Sera stiffened, looking at the man towering above her.
She recognized him immediately. Who wouldn't? S-ranks were like celebrities and Ratha, a prominent guild, proudly coveted (more like hoarded) 4 of the 8 S-ranks in the country. During her probationary rounds, Sera had familiarized herself with all the prominent people in the organization, not only for her job, but also for her safety. If she wanted to slip by Causality, then well, avoiding big whales was also a good idea.
This was very bad. It meant she had caught his eye. Sera closed her eyes and groaned internally. I should have taken a punch sooner? Or maybe I shouldn't have practiced combat at all? Would it have made a difference? Maybe I could have punched my own face at the same time Julia punched mine to inflict the right damage?
Her swirling thoughts were interrupted by a light-hearted, gentle masculine voice. The pleasant voice vibrated across the room directly into her ears, it felt like velvet.
"Are you alright? Guide Sera Yun."
Sera took a breath and opened her eyes, meeting his glittering blue eyes which were locked on her. While his face outwardly expressed a kind, gentle demeanor, Sera kept her body stiff, an unsettling feeling crashing over her. He felt…dangerous. She sensed, almost instinctually, that this man was a perceptive, sly individual. Must be an S-rank thing, she thought. I should be wary.
He held out his hand, an offering to help raise her from her crouched position. Sera looked at it, and then glanced back at him, pausing before making an instantaneous decision. The best way to approach him… is probably the way I deal with Simon. If I get involved with him, for sure, I think Causality is going to notice.
Instead of taking his hand, she pushed herself up from her knees, clasping her hands in front of her and bowed deferentially, plastering her best customer service smile.
"I am alright. It is an honor to meet you and receive your help, Esper Cunning."
She caught the way his face flickered, his mouth twitching before his face once again regained its gentle composure.
"Sorry Sera!" Julia interrupted, as she massaged her now thawed out wrist, ice crystals falling to the ground. "I…I think…I just got too excited," she said breathlessly, still heaving from the combat. "How'd you learn to dodge like that? You're like a little squirrel!"
"Ah well…I had a good instructor," Sera offered, now avoiding Arlen's gaze to look over his shoulder at Julia. "I was raised in a martial arts academy, and I was known for speed," she lied readily, noting to herself that she should remember to keep that background going forward.
"Even so!" Julia exclaimed, coming over to clap a hand on Sera's shoulder. "You were incredible! I haven't felt like that outside the field in years. When you awakened as a guide did your abilities increase? You were so fast I could hardly keep up."
"I guess so, probably that." Sera was wary, while grateful for the way her practice session with Julia had ended, having solved her current fiasco to keep her powers hidden. She still felt deeply unsettled from having grabbed the attention of Arlen Cunning. Being involved with someone famous…didn't seem good.
Sera moved to clasp Julia's hand. I should avoid getting involved with Arlen further, she thought.
"Our practice session was intense, right? Are you as tired as I am, Julia? Shall we go to the showers and take a break? Seems like our sparring session was satisfactory to the supervisor…", she turned her eyes across the room to the supervisor in the back.
The Esper supervisor across the room flicked his hand in agreement, having been watching the whole scene.
"Well then," she turned her head toward Arlen, once again smiling as kindly as she could, "Thank you for your help once again, sir. We will take our leave."
Still grasping Julia's hands, she turned towards the exit, stepping away as quickly as she could.
Almost to the door, Arlen's voice rang.
"Wait," he called out and Sera and Julia stopped midstep. Sera cursed inwardly and carefully turned around. Due to the rank difference and because he was a precious S-class, he was their superior, in an hierarchical guild like Ratha, they couldn't disobey his command nor ignore his words.
"Yes, Esper Cunning," Sera answered, avoiding his gaze directly. She felt like she couldn't stare at him directly. Like it would only draw more of his interest if she did.
"Guide Sera, you're a new hire, right?"
"Yes, sir, I am…from the most recent cycle of hires."
"They call you the morale hire, right?"
Sera's hands twitched and she looked up, accidentally meeting his gaze. His eyes were glinting, as if mischievous. He was trying to push a reaction out of her, that's why he mentioned being a morale hire.
"I have favorable survey reviews about my performance, yes."
He looked at her and then cracked a grin. Slowly, he pointed to himself, "Then, can I have a session?"
It wasn't like the combat auditorium where Julia and Sera had battled was just them. In truth, it was a large, expansive room where guides and espers had been sparring their partners across mats with a supervisor overseeing all of them.
And even when Arlen had stopped Julia with his ice magic, while shocking and sudden, every esper and guide knew it was better to pretend not to notice and continue to focus on their own sparring instead of openly staring at an S-rank's involvement. It was an unspoken rule, don't openly gape at S-ranks in-person and to mind their own business.
But for an S-rank to proposition a C-rank guide for a session? In the open? Not only that, but it was the notorious guide known across her guide colleagues as being a slut for hire?
While espers and guides continued sparring, a strong hush descended across the auditorium. Kicks became quieter, and punches softer as everyone breathed as quietly as they could, straining to hear the conversation which would juicily make its way to the cafeteria as gossip during lunch.
* * *
Arlen gazed at the guide before him, her red eyes flashing and a small frown flickering across her face before she regained her composed expression. He could almost see the gears turning in her head as she decided how to answer his request.
