The trauma of people finding out I was a no-mage was still etched deeply for her words to cause fear. Not many treated me the same once they found out and her reaction wasn't a great start.
"Are you sure you were concentrating properly?" I tossed her remark back with my own head tilted in wonder.
"Yes, the only mana I felt was the one directly supplied into your hand by me." Rachel squinted suspiciously.
"Maybe my magic is too strong for you to detect or something?" I quickly countered.
"I've never heard of that kind of situation." Rachel took in a breath. "I can take a hint. I won't push the topic, you can keep your secrets."
"That may be for the best, though we'll be together for the next three days and possibly longer. I'm sure things will come to light in due time on whether or not I can trust you." I appreciated her holding back and pinned it as another good quality she had.
"There's something I should tell you then." She made sure to take a seat before continuing. "All VIPs are provided attendants as a quality of life for your stay here, but there's a hidden agenda attached to our purpose. We're meant to gather intel, all while building up a good rapport with our clients."
"Does that mean you're going to report back to your higher-ups about me?" It was a tense matter though my tone remained calm. I knew the implications of her telling me all this in the first place. It wouldn't make sense to tell me everything and ruin any possible relationship we could end up with.
"On the contrary, I'm taking a risk telling you all of this and I have no intention of relaying sensitive information about you to them." I couldn't sense any anxiety from her tone.
"Why the change of heart, or do you say this to all of your other clients too?"
"You are the first." Rachel held eye contact. "Call it intuition, I'd rather not make an enemy out of someone that can easily kill me in a fight."
"I wouldn't say easily, I'm actually hoping to win you over to my side. You would do good as a dojo instructor." I added in a laugh thinking about her transformation into a dojo uniform.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." She giggled at the prospect and her gratitude sounded sincere. "Now can we get out of this mess?" My sight went down to the mess of apple her finger was pointing to and the bits covering her unbuttoned blouse.