109 The Last Day In The Empire
The cruiser flew for a while. Altair couldn't figure out exactly how long they were traveling, only that the sun had mostly gone down by the time a semi-circular building came into view out the window. From afar it was impossible to tell how large it was.
The building was placed near a cliff that overlooked the sea. The surrounding area around the building was a thin forested area. It was obvious that it was an artificial forest, even to Altair. No animals could be living in it. However, it was still the first real forest that she had seen since coming to the Empire.
As the cruiser started to lower itself before the single-storey building, Renald stated, "I will be referring to you as Ghost from here. That will be your alias moving forward."
Altair's brow rose slightly at this. She thought she would end up using her real name for an alias as she was told a while ago. Not that it really mattered to her either way.
The cruiser set down ten meters away from the building and the door opened. Renald alighted first, while Altair came out second carrying the case in hand and satchel around her torso. She left the wheelchair behind in the cruiser as she wouldn't need it.
The building that she looked at was extremely plain by comparison to the mansion she had lived at for over two years. There were no decorations of any kind and door to the house was a single door. There were two windows facing the cruiser and forest behind it. If one used the room size of the mansion to judge how many rooms there were in the building before her, then the building she was looking at would have, at most, 6 rooms.
Renald walked up to the door without any ceremony and knocked on it in a strange pattern. He then waited while Altair caught up and stood beside him.
The door barely opened, showing only an eye from the opening and a dark room beyond. The darkness did nothing to conceal the person from Altair. It was a burly man with a scar across his nose and a braided beard on his chin behind the door. He eyed them with his dark eyes from head to toe before he opened the door fully.
He was barely taller than Renald at 209 cm and had a stern look plastered on his face with a frown. He seemed to look down on Renald for a long moment before his frown turned into a hearty smile and he chuckled loudly before abruptly pulling Renald into a hug. "Aaaah," he cried out in a deep, gravely voice, "It's been so long since you asked us to do something I could have sworn you forgot about us, Boss!"
"What," a feminine voice called out from somewhere in the house, "The boss is here?!" There was the sounds of a lot of things crashing about from somewhere in the house immediately following that question.
Renald ignored it while he struggled to pull himself free from the man, "Put me down, Number One!"
The burly man relented only after Renald told him to and patted his shoulder with excessive force right after. "Sorry, it's just been so long Boss."
Renald straightened his suit jacket for a moment before he motioned towards Altair, "This is your charge." He took on a business-like air and completely ignored the racket coming from inside the building.
The man turned his gaze to Altair and his expression immediately fell back to being stern as he eyed her critically. After looking her up and down several times before he finally asked in an unconvinced tone, "So, this is Ghost huh?"
Renald nodded immediately to his question, "You'll soon see for yourself why." He then put his hands behind his back and stood up straight as he said, "Number One, repeat your orders for verification."
Number One saluted sharply and stood up straight before he spoke emotionlessly, "Guard the building and Ghost. Do not interact with Ghost unless Ghost initiates contact. Ignore Ghosts presence in all circumstances and leave Ghost to Ghost's own devices. Once Ghost completes Ghosts mission, contact the house for pickup."
Renald nodded once as his verification before he turned to Altair and said, "Ghost, this man is Number One. The others in the building have similar names. If you want them to cook you something, just ask. Otherwise, you'll have to fend for yourself."
Altair gave him a sidelong look before she nodded. She could tell that there was some kind of protocol going on here but she didn't know it. She also didn't care about the person before her and only wanted to prepare to leave immediately.
Renald then said, "Well then, I shall be leaving. Number One, I leave Ghost in your hands." He then turned on his heel and returned to the cruiser. As he did so, Number One moved out of the way and motioned into the building while saying, "Make yourself at home, Ghost. Feel free to pick any of the untaken rooms."
As the cruiser lifted up into the air a woman came running out from one of the side rooms and dashed to the door before Altair could get inside. She was half-dressed, had short black hair and rushed past Number One before waving her hands at the cruiser as it took off and left the area.
Altair ignored her and walked inside past Number One. She looked around and found herself in a living room that connected two hallways. There were basic furnishings in the room that were unimpressive compared to the lavish styles of the Marnithok mansion.
Altair gave the décor none of her attention as she turned toward where the woman had run out from and walked down that hallway. She heard Number One and that woman angrily arguing about things she didn't care to concentrate on as she went.
She walked past the room the woman came out of and opened the next door. Inside was a simple single bed with a nightstand next to it and a dresser across from it. There was a single window that was over the nightstand and a man was laying on the bed when she opened the door. He abruptly sat up and gave Altair a scary look filled with annoyance.
Altair promptly closed the door and moved on to the next room.
Every room on the side that Altair checked already had an occupant. Since that was the case, she returned back to the living room and tried the other hallway.
Along the way, the woman who was arguing with Number One saw her walking past and her brow rose. She asked Number One about it and her expression turned strange when she got the vague details that they had.
After Altair had looked into three rooms on the other side, she finally came to an unoccupied room. She went in and closed the door behind her. To ensure that the room was indeed free, she checked the dresser and found it empty, then set the case down on the nightstand.
She then pulled the satchel off herself and set it on the bed before she unzipped it. The contents caused an unknowing smile to appear on Altair's face as she stared at the various candies and sweets within it. She zipped the satchel closed without another look and then took off her dress and laid it flat on the bed.
She changed into the clothes from the case. The white silk shirt felt airy, but comfortable. The beige trousers weren't the same as what she used to wear, where she needed to tie it at the top to secure it. They had a button on them that she had to place through a hole to secure, but overall they were pretty comfortable.
Altair actually felt a little strange wearing pants after so long. It had been over two years since the last time she wore something like this. She would need to get used to it again in time.
After putting on her socks and the leather cuirass, she found a pair of leather bracers that were made of the same material and a special leather bandolier for her daggers at the bottom of the case.
She put those on as well, along with some leather shoes that she found beside them, and immediately set out to doing some stretching exercises. She was checking her mobility with the clothes on her as she went through the motions.
The door to her room silently opened a hair and two sets of eyes examined her as she moved about in old styled clothing. The owners of the eyes were deeply confused as to the point of wearing such useless armor. They could tell that she was going through a strange martial arts dance by her movements and were starting to wonder if she really intended to fight in that strange getup.
Altair didn't notice them as she came to a rest before the nightstand. She picked up the daggers that were on it and strung them through the bandolier that she put on. She had a total of 5 of these strange blue daggers.
She then moved over to her dress and reached into the shirt part of it. She pulled out six Mana Potions that she had stored there. She placed four of them in the satchel and the other two went into the case that Renald had given her.
She then put the satchel back on and took a deep breath to calm her racing heart.
'This is it,' she thought to herself as an eagerness built up within her. 'It's time to go home.'
While under the gaze of two Black Agents, Altair burned all of her Mana in one go and used her Teleportation Magic while focusing her destination at the Coalition Headquarters.
In a flash of blue light, Altair vanished from the Empire.