No one but Recks seemed to have digested the peculiar introduction of the youth, as the two shook hands and simply held a bit of small talk, under the bewildered gazes of the rest.
Well, most of the rest, Lia and Darron seemed unsurprised.
It seemed so utterly natural, yet Noctis couldn't understand a single thing about their conversation. The words exchanged between Recks and the newcomer made little sense to him—there were odd references to initiations, titles, and some obscure rules he had never heard of. Whether it was because of their cryptic jargon or some shared experiences he was not privy to, Noctis found himself completely lost, further deepening his confusion.
What was one supposed to say in such a situation?
Looking towards Trisha, who was less fazed at the guy's "uncommon" choice of words, he raised an eyebrow in search of any kind of explanation or hint from her.
Had they talked before, and that's why she's so utterly unaffected.
They did, after all, enter the room together.
Trisha is able to come to terms with things quite quickly, so it would make sense.
Noctis had seen this with Stone as well.
While Noctis was ruminating over the situation.
"Captain, how come we're getting backup.
I'm not complaining, but… We just got two members over the past half a year.
Dont the other sectors have a greater need for manpower?
Especially, since most of the last batch was compromised."
Lia asked, clearly expressing her doubts, her eyes briefly washing past Noctis and Trisha.
Darron walked over in wide strides as he passed the yellow-robed youth, who had fallen into a long, enthusiastic tangent about sects and lower and upper disciples, while Recks wore a charismatic smile, nodding along.
It was unclear if he was really understanding what the yellow-robbed youth was blabbering on about. His only contributions to the discussion were, at most, "Yes, mmhm, that is truly a problem, how weird, that's interesting," and so on.
Darron then took his usual brown leather chair, which was placed next to Noctis' own, looked Lia in the eye, and spoke. His voice was not belittling, nor very authoritative, but that of someone trying to encourage. A tone he only uses when talking to Lia.
"He is not the only individual sent by the parent settlements. The two largest shareholders each sent two, while Oracle sent only one…. This one.
Since the two newcomers aren't exactly of the combative type, he was sent to us to reinforce this aspect.
Have you understood?"
Lia nodded, her usual brass character nowhere to be found.
She was clearly putting weight on the words, mulling them over repeatedly.
Satisfied with such a reaction, Darron spoke again, this time in the role of the team leader.
Noctis just sat at the side, not interrupting the two. Internally, however, a thought he could not suppress emerged.
Did Oracle just send some nut job they wanted to get rid of?!
"What are you all just sitting around for?
The city never rests, and so we cannot either.
Recks, since you're getting along with the new arrival, you're going to pair up with him for a while."
Showing no sign of being displeased with the arrangement, Recks stayed silent.
Noctis, on the other hand, tried with all his might not to laugh.
That's what happens with those who feel the need to socialize!
Darron continued.
"The disappearances have been increasing recently.
This has been designated as a high-priority target of our department.
Noctis, Recks, your skills are needed for this."
"What?" Noctis muttered half-consciously.
Didn't that mean he'd have to work with the weirdo?
Did his schadenfreude have some effect on the strings of fate, or why were such incidents growing in frequency?
First Trisha's chenanigens, now this?!
Well, whatever, it should be interessting at least, and he'd have to interact with him eventually either way.
Accepting this quickly, Noctis looked over to Trisha, as he asked an unspoken question, to make the trip a bit more entertaining.
"Na, sorry. My skills are needed elsewhere."
Nodding along, this wasn't the first time she had to decline.
She was, after all, very gifted in ritualistic magic, a field in which Noctis had little success.
This gave her many jobs involving inspecting ritualistic arrays or performing specific tasks.
This did not bother Noctis in the slightest. After all, he had spent more than enough time with her.
Too much time for a lifetime, really.
He even felt a bit of vindictive joy at seeing his tormenter get worked to the bone.
Nox could not deny that their bond had grown quite thick over half a year, well, almost half a year. She ran after Noctis almost immediately after she noticed him disappearing into oblivion.
Any normal person would have known not to make fun of her for such a display of loyalty. Nocits's sense of humor had, however, never been quite normal, and after going through thick and thin with Trisha at the academy…
His humor had been irretrievably twisted.
He made fun of her with all the power and mischief he could muster, not showing the slightest mercy.
I'm definitely not a sadist, right? Noting this in the back of his mind, not wanting to develop any weird fetish or ticks, he looked over to Recks, with whom he'd soon spend a bit of time.
The man was easy to be around, but he just seemed to lack a bit of common sense from time to time.
