NSLICE-00P immediately prioritized intel relevant to the primary directive, and so the group bid farewell to the Academy once again. They returned to Corvanus, and Princess Caecila led them to the Exploratores HQ. The Explorates HQ in Corvanus was not a single building like in Turannia, or even a compound like in Utrad; here, it occupied an entire street. There were multiple villas to house Exploratores, a large store for the purchase and sale of monster parts and magic cores, a hospital, a training facility, and a multi-storied office building solely for administration, among others. Princess Caecila led them to this building, where an assistant came to meet them.

“I apologize, Your Highness, but Magister Exploratores Appius requests to meet with NSLICE-00P and the Imperial Inquisitors in private.”

Princess Caecila frowned and raised an eyebrow.

“This is highly unusual, the Emperor himself has commanded me as the Amiciti Populi Elteni’s guide. I must ask the rationale for such a request?”

The assistant lowered their head.

“I apologize. The information he has is highly classified. He says he would require a direct order from the Emperor to share it with anyone else, even a member of the Imperial family.”

Princess Caecila stared at the assistant for a moment, then sighed.

“I will honor his request for the time being. Please inform him of my presence, and that the Imperial family wishes to personally ensure NSLICE-00P receives the highest hospitality.”

The assistant nodded.

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Princess Caecila glanced at NSLICE-00P one more time before the assistant opened the door for the group, and then led Princess Caecila to a guest room.

Inside, NSLICE-00P found a crowded office, covered in stacks of papers and scrolls. In the center of these stacks was a man with the light armor of an Exploratores, only polished to a shine and decorated with additional insignia. He also had the lower body of a snake, covered in green scales, much like Agedia’s. In fact, his facial features also resembled Agedia’s, or how they might have looked if she was a middle-aged man.

A comparison made easy by the fact that Agedia was sitting in front of his desk with a glass of wine in her hand. She glanced at them, sighed, and took another swig. The man raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve had quite a lot today, Agedia. My brother might throw a fit if he knew.”

She glared at him.

“Then don’t cause me any more stress.”

He smirked at her.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

He shook his head as she scoffed.

“Hello, allow me to introduce myself. I am Appius, Magister Exploratores per Corvanus.”

“Greeting: This unit is designated NSLICE-00P. It is nice to meet you.”

Ateia and Taog glanced around. Agedia shrugged so they stepped forward as well.

“Explora…um…Inquisitor Ateia Niraemia at your…um…nice to meet you.”

“Inquisitor Taog Sutharlan, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you all. Please, make yourselves comfortable.”

The group joined Agedia in front of the Magister Appius’s desk.

“Query: Magister Appius stated he had intel related to this unit’s primary directive?”

Magister Appius smiled.

“Getting right into it, huh? Well, yes, but there’s a problem. Most of these people I’ve never heard of, but there is one name I’m very familiar with. One Aulus Caedicius Niraemius.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered as the elevated mission success probability returned to previous levels. She had, in fact, still been including Ateia’s father in her list of persons of interest to reduce risk to Ateia, so it was only natural that the Empire treated him as part of her request.

Unfortunately, that meant that the intel was not, in fact, related to her primary directive.

Still, it was related to her friendlies’ own primary directives, and her protocols did dictate to assist friendly units whenever doing so would not interrupt with higher priority directives. Likewise, if the situation involved danger her major directive would also require action. In any case, she should remain to receive the intel for the time being.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Ateia, on the other hand, perked up.

“Request: Please transfer relevant intel and detail the complication.”

Magister Appius nodded.

“Well, the good news is that I know where he is…or rather, where he went.”

Ateia very nearly leapt out of her seat, but Taog preemptively placed his hand on her shoulder. She glanced at him and barely managed to contain herself. Magister Appius grinned at the exchange.

“The bad news is that I know why he went. Inquisitor Ateia, Inquisitor Taog, what are your current levels? 60s? 50s? You must be in the 40s at bare minimum if you're pursuing this, right?”

Ateia and Taog averted their gazes. Magister Appius sighed.

“Right. I would much prefer not to send you two into certain death, I doubt your father would appreciate that, Miss Niraemia.”

Taog raised an eyebrow.

“So you’re not going to tell us what happened to him?”

Magister Appius crossed his hands on his desk.

“See, the issue is not just your levels. The issue is…‘Aulus Caedicius Niraemius’ is currently on a mission that concerns the fate of the entire Empire, possibly the entire world. Thanks to my niece here, I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are not a threat. But I cannot permit any distractions to his mission. If you want to follow after him…you need to prove to me you’ll not only survive, but actively contribute to the fight.”

Taog glared at him.

“Even though we’re Inquisitors executing an Imperial order?”

Magister Appius nodded.

