In the Office of the Authority

Grimace sat down in front of the entrance to the Governor’s office. His monthly report was about due, and as always he was prepared for it. Due to him being assigned to Rumia for most of the month, he surprisingly did not have too much to talk about.

He ran through a few possibilities in his head, thinking of what exactly would be the best things to say. He knew that he didn’t need to impress Rebecca, but just assure her that he was doing a good job.

As he thought, the door to the waiting room opened. A girl with a strawberry blonde ponytail, and a tight-fitting blue dress. She carried a massive battle axe over her shoulder, not too dissimilar to Grimace’s own scythe. Grimace knew this girl.

If he was the Judge of Oscur, she was the Executioner. She held a stoic expression on her face as she sat down right next to Grimace.

“Good day, Yuzu,” Grimace said. “Back from Loura?”

“Yes, I am,” Yuzu responded, not giving Grimace even a second look. “The City of Love is not as lovely as you’d think.”

“They still don’t have a new governor?” Grimace asked.

“Yes. The candidate is still considered ‘unready’, whatever that means.”

Grimace wondered at the thought. That may pose an issue for that Adelyn girl, but it was likely not his concern.

“Did you see anything interesting?” Grimace asked, mostly out of curiosity. He did have missions outside of the city, but it was far less common for him to go out instead of Yuzu. He was more of an internal protector than an external manager.

“Loura has good food,” Yuzu said. “People managing to get by despite struggling is impressive.”

“Are you going to suggest we aid them?”

“No. We’ve already got our hands full with the lockdown, and I think we’re siphoning too much money from Pugna anyways. We have bigger problems to worry about.”

Grimace felt a little bit bad. However, this lockdown was demanding quite a bit of attention on their part. As much as he would like to get the other city out of their own crisis, there was little he could do.

The door suddenly opened, and a maid stepped outside.

“The governor will see both of you, now,” the maid said. Grimace and Yuzu both stood up and walked into the office.

Rebecca’s office was always quite impressive. Grimace noticed she tinkered a lot, and a lot of the machines could be seen on shelves at her office. There were a lot, but it was quite neat, all the machines were sorted by shape and sizes. It was more like a museum than a workshop if anything.

There was a red carpet that led towards her very large desk. The desk had multiple devices on it that she was seemingly in the middle of tinkering with. Their boss sat in the center of it all, pushing up her glasses and looking at them.

“You two can have a seat,” Rebecca suggested, gesturing to two chairs on one side of the desk. Both Yuzu and Grimace made themselves comfortable before looking at the governor.

“Yuzu, report,” Rebecca said.

Yuzu stood up and began speaking.

“Governor, the City of Loura has not been doing too well. They’re still lacking in a new governor and the Lovebird still does not feel fit to appoint the current leading candidate,” Yuzu said. “This has caused unrest that we cannot currently handle right now, for we are currently in our own situation with the lockdown.”

“I presume their support for the capital will also not be substantial, then?”

“Yes. It is best we not force them, lest we strain our relations. I have already had to deal with some offenders myself.”

Grimace listened to the two discuss, and frowned. Crime was comparatively lower in the capital compared to everywhere else in the country, so he was never involved much in the crime rates of other cities. He hoped one of the great cities could get their act together soon, or that the lockdown would end so he can properly help.

“Very well,” Rebecca said. “My apologies for sending you off again so soon, but I have another task for you.”

“What is it?” Yuzu asked.

“You are to travel to Verdant, immediately. I wish to retrieve one of Custos’ inmates, and transport him to the capital,” Rebecca explained.

“Who might that be?”

“His name is Kaos, I’ve gotten news of an incident that happened in Verdant. A breach of containment so to speak.”

“Is the situation resolved?” Yuzu asked.

“Thanks to the efforts of some young adventurers, but the incident has me concerned. I appreciate Custos’ efforts to hold dangerous beasts, but I feel that this incident demonstrates a security risk.”

Grimace listened intently. He also was not familiar with the workings of Verdant necessarily, though he guided Adelyn and her friends to that location. He wondered how they were doing.

“So, you are asking for the creature to be moved here? How will that work?”

“He has a special holding container,” Rebecca answered Yuzu. “You, and a team, will have to transport the entire container to the capital. In which I will hook it up to PASCAL, and we will secure him from there.”

