Odyssey || ArknightsXPunishing: Gray Raven (OLD BOOK)

Chapter 16: Traveling

Edge of Victoria's border/ Cloudy/ 2pm

"..." Lee wasn't sure how he got into this situation. All he could remember was a blur of movement. Suddenly, Kalt'sit was inside his room, sitting in the couch and was asking him questions. And worse, Doctor Ikura was also with her. She had her helmet removed and was looking at them with a smug look on her face.

"Look, we were drunk, okay?" Lee broke the silence and leaned forward. "We just took a sip, that's all. How the hell would I know that her weakness was a wine from Yen?"

Kalt'sit raised an eyebrow, then glanced at the Ægir beside her. The Doctor simply nodded and grabbed the empty bottle on the floor.

"A sip you say? Then care to explain why it's empty?" The lynx lady said while tipping the bottle down. And sure enough, it was sucked clean.

"W-Well, we kinda over did taste testing it." Lee chuckled nervously. The two ladies stared at him with blank expressions.

"Oh come on! Nothing happened between us, alright?" Lee snapped at them. "Ask Blue Poison, she even dragged me on the floor for ten whole minutes just to get me tucked in bed. I don't know how she did it but it happened. She accidentally slept beside me because she couldn't keep awake anymore. And I slept like a log the entire night." He went on full defensive.

"Well, after having a chat with Blue Poison down the hallway an hour ago, it's safe to assume that nothing happened. Am I right?" Kalt'sit looked at him with dead eyes. Lee flinched, but shrugged it off and tried his best to stay calm.

"What's with that look?" He asked while he took a sip on his tea.

"Nothing, nevermind." Kalt'sit replied. She held out a folder and handed it to Lee. Doctor Ikura continued munching on cookies in the sidelines. She looked like a squirrel who's cheeks are full with acorns.

"And this is?" Lee said while furrowing his eyebrows.

"Sightings of unidentified personnel near the town of Constantine. The Iberians reported it back to Laterano because their scouts have been fired upon on." Kalt'sit informs him as he skimmed through the folder.

"Now this is worth checking out. Is that town deserted?" Lee asked, still focused on reading the files.

"Yes, traders stopped going there because they thought it was riddled with bandits. Constantine is a big town, with over 20,000 residents as far as the latest survey says. My insider source said that after the disappearance of those Lateranian squads, no other people were coming from the town, as if it was a ghost town. But..." Kalt'sit sighed and tapped her temple. "Since you're going out to investigate, we'll find out what really happened. Hopefully."

He continued reading dozens of classified reports, logs and entries of high ranking officials regarding the incident. There was also a mix of reports from individual soldiers on both sides. He read one particular report over and over in his mind. After several minutes of silence, he looked at Kalt'sit and was about to ask how she managed to obtain such information when-

"Ahem." Doctor Ikura suddenly cleared her throat, catching both Lee and Kalt'sit's attention. She wiped the sides of her mouth before speaking.

"Since I'm here, and not just some glass statue. I have a proposal to make."

"And that is?" Kalt'sit said lazily, sounding uninterested. The Doctor had a tick mark appear on her forehead.

"Since you're going to somewhere dangerous. Why not have another one accompany you?"

Kalt'sit narrowed her eyes at her fellow doctor. "If you mean Blaze, she's still busy on her operation. The other elite operators as well. We can't let Andreanna's team interfere with him, since they're still an experimental squad."