From her combat skills, Arlen knew it deep in his gut, she wasn't a C-rank. While it wasn't easy to detect for the espers and guides in the room as everyone focused on their own sparring, both he and Rena, could tell that a martial arts background as a civilian or as a recent guide couldn't justify her current combat expertise. It was something they instinctually knew from years of fighting high-level monsters and fellow espers of similar rank; the way she moved, turned her body, and dodged had indicated she was familiar with fighting opponents much higher and more capable than C-rank. This didn't match up with her background as a low-grade guide who had only awakened 1 year prior during a gate break. At this point, she should have only had mostly civilian combat experience which could not explain why she was able to dodge Julia's attacks, an esper who has been in active duty for the past 6 years.
She was hiding something.
Arlen had figured he might be able to gauge what she was hiding through skin-to-skin contact. After all, as an S-rank, it was easy for him to tell how strong a guide's capacity was, how their vessel was shaped, how much pollution they could handle, and what their mana felt like. It was the gift of heightened sensitivity given to S-ranks, like how they could see much farther, and hear a greater range, they also had increased mana control that allowed them to discern more readily the inner power of their fellow guides and espers.
But Sera had dodged his hand and gotten up herself, as if she knew somehow that he had planned to invade and analyze her vessel with his mana upon contact. Now, she had her guard up and it wouldn't be so easy to access now.
Well, no matter, a guiding session would give him ample time to break down her mental defenses and find the information he was looking for, so he had propositioned her.
"I am grateful for your request, Esper Cunning," Sera started carefully. "However, as you know, I am a C-rank, as per Ratha's Article 4.2, I am only capable of guiding 1 rank above and below me. I am only able to guide up to B-rank and unable to guide an S-rank-"
Arlen was prepared for this. How would this little squirrel evade chances of discovery? Probably by hiding behind Ratha's laws and code of conduct he had concluded. But she didn't know, S-ranks got away with everything. After all, what was the point of incredible power, if they didn't indiscriminately use it? Arlen wasn't a stickler like Rian, he had no such hesitations about bending the rules in his favor.
"Ah yes, that's true, Sera," he interrupted. Sera frowned at the casual way he addressed her. "But as an S-rank, as a precious government commodity, I am allowed to override Ratha's codes for emergency guidance and request guides under my personal discretion."
What Arlen had said was true, while S-ranks were tied to Ratha and under their chain of command, they were also government weapons and under the nation's laws they were allowed to act in favor of government needs even if they directly conflicted with the guilds they were employed in. One of these laws allowed S-rank espers to request guides of any caliber in emergency situations in order for S-ranks to maintain their ability to maintain the nation's defenses during dungeon breaks. Sera hadn't known this, why would she? An average citizen and someone who had never thought to involve herself with high-profile individuals, she had only learned the rules and laws that she thought would be applicable to her small world. She was an intruder in the world, hoping to live a casual life of snacking and lazying about, not some grand heroine invested in politics or national stability.
"Ah, I see, Esper Cunning, that seems to be your right. But this is not an emergency scenario, no? Even though I am only a C-rank guide, your pollution at a glance seems to be minimal."
"Does it? Well, wouldn't an esper know his own body and pollution level best?"
"I understand, sir, however, if there is no official emergency guidance request, I feel uncomfortable responding to your informal summons. Please get an assessment and send an emergency request through the appropriate channel," Sera responded.
Sera was doing everything she could to avoid a guiding session with an S-rank. An emergency guidance request was usually only for espers bordering on rampage which needed to be evaluated and signed off by a doctor before the request could be carried out and then sent to the respective guides. Only when an esper was actively rampaging, or when guidance was needed during active duty, could an emergency request be initiated without approval, but neither was the scenario now.
Arlen looked at her quietly, and then lifting his watch, he tapped a few times on the holographic projection.
In a matter of a few seconds, Sera's watch began to trill and she looked down at it in response. A holographic projection appeared.
< Emergency Guidance Summons >
Room 310 as soon as possible.
- Administrator Risa Agnato
Sera gaped in shock at the image before her watch before turning her eyes to look at the grinning Arlen.
Sera had made a critical miscalculation.
S-rank espers, and especially the extroverted and charming Arlen Cunning, were wildly popular. As such, many guild members wanted to be in the favor of such a powerful individual. Unbeknownst to Sera, Arlen had pretty good ties with Administrator Risa Agnato - enough that he was able to call in a favor and she would look the other way. After all, who would truly deny an S-rank? A nation's pride?
"Oh dear," he muttered slyly, "I'm not feeling so well. Looks like I might need some emergency treatment?"
Sera felt her stomach plummet to the ground. For a brief, treacherous moment, Sera considered pretending to faint.
Unfortunately… that would probably make things worse.
"…Understood," she said at last, her customer-service smile returning with painful precision. "I will comply with the emergency summons."
Inside, she was screaming.
Julia's head snapped between them, pink eyes wide. "Wait, seriously? You're guiding Arlen? Right now?"
Sera resisted the urge to grab Julia and use her as a human shield.
"Yes," Arlen said smoothly, brushing past them and walking towards the exit. "Room 310. Your personal office."
He glanced back over his shoulder, blue eyes glinting.
"Guide Sera…don't keep your patient waiting."
Cold sweat slid down Sera's spine.