Delphi held the dossier in her left hand as hard as she could without creasing the folder. Dark rings had formed under her eyes and her hair was an even bigger mess than yesterday afternoon when her boss slapped the file on her desk.
Her pupils passed over the first page of the dossier again, failing to absorb any more information than she already had.
“Come on, Delphi, you’ve been staring at that thing all morning!” moaned a woman behind her. She had lightning blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, and wore maroon robes that seemingly morphed into a suit as they reached her front. Her eyes were a sharp, icy blue that were more focused on the dossier than Delphi.
“All night, actually,” said a man standing behind the blonde woman. He had smooth brown hair and a curly, well trimmed beard. He wore a plain gray suit with a faded red tie, and looked at the two with an incredibly polite and unassuming smile that belied his emotionless eyes. “I noticed her poring over it when I was patrolling the halls for intruders to kill last night.”
“And how do you know that, Tedward?” asked the blonde haired woman with a growl.
“Please, Nysa, let’s stick to our codenames,” replied the bearded man. “That’s what Antioch has asked of us.”
“Screw that jerk! Just call me Nash, it’s not like we’re on a mission or anything, we’re in Delphi’s office!” She paused for a moment before giving the man a concerned look. “Do you seriously prefer being called Stabby over your real name? I honestly thought I was being nicer by calling you Tedward.”
“I’d simply prefer to follow orders,” said Stabby. “Though I greatly appreciate your kindness towards me.” His lips curled higher ever so slightly as he continued to speak, and both Delphi and Nash already knew it was by exactly three millimeters.
“You two aren’t helping!” shouted Delphi, turning around long enough to give the two other occupants an angry glare before turning back to the dossier. “And stop bullying Ted!”
“And how can we help, Delphi?” asked Nash, placing a hand on the other woman’s shoulder.
“By helping me figure a way out of this,” replied Delphi. She let out a sigh and put her free hand over the small ornament in her pocket, letting her fingers caress the familiar grooves and notches of the metallic object.
“Perhaps the easiest way to resolve this issue is to simply kill him!” said Ted with a small cheer.
Delphi turned to look at the man with a practiced look of annoyance, but Nash looked at him with sparks in her eyes.
“You know, Delphi, I think he actually has a point this time,” said the blonde haired woman. “It says right over there in the dossier that he’s a magic user, and like every other stuck up mage out there, he’s probably arrogant enough to not see me coming!”
“And once his magic is disabled, I can stab him!” exclaimed Ted.
“Yeah, and he can stab him!” added Nash.
“No!” shouted Delphi as she slammed the dossier and her fist onto the table, leaving a sizable dent.
The room immediately grew quiet. After several seconds, Delphi let out a sigh and began to feel at the metal crest in her pocket again. The familiar chill of the metal froze away much of her stress. She didn’t know what it was made of, some strange material that even the local expert blacksmiths weren’t able to identify, but they all assured her it wasn’t magical. But to her it was worth more than any arcane artifact, holding value beyond anything material.
“D-Delphi?” asked Nash in a soft hush.
“Sorry, Nash. And sorry, Ted,” replied Delphi. Her head sagged with the weight of her remorse. “You two are my subordinates, I’m responsible for you both. And I’m not about to have you two run off to your deaths against this guy.”
“But he’s just some dumb mage,” said Nash with a pout. “He probably went to whatever the Dark Lord’s equivalent of the Royal Magic University is, and you know how stuck up and arrogant their graduates are!”
“Nash, do you see what this says?” asked Delphi, pointing to a line in the dossier.
“Yeah, it says ‘Magical Specialization’.”
“And what’s the rank written next to it?”
“‘Asura’? Isn’t that like next to Oni or something? I can never remember all of the weird names the HIA uses.”
“Those names are used for operational security,” replied Ted. “To make it harder for eavesdroppers to understand the context of conversations. Just like our codenames!”
The other two nodded without looking back at him.
“And there is no rank named Asura,” Ted continued. “The lowest is Imp and the highest is Leviathan.”
“And it turns out that’s a big fat lie,” said Delphi, turning over to face the others. “There are higher ranks above Leviathan, but we’re just not a high enough rank to know about them.”
“A secret agency keeping secrets from its employees, go figure,” said Nash, rolling her eyes.
“Yeah, and Asura isn’t even just one rank above. I had to cash in a good number of favors to even get this basic information, but apparently after Leviathan, there’s Mammon, Beelzebub, and then Asura!”
“Is that the highest tier?” asked Nash.
“Does it matter?!” exclaimed Delphi. “Remember the last time we went after a Rakshasa-tier target? They almost killed you, and Ted had to bail you out!”
“By stabbing them!” exclaimed Ted. “In the back, they didn’t even see me coming.”
“Yes Ted, thank you,” said Nash in a low grumble. “But I still kept them completely distracted by locking down their magic, can’t we do the same here? Two against one?”
“Another bit of info I got was that Asura tier magic specialization is the equivalent to our kingdom’s own Archmages,” said Delphi. “Do you remember what happened the last time you picked a fight with an archmage?”
Nash swallowed.
“I do,” said Ted. “A single spell-”
“Alright, I get it!” shouted Nash. “We’re completely out of our depth here, and you’re freaking out about it.”
“I’m not freaking out about it,” said Delphi, pawing the crest in her pocket.
“Is there a way to give this job to anyone else? Or at least get the tools or personnel to do something about it?”
The black haired woman let out another sigh. “I could if Pancer didn’t stick me between a delayed fireball surrounded by a pit of snakes.”
“Huh?” the other two asked.
“Taking on this mission is the fireball. It’s going to get us killed if we try to take this guy on now, and it’ll get us all fired if we just sit and do nothing.”
“So why not request for someone else to take on the task?” asked Ted.
“Because I’m not even supposed to be assigned this in the first place! Or rather, I’m not supposed to know this guy even exists, and that’s the pit of snakes. This dossier is way above our clearance levels.”
“But Pancer’s the one who gave it to you, right? Won’t he be the one to get into trouble?” asked Nash.
“It can honestly go two ways. If I go to the higher ups about this and think it’s my fault, I’ll get fired for accessing secrets above my paygrade. If they think it’s his fault, he’ll just get a slap on the wrist for being a klutz. And then he’ll take it out on the rest of us for being snitches.”
“Damn, delayed fireball surrounded by a pit of snakes,” said Nash, slowly shaking her head. “There’s got to be a better name for this kind of situation.”
“Perhaps we can ask Antioch himself?” said Ted, looking up towards the room’s entrance.
Just then, a quick knock echoed out from the door, which opened to reveal the boss himself.
“Hey Delphi, I’ve got great news!”
“And what’s that?” the black haired woman asked.
“I’ve requisitioned you a new member for your team! He should be a big help with the big task you’re working on,” said Antioch with a wink.
Delphi’s eyes opened wide and her lips began to curl into a smile. They got halfway to their natural peak before they stopped, and slowly dropped back down into a frown. “Alright, what’s the catch?”
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