--Sara POV--
The Castle was in an uproar. Sara watched as her Father and her Brother coordinated with the top general in charge of the City's main elite force. People were running every which way as they tried to get everything in order and move out as soon as possible. The officer in charge of the quadrant the Monster girl was found in has already sent a messenger stating they were currently hunting her down. The Hunter and Mercenary Guilds have also reported their involvement.
Sara didn't have anything to do so she just wandered the halls lost in thought. Lucilla, or Ruby as she knows her, was alive. She figured that was the case. She never really questioned whether she was alive or dead when the Church announced to the public her possible death. The only reason they did that in the first place was most likely because they could cover up a whole town being erased from the face of the planet. They would normally wait till they could confirm the death before saying anything.
Still, the fact was Sara never really felt like her teacher actually died. She also wasn't one to blindly think she survived either, so she went with the mid set she was dead to prove otherwise. Now that she knows her teacher is not only alive but is in the City, she felt a strong urge to confront her. Sara couldn't do that now though, not with the way things are.
'I should wait a little longer. Maybe she'll even come to me.' She thought.
"Shizuka, can you do me a favor and look into something for me?" Sara asked the Fox maid following her.
"Yes. What is it you want me to do?" The maid asked.
"My teacher might be back by now. After things settle down would you kindly invite her here on my behalf?" Requested Sara.
"Of course." She said with a small bow.
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--General POV--
Lucilla and the others walked back to the Hunter's Guild. After hours of searching and no sign of Lucilla herself, the people in power decided they weren't going anywhere and ordered everyone to stop. Now that Lucilla no longer had to act she reverted back to her usual self when surrounded by people she wasn't close with. With a stone face glare Lucilla was once again Ruby.
Her signature glare seemed more intense than usual so people who recognized her figured she was frustrated by the situation from earlier. Morella and Judieth who were walking with the glaring woman recognized it as a small smirk. Her eyes were just squinting more thanks to that, but to anyone else she just looked angry.
When Ruby and the other two entered the Guild building, they were immediately summoned to the Guild Master's office. Having already expected this Lucilla made her way up the stairs leading to the second and third floor. Walking down the short hallway they entered one of the few rooms located on this floor. Giving the door a knock, the three women waited till the person on the other end gave them the go ahead to enter.
Sitting at the back of the room was the Guild Master. In front of the large wooden desk, he was sitting at were three chairs facing him. There were two couches with a table in between them located in the middle of the room meant for meetings but they weren't being used today. Making their way across the room, the party of women sat down, Lucilla in the middle Judieth to the left of her and Morella on the right. They faced the Guild Master in intense silence for what felt like an eternity.
"You probably know what I called you in here for." The Guild master eventually said. "Now Ruby can you explain why you and that Lucilla character are almost exact carbon copies of each other?"
Lucilla stared at the Guild Master, appraising him. She had to be careful here, she was under heavy suspicion and right now the trust between this man and herself was nonexistent. Though she also couldn't help but notice how she was still being given a chance to defend herself in a private meeting instead of being dragged away and being interrogated inside a locked room.
"... I wouldn't know myself. I was just as surprised as you, when I saw her." She responded.
"Honestly we've never met this woman before today." Morella added. "We definitely would've remembered seeing someone that looked like my sister at some point."
"Your records did mention you being sisters." The Guild master said reacting to Morella's words. "It also mentioned you had a third sister, someone named Yuki. Where is she now?"
"She's currently not here. She's being cared for somewhere else with an acquaintance." Morella answered. "She'll be joining us at a later date though."
"I see, and where would they be at right now? You guys don't seem to have any record before joining the Guild. Well, none of you except for Dr. Redwood at the very least." He asked observing them closely.
"We come from the Lost Country, sir. A remote location on top of that. I'm afraid any record of our existence simply wouldn't exist." Morella answered. "Our parents died when I was young and Yuki never even knew hers." Mixing in the truth with the lie.
"I ran into them shortly before we joined the Hunter's Guild. My last area of employment ended somewhat abruptly." Judieth said jumping into the conversation. "It might not mean much coming from someone in their party but I positive these people here don't mean any harm."
Branko narrowed his eyes at the three women in front of him. He noticed an old faded scare on the bottom left jaw of Ruby and he tried to match her face to the monster woman from earlier. He was sure they also had a scar located on her jaw but he wasn't sure. He had a lot on his mind at the time to really care much about every little detail of the woman's looks. He was more focused on her aura and how strong she was. Now he wished he had. Though he was still seventy percent sure he was correct, so he didn't dwell on that for long.
