Page 4206

When the Crystal Titan indeed remained silent as he flipped through the file, Hector decided that perhaps now was a good time to bring up his own reasons for coming to Intar.

"...So you already know that I'm from Atreya, right?"

"Yes," said Jackson.

"I came here to Andeyal in order to retrieve some of my countrymen. Specifically, Prince David of House Lumenbel, along with his bodyguard."

Vito Sebolt wasn't actually his countryman, of course, but Hector made sure to keep that thought firmly tucked away. As laidback as these two appeared to be, he could tell that they were also very serious men, deep down. He could see it in their auras.

No matter how friendly this encounter seemed to be, he still had to be extremely careful here.

"Ah," said Jackson. "And you would like clearance to escort them back to your homeland, I take it."

"Well, maybe, but not necessarily."

Jackson raised an eyebrow.

"Mainly, I just want to confirm that they're both okay. And if they want to stay, then that's fine. But if there's some sort of problem, then yeah, I might want to take them home."

"Have you been able to contact them?"

This conversation was going down a difficult road, Hector sensed. "Technically, yes, but..."

Jackson just waited.

Agh. How to put this diplomatically? "...It was clear to me that they were not behaving like themselves."

Jackson held his gaze, expression unreadable.

And now it was Hector's turn to wait. He didn't want to push and give away too much, and he was also quite curious about how the Radiant Sentinel was going to respond.

But all Jackson said was, "I see."

Perhaps he would have to push, anyway. Hector considered his next words carefully. Other than a sliver of goodwill, he didn't have a whole lot of leverage here, nor did he know Jackson particularly well. It seemed like a bad idea to just--

"What're you hesitating for?" came Sermung's voice. "You already know they're being manipulated. And I bet you know it's for their own safety, too, don't you?"

Aw, fuck.

"Just say so," said Sermung. "Jackson's a big boy. He can handle it."

Hector's face felt like it was trying to scrunch in on itself.

And Jackson's looked much the same, actually. "Commander, please don't just go spouting--"

"What? Let's skip the meandering and posturing. We're not politicians here, are we? Just lay your cards on the table, and let's figure out the best way to resolve things."

Page 4205

"It's the latter, I'm afraid," said Jackson. "I have scouts on the ground who have laid eyes on his encampments."

"Could be illusions," said Sermung.

"Illusions who also attacked my scouts?"

"Mm. Less likely, though still not impossible."

Jackson paused for a curt sigh. "We have no reason to believe that Jercash has such capabilities, at the moment."

"You have no reason not to, either."

"Now you're just trying to annoy me."

"I was trying to do that earlier, too. Could you not tell?"

Jackson squinted and rubbed his forehead. "Oh, how I've missed you," he said with a tone that very much suggested otherwise.

"Where are the other marshals?" said Sermung, sounding entirely unbothered. "What're they up to?"

Jackson's struggling posture did not change. "Please do not make me answer that in front of Hector here..."

"Oh, come on, it'll be fine. He's trustworthy. Isn't that right, Hector?"

Despite how useful that type of information might be, Hector felt compelled to take Jackson's side. "You don't have to answer that, Mr. Sentinel."

"Excuse me, but I'm the High Commander here, not you."

"Don't listen to him, Mr. Sentinel. Don't let him win. He's a bully. And the Vanguard never lets bullies win, right?"

At that, Jackson actually looked up and snickered. "He makes a good point, Commander."

"Pah! Betrayal, that's what this is."

"I believe that is exactly the opposite of what is happening, right now." Jackson stepped closer to Hector and handed the folder he was previously reading over to him. "Here."

Surprised, Hector took and opened it. He eyes widened even further when he noticed that it was his own name at the top, along with several pages of text and attached pictures. Was that his yearbook photo?

"Is there any information in there that should be corrected?" asked Jackson.

Before he could respond, however, Sermung snatched it out of his hands and began reading.

"Ooh," the Titan cooed. "What do we have here? Finally, your meticulous recordkeeping is coming in handy."

"For my own sanity, I'm going to pretend you never said that."

Hector wondered why he was the one who had to utter these next words. "I feel like we have more pressing matters that we should be focusing on..."

"Yeah, yeah," Sermung, waving his hand as he read. "Talk amongst yourselves. I'm still listening."

Hector and Jackson exchanged sympathetic looks with one another.

Page 4204

To make matters even stranger, there didn't appear to be many people around, either. Hector only spotted a single receptionist, a petite secretary, and an apparent errand boy who looked even younger than himself.

Sermung even commented on it. "Keeping everyone busy, aren't you?"

"No sense in having them all cooped up in here," said Jackson's fiery avatar. "I can't stand this place when it's crowded."

Hector had to hold back a scoff. So not only was this building ugly, it also wasn't even functional, either. It was too small for their needs, so everyone just stayed away.

Aw, shit, he noticed Sermung side-eyeing him, probably reading his aura again. What a smug face, too.

Gotta be more careful, Hector told himself.

It didn't take long to reach Jackson's real body. It was one short elevator trip down into a basement, then through a pair of double doors into a large, warehouse-looking chamber filled to the rafters with metal shelves and containers. The human-shaped flame that had been guiding them vanished into thin air, and only a man reading a file in the distance remained.

"Welcome," he said, closing the folder in his hands and looking up. He wasn't very tall, but his dark features were about as chiseled as Hector had ever seen. If he turned out to have a history as a movie star out of Bellvine, then Hector would not have been surprised.

"Can we speed this along?" said Sermung. "I'm not in the mood for another lecture."

"When are you ever?" said Jackson.

Sermung had since removed his crystalline armor and now looked like the most normal dude Hector had ever laid eyes on. Brown hair, brown eyes, plain gray shirt with scuff marks on it, dark slacks with a few tears in them. No shoes, either. Just bare feet.

Meanwhile, Jackson over there was looking like a proper military officer, fully suited up, if only missing the coat.

Which one of these guys was the leader again?

Sermung tossed another glance his way.

That time hadn't been an accident on Hector's part, though.

"So we know that Jercash is somewhere in the northwest," said Jackson, walking closer. "He clearly has multiple camps that all keep moving, and we can only assume that he is traveling between all of them."

"Northwest, you say? I couldn't sense him in that direction when I checked recently, so either your intel is wrong, or he is concealing himself quite well."