Erna did an internal fist pump; Jean completely believed her. Communicating with others had once been a major weakness of hers, but now she’d developed robust people skills. She could thank her Lamplight teammates for breaking down her walls.
As a matter of fact, she’d learned every last skill a spy could possibly need. She’d honed every talent there was—even the art of seduction that had previously been her bane!
“If you take us in, I’ll be sure to thank you…”
She blushed and looked at Jean through her lashes to captivate his heart.
“I’m a little scared of men, but all I have to offer you is…m-my body, so if you want me to share your b-bed, I can—”
Jean cut her off as firmly as he could. “That really won’t be necessary.”
When she shot another look at his face, she saw him waving his hands with horror.
“…………”
“Seriously, I meant it when I said I was kidding earlier. I’m not going to mess around with a minor.”
“…………………”
“Also, that last half sounded like you were reading off a script. You don’t have to force yourself.”
“………………………………”
After being rejected so completely, Erna could do nothing but go silent.
Annette had been listening to the whole thing, and she clutched her sides in laughter. “That was the worst seduction I’ve ever seen, yo!”
“I know that, shut up! Yeep!”
Erna had no intention of actually selling her body, so if anything, getting turned down so quickly was a relief.
“I can tell how serious you are,” Jean said with a strained smile, but a grim look soon came over his face. “But I can’t just help you at the drop of a hat.”
“But…”
“Can you blame me? If I shelter you, the Genesis Army will lock me up, too.” Jean gave his head a sad shake. “And besides, why me? I’m just an ordinary student. Surely there must have been someone better you could turn to.”
“……………”
Jean’s objections were legitimate.
That said, it wasn’t as though the girls had chosen him at random. Erna decided to lay one of her cards on the table. “We know about your dad’s record.”
The moment she said it, Jean’s expression froze.
Erna went on to keep up the pressure. “Your father once worked at a print shop in the nineteenth arrondissement. His wife had passed away, and he lived with his two sons and his daughter. Four years ago, an activist friend of his asked him to secretly help print and distribute pamphlets that were critical of the government. Two years ago, he was arrested by the Genesis Army. At his trial, he was given jail time with no option for a suspended sentence. On top of that, all his assets were deemed anti-state funds and seized. It was unjust, and they were obviously trying to make an example of him. His two younger children got taken in by relatives and are living in the Bumal Kingdom.”
Jean’s eyes widened in disbelief. That was a secret that nobody was supposed to know.
“We know all about what happened. That’s why we thought you might be willing to give us a hand.”
For eight months, Erna had worked at a law office. During her time there, she’d made a note of anyone the defense records suggested might harbor resentment against the government and recorded that list on microfilm.
That was just one of the weapons she’d been honing over the past year. She might not have been able to master seduction, but her other talents had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Jean let out a long exhale. “Where in the world did you find that out? That’s some pretty personal information.”
“I just overheard it one day.”
“Curiosity killed the cat, you know. I swear, teenagers these days are terrifying.”
That was another common Lylat saying.
“Not even the papers picked up the story. They were too afraid of the monarchy.”
Not all acts of hostility and defiance against the administration got reported on. The whole reason Erna had chosen a law office to work in was to catch wind of incidents that didn’t make it into the news. Even so, there were probably hundreds of times more resistance efforts got quietly stamped out without ever making it to court.
“Well, I certainly understand why you came to me now.” Jean shook his head. “But you’ve got the wrong man. I can’t help you.”
He lifted his stein again.
“Huh?” Erna gasped as she watched Jean heartily chug down his beer.
“First off, my dad deserved what he got.” After Jean set his stein back on the table, the words came spilling out in a deluge. “I’ve got my problems with the administration, sure. But there were signs that my old man was working with a Galgad spy. He was willing to condone violence if it meant he got his revolution. It’s no wonder they locked him up.”
“How can you say that…?”
“When they arrested him, people from the Genesis Army and the Royal Guard came and questioned me and my siblings. We didn’t have anything to do with it, but they treated us like traitors anyway. I have to say, I didn’t much appreciate having to suffer for the choices he’d made.”
The memories were bitter ones, and Jean’s expression curled into a frown.
He wiped his mouth in annoyance. “Please, just go. I can’t save you, not when it means risking my own life.”
“……………”
Their negotiations had ended in failure.
Erna didn’t have anything up her sleeve that would make him change his mind at the moment. What’s more, staying in the pub wasn’t exactly an option. If they lingered too long, the Genesis Army was liable to find and arrest them.