No, the problem was that two of the three were completely unknown. Even the red-haired woman's records were sparse. All he learned was she was a scientist working for the Church since she was sixteen. What she was doing during that time was blacked out and classified. This wasn't unusual for Hunter's or Mercenaries, a lot of them had history that they rather forget, some even using new identities to start completely over.
The Guild would normally be able to find out the personal histories of the Hunters with just a little digging, if the need arises. The fact there was so little information made him uneasy. Their completely calm and unperturbed attitudes bothered him too. It was hard to get a read on people like these. It was hard to tell if they were acting calm or if that's just how they are. He did hear the one called Ruby doesn't react too much so he can assume her calm demeanor was just how she was. The other two were harder to figure out.
"I understand. But you can't deny there is a definite connection between you and the woman." He said directing his attention to Ruby again. "You positive there isn't any connection you can think of?"
"... Believe me, having someone... like that, with my face makes my blood boil and I would like nothing more than to find her and capture her for questioning." Ruby said, her piercing Golden-brown eyes bore into the Guild Masters own almost like she was challenging him. Her voice was lacking emotion as usual but something about that felt off to him.
'Actually, her whole vibe seems off.' He thought. "I can't really place put into words, but she seems slightly different than earlier. I feel like she had slightly more emotion in her earlier. It wasn't a lot but there definitely was something... I think.
Branko shook his head slightly dismissing the thought. He didn't know this woman and his only interaction was when they confronted that Lucilla woman. She did sound slightly more emotional during that time, but it wasn't by much so he came to the conclusion he was imagining things. It was still too soon to jump to conclusions and make conjectures. He decided to continue the conversation by throwing out an idea that's been bouncing around in his head for a while.
"I might have a theory of what your connection is. She seemed to know about you when you met after all." Blanko started carefully observing their reaction. "Could she be your twin sister? It's not unusual for twins to have the same Mana signature. I even know some twins like that."
"It's possible. Ruby and Morella don't really know their family that well." Judieth spoke going into lecture mode. "You're right about twins often being similar in not just appearance but even their Mana. So, it's not uncommon for people to mistake one twin for the other if all they were going off was their aura. If your right about them actually being twins, then could it be the birth mother saw her other child was a monster and got rid of her out of shame?"
Judieth started going off on a tangent, partially an act but midway through started seriously speculating on Lucilla's origins. It occurred to her if her real birth mother ever showed up she can discredit this theory very easily. Then Judieth realized that wouldn't be possible. No one would believe anyone who claimed to be the parent of Lucilla even if they were telling the truth.
"... If she was my twin that would explain some things." She spoke. "... I don't know if that's the case and we won't know till we find her."
"Sir, if I may say this. We will cooperate with you to bring down this woman. We know you suspect us because of Ruby's similarities to her, but rest assured we have nothing to hide." Morella said giving a charming smile.
Branko ever the professional didn't even react and continued the conversation. "You can go. I just wanted to talk for a bit. Just know you're being watched closely." Sighing he looked up for a moment before looking at the three women in front of him again. "Just don't do anything stupid alright?"
"... Sure." Lucilla said curtly. Before standing and making her way to the door. It was slightly rude but that's how she would normally react. So even though it would be considered rude she did it anyway. Her saving grace was the fact the Hunter's usually lacked tack and Bronko didn't really care.
"I'm sorry for her, but thank you for your time and farewell Guild Master." Morella said giving him a slight bow before leaving.
"Let's meet again in a more favorable environment." Judieth said with a smile following the other two.
After the door closed behind the three Bronko sat in silence for a while. Then he got up and walked to the other door located in the office and entered the adjacent room. He had to report what he knew to the other Guilds, the City's lord and the Church. In the other room was a lone table with a magic stone fixed into the middle of it. There were dials and buttons located on a panel set into the table in front of the stone.
Messing with the controls a little he started sending his message to everyone he could. The message consisted of short and long beeps with the occasional pause. This was how information traveled between major cities or locations of importance. It was a magic machine that uses Morse code to send a message to all relevant parties. It was apparently based on a design from the old era before the man known as Eldon Vesh came to power. Even if no one was currently at one of these devices there was another part of the machine on the other side that recorded the message to be looked over again later.
"For now, we know Lucilla plans to stay in the City for a while. So, we have plenty of time to find her." Blanko said to himself looking on the bright side. "Plus, she's just a young woman. Not even that strong. Stronger than average sure, but not overly strong and any veteran can defeat her."
That's the type of reading he got off of her when they met. Honestly, he didn't understand why the Church was so persistent in chasing one lone woman. With the way they hyped her up he expected something more gran, so coming face to face with the real thing was a bit disappointing.
After sending his message to the Hunter's and Mercenaries parent main Guild office along with the Church and the City's Lord Bronko was exhausted. He was running around all day now all he wanted to do was sleep.