Alma 64 A Warm Invitation

She sure that the drug had taken affect by now and that with a small suggestion, the boy would fall her charms. After all, she'd never failed to catch a man, much less a little brat who was wet behind the ears like the one in front of her.

A little teasing here, a couple of passionate gazes there — that was all it often took to get men to bend to her will. In due time, she'd come to add the boy her list of conquests…Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

...Or so she had thought.

"Hey, um, I don't know if I right to tell you this... but you should value yourself more. It isn't very becoming of a beautiful girl like you to jump onto every new man you see. But then again, it's your body so you have full rights to do what you want with it..." said Reed with an embarrassed look on his face.

What...? The drug hasn't taken affect?! That's... not possible! How?!

Testarossa immediately pulled back and chuckled dryly in response. Suddenly, the Anima in the room swirled into action and she said, "Alright, I'll admit it. You got me good but don't think that you'll be able to walk free so easily, so let's drop the act and get to business. Answer my questions, or else I'll get persuavive. Why are you here? What are your intentions? Who sent you?"

Reed stared at her with a confused expression and said, "What are you talking about? Didn't you invite me to your cafe yourself?"

I don't get this woman at all!! One moment she's seducing and in the next, she's interrogating me?! What the hell's wrong with this broad?

Thin, almost invisible, razor-sharp webs made of Anima surrounded the pair in an instant, gleaming dangerously whenever sunlight hit them in just the right way. Testarossa had used one of own personal techniques, Widow's Prison, to lock down any avenues of escape.

"A smart-mouth, eh? You're awfully calm for someone who's a step away from disappearing, you know? The North must be really full of themselves to have sent a greenhorn out into the field. They must be running out people out there in those frozen wastelands to have sent a under-trained rookie like you to here," said Testarossa as she carefully manipulated her web around Reed to lock him in even further.

Reed started laughing uproariously like a madman when he finally realized what he had gotten himself in and said, "Oh, for fuck's sake! Of-fucking-course I'd get myself into something like this on the first day!"

Testarossa sneered and said, "Chances are they probably sent you here to die, you know. Why else would they have sent you here? You probably got on someone's bad side, or you picked the wrong backer. Either way, they want you gone, so it's in your best interest to cooperate if you want to survive."

She calmly stared at him as she watched how he'd react, to check whether he could be broken into. The Order could not trust, nor use those who had already been subjected to high-level brainwashing or hypnosis techniques by other organizations.

Any individual already under the effect of a technique like that might be a sleeper cell sent to unknowingly infiltrate and recover any information on the enemy. That was the last thing the Order needed on its hands, so it was highly cautious of who could be allowed into their ranks…

For now, at the very least, she could not detect any abnormal fluctuations that indicated spiritual or mental tampering. Her unique eyes allowed her to see through all manner of things, at the cost of being especially draining on her mind.

Still, it was why her kind, the Avunians, were considered to be among the best for intelligence and reconnaissance missions — why a vast majority of the spies working for the Eastern Empire were Avunians.

"I can vouch for your safety if let me help you. Tell me everything you know and I'll make you'll be treated right. If you can give me something good, I might even be able to make a case to have you inducted into our ranks," said Testarossa in attempt to sweeten the deal.

It was a small chance, but getting decent intel and a potential gem like the boy, who was clean, would be an enormous boon for her. Not promotion-worthy, but still considerable.

It seems like I've gotten myself tangled up with a real life femme fatale! A beautiful spy working for the East... was the first person I met on my journey. But this might also work, too, if I think about…

Something Lacrima said a while back echoed in the back of his head and resonated with him. He would have to thank her later for the inspiration.

Reed sighed deeply in resignation and said, "Alright, fine. I get it. I'll tell you, so stop playing around with the wires, okay? It's not like I'd be able to outrun you anyway, right?"

......Who ever said they had to force themselves to get in here, boy? What if they were let in instead?...…

Testarossa's face bloomed like flower and she cheerfully said, "I'm glad you understand, Leon. Work with me and I promise you'll have a better future here than you would have ever had in the North. Now, tell me everything you know and don't leave a single detail out..."

Reed smiled and nodded innocently like a good, obedient boy.

There's nothing wrong with bending truth a little, right? That, and forgetting some of the more 'unnecessary details' for the sake of brevity.

Lacrima muffled something in response underneath the seal he'd put on her, but Reed ignored her. He'd appease her later, right now… he had to tell an exciting story to tell…

"T-That's not possible... it's preposterous! If what you said is true then this is a matter far outside of your concern! How could someone like you ever had heard, or been assigned to investigate something as important as this?!!"

Reed said, "Is it really? The rumor's exploded like crazy on our side, to the point that everyone knows about in our department. Word on the street is that the Winter Princess even rushed to meet her father the night of the event, too…"

He had told her a modified version of the truth. That Ashborns and Dragoncrests had allied themselves with Holy Church in order to overthrow the East first, and then the rest of the world. Of a devious plot to utilize the forces they'd been raising to finally unify Mulia under a single banner...

In order to keep the pressure on her, Reed said, "You've heard about it too, right? About how the three of them have grown strangely close... how they've been meeting in secret at the Sacred Cathedral, the heart of Holy Church, far away from prying eyes and ears like us..."

"After all, infiltrating that den of monsters is a straight-up death sentence," said Reed as fiddled with his tea. "A den of ancient monsters from the Unification Era, waiting for a good reason to rampage again, I'd say…"

Testarossa's blood froze when she imagined what would happen to the East, no— the whole world if those old freaks ever became active again. The consequences would be unimaginable. The continent would have a second Unification Era with all the horrors and nightmares that came with the last one…

"I need to report this to High Command, now," said Testarossa, waving away the Anima in room with a flick of her wrist. "If even half of what you just told me was true, it'd spell the end the East, and of the Era of Peace that our ancestors fought for."

Reed let out a long yawn and said, "Yeah, that sounds about right. So, what are gonna do? You going to go talk to your bosses? Good luck on that promotion."

She looked and Reed as if he were and idiot and said, "You're coming too, you know that? I'm going to need you to undergo multiple truth trials in order for your story to have any credibility when I report it, otherwise, they'll kill you and demote me. Goddess forbid they excommunicate me and wipe my memories instead…"

Testarossa grabbed Reed and said, "Have you ever void-jumped before? This is going to feel a little weird, so take a deep breat—"

Reed let another yawn and said, "Just get it over with, okay? I'm getting real tired and I'd like to get some sleep sometime soon…"

What the hell's up with him? Not a single ounce of respect from him even though he's just a piddling contender...

"Your call, then. Don't come crying to me when your lunch comes out the wrong way…" She opened up a spatial tear and dragged Reed in tow, disappearing into the murky, black void...

This would later be accepted as the first recorded appearance of the infamous criminal known only as Leon. His unexpected intrusion into the intelligence community's ranks would also be noted, serving as a case-study for future intrusion-prevention measures that would be implemented later...

Chapter end