Reasons

Angelica took a moment to catch her breath, then spoke with a profound sense of clarity.

"I've got a bit of a problem, you see, my index is just a bit below the measly 8.0 mark, which is why I volunteered to come here. I was hoping that Babylon's unpredictable environment would help push that threshold higher."

"A measly 8.0?" Cyril repeated her words in awe, sounding like they were foreign to him. Having an index that high would practically be a godsend to any ordinary deviant, unless they were used to seeing far greater thresholds of power.

"Yes, it's strange, isn't it?" She smiled a little and looked off to the side as though she were merely speaking out loud. "For a child who descended from the main family line and wasn't adopted, nothing less than the A-rank was expected from their evaluation, but unfortunately for me, I happened to be a fraction of a decimal short of that."

It was often the case that a deviant's evaluation score was absolute, so even a discrepancy of only a few decimals could spell the difference between the A and B ranks respectively, because the further up the scale of power one progressed, the harder it became to advance, and the smaller the pool of potential equals became.

The highly coveted official Index readings, an existence similar to the holy grail within the city's walls went something like this: D Rank: 1.0 - 2.9, C Rank: 3.0 - 5.9, B Rank: 6.0 - 7.9, A Rank: 8.0 - 8.9, S Rank: 9.0 - 9.9, Saint: 10.00+

"Even if that may be the case, no one can deny the fact that you're really strong, probably amongst the strongest deviants in all of Ravenspurn. Does you evaluation really matter that much?"

Angelica chuckled out of view, a reaction the young man hadn't expected, and one that only served to raise more questions in his mind.

"Actually, it doesn't—well, not to me anyway. It's a bit selfish but the real reason I'm doing this is for myself, you see, there is a role I would like to fill." She noticed the slight furrow forming between Cyril's brows the way his gaze shifted—subtle, but telling.

"…A role?" he asked, voice low, more curious than skeptical.

"Yes. I suppose it's my turn to provide you with some context. How much do you know about the Royal Guard?"

"Mhm...the unit that serves directly under the monarchy? To be honest, not much, besides the fact that they all come from origin clans."

"Lovely." Angelica delightfully clapped her hands. "Let's start there."

He hadn't been all that interested in the matter before now, but seeing her expression beam like that made Cyril sit up attentively.

"To put it simply, my family, along with the other origin clans, formed a pact with the monarchy a long time ago. It ensured that there would always be a deviant with at least S-rank abilities in the family lineage to join the royal guard once the current predecessor retired. In the case of my clan, my father is currently filling that position, but he's set to retire soon, so the matter of choosing his successor has been floating around recently."

"His successor? Oh, you have siblings?"

"Yes, there are two of us. I have an older sister that currently serves as the vice-captain of the Black Lotus guild. She's quite outstanding you know, based on the rumors I've heard, she's set to be the next Guild Master in a few years because of the notable contributions she made in the last genesis gate raid."

"You heard?" Cyril repeated the words, his eyes remained fixed on her without wavering, and for some reason, Angelica grew bashful under the weight of his gaze.

"Well...she hasn't been home since last year, so we haven't been in contact all that often. That's also why I decided to come here, I felt like giving her a piece of my mind, no matter how busy she is, she could have at least called!" Angelica exclaimed, her hands came down on the table with a dull impact, it wasn't strong enough to break it, but the force was too great to go unnoticed.

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Now she's mad all of the sudden? He thought.

Her personality had done a complete one-eighty in the span of mere moments. He wasn't expecting such a sudden shift to come from a supposedly upper-class girl of all people, even after the fact her sudden transition—which hadn't even lasted a full five seconds — left him unsure of how to proceed from there.

"Ahem...my apologies, I lost control of myself for a moment there." Collecting herself, Angelica produced that impeccable apology with a cute tilt of her head.

"No problem." Not wanting to rock the boat any further, Cyril decided it was best to simply look past it.

"Now, as I was saying, the origin clans must produce an S-rank heir to succeed their predecessor and join the royal guard. At first, it was unanimously decided that my sister would be the one to fulfill that role, I was fine with it in the past, but things have changed now. I want to challenge—no, I want to beat her."

Cyril quietly listened to her explanation, not even saying a word until an empty silence signaled that she was done. "I see. So that's why the Phantom room incident got to you that much."

"Well, yes but—"

"I get it," Cyril cut her off, taking a deep breath before forging a bold grin and smirking at her with one eye open. "You really care about your family, don't you? Is that what they call sibling rivalry?" he joked

"W-well..." Angelica's cheeks puffed slightly in protest. "It's not like that! I mean… maybe a little," she admitted, her voice tapering off as she averted her eyes. "But it's more than just rivalry. I want to be seen as someone my clan can rely on. For as long as I can remember, I was always the one being pampered. But now, I want to prove how far I've come. I want them to see that I've grown—because this time, the path I'm walking is one I chose on my own."

"That's admirable..." Cyril replied, nodding his head in approval. "I like hearing lofty goals like that; I find them inspiring."

"Heheh, well with the way things are at the moment, that's just me talking big. The difference in both skill and experience is so huge, it's almost funny. she's ranked third amongst the S-rank hunters in the entire country, right below the storm witch and Colossus."

"And what's wrong with that?"

Angelica's expression froze at those words, she must have thought he was joking, but there wasn't the slightest hint of sarcasm or mischief to be seen anywhere on the boy's face. Instead of clamming up, her expression gradually relaxed into a smile.

"Thank You. It's my first time hearing that." She replied, the words tumbling out with quiet resolve.

"If it's any consolation Angelica..." Cyril began, his body leaning over the table as he raised a finger "...I kind of know what it's like, that feeling of wanting to surpass your predecessor. It seemed impossible at first, but recently, I took my first step towards that goal after going at it for a while. If I could do it, then I'm sure you, of all people can pull it off too."

"I'm realizing this now, but you can be surprisingly on point sometimes, you know. I have to admit, though—it was nice hearing that. If things really do turn out that way, then I couldn't possibly ask for more," Angelica admitted, her voice had regained quite a bit of its usual cheeriness alongside the impeccably distinguished lilt of nobility.

"By the way Cyril, you said you were trying to catch up to someone...could it be that you're aiming for the S-rank as well?"

"Hmm...not exactly. My goals aren't exactly as grand as yours, I'm just looking for someone, and I need the strength to find them, that's all."

"Oh? I doubt it's as simple as you make it sound, but it seems you're not willing to share so I won't pry...for now."

"For now? Wait what do you mean by-"

His half-formed question was silenced before it could leave his lips—Angelica had already cut him off with a slow shake of her head and a pleasantly rehearsed smile. Her gesticulation was final, it clearly meant something along the lines of 'You're not getting any answers out of me', thus, as much as he wanted to press further, it was too late.

In the end, Cyril relented.

"As thanks for listening to my little rant—as unladylike as that was — I'd be happy to show you around our estate sometimes. My family actually has quite a bit of sway in this country, you know."

The implication buried beneath those words made him think for a moment. Cyril truly did have next-to-no experience outside of Babylon, and besides his duties as a provisional hunter, there was little chance of him building that experience on his own terms, especially since he had no blood relatives beyond Babylon's walls.

Locking his fingers, he rested both elbows on the table and replied: "I'll think about it."

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