Four days after Kael and Any's disappearance, a young man—no older than 23—could be seen walking cheerfully toward his workplace.
He had long brown hair, deep green eyes, and a completely carefree demeanor.
At first glance, he looked like just another government employee…
But in reality, he worked for the Transcendent Guardians.
His name?
Simple.
Jack Foulstep.
Or as his coworkers called him:
Foolstep.
Jack arrived at the Eighth Department's facility like any other day and headed straight to his office, completely ignoring the security staff at the entrance—as he always did.
He walked past every single coworker without greeting anyone.
Not even his superior, Grimmoire, who was busy organizing matters related to Vanguard's announcement in three days, was spared from Jack's total disregard.
Why did the "cheerful clown" of the Eighth Department act like this?
For absolutely no reason.
He simply didn't feel like greeting anyone.
And by his own will, he wasn't going to.
That alone told you exactly what kind of person Jack was.
About five minutes after arriving and sorting a few things in his office, the devil himself appeared at the door…
Or Grimmoire, if you prefer.
He walked in and sat down across from him.
—Jack, you son of a bitch, do you have the letter I told you to prepare for Aether?
—No.
The jester replied with complete disinterest.
—I told you to at least have it ready by today, you know —Grimm said, his annoyance visible even through his mask— That salary of yours is starting to look decorative. Maybe we should lower it a bit?
Grimm didn't need to say anything else.
The moment he mentioned salary, Jack seemed to switch on.
—It'll be fully written by 5.
Those were the words that came out of the clown's mouth.
—Perfect.
Grimm replied before leaving the office, a satisfied smile hidden beneath his mask.
—"Looks like I'll actually have to do some work…" —Jack sighed.
Today was going to be a heavy day.
—Luckily, the goat named Jack already had his schedule planned out.
And even though about 72% of it consisted of doing absolutely nothing, there were still a few key points:
Handling the PCR (Real Combat Test) for both Grettel and Mark, the two almost-official new members of the Eighth Department.
Giving them their nicknames (and yes, this is extremely important).
Taking care of what Autor told him yesterday.
Three simple things Jack could deal with today.
But for now…
He just had to pretend he was working.
Before long, it was 10 a.m., and unfortunately, Jack had to end his four-hour-long "break" of doing absolutely nothing, since Grimm informed him it was time to begin the PCR.
Jack boarded a helicopter at the facility's helipad.
Along with him were Rhys Solstice, Elara Symphony, Grettel Morningstar, Mark Lancer, Grimmoire, and several other officials from the Eighth Department.
The helicopter landed in the Dravenhal Range, a massive mountain chain located in the High Drakenhold district—a neighboring district to Aldebaran—where the Seventh Department of the Transcendent Guardians was stationed.
In fact, within this mountain range, there was a special field used for top-secret military testing by the TG.
This was explained by Elara to Grettel and Mark.
Grettel listened with her usual calm and lack of enthusiasm, while Mark looked far more curious.
—And how was this place created, Miss Elara? —the young Lancer asked with interest.
—Well, Marky, this area of about 50 hectares is hidden thanks to the ability of one of the Seventh Department's members—the Virtue of Scarlet Rise—
—That's enough, Elara.
A firm, authoritative voice cut her off.
—He'll meet Scarlet in person soon enough. Any further explanation right now would be unnecessary.
Elara simply nodded and complied with her superior's order.
Jack, for his part, was grateful.
His head was already starting to hurt from all the yapping coming from the "gremlin" and "sparky."