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“You seem shockingly well-informed about her, considering how new to the Vanguard she still is.” It hadn’t escaped Zeff’s memory that Parson Miles once claimed that Gema was working for him. Every fiber of his being was now hoping that Graves here might contradict that and confirm that the bastard had been lying. “Has she been working under you directly?”

“Ah, no,” said Graves. “I did meet the girl a couple of times, but I do not think she realized who I was.”

“Hmm. Was that because you were in disguise?”

Graves just bobbed his head to the side rather than answering the question.

And something else occurred to Zeff. Their entire reason for deciding to trust this mysterious man in the first place was because he seemed to have some kind of personal connection with Bernardino Blackburn.

And moreover, Melchor had called him ‘Archangel.’

But even according to Axiolis’ knowledge, that was not a moniker associated with Graves. No, instead, the only moniker Ax knew of for Field Marshal Graves was the Pale Hawk.

And given everything that they had witnessed here today, both names seemed fairly apt in their own way.

“...What is your association with us?” said Zeff. “You knew Bernardino, obviously, but how does Darktide know you?”

“He doesn’t know me.”

“He called you Archangel.”

“Yes, that was odd. I think he must have mistook me for someone else.”

Zeff observed the man’s expression carefully. It didn’t look dismissive or callous, but then again, would such emotions even come through? If this guy really was a Sparrow, then the human image in front of him right now would’ve been an illusion. Graves could make its emotions look completely different to however he was actually feeling.

Or could he? Perhaps their projections didn’t work that way.

Whatever the case, Zeff was suddenly quite suspicious. “...I don’t believe you.”

“That is your prerogative,” said Graves. And he turned away. “In any event, things should be considerably easier to deal with here in Vantalay now. I’m sure the RPMP will still--”

“So if I go asking around about someone named Archangel in connection with one Field Marshal Graves, I won’t discover anything interesting?” said Zeff.

“...As I said before, it would be a problem if you spoke to anyone of me. That context would not matter.” The man still did not look back at him.