CHAPTER 19: Deductions

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"Firstly, you are not as harmless as you claim to be." Elena plainly stated.

"If what I heard was true then you would not be here, you would have been impaled by Johan and our pay would have been deducted."

Although Johan was newer to Red Hilt compared to anyone else she had roughly gauged his level to be somewhere in the upper tiers, albeit lacking in experience.

Enough so that she could surmise that a girl with normal physical capabilities, much less one that clearly has no idea of the local geography, would not be able to run away successfully from him.

"I also saw, while you were hiding behind Alair like the little rat you were earlier today."

"Saw what exactly? My defencelessness?"

"You were preparing to use him as a shield so you could catch Johan unaware with a surprise, most likely fatal attack, am I wrong?" Elena accused Rei, though Rei could feel that there was a significant amount more bite in this one than the others.

"..."

It seems like Elena was the type to care very deeply about her friends, and that she had stepped on a snake bigger than she would have thought without really realising it.

"Isn't that a  bit of an unfair judgement? I simply took what my body would know to be something called to be a defensive posture, is that not the natural reaction of anybody when placed within the range of someone with such strangely intense killing intent?" Rei played dumb once more.

"Right, but then there's the matter of your hands." Elena acknowledged the possibility but moved forward regardless.

"On the surface they're soft and pretty just like any other maiden's, but when I press more deeply I could feel the sensation that lacks tearing and increased friction, perfect for holding a weapon."

Not only that, but when Elena had pressed deeper during their extended handshake, she could feel the stiff hardness of a second layer of muscle that lies beneath the glamour.

'That knife she hides, she knows how to use it. But it isn't exactly the most notable thing that I would pay attention to.'

"You aren't of this world, Maltha or not, had you been the child of minor nobility you would have been taught either way that black hair is that of the Travellers, nor would

It was utterly pathetic, if she was someone that was actually sent to screw around with the operations of Red Hilt, then it was just too incompetent of an attempt, so it was far from just believable in general that they could expect somebody like this to get any sort of damage done to Red Hilt.

"Not to mention …"

It was the matter of mana.

Or rather, the lack thereof.

"You're a Forsaken, aren't you?" Elena would say, but in truth she wasn't really sure for some reason.

Rei fit the bill of one, having no mana that she could sense whatsoever and all, completely defying the logic of life on Gaiya as its known.

Commonly looked at with suspicion, no matter the species for the unnatural slight discomfort a normal person with mana would get by just standing near them, and the unnatural lack of presence.

But there was something unnatural about Rei that ticked off Elena's senses as a mage, it was that contrary to theory, which stated that Forsaken were something like the missing patches of paint on a black wall.

Whereas with Rei, it seemed like she was a dark hole on the black wall that you needed to look at twice in order to get a good look.

It was a situation that utterly confounded and confused Elena, and she just couldn't help but get to the bottom of it.

"Alright … you've learned quite a lot about me …" Rei clapped her hands upon being faced with Elena's deductions of what she's learned about Rei so far, with many of them being on the mark.

"It's only a personal curiosity. Your reactions and the conclusions I've reached so far have led me to believe that you have no hidden ill will against Red Hilt … though for me and Johan specifically is an entirely different story I would assume."

'You're goddamn right …' Rei couldn't help but think that in her head, but really just maintained her cool since it seems like she wasn't in any real danger anymore.

"I would never." Rei would say, keeping a straight face as best she could.

"Either way it isn't to the degree where I feel like I would need to dispose of you, having learned these things about you so far."

"Do you think this is a game?"

"A game huh … yeah actually, that's a good way to put it. It's always fun to weed out troubles sent by malicious entities." Rei couldn't really help but grit her teeth upon hearing these words coming out from Elena, who was now looking at her with a smile.

Seeing this, Rei felt frustration slowly rising up within her.

'How come this random girl with a little bit of wizardry gets to play with me? I ought to kill her the first chance I could get …' Rei would think, but she could tell that if a day were to ever come then it would be quite far away.

