Rex stood watching as the convoy sped away; their engines roared so loudly that the air trembled in their wake. His lips curled into a crooked smile, though there was something strange and maybe almost bitter in it.
"…Wow… they left in such a hurry. I felt like some kind of plague god chasing them away," he muttered while his eyes followed the trail of dust the vehicles left behind.
Cleo, who had just finished calibrating the gleaming plates of her arm after waking from her hacking adventure, glanced at him without much surprise. Her voice was calm and even, as always.
"It is understandable," she said. "They are nothing more than ordinary citizens. Only the guide among them carried any real status, a Rank Three civil servant..."
"But your current standing places you on a far higher level. In their data banks, you are listed as a Tier Eight noble. That means, with a single word, you could have their lives erased. That is how much power nobles are granted across the galaxy."
