Outside of the lower court of Abram's castle of Abram City.

"What?"

"Is something wrong?" 

Several knights are talking to each other. 

"Can the she still fight? I am worried there will another skirmish at the border."

"Yes. Her wounds were not that serious. She just lost a lot blood."

"I’m surprised someone could actually injure that monster."

"No. I am even surprised someone could touch scratch her in battle."

"Any idea who were the intruders. From what I heard, they acted like assassins."

"Probably someone sent out by one of the noble, hostile towards our lord."

"But who are them. Andrey, he is a knight good enough with fighting but he was killed in a single attack."

"They said those assassins are foreigners."

The incident happened two days ago also spread like wildfire to Abram City and Lothering Town. It has become a hot topic among the citizens.

"Lord Zeno. Good afternoon."

A strong looking middle aged man walks out of the lower court and is welcomed by the knights.

"What did you guys chatting about?"

"Oh, Baron Zeno. We talk about the intruders and knight Lyla."

"Oh, the noble heads discussed about it."

"My lord, baron. What is the situation?"

"Her wound isn’t severe, yes. It was just one cut, after all. But she lost a lot of blood. The wound has recovered but the blood won't be restored overnight. She might be weak for next week."

The baron, Zeno knows Margrave Lubreo Lambert had understated his report so as not to cause panic.

If he insisted Lyla is fine, everyone would be at ease. All she had to do then was put up with it and act like normal.

「Since the suspects are still at large, I expect we’ll be on high alert in the next few days. Especially when there is a big event about three weeks later."

"What kind of event, lord baron?" 

"That was just discussed in the meeting. There will large scale parade in Abram City."

"Forgive me, lord baron. We don't think any local lord worthy of such treatment. Are one of the great noble?"

Baron Zeno looks at each of the knight's face and answers,

"King of Ferelden, his majesty, Cailan Theirin."

The knights immediately stand up from their chairs.

"W..what?"

"His majesty?"

"The king?"

"Yes. His majesty, her majesty Queen Anora Theirin, Prime minister, Count Loghain Mac Tir. I am not sure about other Great nobles."

Silent moment. 

"I am worried that Abram is still in mess." Baron sighed.

"What do you mean by mess, Baron?'

"By “mess”, I meant what happened afterwards. The nobles started quarreling among themselves about who sent the assassin. They were all like: “Count this has friends in a certain country.” “Viscount that wants his son to be among the Order’s top brass.” “I’m absolutely loyal to Lord Lubreo.”

"………"

What an abhorrent scene that must have been. They are willing to put down others to curry favour with the lord of Lambert.

Brita hears that and feels dizzy. As a town guard of Lothering, she could reach as far as inside of the the gate of Lambert castle. She is now gathering information by sitting at the corner of the coffee shop just outside the castle. 

The real story was told by Hiro to her. He asks her to hear the insiders' conversation for further information about the event. 

Now, only the likes of heads of Beltz, Valois, Blare, Gustav, Merchant guild, and Lim Company know the real culprits behind the incident.

"Ops. I need to get back to work." The baron says that and the knights disperse.

Brita talks to herself. 

"The king will come to Abram. In my whole life, I never go out of Abram and never see the king's face. Hehehe... It's exciting."

****

In a spacious room in Lambert’ castle, Lyla is wearing a frown. She is out of her bed and sitting on a chair with arms folded. Her pretty face is pale, her lips chapped from lack of blood.

Sitting in front of her are seven men and a woman. Among them are Lubreo, Soraya Zoen and three knight commanders. Each one of them had been wounded by the ninja trio, but they’ve already healed.

"I lost as well. We’re ill-matched against the enemy." A knight commander says. He is a baronet. 

"His methods are disgraceful! When I think about how he hurt your reputation by resorting to petty tactics, I—" a normal knight responds angrily.

"You fool!" Lubreo bellows.

Everyone gives a start.

"A loss is a loss. If you waste your time criticizing surprise attacks in the battlefield, you’ll die." Lubreo, still in bellowing mode, explains while look at their face one by one.

"Yes, Sir…"

The knights hang their head low. They are that much affected from Lyla, the strongest knight’s admittance of defeat.

Lubreo is optimistic, however. Healers and doctors had declared Lyla to be in critical condition from too much blood loss, but she was able to get up and move about after a night’s rest. She was so famished that she finished ten portions of food. Her body was busy producing blood. Lubreo has decided to refrain from having sex with Lyla for coming weeks as there will be big event. He plans to have her involved. 

Lyla just stares at the floor. She was obviously winning but not able to finish at the critical moment. She didn't mention this to others due to her low self-esteem. But she doesn't agonize about her dereliction against the female assassin.  More like her body wants to live. It couldn’t let itself die just yet and leave the score unsettled with that female intruder. 

But something has been turning over in her mind for the past three days. 

Despite her hair and face are covered, the intruder's body is clearly to be seen. The bulges on her chest... Her waist... Her body frame ... Her legs ... Her movement .... seems familiar to Lyla. Kurotsuchi, the jovial assistant of Hiro ... Her image always play on Lyla's mind whenever she reminds about fight. She never tells this to anybody. 

Lyla is puzzling over that but is brought to reality by Lubreo's voice,

"We must reflect upon our failure. That intruders… No, they’re more than that now. They excel in eluding people’s senses. We need something to detect him. And there’s one more thing. Does anyone have any idea what it is?"

A baron raises his hand.

"We need to make sure that our heavy gear is usable at all times."

"Yes, that’s roughly it. Modify the plate armours so they can be worn immediately, or develop a foldable shield that can be deployed from the hands. Their attacks are weak, perhaps because they specialize in stealth."

The men nod in agreement.

"That women remind us to be combat-ready at all times. "

Lyla staggers a bit as she stood up. One of them tries to help the female knight, but she stops him.

"This means I’m still lacking in training."

"Lyla." Lubreo calls.

"Yes. My lord." 

"I planned to push you as a bodyguard beside the King and the old man Margrave Blare during the grand parade I mentioned earlier. Don't get yourself hurt until that time."

"Yes. My lord."

Lubreo turns to other men.

"Listen up, guys. We can not rely on knight Lyla for next couple of weeks. About that assassins,  the next time we meet that man, we’ll make him regret that he ever went up against us. Until then we must grow and develop ourselves even more."

"Yes, my lord!"