In one of the numerous alleys leading to the plaza, perhaps atop a pile of objects, a man is poking his head out of the crowd. In his hand, Lyla could see a crossbow. She also spies a conspicuous woman in the crowd.

"In the alley, to the left, up ahead! A man with a bow!"

With a shout she draws her long sword, putting herself between the man and the King. She raises her sword and indicates the direction of the man to the knights and soldiers on-guard.

The crowd starts murmuring, and everyone in the direction of Lyla’s sword takes a step back. A part of the parade breaks off, the knights reforming to protect the stage from the indicated direction.

At that instance, the bow releases an arrow. Lyla has already unsheathed her sword, parries two of the arrows, with no one hurt. The soldiers chase after the man fleeing through the alleys. Lyla points her sword, towards a woman in the crowd. A woman on the older end of middle-age holding a baby in her arms. She tries to walk away with the rest of the crowd, but a knight grips her shoulder.

Without a word, the knight grabs the cloth swaddling the babe, and tears it off. The contents of which fall to the ground, causing the crowd to cry out in… Surprise. It isn’t a baby at all, but a small crossbow. The tip of the arrow loaded onto it is stained dark, indicating the presence of poison. The woman is actually a man  pretending to be a woman.

After watching the assailant, tied up and cursing up a storm, being dragged away by the soldiers on guard, Lyla is finally aware of herself again. The messengers called for the parade to resume, and Margrave Lubreo exclaiming to the crowd:

"Thanks to our diligent knights on guard, we have captured the traitor!"

Triggering an immediate and collective cheer from the crowd. Even a scare like that is merely a memorable show once it has been resolved without any casualties. Of course, Lyla is grateful for how this attack turned out, since she could not stop the parade one way or another.

More wary than before, the parade resumes.

***

The cheering of the crowd watching the parade even reaches Sylvia, who is walking along the street of old town. 

"It’s rather loud up there."

Sylvia is headed to their building. After several turns, she arrives at the destination. Just as she was about to open the door, Irijina, who has been walking behind her, silently stops her from doing so.

"What’s wrong?"

Her voice lowers. She knows that the tall girl is deliberate in anything she does.

"Someone’s here. There are a few of them… Expecting anyone?"

"No."

"If they’re robbers, it could get messy. Once you open the door, I’ll go in first."

Sylvia worries for a moment that it might be Lyla’s nanny, but she concludes that she isn’t the type to break in without permission. The fact that Irijina could sense their presence means that they are in the storage area in the back of the shop. They are not respectable guests.

"…Thank you, Irijina."

***

"That commotion… Is something the matter?"

Soraya Zoen calls to the coachman from within the carriage. What she had heard were screams among the cheering, and a brief explosion. As it was earlier than their plan, it must have been caused by something else.

"From here, I can’t really tell… I could hear a brief commotion, but the crowd is cheering again, now."

If the result is cheering, and not screaming. There is no major issue, if anything. The sorceress reckons for a moment. They aren’t the only ones who want the King, Prime minister and Margrave Blare dead. They even intentionally leaked information on where there would be least security. However, it was only meant for Soraya and Lubreo to send in assassin’s where they want, and they ensure that nothing would interfere with their plan. At most, it would earn the knights on guard some pats on their backs. If the commotion isn’t caused by an assassin, someone else must have.

Soraya ponders, then decides not to dwell on it any further before calling her Eye in the sky, and checking on the parade.

"It’s all right. Keep course."

Feeling the carriage slowly rolls ahead, Soraya’s mind travels upward. The coachman’s voice becomes distant, as if it is coming through the room next door.

Soraya looks down at the city from the sky. The parade is slightly slower than planned, but Soraya doesn’t see a major issue with that. While all waterways are supposed to be shut down for the day, some of the curious and well-to-do citizens are awaiting the parade on their boats in the waterways. In the anticipated parade route, people is flooding the streets, and even the alleys are considerably populated.

Soraya feels some sort of oddity in the movement of people… And pinpoints it. A flame has erupted from a building deep into the shopping district in Old Town. It is Hiro’s shop, where Soraya had visited several times herself. One root of concern seems to have been eliminated.