Chapter 57

The smell coming up from the shaft under the house was... unpleasant. Not foul, just... damp and musty. The kind of thing you'd associate with rotting food or stagnant water. The other thing about the shaft was that it was narrow. If all my tails were out, I wouldn't have been able to fit.

"At least it's not a sewer." Shinkage said, "Who's first?"

"What?"

"I don't know... sigh, stop that." She poked my cheek.

I laughed quietly, "I'll go ahead." I said, starting down the narrow shaft.

Getting to the bottom, I found myself in a very very small cellar styled room. Like the shaft itself, the walls were brick and mortar and the floor was gravel. Just thinking about how primitive this world was, this was kind of shocking.

Shinkage grunted as she closed staircase/hatch, leaving behind a small melted spot in the window the only evidence we had been there at all. A moment later, her little feet touched the gravel and she said exactly what I was thinking.

"This must have taken a very long time." She said.

"Yeah. I mean, unless this was here before the buildings overhead, this is really clean work." I said, "Reminds me of Gnossis..." I added, referencing the 'great work of the Daedalus bloodline' the mirror of the dungeon.

"The smell though..." Shinkage mumbled, sounding thoughtful.

"Hm? Something you know?" Sure, I knew a lot of stuff compared to just about anyone in Orario, but Shinkage had a 10000 year history locked in her head.

"Its..." Of course, having that much memory meant that sometimes you had to dig for what you wanted to remember. "Ahh, yes, this smell. Mushroom farming. Issei studied a little of this in chemistry, though it's something people have been doing since the invention of the 'outhouse'. Anaerobic fermentation, if I remember right."

"Something to do with sod and a common pit to poop in?" I didn't know the name, but when I was a boy scout I asked my Scout Master how they stopped the outhouses from smelling like outhouses.

"Basically. Of course, underground like this, means you can use that soil for growing mushrooms."

"Huh. Well forgive me if I don't try any." I looked around the small cellar. It had a single archway, the ladder back up, and two barrels that looked to be just small enough to get through that shaft we used to get here. I gave them a tap, and then a little shake, and it sounded like water. There were places set into the walls, just missing bricks basically, that you could set candles, and that was... it.

"Well... if they used candles, then a bit of fire should be safe." I said, "Right?"

"Would it matter if it wasn't?"

I was sure, even in the total darkness, Shinkage could see my exaggerated thoughtful look, "Well, I'm fireproof, you're basically impervious. But we-"

"You."

"Fine fine. I promised not to cause too much trouble."

There was a pause, then she said, "It might be unwise for fire. It smells like this place hasn't been aired out in a while."

So I held out my hand and created a small glowing ball. Like my first magic lesson with Sona, it took a moment to form, but when it did, a pair of tiny fox ears popped out of the top. "I should teach this to the children."

"Baby brain later."

It wasn't a very interesting tunnel. Wait, no, it was very interesting. I couldn't help but wonder how long this all took, and how carefully they had to work to keep the tunnel from collapsing, and without anyone from the surface noticing. One wrong swing with a pickaxe and you might end up with someone's house in your nice tunnel.

But, aside from a small room (with an actual door) that was filled with mushrooms, smelled like a farmer's field and had a tiny pinprick of sunlight peeking in from above, the tunnel was simply in one direction. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought to get my bearings before descending, so for all I knew we were heading to Alnus, or Rondel, or even under the Lady's keep.

The tunnel, aside from being only one way, was also only wide enough for a single person at a time. Certainly not wide enough to bring in an assault force, but it would be perfect for smuggling or the like.

"Aha." Shinkage said quietly.

Then I smelt it, "Water?"

"The gravel floor..." She knelt down and shifted some of the gravel around, "Thought so. Dirt. If the tunnel takes on a little water, it won't flood so easily." She sniffed the air, "I suspect we're going to exit under the bluffs near the bridge to the Capital."

"Huh... But if this is just a smuggling tunnel..."

"Unlikely. The mushroom farm, a source of fresh water and fish and this..." She motioned to the wall, "Likely taking years to make?"

"The question then, is it still in use?" I'd been keeping an eye on the ground, and the intermittent nooks in the walls, but there was no sign anyone had been here. "It's too clean." I mumbled.

"Exactly." Shinkage said, "Remember, you said we are dealing with professionals. And melted wax can be made into new candles to save money."

