Looking back towards Delphina, Hayle slowly stood up and nodded.
"Politics isn't his strong point, but somehow it makes him more endearing."
Her eyebrows arched like a bow before snapping back down. He was certainly laying it on thick with his opinions right there. Endearing? Where were the endearing qualities Hayle spoke of?
Flicking her eyes back over to Pietro, who was now cheerfully cleaning up the tea cups they'd used, Delphina could only think that perhaps Hayle had a thing for Gap-Moe? She could understand the allure of that herself.
Some of her favourite male leads were typically the 'Black bellied Wolf-dog' or the 'Dobermann' personality type. Soft Yanderes might be up there, too, now that she thought about it some more.
"I really do have a soft spot for aggressive protectors."
Thinking back on it, the few relationships she had had with women were where she took on that role herself…
"Maybe I have more problems than I thought, haha."
Tapping her fingers on her arm, she brought herself back out of her memories to focus on the present.
"Hayle, oh. Can I call you by your first name?"
Sauntering back over to the small desk, he was in the middle of perching himself back on it as Delphina said this, causing him to slip briefly. Clearing his throat to most likely dispel the embarrassment of his faux pas, he looked over towards Pietro before righting himself once more.
"Well, I don't mind, but are you sure? We don't exactly know each other very well."
Delphina scoffed at this.
"What would you rather I keep saying, 'Sir Burgess', 'Sir Burgess' every minute? Besides, if you want to go there, in terms of seniority, I can call you by your first name without your permission. You know that, right?"
Shifting his weight and cocking a leg, he sneered at her. Clearly, the brief act of civility towards her was starting to slip.
"Look, just say it's to make things easier for you. Go ahead, I won't be reciprocating."
He'd done okay by being well-behaved thus far, so Delphina decided to let this attitude slide for once.
"So Hayle, what exactly did you mean earlier when you said 'no thanks to your wishes, I'm sure'. Like I said then, I don't know what wishes I could send you. Is there a problem?"
As she said this, she walked towards the tea-table and sat down, as Pietro had finished clearing it. Gesturing to Hayle, she indicated she wanted him to sit down opposite her.
Shaking his head at this situation, he moved back over to the tea table and slouched into the chair, pulling the one out next to him for Pietro- Delphina didn't forget to note the puppy-dog look he was giving him as he waited.
"Damn, he's whipped. Are they that far into a relationship, or is Hayle just chasing Pietro?"
Well, she wasn't going to pry.
Once Pietro had sat down, Hayle fully turned his attention to her, sitting up straighter and putting on a more serious attitude. The aura around him seemed to shift as he thought back to the attack they had faced just outside of the de Velasques Family Castle.
"Truth be told, I currently have assassins hiding themselves away within my Knights' ranks."
"We lost eight of my forward team during an outdoor training exercise last night. It was only after we regrouped that my adjutant realised the skill he had cast wasn't present on some of those who came back."
Rolling his eyes towards Pietro, he continued in a more subdued tone.
"One of them must have a disguising or illusion skill, as no one could tell the eight apart from their original counterparts."
"To not alert them, we decided to arrive for our joint training with the de Velasques Knights on schedule- only to hear that there will be a Tournament of some kind running today with Your Ladyship being present."
"I know it's shameless of me, but can you assist me in eradicating the assassins today?"
Placing his hand on his knees and bowing towards Delphina, Hayle tightly closed his eyes. Pietro was glaring daggers at the side of his face.
Sitting back in her chair, Delphina had to think about the situation.
1- Hayle's words could not be trusted fully; she knew there were differences between the Game and the World, but Hayle was at least 80% similar to his gaming counterpart. If anything, he was serving as a foil to highlight Pietro's oddities.
Regardless, the Hayle of the Game was incredibly ruthless. He most likely planned on letting these assassins go after their intended target, protect Pietro if that was him, and then pin the attack on her.
2- If Delphina were the target, he would definitely manipulate things behind the scenes so the assassins had the best chance at succeeding. That meant he had more sway than she had over the Knights in the de Velasques cohort, which wasn't acceptable.
That was why she had pre-emptively laid the groundwork with the Knights earlier, especially winning over the Silverwraiths.
3- Hayle was now shitting bricks as he realised her and Pietro's relationship was nothing like the rumours. Especially with her brother backing her up as he had done. That was why he had 'told the truth' and asked for help plausibly.
Though it seemed Pietro wasn't great with on-the-spot emotional issues, his reaction to Hayle's behaviour at the time was concerning.
4- The idea of reinforcing your body and senses with your life circuits or 'Life Energy' was foreign in this World. That gave her an unparalleled advantage that easily fit within the original Delphina's potential capabilities.
5- She had a quest to fulfil anyway, so why not make things easier on herself?
Neither of the men in front of her needed to know what dark thoughts she had, so putting on her prettiest smile, she simply agreed.
********
After that, it didn't take long for them to formulate a plan of action for the day. Shaking hands on it- both Delphina and Pietro would assist Hayle to minimise any collateral damage to his and their own Knights.
Finally moving on from Pietro's Office, they had followed back along to the double door entrance and entered the interior courtyard, where they now stood before the L-shaped building.
Jenkins had clearly been waiting for Delphina to arrive and had led a few separate squads of Soldiers to form up rank and file. These were the automatons she had seen earlier.
Leaning over sideways to whisper in Pietro's ear, she expressed her surprise.
"You know, Jenkins works way faster than I expected him to; those Soldiers have been standing there like that since we dragged you into your office crying."
Sidestepping quickly to dodge the incoming fist Pietro threw, she bent her waist and wagged her finger at him, tutting in disappointment.
"Fool me once! Like I'd let you get another kidney punch in, that last one stung, you know."
Ignoring the grumbling he gave from under his breath, she peeked at Hayle, who was standing just behind him.
"Anything interesting to see here, Sir Burgess?"
Shrugging his shoulders, he turned towards her and waved a hand in the general direction of the automatons.
"Honestly, we don't have a cohort of Soldiers at Burgess. So seeing so many different types like this… It's more something I'd expect from the de Rios Family."
Blinking at him, she found it odd that they were on the same wavelength for once.
She didn't remember the Soldiers ever existing in the Game, and like him, it was more something she would expect from the de Rios to spec into as a secret weapon against the Gates.
Well, if she remembered correctly, there was actually something that was hinted at in the Game if you got past 50% affinity with the de Rios kid. It was disturbingly similar to the rumour Pietro had told her at breakfast.
"Tch, what was that shotas name again?"