Emiya glumly looked at the cup of water in front of him. He then looked at the mug of ale that Shamir had been sipping from for the past hour.

'I could really use some right now.'

"You're not getting any. Seteth will dock my pay. He doesn't like me as it is already," Shamir said before taking a large gulp. She looked outside.

Emiya sighed and said, "Yeah, I know." He followed Shamir's line of sight and both stared outside of their room in the local inn, at the town controlled by House Hrym.

The area was situated on the border between the Adrestian Empire and the Leicester Alliance, sharing the border with House Ordelia of the Alliance. From the mission debrief and their first meeting, if House Hrym has been taken over by Those Who Slithered in the Dark, then there was a high chance House Ordelia was also taken over as well. Most likely, House Ordelia is the next location to investigate.

House Hrym's mansion was the largest building in the area. From the floor plans that Shamir had, which both memorized and burned on their way to House Hrym, the height in each floor was tall, far taller than the average house in the town. It wasn't fortified like a castle, only separated from the outside with iron gates. The lack of fortification could be that House Hrym was so far in-land that there was no fear of foreign attacks. Shamir had also marked important rooms in the plans, and both memorized them all. Their first target is the study room, where head of House Hrym worked. If there were any incriminating documents, there's a high possibility it would be there. With Emiya's Structural Analysis, he'll find anything important or hidden in the room and just say he had very good eyes. The lawns inside the gates were also well-maintained, seemingly only been cut recently. All in all, the immediate House Hrym grounds were pristine and well-kept, without any sign of trouble nor decay.

On the other hand, the areas outside the gates were in terrible condition. There were signs of closed, run-down, or slightly damaged houses. There were also some signs of looting from the houses on the edges of the land; some of these houses were also abandoned.

However, there were still people living here, and Emiya mentally separated them into two groups. The first group consisted of the civilians. Their items and clothing were old and worn out, while they were also lightly smeared with dirt. They labored through the town, grumbling underneath their breath. They were still doing their jobs, from what Emiya saw, but the level of discontent was high, and it only increased when the civilians were in the presence of the second group. This second group were hooded people, and they strutted throughout the town as if they owned it. With the current way everything was, they technically are the owners of it.

Shamir drank the last drop of her ale and set the mug on the side. She stared out the window again as a pair of hooded people rounded the corner into their line of sight.

"These are the guys, right?" Shamir asked.

"It's definitely them," Emiya confirmed.

"… They are so obvious. How did news never reach the Monastery about them?" Shamir murmured incredulously.

Emiya could only agree. Those Who Slithered in the Dark here in the town wore the same clothing as those that tried to assassinate the Faerghus royal family. Did they want to differentiate themselves from the people of Fodlan, who were blessed by the Goddess, so badly they were willing to look suspicious for it?

The room became silent as both kept looking outside, keeping track of the hooded figures that walked throughout town. It was a comfortable silence, and one that both didn't want to break. Emiya was glad it was Shamir that he was partnered up with and not Alois. No offense to him, but Emiya felt he would have been a terrible option to head a stealth mission like this. While Alois was boisterous, Shamir was silent and serious, perfect for a stealth mission. When Alois said that he missed finding Shamir back in the Monastery, Emiya had initially thought that Alois was exaggerating. Afterall, Alois would have been an incompetent Captain of the Knights of Seiros if he missed someone.

However, after spending time with Shamir in the past three days, Emiya could only agree; Shamir was very much like a ghost. It was like she wasn't even there. Her steps were deliberately silent, especially on their way to House Hrym. There were more greenery and they even crossed the Gronder Fields, which was more of a forest. Still, she led both of them and Emiya would have lost her if it weren't for him Reinforcing his ears. On top of being quiet, her serious demeanor kept the focus on the mission and conversations tended to be short and to the point. Her behavior was more of a mercenary than a knight.

Emiya approved.

Suddenly, a well-off carriage appeared in their sights. They followed it as goes through the town and stopped in front of the House Hrym gates. A man stepped out the carriage and Emiya immediately Reinforced his eyesight to see him in more detail.

The man had long hair that was combed back, reaching his waist. A thin moustache and beard accented his frowning face. There was a short shoulder cape on his left and was adorned by a Adrestian colors. He exuded nobility in the way he presented himself.

'And it's all a fake.' Emiya thought. The man inside couldn't be any more different from the person outside.

"That's Volkhard von Arundel. What do you think?" Shamir asked Emiya while she kept an eye on 'Volkhard'.

Inside 'Volkhard' was Thales. There was a thin layer of 'skin' made by magic that hid the actual person. It also changed voice, though it didn't change mannerisms and the like. It wasn't all-powerful and it took time to perfect.

Emiya hummed in response to Shamir. "Mind if I open the window?" Shamir raised an eyebrow but nodded in the end. Emiya opened the window, took a sniff, and immediately closed the window. He laid on his bed as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

His head swam; he could hear Shamir, but she sounded far away. The magic he smelled was similar to Cornelia's, which reeked of blood, but the amount of magic on his body was so much, it overwhelmed him. Thales smelled denser, heavier. His young brain couldn't process it, and it cost him. On top of that, it wasn't just active magic that he smelled. There was something passive, and it reminded him of 3 people and what they had in common.

'Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn. Something on him smells similar to them. Clearly, it's different, but definitely related. It would be something to ask Rhea when we finish this mission,' Emiya thought.

