Knock, knock.
I shifted my gaze from the papers I had been looking through, to the door of my office. Registering the presence of the person standing outside, I gave a curt reply, “Come in, Azul.”
The doors opened, revealing the figure of Azul entering with a small stack of papers in one hand. As he entered the room, his figure was dyed in the warm glow of the lamp currently illuminating the room. It was somewhat late into the night, and that lamp was the only light source in here that I had bothered to keep on. I saw Azul briefly taking in the scene in front of him before he spoke, “Miss, I’ve retrieved the papers you’ve asked for, although this isn’t the complete record. They said the rest of the files had been moved digital, so they’ll be sending you the remainder over the Cordiale channels.” With that, he walked over to the desk I was working at and placed down the stack of papers.
Taking in the information, I made a brief nod of approval, before thanking the man in short order. With that, I turned my gaze back to the papers I had been combing over. Azul, in turn, simply stood there, as if he was wanting to say something.
“Feel free to speak your mind, Azul. I’m listening.” I addressed the man without looking back up. In turn, the man simply told me, “No, it’s just…you look different.” Hearing the surprised tone in his voice, I gave a small chuckle. Although I was still in the form of a little girl, I had changed my attire to more casual wear. I was currently dressed in a simple white T-shirt with some matching white shorts, without my trademark shades or tophat. And though I say “changed my attire”, in my case, I simply altered the shape and colour of my clothes, which were also made of blood. In this clothing, I looked just like your average child in home casualwear. Definitely not the appearance one would expect of an executive of the world’s most powerful organisation, which effectively ran shadow states in every major country in the world.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I offered Azul a brief remark, “It’s not like I wear that suit and hat every day, you know? This is my home, if you’ve forgotten. I get that my usual wear has given you quite the strong first impression, but if you’re gonna stick with me as my personal secretary, you better start getting used to seeing me in more casual clothes.”
Azul, in return, simply shifted the subject. “Miss Iv, with all due respect, which is none–” I elected to ignore the usual jab in his words. “ –it is currently 4 am in the morning. Have you not slept since returning back to Arcadia?” I found myself a bit befuddled by his words. What was he trying to ask? Hiding the uncertainty in my voice, I asked, “No, why?” I gave him a brief look of confusion, before blatantly realising what he meant. Was he worried about my sleep? Considering his usual harsh attitude, that was……surprising. Aw, I guess he did have a soft side. That was even kind of cute.
Making sure to mask my thoughts under a deadpan face, I simply told him, “It’s fine, it’s fine. This is how I work, anyways. It’s business as usual.” He responded, “Well, I hope you know how sleep deprivation works.” I suppressed a brief smirk as I quietly retorted, “I hope sleep deprivation knows how I work. My biology is different from normal humans, so I can afford less sleep without the side-effects. Besides, I’ve been living off this schedule for the past four years.” I was planning on having him drop this issue then and there, since it was distracting me from my work, but his next words caught me off-guard.
“Past four years? After you lost your previous secretary?” I felt my hands stop moving. Giving the man a hard stare, I told him to drop the subject. “That’s none of your business, Azul. You’re here now, that’s all that matters for you.” Azul looked a bit apprehensive, clearly wondering if he should continue with the subject regardless of my words. Still, I made sure my tone had been stern, and the man, after some internal deliberation, seemed ready to drop the matter. He nodded curtly, before turning his heels and leaving my office, shutting the doors closed behind him. With the man gone, I turned my attention back to what I was doing. Glancing briefly to the side of my desk, I registered the massive stack of paperwork still left before me. Sigh, today was going to be another all-nighter–
Baam!
“Wha–Azul?!”
The doors opened again, only with a lot more force this time. The man, Azul, re-entered without a single bit of courtesy, before walking up to my desk for a second time. “Uhh, hey?” I tried questioning the man what in the world he was doing, before realising his gaze was pointed at the massive stack of papers I had just been lamenting about. He picked one of the paper sheets up, before telling me, “Upon exiting, I found something a bit weird.” He pointed to the paper in his hands, holding it up in front of me. “These papers…they’re for your meetings and appointments. Aren’t these usually for your direct attendants, such as I, to look over? Do you even have any attendants other than me?” He began shuffling through my papers with the brazenness of a man who knew no shame. He continued on, “Not only that, but some of these clearly don’t require Overseer-level authority to be looked over. Isn’t this a job for your Ministers?”
