Roas had expected something like this to happen, seeing Valare and Mesia engage in a heated discussion in front of the lab room’s monitor. The technician that had been aiding the man preparing the Intelligent Device was beside him, looking anxiously between his two colleagues.
“Think about what you’re doing!” the redhead exclaimed, almost throwing her arms up in the air. “If the Administration Bureau finds out, this lab would be history!”
“A risk that needs to be taken,” Emil replied calmly. “I assure you, every precaution will be taken regarding the Bureau, and any of the corporations who hire our services will want to keep it on the down-low from them anyway.”
“Oh? And what about Roas?” demanded the redhead. “You’ve read the report, you know how badly the other mercenaries wanted him dead! There’s no way he can do this alone!”
Roas lifted an eyebrow that that—though he supposed it was true enough. That last mission had nearly seen his death due to the unexpected amount of resistance from the mercenary, or rather, the mercenaries that had been hired by his target for their protection. Still, it was a risk in this kind of industry. He knew that well enough.
“Relax, dear girl,” Emil waved her down. “I’m not so foolish enough to send the man out alone. I know for certain that you’ll be able to provide him the best support possible.”
Mesia blinked, caught off guard. “… excuse me?”
“Well, you have all the qualifications necessary for such a task,” Valare explained, smiling. “You’re intelligent and a quick thinker, you’re familiar with all of Lancel’s components and technical capabilities, and you’re quite skilled with barrier and teleportation spells… you’d be perfect as Mr. Lacetti’s operator.”
“That’d be useful,” the aforementioned mercenary spoke up, drawing their attention before Mesia could formulate a response. “All the good operators are usually snapped up by the Bureau.”
Mesia sputtered, still surprised by the sudden turn in the argument. “W-well it’s true that the Bureau offered me a position, but—“
“That only goes to show how well-suited you’d be for this position,” Valare butted in, causing the woman to blush slightly. Roas was only nodding approval, and it came to Mesia’s attention that she’d walked right into that little trap. Her face colored in irritation, but before she could continue her argument, Emil placed a hand on her shoulder.
“This isn’t a decision that I made lightly, Mesia, but it’s the only option we have now,” he said soothingly. “We need him to make sure this settlement stays safe, and to do that I need you to make sure he stays safe.”
Mesia released a breath. “I just don’t understand why this needs to be done,” she admitted. “Ailotana can’t really be that bad off, could it?”
“If we don’t prove the settlement worthy in some way, it’s only a matter of time before we lose it entirely to corporate politics,” Emil said gravely. “I’ll explain it to you in detail later. For now, it’s time for us to give Mr. Lacetti his new Device. Jerome, if you please?”
The assistant standing beside started, then nodded quickly. He turned to the wall, which showed uniform rows of small metal storage containers. He brought up a holographic screen and inputted a few commands, and one particular container slid out of the wall with a hiss, allowing him to take the Device out from storage and present it to Roas, who accepted it into his open hands. Stepping back, the mercenary looked down at the arrow-shaped Lancel. It was bigger than he thought it would be. The green lens set into it blinked brightly for a moment.
“So you’re to be my new Device, huh?” Roas commented.
”Affirmative, master,” came Lancel’s reply in a smooth male voice. Roas frowned a bit at the title.
“When you’re ready, we’ll upload your information into Lancel’s database,” Emil said, stepping up to Roas. “Then you can begin getting acclimated with the Device. And we’ll need to get that done soon.”
“Why?” Roas asked, turning to him. “What’s the rush?”
“Because I’ve already got your first mission lined up, and we can begin when you’re ready.”