Hitryel was restrained by the skyguard who had brown hair. His wrists were tied with cuffs that were different from the ones he had been bound with inside the Nonagon near the end of his fight with Maxvil. Hitryel didn't struggle much due to Kelty's gloves being taken as hostage by the helmeted skyguard. But he could still flow his Ether.
"I won't repeat myself," said the man with slick black hair, licking the end of the smokestick that was inside his mouth. "Tell me, who else is with you? Ever since you ran away from District One, you've had help, didn't you? This girl might be one, but you have even more accomplices, don't you, Mr. Fake ID?" He smiled. "And they're right here, in the Ezlus Mines."
Hitryel kept his mouth shut, cursing inward. 'Have my senses faded ever since I dropped here? First I don't sense the hundred beasts following me and now this? What in the smoke am I doing?'
The slick-haired skyguard gave the helmeted skyguard a nod and he brought Kelty's gloves closer to the flames of the fireplace. Hitryel took a step forward—
But before he could utter a single word, a miner barged inside the office and interrupted everything with his out-of-breath statement, "Cavelurkers are attacking the southern mines, Commander Lexnal! Two dozen skyguards are already down—!"
"That's ridiculous," said the man behind the desk, slamming a hand on his table. Hitryel's assumption was correct, after all. This man was indeed a high-ranking skyguard. "I can't have them miss shifts. How will they mine now?"
The miner who entered just now gulped. "Commander…what're you…?"
Joysaleen had turned her head away from the door, her face growing sickly pale, cheeks puffing as if holding in something. Was she just hiding her Healmarks or was it something else? Whatever it was, it seemed like she was forcing her eyes away from the miner.
Lexnal, the commander, brought his legs down from the table, fixing his cuffs as he met the miner's eyes. "It's our duty, after all, skyguard," he said. "If we don't mine lucentums, how're we supposed to help out the people? Cities need power to run and that's dependent on us extracting lucentums, is it not?" It seemed most of Lexnal's statements ended with a question.
The miner nodded. "Yes, sir. For a second I thought you were not worried about our fellow comrades."
"I can look past that," Lexnal said, rising from his chair. "You're a Legion 55 skyguard, are you not? And just so you don't repeat your mistake of thinking I don't care about my skyguards, I'll deal with those cavelurkers personally. Is that right?"
The miner saluted. "Yes, sir." Before turning, he said, "But that's not all, Commander. This time, among the attacking cavelurkers, we also found a young man involved. We don't know the identity of this particular individual, but we're working to capture him." He retreated right after, not paying attention to others in the room.
"An unknown boy," Lexnal said, walking to the front of the desk. He looked down at Hitryel. "Could that be someone you know?"
'Smoke it!' Hitryel looked away with a hiss. 'These guys are coming for you, Ryuzio. I'm ashamed I let my guard down and let Kelty's gloves fall into unworthy hands. And because of this, until I recover them, I won't be able to help you…!'
"Tolin," Lexnal said with a satisfied smile, "keep these kids quiet until we return, would you? I think I finally found the one helping Mr. Fake ID here ever since his escape from ABC."
The helmeted skyguard tossed the gloves he held to Tolin, making Hitryel tighten his tied fists even more. "This should help you."
Lexnal stepped past Hitryel. The helmeted skyguard and the brown-haired skyguard trailed him out of the room. They were chatting as they shut the door behind them.
"You got the pouch?" asked the brown-haired skyguard to the helmeted one. "Using your Skill twice in one day is quite something."
The helmeted skyguard patted a pocket of his coat. "It's with me. But only two of them have charge."
Tolin gently pushed Hitryel toward the couch behind with the hand he was not holding Kelty's gloves with, making him fall on top of it. "You can rest for now, sir," he said with a smile. "And no need to worry for your friend, since including Commander Lexnal, we're not a part of the Hazard Combat Force. Most we can do is contact them."
"Stop lying, you smoking bastard," Hitryel said, annoyed. "If that were the case, you wouldn't have restrained me. But you did. From the very start, you knew what you were doing. You lured me into this. You and your boss aren't scared to break some rules to get what you want. Am I right?"
"Bravo!" Tolin smiled deeply as he clapped, squishing shut his bespectacled eyes. "You got it right on the money." He sat on the couch opposite to Hitryel, continuing to smile as he spun around Kelty's gloves. "But knowing that doesn't count for anything when you are stripped of your Heart." Heart? What did he mean by that?
