Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Blacken
I know the Trailsverse has a ludicrous amount of characters in each saga, and without further ado, Chapter 0: Character Introductions has been posted along with this chapter!
Its current status is up to the end of chapter 23. I will update this periodically.
Further down the line, there will be a similar page for Naoto's status screen, but this won't be put in for a while, as the system won't be used much in Vol 1.
Do you guys also want a harem page list? I currently post this section down at the author's comments after the chapter. Let me know!
Don't forget to drop those power stones!
*
The next day.
Roer.
Despite the imminent attack from the monster swarm that appeared at the barrier yesterday, its citizens could still be seen bustling about their daily lives. They didn't show fear, as the result had quickly spread throughout, knowing that the giant wolf had been slain.
Similar to the Zeiss Central Factory in Liberl, one of Roer's main attractions was the escalator unit built closer toward the further end of the city. This effectively connected Roer's upper half to its bottom half. It was literally a two tiered city.
And all the way in the back of this city was definitely its most dominant building, equivalent to the size of a giant castle. Two letters could be seen plastered on the front end, reading RF. The letters were while its backdrop was plastered red. This of course, was none other than the headquarters of the Reinford Group. This building belonged directly to the Reinford family.
The RF group was one of the most industrious companies known in the continent, let alone being one, if not, the top tier industry in Erebonia. They had power, wealth, you name it. Lots of machines seen in use around Erebonia came from the Reinford group development teams.
Further toward the top of this extremely large building complex was its executive suite. Rooms further down were split up depending on department a worker was in, as it was split into four main departments.
As for the executive suite, despite the day having just started, a sole person could be seen at its large desk toward the back. The space in front of the desk was largely empty, which allowed for multiple guests or workers to come in and report if needed. There was a table and a relaxation area off to the side, allowing one to look down to the rest of Roer, should they need a break. And yet, this person seated at the desk of this executive suite could be seen typing constantly on one of her laptops, to which she had multiple of. Not only that there were a couple phones that would ring every so often as well.
This figure appeared to be a woman. Not reaching the middle aged status yet, but more toward her late twenties, early thirties. And even then she still appeared very beautiful. She had blonde hair that parted to the side, and was pretty short. Sporting green eyes, she was wearing thin red framed stylish glasses. In fact, her overall image acted as if she had been styled by a professional. Her dress was mostly a white skirt with a green undershirt, sectioned off into a navy blue pattern.
She was the spitting image of a fancy lady. Not fancy akin to that of nobles, but stylish to the point where any man would fall for her.
This woman was the current chairman of the Reinford Group, Irina Reinford. The very same mother of one of the leading heroines in the cold steel saga, Alisa Reinford. It was still in the middle of the week. It wasn't even time for breakfast, and yet, she was already slammed with work as the chairman. After typing quickly on her laptop for a few moments while hanging up another call, Irina finally laid back in her chair, and stretched out her arm.
"It's only been five years since the Transcontinental Railroad opened for public use. I'd thought we entered a lull for iron and steel, but the demand for them are even higher than before...And these requestors, a lot of it is stemming from those Erebonian nobles and the military. Something is definitely on the rise here.", Irina said to herself.
"Opportunists can be like that, Irina. They look for rare chances to strike, and back out before the the bubble bursts open.", An aged voice said, only for the door to open on the far end that lead to Irina's. Before long, an old white haired man appeared. He could be seen wearing light leather tan pants and a sky blue long shit with a black undershirt.
"Father.", Irina said, welcoming the man. "How many times do I have to tell you that people without appointments cannot enter here?", Irina retorted.
'Gahaha, you may now be Reinford's acting chairman, but I am still one of its predecessors, Irina my dear. I can go to any floor as I please. Besides, it's time to have breakfast. I didn't come alone.", The aged man said. Of course, this man was Irina Reinford's father, Gwyn Reinford. He had retired and passed his position onto Irina, and is enjoying a leisurely life now.
"Mama!", A happy voice suddenly resounded in her office, only for a small figure to appear beside Gwyn. She appeared no younger than two to three years of age, wearing a frilly red sailor outfit. Her hair was reaching the point of developing pigtails, tied at each side with two flower-like ribbons. Seeing this little child appear, a rare smile formed on Irina's face. She decided to close her laptop for now, and stood up, approaching the two.
Seeing Irina come over, a smile bloomed on the little girl's face, and quickly rushed up to her. Irina bent down, and took the little girl into her own arms.
"It's time for breakfast.", The little girl replied happily to her mother.
"Thank you, Alisa. I just had a pause in my current workload, so I have a few moments to spare. "He" wouldn't happen to be with you guys now, would he?", Irina asked as her demeanor changed a bit.
"So cold. You just had to ask that in front of our lovable daughter.", A fourth voice echoed, soon revealing the figure of that of another man. This one appeared more young. He used to sport darker hair, but it was slowly turning white. His current outfit was designed more to be of a professor than a worker at the Reinford. Which made sense after all, as he studied alongside Professor Schmidt, one of the few disciples of Professor Epstein, the founder of the Epstein Foundation.
This man who just showed up at the entrance to Irina's office beside Gwyn, Irina and Alisa, was none other than Franz Reinford. Irina's husband and father of Alisa Reinford, who was the little girl in Irina's arms.
"So you were able to make it back in time. I thought you'd be gone at least for another week for your latest seminar.", Irina said to Franz, who scratched his head in response.
