Allow me to ask you this first, why do you think we want to recruit you .
Her question didn't bring much surprise to me, i already understood in my way here that things were go on like this and question like these will be most certainly asked, i thought for a moment before saying :
" In my way here, i was told that due to how strong I'm, i might pose some kind of threat to the society, so for me to be allowed to live freely in this society, i will need to be restricted, i believe that to hold a bit of truth to it, I'm here to be restricted .
I have no interest of what you were told, do you believe that you are here because your strength is posing a threat, or you already being one .
The frames of her glasses suddenly appeard foggy as she looked at me, waiting for me to answer, i was beginning to feel that the woman in front of me wasn't just asking out of curiosity, she was assessing me, she seemed to be looking for a specific answer from me, one that i currently don't have have, but i gave her the one that i do have, i said :
" I believe that I'm already deemed a threat but to whom exactly, the society which one the normal society or the Magicians society, or maybe to neither of them .
" I'm beginning to believe that the people who, ummm, how to find the best word to describe this, terrified would be the word i use, so please don't mind my wording, i believe that those who are actually in power are the ones that are terrified of me, even though i believe they didn't even know the full extent of my strength .
" My answer is yes, Major General Saeki, i believe that it's my strength that had you so interested in recruiting me, but i also don't believe that to be the only reason to why you're trying to do so .
After i finished saying all of this, i looked at the gray haired woman in front of me wanting to discern what her thoughts about all that i had just said were, but the moment i didn so, i was taken by surprise this time, the reason was that she currently was smiling at me and this time it was a genuine smile, not the half smile, half frown from before, the smile in front of me was the real deal .
She looked so content with what she heard, i even thought that she was about to release a chuckle, but that didn't happen, instead she began to raise her hand and applaud, i thought she was ridiculing me or something, but then she said :
You are indeed correct, i didn't know how were you able to reach that conclusion with your kind of experience, but what you said was indeed true, the higher-ups were indeed terrified when they read the report officer Ooguro gave of your existence .
I was the one that handed to them myself and as you said, they were really terrified, they even wanted to launch a full assault on the facility you were in, willing to make the Matsumoto Base a piece of history, but they refrained from making this kind of decision, due to the involvement of a third party, that put a stop to all their madness .
A full assault on the base just so that they can get rid of me, I'm not trying to be arrogant or overconfident, but i don't believe that they would have the ability to kill me in that assault of theirs, but I'm a bit surprised at the intervention of a third party to talk them out of it, but i do have my suspicions about who was that third party, but i couldn't believe my guess to be true, unfortunately, but just to test the waters, i said :
" Was that third party also the reason to why the battalion want to recruit me ?.
I can now understand why special officer Ooguro put you in high regards and even went through great lengths to recommended you, after i failed to do so, you didn't only have the strength, but also the wits, not to mention the loo, cough, cough .
Excuse me, but yes, that third party involvement was indeed the other reason to why i wanted to recruit you, you are a Yotsuba family member after all .
" A clone of a Yotsuba family member, wait, does that mean .... .
I know it's a bit difficult for you to believe this, but yes the third party that got involved in your matter was indeed the Yotsuba Family, they didn't give much of a reason and no one dared to do so either, but it was certainly a move they do for your sake, the identity of you being a clone of an original members of the family, might have intrigued them even more, all in all no doubt that you will be soon called to meet the Yotsuba Family Head Yotsuba Maya, you being a possible Yotsuba family member was the other reason to why we couldn't afford letting you do so without you joining the military, that was the kind of restriction that would be put on you .
I was hearing what she was talking about, but my head kept buzzing with questions, i already had that guess in mind, but even i thought that would be a fantasy of some sort, this situation went beyond even my wildest dreams, her words carried a hint of disdain to them as she mentioned the Yotsuba family, there was some bad blood between the two perhaps .
What she just said completely stunned me, it meant the Yotsuba family already knew of my existence, but how, could there be an informer in the facility that was relaying the news about me to them, i don't remember anyone doing any suspicious actions of this sort, so that probability was very much unlikely, but then how could they had possibly been able to find out .
No that wasn't the most important thing currently, the most important thing was the fact that they interfered for my sake in the matter of calling off the assault and what might that imply .
It could mean all sort of things, for the hopeful me, it might mean that i might really be able to find myself some home if i were to go to the Yotsuba, but the hopeless me thought about it more deeply than that, the hopeless thoughts i was having was an indication of concerns about the actual motives of the Yotsuba family in doing so .
One of those motives that cold family could have was to lay a trap for me, so instead of finding a family where i belonged, i might find myself in a situation forcing me to destroy that house i wanted to belong to with my own hands, burying maybe the bodies of almost all my supposedly clansmen with the broken down house .
Which was more likely to be the case, i find my heart leaning towards the hopeful thoughts, arguing that either way i would need to meet the Yotsuba Family Head at least once, that goal hadn't changed and since it seemed from their actions that they might be actually welcoming to me joining them, at least i hopefully think so .
On the other side, my mind was more inclined to believe that their was nothing good to be expected coming from that sort of a family and that it would be better to draw a line between me and them in the future, their actions were interpreted to be just a try to cover up on this whole operation .