"Hey! Emiya, are you okay?" Shamir gripped Emiya's shoulder to steady him, careful not to shake him.

Emiya blinked at Shamir, gradually sharpening his focus on her. "Yea, I'm fine. Just surprised, that's all. But, to answer your question from earlier, that 'Volkhard' guy is not normal, and definitely not Volkhard anymore," he responded. "He smelled similar to Cornelia, but far denser. What do we do?"

Shamir stared at the House Hrym mansion as she tracked 'Volkhard' disappeared into the mansion through the front door. "Tell Lady Rhea we've confirmed that they're here. Call for reinforcements too."

[\br/]

Seteth entered the Audience Chamber with a report for Rhea. However, what he found slightly baffled him.

"Rhea," Seteth began, "what are you doing? Where did you get those … sticks? Wait, are those swords?"

Yes, swords. They were too pointy to just be regular sticks, far too small to be proper swords, and far too thin to be proper daggers. If Seteth could describe them at all, they were swords with the width of a tree branch. From what he could guess, they could reach from the tip of his middle finger up until his wrist.

Rhea stopped spinning the sword-stick. "Indeed, Seteth. Would you like to take a closer look?" She tilted the current one on her hand to him, and Seteth, with a face of disbelief, took it. Rhea looked over the three other sword-stick that she had and picked yellow to spin on her fingers. Seteth got the red sword-stick.

Yes, this was what Seteth came to when he entered: Rhea spinning sword-sticks on her hand with a little smile on her face. Thankfully, it was only Rhea and him in the room.

Quite frankly, the sword-sticks slightly creeped him out. As he noticed before, the sword-sticks reached from the tips of his middle finger to his wrist. About two-thirds of it made the blade while the other third was the handle. Judging from the spread of the weight, the entire thing could be made of steel, but the handle was blunted or smoothed and wrapped in cloth. It was basically a blunted stiletto with a longer handle and without a hilt. In total, there were four color-coded sword-sticks: red, yellow, blue, and white. Each sword-stick was a perfect copy of the others; not even a master bladesmith would be able to make such perfect copies, much less four copies.

"Rhea, you didn't answer my first question: where did you get these swords?" Seteth reiterated. "Was it from Emiya?" He was the only one Seteth could think of that could do this.

"Indeed. Each one is such a perfect copy of the others. It would seem that rather than creation, our little hound copies weaponry. If you noticed, there is a little chip near the tip of the swords, and it appears in each one of them. Outside of the colors, there are no other differences. All three even have the perfect balance," Rhea commented as she absent-mindedly spun the yellow sword-stick on her fingers. It was going fast enough that it left trails of yellow as it spun between her fingers, on top of the back of her hand, even the back of her thumb. At some point, Rhea had masterfully switched hands without slowing down.

Seteth frowned. "Rhea, could you stop playing around? You might get hurt from all this." It had been a while since he found her this happy and happy for herself. "Do you know why he gave you these?"

"I asked him to leave some swords as a signal. A disappearing sword is meant to be the message." Rhea did not pause her spinning as she passed a small piece of paper to Seteth. "The swords are blunt too. I tried cutting that paper, but the sword couldn't even cut through it."

Seteth took it and on it was a simple message. He frowned as he read through it.

Y – Need Reinforcements

R – Enemy

B – Kids

W – Boss

Short and straight to the point. "It could use a few more words." Seteth said. "It doesn't even explain how things are for them."

"You're nitpicking him, Seteth. I think this is fine as it is." Rhea kept spinning her yellow sword-stick when both the red and yellow sword-sticks suddenly disappeared into motes of light. The blue sword-stick didn't follow suit.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew in temperature and weight. "Seteth, gather your platoon and leave at once. Bring your best weapons. I want the Agarthans dead," Rhea commanded. "If someone asks anything, tell them there is a group of insurrectionists to subdue. Make sure that this is stamped out. With your wyverns, you should reach House Hrym in a day."

Seteth's face darkened. "He will be there. Do you honestly think this is a good idea?"

"Then bring all the wyvern riders, I don't care. I want him dead." Rhea growled.

Seteth tensed as his hands turned into a grip, but he released it immediately. "Very well. With Alois and the rest of the Church of Seiros, the Monastery should still be armed enough until we return.

"Let me remind you, Rhea, that I still do not trust Emiya. His timings have been too coincidental for my liking."

"I know, Seteth. You wouldn't be you if you did trust him."

Seteth promptly bowed and left the room.

'I pray that you are not lying. Otherwise, it will not just be Thales that will die.'

[\br/]

Author's Notes:

And Chapter 12 is done.

I'm keeping sword-stick until we get an actual name for those. I found it kind of funny, but it might irk some people. Sorry, I kind of want to show that these Rhea and Seteth have some humanity in them, that they can find some little joys in life. Rhea was basically pen-spinning. It's a relaxing hobby,

I think I covered all the important mission objectives with the four colors. It wasn't meant to be RWBY in the beginning, but Persona 3-5 colors (RYB). However, I had to add another color and white was a neutral color.

I hope that the Shamir and Emiya scene was alright.

2021/02/19 Edit:

Added a bit more to describe sword-sticks. I'm keeping it as such for now since only Seteth calls it that.

Corrected an error I had before.