The magic aside, Rei has a gut feeling from how tightly Elena's been holding her hand that she packs quite a punch without the magic too, which was sorely inconvenient for her … but if it was something as playing around with Elena too …

'Then can't I do that as well?'

"But you know, I've also learned a few things about you." Rei would suddenly speak up to Elena who felt quite smug about herself.

"Oh really? Now what are those things?"

"Alair, you like him don't you?" Rei threw in what seemed to be what seemed to be a jokey statement at first, but from the reception it seems like the accusation was just what she expected it to be.

"..."

Suddenly the air in the room stopped, with the tension that anybody could feel just gradually rising by the second.

But still, Rei didn't back down.

"Not only that, you're a creep about it too aren't you?" Rei would continue, with a slight mocking tone evident in her voice.

"Now, what makes you say that?" 

At this point Rei could basically feel the temperature rising in the room, sweat no longer cold running down her skin while Elena only glared at her intensely with looks that could kill a man.

"The things I've observed so far."

"Oh really?"

Just like how Elena managed to read some of Rei, Rei managed to read some of Elena, Rei after all was no sort of slouch.

'Although a lot of the stuff I've observed can only be connected to vague connections …' Rei couldn't help like she was always on the edge of embarrassing herself whenever half of her deductions turn out to consist of guesswork.

"Firstly, when we first met … why were you hiding amongst the crowd?"

"Hm? What might you be talking about? I was simply normally concealed by the crowd amongst the masses?" Elena played dumb.

"I was talking about your mana signature. Why was it undetectable?"

Rei may not know of mana directly but when she delved into the Malthan library she learned many things, some of them including the several theories and practices of Mana, Aura and other energies.

In this case, Rei learned about 'Concealment', an advanced method of Mana Control from the primary principle of 'Suppression'.

'To put it simply, it's stealth magic.'

'... where did a Forsaken rat like you learn Advanced Mana Theory?' Elena couldn't help but think, but didn't really show her thoughts on her face, although Rei could really only guess that's what she was thinking at the time.

But really Elena already knew how she could counter this.

"Hah, well of course it's common sense. Do you not know what crime is like in this city? Anyone could come out and immediately do a hit on me."

"In the middle of a busy street, flooded by people walking?" Rei would shut down Elena right there.

"..."

"In short, you were discreetly following Alair around without his prior knowledge, only initially watching the fuss that came with the presence of me and Johan." Rei keeped up the assault.

"That's not …"

"Only then you intervened when you saw that things were about to get worse, not intervening before as you thought the situation might blow over and you could continue stalking him."

"Don't word it like that …" Elena couldn't help but say, shutting her mouth when she realised what she had said.

'I see, so it did have an effect on you?' Rei thought to herself as she heard Elena's slip-up quite clearly.

Drinking that much alcohol should indeed affect Elena, and Rei was a bit relieved to see that she wasn't some wall completely immune to the consequences of her actions, making her a bit more human in Rei's eyes.

Only a bit though.

"Alright then, so why were you outside then? From what I was told it seemed that not only were you the one who had the workload that I was being recruited for, but also the workload of being third in command. I wouldn't think that you'd have the time to perform something as pointless as stalking your fellow colleague."

"Entering this room, I saw a glint of silver on the drawer behind you."

'With a faint smell of Alair.' Rei added in her thoughts, although it was easily missable due to how much Rei and Elena both reeked of Etalian alcohol.

Rei could be brushed off as overthinking it, but with Winsley's statement from before, about Elena running out in a hurry in the morning, she could guess that it was the time when Alair went out to do go about his business, and Elena didn't want to lose track of him so she couldn't even bother closing her drawer properly.

From what Rei could see from her room so far, and the fact that she was assigned so much workload, Rei could see that at the very least, Elena was someone who was very organised, so it was quite unusual for Elena to just waltz out of her room without even locking it considering the confidential things only fit for the eyes of this group's superiors.

"That was his earring, wasn't it?" Rei references the time he saw Alair taking off one of his earrings, and it was quite conspicuous at the time that one of them were missing.

