Oblivious to what had happened in the Merchant District, the remaining members of The Cloud Orchestra had been enjoying a peaceful afternoon at the safehouse when a group of Royal Guards had descended upon them to shatter the peace. After opening up with a brief salvo of verbal harassment, the guards had sternly ordered Reina and her group to march to the manor under escort to meet with Kromald. It was quite clear at this stage that something had gone very wrong.

“I’d like an explanation, and I’d like it quickly,” a red faced Kromald barked with clenched fists after the group had been filed into the same meeting room as before. Noticeably, the sofas on their side of the room had been removed which left them with no choice but to stand.

“Sorry, but I’d actually like one too,” Reina replied with a neutral tone as she examined the creases on Kromald’s face before her gaze flicked over Andus’ smile. “It seems that you know more about this situation than we do.”

“Don’t play dumb,” Kromald growled as he pointed a finger at them. “You brought a new outsider with you and didn’t think to tell us that she was being actively hunted by SuTSU? If that wasn’t enough, she then suddenly has the brilliant idea to go to the Merchant District. Guess what? She goes missing.”

Reina felt a chill down her spine when she heard Kromald’s words. She knew that Nina had been heading out for the day, but she had gone to the Merchant District? And the reason that Kromald was so angry was…

“I don’t care about her,” Kromald clarified. “What I do care about is that she had the nerve to drag not only my daughter into it, but also a goddamn prince. His carriage was found abandoned in a backstreet not too far from the walls.”

Reina paused to collect her thoughts, holding her expression together as she understood that now was the most important time to keep a cool head. This meeting was a powder keg waiting to explode, and Kromald was almost certainly trying to provoke her into setting it off. She hadn’t missed the fact that the manor was swarming with Royal Guards, so if Kromald really wanted to twist the screws then there wouldn’t be much that they could do. Underneath Kromald’s accusation, however, she had also realised that something just didn’t add up.

“I’m sorry, but Nina wouldn’t leave the Royal District of her own accord,” she said as she looked Kromald in the eye. “Your daughter was aware the issue with SuTSU, and neither of them are stupid. Why don’t we just put this all down for a moment and actually focus on trying to find them?”

“Oh, you will find them,” Kromald glared at them in response, his fingers trembling as he fished a cigar out from his breast pocket. “The king has revoked all your rights to the Royal District until you do so, which includes entry and your privilege to deal with any of the estates. You have half an hour to clean up your accommodation, so get out of my sight.”

Reina hid her frown as the group was marched out of the manor and escorted back to the safehouse in silence. The tranquil scenery that surrounded them seemed to taunt their feelings that they currently harboured as their expressions were glum. If it would ever be their safehouse again after the next hour or so was another question, but Reina’s mind was currently focused on something more important.

Nina.

Reina knew that she wouldn’t head to the Merchant District if given the choice. She had already concluded that Nina was almost certainly in trouble, and as her boss it was her job to get her out of it. Both how she had ended up in the district and what had happened after she arrived were questions that she would need answers to, as without them she wouldn’t be able to solve the bigger puzzle. No matter what had happened, Reina was responsible for her, and she would pull her out of trouble either with or without help from the nobility. If something happened to her then it would ultimately be Reina’s own failure, and that wasn’t a burden that she was prepared to live with.

“What are you thinking?” Svanda asked as they stepped into the cottage, finally far enough away from the Royal Guard to have a conversation.

“That it has to be Ormain,” she sighed in response as she sat down on the sofa. “He’s the only one that makes any sense.”

“Nobody else would try something?” Trim asked as she opened the door to her room and began to pack things up. “Surely there are people who have a bone to pick with the Inin Estate or the Royal Family.”

“That’s exactly why I think it’s him,” Reina concluded. “Nobody else is brazen enough to kidnap royalty besides SuTSU. A local group would just be asking to get wiped from the plate, while a group of travelers would be shut out of Zaffre in the future which just isn’t worth it. SuTSU, however, wouldn’t care at all because they’re problems that they can manage.”

“What about the prince,” Svanda suggested.

“Doesn’t make any sense,” Reina sighed. “If he wanted something from Rucille, her family wouldn’t be able to say no in the first place. It’s not like Nina has anything to offer him either.”

