Lingering Shadow

"Wha…"

Athena was dumbstruck, she wasn't quite sure what was happening or why both the tactician and high elf were standing there.

"Athena?!" Leona raised her voice as a result of the surprise. "Wait a minute… then are you the researcher everyone in Akrapocalis told me about?!"

"Aiya… this just got very complicated." The inventor scratched the side of her head with the oversized leather mitts before motioning to both of them to follow her. "Come with me, I have a room in the back where we can talk privately."

She turned around and began to walk, her steps sounded heavy from the thick soled shoes she was wearing. The attire was something Leona had never seen before, even though she heard a lot from the maids from the mansion it was the first time she saw someone wearing a blacksmith garb.

"So you work on… research." Phoebe began to talk as her eyes wandered around the hallway. "What kind of research do you do that needs that amount of protection?"

Athena stopped by a double door made of metal, grabbed the knob with her right hand placing her whole right arm against the door and with the left hand she pushed it as she answered.

"Oh you'll see why in tim-" A loud explosion made air rush though half open the doorway and shortly after a piece of bent metal came sliding to the inventor's feet. "Ah, my grandfather's stained underwear! What did you guys do this time?!"

She went running inside which prompted Leona to rush behind her and Phoebe to do the same.

The inside was a stunning view, a multitude of chains hoisted all manner of metallic inventions off the ground, while many workers ran left and right with boxes chock full of materials. In the middle it seemed others 'scientists' were also wearing the same garb Athena was donning earlier. But one of them was on the ground, he was wearing a washed white long sleeved uniform and was about to get up before Athena helped him sit before scolding him.

"Lawrence what the heck did you do while I was out?!"

He chuckled before turning to her, some black soot was smeared on the side of his cheek and the edges of his light blue hair was smoked and curled from heat.

"Ah apologies, apologies, I thought if we increased the mana intake just a bit we would get more significant results but alas, I was wrong. Thankfully nobody was hurt." He tried to reach for something on his head but there was nothing there. "Ah where did my glasses go?"

"Nobody my ass! You're bleeding from your forehead dumbass!"

She frantically pulled a large piece of white cloth from her apron pocket and began to bandage Lawrence''s forehead. In turn, he simply smiled.

"You're very kind Athena. Have you seen my glasses though?"

Leona and Phoebe stood there without exchanging a word as they watched the whole scene unfold, the inventor seemed upset on the surface but both could see she clearly cared for him as if he was her brother.

"Umm… Athena?"

The tactician muttered before she got sidetracked while cleaning the man's robes.

"Ah I'm sorry Leo." She turned to Leona and cleared her throat, a few other workers gathered around the inventor in a semicircle. "This is the person who was responsible for the delivery of the new schematics as well as the one who saved me and my brother from the bandit hideout, Leona Crossford. And her bodyguard who also helped me a lot, Phoebe."

A few claps echoed through the large workshop, amidst the cheering Lawrence stood up before bowing down to both of them.

"Words cannot express how much I'm thankful for your actions, if not for Athena here most of us wouldn't have a job to keep their families fed throughout the harsh winter. Thank you."

Leona slightly shook her head.

"No need to thank us, if anything, she helped us when we needed the most."

"Still, if you ever need help, just tell us. I'm sure I'm speaking for everyone on this matter."

"Yeah."

"Count with us."

"You got it."

Some of the other workers agreed without hesitation, it seemed like Athena was somebody important in that environment.

"W-well I'm glad everyone is alright, even without me here." The inventor cleared her throat once again before showing both Leona and Phoebe a way to her private room. "Now if you excuse us, I need to know what Lady Fye has stored for us in this little box. Meanwhile-"

"We'll work on the engine."

Lawrence completed.

"Yes, thank you."

Athena nodded and headed to the back of the workshop, removing her mitts and hanging them in a hook on the wall beside the door to her room. Inside was a simple office room furnished with a single bed in the far corner, a nightstand with a small gas lamp, a table with numerous blueprints and scribbled papers with different drawings of seemingly prototypes of an engine. Athena took off her apron and threw it over her own chair as she sat behind the table and cleaned part of the papers by putting them on the ground beside the table and then later motioning them both to sit down on the wooden chairs across the table.

"Right, so let's get down to business. Lady Fye sent you here with a blueprint of their latest prototype for the airship, correct? Can you show it to me?"

