Chapter 413: Butterfly and Wolf
"I had no desire to spill blood on the shrine grounds, which is why I chose a wooden blade." Raiden Ei's voice was smooth, carrying the quiet weight of an approaching storm. She looked down at the two intruders, her expression perfectly composed, entirely unbothered by the threat they supposedly posed. "But if you insist on playing the fool, I have no objections to switching weapons."
"Now, will you answer my question?" The words were phrased as a polite inquiry, yet the heavy, suffocating pressure radiating from her made the reality clear. If Camus and Vermouth continued their petty evasions, the next strike would not be with blunt wood. It would be a lethal flash of steel.
Vermouth lifted her chin by a fraction. She studied the woman who had effortlessly brought them to their knees with a training tool barely fit for a novice. Moving with deliberate slowness, Vermouth raised her hands beside her ears, keeping her palms open to signal her surrender.
"I am terribly sorry," Vermouth murmured. Her tone dripped with practiced sincerity, softening the edges of her usual confidence. "We were forced into this, truly. The head of our organization recently received an astonishing piece of information. A rumor claimed that hidden within the Grand Narukami Shrine is an individual who has lived for several centuries." She let out a soft, helpless sigh. "The news was too shocking to ignore. The boss desperately needed to verify its authenticity, so we were dispatched to investigate and gather intelligence."
As she spun her web of half-truths, Vermouth's deep, captivating eyes remained locked onto Ei's face. She scrutinized the Inazuma Department Head, searching for the slightest twitch of a muscle, a narrowing of the eyes, or a shift in breathing that might betray her true thoughts.
To her quiet disappointment, Ei's features remained as still as a frozen lake. The mention of a centuries-old immortal provoked absolutely no reaction. Vermouth calculated the possibilities. Either this woman possessed terrifying emotional control, or the rumor was entirely baseless, rendering the bait useless.
She needed to push a little further.
"I wonder if a young... ma'am like yourself," Vermouth corrected herself smoothly. Knowing this woman already had a child, calling her a miss felt inappropriate, and ma'am offered a respectful distance. "Have you ever heard of something called the Pandora Stone?"
Ei offered no verbal reply. Instead, her wrist shifted. The tip of the wooden sword slid a fraction of an inch closer to the exposed throats of Vermouth and Camus, the rough grain of the wood brushing against their skin. The temperature in the air seemed to plummet.
"You are lying." Ei's voice lost its previous evenness, dropping into a chilling register. "And you have yet to answer my actual question. What exactly are you searching for near the Sacred Sakura?"
A flicker of genuine surprise finally crossed Ei's stoic face. "You cannot possibly be looking for this Pandora Stone you just mentioned, can you?" The sheer absurdity of the idea colored her tone.
Vermouth held Ei's gaze in silence. She offered no spoken confirmation, but the steady, meaningful look in her eyes conveyed the message perfectly. She was leaning into Ei's deduction.
Ei stared at the two intruders, a strange, almost pitying look flashing in her eyes. She pressed the interrogation forward. "Which organization do you serve?"
"We will never betray our boss or leak such information!" Camus barked, his voice laced with righteous defiance, playing the role of the loyal foot soldier to perfection.
Sensing the sudden spike in tension, Vermouth quickly intervened. She acted the part of the panicked partner, fearful that Camus's outburst would provoke a fatal strike from the imposing woman standing over them.
"Please, wait!" Vermouth pleaded, her voice rising slightly. "I can give you our code names, Ma'am. Just... please be careful with that sword."
Feigning desperation, Vermouth hastily offered up her alias. "My code name is Butterfly. And his..." She gestured slightly toward her partner. "His is Wolf."
It was a calculated misdirection. Vermouth had zero intention of exposing their true allegiance to the Black Organization. She knew that an assassin known as Spider had recently ambushed members of the Teyvat Organization. By adopting animal-themed aliases, she was deliberately framing Spider's mysterious faction.
Whether the lie held up in the long run mattered little to her. If her words sparked a bloody conflict between the Teyvat Organization and the elusive Zoo syndicate, it would only serve her interests.
Besides, she genuinely did not know the actual name of Spider's group. No matter how hard Ei pressed, Vermouth could not offer a real title. Calling them the Mysterious Organization or the Zoo out loud would sound utterly ridiculous.
Beside her, Camus kept his expression neutral, though his thoughts raced. He mentally applauded Vermouth's quick thinking. Fabricating two cohesive code names under such immense pressure was a stroke of genius.
'Wolf...'Camus thought to himself.'It has a nice ring to it. I suppose I am Wolf for today.'
Ei looked down at Vermouth. "Butterfly..." She then shifted her piercing gaze toward Camus. "And Wolf." Lowering her voice, Ei murmured to herself, her brow furrowing slightly in thought. "Animal code names."
A seed of doubt took root in her mind. According to the intelligence Miko had provided earlier, the uninvited guests visiting the shrine today were supposed to be operatives of the Black Organization. Where did these strange, unfamiliar titles come from?
Ei's internal debate lasted less than a second before her resolve hardened. Miko's information network was rarely flawed., she had never heard these specific aliases mentioned before, not even during the interrogation of Spider, who was currently imprisoned within the Jade Chamber. The logical conclusion was simple. These two had fabricated the names on the spot to throw her off the trail. It was a commendable display of quick wit, but ultimately futile.
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