“Formal clothes?” Yuna repeated. “Why would we need those?”

“I’ll explain why later,” Yuki replied, waving his hand. “First, let me explain the situation here and the background.”

He waved his hand and the already large screen expanded further until it was the same length as the meeting table. He began to tap at various icons and files, opening and closing them as he seemed to search for one in particular. 

“Like I said before, we found this gem with Erica’s help,” he said as he still swiped through various files. “This wind elemental gem that we discovered isn’t part of any legal registry. The highest rated gem on anything remotely legal is this one.”

He slid an image of a finely cut pale emerald jewel. Yuna couldn’t tell how big it was since there was no scale for her to judge it off of. The small lines of text next to the image named the jewel the Heart of the Wyvern. It is a tier one elemental jewel and was kept inside the Libra Hall of Treasures. 

“I seen it before,” Damian commented. Yuna glanced over at him. He was staring at the image. “I’ve been to the Hall of Treasures. It’s pretty small actually. Maybe the size of, um, smallish egg.”

“Yes,” Yuki nodded. “It’s not a big jewel. But it is quite pure and potent. It is the highest grade wind elemental jewel that is known to the public. However, you all already know that it is in fact not the best one out there.”

He threw out another picture. This one looked to be of a deeper green, and instead of being cut like a jewel, it was polished into a seemingly glowing oval. 

“This is the jewel not registered,” Yuki said. “From what was listed on the auction page, this thing is said to be a bit bigger than the Heart. But that part isn’t as important as the evaluation of the jewel.”

His hand flew around as he tapped a few screens. A list of information appeared beside the image of the polished jewel.

“I’m not too trusting of the evaluations of someone that isn’t officially trained, but it shouldn’t be too off or else they would be dead,” he continued. “This jewel is also graded to be a tier one elemental jewel. However, that’s not as important as the other information that’s written beneath that.”

A few lines of text began to glow.

“The two things to look at is the purity scale and the absorption rating. I’ll show a comparison between this one and the Heart.” A second list appeared. “As you can see, they aren’t really close. The other jewel far out classes the Heart in every category there. Some of the differences are small, but most are quite significant.”

“That thing is almost ninety percent pure,” Damian remarked, squinting at the text. “That’s some of the highest purity I’ve ever seen.”

“Same here,” Yuki said. “If it was any purer, it would just turn into wind. It’s mana absorption rating is also really impressive. That thing can store quite a lot in a really short time.”

“That’s one fine jewel,” Damian nodded. “I would love to get my hands on that.”

“Well, good news. That’s the plan. Now that the target has been introduced, let me explain the rest of the situation,” Yuki continued. “First, we found all of this information because of Erica’s help. Which I will let her explain.”

Everyone’s eyes turned towards her.

“Yeah, so, um. Hi,” she said with a small wave. “I know a few people within not so legal circles. Some of them are part of the black market. So with a few simple questions and bargaining, I was able to find out about that jewel. Then I told Yuki who told me to find out where it was which I did and told her.”

“And what Erica told me was that the jewel was sold to a very rich and powerful family,” Yuki said. A picture of a group of people smiling together appeared. “That’s them. They’re the Hyrins. An elf family that’s been living in Libra for decades if not centuries. Their pockets are deep and so are their connections.”

‘The Hyrins?’ Yuna thought. She tapped her lips. ‘They are a big donor of the LIA and I think shareholders in a lot of companies.’

“Where are they keeping the gem?” Yuna asked out loud. “In a vault of some sorts?”

“Yes,” Yuki nodded. “It’s in their family treasury which is in an undisclosed location that would also be rather annoying to break into since, if rumors can be believed, it’s more secure than government facilities.”

“More secure?” Zoe said quietly. “Do we at least know the location? You say it’s undisclosed. That doesn’t mean it’s not known.”

“Correct. I know where the treasury is. The problem is is that I don’t know anything besides that. So breaking into the treasury isn’t possible currently.”

Yuna tilted her head. That must mean that Yuki must have found another way to take the elemental jewel.

“I’m assuming you have a plan,” Damian frowned. 

“Of course I do,” Yuki replied. “I did some digging into the Hyrins. They lead quite an active social life. Lots of parties and celebrations. They also enjoy bragging and showboating.”

‘Showboating? Are they going to show the jewel off really soon?’

“With a bit of digging into their business ventures, I found that they own a mining company that focused on gems and rare metals. It’s been falling on hard times lately and so people are waiting for some sort of discovery or unveiling to revitalize it or else the company might go broke.”

Pictures of the mining company’s logo and headquarters appeared. Their stock prices were displayed right next to them. They showed a very constant downward trend.

