"You didn't even know that we were Rune Knights until we straight up told you..." Britney said with a confused look after her complaint at them not knowing anything. "Most of us in the force would not be able to say much more than that, so I guess I apologize that we're not good enough traitors?"
Tony nodded. "Indeed. The woman was asking a lot of the two recruits, the handsome detective and his wily sidekick. She was asking them to completely give away all the secrets of their job, something that could not only get them discharged, but could easily be labeled as a felonious offense. Of course, Tony was worried about this. If he and his sister were arrested, that would break their mother's heart and make their father more than a little upset. To that end, Tony had to ask an important question." He turned to the woman. "You did not hear that from us. As far as you are concerned, this is information you found by yourself in independent investigation. If you fail to keep up that end of the examination, we will fully charge you with assault of an officer."
Britney sighed. "She could just kill us though."
Tony shook his head. "No. The woman seemed too honor bound. Perhaps as a result of her time with the Rune Knights, as contentious as her exit from the force had been. She seemed like the type to honor promises. Tony was always good at being able to tell the small facts and features about people like this. As much as people called him eccentric, weird, socially inept, a mistake upon humankind, a poor detective, a two bit detective, a friendless fraud, a failure of an adult, and someone who is just overall bad at functioning in normal society, Tony knew in his heart of hearts that he could tell that. Reading people was his specialty. Perhaps it was the Psychology 101 class he took in college, but he knew deep down that he was an expert at this sort of thing. The woman had an aura about her that said that she would not bring harm to the siblings unless they were an active threat to her mission. If anything, she would show extra mercy due to their cooperation."
Britney raised an eyebrow. "Sure, I'll take your word for it. As for your plans on the Gods of Ishgar, they're the most powerful wizards in all of Fiore. Serilda Sinclair and Mythal Ragnos of the Rune Knights, Samira Nassar of Sabertooth, and Johann von Weiss of Dies Irae. At the very least, they are the strongest recognized Saints, and the Saints are the strongest recognized wizards in all of Fiore. Maybe there are stronger mages, but they're far beyond the scale of your 'Queen.'" Britney leaned back and shrugged. "But who am I to stop you? I'm just recognized as a B-Rank mage under the Council's rankings. You seem on par with an A-Rank, if I had to guess, but that's not nearly enough to stand a chance against a God of Ishgar unless you're lucky."
The woman casually walked out of the room, Tony trying to stop her. "W-wait, my table! And my firm!" He watched as they were calmly restored to their previous states. He coughed absently. "They had no choice but to let this go. That woman was more powerful than the two of them combined, and she had advantages that the siblings could not overcome. No, there was something about that woman that the siblings could not reasonably take. Tony gathered stock of everything he knew about this situation. This 'Amber Stone' was a smart woman, but more than a little headstrong. After seeing Britney, she decided to go into action for a quest of personal gain. To that end, she needed to eliminate the biggest threat. Possibly she saw him as a boyfriend-"
"Gross. I wouldn't date you because you're my brother."
"...maybe as a bodyguard, or perhaps she figured correctly that it was family, it did not matter. Stone decided she needed to eliminate the biggest visible threat. So, with Britney distracted, Stone made her move. It was a good move, admittedly. Earth magic to toss him into a well followed by taking steps to keep him alive. Likely she figured that the death of this man of presently unknown relation would cause distress to Britney. Of course, she could not afford Tony to figure out the truth. Luckily, Britney was a smart woman. She led Stone away from the scene of the crime, knowing that if magic were involved, the proximity away would weaken the effected, allowing Tony to escape. That was precisely what happened, but Stone was quick to adapt. Once Tony had managed to escape, she was prepared to kill Britney. Britney had shown no signs of being magically gifted, though it was entirely possible that Stone could sense some sort of magic within her. The Mimic Slayer Lacrima their parents had given them was not exactly a subtle power: pure, unfiltered magic processed into a lacrima as best as possible. That little lapse in information - no, not a lapse. It was a lack. Stone had no way of being able to tell, so it was not an oversight - allowed Britney to stun Stone for just long enough to temporarily knock her out. It would not be much time, only to allow travel to Tony's detective firm, where they would begin an interrogation. At the time, there were many unknowns. The thin markings of a Rune Knights insignia, the changing appearance, the mysterious story of the woman that, as far as Tony's searches through Archive were concerned, did not exist... too many questions, not enough answers."
Britney nodded. "I suppose that makes sense for how you'd see everything up to that. She didn't really seem malicious, even for a member of a Dark Guild as notorious as Errings Rising. Just really one track minded on attraction." Britney thought for a moment, looking around the dimly lit room. Tony really needed to light the room up more. "Check if there's any other reports of her appearing around Fiore. Amber Stone, not Kenna Brown. Aside from just the Rune Knights, she must have been doing something else while away from the Knights."
Tony nodded, quickly scrolling through Archive. "Most I can see is that she attended a festival in Reinford."
Britney thought a moment. "Reinford, huh? Rumor has it one of the heiresses is in the guild."
Tony nodded. "Seems to be the case. The youngest of the lot, Valkyria. It would make sense if Errings Rising had some leeway in the city, Tony thought. The leader of the outpost there was a Velkhomme as well. If Valkyria were a member of this guild of Amber Stone's, then it would make sense that their family would allow the guild to roam more freely."
Britney nodded. "I don't think we have enough evidence to prove that, though. Plus, if we brought it up with Sinclair and Ragnos, they might ask why we were curious and that could lead to all of this coming out."
Tony harrumphed. "It certainly was unfortunate, Tony thought. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. They only gave basic information on the Rune Knights, as that was all they really knew. But at the same time, they gave away more information than a normal civilian should have. Yet they also potentially had a thought towards corruption in the ranks of the Knights..."
Britney brushed it off. "If they're corrupt for helping Errings Rising, then so are we. They might be on a higher scale, but corruption is corruption. We broke protocol by not immediately turning Stone in, so I say that we don't mention this to any of the higher ups. This incident didn't happen, and if there's questions about anything that happened, we just say it was bringing her in for interrogation on a theft and the rumblings were her being upset at being accused of the crime. She was let free on all charges because we could prove nothing. This wasn't part of the Rune Knights, this was part of that independent case you're working on. You ARE still working on that, right?"
Tony nodded. "Indeed. The burglarization of a small townhouse on the outer edges of Era. Suspect was said to be a female of similar height, so it is not unreasonable."
Britney sighed. "So basically all we know is that Errings Rising might be planning something, but we can't say how we got that information?" She shook her head. "We'll keep it in mind, but we can't do anything about it."
Tony nodded, beginning the process of cleaning up his building that he went even further into debt for, the two siblings musing to this strange day.
