Chapter 7: Stirring undercurrents

In The Kingdom Of Verida, A small yet albeit prosperous neutral Nation, situated near the North of the continent of Ode.

A childlike young lady with flamboyant red hair and emerald green eyes Couldn't help but squirm in delight as she took another spoonful of her fluffy dessert from her plate, her eyes becoming slits as she let out a rather... questionable moan of delight.

Already used to her rather "vulgar" table manners thanks to one unfortunate evening, that led to him being misunderstood as a pervert, Aster Reiss The man with Neatly cropped midnight blue hair, icy blue eyes and a face that screamed Ikemen, learnt beforehand that if he needed to take his subordinate out on one of her so called "dinner dates" he needed to at least reserve a soundproof booth because.... this young lady... for all her innocence and idiocy, she had a very...ahem..."amorous" way of eating her meals which she is completely ignorant about.

A rather peculiar trait for an airhead he ever had the "pleasure" of encountering.

nursing his temple with his left hand to prevent the small throbbing sensation from turning into a full blown headache, Aster fished out a small, a leather bound notebook from his breast pocket and leisurely opened it.

his azure blue eyes lazily drifted towards the first entry written as he began to peruse the compiled data he had painstakingly summarized, to at least compartmentalize his normally heavy workload, but due to the periodic distracting noises from his rather Dumb lacky he couldn't quite focus, as even "Cold faced" Aster (on the surface) is also a man.

letting out a sigh of defeat, since he couldn't start doing anything productive, he might as well enjoy...

.....

.....

....?

.....The food he meant.

The Food!...

Letting out a small fake cough which drew the attention of his rather flushed Young lady, Aster carefully tucked the small leather bound book back where he fished it out and spoke in a slightly raspy voice due to his parched throat.

"Laffy have you finished the report I Assigned you last week?"

In response to his Question laffy placed her hand that wasn't holding a spoon on her chin in what Aster inferred to be as mock contemplation, but as far as he since he knew her quite well. he could easily tell from his Subordinate's silly expression, the young girl was simply stalling for time.

letting out a tired sigh.

he gestured his hand and let it "sink" into some kind of invisible space beside him. faint ripples from where his hand entered the seemingly empty space just beside his head and gradually withdrew an envelope with the seal of the kingdom stamped on it from its depths.

It is no secret that as a high born noble, Aster Reiss had a high aptitude in magic thus with a little bit more effort in comparison to his lackadaisical peers he had successfully managed to apply some aspects regarding space on one of his accessories which allowed him to store things and remotely retrieve anything he had stored within the confines of his "vault." he had aptly named.

"you can use this as reference when gathering intel laffy but remember that everything written inside is confidential. once you are done perusing the contents please either burn it or keep this on your body at all times" he spoke as he handed the envelope to petite girl.

"...."

"As in now Senior?" she asked after a momentary daze.

"Yes laffy. as in now."

"can I atleast finish my dessert first?" she pouted.

"think of it as punishment for not doing your report on time." he flash her a warm smile but his eyes were anything but warm.

letting out a small groan of exasperation. the girl lethargically set aside her unfinished pudding and then broke the enchanted wax seal that kept the mouth of the brown envelope sealed.

taking out its contents and giving it a careful read, the girl made a small frown in confusion as the documents contained a list of high profile individuals of both the kingdom's future elites and a few dozen foreigners that came to study at prestigious academy or trade with the kingdom's merchants union.

"l believe I don't need to explain what you need to do right laffy?" Aster let his smile dissapear as an air of authority started to emanate from his lith figure dressed smartly in his black and red officer uniform.

the girl could only nod in understanding but then again there is still a bit confusion in the depths in regards to the content of envelope.

letting out a troubled sigh upon noticing her stupor he rapped his fist and knock gently on the table drawing the attention of the young girl.

"the Oracle division has made a startling premonition..." he trailed off as he watched his subordinate's face expression gradually morphed from her usually bubbly face to a more serious guise. although it did little to detract any of her adorable charm but enhanced it further instead. not that Aster will ever admit it out loud.

"Things will soon become hectic for our unit. the empire plans to make their move this coming winter. the list inside that envelope contains individuals that were marked by the head astrologist herself as potential spies or collaborators that the emperor can use to meddle into verida's affairs.

"I understand sir." the young girl frowned understanding the weight placed on her shoulders.

"Yes. the last time the Oracle Division gave out information willingly outside of the Royal family is when "that" event happened." Aster Agreed with a solemn expression on his face.

nodding when she heard "that" event.

it only fueled her desire to prevent a similar thing from occuring as well.

countless lives were loss on that "day." after all.

....

"can I eat my pudding now?"

sigh.

"Yes laffy. yes you can."