Synthetic Survivor: Machine Age - Chapter 131

“How did you know?” One asked her.

Stacy smiled and started walking around the room.

She was still wearing the same clothes she had when they found her but in contrast back then, her clothes were clean and her skin was as fair as snow.

“Weren’t you defiled, beaten, and left to rot back in that tower?” One asked. His eyes following her every movement.

“Well, I was beaten but not defiled. Although it’s common knowledge among mages that defiling a mage would result in a magical reaction between the defiler and the victim but of course I don’t expect the common folk to know of it,” Stacy said.

“So you never needed help in the first place?” One said.

“Well, not really. I was badly wounded, you saw that yourself, if any other healing mage were to heal me, I would still be in bed right now,” Stacy said.

One did not make any sudden moves. Since Stacy seemed to not have any further intentions of harming him, One had decided to keep his cool and observe the situation he was in before making any moves.

Since his identity has been exposed by this girl, he was at risk of being frowned upon and being labeled as a public enemy.

Despite his efforts in uplifting the Fortress city and the residents therein, he was unsure if the humans would still accept and follow him if he were to be revealed to be a metal man.

One then decided to cut to the chase.

“What are your goals?” One asked.

Stacy looked at one of the curtains and began ċȧrėssing the silk.

“Hm, my goals? Well, to ensure that the elf over there doesn’t undo her seal,” Stacy said.

But if she had a seal, then that would mean that there is something inside her that whoever Stacy is working for, did not want to run loose in the world.

“So you’re friendly attitude with her was all a lie? An act, but that doesn’t explain why you let yourself be captured,” One asked. Still unsure of the validity of Stacy’s story.

“That bit was uncalled for. I didn’t expect to vet beat up by the goons of that paladin you just made a piece of art with,” Stacy said.

“I don’t buy it. With the amount of magic I see within in and the dagger you showed me earlier, if I was any other soldier in this world, I would be lying next to you on the floor, dead,” One said.

“But you chose not to fight back,” One said. He then walked forward and as he got closer to where Stacy was. He tore down the curtain, letting the rest of the moonlight in .

Both of them stared at each other.

“You are an imperial mage,” One said.

Stacy smiled again.

“How did you know?” Stacy asked.

“And not just any ordinary mage, you’re one of the archmages,” One said.

Stacy’s confidence then turned into fear. One had seen through her without even her needing to speak a single word about it.

“H-how do you know?” Stacy summoned another dagger from her magic and pointed it inches away from One’s neck.

One, however, did not flinch. He knew that the dagger would just shatter once Stacy tried to even cut his neck like the other dagger she had used.

“That Crest, unfamiliar it is to me. But if you are indeed a mage who was tasked in keeping a seal within Patricia intact and preventing whatever was inside her from rampaging into the world, then would only mean that you’re one of the most powerful mages in the Empire,” One said.

One then continued.

“The Empire is not a stupid country and I know the leadership of this empire are among the wisest and their scholars the best. Would I be so much of a fool to even ȧssume that they’d entrust an elf with a seal to an amature or at least a third rate mage?”

“Tsk, fine, you got me,” Stacy said. Removing the dagger from One’s neck.

“The reason I let myself be taken was because I was undercover. Nobody except the higher echelons of the Imperial Corp of Mages knows of my existence. Before I was captured, I was watching Patricia get chased through the forest from a distance. And then that dwarf came, I felt a bit relieved but I thought his skills were lacking with the axe and then you suddenly appear out of nowhere,” Stacy said. Seemingly pouting for some reason unknown.

“So, still does not explain why you didn’t just escape, used special magic or something to hide your whatever,” One said.

One looked at her closely and then began recounting what Stacy has done so far and then what to make up with her actions.

“You’re an idiot,” One said without any remorse or any show of restraint.

Stacy’s face became red with shame in a matter of seconds, refusing to look One directly in the eye.

One sighed.

“So you’re a new archmage under the Imperial Corp of Mages entrusted by them to keep the elf in check, but your problem is..”

And just like daggers that pierced her heart, One enumerated everything she was.

“You’re too lazy, too laid back, powerful yet don’t know how to use that power, an idiot, lack critical thinking,” One said.

Stacy then turned her back in defiance.

One sighed again and smacked her head causing her to cry out in pain.

“But that still does not answer why you know I am a metal man, although I hate that name you humans have given us,” One said.

Stacy then turned again to face One, her confidence back because she wasn’t the one being roasted anymore.

“Simple! Your eyes glow blue,” Stacy said.