"Let me open it."

Phoebe pulled out an ornate key that was strapped to a cord around her own neck beneath the heavy fluffy coat she got from one of the bandits a few days back. She fit it inside the keyhole and turned it, but for a time it seemed to not do anything until a single metallic click sound came from inside, after a few seconds another few clicks happened as if there was a certain mechanism working inside of it. Athena began to inch closer to the box with her head sideways to hear what was happening inside the box before it gave out a loud spring noise before opening, startling her in the process.

"Gah!"

She expected something to pop out of it like a jack in the box and had both arms protecting her face but instead only a small gap formed between the upper and lower portion of the ornate chest.

"Does Lady Fye usually put traps in these things?"

Leona asked her.

"Last time I lost the key for a box she sent, I had to ask one of the other workers to disarm a fire trap inside of it."

"That sounds a bit extreme…"

Phoebe scratched the side of her nose as she laid back against the wooden chair with her arms folded.

"I quite understand her reasons for being protective of her blueprints, this is Londria after all." Athena reached for the inside of the box and pulled out a stack of papers protected by a hard leather cover which tied all prints together in one large book. "Oh, this will take a while to go through."

She opened and began to skim through it. Leona's eyes wandered around the room to get a feel for the environment she was in while at the same time she asked.

"I have never been to Londria before, what makes this place so bad according to what you just told us?"

"Competition. While it is a good thing on the surface, the kingdom itself wants to keep knowledge within while 'stealing' other people's work. Unfortunately for us, most of the researchers here are talented and they wouldn't give up their lives they built up here just to live in Akrapocalis. I get it, having a stable source of income while also having a safe place to call home is anybody's dream in this god's forsaken world." She pulled a blank paper from the stack she had left on the ground and began to scribble things on it while she was reading through the book. "But if everything really is as you said. They aren't making a big deal out of the death angel menace roaming around these lands. I thought at first they couldn't come to this place thanks to the cold but alas… I was wrong."

"Something is wrong with the winds of magic in this place. It feels stagnant yet, somehow it manages to support life."

"Then it probably has to do with Lawrence's invention. The warm drink, I'm sure some of the soldiers gave a flask or two for each of you? That thing is passed out to almost everyone in the city." She was so focused on her notes her eyes barely moved out of it. "He was studying how mana influences air conditions and how a manafication engine is poorly designed for higher altitudes where it can both affect the vehicle and passengers in unexpected ways."

"Such ways are…?"

Leona became curious. Not many knew about how mana interacts with the environment since it was a closed guarded knowledge from the Grand Academy and seeing how Lawrence was awfully familiar with how it worked, it could only mean he had previously been told or discovered on his own.

"I have no clue regarding that. He focused primarily on transportation inventions but he was also researching a way to bring his son back from mana stasis. I believe that's his condition, it has something to do with him being unable to gather enough mana from the environment to make his body function properly."

Athena spoke about it with such a natural tone that even shocked Leona once she heard the other researcher's tale.

"I… I didn't know…"

Leona remained silent looking down to her own feet. She felt a certain guilt prying about his life, deep down she could relate to his plight. Phoebe glanced once at the tactician and decided to leave it at that. Not before long, Athena noticed the awkward silence and stopped writing before looking at both of them with a hint of confusion in her expression.

"Ah wait, I didn't mean-" She put her pen down and grasped her nose ridge with her right index and thumb. "I can't quite focus on two things at the same time, I apologize. Lawrence's son isn't fully taken by stasis. Thanks to the production of warm drinks, the symptoms have eased a bit on the boy's body. At least that was back when I visited, I should catch up with him when we have time. Oh and speaking of time, I think he might have a break soon so you could ask him about his research into the matter since it interests you."

Her words made Leona feel a bit more at ease. The tactician placed her right hand on her chest and with a short bow she thanked her.

"I appreciate your kindness Athena."

With a short chuckle she looked Leona in the eyes.

"It's nothing. I'm just repaying you for saving me and my brother's life." She glanced down on the papers between her hands. "But huh… would you mind if you take some of your time? I'd like to ask you about a few things they wrote to me about your help with the manafication engine."

Leona glanced at Phoebe as if she was going to ask her for something but the assassin already knew what she wanted and instead just stood up and bowed towards Athena.

