Harmonie looked down at the reveling crowd with mounting impatience. Now was hardly the time for foolish celebration! Every part of their plan needed to be accelerated immediately, or the entire scheme risked collapsing.
"Calm down... just calm down," she whispered under her breath, forcing herself to maintain her composure. She needed to push aside the shock of the recent news and let cold reason dictate her next move.
Her preparations were already complete. There was no need for blind panic. All it took was adjusting the timeline and speeding up the planned steps, and the entire city could be brought to its knees within a week.
Yet, as her gaze swept over the nobles celebrating their counterfeit symbol, and the officers basking in praise meant for someone else, she couldn't suppress her disgust. Every single one of them was an utter fool!
She turned and departed the mezzanine without a second glance. The fate of everyone in that room was already written. Each would face their reckoning in due time, even if that time wasn't tonight.
Shortly after Harmonie slipped away, Jeanne noticed something peculiar down in the main hall. While the crowd continued to drink and celebrate, the Dublinn officers quietly melted into the shadows, disappearing one by one without drawing a single glance. Even the central figure on the dais was gone, leaving the drunken aristocrats completely oblivious to their absence.
Jeanne wasn't sure if it was the result of a subtle Arts illusion or if the guests were simply too far gone in their cups. But for the main hosts of a banquet to vanish into thin air without raising an eyebrow... something was deeply wrong.
"They're gone? Just like that?" Bagpipe blinked, staring at the empty dais in disbelief. "Sumpthin' isn't right about this, it isn't! How'd they all slip away without a sound?"
"This gathering wasn't just a party," Jeanne murmured, scanning the surrounding doorways. "Whatever they're after, it isn't just giving these aristocrats a good time."
Before she could expand on her thought, a heavy rush of marching boots echoed down the outer corridors. The footsteps were deliberate, disciplined, and arriving in large numbers.
"Nobody move! Victorian Army, Garrison Division!"
A force of heavily armed Victorian soldiers burst through the grand doors, weapons raised as they fanned out to seal every exit.
"We received a report of an unlawful assembly taking place on these premises! Stand down and surrender, or we open fire on the spot!"
Pandemonium broke out among the guests. A local nobleman, red-faced with wine and indignation, stepped forward to assert his rank. "What is the meaning of this insolence?! Do you have any idea who I—puff!"
Before he could finish his sentence, the lead soldier slammed a heavy, armored gauntlet straight into his face. The noble collapsed onto the marble floor, spitting blood and a broken tooth.
The brutal display sent a wave of genuine terror through the room. The aristocrats, who usually looked down on common foot soldiers, realized in an instant that these men were not playing by the rules tonight. Stepping out of line meant taking a bullet to the chest.
"Well, well. Look at all these fine nobles," a gray-furred Feline officer sneered, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction as his men began securing the room. "Instead of enjoying your comfortable lives, you had to go and mingle with insurgents! Search every last one of them! See if any Dublinn officers are hiding among these pigs!"
"That's him," Bagpipe whispered from the dark alcove, her Scottish accent tight with disdain. "That's the garrison colonel's adjutant. The arrogant git I was tellin' ye about!"
"We need to get out of here first," Jeanne said softly. "It's no trouble to fight our way through, but I don't trust these soldiers one bit. The timing of their arrival is way too convenient."
Slipping past the commotion, the two managed to navigate out of the estate through a side service door. Whether by Jeanne's sheer luck or because the soldiers were entirely focused on rounding up the nobles, no one spotted them leaving.
Once they reached the quiet alley outside, Bagpipe suddenly froze, her face draining of color. "Oh, blimey! Where's Cap'n?!"
Jeanne stood in the cold air, a few drops of cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. She had completely forgotten about Horn in the rush to leave!
"I don't know!" Jeanne shrugged. "I didn't see her anywhere in the hall toward the end. She just vanished."
"I thought ye knew where she went!" Bagpipe wailed softly, clutching her head. "That's why I didn't say nuthin' inside! Ye shouldn't be speakin' loud in those places, but... oh, I'm in proper trouble now! Cap'n is gonna chew me out for leavin' her behind!"
Jeanne looked at the panicked girl with a mixture of amusement and pity. "Calm down. Let's go get your gear first, grab Horn's weapons while we're at it, and go look for her."
Bagpipe snapped back to her senses, nodding hurriedly. She rushed to their stash in the alleyway, retrieving her heavy breaching spear along with Horn's longsword and shield, then fell in behind Jeanne.
"Jeanne, can ye really track Cap'n out here?" Bagpipe asked anxiously as they navigated the labyrinthine streets surrounding the estate. "If she went into stealth mode, even trained military hounds would have a hard time sniffin' her out!"
"Trust me," Jeanne said smoothly. "When it comes to tracking someone down, even a bloodhound couldn't beat my nose! Though... comparing myself to a hound feels a bit strange now that I say it out loud."
While the two were searching the outer grounds, Horn was silently trailing the Dublinn officers through the service passages beneath the estate.
When the officers abruptly withdrew, they moved so fast that Horn had no time to warn Bagpipe, let alone retrieve her shield and sword. Her only weapon was a small, sharp dining knife she had quietly lifted from the buffet table.
"Why did the garrison storm in so early?!" Mandragora's shrill, frantic voice echoed down the stone corridor ahead. "They were supposed to wait for our signal after we confirmed which nobles were on our side! Is the officer in charge of that unit a complete idiot?!"
Mandragora was clearly on the edge of a breakdown. Anyone looking at her could tell her mind was far from stable. It was a wonder Dublinn hadn't screened her psychological state before making her an officer.
Yet her angry outburst confirmed Horn's worst fears: the local garrison's raid was indeed an inside job arranged by Dublinn. But something had gone wrong with the timing, causing the alliance between the traitors and the insurgents to fracture.
Horn pressed herself against the cold brick wall, stepping carefully as she shadowed them, listening for any shred of intelligence.
"Holding that foolish banquet without our leader's consent was your mistake to begin with," a cold, mocking voice called out from the darkness ahead.
Harmonie stepped out into the corridor, looking at Mandragora with undisguised contempt. "I only covered for you so it wouldn't ruin our broader goals. Next time, try using that dust-covered brain of yours before you act!"
"Harmonie! You dare insult me again?!" Mandragora snarled, her hand reaching for her Arts staff as her temper flared out of control.
"I have no interest in your tantrums tonight, Mandragora," Harmonie replied, dropping her usual playful smile as she assumed her authority as the leader's right hand. "You nearly compromised everything for a vanity project. Gathering those nobles meant nothing! Do you honestly believe those greedy aristocrats care about our cause?"
She paused, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the dark hallway behind Mandragora. "And to make matters worse, you brought a tail along with you. Are you completely incompetent, or are you trying to sell us out?"
Horn's heart skipped a beat in the shadow of the alcove. Her fingers tightened around the handle of the small dining knife as Harmonie's gaze locked directly onto her hiding spot.