"What do you want from us, anyway?" Joysaleen said flatly. "You know breaking rules is not taken kindly by the Aegis, don't you?"
Tolin chuckled, his head falling back. "What makes you think we're doing all this for the stupid Aegis?" He covered his mouth with a hand. "Oopsie! Commander told me I've got a slippery tongue. Guess he was right!" He laughed again.
Joysaleen winced. "Hm? What does that imply…?"
'The smoke is wrong with this one?' Hitryel thought as Tolin continued to laugh. Then he gulped as his eyes returned to Kelty's gloves. 'Have to get them back…somehow.'
"How did you end up here?" Joysaleen asked him. "You're supposed to be a top brawler."
"Huh?" Hitryel said, tilting his head toward her in annoyance. "How about you answer first? How did you manage to get captured, even after being behind us?"
Joysaleen grimaced as her face paled, a cold shiver going up her spine. "I don't wanna talk about it. It was so gross."
"Huh?"
###
Lexnal walked with his hands pocketed, Ernash and Celd by his side. He took out a jamberry lollipop from his pocket and removed the wrap of the sweet candy before putting it in his mouth.
"The miners were definitely caught off guard," Celd said. "It was their lunch hour, after all." Out of the three captains, Celd was definitely the most normal one.
"That's a really bad excuse for losing to just some cavelurkers," Ernash said simply. The man hated excuses. His Etherskill reflected that. His desired effect had required a high cost in terms of Ether but he did not put forth any excuses. He paid the price. That was the reason why he always carried the pouch of gemspheres with him.
Lexnal could see the miners gathering ahead. They were regular miners even for him. He couldn't call them skyguards. They were just not competent enough. Before he stepped any closer to the crowd, his handphone started ringing. He fished it out of his coat pocket, bringing it closer to this left ear.
"Receiving, Commander Lexnal," he said as the squadron captains stopped beside him. "Legion 55."
"Payback," said the voice on the other end. "The blue stones are really shiny."
Lexnal smiled, looking around to make sure no one was within hearing distance. He didn't do business with his personal handphone, so he made sure all of his customers remembered the code phrase. "Ah, Ms. Kymin," he said contently. "I'm glad you called me. How can I help you today?" On the other end was Kymin, a squadmate of Payback Baru.
"This sure is regarding the deals, Lexnal," Kymin said. "But not to start a new one, just to end the old ones."
"Excuse me?" Lexnal's expression soured in an instant. "Am I hearing this right? You're saying that our contract is terminated?"
"You're a smart one, Lexnal," Kymin said mockingly. "We weren't obligated to tell you bullspit. It's just that Lord Baru hates bad blood. Consider this a professional courtesy."
Lexnal gritted his teeth in annoyance, crushing the lollipop inside his mouth, but composed himself in time. "And may I ask you the reason, Ms. Kymin? Did you find a new skyshard dealer? Were my prices not satisfactory enough?"
"That's not the case, Lexnal," Kymin said flatly. "It's just that the deals are no longer suited for our plans. We're moving out of Sonas. Hope you get the hint."
"You're saying you don't need me, isn't that so?" Lexnal said firmly. "But for your future plans, you'd need even more skyshards. After all…
"Skyshards fuel skyjets."
"Don't worry about our journey from here," Kymin said. "We're on different skyways, after all. Have a nice day, Lexnal." She hung up.
Lexnal tightly gripped his handphone, crushing it in anger. "Who do you think you are, Baru? You think you can terminate a deal with Lexnal this easily? I'll make you PAY!"
"Not again," Celd said with a sigh as kicked away the broken handphone parts into some rocks. "This is the third time this week."
"What's wrong with them?" Lexnal said, fixing his cuffs angrily. "My services are impeccable. I provide the best quality lucentums in all of Imperos's underworld. The skyshards they make from my lucnetums are literally PERFECT. How could anyone be this imbecilic? These fools have too many options. Yes, that's it."
Ernash shrugged. "It's actually better this way. Regret is a strong feeling."
Lexnal looked at the captain and smiled. "Really good point." He grinned widely, licking the jamberry lollipop. "You'll regret it Baru, I'll MAKE you regret it. Because soon…
"You'll have no choice but to come begging to me for lucentums!"
Because soon…there would be no other option.