The bespectacled beauty contained her giggles. “Yo, been a while, hasn’t it Josh, what’s got you so worked up? Something exciting?” she asked, showing an expectant face.
Josh took a moment to unfreeze himself before flashing a smirk her way. “More than exciting…mind-blowing.”
Astra’s eyes lit up. “Oh…mind-blowing you say.”
“Yeah, nothing short of it.”
The S- Rank Adventurer’s eyes turned crescent-shaped at the words. Knowing Josh, she knew he wouldn’t play with her expectation, so his ‘mind-blowing’ claim lit a flame under her belly. Space rippling from her excitement, she cast her now glowing lens towards her subordinate.
“Excellent. Lay it on me then.”
Josh nodded with a smile on his face. “Right away.” Directing his attention inward, he communicated his orders through the telepathic network. Seconds later, a telepathic link was extended towards Astra, who let it anchor down without resistance.
“Before anything… Ralf Fawkes, do you recognize the name?”
“Hmm, no, not at all.”
“Excellent,” his lips curled up. “Then you’re in for a wild ride. He’s quite something, worthy of a few pages in that notebook of yours.”
Astra’s expectations rose another few notches at the comment.
Josh continued. “There’s a lot to cover, but before that, watch this.”
Following his words, he gave the signal and a second later, a video began playing streaming into Astra’s mind. First, the outer ring matches and then the debut match. While Astra watched them, Josh observed her reactions. It was…not as expected.
The first one had induced the sparkles in her eyes that he expected, but the second saw her face become mask-like. On the surface, it seemed neutral, but Josh could clearly pick up signs of displeasure in her expression as she viewed the footage. By the end of it, he looked to Astra with a half-confused half-apologetic look.
“Ah, not to your liking?” he asked in an unsteady voice. A few heartbeats of silence passed by before he got a response.
“That’s not it. It was very impressive. It’s just…” Astra let her words trail off as an old memory flittered in.
“Astra?”
“Oh, umm, this is in Popleigh, right? Do you know where he’s currently staying?”
“Huh, are you going to meet him? Now?”
“Yeah, I’m curious about something.”
Seeing the uncharacteristic seriousness that was overcoming his boss’ face, jolted Josh into action.
“Give me a second.”
Saying this, he gave the order and hundreds were made to delve into the stockpile of info they had collected in preparation. Thirty seconds later, the answer to Astra’s query was plucked out and delivered to her.
“He’s in Blue Wing district, about 1, 5 kilometres northwest of the local Enviso. Word is he’s staying opposite Samuel Auburn, a Senior Advisor. The top of his house has a giant blue statue, so it’ll be easy to find.”
“I see. Good work. Sit tight, I’ll be back in a sec.” Astra left the wall and orientated herself southward, then in a blink of an eye, vanished from the room.
Now alone in the room, Josh stared at the space previously occupied by her form.
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‘Even after so many times, I can never get used to that. One moment there, the next moment gone…a metaphor for life - no, enough nonsense,’ he shook his head, ridding himself of tangential thoughts.
He directed his mind to the matter of Astra’s unusual behaviour. ‘Her expression didn’t look too pleasant, I wonder what she’s going to do? It’s early in the morning over there, will he even be awak-’
Josh jumped a little at Astra’s sudden reappearance. “Back already, did you forget somethi- ah, Astra?” His questions quickly dried up upon catching her current expression. Unlike the blank one from a minute before, the expression she now wore was one of complete bedazzlement.
“Ralf Fawkes huh,” she muttered, her face beaming and eyes sparkling with awe.
To explain Astra’s sudden change, one would have to jump into her mind a bit.
Watching the videos, she arrived at a conclusion most did, that Ralf was a vessel of Dimitri. However, unlike the overwhelming majority, she could confirm it. She wasn’t at the level of William’s soul detecting abilities but she was able to sense a Dimitri vessel clearly as long as it was within a kilometre of her.
Ralf being a vessel would be very problematic for her. Setting aside the ‘why’ behind this, she also considered the possibility of Ralf being a fake.
Standing at the upper echelon of power allowed her to know many things. She knew what well-crafted falsities Ascendants and Mental Masters could conjure up. It wasn’t out of the question for Ralf to be one such creation. Just seeing his performance during his debut match made Astra almost certain that, at the very least, he was a fake, and perhaps even someone she knew.
With these thoughts, she headed to Popleigh, crossing the thousands of kilometres separating the two nations in a literal instant. She found what she was looking for in no time, it helped that she visited the city before.
Landing on Samuel’s house unnoticed, she began seriously examining her surroundings. Relief flooded in as she failed to sense the familiar aura in the air. But after considering that he might be out, she used her Second Sight to peer into the Fawkes manor. Finding ‘Ralf’ sound asleep, her worries were finally put to bed. And with it, her current emotions flooded in.
To her, Ralf’s outstanding combat prowess wasn’t something to get worked up over if he was a vessel of Dimitri or an elite powerhouse. That was just par for the course. But knowing that it wasn’t these two options and that the things she witnessed came from someone as weak and as young as he was, baffled and then exhilarated the Ascendant to no end.
Feeling on top of the world - more than usual, that is, Astra did a quick zip around Popleigh and the surrounding areas before teleporting back to Trusia.
“Astra,” Josh called out again.
This time, his voice managed to get through. “Oh? Josh, great find.” She closed in wearing a joyous smile and patted his shoulder. “Good job.”
“Glad you liked it,” he said, wearing a soft smile.
Astra nodded before pulling back. “No wonder you were so worked up, he’s amazing.”
The Quality Checker shook his head with a smile on his face. “Astra, you’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I told you, there’s much to cover. Take a seat, you’ll need it.”
Astra didn’t reject the advice. Simply nodding to it, she flickered out of existence and then returned a few seconds later, with a chair. Circling to the front, she plopped her bottom down, leaned forward, cupped her cheeks with both hands then directed her impatient and expectant gaze toward Josh.
Josh mirrored her actions. Letting her gaze wash over him a few seconds longer, he then began relaying the shocking tale of ‘Ralf Fawkes’, as it was known to those in the Arrin Dukedom.
By the end of the account, Astra sat in a stupor. The barrage of shocking statements and revelations had scrambled her thoughts and emotions in no small way.
Still, even in this slurry, one thing was clear; she was excited. Excited in a way she hadn’t been in years. Bringing her this breath of fresh air, Astra thanked Josh and the Grapeviners, even promising them a bonus for their exemplary discovery. Rushing out these words, she then teleported away.
‘Ralf Fawkes, what an interesting person. I’ll have to follow his story closely,’ narrowing her eyes, she let herself glide through the night sky.
With the thought, an invisible line was cast out, one that connected the fates of the duo and Astra.
Whether this was a good or bad thing...was a matter for the future to decide. But as the duo often said, it was uncertain.