We travelled a little longer, ten, maybe twenty minutes tops. The tunnel still had no branches, though it did have another mini-mushroom farm followed shortly by a tiny room with a pair of (shake shake) liquid filled barrels. There were no further shafts upwards, but the smell of water was stronger now. But sadly not nearly as strong as the little mushroom farms.

But then I found out why...

"This is very clever." Shinkage said.

I had to agree. The end of the tunnel didn't exit out directly like say a doorway into another room. No, the end of the tunnel dropped down about two metres into a little cove that had been eroded into the rock face we were in, and out into open air. It was shaped kind of like a person's nose. This kept the air in the tunnel partially trapped, and the tunnel exit hidden from view. It looked easy to climb too, with many natural looking hand and footholds.

So, very carefully, we dropped down onto the gravelly/sandy/rocky beach by the river and tried to figure out 'what now'.

(Kaede.)

Waiting until evening was... boring. The little mining town had a tavern (that served good food if nothing else) a brothel, and a collection of small field stone and wood huts that the miners lived in. That was it. Sure, there was a chest high wall around the little village, mostly to keep the occasional wild dog out and the very small amount of livestock in. But that really was it.

And while she wasn't shy at all about the things going on in a brothel, it had an actual Warrior Bunny working there. Yes, one of her ears had been cut, but there were quite a few differences between the 'Hume Bunny' and 'Warrior Bunny'. Meeting the real deal might blow her cover.

She also didn't want someone wandering towards the Brothel thinking she was available.

So shortly after meeting with the nameless... orc(?), she refilled her water skin and headed back to her camp.

She wasn't idle the entire time though. She had most of a day to kill, and something was setting off the little adventurer alarms in her head. So, she started setting up traps. Simple field-craft stuff, like sharpened stakes around the roots of a tree, or wiry saplings that would tangle ones feet, or throw sharp wood at someone who tripped over it.

Alternately, it might also catch her some diner.

Traps set, she went back up to her tree and had a nap.

(Maki and Ryuu)

Ryuu slammed through the simple thatch roof of the stone hut and landed behind the Pooka. Startled for sure, but not panicked, he spun around to face the new threat.

The gun in his hand spoke twice, two sharp snaps heard clearly over the sound of collapsing roof and noise from the gang outside. The first shot sparked against the wall, but the second found its mark, making Ryuu grunt with the sudden impact.

But then Maki stepped up from behind him and wrenched his arm around. Bigger and more muscular build aside, he was still just a plain mortal, and a moment later he was flat on his face on the gravel floor of the hovel, the 9mm now in Maki's off hand.

"You hurt?" Maki asked, resting her full weight between the Pooka's shoulders.

Ryuu gave her ribs a pat, "Fenrir was bulletproof." She replied, "We will speak of your methods later, but how should we leave?"

"Are you two apostles? The Green Men's weapon didn't kill you?" He grunted, trying to shake Maki off, "No matter... We know how to deal with the likes of you!"

"Where did you get this?" Maki asked, ignoring the threats.

"I'll never tell!" He laughed, "DO IT! FOR THE RESISTANCE!"

Outside, the noises of concern changed to shouted orders, then what sounded like a battle cry. One of them being, "Get the oil!"

"Everyone knows an apostle heals from any wound..." He tried one more time to free himself, then seems to just give up, "But you two wouldn't be the first we've put to the torch and scattered to the wind."

Maki and Ryuu shared a wide eyed look with each other, then realized that they'd fallen into a trap meant for someone else. Heavy stone hut, no windows... if it were to collapse it might give even an apostle pause... Enough so you could set them on fire with oil that would seep through the stone keeping them in place.

And they were well prepared too. No sooner had they come to that realization and started towards the door, there was a loud, "HEAVE!"

Hidden ropes went taunt, and that entire wall had its foundation stones pulled out. Cheap wood supports and tons of stone started to fall inward. They had seconds.

"Up." Ryuu said, crouching down and cupping her hands, "Watch your head on the way out."

Without hesitation Maki stood up, took a single step, and put her boot firmly into Ryuu's waiting hands. With a heave, the elf shot her into the air, making a new hole in the roof. Unfortunately, this was met by a cry of, "Archers!" And a sudden WAFBOOM noise of one of the new 'thunderball' potions Kodori had made for the mission.

Ryuu trusted Maki to be able to handle that, and hauled the Pooka to his feet with one arm. "I won't talk!"