“I see. I will do my best then,” Yuzu bowed.

Rebecca then turned towards Grimace.

“Grimace, report.”

Grimace and Yuzu changed positions, with Yuzu sitting back down in her chair and Grimace taking his own stand. He bowed to Rebecca and looked up at her.

“I have not been able to glean much, outside of my tasks related to Rumia. She has been living comfortably, though she seems quite insistent on escaping the city.”

“For her own sake, you have prevented her, yes?”

“Yes.”

Grimace, at least personally, had not seen any direct attempts for Rumia’s escape. He always monitored her when he could, so there was likely little direct opportunity while he was present at least.

“What about Anise’s results on the girl?” Rebecca said. “She has to have come up with something, yes?”

“She has, actually,” Grimace said. “You were right, that girl seems to glow for a reason.”

Grimace took out a folded sheet of paper. He began to unfold it into a larger and larger piece, with a massive graph contained on it. Rebecca seemed surprised at the massive paper, before it reached the floor.

“That’s certainly a paper.” Rebecca said.

“Quite,” Grimace said. “There is a reason why it’s this big. That girl seems to radiate energy, like a constant magical explosion that’s contained within her being. This essentially functions as infinite energy.”

“Infinite energy? That’s insane!” Yuzu exclaimed.

“It makes me wonder how she keeps herself together,” Rebecca said. “However, my suspicions were confirmed now. I suppose it would be a good time to begin the project.”

“Project?” Grimace asked.

“Ah, yes. It’s important, I am just going to need you to keep the girl safe, as you have been doing.”

“What exactly are you planning?” Grimace asked, somewhat out of concern, but also out of curiosity.

“I don’t think I need to overstate the implications of a girl that can produce an endless amount of energy. The only issue would be unlocking her potential,” Rebecca responded. “It’s quite the important asset.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Grimace said. “I will do my best, then.”

“Thank you, I can always rely on you. Also, keep Anise experimenting on her, that entire situation was quite the convenient set up for us,” Rebecca added.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“The two of you are dismissed, thank you for your time.”

The pair got up, and did their bows. Grimace was mostly satisfied with the appreciation he had received from Rebecca. He knew what his task was, and he would keep on serving it out dutifully. He and Yuzu began to walk away, but as Yuzu left the room, Grimace paused.

There was something that he believed was missing. Something that he was curious about. The murder case that he was taken off of a few days ago.

As the arbiter of justice in the capital, he found that the prevention of his ability to do his work in that one case was odd, to say the least. He did not necessarily mind his task of guarding Rumia, but it felt like his duty was being shifted.

“One more thing, governor,” Grimace turned back to her. “What is the progress on the murder case a few days back?”

“Things do not move as quickly when you have other duties to take care of, Grimace,” Rebecca responded, after a short pause to think. “It is being worked on, but it will take time.”

“Then why not allow me to assist?” Grimace asked. “After all, if this case is personal to you, then I assume that you would wish to get it solved as fast as possible.”

“Grimace,” Rebecca said, impatiently tapping her finger on the desk. “I do not think I need to repeat this but your task is incredibly important. I would rather not have you distracted when these are matters I can handle myself.”

“...I see.”

That answer did not sit right with Grimace. However, he felt like there was little reason to argue against the governor. With that, he stepped out of the office.

Soon after, he stepped outside. He walked to his car, as PASCAL greeted him kindly as he entered into the passenger’s seat.

“Do you wish for me to drive you home?” PASCAL said, forming in the center of the car.

“...Actually, give me a second.”

Grimace stepped back out of the car. Then, he began walking. He knew going by foot would take quite a while, but he wanted to make sure that he was alone. His steps pattered along the ground as he headed further and further away from the government building.

The building in the distance faded away, and was instead replaced by the moonlit alleyways of the downtown. Quiet, as usual, but not unnerving.

After a good while, he turned and saw his destination. A damp alleyway. The alleyway where the murder of Evaine Onsen occurred.

He looked at the ground, and it seemed the guards had dispersed relatively quickly from the scene. Nobody else was here besides him, and the faint outline that the body left on the ground. Things were cleaned up quite quickly.

Grimace took a step into the dark alleyway, the tall walls of the buildings surrounded him in a suffocating presence.

However, he had decided that he needed to know what happened here, or else what kind of a Judge would he be?