“You two, what happened here?”

“We received word that there was a break-in. Is the intruder still inside? Are there any wounded?”

“Geez, you’re late!” (ねえ, 遅いわよ!ったく!)

The Regalian Military soldiers who’d gallantly arrived to save the day were immediately reprimanded by Aurelia, and recoiled slightly. The sight caused Micah to stifle a snort, but she otherwise remained silent as Aurelia went on to summarize the situation.

“...So it’s basically like that. Hurry and find my father and the others. Also, the intruder slipped through the cracks, but it’s possible she might not have gotten far. Send some people to search the area and establish a perimeter.” She looked at them expectantly, but the soldiers were exchanging glances with each other and seemed hesitant to move. “Hey, what are you standing around for? Go!”

“Y-Yes ma’am.”

“Right away, Lady Aurelia.”

Eventually they saluted and began delegating duties based on her orders. Aurelia let out an annoyed huff and crossed her arms, seeming tense. She wasn’t so sure about the intruder or Aurelia’s bodyguards, but knowing what the soldiers sent to search the mansion were going to find, Micah reached out and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, um… A-About your dad—”

“Issuing orders to my people. I see you’re as precocious as ever, Lady Aurelia,” came a sudden deep voice, cutting her off. They both turned back to the entrance to see an older man walking towards them while adjusting the officer’s cap on his head. The green uniform made it clear he was also of the Regalian Military, but his hair was whitened with age to a degree that somehow seemed familiar to Micah…

“Commander Reed,” Aurelia greeted in return, then lowered her head. “Yes, I apologize. I know it wasn’t my place.”

“No, I was only joking. Please don’t lower your head so easily to a commoner like me,” the man responded. “Besides, I would have given them the same orders anyway. Your sound judgment and succint aplomb are quite impressive for someone so young. It’s apparent that you’ll make a great leader yourself one day.”

“Hmhm,” Aurelia let out the lightest of giggles, showing a flattered smile. “I appreciate the kind words, Commander. Thank you.”

The mood had lightened a bit thanks to their conversation, but Micah could no longer contain herself at this point. She hopped forward and jabbed a finger at the man, eyes wide in surprise. “Commander Reed! You really are that Commander Reed, right? From the banquet!”

“And you are…” He gave her a once over, his perplexed expression eventually giving way to recognition as he showed a small smile. “Micah, was it? It’s been quite a long time. You’ve grown up some since back then, I see.”

“Well duh, it’s been like five years!” Micah grinned, raising her hands behind her head as she leaned over towards Aurelia. “Check it out, I’m even taller than Aurelia now!”

That earned her an elbow to the side. “Oh shut up, you.”

“Ow!”

“Hah… I see you two are still the same.” Commander Reed lowered his head and breathed out a chuckle. “Well, a break-in may not be the best place for a reunion, but I’m glad to see you two are doing well. Now what kind of trouble have you gotten yourselves into this time?”

“Sir!” As their conversation proceeded, one of the soldiers came running back into the main hall from deeper in. She stood straight and saluted, speaking with a clear voice. “The search is still ongoing, but we’ve located the mansion’s residents. They were all together, and confirmed that only Lady Aurelia’s bodyguards are unaccounted for. We’re currently broadening our sweep to the rest of the estate grounds where they were stationed prior to the break-in, but most of the personnel are safe.”

“I see. How many casualties?” Commander Reed asked.

“Um…” The woman’s expression faltered. Brows furrowed with worry, she took a second before continuing. “Just… Just one.”

Instinctively, her eyes traveled to Aurelia, whose own eyes began to widen in slow, horrified realization. Micah winced, only just remembering that she’d wanted to inform Aurelia herself, and Commander Reed tensed with immediate understanding and lowered his head solemnly.

Aurelia seemed to go through a myriad of emotions, before eventually shutting her eyes as her fists clenched tightly. “Take… Take me to him,” she said, her voice quivering. “Please.”

The soldier looked to Reed, her superior. He nodded quietly.

“...Yes, understood. Please follow me.”

