As she was in one of Jordsand's Inns, getting ready to go out and have a friendly dinner with some Marine friends, Sofia heard her Den Den ring, from inside herself. Quickly, she made a clone of herself inside of her with her Matryoshka technique, and she picked up the phone.

"Hello, the Lady of Sofia? Captain Mint on the phone." she could hear it say.

"Yes, it's me." she replied. "Mint? from Sabaody?"

"Indeed!" the man chuckled. "How's it going with Anna Blue? I've heard the news of your adventures in Jordsand, quite the accomplishments."

"Yes, yes. All very well. I'm a bit busy now, but thank you for calling, I've got to g-." Sofia said back, not really wanting to be in a long call with this asshole of a Marine officer.

They both had known each other for a while now - she was in debt with him for getting Anna Blue as a body guard for herself, but in exchange, she had to talk well about him to the upper circles of the Marines, presumably to get him into a better position. She suspected that this call was going to be about that "debt" she had with him, and she wanted to cut it off as soon as possible.

"Hold up!" Mint interjected. "I'm calling you with a little something that I've been told to tell you about. Have you read the latest Coo?"

"Yeah."

"Well." he continued. "Given that you're the one who handed in Jacquelin, and you're part of the World Government's own, they'd like for you to attend the execution ceremony. Front seats, with Lulusia's royalty. Real fancy stuff."

"I see. Well thank you for letting me know, I'll make sure t-"

"Hooold on, Sofia, what's the rush?" he chuckled. "You better listen now, hrm?"

She held the phone tighter, waiting to see what he would say.

"You've got an additional seat, for you to invite someone with you. Presumably for the Lord of Sofia, or your spouse, or something. I'm not up to date with the tabloids to know what your status is concerning that, just have in mind that you do have it. Just in case, you know, you'd like to invite a special someone to come with you. Is that clear? Sooomeone comes to mind?"

Sofia knew that he was referring to himself.

"Uh, OK. A lot of war out here on Jordsand, I don't have time, I'll call you later!" she then said into the phone, to then hang it up.

She then stared at the phone. If Mint was informed about this by someone higher-up in the Marines, maybe she could contact that person herself, so that she wouldn't need to go through him in order to arrange her attendance to the execution. But, even she did do that and manage to outmaneuver him like that, Mint would still know that she didn't invite him.

The noble rubbed her temples. She didn't like this situation, because of how Mint was trying to force himself into an important place in a public event, through her. What sort of excuse would she put for having him there? That's he's a good friend? He definitely wasn't, but for her own convenience, she would possibly need to lie and say that he is, for the press and those curious.

Sofia sighed. She still had business on Jordsand too. She might not be able to make it, however, she assumed that the Marines who were hosting this event already knew that, given Mint's comment about what she had achieved here.

[Exit]