81. Return (3)
While Lex and Livia were enjoying their sweets time, on the other side, Aria had just finished her report at Vera Crimson's office. Vera told her to leave the office. Once Aria finished, Vera's figure immediately disappeared when Aria left the room.
It's a medium luxurious room, and there's a big circular table with nine chairs divided evenly around it. It was the meeting place for the current Crimson Eagle's Executive, including Vera, who just teleported into the room. There are Nine people Inside, Kuri Crimson, Venti Crimson, Vera Crimson, Mare Crimson, Peter Crimson, Turner Crimson, Ura Crimson, Neptunia Crimson, and Luto Crimson.
Why there's only nine? What about the Silent Witch? It's because Livia had never interested in Crimson Eagle. At the same time, according to their agreement, Crimson Eagle would provide The Silent Witch a place. While The Silent Witch would protect Crimson Eagle from External Force and nurture novices(if it's their free will to learn from The Silent Witch).
"I'm the last one…." Vera said and sat down on her designated seat while looking at the other eight in the room. "I'm sorry, I just heard the latest report from his party."
"it's okay~" Venti nonchalantly replied
"Anything for you, Big Sis," followed by Mare
"My handsomeness won't fade with something like this!" Peter said while looking at the hand mirror
"tch!" Neptunia clicked her tongue
"ho~ho~" Kuri laughed with their usual scene while the other remained quiet.
Vera was the Leader of Crimson Eagle, but that doesn't mean she could order the rest according to her whim. It's hard to say whether the nine of them were equal as a Leader. Of course, Vera had more power to command in Crimson Eagle. Vera and the other four Venti, Peter, Turner, and Neptunia, were friends and party before becoming Executive. While Ura and Kuri were the last two Executives left in the Crimson Eagle after the incident, Ura and Kuri can be called their senior, and Mare was the newcomer. With this much diversity, usually, they would be many conflicts. Still, they remained in Harmony because they respected each other and external enemies.
Those kinds of banter won't bother Vera at all. It's the usual happening around them. "everybody knew today's objective?" Vera continues with her subject. This kind of meeting rarely happened in Crimson Eagle. It only happened when they wanted to decide Big Decision that would change the Crimson Eagle dramatically. Like deciding on Crimson Eagle's future or something that can make Crimson Eagle disappear from existence.
And today's agenda was only for one person, which is… Lex Spifer, who will leave Crimson Eagle in a week
"Let's start the meeting," Vera announced. The rest instantly quiet down, and their face becomes serious. "Let's start from Kuri. What do you think about him, about Lex Spifer?"
"Ho~ho~" Kuri laughed. But his eyes were as sharp as an unsheathed sword "it's… a monster," he calmly said.
"a Monster is nurturing a monster, The 'Little Monster' title he had fit to its core" The rest understood how strong and capable Kuri Crimson is. And for someone like him to call other Monsters almost unbelievable to them if they didn't know another Monster before Lex Spifer.
"He absorbed everything at a terrifying rate. In sword art, he's only one step behind me. And It's because he still hasn't chosen his path. His only weakness was that he couldn't use Magic, which we had never heard before. It's a fatal flaw for anyone in this Hidden World, but he is even capable of overcoming it. So I can only say as expected of The Silent Witch's disciple," Kuri Continued. With each of his words, the air in that room tensed a lot. The other had heard rumors about Lex too but didn't expect Kuri Crimson to acknowledge him to this point.
Vera nodded, accepting Kuri's impression, then Vera turned to the next person. The others followed turned to the next person Venti Crimson.
These tensed and heavy air can even press Crimson Eagle's Tier A member to swear and faint. Venti smiled like usual.
"he's cute~" Venti said. The others were dumbfounded for a second and quickly recovered used to her stunts. The tensed and heavy air immediately eased a lot. Some of them even felt stupid to be in tension like that. "he's interesting and funny too."
"ho~ho~" Kuri laughed "you're not wrong," he agreed with Venti. "it's fun to teach someone like him."
And The next one was Mare. "I hated him!" she said,
"said the one who played with him every week~" Peter retorted, which made Mare glare at him to death. If glaring can kill someone, this is must be the one.
"I'm not!" Mare said, "right?" she asked for agreement from the rest, but everyone avoided her eyes. Why? Because it's a common occurrence in Crimson Eagle to see Lex was chased by her around the island "grrr!!" Mare gritted her teeth when she didn't get the support she expected
Okay, calm down," Vera said as she approached Mare and softly pat her head "next," she said before returning to her seat.
"I acknowledged he's handsome!" Peter said and stopped for a moment, "not as handsome as I thought," and he became silent
If there's another person other than the nine inside the room, they must have shouted, "that all!?" Vera and the rest were already used to Peter's antic too, so they didn't make a fuss of it. "Next," Vera said
"he's a good student. Like Kuri said before, he absorbed everything very quickly and diligently," Turner said. He was the first one who saw what Lex was capable of. "Even under pressure as the only one who can't use magic, he didn't let it weigh him down, and he got an excellent perception too, the best for a Scout."