-----

“Haa… Haa… Haa…” Lennart Brightwind panted feverishly while struggling to breathe in his bed. His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were glassy and unfocused when they weren't clenched shut entirely from the pain. A thick layer of sweat coated his entire body, yet he still shivered violently as if he were freezing cold.

The servants surrounding him looked anxious and dejected as the soldiers worked in tandem to wipe his sweat away and monitor his condition while administering all of the medicinal herbs and healing potions at their disposal. Whatever poison the intruder had used, it seemed to render all cures useless, as they were having little visible effect on his health.

As his condition only continued to worsen over time, they were running out of ideas about what else could be done for the man. No, they had already run out of ideas long ago. At this rate, all they could do was try and ease his suffering as much as possible… and wait for the end.

“Father…” Aurelia whispered, her face tight with emotion. She slowly pulled her trembling hand away from his chest, the blue light fading from her palm. Her attempts to use [Cure] had failed to even numb his pain, let alone treat any of his symptoms.

“The poison is extremely potent. It’s unlike anything modern medicine has encountered before, and he was even given multiple doses,” one soldier bearing the patch of a field doctor reported grimly. “That coupled with his age means your father is likely in a worse situation than what would be normal for this particular strain. I’d say he has maybe a day or two at best, but probably a lot less based on his condition. I’m… so sorry.”

Faced with the cruel reality that she could do nothing except watch her father die, Aurelia balled her hands at her sides and gritted her teeth frustratedly. Showing a sorrowful expression that was a far cry from how she’d treated the man when Micah first arrived, she spoke in a small voice.

“I… I was always so cold to you… I blamed you for my birth; accused you of only wanting me to be a replacement for my sister… I hated you for never telling me who my mother is, or what happened to her… I looked down on you for never standing up to grandfather for my sake…” Her voice grew thin, and she lowered her head as she continued. “Why…? Why did I blame you for everything? Why was I always such a brat to you? Why couldn’t I just be a good daughter? You’d lost your wife and one child already, so why couldn’t I just… just be there for you…?”

The room was filled with a heavy, oppressive silence. No one dared to break the moment of heartache, or interrupt the tragic words of farewell from a daughter to her father. Steadily, Aurelia reached down to take Lennart’s larger hand in both of hers. “I’m sorry, Father. For this, for everything… I’m so, so sorry…”

She shut her eyes and leaned down to touch her forehead to his hand. In response, it clenched hers weakly as his drooping eyes attempted to focus on her face. He seemed to blink in and out of consciousness, and his breathing remained labored and heavy. The only true signs of life were his shivering body and the occasional spasm of his muscles, which made it clear just how much pain he was in. He looked like he wanted to say something to her, but the room remained filled only with the horrible sound of his raspy wheezing.

As for Micah, she had no idea what to say in this situation. All around her were sullen faces, but for some reason she herself couldn’t empathize with their pain. She’d barely known Lennart to begin with, and it wasn’t as if she’d ever lost someone in such a visceral way before. At most, she felt bad for Aurelia who was powerless to do anything, but her own mind was eerily calm. But why?

…

…

…Maybe…

Despite having adopted a new outlook over a year ago, was there still a smart part of her that looked at these people as though they were just characters in a novel? This whole situation had been pretty fantastical from the start, so perhaps she was subconsciously dissociating from it. Or was it that even if she recognized them as “real”, she was still an abnormal person on the inside, and still possessed a heart that would only react to those she truly cared about?

This whole time, was she just fooling herself into believing she’d managed to change? What about everything she’d been through with Ellie? Was it all just for her to not even care as her friend’s father died right before her eyes?

Just imagining it filled Micah with a sense of self-loathing. It made her want to rip her own defective heart out and throw it into the trash where it belonged. She wanted more than anything in this moment to be able to cry like everyone else; to be able to share in their pain and grief. But… she just wasn’t the same as them. Not yet, anyway.

Then, she decided, if I can’t become as distraught as the others, I should at least put this calm mind of mine to work for their sake. That’s… the least I can do.

It wasn’t much, but she’d shared a brief conversation with the man. She’d joked around with him, and it was clear that he cared a lot about his daughter even if the two of them were on bad terms. She may not have known him all that well, but she could tell he was a good person who didn’t deserve to suffer and die like this without even so much as a fighting chance.

