"I feel like a real parent now."
"Nope, you're far from it."
You, Chronos, and Lues are back in the unmanned taxi on the way to a certain important place with three of you munching on the bread you've bought like a hamster. Yes, it takes 1.5KC to buy three loaves of bread. Once again, Goyang is currently on Lues' lap. It seems both of them are on good terms now and it couldn't make you more relieved.
Then there was the familiar face that you encountered or rather, you recognise while buying the baked goods. Same pale skin at the Engineering, same crystalize white hair suddenly tucked away from ponytail behind her hood holding a tray of bread. Ketanium, idly looking at the shelves of food, facing away from the three of you.
Or was it? You weren't sure as you couldn't get to take a closer look since Chronos had been practically holding your hand the entire time you were in the bakery like some sort of concerned mother. The thought never occurred to you to ask Chronos nor Lues about the suspicious person that has been standing stiff for minutes, mostly because you were afraid. Lues might already noticed it, and if she is the same person who gave you candy back then, you owe her more than a 'thank you'.
But back then was a bad timing, you don't want another severed head rolling.
Your balance is now 3.5KC, according to the pocket terminal that read your card. Chronos made you pay for the food under the excuse of "Teaching you how to pay at the cashier, my beloved daughter~!".
'I don't know what to feel about this.'
Feeling a little bit curious, you ask, "So where do we go next?"
"Vagant Assailant Department," replies Chronos with a heavy frown on her face.
"Huh? I thought you hate being in one apartment with the owl lady?"
"I am, but Coalition headquarters is in Kratos Citadel. We can't waste more KC on travel expenses, especially when you two don't have any ID."
"Vagant Association, huh?" Lues stops eating for a moment. "Such a surprise for the valiant organization made by that old lady is still intact to this very day." And resumes munching.
"The place with heaps of weapons is their Engineering section." The pink-haired lady snickers.
"Huh, didn't notice that, probably because you've been annoying me the whole time."
"Heh, can say the same."
You then recall the debt you had with Thuljas. "How about our debt?"
"17,700KC. Well, you two will be the one who's going to make money, hahaha," says Chronos.
"Wait, you didn't join?"
"I'll be going to Kratos Citadel. I have some matters with a few big shots about something rather controversial. You two be good girls after my departure, okay? It won't be long, as I'll be threatening them to send me to Amos Citadel's outpost because I need to take care of my precious daughter!" she shifts her gaze onto the crimson lolita. "Not you, don't ever hope of becoming my daughter."
You only showcase your deadpan of disappointment.
'Yeah, you left your daughter alone in the wild, what a great parent you are.'
"As if I want to be a psycho ruffian's daughter," replies Lues, trying to hold herself from destroying the beautiful loaf of bread in her hand.
Driving to the eastern parts of Amos Citadel, from afar a towering giant made for sheltering many facilities can be seen, even bigger than the Engineering headquarters on Amos Citadel. Chronos mentioned another Citadel existence that shows multiple civilizations trying to survive in the land of Neamh.
So far you only know the Engineering and Assailant department's location, there are still four left you don't know. Chances are that this Citadel might only hold two of the grand headquarters from Vagant's department. There might be multiple of the same department but the Coalition department is not within Amos Citadel.
What does the Coalition department do anyway? It seems like they take care of both intel gathering and third party interference, but your mind has shifted from that thought and began to marvel at the distinguishable architecture of the great Assailant Headquarter.
You arrive at the front of the building.
Unlike the militaristic bunker on the Engineering department, the Assailant building looks more like a multi billionaire elite corporation of tech companies. Even the front looks more like an big office despite the word 'Assailant' is etched on the dept's name.
'This is no department, this is Tony Stork's building!'
There are two guards with the same fierce obsidian armor from head to toe just like the one on the Engineering section. Going in, one Aekha in a militaristic white uniform with a distinguished pair of elk's horns, strapped with numerous accessories, such as the slick futuristic earpiece on both of her ears.
The elk officer is taller than Chronos, even more towering than you and Lues. She then dons a smile in order to lower the intensity she emits with just a pure presence. "Welcome to the Vagant's Assailant Headquarter, may I know your intention of coming here?"
Chronos hunches down to rest both her hand on your shoulder and Lues's. "These two over here will be applying to be personnel." She then throws a wide, seemingly manic smile into the officer.
"I see, the two of you can ask the receptionist first to input your arrival. The staff will prepare the room, and in the meantime, feel free to rest on the longue." She throws away her gaze and then taps on her left earpiece, although soft but you can make out some of the sentence from her whispering, "Code 775, Blood Princess, Scenario Four."
Are they referring to you? You feel anxious about this. There might be an ambush lurking behind every crevice of this building. You peek at Lues, she grins enthusiastically as usual. It really was a hit or miss to have two madmen as your companion.
Moving forward, there are numerous personnels wearing the same tactical grey jacket, striping three thin glowing blue lines from right shoulder to bottoms end. On their right chest is a metallic logo of a Qilin, some of the unzipped wearers show a futuristic uniform and tie beneath the jacket and each of them have a name tag or some sort. Some of the personnel on the lobby are just lounging around, some have their equipment and armor instead of uniforms, some are running in a hurry, some are scrambling due to sudden deployment.
It might be a harsh and a nice place for a first impression, you can't wait to actually see what they have in store regarding the mission and others.
There are four reception areas on the wide stretching post, the most on the left have their desk lower than the three and it was occupied with a young-looking brunette with big and round rodent ears. It might be made that way because of the race disparities in stature.
You approach the receptionist the same height as yours, together with Lues, hoping for the process to be smooth.