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Hearing Nicole\'s declaration, Guidance and I looked up and up and.... well, up.

Damn, this was really high up...

"Impressed?!" Nicole bragged in a way that it was as if her cuffs weren\'t even on. "This is just the most important building of them all! And I\'ll be a part of it too someday!"

"Only if you behave and actually do your paperwork," Lewis sighed at the proud woman before turning to us. "Apologies. I assure you that not all Marqueans are like miss Alset here."

"Well, yeah," the captive Nicole snorted up in pride. "Not everybody\'s a genius of my caliber."

"A genius that still cannot pass the Academic Admission test then," the Academic chuckled. "And here I was trying to help you save face."

"Wai-Wha- How do you know that?!"

At Nicole\'s stuttering, Lewis simply flashed a knowing grin and replied, "I\'m an Academic. I know who gets admitted and who tried to enter. And I\'ve been seeing your name pop up on my desk for years now."

"Wait, what?!"

The shock on Nicole\'s face almost made me let out a singular laugh even as Guidance nudge me by the ribs, her signal obviously one that was telling me to not cause a scene. Still, the banter she had with Lewis was just comedy gold at times. The straight man and the funny man... They looked like they\'d belong in a comedy series so long as one forgot that they were actually living breathing humans now.

"What, you think the proctors are in charge of passing or failing a prospective Academic?" Lewis scoffed as we found ourselves following him through the administrative building\'s doors. "No matter how hard you aced your written or practical exams, an Academic will always have the final say in passing or failing a would-be colleague."

"What, so you\'re saying that the reason why I\'m always being called a failure is because someone is out to get me?"

Oof... That was a brutal line to say so nonchalantly like that. I did guess that she had some deep self-confidence issues that she was just hiding under a veneer of bravado like Shen was doing, and this kind of self-deprecating demeanor would be-

"Hah! So clearly, someone\'s already trying to stop me from overshadowing their position!"

...Or maybe she was just that so self-absorbed that it didn\'t matter what anyone said. Still, the cutscene depicted her as a depressed failure drinking away her sorrows. A misdirection then?

Shrugging at my own thoughts, I let Lewis usher us into the main building itself, his chained and cuffed captive still walking beside him while the rest of my party walked in a way that almost prioritized Shizu\'s safety. After all, we were technically in the heart of the enemy territory, even if said enemy was looking to be more and more only hostile on paper as time went on.

Also, there was this incessant clacking going on inside the buildings. It even echoed against the sleek glass walls surrounding us, only making the sound worse as time went on.

"So this is their equivalent to the Imperial Palace," Shizu mumbled aloud, her neck craning up towards the seemingly infinite number of floors above us. "How in the Deep are they even climbing that far up?"

"It\'ll take days to even reach the top," Shen wondered aloud beside the princess. "Don\'t even know if my legs would survive dat."

Raising an eyebrow, I elected to follow where Lewis went as he went to what almost looked like a reception desk complete with secretaries punching in stuff to what looked like a typewriter. And judging by the constant clacking echoing across the building, I could only assume that I was correct in my assessment.

"Academic Lewis Marc reporting in a petty crime," the rotund man casually declared. "Miss Nicole Alset has been caught trying to sell her potential innovation without a permit."

"As if you all were even paying attention to what I was making," Nicole grumbled.

While that was happening, I turned to look at Shade and Maruki, the two already visibly eyeing the entire premises in a way that only bodyguards would do. From their eye movements alone, I could tell that they were looking for a viable exit strategy as soon as things went south.

Well, hopefully, it wouldn\'t come to that.

"I see," the receptionist hummed. "Very well. The detention and emancipation center is up on floor eighteen."

"I don\'t need emancipation!" Nicole blurted out. "I need recognition!"

