Angel Monarch

Chapter 183: The Spy

Sera spent a good while talking and teaching basic leader mannerisms to Cassandra. As it turned out she was a great person to talk to, at least when you don't trigger her competitive personality, which wasn't easy.

Whenever Sera brought up a topic, Cassandra always had to find a way to one up her. It should've been annoying to most people, but Sera just laughed it off, not trying to fight her.

Eventually she left her mansion with a promise that David will come over tomorrow to teach her more. With a grateful expression Cassandra made her maid lead her out. The small hateful woman was much friendlier this time around, which confused Sera a bit, but she didn't care enough to ask about it.

She walked around the camp for a while longer. The organization was truly abysmal, it took her nearly fifteen minutes to find her assigned housing.

She moved forward and reached for the door. It was already open and inside the lights were on. The whole house was one large room. It had a shower in the corner, a small kitchen area, a large chest and a double-sized bed. There was also a small dining table, where currently Frank was seated.

He was eating some kind of soup and Sera spotted mushrooms in it. She wasn't too surprised by his appearance, but she was still dubious by who he was, or what he wanted.

Slowly she walked towards the table and sat in the other seat. He looked up from his soup with a mischievous smile, then pushed the soup away.

His appearance hadn't changed since the meeting, but everything else seemed to be different. The insanity had fully disappeared from his eyes, while he sat with a straight back and comfortable expression. He seemed to be much more serious and even a bit reverent.

"So, Frank... if that's your name... Who are you exactly?" He chuckled a bit nervously.

"I'm indeed Frank and I'm a friend of your friend!" As he spoke he made show of turning his watch off. Sera followed suit and waited him to further explain.

"First things first, it is an honor to finally meet you, My Lady. Lilith spoke a lot about your beauty and bearing, but words couldn't even come close to describe the reality!" He said a few more compliments, but at that point Sera's mind was already somewhere else.

"Is Lilith here?" She asked, but Frank just shook his head.

"She is currently residing in New Constantinople. The United Front actively tries to dismantle the Angelic Order in the city, but a lot of civilians had already joined our cause! Sadly we have to take the city, before it can be done on a city-wide scale!"

Sera nodded along, then absentmindedly began eating the leftover soup. It tasted good enough and it did have mushrooms in it. After eating all of it she looked at a Frank, who was awkwardly smiling.

"How much do you know?" He seemed to breath a sigh of relief as he answered the question.

"Lilith told me about going against the Federal Alliance and the United Front. I also know that we will make our move by the New Year. I know of the Angelic Order's real purpose and I know about what we will face along the way!"

Sera looked at him with her usual emotionless expression, which made Frank a bit uncomfortable. Suddenly out of nowhere she laughed a bit, then said, "Well, that's great. I haven't got the slightest clue what we will face along the way, so at least someone knows!"

Frank didn't know what to say to that, but Sera didn't give him time anyway.

"So, what's your purpose in this camp and campaign?" Suddenly he sat a bit straighter and answered in a deathly serious monotone.

"I and my team are spies and messengers in this camp. I have no affiliation with any other city-state, so after the siege I will stay stationed here, and there is even the possibility for me to get control of New Constantinople... if Cassandra doesn't want it of course."

The change in his demeanor was a bit abrupt, but Sera didn't ask about it, instead she just smiled widely and said, "Oh believe me, she wants nothing do with leadership!"

Frank looked curious, but she didn't elaborate. She turned silent for a few seconds. While looking outside she asked another question.

"Since you have been here much longer than me, tell me about the others! Let's see how good of a spy you really are!"

A small trial of sweat appeared on Frank's face, but he kept his, way too serious composure.

"Who should I start with?"

"Jill, the Death Knight." Answered Sera. Frank was about to pull up the information he gathered of her, when he realized that the watch was turned off. With a bit of embarrassment he placed his hands back on the table, then began speaking from memory.

"She is a strong ascended and very honorable. Her ability has to do with empowering people who have made some kind of vow to her. She has a team of six people, three man and three woman. Also, she uses a large black greatsword and her black armor is really tough as well. Her whole team has the same colored weaponry and similar armors, they call themselves the Black Crusaders!"

Sera nodded along, but there was something she didn't like.

"Anyone could get empowered if they make a vow to her? What kind of vow, and how powerful is the buff?" For some reason Frank seemed to blush a bit, and Sera soon realized why.

"Well... She gives their weapons a deadly aura and in turn they empower that same aura on her own weapon... Not everyone can make a vow to her, as far as I know it needs to come from the heart... As for the vow those six had made... They are married!"

Sera's eyes went a bit wide, this definitely wasn't something she had expected.

"So... She has a harem?" She asked not expecting to receive an answer, but Frank spoke anyway. "No, they are in a polygamous relationship as far as I know..."

They both stayed silent after that, the atmosphere was really awkward, for Frank at least. Sera on the other hand was just curious about how a seven-way marriage could've functioned.

Eventually Frank couldn't hold out any longer and he began speaking about the other ascended leader...

"Dwight is a bit of a mystery. During my time here nobody could tell me what his powers are, and he never showcased any feat. He has four ascended under his command all of them just as bad or even worse than him. They probably know what his powers are, but they would never tell it to anyone."

Sera payed attention to his every word.

"I suggest to be careful with him. From the previous interaction he might seemed to be stupid and wrathful, but he is much more cunning than that. You surprised him back there, but that probably won't happen again. The worst part is that we have no idea what his goal is!"

Sera nodded, not hiding her interest in this topic.

"Does he have any known affiliation with someone important, or did he had any shady meetings while living here?" Asked Sera, but Frank just shook his head.

"No, nothing... The strangest thing is that he doesn't seems to do anything. He never goes out to have fun with his team. He just walks around seemingly without purpose or destination in mind."

That did seem odd. Sera had no idea who this Dwight was, or what he wanted, but she decided to follow Frank's advice and be careful with him.

"Now that we are done with the boring stuff, let me ask the most important question. What the fuck was that act back in the meeting?" She asked it with a smile.

Frank's head turned red like a tomato and he couldn't meet her eyes.

"That... That's a side effect of my power... Every now and then my personality drastically changes... And he hates mushrooms for some reason..."

Sera laughed loudly and strangely enough she actually felt an ounce of joy in her usually empty heart. It seemed like this scenario was just so stupid that even her hollowness couldn't resist it.

After laughing for nearly five minutes, they talked a bit more, then she sent Frank away.

So much happened today and there was still so long to the end of this campaign. Sera looked outside at the dark sky. Up there a small falling star seemed to move across the sky for a moment.

Seeing that caused a small chuckle to escape her lips. While still looking up at the night sky, she whispered to herself, "Goodnight..."

She then proceeded to take a quick shower. The faucet could only be turned off and on, which meant it had no hot water, not like she would've used anything else other than freezing cold.

She had no idea why, but after dying and coming back to life so much, the cold became a comfort for her.

When she was done, she climbed under her covers and quickly fell asleep.