“And you willingly helped her!? How could you, Shavie!”

“Stella, please. I barely did anything.” Shavie paused. “And I got more intel than the three of you combined. Over a cup of tea, no less!”

Shavie leaned her body over the couch and stretched her feet out, landing them straight onto the coffee table.

‘Say what you will about couches, but I’m starting to enjoy actually having one.’

It was funny how the little things in life mattered far more to Shavie now, she suddenly realized as she stretched out. She frowned as she realized the couch was inhibiting her view of her Party and forcibly leaned into the couch.

The clear sound of wood breaking echoed in the room, as well as a sharp hiss of air.

“Shavie! That was a purple heartwood! Do you know how expensive that was!?” Stella said.

“Yes, Shavie. And don’t you remember how much trouble it was finding someone who had one and acquire it? Legally, of course.”

Shavie tested the couch and tilted her head up, the room turning upside down as she looked upward at her close friends. She frowned as Bishner smiled at her own misfortune.

“I should. I bought all of it, remember?”

Stella faltered.

“Well, be that as it may, I liked the couch. Now it’s practically ruined.”

“Meh. This is my spot from now on. Not like you can fix it now- huh?”

Shavie felt her body moving forward as someone pushed her feet up into the air, though she regained her balance just as easily. That was one of the first things she learned after all. Being able to keep one’s balance was just as necessary in her line of work as concealment and swordplay were.

Tilting her head back down, she realized that it was Luna, who had destabilized her.

And Luna was still holding her feet hostage as she moved them up and down, forcing Shavie to sit up.

“Rude much?”

“You bought the couch. I picked out the table. Now, explain the real reason why you helped her.“

Luna glared dangerously down at her. Shavie faltered. She recognized that look in Luna’s eye, and as much as she didn’t like to admit, Luna's skill set was much more useful in situations such as this.

‘I have got to get me one of those Skills. How hard could it really be to learn something that helps in social situations while also being acceptable.'

“Fine. The pendants matched House Ricnar’s family emblem. I thought I’d give them some trouble. Hmph, I hope they realize how terrible it is to be set up by an ally.”

Shavie had thought long and hard about their time in Alcudia. In fact, they all had. And there was one point they agreed on. Someone set them up. It was clear through the sacrifices and the destruction of the Alcudian capital that whoever had set them up had backers. And House Ricnar was certainly on that list of betrayers.

Shavie made eye contact with Luna.

“Ricnar, Lorn, Midler, Harned, Mathos, Alievi, Ederite. Those were the families the Senate tasked with leading the eastern expedition into Evidia and Alcudia. One or more of them were in on whatever this was. I just got the chance to dish out some early revenge, and I took it,” Shavie said with conviction.

“...Fair enough. I probably would have done the same thing.”

Luna sighed and sat down next to Shavie, though she didn’t break the couch. Stella stood up.

“Luna! We all agreed that-!”

“We agreed to act in the best interest of the party. Well, anything that can weaken the ongoing attack is good news for us right now. And we can all agree that House Ricnar is an obvious enemy anyway,” Shavie interjected.

Luna’s voice sounded out tiredly. “Everyone, just drop it. We have a bigger issue at hand. There are too many Houses attacking at once. Bishner, do you agree?”

Bishner looked down at the map Shavie had drawn and nodded slowly. Everyone had noticed what was wrong, but no one wanted to talk about it. Or perhaps even Queen Rebecca didn’t know why it was important.

“Twelve separate Houses, both major and minor. But what is more concerning is that their territories are located in the western part of Trent.”

“They couldn’t have retreated...right? Surely they must have closed the portals?”

Bishner frowned as he rubbed his arms.

“It’s unlikely they failed. Even if the regional divisions failed, the Demon Lords should still be able to do it.”

“True…” Stella frowned as she looked at the pendant symbols Shavi had marked. “Still, some of these families aren’t exactly on the friendliest terms. Bishner, Shavie, assuming we help the Queen, how long can we delay them from entering the country? We can’t exactly leave until Luna can go with us.”

Shavie shrugged. “A little bit. Bishner. Your thoughts on it? Nespe is pretty far away, but if we can delay them as long as possible, then that gives us more time to infiltrate Trent while they are busy here in Alcudia.”

Stella nodded happily. “That’d be great. Then Isabella can finish up her schooling here while we investigate.”

Everyone stared over at Stella. Shavie knew that was exactly not what they wanted to happen. They wanted Isabella to experience some of her life in Trent, but they had to agree that the situation right now was not ideal. Eventually, her sister spoke up.

“Stella, I know you want what is best for Isabella, but we do need to go back home as well. They might need Isabella more than ever.”

“I know. But I also want Isabella to experience a good childhood too,” Stella said quietly.

“We all do, Stella. Really. But now that we know where Markus is, we also have to get ready to return home,” Bishner said.

“But he’s a child too,” Luna said unhappily. “That throws a wrench in our plans. We weren’t exactly thinking of taking two kids with us back home.”