So, thinking calmly, she proposed the one solution she could think of that would produce results quickly.

“...An antidote.”

“Huh?” Aurelia and everyone else turned to her at once. Without flinching, she continued.

“Let’s use an antidote. No matter what kind of poison it is, if we apply the proper antidote in time, it should cure it right? Instead of standing around here, we should use what remaining time he has to get one.”

Most of the room seemed stunned by her suggestion, but the field doctor soldier spoke up immediately. “That’s impossible. This isn’t a common poison, so the chances that any preexisting medicine could treat it aren’t high, and the chance of us happening upon something that does is almost zero. There’s just no time.”

“But we already know someone who might have it, right?” Micah replied to him. The soldier looked at her incredulously, as did everyone else who caught on. In the end, it was Aurelia herself who put a voice to the implication.

“...That girl. Either she created the poison, or she knows the person who did. If anyone’s going to have an antidote, it’s her,” she murmured. Her voice was impassive, but an unmistakable malice laced her every word.

“But we don’t even know where she is,” countered the female soldier who’d escorted them there. “And even if we manage to find her in time, there’s no way she’ll just hand it over to us.”

“Then we won’t ask,” Reed declared. Aurelia nodded grimly along with him, and all of a sudden the mood within the room had become rather tense. It was lighter than before, but the realization that they were now on borrowed time left everyone feeling hopeful, but uneasy.

No one wanted to admit just how improbable it was that they’d acquire the antidote from the masked girl in time. Finding her with what little time they had was a tall order to begin with, but in Micah’s eyes it was better than just quietly accepting his death. Besides, Circe had been keeping an eye on that group’s movements ever since they showed up in Regalia, so if they investigated separately and pooled the information together later, it probably wouldn’t take long at all to find her.

The real worry was how easy it would be to get the antidote, and whether she even had one to begin with. If it turned out that it didn’t exist, or that the method to acquire one was even a little bit complicated, then Lennart was finished.

Still, that was something to worry about when the time came. For now, she was mainly concerned about her lack of sleep, as an unceremonious yawn chose to escape her lips at that moment. Despite herself, Aurelia followed soon after, and with squinted eyes Micah laid a hand on her shoulder. “C’mon, let’s go get some sleep. We can leave things to Commander Reed for now and start our own investigation… well, it’s probably already morning, so later when the sun’s up.”

“No way.” Aurelia shrugged her off immediately. “Are you crazy? My father could die at any moment, now isn’t the time for—”

“Hey, how much time did you say he had?” Micah cut her friend off, aiming her question at the field doctor.

“I wish I could say for sure. It could be anywhere from an hour to… well, if we’re being optimistic, a couple of days. Based on his condition, I can’t imagine he could last much longer than that.”

“No!” One of the servants interjected. “He can do it if he uses his [Flame Cloak]. He did so during his encounter with the intruder earlier. It’s a type of body enhancement magic that improves his physical condition for as long as he maintains it, so it should be able to abate the effects of the poison for a time.”

“Perhaps so, but he’s far too weak to make use of it now,” replied the head butler with a heavy frown. “Even if he has the mana for it, he can scarcely concentrate while he’s wracked with pain and dizziness.”

“Um… If it’s just pain, I might be able to help.” The female soldier spoke up, reaching to remove the gloves on her hands. “I was actually going to suggest it earlier as a way to comfort him. It won’t do anything to help with the poison, but my Ability lets me trade physical sensations with a person. I’ll take on his pain and give him a chance to activate that spell.”

“Are you sure?” Reed asked. Some of the other soldiers looked worried as well, leaving Micah to assume that the Ability came with some risks.

Still, the woman nodded fearlessly. “I can handle it. Maybe not forever though, so I’d appreciate it if you found the antidote quickly.” She smiled awkwardly, then turned to the servants and the field doctor. “Let’s say I could do it for half a day. Could he keep his [Flame Cloak] going for that same amount of time? How much more time would it buy him?”