Saying his quick goodbyes to Trisha, he walked over to the mission board and took a quick glance.
There, a bunch of fliers were plastered on top of each other. Calling it a mission board truly did it no justice.
These were no missing-persons reports, like he had seen in the market. No, these were far more important.
These were wanted people, of differing importance, the most upper ones showing the last sighted individuals. To the side stood a stack of papers, each documenting the exact information for each individual.
The people spanned from mundane humans to strong Authority Wielders of the second rank. Two numbers stood beneath each picture, with the highest being 200-400.
It was the reward. The reward for killing or capturing the fugitive.
Noctis did not plan on hunting any of the individuals on this board for some extra cash. Even if it was quite alluring. He simply imprinted the images in the back of his mind. He wanted to be able to identify the individuals if he were to meet them on the street.
Of course, he would not confront them even if the fantasy seemed intriguing.
A lone bounty hunter tracking down criminal after criminal.
Giving hints about their whereabouts also carried a reward. Even if starkly reduced.
There, of course, was also the fact that if he ever met them, he'd be able to track them via the string of fate connecting them. This string would also be stronger and firmer the more he knew about the individual.
So theoretically, he might not be able to find them simply by knowing enough about them, but once met…
The new string that would weave itself would be unusually firm, giving Nox a quick way to identify their location.
Earning money this way would become quite easy.
It was a small Investment of time for possible greater returns.
This was, of course, mostly theoretical, since he had yet to come into a similar scenario.
But he did have a bunch of ideas for proving the strategy's effectiveness.
Over the past half year, Noctis had not been idle in his training. He had experimented with his symbolism and his ability, even if he did not dare to connect the two. The past experience had been a hard lesson.
Nox found little change in his physik, as it seemed the Authority he possessed was not physikal in nature.
However, there were some minor improvements. He had expected as much. It was still a bit disheartening to know that he'd forever be a squishy backliner.
Most of his little free time was spent observing and experimenting with the tapestry of fate. To be precise, which changes it would undergo, depending on his actions, such as the influence of knowledge and physical contact.
What it looked like when strings of fate formed, which he observed when meeting new acquaintances.
Or how it looked when connections weakened or broke.
An experiment he had come up with to test the waters for his operation connected to the fugitives was, in essence, quite simple.
Nox would learn a bunch about a person he was certain knew nothing of him, and then planned on meeting them in person.
It was vital that the person knew nothing of him, since it would influence the result of the experiment.
He had shelved the idea for now, since the more he thought about it, the more this seemed like severe stalking.
The thought of diverging from the path fate bestowed crossed his mind on multiple occasions. However, whenever the thought occurred, it would have been deeply unnatural for him to do so, or strongly against his own interests.
So he had restrained himself this far, from taunting fate any further.
Noctis planned on testing the waters at some point, but at the moment, he had been swamped with work, not getting the chance to work anything out.
The overload of work was also the main reason he had little chance to test many of his other "attempts".
Walking back to Recks and planning out how to go about the investigation.
After a few perfunctory words and formalities, they decided to review each case, identify commonalities, and proceed from there.
Nox decided to get the fils, while Recks tried to insist on coming with, which Nox rejected. He wanted to savor the normalcy before having to spend time with the redject. Besides, it would just be a few fils, why would they need two people to get them?
It all seemed feasible at first, but after going to that overly annoyed receptionist and asking for the information on every recent disappearance case….
Nocits was at a loss.
She brought one box with papers, then two, then three, then four, then six, then ten, until she finally stopped when she had crammed out the twelfth box of paperwork.
Noctis: "Ah, sorry, I think there was a misunderstanding. I only wanted the cases of the last month, not the year."
He slowly shoved one of the boxes filled with a hundred cases back toward the receptionist, a smile plastered on his face.
The resentful, old, and haggard woman slowly looked up from her newspaper, as she narrowed her eyes annoyedly, and shoved back the box.
"Those are the cases of the last month."
Nox shoved back.
"That can't be"
His smile cracked lightly.
"But it is," She shoved back as well, as a aterie seemed to bulge at the side of her head.
"There must be a mistake," Nox rebuked, his eyes half closed, hiding their golden luster, something he had trained himself to do to lessen their burden.
The old hag pushed back again. "There is none!"
In the end, he walked the halls carrying four boxes stacked high above him, slowly balancing towards Recks and the guy in yellow.
Seeing the four boxes, both showed very different reactions.
The boy in yellow looked surprised as he muttered. "How can so many potential Daoists simply disappear?
While Recks looked similarly surprised as he muttered. "Isnt this too little?"