I couldn't help but be reminded of the fact that i heard something similar to what the Major General Saeki in front of me said just now about them being more accepting to me due to being a clone, it reminded me of the words of Dr Takao, he too mentioned that if that family learned of what were they doing and what they had achieved they might reward them, the two sentences were uncannily similar to one another and I'm currently beginning to get a hang of it .
According to my current thoughts, if i were to go there i won't be greeted by a warm embrace, far from it, i might be greeted by manipulation and deception instead, for them i might not be anything but a tool they can dispose of any minute they want, that what my hopeless mind was telling me .
At that thought i couldn't help but shudder and that small action of mine didn't seem to slip by her attention, she suddenly fixed her glasses backwards with her hands, i was aware that she didn't need to, but she did that just to regain my attention and she succeeded in that, once she saw me looking at her, she said :
So these are the reason to why i want to brought you in the battalion, I'm not here to threaten you or anything of sorts, I'm simply handing you an invitation, whether you want to accept it or refuse it that's completely up to you .
Hearing the sincerity in her voice, calmed down my agitated mood a little, i was still processing all that she said before, there was one detail she seemed to have overlooked or hadn't mentioned anything about it yet, just as i was about to ask, i saw her looking at me and nodding, then she said :
Don't worry, i haven't forgotten about explaining your current situation, your strength was noted to be very dangerous by my superiors, but to what extent exactly we aren't sure ourselves, all that they are sure of is that you are a threat and must be dealt with as soon as possible, but due to the intervention of the Yotsuba, the new approach in dealing with your case had become to use you for the military .
That's why we are here trying to claim you before other do, our Battalion is small but efficient, there would be also some obligations you have to do, but discussing them can wait for the time being .
If you wish get a new identity out of the Yotsuba family influence, we might also be able to help, i do believe that you are already aware of what might await you at the Yotsuba family, if they meant you any ill intentions, we and the army will back you up, even if it meant going to war with the Yotsuba, so it's a win-win situation, you would be able to join the Yotsuba if you wanted without a problem after you join us and we will be able to make sure of not using your strength without authorization .
In the last part of her words, her voice cracked a little, i was able to tell that she putting a front when she said she was going to challenge the Yotsuba family if there was ever a need to, even if she had enough courage, she doesn't have enough authority to make that sort of decision, that was a clear indication of how strong the Yotsuba family was .
" Sorry let's leave all that at bay for a second here, i had a question, you guys don't even know how strong i'm, won't you be disappointed if you were to found that your pick was wrong and I'm not as powerful as you think, why are you even willing to recruit someone who you aren't sure of how strong he is and why do you so confidentially believe that the Yotsuba will open their arms to me if i decided to reach to them, I'm really curious about what your thoughts are based on ? .
Let's just say that i got an expert opinion on your case, that expert had quite the discerning eyes, you see .
I activated my Spatial Eyes and was able to bypass walls and saw that coincidentally or not, my target was actually looking at me, Officer Ooguro was staring at me with an impassive face as before, but i do believe that at one point in time, i would looked his way, i believe that he was the expert that gave his opinion on me .
I once again was surprised by her analytic skills, seeing me like this, she continued to say :
Officer Ooguro also told me that you shared some of the opinions on the matters of both the normal society and the magical one with one another, that what told all i need to know about you, as for knowing your exact strength, let's come to an agreement first, then we can discuss this more throughly when we get to know one another .
I'm really beginning to believe that joining this battalion was a good choice, but it all came to one thing that i'm hesitant about, the obligations she mentioned before, those things pose a direct threat to my freedom, but i was conflicted due to the fact that this was also a massive problem, if i refused her invitation some dire consequences might be in the way of my freedom too, not to mention that it would really be a good move to join, if the Yotsuba were discovered to be harboring any ill intentions towards me .
But before i give her my answer, i also needed to check with her on some important thing first, i said :
" Sorry for keep shifting the subjects, but i do wonder about what is your opinion on the Yotsuba and the Ten Master Clans, i noticed that your tone was filled with disdain when you mentioned them before .
She kept silent for a while then said :
If you ask anyone in the military about their opinion on the the Ten Master Clans, he would say that he didn't like them interfering with the military at all, not because he don't like Magicians, but because those family, had the family benefit in mind before the military, they are biased to their family in a way that danger the success of missions, but due to the huge influence those Families had, they always get away with doing what they wanted then if they felt like it, they might report their actions back to the military .
But it always comes in a way of notifying, not in a giving explanation kind of way, they mostly don't believe that there's even a need to justify their actions, that how things were, that was why i don't like those Families interference in the military, in fact this battalion was created to make use of magicians and fight back that kind of influence, but those family position and influence was still unshakable .
So in the end, we instead began to compete with one another and that was the reason, i was trying to recommend you before to join the battalion, i believe that you could be a solution to this predicament, i had intention of recruiting you no matter what it takes, no matter the deal you propose, I'm willing to consider it, but i hope you put in mind that i don't have the final say in this .
I so that she was sincere about this and her words kept echoing in my mind, i was really contemplating on what my opinion on this was and what kind of deal I can make with the military, if i really were to agree in joining their ranks .