Faced with this new hope, everyone had a serious look on their faces as they started contemplating together. In the end, several hypotheticals and estimates were thrown around, but all of them involved having at least one or two more days than before.

“See? We’ve got plenty of time,” Micah told Aurelia. She reached out again, this time to take her by the hand and lead her towards the door. “Enough time to sleep at least. Let’s hit the hay so we can join the search as soon as possible. Okay?”

“...O-Okay.” Aurelia of course seemed hesitant, especially as she looked at her father still suffering on the bed, but eventually she relented and allowed Micah to pull her along. She paused at the door though, sparing one last glance at Lennart. “Father… I’ll find the person who did this, and make sure you get that antidote. In the name of Brightwind, this I swear to you.”

-----

“Ugh!” With a pained groan, the thug fell back, crumpling to the ground next to several other hooded men and women. Circe brought her fist back, then used that hand to tug down the mask that hid her mouth and nose. She surveyed the scene of battered goons again from beneath her thick sunglasses, then let out a sad sigh as she shook her head, swinging her loose ponytail from side to side with contempt.

“Haa… This one’s a bust too, it seems. We’ve covered nearly all of the known hideouts, but the ones that weren’t empty entirely have been nothing but small fry. Just where could this guy be hiding?”

“Ma’am,” spoke one of the dozen or so Disciple members that had secured the abandoned building with her. He put a hand to his ear, where the mana crystal communication receiver was located. “I’ve received a report from the southwest team. They’ve also just finished on their end, but found nothing of note. The survivors revealed nothing.”

The crystals contained a unique spell that allowed for the projection of voices between receivers, but the range wasn’t all that long. To get around this, Circe placed small units designed specifically for managing transmissions around key parts of the city, and organized her strike teams in a way that allowed them to pass messages along in a line from one team to the next.

Since this method allowed her to cover multiple hideouts at once, she’d assumed that a few hours’ work would produce some promising results. But all it’d served to do thus far was confirm that the enemy was extremely cautious; more so than she’d been expecting.

“Figures. So these really are just diversions then. I can’t believe my intel could be so wrong as to miss that they’d settled into Regalia long before I was aware of it…” She muttered a curse under her breath, then quickly shook it off and faced the acolyte again. “Pass the message along to the next team, and tell everyone to finish off the survivors and pull out. Now that the sun is up, it’ll only get harder to move around once people are walking the streets. We’ll wrap things up here too after I hear back from Zahy.”

“Yes, ma’am.” As the man shuffled away, another approached and lowered his head.

“My Lady, we’ve gathered five survivors near the back as requested. What would you like us to do with them?”

Circe lifted a finger to her lips thoughtfully. After a few moments, she answered. “Leave them to me. They seem particularly loyal to their boss, so I suppose I’ll have to… convince them to reconsider their options.” She glanced around at the windows, bits of light peeking through from the rising morning sun. An idea dawned on her in that moment, and her fingers found the strings holding part of her robe together. “Dim the room for me, would you? Then have the others move outside. Wait for me by the window, and draw the curtains when I tell you.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

“W-Who the hell are these people?” One of the downed goons muttered, staring transfixed at the throng of robed silhouettes in masks and hoods going around securing the exits and covering the windows with tarps, darkening the room just enough to make their bodies shiver.

The one among them that seemed to be the leader — a mysterious dark-haired woman in sunglasses who kept her hood down unlike the rest — looked the most innocuous at first glance, but had gone on to personally kill six of the fourteen people stationed here while the others handled the rest. Furthermore, not a single one of them had been able to so much as lay a finger on her the entire time.

Not just her, all of these guys are weird… Even the ones we took down just got right back up as if nothing happened. Is this… the Disciples of Circe? Are they even human?

“Hey, you five over there,” a smooth, soft voice suddenly called to him and the others who were tied with their backs together. They looked up to see that all but one of the hooded figures had filed out, and the woman, now alone with them in the darkened room, was approaching with graceful strides. The black sunglasses on her face reflected their nervous visages, leaving them clueless to what intentions lay behind them.

