"Come with us, and you will see." Chris was relying on his high-class apparel to earn the trust of this seeming commoner.
"Lead the way, then."
"Oh, crap! It's 7 already?" Anna said after coming out of the shop and looking at the clock tower, holding bags of recently bought merchandise in her hands.
"We must have completely lost track of time." Charl followed Anna out of the shop.
"We missed the whole thing!" Anna exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I am sure the boys went by themselves."
"Anna! Charl! There you are!" Will's voice came from down the street. He came running toward them, panting in his tracks.
"Will? What are you doing here?" Anna and Charl began jogging to him.
"I-I was looking for you two," Will said between gasps.
"Where are Theo and Chris?" Anna asked.
"They went by themselves. I told them to meet at the cafe in front of the school."
Will's attention shifted to the bags in Anna's and Charl's hands.
"Were you guys shopping?"
"Hehe, maybe?" Anna chuckled and hid her hands behind her back.
"You can't be serious."
"Good evening, Ms.Hastings." A waitress greeted Anna and her friends as they walked into the cafe. The bell over the door chimed.
"Hi, Emma." Anna returned her greeting.
"Do you know like, everybody in this town?" Charl said.
"You will get used to it," Will said quietly.
"A table for six, please," Anna told the waitress.
"Sure, please come this way."
It was supper time, so there was nobody else in the cafe. Emma led the three to a corner. She stopped at a table with leather benches on both sides and waved them to sit down.
Anna and Charl sat down beside each other, and Will was across the table.
"Passion Fruit & Cream Tea, please," Anna ordered.
"The usual." Emma noted down and looked at Charl, "And you, miss?"
"Do you serve macchiato?"
"Of course. One macchiato. Milk or sugar?"
"Black, please."
"And you, sir?" Emma turned to the other side of the table.
Will's brows dipped as he looked for Anna's and Charl's order on the menu. He could eat for a couple of days with the cost of these luxurious beverages.
"Um… Water is fine."
"Sure. I will get the order right away." Emma walked away into the kitchen.
"So, what were you guys shopping for?" Will looked at the bags on the couch beside Anna.
"Check these out." Anna pulled a couple of things from the bags and laid them on the table. "These are Stuart & Swinton's new products. They are called the communication devices, comms for short."
"What do they do?"
"Charl, wanna explain?" Anna pushed the pile of equipment in front of Charl.
"Me? Sure." Charl picked up one of the devices.
"They are all portable radios that are very lightweight. You don't need to wear them on your back. This one is handheld. This one can be attached to your helmet. This bulkier one can access many channels and has a much farther range." Charl pointed to the gears one by one.
"Cool. How much did they cost?" Will realized that he should not have asked the question.
"Not much," Anna said with a smile.
What Anna thought was "not much" was completely out of Will's realm of imagination, so he didn't pursue it any further.
DING-DING. The bell chimed. Someone had walked into the cafe.
"Welcome." Emma's voice was in the distance.
"Hi, was there a red-haired boy around my age that came here?" It was Chris's voice.
"Yes, are you perhaps with them?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, please come this way."
Anna heard their footsteps coming toward her as they one by one, came into view around the corner.
"Charl, Anna, there you are," Chris said as soon as he saw them.
"Sorry about that, we kind of lost our sense of time. So anyway, did anyone catch your inter-" Anna immediately recognized the girl who was following behind Theo. "Leah? What are you doing here?"
"Ms.Hastings?" The girl had a confused, surprised look.
"You two know each other?" Chris interrupted.
"Of course. Anna here knows like everybody in town." Charl sounded like a know-it-all.
"No no, Leah here is a maid working in my house." Anna stood up and walked towards Leah.
"Maid? But we saw her practicing with the marksman club." Theo said as he sat down beside Will.
Chris now understood why Bell's clothes were ragged but her appearance was well-kept.
"Marksman club? Is that what you've been doing in your time off?" Anna asked.
"I am sorry, Ms.Hastings. I was hiding this from you." Leah looked down at the ground.