I found myself wanting to rebuke the man’s insolent behaviour, but at the same time, I was unable to give a retort on his words themselves. His words had a piercing intensity called “truth” to them. As the man fixed his sharp gaze on me, I stammered out in response, “Well–I– I’ve…really had no–” The man cut in mid-sentence. “You do everything yourself, with little to no delegation of your workload. Over these past four years without a personal secretary, you’ve been scheduling all your meetings and calls by yourself, haven’t you? Not only that, but you haven’t kept any other attendants that could delegate reports and other information that come straight to you. What are you even paying your subordinates in your Ministry for?”
…Bingo. His words went straight through me. His piercing stare was seriously hard to endure. Although I knew that a lot of women would probably be feeling things when a man as handsome as Azul stared so intently at them, all I was really feeling in that moment was emotional agony. Damn, why was Azul so perceptive all of a sudden? Not only that, the man had a rigid air of authority hanging over him. Was that an Aura or something? I…was his superior, right? Why am I feeling like a failure of a boss all of a sudden? Right, this was all the old man’s fault. He was the one who sent Azul here. The Visionary? More like “The–
Azul spoke again, interrupting my rapidly-derailing train of thought (Which was more like me trying to distract myself from the current situation). “From here on out, please allow me to take care of all your meetings and appointments. Not just the ones you assigned me to, like with the Engineer. In addition, I’ll take out all the files and reports below level 4 clearance. That much work can be delegated to some of your subordinates in the MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs).” As he spoke on, I finally welled up the strength within me to look up and meet his gaze. We simply froze there for a few seconds, staring at each other’s eyes intently. As we entered the world’s most impromptu, stupid staring contest, my mind was whirling in deliberation. Still, after a few seconds or so, I gave out a soft sigh of defeat, before shuffling through the stack of paperwork on my desk.
“Here…” The man took over the small stack in my hand without a word. He gave me a small bow and bid me a pleasant night, before exiting my office for the second time (The man finally seemed to remember politeness was a thing again. That and the fact that I was still his boss…). After the man had shut the door behind him, I used my Ability, extending a thin tendril of blood from my finger that glided across the space of my office room, before reaching the doors that had just been shut. Placing the tip of the tendril into the lock of the doors, I gave a few tweaks and turns, before locking it completely. There, no more unruly subordinates barging in like they own the place and doing whatever they like. After all, only I was allowed to have that kind of behaviour here.
Retracting the tendril back into my body, I collapsed onto the back of my chair and sighed out again. Come to think about it, I recall Carla and Sherman calling me a few times over the past few years, about installing automatic electronic locks into some of the rooms of my house……maybe rejecting that idea had been a mistake. With automatic locks, at least I won’t have to constantly be on guard against any of Azul’s assaults(?) from now on.
…Hmm, it might be a bit difficult to install them now, considering we’d have to give most of our servants here some kind of automatic access. With that Abigail girl agreeing to stay here for now, it might cause some trouble for our servants and attendants if they had to constantly unlock doors for her. I’ll postpone installing any automatic locks for now until we send her off.
Taking my mind away from such trivial thoughts, I looked back at the paperwork left on my desk. Including the papers I was presently looking through, not even a third of my original workload had remained. Wait…a third only? That was how little there was left? I–wow. Guess I was getting some sleep tonight after all. Since it was half-past 4 am now, if I finished the remaining work by 6, I could get three, whole hours of sleep until I woke up at 11 am.
Ring! Ring!
Whilst having such pleasant thoughts, I was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the office phone on my desk. Peering off to the side of the desk where the phone sat, I couldn’t help but complain softly in my heart. Great, what was it now? I thought I had already finished my part of the post-Crisis cleanup, don’t tell me they were calling me again? Picking up the ringing phone with a bit of reluctance, I waited for the caller’s voice to come through. Instead, what I got were the soft clicks of a familiar operative.
I swear, I almost jumped out of my chair when I heard it. It was past 4 am! Operative or not, a kid like Rhythm shouldn’t be up and running this lat–oh wait, time zones. Damn, it’s been so long since I’ve been in Arcadia, I totally forgot what it was like calling subordinates overseas.
“Alright Rhythm, I expect this to be about Calvin. Have you found him?” Instead of Rhythm's voice, the reply came from a female voice, evidently still in their teens. “Yep, boss. I’ve located his Aura. We’ve already sent over the coordinates for you to look over, alongside some additional notes.” It was Beat. Cutting off Rhythm like usual. Those two never change, do they? Though it’s only been around three years since she became bonded to Rhythm's body, the two have been pretty inseparable ever since. Both metaphorically and literally, that is.