But when she got near, she lowered herself to their level, rested her arms in her lap for a moment… then carefully reached up to remove the sunglasses, exposing striking purple gems that almost seemed to glow as she faced them with her back to what little light peeked in.

Those eyes locked onto theirs, and they found themselves captivated by their hypnotic allure. Her eyes were deep and mysterious, with a faint shimmer that seemed to dance across the surface like a field of stars.

Her head angled to the side as she considered them, and they all followed the movement blankly. Full lips spread in an ever-so-slight smile, and the men swallowed as their gazes fell to the delicate lines of her throat. They traveled down, following her slender neck to the valley of her breasts below, which rose enticingly as she inhaled.

Their inherent fear of the woman, fueled by the memory of how effortlessly she’d slaughtered their comrades, melded with her intoxicating scent and her posture that left them with such a view, and caused the men to tremble. Their hearts were pounding out of some sickening combination of terror, uncertainty and arousal, and a sudden chill passed through them as she giggled, sending goosebumps rippling along their flesh.

“Please forgive us for any… discomfort, we may have caused you,” the woman spoke, her voice smooth and friendly. “I hope you can understand that it was merely self-defense, and that we don’t wish to harm you any further. I simply have some questions that I need answered. Can you do that for me?”

The survivors hesitated, still unsure if they could trust the woman at her word. But as she leaned in closer, they found themselves unable to look away from her eyes, which seemed to hold them captive.

“I already know who it is you’re working for,” she continued calmly. “Mr. Disappear. I also know he used to be quite famous in Westra as a magician for a traveling circus, then later a prominent crime boss. What I want to know is,” she said, fingers sliding up the closest man’s arm, “why did he decide to bring you all to Regalia? I don’t believe anything’s happened in Westra that would force him to move his entire operation up north.”

They exchanged glances, their faces full of hesitation. One man swallowed, then opened his dry mouth to speak.

“I-I’m sorry, but we can’t—”

“Shh, I know,” she cooed, drawing her hand up further to rest on the man’s shoulder. “I know you can’t. But you don’t have to be afraid. You’re safe here, in the dark. Here, no one can find you. Here, no one can hurt you. Here, you can tell me anything. Everything. You want to tell me everything, don’t you?”

The men found themselves squinting as they tried to keep focus on her, but found it increasingly difficult as her form coalesced more and more with the darkness around them. She was becoming distorted, wispy; a shadow among shadows leaving only her glowing eyes clearly visible. Even her voice was starting to expand, as if echoing off the walls to reach them from multiple directions.

Somehow, it made them feel… at peace.

“We… were told it was urgent,” someone said. Each man looked around, confused on whether it was them or someone else who’d spoken. In the end it didn’t matter anyway; it may as well have been all of them at once. “Mr. Disappear, he told us… that there was something he wanted from the Brightwinds. A-At first he thought it might’ve been lost somewhere in the city, but yesterday some of our people reported that it was most likely still inside of the estate. After that, our plans changed.”

“What is it? What do the Brightwinds have that Mr. Disappear wants so badly?”

“An object.”
“A tool.”
“A weapon.”

Three answers came out at once, conveying roughly the same meaning. The two glowing purple dots narrowed slightly before the woman’s voice resounded through their heads again.

“Which one is it? Tell me clearly.”

Discomfort twisted their expressions. Ten seconds of silence passed. They heard a sigh.

“Fine… So he set his sights on the Brightwind estate, and had Abigail, his second-in-command, stage an infiltration last night in order to acquire this… thing. Where was she instructed to go following her escape?”

The men shifted in place, stealing glances at one another. More silence followed.

“I see. Then let’s move on to your boss, Mr. Disappear. What is his real name?”

“““““I don’t know…”””””

This time, all five of them answered together. The woman pushed forward with a follow-up question.

“Who among your group does know?”

“P-Probably Abigail. She’s been around since she was small, always at his side, and always with that mask, just like the boss. We don’t know what their exact relationship is or whether they look alike, but it seems like she might be his daughter, o-or niece or something. She’s like a little sister to the troupe as a whole, really.”

