Erza then traveled at the speed of light and stood next to Eden. With her sword already out and her shield in the other ready to battle. Erza's eyes flickered slightly with gold lightning around her eye's iris. The rest of the onlookers didn't know what hit the wall until they saw Sylvie. The only one who watched every second was Kane who never took his eyes off Erza as soon as he entered the room. He moved just slightly with a bend of a knee towards Sylvie's direction. He had an impulse to want to protect her. He only managed to move a centimeter before Erza directed her attention to him. He froze at the intensity of her look. The fear of death crept into his chest the instant Erza and him had eye contact. Fuck, he thought to himself. I can't even move fast enough to cover her. My body's magic just drained from inside faster than I could blink. Kane just barely had strength to keep standing. He cursed himself internally.
Sylvie coughed as she tried to catch her breath. She should be pissed, but she had accepted that she would die for the squad. She pushed herself out of the wall she smashed into and fell to her knees while landing on her palms. Eden noticed that Sylvie didn't make any attempt to fight back. Then asked, "why are you here?" Erza corrected Eden, "they." Eden then looked around at the once's who were struggling to breath. Gideon, Oscar, Murphy, Kane, Lewis and another mage that was hired, the one that had the 5th mark. His name was Merlin. Eden's eyes widen at the realization of the situation. She could have been killed in her sleep if Erza wasn't by her side. The only place Erza wasn't present was the bathroom, but she wasn't about to invite her for a bath. Eden was terrified of just having a thought like that. She shook her head to get that thought out. Now is not the time to think about those kinds of things. She needed answers. Eden asked in a more stern voice, "Why are you and your squad here?" Sylvie was trying to think of an acceptable answer. She couldn't just say we have a mission to spy on you and protect you from afar. IT would sound weird. Who does that, Celeste, only she could think of wild things like that and convince everyone else it's a good idea. But she followed her blindly. "Speak!" Erza's voice was heard in the entire room like there were speakers hidden in every corner. Sylvie felt a chill travel down her neck to the lower part of her spine. She took in a deep breath and said loud enough to hear but in a soft tone of voice. It was almost submissive. Sylvie still on all four, finally answered, "We don't mean any harm. I am the one to blame for giving you the feeling that you need to keep your guard up." Tears began to fall and wet the floor. Sylvie rolled her hands into a fist before continuing. "I was sent to watch over you from afar, but an opportunity arose where we could infiltrate your castle without setting an alarm of defenses. I was counting on just myself being the only casualty of this mission, but I see it was useless trying to hide. All I ask is that you don't release my men into limbo and send my body to rest next to my cousin." Kane felt his heart crack at hearing her plea and seeing her crumble down before their very eyes. The once impenetrable icy princess was now reducing herself to begging and falling into despair. The rest of the crew felt the ball forming in their throats. They had not turned to look at Sylvie, but the cracking in her voice told them enough.
Eden felt the sincerity in her words and felt her heart tug. She knew that look too well, not to recognize it. The look of someone holding in everything and putting on a tough attitude. She remembered Sylvie's attitude when she first met her and it wasn't pleasant. That of a snobby and arrogant woman. She's probably a bitch too, Eden thought to herself and internally chuckled, but let out a hmph instead. Oscar took the hmph as a sign of disbelief from Eden, so he threw himself to his knees and lowered his head to speak, "Please, please listen to Sylvie, she is being honest. We all came with pure intention despite our feelings or attitudes towards you. Gunther told me you are a fair and reasonable person. Our Queen Celeste wouldn't have allowed us to sign contracts that could enslave us into life times of work if she didn't believe you were a good person." Eden didn't plan on killing Sylvie, actually, she thought they could be good friends once they both learned to tolerate each other and not let their stubbornness get in the way. After all, Eden was aware she was called a bitch behind her back all the time because of her lack of sweetness with words. Eden let out a breath of air and went to sit down on her desk. She crossed her legs and set her hands on the desk to support her posture. " Erza, thank you for your quick response. I believe them." Erza got out of her fighting stance and relaxed. Erza then turned to look at Eden to ask her, "what about that one?" Erza was pointing at Merlin who regained color to his face. "Ah , we will get to him too, but for now I'd like to hear them out."
Gunther and Gabriel walked in with the new uniforms to give the new hires as instructed by Eden. They both walked in with a cheerful smile, but then looked stunned at the scene they walked in on. Oscar was on the ground bowing, Sylvie was also on all four, the guys were sweating as if recovering from an illness and there was a hole on the wall. Gabriel then asked, "Commander?" Eden looked at him and smiled, "please give the new garments to all of them. I have a few questions to ask to some in particular, the rest may leave and start their day." Gabriel looked around and asked, "who is free to go?" Eden looked at them all in one swift scan and answered, "They know who they are." "Yes Commander," answered Gabriel as he started passing out the clothes. Then Eden cleared her throat, "I don't feel I need to say this, but not a word of what transpired here. I don't like rumors and I don't want anyone to feel any different. You don't have all the answers. Thank you all for coming." Then she waved them to head out. Everyone else began to leave with Gabriel. Gunther tried to grab Oscar from the ground, but Oscar refused and gave him a pleading look to go. Gunther gave him a sad look as if he just saw his child get scolded for something and he couldn't do anything about it. Eden noticed their exchange and could help but feel empathy for them both. She thought to herself, Gunther must've grown fond of Oscar overnight. They must've stayed up late since I can see the bags under both their eyes.
Once everyone left that needed to leave, Eden spoke up again, "Please take a seat in the couch area that is next to you Sylvie. I want everyone to join her there as well." In Eden's office, there were a few couches arranged parallel and facing each other. There was a recliner that overlooked the two. Eden had just recently added that because she didn't want groups of people in her study to constantly stand if they're going to be there for a while. After everyone was seated and Eden was on the recliner she then continued, "this will only work if you are all honest with me. I rather know unfavorable things than be blind sided." Eden looked at Sylvie who still wasn't making eye contact with her. Eden noticed some blood smudged on the corner of her mouth. Eden then took out a healing potion from her arsenal and handed it to her. Sylvie said, "we have a fast recovery speed, I'll be okay." Eden rolled her eyes at her stubbornness, then said, "being around Erza's presence has slowed it hasn't it? Besides, I already got up from my seat, so I am ordering you to take it." Sylvie scowled a little as she turned to look at Eden who had a serious look. " You are my mage, are you not?" Eden asked. Sylvie took the potion and drank it. Then Eden sat back down and said happily, "Well, now that Sylvie has drunk the poison, you guys have 5 minutes to tell me everything to give her the antidote." Everyone's face dropped. Eden then said, "I'm only teasing you all." She roared in laughter at their faces. They were still processing it, except Merlin who roared in laughter shortly after Eden. They both dried the tears of laughter after catching their breath. "Okay, joking aside, I don't have time to sit and wait. I would like for us to start our day. Please tell me all the necessary details now and we will revisit the rest later."