Kei Jinguji, 12 hours after the raid. Lastation's Basilicom.

Reports kept coming in, piling up on my desk. I am, to a certain degree, willing to work for my nation; however, my mind is, as of right now, stuck somewhere else. And so, the pile continues to grow, every minutes.

More specifically, I keep seeing the face of this damn thief. We didn't talk much, and what little he did say didn't make any sort of sense.

"If you still believe her to be a CPU, then I can't do anything for you."

Was he talking about Lady Noire? It was a possibility. Yet, the most probable explanation was that he somehow believed Uni to be a fraud.

That he was under the belief that he, himself, was the only one to be able to detect this would already be concerning. But he wasn't just by himself.

"Just know that if you're still doing nothing, people are starting to take actions to stop these people."

Keeping the undeserved jab at our admittedly lacking actions, he all but admitted he had an organisation behind him. Without any conclusive evidence, we can't affirm with certitude that he is working under ASIC. And yet...

I have spent to much time just thinking. I need to finish reading those reports.

"Several floors and walls damaged, needing to be repaired; amounting to 500 000 credits."

The soldiers winced, and Beefcake had the decency to look ashamed. It was good, but remorses wouldn't bring either the money nor the brat back.

"Medical bills, for some of our most injured members. Around 75 000 credits."

The headchef was the one to wince this time. Understandable, but I didn't hold it entirely against him. He wasn't a fighter, after all. He may have chosen to defend the Basilicom, but he wasn't trained to. It wasn't his job.

"An entire floor has to be rebuilt. As is the Resting Circle of the sixth floor. Nothing short of a million credits."

A young soldier took a step forward. "Boss, why are you telling us all that? We already knew it would come out of our paychecks-"

"Do you not understand what this is all about?" I snarled, before regaining my composure- what little I could keep. "I am not making a list of how much the Basilicom lost due to this attack, I am making a list of how much the Basilicom lost due to your incompetence. All of you. You are the defenders of this nation! He should have never even managed to step inside the building, let alone escape from the city!"

A general- and soon to be former general, if I had my way- started to try defending his soldiers, but I wouldn't let him utter a word. "There's no use talking about what should have happened, what matters is what did happen. And what happened is right here. We are now 7 000 000 credits in debt, because half the Basilicom's electronic devices are burnt! Repairing the building will take monthes, if not years! In the meantime, the Basilicom will be defenceless, save for the few of you fit for duty; a duty you already proved to not be fit to uphold. With such a blatant weakness, Lastation is now at the mercy of anyone that would oppose us!"

Years of rebuilding, and a nation in shambles... What a mess I'm leaving for Lady Noire, when she'll come home.

"Are you okay, Uni?"

Uni tried to snarl, but was too tired to move, so she resorted to words. "Why do you care anyway. I'm a failure. Couldn't manage to stop one weak, tired moron, in my own Basilicom..."

I refrained from sighing. Uni probably needs both recomfort and logic, and sadly, I do not really do the first one. "You do not have to feel bad. Nobody could do anything against him."

"Noire would have stopped him."

I pinched my lips. It was true that Lady Noire was good, and it was obvious she was strong enough to defeat him, even with the weaknesses that came from losing a shard of Primal Sharicite. But that was not what Uni needed to hear, not right now. "I do not believe so. You already told me that he overpowered you, but that is not because you are weak."

"I know," she sighed. "I'm just-"

"He wasn't stronger than you, either," I cut her off. There was no need to let her follow this train of thoughts, lest she stopped believing in herself. "I do not think your sister wanted anyone else to know. It's already pure luck that I knew of it..."

By all accounts, revealing the existence of the Primal Sharicite to her was far from an optimal play. And yet, something compelled me to tell her. Maybe the way she was laying, broken, sad, in a private hospital room...

"That is all the information we have for now."

"Thank you, Histoire. We shall remain in contact."

I hung up, and I felt a frown forming on my face. Chika didn't know anything, and Histoire didn't have much information on the thief, apart from when he became relevant enough to be written in history; three days ago, when he attacked us. Nothing we didn't know. If I didn't trust her, I'd say Planeptune sent him to cripple us, to maybe conquer our lands.

And since Chika doesn't know anything about the Primal Sharicite sitting in her own Basilicom, which isn't that strange all things considered, it meant that the one behind the attack may be Lowee. And, seeing as they have isolated themselves from the world around...

I think the only course of action we can take right now is to wait. He will appear once more, be it in Planeptune, Lowee, or Leanbox. If Lowee is behind it, they won't stop him, bus as he attacks Planeptune he'll be stopped; and if Leanbox is behind it, he will be stopped when he attacks Lowee.