“A terrifying, deadly little sister,” someone added, and they all nodded in agreement. Despite his tone being completely serious, the woman let out a sweet giggle that made their minds numb.

“So that’s how it is. Alright, I understand. Now then, where can I find Mr. Disappear? And how does he factor into your plan as a whole?”

Silence.

“...I suppose that was too much to expect. In that case, I have just one more question for you all.” The woman’s form, which had remained opaque and shadowed thus far, suddenly shifted again, dispelling the shadows surrounding her to reveal the distorting image of her figure once more. “Do you know who we are?”

All of them glanced at each other again. Seconds of silence ticked by, until one turned and stuttered out, half-conscious, “Y-You are… D-Disciples of Circe.”

“Hm.” Circe let out a hum as she watched the men’s glazed-over expressions. They were deep in a trance, but even under the influence of her dark magic they wouldn’t — or rather, couldn’t reveal anything about their boss or his plans. Finally understanding the situation, she stood and closed her robe up while addressing the Disciple member she’d let remain. “We’re done here. Draw the curtains.”

“Yes, my Lady.” The order was carried out immediately, though the men still remained in a daze even as light returned to the room. “Were you able to learn anything of use?”

“Nothing I really wanted to, unfortunately. But I did learn something quite interesting.” She faced her subordinate as she slid her sunglasses back on. “They’re under an illusion. A powerful one at that, similar to hypnosis. It would seem our friend Mr. Disappear had all of his people undergo this process as a form of anti-interrogation. If the information is too sensitive, we could rip them limb from limb and they wouldn’t talk.”

“I see. What would you have us do with them?”

“I doubt we could get anything important, but take one back with us just in case and dispose of the others,” she ordered as she made for the exit. The Disciple member nodded and called for a few others as he set to work.

Meanwhile, Circe stepped outside into the morning sun. She could feel the onset of hunger from having exerted herself more than usual, and for a moment wondered if she should have simply consumed the expendable captives herself to replenish her energy. At this rate she’d have to go on an hour-long sweets binge as soon as she got back.

The surrounding area was still being guarded by her Disciples, but there wasn’t much they could do if some curious pedestrian wandered a bit too close. It was time to pull out, but there was one last bit of business left to attend to, she thought, as she spotted Zaheer making his way towards her. She walked up to meet him halfway.

“Please tell me you found them,” she said, not even bothering to hide the urgency in her voice.

“I deeply apologize, Lady Circe. Abigail must have suspected she was being followed, as she used clones to cover her escape through the city. I was only able to follow her for about ten minutes before I realized I was trailing a duplicate.”

“Damn…” Circe was annoyed enough to bite her thumbnail in frustration. “Why is this happening? I should have been informed of the existence of people like this long before they became a problem. This whole group is a bunch of weirdos, but they’re skilled, and knew to be cautious of me going in. I refuse to believe they’re acting alone in all of this.”

“I agree. It’s highly suspicious that we were never made aware of just how powerful this group had become. A third party supporting them would cause many unanswered questions to fall into place.”

“Haa, that’s true… They’re being protected in the same way I’m protecting Micah, and that means we’re dealing with someone powerful,” she muttered, crossing her arms and throwing her gaze to the side contemptuously. She honestly couldn’t begin to describe how infuriating it was that this random group of nobodies managed to so perfectly tread on her doorstep without her being able to do anything about it. Needless to say, they had to find them, and fast.

She stepped closer to the dark-skinned man, gripping the front of his cloak insistently. “Zahy. You were there when the incident last night took place. You even followed her for a while afterwards. If there’s something you found strange, anything at all that struck you as odd regarding her behavior or— or something, tell me now. They definitely know we’re after them at this point, so this might be our only chance to gain a lead before they strike again. Think back for me, okay?”

“I…” His brows knitted as he tried to do so. Circe knew it would be difficult, but they couldn’t waste anymore time playing catch up. They needed to get ahead of these guys as soon as possible. “There was… something… Something I may have noticed.”

“What? What did you notice?”

“It really may have just been my imagin—”

“Zahy, tell me. Now,” she ordered, glaring him down.