"No no, don't apologize. I am just surprised. Who knew you were a marksman. Come on, let's sit down. We'll talk it over." Anna gave Leah her spot and went to sit down next to Theo.
"The truth is, I've been infatuated with rifles since I was young, but because of my… background, I couldn't attend the academy." Leah began talking.
Anna recalled the time when she overheard maids gossiping about Leah's orphanhood. She had lost her father to the war against Derunce before she was born, after which she was abandoned by her mother.
"I tried finding jobs to keep myself fed, so I ended up training as a maid at Mrs.Hastings's house. One day, I walked to the academy to give Ms.Hastings's lunch money that she had forgotten at home, and I saw her in the range. I will never forget that cool, elegant look on Ms.Hastings's face as she pulled the trigger."
"Hehe." Anna was used to praise, but hearing the serious, expressionless Leah says that made her blush a little.
"After that, I saved up money to buy my first rifle. I was told I had some natural talent for it, so I somehow joined the marksman club."
"That's more than 'some' natural talent," Chris said.
"What do you mean?" Anna asked.
"You maid had less than 0.5-centimeter inaccuracy at 750-meter range with a Skull-20."
"What!" Anna slapped the table. "The best I can do with a DMR is 1 centimeter at 500 meters, and even that was really stretching it."
"No, Ms.Hastings, it's really not that impressive. Mr.Hastings could hit a penny in a moving train from 2 kilometers away." Leah said with a slight tone of excitement. She was clearly a big fan of the Silent Devil.
"That's… not even humanly possible. My dad told me the stories about him are all super exaggerated."
"Regardless, I am still miles away from Mr.Hastings. I will never stop trying to reach him."
There was a bittersweet feeling in Anna's chest. Even though her father was not with her anymore, he was still inspiring the people around her. Her parents made her proud to be a Hastings.
"Anyways, let's get to the actual topic," Anna said and turned toward Chris. "Chris, you think she is the one?"
"No doubt," Chris answered with no hesitation.
"Great." Anna turned back to Leah. "Leah, what do you think about joining us? I assure you that you will get more time with your rifle."
"Joining you? In what?" Leah was getting a little excited at the sound of that.
"Before you agree, we can't give you many details, but it's basically a part of our student council."
"Student council? I don't attend the academy though. It's not like you can get me in."
"That's true. It might cause chaos if we just carelessly have you join our school."
Anna put her hand up against her chin and was thinking for a moment.
"Oh, do you live with anyone, Leah?" Anna looked like she thought of a solution.
"No, I live alone at the Silverfish Inn."
"Silverfish Inn?" Will cut in.
"Do you know that place?" Chris asked.
"Yeah. When my house was affected by the flood a couple of years ago, we had to live there. The conditions were terrible, even for my standards."
"It's not that bad once you get used to it," Leah said.
"Great. So, you don't have anyone to take care of. You don't have any other jobs. You want to further your training. Am I correct in saying all that?"
"Yes, Ms.Hastings." Leah was confused with what Anna was getting at.
"Then, you shall be my personal maid," Anna suggested.
"Personal maid! Me? But-but…" Leah was surprised.
"Yes. I am almost 18, I should be able to get my own personal maid. There is no better choice than you, Leah. What do you say?"
"Of-Of course, Ms.Hastings! It would be my honor, but… are you sure I am the right one?"
"I have no doubts. If you agree, then, starting tomorrow. Leah Bell, you will be working as my personal maid. In the Hastings house, personal servants live in, so you will receive the guest room in the master hallway. You can also attend the academy alongside me without causing any issues. There are many noble children who attend with their servants."
"It all seems too good to be true, Ms. Hastings."
"Fret not! Leah, from now on, you are part of the Team Spectre!" Anna declared as she shot up from her seat.
"Too loud, Anna. It's supposed to be a secret, remember?" Will waved at Anna.
"Oops. My bad." Anna sat down apologetically.
The boys burst into laughter. One by one, the members of Team Spectre greeted Leah. She was unfamiliar with the situation. She had never been in such a group before. As an orphan, she had always been alone. The only person she saw as a friend was Anna, but, this wasn't bad at all.
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