Hearing Muka's words, Shizuka turned to Sergeant Faye with a look of confusion.
Sergeant Faye looked at the ground, her hands clenched into fist.
She felt a burning rage fill her.
While she hadn't been mentally "there" for the altercation, still being under the effect of Lexi Snacker's Influence Skill, Muka had given her a brief explanation of what had happened later.
As such, Sergeant Faye knew that if Muka hadn't intervened, she would have joined those eight military privates that Lexi's group had killed.
Due to this, Sergeant Faye now had her own version of Shizuka's "Vicky Blade".
She didn't know how, she didn't know when, but she WOULD find this "Lexi Snacker" and kill her to avenge her fallen comrades.
However, Sergeant Faye also didn't know anything about the politics of the Vampire Settlement.
And if the words of the Vampires from earlier, about how a Vampire Leader who had killed another had been forced to flee, killing Lexi might be…quite the complicated endeavor.
Muka turned her head to look at Shizuka.
"Also, calling Faye a "spy" is a bit inaccurate," she replied. "She's more like…an observer."
Shizuka narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"Really," she replied, a tone of skepticism in her voice, before she turned back to Sergeant Faye. "And just WHO are you 'observing', exactly?"
Sergeant Faye remained quiet for a second.
"There is…ANOTHER Vampire on the base," she eventually replied. "One who…was seemingly not sent by the Settlement. The closest way I could describe him is that he is a 'lost stray'. My primary mission on the base was to track down this individual, and make sure he doesn't do anything that could…reveal our existence to the Higher-Ups."
Muka nodded.
"Correct," she replied, causing Shizuka to turn back to her.
"This…'Stray' Vampire seems to know nothing about our ways," she continued. "And seeing as how Faye was able to deduce that there was a Vampire on the base while only being given the most basic of knowledge about us, it's obvious that he has no idea what he's doing. I'll admit, this does…trouble me, somewhat."
Shizuka's face scrunched up into a look of puzzlement.
'Another Vampire?' she thought in confusion. 'Just who on Earth-'
Shizuka's thought was abruptly cut off, and her eyes widened in surprise.
There was a certain student on the base, one who had been…quite strange by the base's standards…and who trouble seemed to follow him like a magnet.
"The 'Talen' boy," Shizuka replied in a low tone.
Sergeant Faye's face hardened.
"Correct," she replied in an equally low tone.
Muka let out a sigh, and leaned back into her throne.
"Given the fact that you were able to discern his identity so fast, it seems that I was right to be worried," Muka replied.
Shizuka adjusted her cap, a serious look on her face.
"That boy has been strange since the day he arrived," she replied. "He was the first student to ever reject the military's Level 1 Earth Ability Book, despite him being revealed to be incredibly weak."
Underneath her helmet, Muka's eyes widened slightly, part of Shizuka's words seeming to strike a chord with her.
Immediately, she leaned back forward, a significant degree of interest in her posture.
"'Incredibly weak'?" she asked in a surprised voice. "How weak?"
Shizuka raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"As weak as any other regular Human with no Ability," she replied. "Not only that, but his reflexes and reaction speeds were pitiful. Half the time, the boy looks so weak that a light breeze could knock him over."
Muka tilted her head in confusion.
That didn't sound anything like a Vampire.
Even the weakest of them could stand toe-to-toe with most average Humans, as far as physical strength was concerned.
It was then that Sergeant Faye cleared her throat, getting Muka's attention.
"In his defense, my Leader," Sergeant Faye replied. "Most of this is from seeing him during the DAY. And from the glowing commendations I'm always hearing from Sergeant Leo about his exploits in the Beast Weapons Class, it's highly likely that he is far stronger when not being weakened by the sun."
Shizuka's brow furrowed as she looked at Sergeant Faye, taking in her words.
'Weakened by the sun?' she thought.
Sure, she knew that Vampires and sunlight didn't mix, but from what she could remember, Vampires either burned at the very least, or burst into flames at the very worst while they were in direct sunlight.
"If that's the case, what about you?" she asked. "You seem to be able to walk around during the day just fine."
Sergeant Faye held up her right arm so that Shizuka could see it.
There, Shizuka noticed a strange, black ring located on her middle finger.
"I possess a special ring that allows me to remain unaffected by the detrimental effects of being in direct sunlight," she replied. "If I didn't have one, I might have to resort to walking around with an umbrella over my head like Student Talen does."
Sergeant Faye's words about Quinn needing an umbrella caused a chorus of snickers to be heard from the other Vampires.
Muka tilted her head again.
"Wait, I'm confused," she replied, causing the two Sergeants to turn to her. "You're saying that this 'Talen' boy was already showing the symptoms of being weakened by sunlight when he had arrived at your 'Base'? I thought you said he wasn't turned until the 'end of the first day of classes'?"
Shizuka's eyes widened, as she heard Muka's words, prompting a memory to flash in her mind.
It was back at the end of the first day, when she had left the school grounds to go follow Tsukuru and Quinn after the two of them had left the convenience store in town.
She had watched as the two boys, now sporting halloween masks to hide their identities, had ambushed that 'Riley' student in the park.
After the two of them had won, something…strange had happened to Quinn.
He had immediately hunched over, and fell to his knees.
He then began screaming at the top of his lungs, writhing around on the floor, looking as though to be in incredible pain.
'Was…Was that this 'turning' thing that he's talking about?" she thought.
Every single time she had seen a Human 'turning' into a Vampire in a form of fictional media, the process had been near-instantaneous.
And it for-sure didn't seem to cause them an intense, crippling pain.
Shizuka let out a long, deep sigh, causing the others to turn to her.
All the anger that she had been holding on since this 'meeting' had begun seemed to melt away, and her atmosphere of hostility almost immediately evaporated.
Shizuka turned to Sergeant Faye with the same look of familiarity the two of them usually shared.
"So, THAT was the thing that I 'wasn't supposed to see'?" she asked, almost surprised that they were making such a big deal out of it. "Call me crazy, but I don't think seeing some kid screaming and writhing around on the floor screams 'Vampire'."
Sergeant Faye's left eye twitched in annoyance as she heard just how light Shizuka was making the 'Turning Process' sound.
After all, she remembered just how painful that 'screaming and writhing around on the floor' actually was.
It was one of the most painful things she had ever experienced in her life.
"Perhaps not," Muka replied, causing the two to turn to her. "But you can never be too careful. Like I said before, my primary concern is to ensure that the existence of our race does not become exposed to the rest of Humans."
Shizuka narrowed her eyes.
"If that's the case, you should probably be aware that I was not the only one who saw the 'Talen' boy go through this 'Turning Process'," she replied in a low tone.
However, Muka seemed to be rather…unconcerned by her words.
It was honestly the exact opposite of the reaction that Shizuka had expected, given how the conversation had gone up to this point.
Muka merely leaned back into her throne, resting her arms on the armrests.
"As long as the individuals in question are part of that group of three that Faye has already mentioned, I don't see why it should be of any concern," she replied. "As I said before, such a small group is manageable."
Shizuka glanced over at Sergeant Faye.
"And just WHO is this 'group of three', exactly?" she asked.
Sergeant Faye let out a sigh.
"It's essentially Student Talen's immediate friend group, with the sole exception of the Student known as Peter Chuck," she replied. "Students Vorden Blade, Layla Munrow, and…your brother."