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[Empiricist]

Chapter 6 - Harems, Duels, and the Doki Doki Non-Proliferation Treaty

Shef
A small projector in the corner of your room activates, a panel of darkness appearing in the air. Gives contrast to figures and diagrams, could also work to thwart prying eyes in a pinch. A coat of arms appears on it.

"The client is the Danish Noble House of Thorn, an influential family of Godslayers specializing in the destruction of larger, more monstrous threats. The House of Thorn requests that you protect the their eldest child, and bearer of their legacy, Victoria Thorn."

The next image is of a lady in conservative dress and sitting in a wheelchair.

"She may not look like much but she was regarded as a combat prodigy and had a lot of hopes pinned on her prior to her illness taking hold. See, these long-lived Awakened lineages need a way to ensure they remained Awakened since it usually isn't hereditary. Minato's clan for instance used to have a Godforged Regalia to handle that, emphasis on used to nowadays they use marriage and rituals to ensure their bloodline can continue their duties. The House of Thorn is similar in that regard, they use rituals to manipulate the destinies of their successors. As you can see, this is a bit of a crap shoot, especially given that that there are now various monstrosities drawn to her on top of her becoming debilitated. So, with Victoria needing to attend a champagne night on Friday evening, and as of recently been rendered unable to fight, she will require a security detail to babysit her for the event. This is where you come in."

A layout of the event hall comes up now.

"Most of the attendees will be civilians - businesspeople and government officials. You are expected to extend protection to them as well, but do remember that chances are any attack on the event will be an attack on your protectorate first and foremost, so consider things from that angle, you do not have the resources to cover everything after all. Strictly speaking, this job was to be offered to the any interested member of your squad, however..."
"Hiring the scion of the Kumon clan, or the CEO of o-Shiri Industries would look absurd. Meanwhile, Faith and Noriko both look like they could use a break, and Yuki doesn't quite have the tact for this sort of deal."
"This could be a good opportunity to make influential connections for you too, though you are by no means required to accept it after hearing this briefing. It's a request, not a formal mission."

[Strider03]

"Destiny manipulation. How coincidental. I'll take the mission, see what I can do with it. Worst case scenario I get a bunch of people killed, right?" It was quite the opportunity, to be certain. If all went well, he'd have some small favor with three distinctly wealthy and respected families, and maybe, just maybe, the ability to make a few requests if the time ever came.

"I'm going to need a map of the area within five blocks of the center, and possibly permission to scout out the venue ahead of time. Thursday preferably, assuming they'll be setting things up around that point and I can get a feel for whether anything unusual is being set up." He checked the display, looking for large window locations, trying to determine which side would have the most open views, and then, once there was a map present, whether there were any suitable hotels nearby, warehouses, or whatnot. Somewhere that a sniper could set up.

"Has there been any pattern in the monstrosities drawn to the target that I should be aware of? I'll also be needing the timetable for Friday, when the event begins, whether we're going to be arriving on time. Are we meeting up at the center, or beforehand at the estate?"

Shef's preliminary thought was to set up Hanako in a sniper perch somewhere away from the event. She wasn't experienced enough for counter-sniping, probably, but given the statement about the charge's assailants being more monstrous, it seemed unlikely that they'd encounter strong enemy sniper coverage. So instead, having her cover the area around them from afar would be most suitable. She was a newbie, sure, but he didn't know any other snipers personally. Additionally, getting a tracking device/marker would be useful, something that she could detect even if there were walls blocking line of sight.

As for others, well this was localized bodyguard duty. Someone like Satoshi wouldn't be exceptionally useful with the focus on vehicles, regardless of whether she'd be willing to help or not. Tsukasa, he had no real knowledge of her combat skills. Rosario was the one who'd offered the mission, he'd not interested, and it might undermine the goal of getting Shef himself a decent reputation. Of the people he knew decently, outside the main team, there were only the Appleton Estate staff, and the angel. God damn it, he thought he knew more people than that. But no one else was coming to mind.

Fleur was out of the picture. Good defensively, definitely an asset, but abilities inappropriate to the type of party. Mary, he didn't see as being much use here, also ran into the same problems with bringing her as bringing Yoake. Vendellin, he could check, but he hadn't seen much of the man's combat abilities. That left Evi and the angel. Christ, that was infuriating. . .Though, he wouldn't have normally minded it so much. It was more the feeling of manipulation, someone pulling the strings that made it so irritating.

[Powder Miner]

Faith felt the couch bouncing slightly as Minato sat next to her, and felt her hair being stroked. After a couple of gentle strokes, Faith sniffled and then let out a sob, wrapping her arms around Minato and burying her face into his side. <”It’s not faaair!”> She sobbed again. <“None of this is fair! It was supposed to be easier over here, but... it’s not! It’s— it’s— it’s this...!> She put her face back onto his side. <“I dunno if I can deal with another day like that, Minato... God, I just...”> Faith trailed off and the only thing that came to her lips wasna frustrated noise.