Her reply was to tap him on the forehead, making him go limp in her arms. This gave her about two seconds to get him on her shoulder before she simply ran through the nearest wall, using a hint of her magic to blow it outwards just before she slammed into it. The little building fell inwards as she left, running past surprised looking Demi-humans just as the first one tossed a small flaming keg of oil onto the ruins.

There were few places they could really hide in the slums. Silly as it sounded, since the slums were basically not policed at all by either the Empire or the JSDF. But it wasn't the authorities they wanted to hide from, but rather everyone else.

Maki's little camping spot was no good, since it was too close to the slums in general and well, they had people chasing them. But, those pursuers were only mortal, and too poor to afford horses. This put them someplace between the Capital and the bridge across from Italica in a field of wheat (or what ever the locals called it).

Maki sighed as Ryuu slowed to a halt, "I need to do more laps around the city."

"You do." Ryuu agreed, "I ran all the way from Italica, to watch your little chase, too."

Maki frowned, "Hold on... You ran ALL that way... wow..."

"Our sister inspired me to start running again." Ryuu smiled, flopping the (now foaming at the mouth) Pooka onto the dirt, "The question is... How do we handle this?"

"First... Are you sure you're okay?"

Ryuu made a point to poke the spot she had been hit, then reach under her vest to poke herself again, "Hardly even tender. Yourself?"

"Almost got hit with a couple arrows." She looked down at her hardened leather bracers and the scratch marks they were now sporting, "All that time catching Lilly's crossbow bolts is paying off."

They nodded to each other, as only proud adopted siblings could, then looked at the Pooka, "He sounded like he expected someone else." Ryuu said, glancing at Maki, "And I watched you get led right to him."

"I did that on purpose. I listened to her stores about Apollo and the Berbera." Maki replied, "But I think this might be the wrong person." She pulled the 9mm from her belt and did a quick check, "But he did have this." She then popped the magazine and weighed it in her hand, "Half empty I think."

Ryuu watched her slot the mag back in, then looked to the Pooka, "From what we know, there are only two ways for him to have gotten that. Either it was stolen after the failed connection, or it was scavenged from a dead soldier."

Maki nodded, "This 'resistance' though... Are they against the JSDF? The Apostles? The Empire? All three?"

"He didn't seem like he wanted to talk though..." Ryuu sighed.

Both of them had a bit of a 'dark past', and neither of them wanted to return to those ways. "Well, lets start with the basics." And Maki started to go through the Pooka's pockets.

"I hope whomever is overseeing this field doesn't get curious..." Maki mumbled as she frisked the Pooka and sorted everything in his pockets into neat piles.

Next to her, Ryuu was digging a pit. Maki had handed over her short sword so she wouldn't have to use her nice branch of Yggdrasil, and with adventurer strength she was very quickly making progress while trying not to disturb the wheat around her.

"Pocket change." Maki started listing once their captive's pockets and pouches were empty, "Four expended shells. Handkerchief. A small pouch of..." She paused and brought less than palm sized cloth pouch closer to her nose, "Urg, maybe some kind of snuff? Pipe weed maybe?"

"Snuff?" Ryuu asked while her hands rapidly displaced dirt. They didn't have much space to work with unless they wanted to draw more attention, so she was opting for what looked like a shallow grave instead of a straight down pit.

"It's kind of like pipe weed, except in powder form. You put a tiny bit of it under your upper lip to get the same effect as smoking, but all at once." Maki explained, then got back to her inventory, "Ah, pipe, fancy too." A pause, "Dagger... at least it's sharp..." Another pause, "Aha, paper... Except I can't read it of course."

"We could ask. His feet."

"Oh! Good idea." Maki said, tugging off the Pooka's boots.

"I meant grab them."

"Ah, but notice..." She held up an actual leather boot, "They say people never look at a person's shoes, but..."

Ryuu gave a little head tilt, "Ah, most of the people in the slums wore only cloth wrapping or sandals."

"These are far too fancy." Maki poked and tugged at the boot, then perked up a little, "Aha." She reached into the boot and pulled out a thin cloth lining, "Ug... but..." And a gold coin fell into her palm as she upended the boot.

"We aren't here to steal pocket change." Ryuu admonished.

"You're not looking close enough."

"The smell is keeping me away."

"Eh well. But look." She fished around in her own pouch for a moment, the pulled out another gold coin. This one had the face of the Emperor on it, much like many of the coins on Earth, but, the coin from the Pooka's boot was different. First, it was a little larger around, but also a little thinner. Second, the face of the Emperor had been scratched through three times, as if clawed by a cat. And on the other side, instead of a crown, was a teardrop.

