"Besides, I love the kind of woman who can beat me absolutely senseless."
For some reason that comment really annoyed Tia, sure she would admit now that she had calmed down slightly that she had acted rude that one time, but Mac's apparent disinterest in her up until and after that point had been a bit much.
Then there was the state of his arm, while Mac's body was indeed 'sturdy' as he claimed, that still meant he would be in pain, yet he seemed more interested in some woman who had tried to kill him?
"Whatever."
Dismissing Mac's attitude and her own worry about him with a single annoyed word, Tia got ready to move on with their business relationship in a new and cold manner.
"Excuse me?"
Only Mac didn't want that, or like her attitude.
"What?"
Coming to a stop as Mac also stopped moving, Tia looked at her boss defiantly with her ears back.
"I said whatever."
Knowing full well there was more to that comment than she was willing to communicate, Mac got annoyed and started putting his full focus into the present situation as he scrutinised Tia's expression.
"I told you my body is fine, I have the privilege of not feeling pain and the break will be fully healed in a bit."
"Is that so?"
Seeing he hadn't found Tia's source of frustration, Mac dug deeper.
"Then is this about R3D?... While I admit I should've informed you of their existence earlier they won't ever hurt anything I take interest in."
"... I don't care about that… I also overreacted."
"I am sorry about that, I sincerely apologize."
Seeing Tia's mood somewhat improving and that she had been slightly bothered by how R3D had introduced themselves, Mac took the moment to apologize before moving on.
"But there's something else bothering you, otherwise you wouldn't be this annoyed right now, you're better than that."
Taking the time to do some long overdue introspection, Mac's enhanced processing came up with several reasons, though of what he came up wasn't worth going over or confirming.
"It's not your pay that's bothering you, you're not overly greedy. Then is it your pride?... Wait, are you upset that I don't give you any attention?"
Reading her expression as he talked, Mac unexpectedly wandered into something which got a reaction.
"I've been careful not to stare or overstep your boundaries…"
(Since when did I state my boundaries?... Wait, don't tell me.)
Thinking back to their previous exchanges, Tia remembered one time where she had chastised him out of her own embarrassment. Realising that might be the reason for Mac putting a healthy distance between them, Tia felt her face start to heat up.
"Then is it that I've overworked you? Would you like another vacation? Or perhaps should I-"
"No! That's okay, really, honestly!"
Putting a stop to Mac's ongoing monologue, Tia surprised herself with the level of her own voice and grabbed her ears and tried to hide her own face with them.
"... I'm not really mad anymore okay? So give me a second."
Calming her heart, Tia knew she needed to be sure and thus took a deep breath before she spoke.
"I'm just asking to be sure, but when you were brainstorming this morning, were you sitting in the corner because of something I said?"
"Yeah, of course. You told me I was harassing you when-"
"Okay, I got it, I understand!"
(You stupid! Idiotic! Imbecilic prude! Why couldn't you just accept his compliments earlier!?)
Screaming at her past self in her head, Tia saw confusion spread across Mac's face and knew she needed to say something and be honest for once.
"I really… I mean- this isn't…"
"Breathe. In… Then out again."
Finding himself smiling at Tia's panic, Mac helped her calm down and waited patiently for her to find her words.
"Okay…"
Taking a few more moments to breathe like Mac suggested, Tia found her courage.
"I am not really mad at you, not anymore. It turns out everything was just my own mistake and overreaction…"
"Okay, mind letting me in on all this?"
"N-no, not yet… Please give me some time, perhaps until you've dealt with the Red Claw?"
Still not ready, nor even sure what she needed to say, Tia asked for some time to set her feeling straight.
Seeing Tia going through quite a bit of internal struggle, Mac's face bloomed into a warm smile as he placed his hand on top of her head.
"That's completely fine. I'll be around this place for a while, so take your time."
Just seeing Mac's self confident smile was enough for Tia to settle on her answer, still, she hadn't found the confidence to voice that yet.
-
"Are you guys okay?"
Finally satisfied that Mac was gone, Liz turned back towards her little brother and Jack as she relaxed slightly.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Finding no issues with his body, Carl reported back to his sister with an annoyed expression plastered on his face.
"I am also fine, it seemed he didn't mean to harm us much with… Whatever power he used to restrain us."
While the sudden appearance and strange power of the outsider which called himself Mac had surprised Jack, he found his body to be fine afterwards.
"That wasn't magic, was it?"
Addressing the final member of their party, the mage Ula, Jack waited for her to join them in the courtyard as she left her hiding spot.