Although Rei didn't really have enough proof, she formulated the story in her head using theories which could be used to connect the points she's brought up so far.

"You're … really annoying aren't you?" Elena would go on to say.

'She didn't even try to deny it …'

Elena, through using the abilities and authorities in her possession, managed to come into possession of one of Alair's earrings, which she then brought over to her quarters to hide.

'What that creep does with it however could be anybody's guess though.' Rei thought, adding that it didn't really matter whether or not she would sniff it, lick it, wear it while sleeping, or piss on it at night.

Whatever the case was, Alair obviously noticed that one of them were missing, but whether or not Alair was going on to try and buy a new pair or get a new matching piece made at the time wasn't something that Rei knew about.

But what Rei could possibly say is that the reason that Alair was out today was related to his earrings due to another clue that she picked up on, that being related to Johan this time, or more specifically his money.

A perfect 800 Yuleas preserved, it could be safely assumed to be the entirety of his monthly paycheck supported by his statements meaning that payday happened very recently, or even today.

Meaning it wouldn't be at all unreasonable if she were to assume that Alair had also been recently paid, and was looking to spend some of that hard-earned money to replace something he lost.

A bit off track but …'

In summary, Elena was a crazy bitch with an exterior of respectability and competence, quite similar to how Rei was perceived in her group back on her Earth, also called the Gift World by Gaiya's inhabitants.

"Alright … we'll call it a draw today then." Elena puts down her hand, no longer putting Rei at gunpoint with the threat of magic.

She then goes onto say something that Rei really could not comprehend next however.

"So, would you be willing to join us?"

"I kindly refuse."

"Oh come on, don't make up your mind so fast! Your talents are quite useful for this group. I'm going out of my way to personally scout you here due to the importance you'll pose.

'We just met, you just need someone to dump half your workload on so you can continue stalking a clueless man …' Rei would think within the very depths of her head.

High-ranking corporation executives were truly selfish and predatory no matter the world or age.

"Why should I accept? This is ridiculous, not only did I almost die once today, but you've also threatened me, put me under a microscope, and tried to pressure me to reveal my secrets!?"

It was true enough, why did she have to accept? It was not like she had to get the job here specifically, and from what she understood it was her that possessed the skills that this group needed, not the other way around.

She was the one currently in-demand, and supply of people like her were short, but from how Rei saw it the feelings could not be more farther from the same vice versa.

One on hand, one of the people she would be working with was the guy who just tried to end her life earlier.

Yes, she was the one that prompted Johan to try and kill her by 'alleviating' his burdens of financial abundance, thereby inadvertently telling him that his month's paycheck was worth more than her life.

Johan dared not call Rei a liar and so indulged her like a proper gentleman, and Rei only suffered the consequences of her own actions, sure.

But Rei wasn't exactly the most moral of persons, thus she didn't really care about justice being inflicted onto her.

Not to mention that just through the course of this conversation, Elena was already giving several warning signs that she shouldn't stay here any longer. 

Elena reminded Rei too much of herself, that was dangerous. Rei did not want someone who seemed to be the cute feminine equivalent of Sherlock Holmes with magic powers no less to be breathing down her neck.

She would most likely not even be able to embezzle any of the funds she was working with, seeing that the girl in front of her was obviously quite wary of Rei, with any action that might seem out of place warranting what would most likely be a fatal inspection.

Seeing this, quite expected reaction really, Elena only shrugged and answered with …

"Rei, do you know how much money 800 Yuleas is?" Elena said, and quite slyly too.

"I may not be a fan of my own work, but we currently are employed as the muscle of this horrible city's guard for its out of control crime. I may not be able to process enough investigations, or arrests … but I can definitely process what's in front of me, don't you think?" Elena goes on to continue.

"Ah …" 

'This bitch …' Rei couldn't help but think inside of her head, though it wasn't really a surprise that if playing nice doesn't work, Elena would simply resort to simple, but very effective 'suggestions'.