With a sigh, he relented. “It occurred at the moment she exited the mansion following her confrontation with Aurelia Brightwind. I was preoccupied with simply following her movements, but it occurred to me after the fact that she’d escaped through the front gate; the same as she entered from.”

“Yes, so? Was there something odd about that?”

“Not in and of itself, but it is worth noting that the Regalian Military soldiers also utilized the gate to enter the estate grounds, and that they appeared not long after the incident concluded. Again, I was not paying clear attention to the overall situation or the sequence of events, but the disparity between her departure and their arrival was…”

Circe’s brows raised a bit. “Are you… trying to say it was staged?”

Zaheer looked hesitant to answer. “It’s… hard to say definitively. I did not witness the moment the soldiers arrived, or where they’d even arrived from, but the timing felt strangely contrived considering how early the call for aid had been. Even if that weren’t the case, it was narrow enough that they could enter the mansion only minutes after she’d left. Knowing that, I can’t help but find it somewhat difficult to believe that they would not have caught even a glimpse of her in the midst of her escape.” He sighed. “But truthfully it might all simply be an unfortunate coincidence. We couldn’t possibly base our future investigation on the slim possibility that they might have—”

“—infiltrated the Regalian Military,” Circe finished, her eyes widening with horror. “Fuck… Fuck!”

“Lady Circe?”

“They… They infiltrated the Regalian Military!” she repeated, louder this time. “They must have taken out the first responders and used illusion magic to replace their identities, ensuring that reinforcements would arrive only after Abigail had successfully escaped. That’s why we haven’t been able to find the important members in these hideouts. Mr. Disappear, all of them… they’re among the soldiers!”

“Th-That isn’t a certainty,” Zaheer countered, reaching out to hold her arms. “Please, calm down—”

“No, that’s not the worst of it,” Circe said, reaching up to grip his wrists in turn as her face knitted in frustration. “I can’t believe I never realized who was behind this. It’s so damn obvious, but I only thought of it because those guys dared to mess with a governmental power like the Norith council. There’s only one person I can think of who can allow them the confidence to do something like that, who also knows my identity…”

She looked at Zaheer meaningfully, and his undead eyes grew wide as saucers a moment later. “Could it be…?”

“This is bad. This is really bad,” Circe continued, feeling the pit of dread in her stomach growing wider with each passing second. “If Mr. Disappear is a subordinate of his, just like the ‘woman in white’ from the Zaothern Forest Incident, then…”

She didn’t finish that thought aloud, but Zaheer understood what she was getting at. It was the one thing she’d wanted to avoid more than anything else; the one thing she’d put all of her resources into avoiding at all costs. But if Mr. Disappear — if that man’s subordinate was really inside of the mansion, right now…

He was going to find her. No, he might already be suspicious of her. Was this whole thing with the Brightwinds just a ruse to draw her out? Was she being assessed, even now?

“We… We need to abort the mission.”

“What? No, that would be ludicrous. Lady Circe, please think calmly for a moment. What will happen to Micah?”

“It’s for Micah’s sake that we have to do it!” she snapped back. “If that man catches onto her existence, and discovers her potential… Or worse yet, if he finds out about the reason I’m protecting her in the first place, there’s no telling what he might do. H-He could go after her family, or coerce her to his side using her brother, or he might just have her marked for death and be done with it. Regardless of whether I can resist him if he tries to seriously crush us, everything we’ve done up to now will be completely wasted if we can’t keep Micah under control. We got lucky last year when her existence was hidden by all of the involved parties, but if we don’t do something, he’ll discover her for sure this time.”

“Yes, I understand. But acting rashly will only make her stand out more, would you not agree? For one thing, the situation at the mansion is quite dire currently, so it would be unnatural for Micah to depart suddenly, even for urgent business. Displeasing as it may be, she must see this ordeal through to the end in order to avoid attracting unwanted attention.”

“But what about—”

“I know. However, I don’t believe Micah is being targeted just yet. Recall that, though it wasn’t your intent at first, you made a public show of acquiring [Baphomet] in order to deter him from involving himself with you, like he’d attempted to previously. And as you said, her involvement in the Zaothern Forest Incident has been concealed, meaning that man must still not be aware of her existence.