“The threat is that serious. I would resign before I allow him to fail. And…”

Magister Appius glanced at Ateia, then NSLICE-00P, and smirked.

“Your mandate is to assist NSLICE-00P with her mission. Tell me, is NSLICE-00P truly searching for Aulus Caedicius Niraemius? Or…is she including him as a favor for a friend?”

Ateia fell silent. Taog heaved a sigh.

“What exactly do you want us to do?”

Magister Appius shrugged.

“For now, train yourselves, get your levels up, maybe grab an enchanted artifact or twelve. My niece here can help you with that, and vouch for your skills when she feels you’re ready. Once she’s confident you won’t just die, I can clue you into the mission. Contribute to the cause and then I can happily send you after Mr. Niraemius.”

Ateia closed her eyes for a moment, clenching her fists, before she stood up. Taog glanced at her with an eyebrow raised. She opened her eyes, glanced at him, and nodded. She thought back to when they first met NSLICE-00P, when she dragged Taog out on a foolhardy plan that nearly got them both killed. She thought to NSLICE-00P’s battle with Uscfrea, how her friend had lost a hand in a fight Ateia had set her on (leaving aside the fact it had grown back shortly thereafter).

“I want to find my father, more than anything. But I don’t want to put everyone in danger in the process. So I’ll go, and become strong. Once I am, I’ll be back.”

Magister Appius nodded at her.

“Normally this is where I’d advise caution and patience but you’ll have Agedia with you, so you’ll be fine. My niece knows a thing or two about fighting. But do try not to get too entangled with the Court while you’re here. Politics scare me more than a dungeon, if I'm honest.”

Magister Appius winked at Agedia who snorted and poured herself another glass from a wine bottle on his desk. With that, NSLICE-00P’s group left the room, leaving Agedia behind for a moment. Agedia raised an eyebrow.

“Are you sure you don’t want to tell her the truth?”

Magister Appius raised an eyebrow.

“Feeling bad for the girl?”

Agedia shrugged.

“That, and isn’t it risky to have her poking around when she doesn’t even know who she is? Someone could take advantage of that.”

Magister Appius sighed.

“Yes, but now that she is here, with the Emperor’s backing, we can’t exactly send her away. And her name is now known across the North. She can no longer be hidden, so the only thing we can do is prepare her to protect herself as best we can. And until she’s strong enough, the safest thing to do is keep her in the dark. She can’t let something slip if she doesn’t know it to begin with.”

Agedia slowly nodded.

“Assuming no one else knows, either.”

Magister Appius shook his head.

“They don’t. No one we’re worried about would have left it alone all these years if they did. Well, I AM worried that you found out, but I suppose I should have known Tiberius would tell you eventually. You haven’t let it slip, right?”

Agedia glared at him.

“We’ve been careful. And I still haven’t forgiven you for keeping me in the dark”

Magister Appius shook his head.

“You know why I did.”

Agedia grabbed the bottle of Celestial wine and drank the last of it. Then she rose from her seat and slithered towards the door. She paused right before leaving.

“You’re going to protect her this time, right?”

Magister Appius frowned and nodded.

“With my life, if necessary.”

Out in the hallway, Ateia stopped and turned towards NSLICE-00P.

“...I’m sorry, Seero. I…kind of forgot you had my dad on your list as well. You must have been disappointed that he didn’t find any of your people.”

“Statement: Friendly Ateia is not at fault. Inclusion of friendly Ateia’s person of interest was mutually agreed upon as the safest course of action.”

Ateia nodded and then took a deep breath.

“Seero…I want to train myself, and grow stronger. But…I don’t want to hold you back from searching for your people. So…what are you going to do? If you need to, you can separate from us. We have Agedia too now.”

“Response: This unit will accompany friendlies Ateia and Taog on upgrade routines.”

Ateia blinked.

“Wait, really? You don’t need to keep researching at the Academy?”

“Explanation: As the primary directive is pending action by Imperial units, this unit finds it acceptable to redirect some resources to the major directive. In addition, a general increase in this unit’s magic-related knowledge base and capabilities may lead to progress on the major directive. This unit has acquired significant knowledge from recording the Imperial Mage’s Academy library that has yet to be tested and applied, and can do so concurrently with an upgrade routine. As a result, this unit calculates that assisting friendlies Ateia and Taog with their upgrade routine provides the greatest expected benefit out of all currently available actions, until one of the Imperial units is ready to report.”

Ateia blinked for a bit, trying to parse all that, before shaking her head. The important part…was that NSLICE-00P was coming with them. She smiled.

“Thanks, Seero. Honestly, I’d be very glad to have you with us.”

Taog stepped forward and nodded at that.

“Me too.”

“Acknowledged.”