[Empiricist]

Shef
"We'll contact the venue and the House of Thorn to get your the details and permissions."
"The event begins at 9, but you will be going to the estate first. THe client would also like to meet you and your team prior to this."

Noriko
Three flickers. Audio sensors about to activate.
"Kouta's just entered the Sanctuary. He's heading up right now, but um, do you know a Sakurako Matsumoto? Our records indicate that she's in your class..."

[Chevaleresse]

Noriko sighed in relief when she heard Kouta had gotten home safely. The frown remained on her face, though, as the AI asked her the hesitant question. "Matsumoto? I know of her, but I don't really know her personally. Did something happen?"

[Empiricist]

Noriko
"We found her this afternoon in a very bad state, she's still being treated right now, but we suspect she had been kidnapped and subjected to human experimentation that caused her to Awaken. Maybe during the weekend, maybe after school on Friday. She's currently sedated for her own safety so we don't know just yet. As a precaution, we activated the sensors in Kouta's access unit and informed units active near the schools."

[Strider03]

"Hmm. Alright." He went silent, ending the conversation.

Following that, he'd head out with the intent of finding a place that sold bedframes and get on with his day.

[Chevaleresse]

Noriko blinked. Was she hearing that correctly? "Hold on, what? Human experimentation? They just showed up, grabbed her, and started doing things to her?"

[Empiricist]

Noriko
"The specifics are presently unknown, but given that she was found naked, sedated, implanted with a tracker, and wielding Awakened powers she couldn't control, it's our best guess for now."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Minato hid his relief. Good to know he'd made the right choice, for the moment.
"I.....wish I could tell you it wasn't this crazy, but it is. This isn't the craziest things could get, either. Sorry I can't be softer about it, but....well, you're an Awakened now, this just comes with the territory. All I can say is that it gets easier. A little bit.

And at least you aren't doing this on your own."

[Chevaleresse]

"They just. . ." Noriko started to repeat. She could feel her heart rate spiking. Just snatched her up off the street and experimented on her. Some random girl, probably on her way home from school and totally unsuspecting of what was about to happen. . . "Y-You said Kouta was here, right?"

[Empiricist]

Noriko
"He's coming up the stairs right now."

[Powder Miner]

Faith let out a little wail into Minato’s stomach at his response. ”It’s not that it’s crazy, I— I mean I know that’s been hard too, it’s just, it’s just today! I got hurt by that artillery, and then there was that thing with Fleur, and I thought those were bad enough, b-but then I just had things hurt much worse, and be more embarrassing after that! It’s... it’s just awful... things weren’t supposed to be like this...”

[Empiricist]

Sakurako
It is now Thursday afternoon. Six days have passed since your kidnapping. Two days have passed since your rescue. Things can go awfully quickly in the Awakened world. Awakened huh? Still getting used to that word. The concept, a bit less so, standard urban fantasy faire, except y'know, it all kicked off with a game of mahjong, and a circulatory system full of what amounts to super cocaine. Right yeah, super cocaine, that's your power. You got tased, kidnapped, and drugged til you got so high you got magical powers outta the whole deal. Accelerates your blood, accelerates your bodily functions, almost killed you in the process first around. Almost, Faith saved you. Second time in just as many weeks even. Still need to thank her sometime, haven't really been able to show up at school just, the Foundry technicians were still tuning your Regalia, the thing keeping your powers in control for now. There are other ways to restrain it of course, but well, "beating cocaine's ass in mahjong so hard it stops working" isn't really something you can do yourself, and the sedatives, well you'd rather not be in what amounts to a fucking coma thank you very much.

Anyway, you're up, you're moving, and you aren't haemorrhaging blood like a particularly macabre fountain. Go you.

So, where the fuck are you now? Well, you're currently standing outside a gym, not just any gym mind you, it's a gym owned by Yoake o-Shiri the so-called Queen of Sendo, she's rich, she's possibly insane, and apparently Awakened ontop of it. She's training people in martial arts here, something called Keijo. With luck it'll help you keep your powers in check, failing that, next time you'll actually be able to fight back instead of y'know, getting shot and throwing yourself out a third-story window.

Yoake
Okay, it's Thursday afternoon, your class is about to begin. Business has been, capricious, but it's on the up and up. Buncha people dropped after the first couple lessons, but well, after decapitating a training dummy with your breasts, there was another influx of students. Most of the ones in the afternoon class are high schoolers, though you've got some part-timers, self-employed types, and college students mixed in them. They're all filtering in when a visitor come a-knockin'. You can tell right away she ain't here for lessons.

Pink hair cut short, cat ears, two tails, and an hourglass figure perfect for Keijo. Spellcaster, she's got it written all over her, from the mage's cloak half-draped over her left shoulder and the witch's hat tilted forward over ehr gold eyes, small vials of some liquid catalyst held in its band.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"It gets......bad, you're right. Truth be told, I don''t USUALLY deal with stuff like that. And it'll hurt a lot. you're right. It's a risk of who we are, mainly because we're also the ones who can take it. Still....I'm sorry you had to go through that."