Coming back from my thoughts, I told them, “Great to hear. I’ll mobilise a battalion from Samiel and have them rendezvous with your current location. I’ll leave operational planning to you.” Pausing for a bit, I decided to add a word of caution, “Truth is, not even I know what that man’s been up to these past few years. Although he seemed to be laying low until now, that’s no reason to be taking him lightly. Expect him to be ready for you upon engaging him. Also, his betrayal aside, his existence as a rogue Artificial Angel alone is still a major threat. We can’t lose sight of him this time, regardless of the circumstances. Please keep that in mind.” I ended off with some additional precautions, “In addition, try to keep damage minimised. The Cordiale is already in a lot of hot water with the Crisis. If he's still in a rural area, keep him there. Don’t try to engage him near any urban centers. As the Control Piece, I know you can suppress his powers, Beat. But still, I don’t want the risk. If he’s reached an urban center, lay low and stick to passive reconnaissance. I’ll attach everything I’ve mentioned so far with the battalion leader that’ll be heading over. I know you haven’t had much experience with operational planning, so read through the attachment carefully, and have the battalion leader cooperate and help you out.”
With that, I ended my side of the speech. Silence persisted on the other end of the call for a dozen or so seconds, as the duo clearly digested everything I said. Finally, I heard Rhythm give a soft ‘Affirmative’ to my words. Beat interjected, kindly demanding I disclose more about the whole situation once this mission was over. I laughed softly as I agreed, before disconnecting the call. With that done, I placed the desk phone back on its holder at the side of the desk, before leaning back against my chair. Sigh, what a world we’ve come to. These days, we end up leaving the fate of hundreds, maybe even thousands of civilians up to the hands of a thirteen year old child and a seventeen year old spirit haunting him. Origin or not, it was a hefty responsibility I’ve placed onto them. A small sense of guilt rose within me, though I ignored it like all the other times I’ve harboured such similar thoughts. I’ll have to send over someone capable as the battalion leader to help them. After all, though the duo have already proved themselves adept at operational planning so far, their track record still isn’t particularly large, mostly due to their young ages. The battalion leader will have to fill in any gaps of inexperience.
I gave another sigh, before setting aside the papers I had previously been looking over. It seems I won’t be getting any sleep tonight after all.
Knock, knock.
I shifted my gaze from the papers I had been looking through, to the door of my office. Registering the presence of the person standing outside, I gave a curt reply, “Come in, Azul.”
The doors opened, revealing the figure of Azul entering with a small stack of papers in one hand. As he entered the room, his figure was dyed in the warm glow of the lamp currently illuminating the room. It was somewhat late into the night, and that lamp was the only light source in here that I had bothered to keep on. I saw Azul briefly taking in the scene in front of him before he spoke, “Miss, I’ve retrieved the papers you’ve asked for, although this isn’t the complete record. They said the rest of the files had been moved digital, so they’ll be sending you the remainder over the Cordiale channels.” With that, he walked over to the desk I was working at and placed down the stack of papers.
Taking in the information, I made a brief nod of approval, before thanking the man in short order. With that, I turned my gaze back to the papers I had been combing over. Azul, in turn, simply stood there, as if he was wanting to say something.
“Feel free to speak your mind, Azul. I’m listening.” I addressed the man without looking back up. In turn, the man simply told me, “No, it’s just…you look different.” Hearing the surprised tone in his voice, I gave a small chuckle. Although I was still in the form of a little girl, I had changed my attire to more casual wear. I was currently dressed in a simple white T-shirt with some matching white shorts, without my trademark shades or tophat. And though I say “changed my attire”, in my case, I simply altered the shape and colour of my clothes, which were also made of blood. In this clothing, I looked just like your average child in home casualwear. Definitely not the appearance one would expect of an executive of the world’s most powerful organisation, which effectively ran shadow states in every major country in the world.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I offered Azul a brief remark, “It’s not like I wear that suit and hat every day, you know? This is my home, if you’ve forgotten. I get that my usual wear has given you quite the strong first impression, but if you’re gonna stick with me as my personal secretary, you better start getting used to seeing me in more casual clothes.”
Azul, in return, simply shifted the subject. “Miss Iv, with all due respect, which is none–” I elected to ignore the usual jab in his words. “ –it is currently 4 am in the morning. Have you not slept since returning back to Arcadia?” I found myself a bit befuddled by his words. What was he trying to ask? Hiding the uncertainty in my voice, I asked, “No, why?” I gave him a brief look of confusion, before blatantly realising what he meant. Was he worried about my sleep? Considering his usual harsh attitude, that was……surprising. Aw, I guess he did have a soft side. That was even kind of cute.
