Consolidating Power [B-rank Seasonal mission]

[Fayte Scarlett]

Oak Town. The train chugged blissfully on, unknowingly taking passengers that would soon turn it upside down. The Shadow Heart members had received a direct order: get rid of the troublemakers. Not Magic Councilmen or rival dark guild factions, but old fashioned thugs. Apparently they had been terrorizing the town for two days now, and any of the ‘official’ law officials had yet to respond. There were even rumors they had some kind of connection that stopped them from getting arrested. That, or the Magic Council was too selfish to realize what was going on in what was widely regarded as their home turf. It was clearly a good place for Shadow Heart to jump in and show their devotion to the people.

Fayte and two others were assigned the mission of getting rid of these trouble makers. Shadow Heart had even booked their own personal car, definitely riding in first class. One of them certainly seemed to be enjoying herself. Selene, the other female member, had practically cried out in delight when she first saw their luxury car. After exploring all possible crevices and items that came free with their first-class trip, Selene had settled on painting her nails. Fayte would have expected some kind of disaster, considering they were riding on a train that didn’t take bumps all that smoothly… but somehow Selene was a master at putting on the paint, her nails being coated an even black without a single splash or mistake. The smell was making Fayte a little nauseous.

[254]

[Fayte Scarlett]

Fayte sat perfectly still, diagonally across from Selene, and close to the window. She stared out at the passing landscape, watching the blur of green rush by with indiscernible shapes. She was honestly more pretending to watch than anything else. Normally she would be watching, but she was a little distracted by their third member. Her eyes kept darting back and forth from the window to him.

Out of sheer coincidence, she and Takiro had been assigned this same mission. It would be their first job together, although they had known each other previously for two weeks. Fayte had been the one to bring news about the death of Takiro’s friend. He looked a lot better than their last training session on true sight. But whether his friend’s death still bothered him, or it was something about his mission, Takiro was so nervous that even numb Fayte could feel his emotions filling their passenger car.

Takiro had yet to take a seat, and they were nearly at Oak Town. He had been pacing the entire time, and they weren’t even, measured pacing. There was little room in this car to begin with, even if it was on the larger side of first-class. So Takiro could only take three or four steps before moving in a different direction. He continuously ran his fingers across his black hair, eyes distant and thinking about… something. Fayte knew he couldn’t be a rookie if he was assigned this mission, so she thought it had to be more than nerves.

[509]

[Fayte Scarlett]

“We should go over our plan before we arrive,” Fayte was surprisingly the first one to break the silence…. If only to stop Takiro’s pacing. He did stop, thankfully. But instead of sitting down, he was standing and looking at her.

Selene finished the last touch on her nail polish, blowing on her hand to dry it off quickly. “What’s our plan of attack, Captain?” She asked cheerfully.

Fayte wasn’t the captain. When they were assigned the mission, it was stated that in the case of disagreements, the ultimate decision would defer to her. So Selene had gone ahead and given her the nickname of ‘Captain.’ Fayte might have been okay with the nickname if it was official title, but it wasn’t. Selene had found a surprising way to make Fayte more self-conscious.

“We’ll use Takakiro’s sensory skills to find our opponents’ location, first,” Fayte explained. Oak Town was small for a town, but they still had to pinpoint the exact location of trouble.

“That only works when I know the person I’m looking for,” Takiro shook his head. “I’ve never met the people we’re after. I don’t know what their spirits will look like.”

“The way you explained your ability to me, people’s spirits take on visual representations depending on their personalities or goals, correct?” Fayte asked.

[727]

[Fayte Scarlett]

Takiro nodded.

“Then I believe they will have similar spirits to one another. We can look for a concentrated group of similar spirits, and it will likely be them,” she explained.

“Wow, that’s pretty smart, Captain!” Selene grinned.

Fayte fell silent awkwardly for a moment, before deciding to ignore Selene’s compliment. “… When we find out their location, Takakiro and I will approach them directly. Selene, I want you find a good place to snipe, then pick them off in the confusion.”

“Easy,” Selene leaned back, carefully placing her nails on her knees so they could dry. “We’re just dealing with some common thugs – not even other dark wizards or the Magic Council. They’ll never know what hit ‘em.”

“Please, don’t jinx us,” Takiro sighed.

Honestly, it was close to what Fayte was thinking. Missions rarely went as planned. “Adapt to the situation and make your own decisions as needed. …Anyone want to add anything else?” She hesitated at the end, still not quite used to being in a leadership role.

“Yeah. Don’t call me by my full name, it’s weird,” Takiro frowned. “Just say Takiro.”

That wasn’t exactly the kind of comments Fayte was hoping for the others to add. Still, though, she nodded once. Takakiro was the name Kyle had referred him by, so naturally Fayte had called him the same. But she had yet to meet anyone else who used his full name. Perhaps it meant something to Takiro… If so, she hadn’t meant to disrespect his wishes.

The train whistle blew sharply, their momentum beginning to slow down. Oak Town was just a few minutes away…

[997]

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