I couldn\'t help but let out a small smile of entertainment at Nicole\'s constant grandstanding. While Shen was like that at first, the kid had considerably mellowed out after the whole raid debacle back in the Island Sanctuary. Our mechanic was much more composed now. Though she was still a kid, as was evident to how hard her eyes shone with every turn of her neck in this city, her former bravado had been toned down, replaced with what almost felt like her trying her best to act her actual age.

Yep... and I just remembered that she was supposed to be fifteen already.

"Yes, you do," Lewis sighed. "I\'m already taking up a lot of my time with your case, not to mention ferrying potential sellswords to be hired by the City-State." He then turned towards us as a party. "And as for you all, if it\'s jobs you want, you can talk to reception here. They\'ll be able to match a fitting job to any of your shown skillsets."

"Thank you for the help," I slightly nodded. "So I suppose this is it then?"

"For the time being," the Academic smiled. "I still need to process miss Alset here, and-"

"No! Not again!"

"Eherm... As I was saying, if you all will be working for us for the time being, then I expect us to cross paths once more in the near future," Lewis nodded in respect. "So until then, best of luck to your endeavors."

"No! I refuse!" Nicole yelled aloud, her eyes darting towards us. "Please, take me with you! Anything to avoid-"

"Oh quiet, miss Alset," Lewis groaned. "You\'ve been through processing dozens of times by now to know that it\'s nothing but paperwork and-"

"But it\'s so boring!" the detained cried out, her eyes pleading to us as she let out one last call for help. "No! Take me with you! Nooo!!!..."

And with that, the Academic turned around and dragged Nicole off to the eighteenth floor of this building, the woman behind him still kicking and screaming as Lewis took her with him into... was that an actual elevator? Did elevators even exist back in the-

"So what\'s the plan?"

I was taken back to reality as Shade\'s voice addressed me from behind. Before I knew it, the party had already congregated around me, all of them looking to me for direction even though being in Marquee was all Shizu\'s idea in the first place.

"Uhh, what?"

"Going with Lewis\'s plan was your idea," Guidance pointed out, her arms still casually wrapped around me even though her tone went back to its usual sarcastic tone. "And we\'re now in Centrax. What next?"

"Well, we\'re here to sightsee, right?" I chuckled, hoping that my vague wording would catch on. "We need the money anyways. Why not do both?"

"Sightsee?" Shizu questioned with a frown. "Aren\'t we supposed to-"

"Nope, we\'re here to sightsee," I winked at her, hoping that her actual political brain would finally kick in. "And I refuse to give you money to spend on your own."

"Ehh?!" the princess whined. "But why?!"

"Uhh, because you spent it all?" Shen scoffed. "I won\'t even try ta stop ya anymore too. If ya want Chips, ask Moriya."

"That\'s... surprisingly mature of you, Shen," I complimented her with a smile.

"Huh?! Ya think I was being childish?!" she quickly glared at me. "I didn\'t survive in da scrapyard without being street smart with what few Leafs I had."

"True," I hummed in agreement. "Still, are we all in agreement to get some jobs?"

"I\'m fine with it," Shade knowingly shrugged. "As you said, it\'s the best way to see the sights while also making some Chips."

"I agree!" Maruki finally spoke out, the volume of his voice loud enough to pierce through the ever-present clacking happening around us. "That way, we shall be of better use to the- Shizu!"

"I\'m fine with it as well," Guidance scoffed. "So long as we get to do some, well, stuff in the meantime, of course."

Giving my tentative girlfriend a smile, I turned my attention to the final two party members that hadn\'t answered yet. Well, Shen already did, if the fuming nod she gave me was any indication of it. Meanwhile, Shizu was still visibly thinking, her brows furrowed before her expression finally shifted to one of understanding.

"Oh, right!" she yelped aloud with a smile. "Let\'s do it for the adventure!"

....

...Huh?

Blinking, I watched as Shizu promptly strode forward with the energy of a curious child, her arms swinging wildly with each step before she looked at us from behind.

"You guys coming or what?"

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