And if it's something else? I will still make this work.

Linda, a day after the raid. Unknown location, Lowee.

Bad day all around, looking for the mascot in this fuckin' cold abandoned themepark. Lowee's the worst, easily. Lastation sucks because it's always hot and steamy, but it's way better than Lowee's snow and ice and shit.

But I think the worst part is that I'm forced to work with a buncha morons. Not only are they dumb as all hell, they're losers who can't stomach a little bit of fighting; they're using those repels thing that make monsters scared of you so you don't have to fight them. That's bullshit, and I'm totally regretting my time in Lastation right now.

Speaking of which, there's one of these dumbasses coming towards me. "Hey, the failure! You've heard the news?"

I took out my iron pipe, and pointed it right at his throat. "You wanna run that by me again, you weakling? Who's a failure?"

"Well..." he gulped, but didn't stop. "You managed to lose the first mascot to a dumbass who barely managed to hold a sword, didn't ya? And you also lost Septent Resort, even when you were helped by your stupid boytoy Guild member, against two girls who barely started adventuring. Hence, you're a failure!"

He has a shit-eating grin, and boy did I want to smash it. "At least I was good enough they left me a dungeon, you loser! What have you done, besides pacing around in this shitass place?"

He laughed, and took a step back. "Just you wait, failure! I'm definitely gonna become a high ranking member of ASIC, and when I do I'm definitely gonna cast you out from ASIC!"

"Whatever, Smerlum."

"It's Sumeilu- oh, I wanna punch you so bad!"

I smirked. "You don't have the balls. So anyway, what's your news?"

"Oh, yeah. So, your boytoy, the weakass loser? Turns out he just raided Lastation's Basilicom."

"Huh, okay," I nodded. His casual way of adressing Gyone was annoying, bu- wait. "Hold on, what do ya mean 'he just raided Lastation's Basilicom'?"

"Yo, rookie? The Boss is asking for ya. Don't make her wait."

I looked up. It was one of my superiors, Overfail or something. I nodded, and got up to go to the meeting room; CFW Trick's a creep, but he's fuckin' terrifying in battle, and I don't wanna make him angry.

I made sure my clothes weren't looking awful, and entered. I saw CFW Trick, of course, but at his left was CFW Brave, a pretty cool guy, and at his right was also CFW Magic, leader of the Four Felons and of ASIC as a whole. And pretty much the best in everything. Oh, and Warechu was there.

"Have a sit," Lady Magic said, pointing to an unoccupied chair, next to the rat. I didn't wait before sitting down; it's not everyday you're invited by the Lady Magic!

"What can we do for you, boss?" I asked, trying my best to hide my eagerness.

"It is more what you have already done, Linda," sir Brave answered. "It has come to our understanding that you recently 'befriended' a young Guild Member, feeding him false information to help you on your task. While I may not particularly like such treacherous methods, you did good in tricking him to work for us."

"Indeed," Lady Magic continued. "He may have ultimately been useless at finding the Mascot, but your words, as well as Warechu's assistance, has helped us greatly in uncovering some of the CPU's secrets. As such, you will form a duo and work directly under Trick. Consider this a promotion of sorts."

"Wait, chu," the rat interrupted. "What happened with the brat?"

CFW Trick was the one who answered. "Last we heard, the cur escaped Lastation and is headed towards Lowee, after invading the Basilicom and severely injuring their CPU Candidate and some of their soldiers. There's no doubt he's going to do the same in Lowee, but I pray for you he doesn't; I'd rather not have my future cuties injured in any way. Understood?"

"Yes, boss!" We both answered, Warechu and I.

"What do you mean, the failure got a promotion?"

Author's footnote :

A calmer chapter, an interlude, because I can and because I wanted to show that, even through the Primal Sharicite wasn't broken, and the nation still lives, actions have consequences.

Also a bit of ASIC because we need to see how the villains fare, I guess.

Review Time~

Ace-Of-Weeb : He's definitely strong, and he can take a hit, but he lacks many things that'd make him a great Guild Member. He's slow, he's loud, and he doesn't really do much Questing - his raw strenght is better used by the Basilicom than out in the fields, slaying monsters.

And yes, had it been anyone else, they'd be dead. Except, well, the others CPUs. And Cave, because I have a feeling she doesn't take fall damage.

Guest 1 : No need to imagine their reactions. Well, no need to imagine Linda's reaction, anyway.

Guest (2&3) : The review appeared after a while. If I remember correctly, it takes up to 30 minutes for anything to update on this website.

Guest (4) : I mean, he's indirectly helping them for now, so...