"And his other boot?" Ryuu asked.

A moment later, the boot was free and Maki was giving it the same treatment as the first. "Heh, lockpicks." Those she pocketed herself. "The locks here are even simpler than ours, but I didn't think to bring my own."

"You have your own?"

"They're in my boots too, except those are JSDF surplus and had to stay home."

"All done then?"

"Lets ask some questions." And now she grabbed the Pooka by the ankles and dropped him into the shallow pit. Moments later, he was now buried up to the neck.

"There. Now..." Maki took opened up her 'delicate items' pouch and took out a small metal vial. She shook it around until the sandy sound changed to liquid, then opened/closed the tight fitting cork under the Pooka's nose.

The ammonia salts snapped him back to awareness almost as fast as Ryuu had taken it from him, and he tried moving away from the smell, lashing out, and sneezing all at once. Of course, in his own personal (hastily) hard packed shallow grave, he made zero progress.

Maki put a hand over his mouth until his brain caught up with the situation he was in. After a moment, she said, "You're in the middle of a farmer's field, a good distance from Sadera." She said calmly, "And we'd like to ask you some questions."

(Kodori and Shinkage)

"This is towards the abandoned mining town the Medusa mentioned, correct?" Shinkage asked me as I walked along the mostly rocky shore of the river, upstream of Italica.

"It is." I nodded, adjusting my left arm just a little so Shinkage's rear fit better in the crook of my arm. Being dressed as a 'maid' and her being dressed as a 'merchant's daughter' dictated that I carried her. That, and my legs were longer and I honestly didn't mind. "I think we'll make it there by nightfall, and we've already found a couple of clues leading this way."

And we had. Really small ones, but clues all the same. Mostly the remnants of campfires that hadn't been just kicked into the water, or had been, but not washed away. Bones of small animals and fish that had been buried but exposed by the water. Obvious signs that someone was trying to hide their passing, yet didn't think enough about their surroundings.

"I am curious about the others." Shinkage said, "I'm actually kind of curious if this world has even invented clocks... or if they still rely on sundials. It's like being in the dark ages again."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, Mikoto does have a clock. Helpfully provided by our secret sponsors." I entertained the idea of picking up speed, but even I would have trouble on this crunchy rocky sandy crap that lined the riverside.

"She must be bored, waiting in that room."

(Mikoto)

Contrary to what all the others thought, Mikoto wasn't actually bored. You would think that with how serious she was, and how focused she got when given a task, that she would have stayed in her room and just listened for any noise from the communication crystal.

Between conference call times, early morning and late evening, she actually went and did other things. Toured the town (Italica was pretty interesting), chatted with the locals, and did her own background investigation.

"Thank you." Mikoto said to the nice lady behind the counter, "I am sorry about what happened."

The bakery that had been bombed was still under repair, but since the ovens themselves hadn't been damaged the family of three were simply working at reduced capacity while a carpenter and mason worked on the damaged half of the ground floor.

The lady smiled, a little stiffly, and replied with, "I hope they find the people who did it."

"Justice will come." Mikoto replied, looking past her at the Father and Daughter.

The father was now sporting a prosthetic arm. By no means a work of art like a Golem arm, it wasn't made of wood either. Something made of 'plastic' then? Kodori had mentioned it was useful for mundane things. The father was clumsy with it, but it still allowed him to use a rolling pin, something the smaller daughter would have trouble with. Speaking of, the daughter had a little bit of a limp, but it looked to be more a symptom of stiffness left by her injury.

To Mikoto, they were simply reminders to do well here, and catch who had done such a thing to them.

Speaking of. Her being at this bakery wasn't just to pick up some snacks. As she walked by the two men repairing the other half of the bakery, she looked to her right and upwards, to the second floor of the building across from it. From what Kodori and the others had described, the magic had come from there. Facing back to the workers, she tried to picture it in her mind.

Came from above and to my right. Kodori had said.

Turning around again, she squinted at the two floor building across from her. The window would be the obvious place to fire such a shot. But Kodori was taller than average...

She looked up just a little more at the roof above the window. An archer, could hide just over the peak of the roof, much like one might a hill in a field...

She walked across the street, through the alleyway between the houses all the while nibbling on a rather tasty salted pretzel. No one seemed to notice her as she went, but of course, no one ever did when she put her mind to it.

