He was joking?

[color=bc8dbf]"..."[/color]

Mai felt her face slightly redden up with her eyes open wide. [i][color=bc8dbf]"O-oh god, did I misread him?"[/color][/i] She brought up her hands to her face, in a vain effort to try and hide her expression. [i][color=bc8dbf]"This is so embarrassing!"[/color][/i] She even made a big speech and all. Although she genuinely did believe in her own words, she apparently didn't even have to say a word to get Seth to take the situation seriously. All the unneeded attention she suddenly got from her actions were coming back to haunt her. Surely, this'll be an event that she won't forget anytime soon.

Before she manages to faint on the spot, a hand lands onto her shoulder that brought her back to reality. The girl looked to the person it belonged to and was taken aback by what he said. A soft, [color=bc8dbf]"Thank you, Sir Fredrick,"[/color] escaped her mouth before bowing as low as she could towards him. A part of her wanted to cry, but she knew it wasn't the time for it. What she needed to do now was to focus on the task at hand. She had to know whatever details she needed so that when the time calls for it, she wouldn't mess up.

From the corner of her hearing, she heard Seth say that he would require no payment to function, for his involvement in the quest seemed to be personal. [color=bc8dbf][i]"Is he looking for someone?"[/i][/color] She kept it to the back of her mind to try and bring it up later on. If they're going to be comrades, she'd like to know what his motives and objectives are at least.

...

Things were easier to swallow this time, but something caught her attention. [color=bc8dbf]"Thirty thousand men and women? Do they even know what they're getting themselves into?"[/color] If she understood what the emperor meant correctly, said 30,000 people will fight with them should they encounter non-Heartless enemies. [color=bc8dbf]"I don't think there is a need to involve innocent lives here."[/color] She's seen too many innocent lives fall already, 30,000 is not a number that she can just ignore. [color=bc8dbf]"Are we not more than enough already?"[/color]