Though it looked quite seductive, her dressing was perfect for very practical reasons. In such missions where danger was very high, agility and high mobility were required. Her normal dresses would have only gotten in the way.
"You three! Listen up very carefully. The mission we are going to perform will be a graded activity and will go a long way towards getting good grades in the finals. I want you three to put in your best efforts to get it done in the best possible manner. Especially you Alissa, your grades in practical magic are not very high, so you need to perform well if you want to pass. This might be your chance. And that means no slacking off and absolutely no hiding your strength to look cool."
The last sentence was something she directed towards Zavier alone. She was staring at Zavier with an icy gaze when she uttered that last sentence.
Zavier couldn't help but feel shivers down his back. Although, looking cool was never his intention, he couldn't just tell the real reason to his family right then.
So, he just agreed with her after giving her an understanding but serious look. That worked like a charm because Valerie seemed to have been convinced and stopped singling him out afterwards.
"One thing you should keep in mind before we set off."
The three listened to the commands like obedient chicks following after the mother hen.
"This is my mission. You are only coming with me for educational purposes. I will make sure that you don't suffer too much harm but that's it. You need to do this for yourself and you need to do it good, after all my reputation is at stake. So, remember this; if you cause me to fail my mission just because you didn't take it seriously, keep in mind that there will be hell to pay."
The three shivered in fear as if a poisonous snake was crawling up their bodies twisting and twirling around them.
After she felt that she had threatened them enough, she led them out and headed towards the mission display.
She went through the task list and chose the task that had been assigned to them. Although she had known about the task beforehand, she needed to find out who their employer was since they needed to report the result of their mission to their employer in the end.
The employer lived close to the outskirts of the city, in a place that was more wilderness than it was an inhabited area.
Valerie stopped outside the place that looked like the residence of a human being and reported out loud to the employer.
She wanted to confirm the mission details as mentioned in the tasking list.
Zavier could clearly see that the employer didn't look at her at all. He was staring at Zavier the whole time as if Zavier owed him money or something.
The employer was a 60-year-old man with flowing beard and a solemn aura who stood outside the hut and looked as if he was waiting for someone. He looked frail and weak and without any strength, like a withered corpse.
Valerie was the first to speak but seeing that there was no response at all, she shut her mouth and maintained her silence.
Zavier took over for her and repeated her words in ditto. His words seemed to have some effect, as the old man finally showed some response to his voice.
His movement felt as if an extremely old tree that was devoid of all life had finally begun to sprout new leaves.
"We came here to fulfil your request. We wanted to confirm the details of the F-rank mission that you posted earlier."
"Oh, so they sent you…are you sure that you can handle it?"
He spoke in a hoarse creaking voice that felt extremely old and ancient, even more than it really was.
The old man looked slightly contemptuous which should have offended the three girls because he was clearly ignoring them and was only talking to Zavier alone.
But Zavier saw how elegantly Valerie handled the situation. She didn't even bother to reply to the old man and turned her face away.
She had given tacit agreement to Zavier to be their spokesperson. This was a very mature and professional thing to do and Zavier felt impressed by her professional attitude. This was exactly in contrast to what he had thought of her temperament up until that moment.
Valerie aside, even Dahila and Alissa didn't care about the babbling of the old man. Zavier felt the burden growing there and then when he saw how seriously every one of them was taking this job.
He on the contrary was nowhere near as committed. He vowed to himself that he would be better so as to not hold the girls back because of his own carelessness and laziness.
"Old man…"
Zavier was cut short by the old man before he could even start speaking.
"What old man…my name is James. Call me James."
"All right, James. What is it that you want us to do? We have come here for the F-rank escort mission."
The old man gave an approving look.
"Yes, I want your group to escort this box to the place marked in the map. But you have to make sure to protect it. It is more precious than anything you might have laid your eyes on, in your whole life. I want it to remain unscratched till it reaches the destination marked on the map."
As the old man started to talk, he indicated with his fingers towards a spot adjacent to the wall of the house.
There lied a stone beside which a piece of paper had been put under an intricately decorated wooden box.
The box was so beautiful that it was screaming 'treasure'.
"And I want to go with you."
James didn't have to go with them at all. They had taken the job and would have completed it either way. But it looked as if the package was of immense importance to their employer who wanted to take it to the destination while accompanying the people that he had hired to protect it. The old man sure was cautious. Why hand it over to other people in the first place if you couldn't even trust them?
As such the four and the old man set off for their destination that was quite far away.
Zavier estimated that the whole mission would take at least two weeks.
He was worried that the already long mission had been extended further with the addition of James who might even delay their pace following after them.
Still, the task had to be completed since they had taken the job and from the looks of Valerie and the other girls, they weren't against James coming. Or rather it would be more prudent to say that they didn't care at all if the old man was coming or not.
They just wanted to complete the mission as soon as possible.
And as for Zavier, he was even less interested in what the old man wanted to do. Not only that, he wasn't even a little bit interested in the mission that had been sprung on him out of nowhere.
He had his own things to do, mysteries to figure out, enemies to chalk out which would finally enable him to release some of the pressure around him so that he could take a breather.
He was worried about what was happening at home. What if someone came after him at his home where Nadia and Kacie still lived?
His mind was constantly moving back and forth between the mission and home.
Therefore, to avoid any confusion, he simply switched his consciousness with that of a clone that was close to his home.
The original body that was following along Valerie and the girls for the mission had now turned into a clone while his consciousness swapped with that of the clone that was training next to his house.
Zavier wasn't worried that there will be any problem in letting the clone handle a boring job such as escorting the wooden box. The way they were moving, it was bound to be a long way there anyway.
He was sure that even if he left for a while to look for clues, the clone would be able to make prudent decisions in his place.
After all, the clones had the same consciousness as his own and would have followed the same thought process and would have ultimately reached the same conclusions no matter what. This set his mind at ease but the problem remained.