The layout of Italica was a little odd to her. Instead of Orario, where the residential areas were lined up in 'back to back' pairs, with a main street at the front of each home, Italica was set up in 'back to back' blocks. There were no back yards, and the rooftops of some of the houses could be walked between with a single long step. To be fair, Italica was tiny compared to Orario, and allowances had to be made for that. Of course, when you had a narrow alleyway where no one ever went... Well, since there was no plumbing, the back paths all had a shallow plank covered trench.

Mikoto had smelled worse, and Italica didn't suffer from overpopulation, so it was simply 'smelly' and not 'vile'.

Too narrow for a real escape... no one with intelligence would plan to run this way. Get there, but not leave... Up? You could certainly get up to the second floor, even if you were just a normal person. The space between the houses leading in from the street weren't even an arm span apart... Where though...

She took a slow tour around the back half of the house. Not all the people of this world were human, or human like... aha! Claw marks? Mikoto finished her pretzel and put her fingertips against the wall, each one under a small series of nicks in the thin weatherproofing plaster. Looking up, then across at the house behind her, she squinted at the wall to look for more. Were their claws not long enough for a single wall climb? Yes... it looked like they'd pressed themselves between the two houses and... aha, bare foot as well. Then...

Snacks done, she tucked the paper wrapping into a pouch (she would never litter, no matter the world she was in) and pressed herself between the houses, scaling the wall like a mountaineer in a narrow crevasse. While she climbed upwards, she kept scanning the walls, tracing each hand/clawhold the person had left.

When she got to the window of the second floor the clawmarks stopped and touched over the wooden window frame. It was wide enough for someone to enter, easily too. No latch to lock it either. Though, it made Mikoto wonder why have a window at all when all it did was look at the bare wall of the house next to yours...

Wait...

She looked across from her, and up. Like any well built roof, it overhung from the structure's core, so things like rain didn't just slide down the walls. This was no different, the peak of the two rooftops almost touching each other, with a single exposed beam of wood under the triangle of overhang.

Exposed wood with enough space to sling a rope around? Aha!

Mikoto smiled grimly. This wasn't one person, but two! The underbeam of the roof had wear marks from a rope worn into it. A person with claws, like the cat-folk she'd seen, would have no need of rope for such a simple climb. But a normal human... And if they did wish to drop down from here, then they could use the rope to descend without issue. But cloth rope was bulky...

Did the second person lower the shooter down from here, reel in the rope and go to the rooftops to escape?

Mikoto finished her climb, swinging up and over onto the clay shingled roof of the building across from the bakery. Crouching down, she looked at the shingles themselves, looking for claw marks or boot prints, hints of someone walking over them recently. While she was there, she looked towards the bakery, hiding everything but her head from the two workers fixing the place up. It was certainly possible to hit the room in the back from here... yes.

Okay... no claw marks. Oh? Torn fibres? Most clothing here was coarse and functional. Someone was up here for sure, but not the beast-folk...

She rebuilt the incident in her head... Two people. One with claws. The one with claws climbed up first, helped the mage up to the roof with the rope. Mage waited for an opportunity for maximum effect, with as many JSDF around, as well as Kodori and Maki. An indeterminate amount of time passed, meaning the beast-folk could either have stayed or helped with the mage's escape. If the beast-folk stayed, then they both made their exit through the back streets. If not, then the mage left over the rooftops...

The addition of rope to the 'situation' and the second person made her think. If the beast-folk didn't stay, they could have set up another exit elsewhere...

Looking at the nearby rooftops, there were ample places for a person, a normal non-apostle/adventurer person, to jump to without much difficulty. So long as it was 'away' from the bakery, they wouldn't be spotted from the ground, since all eyes would be on the explosion, at least, until someone thought to think 'how' and 'where'.

So she narrowed her search to areas where one might jump from, if they had no ability past a Citizen. It was around the time she spotted a broken shingle across a gap in rooftops, that someone called up from the street below.

"Excuse me! Yes! You up there!"

Before she could remember to speak the local language, Mikoto looked down, "Hai?" She shook her head, then in the local language, "Pardon. Yes?" She realized then she was looking down at one of the Rose Knights and her horse. "Ah, the local authority." She said, "One moment."

The lady knight, made a surprised noise Mikoto simply hopped off the roof that was close to ten metres off the ground, and landed in front of her without a sound past a quiet 'hup', as she landed. "Are you okay!? Wait... Are you..."