“Maybe he wants Nina as a concubine,” Jade offered. “He could have pitched the idea to her when they went out and then lost his temper when she rejected him.”

“Unlikely, but it’s possible,” Reina mused before looking at the door to Svanda and Saela’s room. “Is Saela back?”

“Saela,” Svanda called as she opened the door. “Oh she’s back. Saela, get up.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“Get up Saela. Now,” Reina growled as she glared in the direction of the bedroom, watching as a sleepy figure appeared in the doorway wearing nothing but a shirt. “We’ve been kicked out of the district until we find Nina, so you’ve got fifteen minutes to sort out your belongings.”

“Huh?” Saela asked as she casually yawned. “Nina’s with the prince, don’t worry.”

Reina paused for a moment as Saela’s words sunk in, although by the time she went to say something Svanda had already beaten her to it by picking Saela up by the collar. Flailing around while trying to drag her shirt down to cover herself, Saela was finally dropped on the sofa opposite Reina.

“What was that for?” she scowled before realizing that the atmosphere in the cottage was icy. Svanda, Trim, Jade, and Aline all simply looked at her with blank expressions while Reina leaned back on her sofa and draped one leg over the other.

“So you saw Nina today,” Reina stated with a cold expression.

“Yeah,” Saela replied with caution. “She was with that Rucille chick and the second prince.”

“The second prince?”

“That’s what everyone in the restaurant was saying,” she shrugged.

“Where?”

“A restaurant.”

“Where was the restaurant?”

The group watched as Saela paused for moment before sighing. “The Merchant District.”

“Did you speak with her?” Reina asked.

“Nope, they kept to themselves,” Saela replied, almost surprised that she hadn’t been grilled for leaving the Royal District. “They came in, they ate, and then they left.”

“Together?”

“Yeah, they all left together,” Saela answered as though it were obvious. “I thought she would have come straight back, the restaurant is like… twenty meters from the gate.”

Reina’s attention hung on Saela’s final words as she sunk into contemplation, waving Saela away without a second thought when she asked if she could put some pants on. After she had closed the door behind her, Svanda and Trim both sat on the sofa while Jade and Aline dragged two dining chairs over to form a crude circle around the coffee table.

“It doesn’t add up,” Reina sighed. “The gates in particular are crawling with Royal Guards. I don’t see how Ormain could have pulled anything.”

“They could have gone elsewhere afterwards,” Trim suggested. “Maybe Ormain was waiting to strike and they gave him a perfect opportunity.”

“Can we backtrack a little bit please?” Jade asked. “Is nobody else here wondering why Nina was having lunch with the second prince in the first place?”

It was a question that left the group in silence for a moment as they considered the question. As Nina had guessed earlier, nobody from The Cloud Orchestra had even seen a member of the Zaffre Family before, let alone met one. If the family had ever needed anything from them, they wouldn’t know in the first place as the family would have simply asked one of the estates to submit a request in their stead.

“Alright, I’ll admit that it’s odd,” Reina conceded. “It’s not completely implausible though. If I remember correctly, the second prince is actually engaged to Rucille’s younger sister.”

“No wonder Kromald is pissed,” Svanda chuckled before her expression hardened under Reina’s glare. “I still feel like we’re missing something though.”

“Pack your things!” a voice yelled from outside. “You’re being moved in ten minutes!”

“They really want us gone,” Aline sighed as she looked in the direction of her room. “At least there isn’t much to pack up, but I don’t really feel like doing it when Nina might be in danger.”

“It would be nice if they gave us a little more information,” Svanda mused as she stood up. “If we could talk with someone who knew a little more information about what had happened, it would really help narrow things down.”

The group followed Svanda’s lead by standing up and slowly making their way to their rooms to pack up the few belongings that they had with dejected expressions. Reina, however, was a step behind them as she crossed the floor with Svanda’s comment in mind.

Someone with information.

Suddenly, an outrageous plan was forming in her mind. There was in fact someone out there that would almost certainly be well informed on what had actually happened this afternoon. If they would cough the information up or not was a different story, but as risky as her idea was, it was all that they had right now.

“Everyone, I’ve got a plan,” she announced. Watching as the group turned around to face her, she found that for the first time since being called into the manor today she was wearing a smile on her face again.