170 Small Talk

Looking back at when Adalia was about to use her trump card, Sheila had taken notice of something strange happening, which caused Adalia to used both of her trump cards instead of one. Her mana eyes had been active back then, so she saw a certain amount of mana in the air had been heading toward the crowd, she now confirmed that it was the result of the mage which she had knocked out. She didn't know what kind of spell it is, but she can vaguely guess that it's a bad one based on the fact it can affect Adalia's emotion to a certain degree.

From that alone, she can safely assume that it's a mind-control type of spell. It seemed that the spell isn't as powerful as Sheila thought since both, Mia and her, wasn't affect by the spell like Adalia did, despite them being on the same stage. 'Perhaps, the spell might only work to the kind of people that let the emotion gets to them. I'm sure if Adalia wasn't too shocked by Mia's direct show of prowess, she might have been able to pass it like both of us. Even so, the so-called trump cards she used back then also surprised me plentiful. An ordinary-looking orb that had a powerful spell sealed within it, and a ring that would put up a strong barrier when needs...no matter how I look at it, both is a unique item.'

"Are you, Mr. Shiro? Do you have the time to follow us for some small chat?"

The woman with a stoic expression asked the moment she arrived in front of Sheila. For a few moments, Sheila keeps her mouth shut and instead, analyze the emotionless woman, while the latter also does the same to her. Just a single glance is all it took for Sheila to think of the latter as dangerous. Unlike most of the people in her group, the woman didn't emit any sort of 'aura' like the mage she had seen upon entering the building. In fact, aside from her unordinary appearance, everything about her seem average. 

Even if the woman were to walk among the crowd in public, she would undoubtedly bring attention to herself like a sore thumb. One might even mistake her a celebrity, that's just how out-of-the-world her appearance is⁠—too bad though, her expression still that of emotionless. But it did ignite a bit of passion to the man, thinking if they can get her to smile, it might just be worth it even if they died afterward. 

"Yes, I do have enough time for small talk but, can I bring her with me?"

Sheila said in her still masculine voice before gesturing her hand toward Mia, standing frozen next to her. It can't be helped for her to react like that since the group of people in front of her is not just Tom and Dick group, but that of an actual influential people! It's like meeting the president of the company you work unexpectedly while taking a lift. More importantly, this group of people holds a lot more power than the president of a company, in fact, some of them are the president of their own company.

As someone once living in the Orphanage with a frugal lifestyle, there's no way she would not freak out in front of influential people. They have this kind of 'special' aura that would intimidate someone like her for some reason unknown. When Sheila brought her to their attention, her shoulders could be seen visibly trembling after experiencing a lot of scary gazes on her. Although most of the people in the group look very intimidating to Mia, surprisingly, the emotionless woman didn't appear as scary as them. Just like her solid emotionless face, her eyes also didn't hold any intent in them that would intimidate her.

The woman nodded her head in agreement after taking a short glance at Mia. Sheila took a look at the group behind the woman in secret and was surprised that they didn't say anything against her decision, so she assumed the woman to be a leader or the decision maker to the group. And just like that, both of them followed the group to the elevator. Thankfully or maybe they have this in mind when building it, the elevator is pretty spacious, so it didn't feel cramp despite that many people inside.

When she was in the elevator, Sheila had thought someone would speak out since they're already out of the crowd's view, but that didn't happen. Honestly, she did notice a couple of people taking a sneak look at her before sending a secret signal to each other. 'Are they underestimate me or something? I thought they have already seen what I can do from the camera and all, but I guess there are still idiots everywhere around. Even if I don't understand what their signal implied, that didn't mean I didn't know that they might be planning something from their strange interaction. They really take me for an idiot, aren't they?' thought Sheila when her awareness picked up a couple of individuals making a strange move behind her back.

To be honest, she would like to go home after having fun making trouble here. Unexpectedly though, she chose to follow them for a bit to see if she can find any information regarding the stoic woman. After like a few minutes passed, the elevator door finally opened up, revealing a beautiful marble floor. Sheila had thought they would bring her to their meeting room since they might want to talk about important stuff, especially about her breaking into their base without informing them. Some of them obviously had that kind of intent in mind, however, they didn't want to voice their opinion just yet.

While she's following the woman guiding her and Mia to somewhere, her eyes wander around, amazed at the building as though everything looks fine for ordinary people, to her, however, Sheila noticed something strange about it. She couldn't see through the wall but, she definitely can tell that there's something different that caused it to attract mana from the surrounding. Sheila didn't know where did the mana goes after they were absorbed into the wall—her only guess is that it was used to maintain the barrier protecting the building.

