The Briefing Hall was smaller compared to the Mess Hall, which makes sense considering that this isn't a place where many angels would go anyway.
This Hall is only accessible to the Commanders/1st Sphere Angels, it is also where they receive direct messages and/or orders from their superiors back at Laguna.
As Ashton controlled the library towards the Briefing Hall, he stopped just mere inches away from it. He used Scan and Identify just to be sure that he won't encounter any traps.
[No traps detected.]
After receiving this feedback, Ashton no longer hesitated. He went in and parked the 'vehicle' at some corner of the room.
'I don't have much time left.' Ashton murmured to himself, 'They're bound to return anytime soon. I need to make sure they won't sense the library being here.'
'This corner is just fine I guess. So long as I park here and I'm inside the library, they won't notice me. Plus, I can see the entirety of the hall from here.'
Since he had made a decision, Ashton made a point to follow it. He couldn't afford to take any risks now since he didn't want to be exposed this early on.
Now that his 'vehicle' is already parked, Ashton went ahead and scanned the hall.
Much like the Mess Hall, the Briefing Hall was an open-space hall as well. He noticed that there are a lot more curtains here compared to other rooms though. Also, the ceiling is really high for some reason.
There's a round table at the very center of the hall. He saw five chairs in there which corresponds to the number of commanders they have here. Atop of said table was a bunch of trinkets that Ashton wasn't familiar with and a large crystal ball floating at the center of the table, emitting a faint golden brilliance.
[Transmission Crystal (Celestial)]
A crystal that is linked to another. This allows effective communication for the holders of the Cyrstal despite great distances.
Owned by Celestials and can only be used by them.
Ashton nodded upon reading that. It seems that he had found the item they use to communicate.
His first instinct was to crush that thing to smithereens but he threw that idea out of the window. Even though it's tempting, he shouldn't do that.
It's not yet time for that kind of chaos...
He continued observing the room and discovered several lockers in there — again, something that they probably pirated from humans. Though the sight of which piqued his interest since they might hold some necessary information for what he wanted to know.
'Oof, they're here.' Ashton mused to himself. He minimized his presence and senses just to ensure he wouldn't be found out.
The next thing he knew, droves of angels suddenly returned to their next like a group of migrating birds. A loud commotion ensued. He could hear some shouting, talking, and so on. He also felt several senses passing by where he's parked but none discovered him.
A couple of minutes later, Ashton felt several presences coming closer, he became alert and prepared just in case but he did so calmly.
As expected, five figures stepped inside the hall. It's the Commanders. Ashton felt them scanning the room several times as they marched towards their seats. As soon as they sat down, he heard them sighing in relief.
"No mishaps today either, praise be to God." The Seraph—Neon, groaned as he sat improperly at his seat.
"Praise him, Indeed." Bea herself looked tired as well, "It's stressful to be on alert every single time. Do you think he's gone?"
"Well, we can't be so sure of that." Ulver grimaced. "He can come and go as he pleases. The worst part is that we couldn't even sense his presence. We don't know when or where he will strike. We will only know once he's done. Which sucks if you ask me."
"Right? This is why I don't understand why the Boss Man wants us to be on the lookout! We already said we can't sense that guy...or girl, the White-Cloaked Reaper I mean! But Boss Man still wants us to search for him." Joel complained.
"Stop complaining." Adul glared at the former, "It's not like we can defy his orders. If we do, he'd just become shameless and petty again. He might extend our sentence here if he hears you."
"Ah shit, you're right." Joel looked as if he was about to cry.
"Alright, that's that I guess." Neon interjected. "We'd just have to get used to this. I mean, it's not really that bad. After all, it doesn't hurt to be careful. We just have to do a better job at supervising. At most for five more years, then we're out of here. Endure it, everyone."
"I'm really envious of the way you can stay positive." Bea sighed, "Had I known that I'd get thrown here, I would've played nice while I'm still at Laguna."
'Hmm...' Ashton, who had been eavesdropping at their discussion, hummed in an interested tone. 'That further confirms my theory that they're not doing this out of spite.'
'It seems that this is a punishment for something they've done. They used the term 'sentence' after all. It's exiled or something but it's not permanent.'
"I mean, don't we all?" Ulver smirked helplessly, "Geez, all I did was sleep with women and I was thrown here. That's not even a sin."
"It is when we factor that you already have three wives. Seriously, three are not enough for your horny ass? You even stretched your hand to married women as well." Neon shook his head in exasperation.
"Hey...rude." Ulver pouted, "Listen, brother...you know me. I love me some women. How can I refuse when they were actively lifting their skirts up for me? If that ain't an invitation that I don't know what is."
"...disgusting." Bea spat in his direction.
"Hey now, don't you think you're going too far? I saw you admiring my abs yesterday, don't think I didn't notice that."
"You wanna die, bitch?" Bea glared at him.
"Ooh, don't threaten me with a good time. I might just say yes." Ulver winked mischievously at her.
'Now, where the hell did I put my 'Bonking Stick'...' Ashton mused as he watched this extent.
Their behavior was a little bit different from what he expected. He didn't expect an 'Angel', of all things, to be this much of a pervert. He's not even hiding it.
'But how does sex work for them? I mean, they must be doing it while in their humanoid form right? Right? If not then...I don't think my imagination is that colorful enough to fill in the blanks.'
Ashton shook his head since he knows he was being distracted...
"Ulver, man. Seriously, stop it. It's not cool, Dude. Bea's not even a quarter of your age. It's creepy as fuck." Joel frowned in his seat.
"Age is just a number." Ulver sagely said.
"And my sword is just another stick that I want to shove up your ass. I swear to god if you don't shut up right now, I will ruin you." Bea harshly spat while glaring intensely at Ulver.
Ulver just mimicked a zipping motion on his lips. Smirking as he leaned back on his seat.
"Okay, that's enough you two." Neon interjected. "Ulver, behave. Refuse to cooperate and Boss Man will hear about this."
Neon's flat warning caused Ulver's face to blanch, he looked at the former with a pleading gaze but Neon was unmoved.
"Behave." Neon just repeated. To which Ulver nodded. Neon then turned to Adul who looked like he was falling asleep already and asked: "Adul, don't sleep yet. We're at a meeting for crying out loud."
Adul looked startled, he then coughed in embarrassment and corrected his posture.
Neon shook his head in exasperation. Ashton did so too. It seems that Neon's the only responsible one here.
"Alright, we don't have much to talk about here so I'll just do as usual." Neon stated, "The White-Cloaked Reaper didn't appear which is nice. No real casualties on our side which is a 'yay' for me."
"We can continue with the act here. Tussle with the 'Uglies' for the sake of pretense and we can suppress the providence of this place just like what we've been instructed to do."
'...huh?' Ashton raised a brow.
"We only need to keep this up for five more years and we're out of here. Everyone, hold on just a little more, we're at the final stretch. When the next batch of sinners is sent here to take our place, we can return to Laguna and have a nice time. That's what we want right?"
"Right." The rest of the Commanders replied.
"Also, just further reminding you to be mindful of your things." Neon added, "Even though the White-Cloaked Reaper is MIA, we can't just simply think that he already left this place. Who knows? They might've infiltrated our base, again it doesn't hurt to be careful."
"Understood." The rest of the commanders replied once more.
"Okay, that's about it. Meeting adjourned. Let's gather, here again, tomorrow." The Commanders stood up and left the Briefing Hall.
'So I guess they're not as dumb as I thought they'd be but...'
'Suppressing the Providence of this place? Now what the hell is that all about?'