"I've never seen him before. I didn't have any special impression toward him," Ura Crimson said next. Lex can't use Magic, so it's almost impossible for him to approach The Magic Path independently. Even after more than four years, Lex had been in Crimson Eagle. He had never seen Ura Crimson directly.
Vera nodded and turned to the next person. Neptunia Crimson. Rather than friends, rivals was a better choice of word to call Vera and her relationship. "a pervert," Neptunia said. She felt angry whenever Lex saw her chest, or more like every time they saw each other. Lex would take a few moments only to stare at her chest.
Vera can only let out a bitter smile hearing her impression. ('It's better not to touch what she meant') she thought before she turned to the last one
"….good," Luto said only a single word and also ended the topic.
*clap
Vera clapped her hands. "Thanks, everyone," she said
"Now, before I ask what position we should take before Lex Spifer. Does anyone have an opinion on my decision to let Lex stay with Crimson Eagle for another two years at that time?"
They all had their impressions of Lex, whether good or bad. It's unprecedented in Crimson Eagle's history to prolong a Guest's stay. Still, no one had an opinion on Vera's decision to extend Lex's time. They knew and trusted Vera wouldn't do something to put Crimson Eagle at a disadvantage.
"Thank you," Vera said her gratitude once again, knowing no one was against her decision.
"I'll explain my intent. At first, my aim was Lex Spifer's background, but now we knew Lex himself had more value than normal. According to our tradition, after a Guest leave, we wouldn't have other relationships with them except those who decided to join Crimson Eagle permanently. Should we befriend or antagonize Lex?"
"Lex grew stronger in Crimson Eagle. If by some event Lex Spifer becomes our enemy, it would be devastating for us," Kuri said, "and he's still growing even at this point."
"Dependable as an ally and terrifying as an enemy?" Turner asked, which Kuri answered with a nod,
"aren't we overestimate him?" Ura asked, "he can't use Magic. No?"
"he can," Mare replied as she reluctantly backed Lex up.
"he just can't flow out his Mana outside of his body, any Magic that didn't need that he can use it as normal, maybe more than normal."
"Still, he can't use most of the Magic we knew," Ura replied
"he had learned Sword and Heart as one. So you can expect him knowing much Skill to compensate that," Kuri added.
"by the way, which family backed him?" Neptunia asked
Vera fell silent for a while ('well, they wouldn't hide for long anyway') Vera thought, and she answered, "it's Minsthal Family."
"""!!??""" they were all shocked. The rest didn't expect this family name to come out in this situation. Vera's words were tough to believe and accept. And to answer their voiceless questions, Vera took something from her Inventory. A chemistry glass tube with blood-red liquid in it. She gave one to each of them. With proof right in front of their face, they can't deny anymore "it's really the Minsthal family… to think they still exist," Neptunia said
"then no need to waste time" Peter was the one who said that "Vera, you already decided what we need to do about him, no?"
"well…" Vera looked toward their face one by one. "I still need to know your thought about it. In my opinion, we already had a good relationship with him. It's better not to ruin it. And he still owes us for letting him stay for another two years." With Vera's words, the others know which path they should take in this relationship.
"what I wanted to discuss in this meeting is, what kind of friend relationship should we take with him, control or cooperation?"
They all fell into thought again once. It's hard to decide. Even when Crimson Eagle declined in recent years, they still are one of the world's top mercenaries. Having a cooperative relationship with a single individual is usually unbelievable. But Vera's instinct told her. This was a huge decision that could significantly change Crimson Eagle. She already had her answer, but she still wanted to know the others' thoughts like before.
While the other contemplating the pros and cons of their relationship with Lex Spifer and the Minsthal family.
A giggle was heard in the room. It was Venti, the one who giggled "is there any other choice we can take?" she asked. "we forgot one big factor here. Manipulate him? We'll be destroyed before we can do a thing to him."
"what do you mean?" Vera asked
"whose disciple is he?"
The realization was Like a strike of lightning to all of them "The Silent Witch!"
"but will she move for Lex?" Ura asked
"don't know" Venti's reply made the other bewildered. ('how can She look so confident when she didn't know the answer') The other thought except for Vera, "but, she's done it before, right?" Venti looked toward Vera, and the others followed
Vera nodded before she told them what happened two years ago. After that, Vera only told the rest to examine their subordinates because of the mole. But she didn't tell the others the exact detail of that time. So only she and Venti knew what happened.
Then Venti added, "we bind Lex Spifer, and the Silent Witch will come as an add-on. Oh, of course not forcefully. We made him by his own will remain his relationship with Crimson eagle."
"what makes you think like that?" Peter asked,
"woman's instinct!" Venti said in jest.