'I didn't know you can do that. And here I thought they would use electricity as energy for their barrier...I didn't expect them to use mana instead. Well, since this spot somewhat has more mana than in another place, it's understandable that they want to take advantage of it.' It's good that she wore a mask to cover her face, or they would have taken notice of her surprise expression for a short moment there. 

After five minutes of walking, they finally arrived at the restaurant. Sheila and Mia are truly amazed that they went as far as to add a restaurant in their building where not many people did unless they're planning to open a food center or something. When she walked into the restaurant, Sheila can see that a few people dining at their own table, separating them from each other to their own group. Before Sheila and her group walk in, the atmosphere in the restaurant is pretty relaxed, but the moment they appeared, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

The stoic woman only needs to lock her eyes with another person for a man within her group to understand her intent and immediately took off. Sheila didn't need to guess where or what he's doing as a few minutes after the man took off, the people that were still dinning, promptly left the restaurant after the waitress whisper some word to their ears, leaving their unfinished food on the table for the waitress to clean off. Once everyone had left the restaurant, Sheila and Mia were then guided to a pretty big table, set up by the waitress, before finding a seat for themselves next to each other.

"Now then, let's get straight to business. Mr.Shiro?"

"Just Shiro is fine. Adding mister doesn't sit right for me."

Of course that is the case, she's a girl after all, not someone born with a third leg. Talking about the topic, Sheila began to wonder if she can truly disguise herself as a man, including that one in the lower half. She had never tried it before as at most, she only changed her body structure to be a bit taller and all, but never did she try changing her sex. Nevertheless, becoming a man isn't something that she wanted to experience in her entire life but, if it can increase the experience for the skill, she might have to endure it and give it a go. Who knows, if the skill is high enough in level, she might be able to finally 'disguise' herself as a real cat!

"Alright. Then, Shiro, can you tell us why are you here?"

With the same expressionless face and monotone voice, the woman asked.

"Isn't that obvious? I'm here because of my future partner is here, after all."

Sheila answered with her manly voice with her hand pointing toward Mia, seated quietly next to her. Mia wanted to speak out that she didn't know this 'Shiro' guy but, she decided to keep her mouth shut since she can vaguely sense that the atmosphere is somewhat strange. Previously, while they were on the way to the restaurant, Mia's chaotic mind has somehow stabilized itself back to normal. During that time, she calmly digs deeper and thoroughly into her memory of the time she lives in the orphanage, but the further she digs, the more confused she became.

No matter how she looks into it, there aren't any memories of the guy or boy named 'Shiro.' Although Mia is not that good at memorizing things up ever since she was a kid, she isn't so bad that she would forget an eventful memory. She still remembers the time when the Caretaker decided to do a small celebration party for her as a result of her scoring excellent grades in school. And that was around five-six years ago. As she came upon this realization, she started to doubt everything the 'Shiro' guy said to be true. Though she has her doubt, she still can't ignore the fact that the guy had saved her from dying under the assassin's blade.

"Tsk, just tell us the truth. You are a spy, aren't you?"

When the stoic woman didn't answer to her remark, Frederic couldn't hold his emotion anymore and clicked his tongue in annoyance before speaking. Sheila tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Spy? What are you talking about? Why would I be a spy?"

"What else can you be other than a spy! This girl might also be plotting together with you for all we know."

Frederic said. 

"Man, are you high or something?"

"What did you say?!"

"Honestly, you overestimate me too much with my meager skill. I'm flattered, of course. Still, that's impossible. I don't have the skill to be a spy."

"How can we believe your word? Do you have the proof for that?!"

"Exactly. How can you prove that I'm a spy? Or is it that you just accuse me without any solid evidence in your part? No matter how suspicious I look like, you can't just abruptly accuse someone of being a spy. That's called rude."

"Of course, the evidence, I have it."

Frederic grinned as he spoke. Sheila raises her brows, puzzled at where did he get his confidence.

"The assassin that appeared before, they are your partner-in-crime, isn't it? It appears like you're protecting the girl but in actuality, that was all an act, right?"

"Well, if that is what you want, fine. Why don't we just ask these people for their answers personally?"

Suddenly, two people in weird getup appeared on top of the big and round table. It was none other than the assassin and the mage that had been knocked out by Sheila. While they were unconscious, she keeps them in her shadow as they might run away the moment they woke up. Actually, they did awake a few minutes ago, but Sheila had used her shadow magic to knock them out once again. The moment they opened their eyes, all that they can see is nothing but darkness. And before they could figure out where they are, a tentacle emerged behind their back before hitting them hard on their neck, rendered them unconscious.