"No, I do not believe that was magic… Whatever power he used to restrain the pair of you, it didn't react with the mana in the air, it didn't draw from the lay lines either."
Giving her analysis of the events as she saw them, Ula found herself stumped at how Mac had restrained two of her teammates, and then there were the strange flying vehicles
"And the flying machines?"
"No, there were no signs of magic coming from them either… It seems that wherever Mac is from doesn't rely on magic, mana or even the lay lines to conduct miracles."
The very idea of flight without magic seemed utterly alien to the entirety of the Red claw, but the designs of the gunships seemed very familiar.
"Whatever those things were, they sure looked like that thing we encountered during the last monster surge."
Remembering their last sporadic deployment to hold back an onslaught of monsters, the ranger Dexter was reminded of the strange machine which had ultimately come to their aid and taken over the suppression of monsters.
Although they weren't much alike, the flying machines and that 'Lynx' carried similar looking weapons, furthermore, their displeased voices seemed mostly the same.
"You mean the mechanical 'Lynx' of that Red transport consortium? Yeah, I would agree. It makes sense why Mac was blacklisted from the guild then, a lot of adventurers from the Victoria dukedom were forced to go other places to find work thanks to them."
Sharing the opinion that Mac was linked with the Red transport consortium and correctly summarising the reason he was blacklisted from the adventurers guild, Ula didn't really see the logic in why Mac would need their help with something.
"If he has those machines at his behest then why would he need our help?"
"There's no way of knowing that unless we further associate with him, or at least go to hear him out on what he wants at that 'forge' of his…"
Strange appearance, power and reasons aside, Liz had found herself tantalisingly close to one of her greatest wishes, to obtain a weapon that could truly keep up with her immense strength was something she had dreamed of since she first held a sword. Now that Mac had proved it was possible, the temptation of finally obtaining such a weapon was hard for Liz to ignore.
"I don't like it, and I really don't like that Mac faller."
In contrast to his sister's interest Carl was against anything to do with Mac out of a principle. His senses told him that Mac's smile couldn't be trusted, and he wasn't about to dismiss that sensation when it had saved his ass countless times before.
"Agreed, also that location he wants to meet is way too isolated and out of the way, it reeks of an ambush."
Dexter was also of the opinion that going to meet Mac was a bad idea, if anything it seemed like a ploy to capture or attack them where people weren't looking.
"I think it might be prudent to at least go meet with Mac, if nothing else I would like to see this 'forge' of his."
Ula believed that meeting Mac again couldn't hurt, as it would be highly suspect for the Red claw to disappear after meeting with Mac she surmised that he wouldn't try anything underhandily. Whether they should accept his request to obtain a new weapon for Liz could be figured out when they heard what he wanted in return.
"I am also interested in meeting Mac again, but not enough to offer my opinion on it in any way. If nothing else it was nice to put a face to the outsider from beyond the stars."
With Carl and Dexter opposing further association with Mac, Jack remaining neutral while Ula and Liz at least wanted to meet him again before deciding further it appeared that the group were in a deadlock.
"... I'll go pick up my sword then, the maintenance should be done."
"Then I'll prepare supplies and inform a few of our associates what we're doing, if it is an ambush like I'm suspecting it would be good if some people knew where we were headed."
Only this wasn't a democratic decision, the Red claw followed their leader, so Carl and Dexter reluctantly started preparations to meet Mac the next day.
"... Thank you for doing this guys, I really appreciate it."
Seeing Carl and Dexter willing to help her with this although they personally objected to it made Liz break out into a warm smile.
"It's nothing boss, if you want to do this, then we're doing it. Simple as."
"Yeah, I know how much you've been searching for a weapon sis, if it's important to you, then it is important to me."
Also seeing where things were going, Jack and Ula started doing their own preparations. They would need to present their best tomorrow, whether they were walking into an ambush or not, so it was prudent to prepare.
(I really have the best party members… I need to be sure to repay that trust and effort.)
There used to be a time when Liz believed it would just be herself and her brother for the rest of her life, or until her brother found a significant other at least. Growing up it was just the two of them living in an orphanage, but as they started becoming adults their dragon bloodlines started showing themselves, far more violently in Liz than her brother. During that transition Liz found scared expressions everywhere she looked, her grown appearance and dragon features was something which inspired fear and so she prepared herself for a solitary existence.
Only that didn't end up happening. One by one her comrades appeared and refused to leave her alone, bringing colour back into her life.
(If Mac ends up endangering my party members I just need to end him.)
Although she disliked the rumor of her being a monster, Liz wasn't above using it to protect her friends.