Mikoto bowed, 'Eastern style' to the horse and rider, "I am with the caravan from Orario. My name is Mikoto, to whom do I have the honour of addressing?" As the 'public face' of the investigation team, she was determined to be even more polite than usual.

The lady knight dismounted, resting her left hand on the pommel of her rapier, and tapping her chest in salute with her right hand, "My name is Hamilton Uno Ror, of the Rose-order of knights." She said, "Um... what were you doing up there?"

"I wasn't troubling anyone, was I?" Mikoto asked.

"Not that I know of, but it's not something you see every day..." The young woman brushed a hand through her bob cut of honey coloured hair to look at Mikoto with green eyes, "Are you... An adventurer?"

"Have you been told of us?"

"Of course." She said with a nod, "M'lady Pina told all of us about you, but... why are you away from the caravan, and on the roof?"

"Ah, pardon." She paused, considered, then made 'an executive decision' about how much information to share. "Kodori-dono spoke highly of your order, so I will share..."

The two of them walked along the street, along the supposed path of the person who had been on the rooftops. While doing so, Mikoto told her (and the horse, since he seemed like a good boy who enjoyed nose pats) about her mission. No names, numbers or locations. Just some of us are here to look into the explosion at the bakery'. She then went into what she had found, and compared it to what the JSDF had discovered. And by the time they'd returned to the caravan, they'd both compared notes and exchanged a little speculation.

"So you think that the other person entered the home, opened the window, then left again to distract the JSDF from the person on the roof?" Hamilton asked after they both had a bit of a chin scratch.

"Putting what you told me against what I discovered, yes." Mikoto said finally, "My team has also found what looked like a hidden way into the city as well, and evidence of beast-folk staying there."

"I'll have to tell Lady Pina about this, you know."

Mikoto gave the horse one last pat on the nose, "Please do. I will report the same to my contact with the JSDF. But, please, do not urge action just yet."

"I can't promise that, but I will trust Lady Pina's judgement." Hamilton nodded, tapping her breastplate again in salute and urging her horse to turn and follow her back the way they'd come.

Mikoto watched them leave, then turned and walked towards the Inn where the Orario Merchants were being housed.

(Kodori and Shinkage)

"While I do not mind you carrying me, to keep me from the rocks. This is somewhat boring." Shinkage commented as we continued to march upstream.

"I know. Kind of odd. I mean, no people, one or two animals, some fish..." I think both of us were expecting some kind of ambush or something. All this secret agent stuff was giving us that kind of vibe.

"Not like either of us would notice an arrow if it hit us. Well, maybe you. Our toughness seems to work in different ways."

Yes, Shinkage's nearly impervious body started at the skin's surface. While the adventurer's toughness was just under the skin. About the only real difference was that I could still get paper cuts, and an arrow would leave just a tiny pinprick of broken skin, at least... around here it would.

"How much further do you think?" I asked.

"Since neither of us can fly, and you aren't using your scouts, I have no idea. The map I remember looking at could put the mining town anywhere from an hour to half a day from here at this pace."

"Get a nap then." I shrugged, making a little sheet of mana cloth, "I'll catch some fish for dinner."

"Don't mind if I do." She mumbled.

Since we weren't running or doing anything supernatural, we (I) was still walking along the river hours later. The map little Aurea showed me had very few notable landmarks. Though, one of those did show a forest on the opposite side of the river we were following near the place we were going.

And it was around dinner time, when my stomach had finally told me it was going to tell everyone within a kilometre what it thought of missing meals, I set Shinkage down in a comfortable looking spot by the shore and started fishing.

Fairly fast and wide, I was sure there was something of reasonable size in the water to eat, so, with a quick look around, I 'pulled' a mana cloth net from my maid uniform's sleeve, and cast it out into the water.

About ten minutes later, with a couple of fish flopping about on the shore next to me, the communication bead around my neck hummed to life. Behind me I heard Shinkage stir, then sit up.

"This is Mikoto. Are we all here?"

"Ryuu and Maki are here."

"Shinkage and I are together as well."

There was a pause, "I can only listen in." Kaede said, her voice sounding like it was underwater, "I'm meeting someone very soon." She must have put the crystal in her mouth like I had. "I might have to stop listening part way through."

"Understood." Mikoto said, "Report."

"Well." Maki started, "We found out something really interesting."

NOTES!

And you'll all find out in the next chapter! :)

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