Chapter 227 43.3 Branching Paths?

SHADE

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Shade was not having a good day. To think that the family they were supposed to escort were actually fugitives running from the Vestygian Government, ones that he had been responsible for them being designated as such in the first place, was both alarming and embarrassing.

"You know of them, Shade!?" Maruki unwisely asked, breaking what he thought was his intelligent silence.

"Yes, I do," Shade sighed. "Now would you please keep quiet while I talk to them? I'd at least like to have some modicum of discretion for this."

"Of course!" Maruki affirmed with a loud shout. "I shall keep my interactions to a minimum!"

Seeing his nominal friend stand down, Shade turned his gaze back to the family of three that wasn't really supposed to be a family. There was Carbuncle Shneider, formerly Vestyge's most prized spy. She was responsible for much of the Republic's take over of Kattleyna's former colonies, as well as being the one to somehow placate the other two nations during the height of Vestyge's conquest while posing as a diplomat. She was also drop-dead gorgeous with blue back-length hair and with a figure so respectable that Shade had to remind himself that she was a happily taken woman.

"Are you done talking to that Kattleynan, Dryer?" Carbuncle asked with another sigh. "At the very least, we would like to get our explanation."

"That indeed," the man shook his head, placing a hand on his forehead as he sigh alongside her. "I still cannot believe it's here of all places that we'd meet again."

Shade blinked as Alcian Schiff made his grievances known to him. If Carbuncle was Vestyge's top spy, the yellow-haired man was the premier assassin that their bastard President just loved wielding as a weapon. Even without a [Manifest], this man had single-handedly managed to destabilize most of President Stein's political opposition, his targets seemingly always dying of natural causes or freak accidents that had no way of getting back to him. And as much as he didn't like to admit it, he was handsome to boot. And together with Carbuncle, they made for a very effective and lethal pair.

"Mama, Papa... Who's that guy?"

And of course, there was the girl that started this whole debacle in the first place. Gem Rosary was an anomaly that the Vestygian Government wanted to control. Even back when Shade was a sanctioned Somatic for the Republic, he had heard of legends about a girl with a [Manifest] so powerful that any and all attempts at coercing her into cooperation had resulted in catastrophic failure. Of course, none could ever know what the girl's [Manifest] could actually do, but it was well-known that nobody in their right mind should try and recruit the girl to their cause.

That was until the President decided to sick two of his most powerful pieces on the board after her.

"Never mind him, dear," Carbuncle cooed at her adopted daughter, her expression highly unusual coming from someone that toppled colonial governments with ease. "He's just an old friend of ours."

"An old friend, indeed," Alcian breathed out. "Why don't you explain what you're here for, Dryer?"

Letting out a sigh, Shade began to explain that he was there to escort a family of three throughout Centrax. One thing led to another, and now they found themselves talking with old acquaintances.

"And so here we are, with you acting as our bodyguard," Alcian grumbled, his arms crossed over his suited chest. "Can't say I'm thrilled to see you again though."

"Likewise," Shade scoffed. "And it's not like you need my protection anyway. I'm sure that between you three, you're pretty much covered in terms of defense."

Rolling his eyes, Shade decided that he should just do his job and escort the family across the Downtown area. He didn't know why they were in Centrax of all places, but that was something he had no business in knowing anyway. Besides, if this family was involved in something, then it was probably nothing that he'd want to be involved in.

Then again, that might be a clue in regard to his Princess's own investigations.

"So, what have you two been up to ever since, well... that?" Shade fearlessly asked, laying on a bit of anxiety in his tone to sound more genuine.

"Ever since we've been, for the lack of better terms, fired, we've been traveling the Deep in search of a good home for Gem here," Alcian replied, a hint of pride seeping into his tone. "Carbuncle and I have been taking a few jobs here and there as sellswords, but nothing too dangerous that would end up with either of us leaving our daughter behind for long periods of time."

"Frankly, it's been fun so far," Carbuncle smiled, their pink-haired girl of a daughter riding atop her shoulders as they walked. "Unlike back in my previous occupation, I've been living relatively guilt-free."

"Mama, what's guilt?"

Shade flinched at Gem's innocent question. Still, he kept his face straight as he kept an eye out for any would-be attackers. Even if the people he was guarding might as well be more dangerous than himself, that didn't mean that he wouldn't take the job seriously.

"That's the bad feeling you feel whenever you do something bad, dear," Carbuncle explained with her soothing voice.

"So you've done some bad things then, Mama?"

"...Yes," she admitted. "But that's all changed now. Mama and Papa have turned their lives around. Isn't that right, Papa?"

"Indeed," Alcian faintly smiled. "Don't worry about us being bad, Gem. We'll protect you no matter what."

"Yay~"

Shade held back the smile that was threatening to escape his lips. While he regretted ever doing what he had to do to these two Vestygian weapons, he most certainly didn't regret the aftermath of his actions. Gem needed a family, and while Carbuncle and Alcian started out on a mission to pretend to be that family, he had made sure that the two of them would actually feel like one. Only, for them to go as far as turn rogue on Vestyge in a bout of massive escalation was far from what he had planned for them to do.

Letting out a small sigh, Shade simply kept his silence as he let Alcian take the lead. Snaking their way through Downtown Centrax, they inevitably found themselves in what looked to be some kind of warehouse right in the middle of the city.

"Well, this is our stop," Alcian nodded in satisfaction. "For all that you did to us back then, this was the most satisfied I've been with your service."

"Much obliged," Shade smiled as he couldn't help but bow down in a slight showing of theatrics. "And as for our proof of a completed contract?"

At his word, Carbuncle put Gem down before she dug her hand into one of her pockets. Pulling out what looked to be some kind of badge, she then handed it to him with a smile.

"Here's something that will surely get anybody in the administrative building to believe you," the former spy smiled warmly. "Don't lose it though."

"I won't," Shade nodded, still doing his best to be respectful to the woman. "So I suppose that this is goodbye then."

"Indeed," Alcian nodded. "For what it's worth, thank you for doing what you did, even if the suddenness of it all just made the situation a whole lot worse than it should."

"Likewise," Carbuncle gratefully smiled. "If it wasn't for you, we'd still be under President Stein's employ. This way, we'd be able to keep Gem safe."

Shade simply nodded once more, pocketing the badge that the former spy gave to him before turning around and making his way back to the administrative building.

"Old friend then?!" Maruki finally spoke up after keeping quiet for so long.

"Of a sort," Shade vaguely replied. "I both harmed and helped them at the same time that one time. So I guess I'm even with them."

That was more than an understatement. Shade knew that he was still at fault for making them turn their allegiances, for making the two former Vestygians fall in love with one another using his [Rozen]... For him to violate such order as to forge artificial bonds between two people was something he still couldn't get himself to accept. At best, he knew that both of them were simply amicable with one another. Acquaintances that only did what was for the good of their mission. He had changed that... Changed them so fundamentally that they might as well be two completely different people.

"Shall we head back then?" Shade offered. "Our companions might already be waiting for us."

Leading the way, Shade kept his silence as they made their way back. Still, for all that the job was worth it to see what the couple had been up to, their eventual destination had given him some sort of reason to contact them again. Just why were they there in the first place?

And for some reason, why did that perpetual sensation of being watched amplify itself while they were there?

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