Making sure to mask my thoughts under a deadpan face, I simply told him, “It’s fine, it’s fine. This is how I work, anyways. It’s business as usual.” He responded, “Well, I hope you know how sleep deprivation works.” I suppressed a brief smirk as I quietly retorted, “I hope sleep deprivation knows how I work. My biology is different from normal humans, so I can afford less sleep without the side-effects. Besides, I’ve been living off this schedule for the past four years.” I was planning on having him drop this issue then and there, since it was distracting me from my work, but his next words caught me off-guard.
“Past four years? After you lost your previous secretary?” I felt my hands stop moving. Giving the man a hard stare, I told him to drop the subject. “That’s none of your business, Azul. You’re here now, that’s all that matters for you.” Azul looked a bit apprehensive, clearly wondering if he should continue with the subject regardless of my words. Still, I made sure my tone had been stern, and the man, after some internal deliberation, seemed ready to drop the matter. He nodded curtly, before turning his heels and leaving my office, shutting the doors closed behind him. With the man gone, I turned my attention back to what I was doing. Glancing briefly to the side of my desk, I registered the massive stack of paperwork still left before me. Sigh, today was going to be another all-nighter–
Baam!
“Wha–Azul?!”
The doors opened again, only with a lot more force this time. The man, Azul, re-entered without a single bit of courtesy, before walking up to my desk for a second time. “Uhh, hey?” I tried questioning the man what in the world he was doing, before realising his gaze was pointed at the massive stack of papers I had just been lamenting about. He picked one of the paper sheets up, before telling me, “Upon exiting, I found something a bit weird.” He pointed to the paper in his hands, holding it up in front of me. “These papers…they’re for your meetings and appointments. Aren’t these usually for your direct attendants, such as I, to look over? Do you even have any attendants other than me?” He began shuffling through my papers with the brazenness of a man who knew no shame. He continued on, “Not only that, but some of these clearly don’t require Overseer-level authority to be looked over. Isn’t this a job for your Ministers?”
I found myself wanting to rebuke the man’s insolent behaviour, but at the same time, I was unable to give a retort on his words themselves. His words had a piercing intensity called “truth” to them. As the man fixed his sharp gaze on me, I stammered out in response, “Well–I– I’ve…really had no–” The man cut in mid-sentence. “You do everything yourself, with little to no delegation of your workload. Over these past four years without a personal secretary, you’ve been scheduling all your meetings and calls by yourself, haven’t you? Not only that, but you haven’t kept any other attendants that could delegate reports and other information that come straight to you. What are you even paying your subordinates in your Ministry for?”
…Bingo. His words went straight through me. His piercing stare was seriously hard to endure. Although I knew that a lot of women would probably be feeling things when a man as handsome as Azul stared so intently at them, all I was really feeling in that moment was emotional agony. Damn, why was Azul so perceptive all of a sudden? Not only that, the man had a rigid air of authority hanging over him. Was that an Aura or something? I…was his superior, right? Why am I feeling like a failure of a boss all of a sudden? Right, this was all the old man’s fault. He was the one who sent Azul here. The Visionary? More like “The–
Azul spoke again, interrupting my rapidly-derailing train of thought (Which was more like me trying to distract myself from the current situation). “From here on out, please allow me to take care of all your meetings and appointments. Not just the ones you assigned me to, like with the Engineer. In addition, I’ll take out all the files and reports below level 4 clearance. That much work can be delegated to some of your subordinates in the MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs).” As he spoke on, I finally welled up the strength within me to look up and meet his gaze. We simply froze there for a few seconds, staring at each other’s eyes intently. As we entered the world’s most impromptu, stupid staring contest, my mind was whirling in deliberation. Still, after a few seconds or so, I gave out a soft sigh of defeat, before shuffling through the stack of paperwork on my desk.
“Here…” The man took over the small stack in my hand without a word. He gave me a small bow and bid me a pleasant night, before exiting my office for the second time (The man finally seemed to remember politeness was a thing again. That and the fact that I was still his boss…). After the man had shut the door behind him, I used my Ability, extending a thin tendril of blood from my finger that glided across the space of my office room, before reaching the doors that had just been shut. Placing the tip of the tendril into the lock of the doors, I gave a few tweaks and turns, before locking it completely. There, no more unruly subordinates barging in like they own the place and doing whatever they like. After all, only I was allowed to have that kind of behaviour here.