“Yeah, and it throws a wrench in our plans to investigate as well. If Markus was still an adult, we would be able to at least infiltrate Trent with our Party at full strength. Now though… We’re barely better than a Scout, Luna,” Shavie admitted. “Our strengths don’t exactly lend itself to anything except assassinations. Frontal assaults will be a terrible idea, no offense, Bishner.”

Bishner picked up his drink but faltered as it slipped out of his hand unexpectedly. Shavie eyed him suspiciously. She knew that arm was covered in glyphs, but why was it hurting him now? The invasion had started weeks ago, and he had been no symptoms up until a week ago.

Bishner caught her eye. He shrugged his shoulders as he picked up his cup with his other hand.

“None taken. A Shieldbearer with three Assassin-type classes isn’t a functional Party, by any means.”

‘I’ll ask him about his arm. He said his arm had started acting up near Trent last time. I should review the information I got from my sources for the past three weeks. Something had happened.’

“Hey, do you think that he remembers us?” Luna asked quietly.

Shavie looked at her friend. Luna was probably the most devastated by Markus’s disappearance. But then again, that’s probably what happens when your lover goes missing for years on end.

“Doubt it. Isabella hasn’t said anything about her old Party yet. So chances are faint he would.”

Shavie hated to do it, but even Luna had to eventually let go of the past. They all had to, on some level. But this one fact probably hurt Luna the most. Seeing Luna’s face, she decided to ease the bad news a little.

“But, sometimes I do wonder what she really remembers. Her Skills are a bit odd, though it’s hard to say whether or not it’s from the party acquisition or from her past. And Markus was a full Demon Lord, so chances might be high that he remembers more of his past than Isabella’s.”

“True, very true Shavie.”

“We are all getting ahead of ourselves. What are we going to do about that Party? We still don’t have a good plan,” Bishner said.

That shut down the conversation in the room. None of their usual plans would be applicable here, not while their own identities were a problem. But the same also held true to the other Party, somewhat anyways.

“It all depends on that Party’s reaction. We have Isabella at least, so chances are that Warrior isn’t going to be attacking outright,” Luna said. “And worst comes to worst, we can expose that they aren’t a true Imperial Servant, though we really have no evidence of it. The most we can do is cast doubt on them.”

Shavie really didn’t like the sound of that plan at all.

“But Stella also said that their team killed all of us and that Paige was able to stall Markus with a Demon Weapon. Alone, no less. Without Markus here...”

Luna shook her head. “We’re at an extreme disadvantage. And our only edge is Isabella, who- wait, where is Isabella?”

Luna frowned as she looked around the house, seemingly peering through the walls to look for the girl.

Stella glanced sideways.

“She’s meeting with Lily. Apparently, they are both getting ready for the banquet at the school.”

“Shit, why did she do that!? We told her not to leave the house!” Luna stood up.

“The Protectors won’t let her leave. Isabella will be fine, even if she’s with Lily.”

“They might still try though,” Luna murmured.

“Then it’s better they fight the Protectors and not us. We’re still inhibited by the fog, Luna! Eight Skills between the four of us before we get incapacitated. That’s not even close to a proper fight,” Stella said.

Shavie frowned. “It could be, under the right circumstances,” she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “They might be under some restrictions here as well. We know that the fog erased their memories before, otherwise I’m sure they would have headed this way years ago.”

“And losing their memory is not the same as decreasing the battle capabilities! Luna, you said that the fog hadn’t shown up in the library when the Mage was slinging spells. That already tells us that they aren’t operating under the same circumstances as us!”

“Well, we could try diplomacy,” Shavie muttered aloud.

It wouldn’t be ideal for them, Shavie knew, but it would be the easiest option to get them to come here. A fight here might benefit them, especially if the magic circles Luna and Stella had engraved were activated. That would at least slow down the fog a fair bit. Twenty Skills gave a lot more wiggle room, especially if they flooded the room with Dark mana before the Mage could convert it.

Shavie blinked, a bit annoyed at the stares she was receiving.

“I’d rather assassinate someone, but we can’t exactly do that here and now, can we?”

“Shavie. That might just be a good idea,” Stella gasped excitedly.

“Diplomacy? Wait, I haven’t explained-”

“We talk with them. They’re in the same situation as us as well, and they certainly don’t want to expose their cover any more than we do.

“If we can work together with them, then Markus and Isabella will be in the same Party, and together at all times. Then we slowly work at Markus, while somehow keeping Isabella away from her old party. That’s a good starting point for us, at least!”

Stella prattled excitedly, ignoring the others' looks.

“Go and get dressed for the banquet! I’ll talk with Paige since she and I were the last ones to make out of the ritual. You’re a genius, Shavie!”

Seeing Bishner’s and Luna’s odd stare, Shavie felt aggrieved. That was definitely not how she had envisioned the conversation going.