"You see, about that...", Franz tried to say.
"About what?", Irina's eyes turned a bit colder, hearing him say that.
"You know well what, Irina. How could I deliver that seminar knowing was attacked out of the blue yesterday? I took the quickest flight I could to come back home!", Franz complained.
"Haha, don't be hard on him, Irina. He was far more worried about Alisa yesterday than now. Still, I didn't think the situation was handled by the military. The news said that giant wolf was defeated by one of our generals, Giliath Osborne.", Gwyn said, detailing the attack of yesterday.
"Of course I know that, who wouldn't by now? You weren't scared, were you, Alisa?"
"No!", Alisa happily responded back at Irina, enjoying her warmth.
"See? Nothing to worry about, Franz. You probably just hi-tailed it out of there to not work with that bastard.", Irina said, revealing a grin.
"Urgh...", Franz groaned, but didn't retort back at her. Likely confirming part of that was true. "Schmidt may know a lot, but his personality...", Franz continued to say, letting out a small complaint.
"Stop that bickering first thing in the morning. It's not healthy for Alisa here.. Let us go eat. You are hungry too, right, Alisa?", Gwyn asked, trying to stop Irina and Franz.
"I am. Can't we go, Mama?", Alisa asked, pouting a bit.
"Sure sure. Franz be sure to lock up the office okay? This is a rare pause for me for not having any meetings booked right now cause of that attack yesterday, so I will take full advantage of this.", Irina grinned at Franz as she ruffled Alisa's hair some more, causing Alisa to let out another giggle.
"Fine...Just be sure to not start without me, okay?", Franz complained, but didn't deny her. Irina then tossed her keys to her office at Franz.
"See you soon, Papa!", Alisa also responded happily. Before long, Irina, Gwyn and Alisa left Irina's office, leaving Franz behind, alone.
Yet, as soon as he went for the keys to lock up the door, Franz's expression suddenly turned weird, before a deeper voice echoed in the room.
"You're being tailed.", A deeper voice said, which came from Franz. This voice acted as if it was meant for someone to hear it, but now, Franz was the only one left in this office. Even so, Franz didn't react surprised. His tone turned higher once more before answering this deeper voice.
"So?", Franz replied, uninterested. "I am about to have a meaningful breakfast with my loving family. Do you think I will ever listen to the words of the like of you?", Franz scoffed at the deeper voice. As he did, his expression turned weird once again before the deep voice responded to him. And from this point onward, every time this deep voice started to speak, this expression would follow suit.
"Do you not have a little interest on someone looking to target your pitiful life?", The deeper voice scoffed at Franz.
"No. No one would dare target the leading figures of the Reinford Group so easily. It may not look like it but we have good security.", Franz replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Even if you're being tailed from one of those assassin guilds?", The deeper voice asked Franz.
"...An assassin? Someone placed a hit on me? No...They wouldn't place a hit on me. Don't tell me one of those groups discovered your trace?", Franz questioned himself. Before long, his pondering look vanished, only to be replaced by a grin.
"Why don't you see for yourself?", The deeper voice said, only to cause Franz to turn around toward the side. He then slowly approached one of the windows passed the relaxation area. Looking around a bit, way further out in the distance, his eyes constricted. It didn't take long for him to spot a figure on one of the rooftops...
Meanwhile, heading to that rooftop much farther away, one figure quickly appeared on top of it. This figure was mostly dressed in black, covering most of their face and body. But if one looked looked closely, they had the figure of that of a small child. A girl to be specific, one with lavender short hair and turquoise eyes.
Seeing herself arrive far away, her attention quickly turned toward the Reinford Group building, toward a specific room toward the top. Despite where one would have difficulty seeing anything inside this room, her eyes could see it clearly. She saw a figure of a man happily chatting away with three other figures.
"So this person is my next target?", The girl uttered softly, continuing to observing this man for a bit. If one traced her eyes, they were currently on none other than Franz.
In the next moment, another shadow swooped down, fully clothed and face hidden, just like the girl.
"Kreuger. You've arrived.", The older voice said. revealing that to be of a man.
"Yes, senior. I did not think this next target would be someone of that much importance. But to target the Reinford family...", The girl said, revealing herself to be Kreuger.
"We do not question our suppliers. Should they have a request of the Moonlight Horse, we shall act accordingly. I specifically placed you on this mission because I trust your talents. And our payment has already been accepted. Besides Franz is no ordinary fellow. Our leader was definitely firm on that part.", The older figure said to Kreuger.
"Acknowledged.", Kreuger responded.
"Good luck, Kreuger.", The older figure said, before vanishing once more.
As for Kreuger, she turned her head back toward the room where Franz was, only to see that he was alone now. And yet, she felt something off. In the next moment, Kreuger saw Franz approach his window. Looking around for a bit, Kreuger saw Franz slowly turn his head toward her. Almost on que, he acted as if he had a straight path of sight right at her.
"!?", Kreuger stayed silent, seeing Franz staring right at her. Even so, she felt weird, as it lasted for only a moment. She could even see Franz grinning at her, which caused a cold sweat to drip down her spine.
After that, Franz turned around, only to vanish from the window. Kreuger felt her breath turn still, unable to gasp for air for brief moment. Her composure then returned to normal quickly after.
"...Franz Reinford...", Kreuger uttered softly, seeing Franz's disappearing figure.
*
o.o
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Aht
Aht Don't forget those power stones!
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