Retracting the tendril back into my body, I collapsed onto the back of my chair and sighed out again. Come to think about it, I recall Carla and Sherman calling me a few times over the past few years, about installing automatic electronic locks into some of the rooms of my house……maybe rejecting that idea had been a mistake. With automatic locks, at least I won’t have to constantly be on guard against any of Azul’s assaults(?) from now on.
…Hmm, it might be a bit difficult to install them now, considering we’d have to give most of our servants here some kind of automatic access. With that Abigail girl agreeing to stay here for now, it might cause some trouble for our servants and attendants if they had to constantly unlock doors for her. I’ll postpone installing any automatic locks for now until we send her off.
Taking my mind away from such trivial thoughts, I looked back at the paperwork left on my desk. Including the papers I was presently looking through, not even a third of my original workload had remained. Wait…a third only? That was how little there was left? I–wow. Guess I was getting some sleep tonight after all. Since it was half-past 4 am now, if I finished the remaining work by 6, I could get three, whole hours of sleep until I woke up at 11 am.
Ring! Ring!
Whilst having such pleasant thoughts, I was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the office phone on my desk. Peering off to the side of the desk where the phone sat, I couldn’t help but complain softly in my heart. Great, what was it now? I thought I had already finished my part of the post-Crisis cleanup, don’t tell me they were calling me again? Picking up the ringing phone with a bit of reluctance, I waited for the caller’s voice to come through. Instead, what I got were the soft clicks of a familiar operative.
I swear, I almost jumped out of my chair when I heard it. It was past 4 am! Operative or not, a kid like Rhythm shouldn’t be up and running this lat–oh wait, time zones. Damn, it’s been so long since I’ve been in Arcadia, I totally forgot what it was like calling subordinates overseas.
“Alright Rhythm, I expect this to be about Calvin. Have you found him?” Instead of Rhythm's voice, the reply came from a female voice, evidently still in their teens. “Yep, boss. I’ve located his Aura. We’ve already sent over the coordinates for you to look over, alongside some additional notes.” It was Beat. Cutting off Rhythm like usual. Those two never change, do they? Though it’s only been around three years since she became bonded to Rhythm's body, the two have been pretty inseparable ever since. Both metaphorically and literally, that is.
Coming back from my thoughts, I told them, “Great to hear. I’ll mobilise a battalion from Samiel and have them rendezvous with your current location. I’ll leave operational planning to you.” Pausing for a bit, I decided to add a word of caution, “Truth is, not even I know what that man’s been up to these past few years. Although he seemed to be laying low until now, that’s no reason to be taking him lightly. Expect him to be ready for you upon engaging him. Also, his betrayal aside, his existence as a rogue Artificial Angel alone is still a major threat. We can’t lose sight of him this time, regardless of the circumstances. Please keep that in mind.” I ended off with some additional precautions, “In addition, try to keep damage minimised. The Cordiale is already in a lot of hot water with the Crisis. If he's still in a rural area, keep him there. Don’t try to engage him near any urban centers. As the Control Piece, I know you can suppress his powers, Beat. But still, I don’t want the risk. If he’s reached an urban center, lay low and stick to passive reconnaissance. I’ll attach everything I’ve mentioned so far with the battalion leader that’ll be heading over. I know you haven’t had much experience with operational planning, so read through the attachment carefully, and have the battalion leader cooperate and help you out.”
With that, I ended my side of the speech. Silence persisted on the other end of the call for a dozen or so seconds, as the duo clearly digested everything I said. Finally, I heard Rhythm give a soft ‘Affirmative’ to my words. Beat interjected, kindly demanding I disclose more about the whole situation once this mission was over. I laughed softly as I agreed, before disconnecting the call. With that done, I placed the desk phone back on its holder at the side of the desk, before leaning back against my chair. Sigh, what a world we’ve come to. These days, we end up leaving the fate of hundreds, maybe even thousands of civilians up to the hands of a thirteen year old child and a seventeen year old spirit haunting him. Origin or not, it was a hefty responsibility I’ve placed onto them. A small sense of guilt rose within me, though I ignored it like all the other times I’ve harboured such similar thoughts. I’ll have to send over someone capable as the battalion leader to help them. After all, though the duo have already proved themselves adept at operational planning so far, their track record still isn’t particularly large, mostly due to their young ages. The battalion leader will have to fill in any gaps of inexperience.
I gave another sigh, before setting aside the papers I had previously been looking over. It seems I won’t be getting any sleep tonight after all.