“Now they have the highest quality wind elemental jewel in known existence,” Yuki said. “It far outclasses the one the government has. And it’s worth quite a bit of money.”

“How much?” Damian asked.

“They bought it for five thousand gold.”

‘Five thousand! How do people have that much?’

“Five thousand gold,” Damian blinked.

“Yes.”

“I thought their company was falling on hard times.”

“Well, yes. That doesn’t mean the family is. They have a number of other business ventures that are doing just fine.”

“I wish I was on hard times,” Damian grumbled.

“Anyway, that’s not the actual price of the jewel,” Yuki said. “They got it for a discount. I think five thousand gold and a favor, right?”

“Yeah,” Erica nodded. “The seller could call in a favor whenever they want. Just one though. Magic contract.”

“Now. Here’s the real meat of this entire thing,” Yuki continued. “Tomorrow, there is going to be an event over at the Hyrins’ house. From the invitations that I didn’t get, it seems to be a party and an auction all rolled into one.”

A three dimensional picture of a gigantic mansion flared up and began to rotate. 

“That’s a house!?” Damian cried. “That thing is bigger than Nefeli’s arse.”

“Um.” Yuna glanced over at the source of the sound, Zoe, who was frowning. “I don’t think Mother Nefeli’s butt is as big as you think.”

“Well, she’s a goddess so it must be large. It’s a godly arse,” he explained. “Have you seen some of the old paintings of her?”

“I think those are exaggerated. Trust me. I would know. I'm a dryad.”

“This isn't really the time for a theoretical discussion on the size of a goddess’s ass, so moving on,” Yuki interrupted. “The event is to be held here. Parties will not be able to enter without an invitation. That’s not really a problem. What’s important here is that this is also an auction. And what do you think is going to be auctioned?”

“The jewel,” Yuna replied.

“Precisely,” Yuki nodded. “They’ll be selling the jewel during the event. They’ll first unveil it, show it off to their guests who are obscenely rich and then proceed to sell it to one of them. This is all to revitalize their dying mining company.”

From the corner of her eye, Yuna saw a hand raise up slightly. It was Sarah’s.

“Are they going to pass the jewel off as their own discovery?” she asked.

“Probably. It’ll help them out a lot if they did. Plus, who would refute them? They probably have all of the documents to show it as their own.”

The image of the house disappeared along with a number of the screens leaving just one blank one. 

“Now here’s the plan,” Yuki said. “We need to get into that event. That part is not the difficult part. After entering the event, we then need to locate where the jewel is being kept. That information is completely unknown at this time and will probably remain unknown until the actual event starts. After we locate the gem, we then take it for ourselves. The details will be sent along after a small but important notice. That notice is that not everyone here is going on the mission.”

‘Oh?’ Yuna thought, her eyes widening slightly. ‘Well, I think he did say that last time. I wonder who’s going.’

“I’ve already discussed this with Erica and Akira before. They are going to be part of the mission. Sarah, I already said that you will be joining us as well but as a guard. The max party size that will be allowed into the event is four. So Yuna, you will also be going.”

“Understood,” she replied, sitting up a bit straighter. Then she frowned slightly. “Wait. If Sarah is the guard, then who is the last person? You, right?”

“Normally, yes,” Yuki sighed. “I would be the fourth person in the party. However, the security measures in place are not something I want to mess with too much. I already know that my name, my position, and my face are out there. I would be recognized immediately or flagged by the system immediately if I try to enter.”

“Then who’s the fourth person? Damian?”

“No. He doesn’t have the right temperament for espionage and this type of work,” he said. He glanced over at the dwarf. “You know it’s true.”

“And you’re absolutely correct,” Damian laughed. "I'll probably make too much a ruckus if I go."

“Tiar can’t go because I don’t want to risk his position in Mason Inc,” Yuki continued. “Zoe will be coming, but she will be with Sarah. She’s our support. I don't want to risk her by sending her in.”

“Then who?” Yuna asked.

“I’ve called someone,” he said. “A person I know. You’ll see them when the mission begins.”

“Was that what the phone call was for?”

“That and other things,” Yuki nodded, his mouth twitching up. “Don’t worry about that part though. Now, before I get further into the details about the mission, let me say something important that I want you all to remember.”

He leaned forward, resting his palms onto the meeting table. His neck length hair shifted forward, covering parts of his face.

“Plans never go perfectly,” he said in a quiet voice. “Something will always screw up. The more complicated the plan, the more things that will screw up. So the golden rule in any mission is this. Be ready to improvise. We already need to for the second part of the plan. Just be prepared to do more. Got it?”

Yuna nodded. Everyone else in the room voice their understanding as well.

“Good. Now let’s get into the details and steal us a nice shiny gem.”