"Excuse me but I'll be going ahead. I hardly believe I'll be needed for such scholarly discussions in the first place."

"Ah sorry, don't make me keep you." Athena stood up and went around her table before opening the door to the high elf. "Thanks for helping us earlier with the death angel. I couldn't find the right time to tell you."

Phoebe smirked and gave her a half hearted wave as she went out. Even from behind the metallic door the high elf could hear everything they were talking, she felt her hearing was getting even sharper. After her defeat to the dark knight in the Akrapocalian forest, she had been training more ever since.

She sighed.

'I should get moving.'

Without drawing attention to herself, she exited the building. It was snowing lightly outside, the fine layer of snow covered the whole street making it quite slippery to the unprepared, thankfully Phoebe was using a pair of leather boots equipped with small spikes to better adhere to the sleet.

A sharp cold breeze made her clothing flutter in the wind and while her head was fully covered with cloth, she could feel her facial muscles stiffen from the extreme temperature. But something felt wrong, while she was used to lower temperatures from the eastern country where she came from, in Londria the cold felt like it was seeping through her flesh down to the bone. It even was somewhat painful.

She snuggled herself by holding the sides of her slender arms and shrinking in to keep the warmth as she walked towards the inn where Krieg rested. On the way back she noticed a group of workers carrying firewood in makeshift bags worn on the back with many pieces of wood stacked on top of another. One of them waved to her which made her wave back in response.

'It seems peaceful at first, but this is just like Akrapocalis.' She glanced at the clouded sky, which seemed to be the norm to those parts of the land. 'Darkness and death looms at every corner of this place. We should get out of here as soon as we can.'

She reached the inn after walking a bit more.

"Welcome back Miss Phoebe."

The large man greeted her once she entered the tavern area.

"Thank you Jano. Did anyone come here looking for Krieg?"

"No, not really. Only our regulars are here today."

"I see. I'll be heading off to our room then."

"Have a pleasant stay Miss."

He bowed once again and Phoebe made her way to the room upstairs. The first thing she did on arriving in front of the door was to check the very edge of the floor where she had put a metal clip holding the door together with the doorway.

'It's not broken.'

She glanced from one side of the hall to the other and after confirming there was no one else other than her, she reached for the metal clip and entered the room, locking the door behind her afterwards. Inside, there were separate beds for each of them divided by nightstands in between, Krieg was sleeping on the furthest one from the door near the window while Phoebe got the one nearest to the entry point of the room.

The high elf slowly made her way to the window and checked it for possible invasions however the lock remained as it was left.

'Good, no one tried to come here- hm?'

She felt a familiar sensation coming from outside the window, as if she was being observed. Upon glancing towards the castle, she noticed a faint glint of light coming from one of the spiraling towers in the middle of the city but once tried to look directly at it to ascertain what the glint was, it suddenly vanished.

"Hmm… I should be more careful next time."

She silently muttered to herself before closing half of the curtain near Krieg's bed.

On the other side of the city, inside what seemed to be a poorly lit rudimentary laboratory was full of many bloodied tools, from axes to bonesaws, machetes and even iron pliers, they all served some kind of purpose in the nightmarish place.

"So, have you discovered anything about the newcomers?"

An old elf was staring through what could be explained to be a microscope of sorts, though much clunkier and bigger, a normal sight for an underdeveloped world. The lack of hair on top of his head showed just how old he really was, a few tufts of gray hair on his chin was all he had left from the passing of years. His voice was arrogant with a tone of impatience.

"Just about their leader. A noble named Leona Crossford." Another voice this time of a tired young man echoed in the room. "Though I'll need more time to learn about the others."

"Fine. Do whatever you have to do in order to get more information out of them. If what the report you sent to me is true, having a duo elemental mage to run experiments with will vastly increase our knowledge of how to better control these angels significantly."

"Though I would like to remind you that I survived by sheer luck, if that beast can really distinguish between friend and foe I'd like to not be targeted next time."

"Yes, yes, you are alive and well aren't you?" He stopped looking through the microscope for a moment and glanced at the young man across the research table, the old elf's right eye had a weak golden shine to it while the other was emerald green. "Now go and come back when you have information regarding the rest of them. Do not disappoint me."

The young man closed his retractable spy glass and put it inside the military coat. His face couldn't be seen from the contrast with the sunlight coming from behind him.

"I shall do my best. Father."