"But before that … Why don't we talk about something else to lighten the mood before we continue? The mood I can sense … is a bit heavy, so why don't we learn more about ourselves?"

'That is how the mood usually tends to go when you start offering people the two choices of 'work or prison', yes …' Rei couldn't help but sigh.

"I'm not really the type of person to go out and threaten someone into spilling all their secrets, I think I am quite a fair person on the contrary!" 

'No, you're just the type of person to go out and threaten someone into working undercompensated for them instead it seems …' Rei barely managed to stop herself from uttering those words.

"So let's make a deal instead." Elena said, clasping her hands together excitedly as she looked upon Rei.

"A deal … you say." Rei couldn't help but feel only suspicious about this due to all the dialogue that's been shared so far.

"Yeah, a deal. You know, an agreement wherein two or more people agree to something, which may or may not be considered fair at times?" 

"Right right … So what exactly is it that you want?"

In response to this, Elena brings forward her hand with a single finger up.

"We each ask one question, and we try our best to answer truthfully. How's that? After all I can see it within you too, the amnesiac you at least claim to be. Surely you're curious about a lot of things right?"

Rei thinks to herself after hearing this.

'A question? What is there more to ask? At this point couldn't she just try and threaten me to spill anything else she would want to know?' Rei couldn't really understand why Elena was doing this just now, as she thought it would have been much better if she led with this from the start.

After all, Rei could see that Elena was reasonably high in life, not only that but seemingly in the arts of magic as well, which Rei thinks was an integral part of what she needed to achieve.

"Hell, seeing the position you claim to be in, I'll even elaborate if you're confused about anything!"

Rei thinks some more, eventually conceding as she doesn't really lose out on anything.

"Sure, let's try it."

"Why Maltha then?"

"No reason"

"I see …"

'This bitch …' Elena couldn't help but think about Rei straight up lying, but she wouldn't really push it.

After all, this whole exchange already told Elena all that she needed to know anyways.

"Now, it's my turn then …" Rei said, and she already had a vague idea of what she was going to ask.

It couldn't be anything basic, it had to be something on the higher end of things, something that only a high-tier mage like Elena could know about.

"Do you … know what a Demon Lord is?" She asked, prompting Elena to ponder for a moment.

Right, this was Rei's goal. To learn about anything related to demons and the things she saw in Maltha's last night. Learn everything she could so that she could remove the thing currently inside her body …

'And maybe return to Earth too if possible …' Rei would think, as she awaited Elena's answer.

"That's … a question that wasn't in my expectations." Elena says, before continuing.

"No I don't think I have heard of what a Demon Lord is, a demon? Sure, but I haven't ever heard of a Demon Lord, isn't that just a big demon?"

'I see, well I didn't really expect it to be that easy.' Rei surmised and sighed upon hearing Elena's quite useless answer.

"No, I don't think so. But do you have any sort of idea on how to remove the possession of evil spirits from one's body?" Rei asks Elena for something a bit more loose and vague instead, hoping Elena would be able to connect it to something she could work with.

"Removing possession … Are you having trouble with evil spirits? Then maybe try asking a local priest … I would say, but something tells me that you wouldn't be up for that."

Rei only stands there, silent really as she thinks more.

Asking for divine intervention to remove something that was a direct result of divine intervention … to Elena who didn't really know the severity of Rei's situation, it surely just sounded like something that could land her in the deepest dungeons of the Papal Lands, assuming they didn't immediately execute her for hosting what Rei perceived to be obviously one of the most unholy and powerful entities in the world.

"Do you have any more questions?"

"No I don't think so." Rei was content for now with only those two questions, but sometime in the future she would have to find someone more knowledgeable in the subject. Hell if she was lucky then that person might just straight up run into her.

'Athough it's never that easy …' Rei couldn't help but think to herself, seeing all of her misfortunes so far.

"Ah right! Before we continue, there's something that I need you to do first."

"Yeah? What is it then?"

"Hand over Johan's paycheck." Elena says as she stretches her hand out.

"Tch."

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