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“I see,” said her guide, though he left it at that.

Which was a bit surprising, she felt, but she wasn’t complaining, either. Thus far, the psychics here were truly a different breed. She had to wonder how much contact with the outside world they actually experienced, because unlike the ones she’d met before, these people were completely unafraid to tell you that they were trying to read your thoughts.

In a weird way, despite how utterly rude it was, she kind of respected it. At least they were being straightforward. Not trying to subtly manipulate her.

As she’d been taught, the main trick to defending against psychics was to create a smokescreen over one’s thoughts. There were various methods of accomplishing that, of course, but the easiest one was to use emotion. More complex thoughts could also be used for that smokescreen, but that was obviously going to be harder, since it essentially involved maintaining two different lines of thought at once. She wasn’t quite capable of that yet, but she hoped to be, one day.

It had been plenty difficult learning how to summon, harness, and wield her own emotions defensively. Her teachers had been rather ruthless about it, too, save one. But that was just another reason why Captain General Fen Frederick was her favorite. Technically speaking, Captain General Parson Miles might’ve been the better instructor--and the entire reason why she’d been able to even meet Dr. Frederick in the first place--but in her estimation, the Surgeon Saint truly did live up to his moniker.

That man had some kind of otherworldly charisma to him. And a heart of gold to go along with it.

So when she saw her chance to join one of his divisions, she took it. And now, here she was, traveling around the world on some of the most secretive missions that the Vanguard had to offer.

Her career had only just gotten moving, and yet she already had a fair few stories under her belt. Whether she would actually be able to tell them to anyone was another matter. If her littlest sister ever found out about her work, then the questions would no doubt become incessant.

Assuming she ever returned home, that was.

Gema Elroy genuinely did not know if such a time would arrive. Her reaper kept telling her not to think that way, that there was no telling what the future held, but at the moment, Gema just couldn’t see it happening.