have to see her friend first before I can make any concrete plans.'
"Ehem..." Stralit cleared her throat to get herself back on track, "Well, if you believe me, that's fine... But why?"
"It's ludicrous, but it's also simple and sincere enough. If it's an overthought excuse, you wouldn't be able to say something like that." Kisuke explained briefly, "I'll start first. I want a way to return home."
Stralit already expected this request and said the answer she prepared, "I don't have the coordinates of your home world. And even if I do, we can't just set up a Space Gate without any preparation on that side. However, since it was Evie's side who found that place, it'll be on their records, and they probably already built an outpost there. Meet my friend and she'll be able to help you."
Kisuke stayed quiet for a moment before saying, "She's your friend but not mine. How can I be sure that she'll just point the way there? Because of that, I want to learn how to construct this Space Gate."
"Construct it? That's not really a problem for me, however, there are multiple problems that need to be solved before you can even construct one. Aside from gathering the required amount of resources and setting it up on both sides, no one can teach you how to make one so you'll have to settle with self-study."
"That's not a problem for me."
Stralit shook her head, "I didn't explain myself enough. No one could teach you since it's technically forbidden to share this technology. I can't teach you myself because I don't fully understand how it works and I don't really have that much time to dedicate to you. On top of that, you'll be studying the theories behind it and not the actual blueprint. I'm sorry, but I just can't give you building instructions since those contain security protocols in them. Even if it's not you, I'm afraid you might leak it and that will compromise the many Space Gates we have."
Kisuke nodded, "That's still not a problem for me. I may not look like it, but I'm one of the top craftsmen in my world. And even if I fail to learn it, I won't be asking for anything else. The moment you pass me those theoretical documents, consider your side of the deal fulfilled."
"...Fine. But before that, you'll have to learn something else first."
"What is it?"
"As you are now, you'll get caught immediately the moment I send you to my friend's side so you'll be learning my shadow abilities."
Kisuke's eyes widened in surprise, "You can teach that!?" For him, Stralit being able to pass her skills was more of a surprise compared to her having an Evie friend.
"Oh, right. You don't know much about the Etouldes. Short answer, you'll become my successor and you'll be able to use my abilities."