“That in turn must mean that his reasons for meddling in Regalia are not related to Micah specifically. Perhaps we underestimated how important that operation in Zaoth was to him, and his purpose here is to enact some grand, convoluted attempt to reclaim [Baphomet] from you. Or perhaps this mysterious item being sought after from the Brightwinds is genuine, and his involvement with us remains an unfortunate coincidence. Either way, Lady Circe, we must not be rash.”

“You… haa… no, you’re right.” Circe let out an irritated sigh, coming down from her hysteria following his logical analysis. “Losing our composure at this point won’t benefit the situation, and it won’t help Micah either. We don’t have a lot of time, but examining the situation for now is probably the best course of action. We should also limit our interactions with Micah for the time being, since those guys are likely to act during the period where we’re supposed to exchange information. Can I leave it to you?”

“Of course. I will endeavor to inform her at the earliest available opportunity.”

“Good.” Circe frowned as her stomach grumbled uncomfortably. “Then I’m heading back first. I need a cake. Or five.”

Zaheer showed a smile as she departed with a casual wave of her hand. On her way out to the nearest backroads, where she was to follow standard extraction procedure by heading to a select number of false locations to shake potential pursuers, she spied around for suspicious characters while attempting to look as inconspicuous as possible herself. All the while, her head was swimming with all sorts of thoughts.

That’s right… I’ve already prepared for eventualities like this. Those nuns are being monitored and cared for. The “investigation” into Sawatari Yuu is still going smoothly. The incident in Halloway has been covered up, I can protect Micah more easily here in Regalia, and no one knows what she’s really capable of. Even if he somehow became aware of her, there’s no way he could tempt her to his side at this point, and he can’t hurt her either. Am I overlooking anything?

After several moments of deep thought amidst the uneventful silence, she suddenly had an epiphany, and directed her mind towards the person — or rather, the thing — she knew had been listening.

Hey. Can’t you do something?

[No.]

The response was immediate.

Tch. So stingy, even when your precious plan’s at risk of falling apart right before your eyes. It’d be a huge weight off my shoulders if you could just kill that guy and his little masked posse and be done with it, you know.

[I refuse. It would be an unnecessary expenditure of my power. Additionally, ordeals such as these are necessary to further the potential of [God’s Blessing].]

Even if it risks exposing Micah’s existence to your enemy? What if the worst case scenario here plays out and she ends up defecting to those guys?

[...That too would raise [God’s Blessing]’s potential. That man and his intentions are of no concern to me. So long as she remains steadfast in her pursuit of Sawatari Yuu, I will continue to observe regardless of where Sawatari Mikasa’s allegiances lie.]

“Hmph...”

Circe showed her discontent, but didn’t argue the point further. The voice was quiet for a while after that, and just as Circe figured the conversation was over with, it spoke again.

[Though I personally have no interest in the outcome of this matter, if you find the notion of Sawatari Mikasa’s defection disagreeable, I suggest you find a way to remediate the situation for yourself.]

What, is that your attempt to cheer me up? It doesn’t suit you, acting considerate all of a sudden. Well, not like I needed you to tell me that in the first place.

“Aaah~” Circe half-groaned, half-sighed aloud, uncaring of how odd it made her look. “Fine then, go on and keep watching like you always do. I don’t need your help. I’ll fix this whole mess in one fell swoop, so just sit back and watch.”

There was no response. Circe smirked to herself, but inwardly she couldn’t help the flicker of doubt in her heart. She didn’t consider herself a diviner or anything so silly, but she did have a certain intuitive knack for predicting death. It may have been a trait born through some sort of connection to death she had as a result of her dark magic affinity, but she could feel it.

Death was laughing.

Was he laughing at Micah? Mr. Disappear and his cronies? Or was it someone else?

Against her better judgment, Circe felt a prayer form in her heart.

…Please, be careful Micah. The worst of outcomes is hiding in plain sight, right next to you. One wrong move, and everything we’ve done together —  everything you’ve worked toward for the last twelve years will come crashing down around you, and we’ll all suffer for it.