Arknights : Final Rebirth - Gladius Belii

Chapter 52 - Truth beneath madness.

"Mono/Dialogue"

'Inner thoughts'

Narration

[Message/communication apparatus]

Date: December 1088

Location: Kawalerielki, Kazimierz

POV: Narrator

The Grey Serpent weaves across a relatively empty highway, this is still early in the morning after all. She is dressed much more formally with a pair of business suits and pants along with an overcoat that hides her pair of Originium pistols and knives. Nyx already sensed the presence of Armorless Union monitors who kept their proximity much farther than usual; a non-verbal admission that they did not wish to make the water murkier.

Her bike has been modified to emit as minimal noise as possible, courtesy of a company in which she has invested. Nyx is out so early for the day due to an important meeting, which pertained to the incident a week ago. She rides for a few more minutes before arriving in an underground parking lot, a standard procedure because of how limited the mobile city is in terms of land.

Stepping off her ride, she could also be seen to be bringing a briefcase. Checking on her self-defense equipment, she rapidly walks back to the surface to finish her business and has more than one today. She passes by the locals who watch her with starry eyes, wary eyes, and even subdued misgivings. Nyx paid them no mind and instead glanced at her watch, which told her that it was 5:31 A.M.

Once outside, she is greeted by the sparsely populated walkways and street food sellers who are preparing to conduct business. Kawalerielki is a busy, and harsh, city where office workers often forgo breakfast to avoid traffic and potentially coming in late. This city has little regard for those who can't compete; everyone is just a tiny cog with replacements that are a dime a dozen.

Nyx continues walking towards a rather isolated but well-guarded location, she can see several security personnel either lazing around or awaiting dispatch. This building is none other than Central Security HQ, a paramilitary company that has been hired by the National Council to keep the peace ever since Campaign Knights, not including a select few, has been barred from being part of the permanent garrison due to asinine political maneuvering.

She had been walking nonchalantly so far yet the moment they caught sight of her, they tensed up and those who had been waiting for a shift of theirs suddenly had a burst of motivation to be more productive despite it not counting into overtime because of regulations. The rest either busy themselves by looking at objects of interest such as the neatly trimmed patches of grass, the pristine windows, and even the lovely half-dark sky.

The Grey Serpent skipped the luggage checking station and they too pretended to not notice that, once again courtesy of their caring superior. She inspects her surroundings and notices that... they are all worthless. She scoffed internally from realizing that those brats from the Victorian Royal Academy would be more useful than these people, then again she was being unfair. One side is being groomed and trained into bonafide soldiers while the other is just hired for policing acts and suppressing civil disturbances. Armorless Union did most of the dirty work after all.

She walks steadily and calmly, but from the eyes of everyone else, she looks very intimidating and seems to be taking her time. She reach the primary building and sees that a pair of guards had been trembling since they got a heads-up from their superior that The Grey Serpent will come for a visit.

"W-Welcome, Lady Baroness. The Captain of the Guard has been expecting you."

"We are honored to be an escort-"