Impa had gotten out of bed and had gathered the present members of the company.

Paya was distraught. "I swear I only took my eyes off it for a second."

"Logically speaking, it would have been impossible for you to watch over it all the time," Linhardt assured her.

"Why don't you explain what this heirloom is?" Edelgard suggested. "Then we might be able to figure out who might have wanted to steal it."

"I had just discovered the heirloom's secret," Paya informed them. "It is a key. A key to a Shrine. Except instead of a trial for the hero, this Shrine was meant to be a vault."

"A vault?" Edelgard asked. "What is kept inside?"

"From what I can gather, weapons," Paya answered.

"Our ancestors likely foresaw the need for them, should Calamity Ganon return," Impa elaborated.

"What kind of weapons?" Edelgard asked.

"I don't know," Paya admitted. "But no one from the village would take it! Its only value is as a key to the Vault, and no one else knows about the Vault! Even if they did, they wouldn't know where to find it!"

"So if the thief didn't take it to steal the contents of the Vault for themselves, maybe they took it to ensure the Vault remained closed," Hubert suggested.

"But who would want to do that?" Caspar asked.

"Is it not obvious? The Yiga Clan," Hubert answered, no small amount of venom in his voice. "If there is a weapon in that Vault, placed there for the purpose of helping to destroy Calamity Ganon, then I imagine their first instinct would be to attempt to take it for themselves and use it against Link. But because the weapon might not be useful against Link, and attempting to use it against him might risk the weapon falling into his hands anyway, the surer course of action would be to destroy it. Or to destroy the key that would allow him to access it."

"The Yiga Clan," Paya paled. "Grandmother was in this building, asleep."

"Good point. Why wouldn't the Yiga have assassinated her?" Monica asked.

"I thought the same thing, but ultimately, I think it would have been too risky a move," Hubert said. "If the assassination attempt were to go sour, the Yiga would be left with nothing."

Dimitri posed a question of his own. "The person behind the destruction of Gatepost Town. Do you think they might be involved?"

"No," Impa said. "I thought on the destruction of Gatepost Town, and I came to the conclusion that it was not the Yiga who destroyed it. The Yiga are a perversion of the Sheikah, but they have retained similarities. They are precise in their destruction. The massacre at Gatepost Town was too chaotic, left too much to chance. I believe it was the work of someone else."

"Who?" Dimitri asked.

"Astor, the Prophet of Doom," Impa elaborated. "A seer who foresaw the Calamity a hundred years ago. He was the one who informed the King that the Great Calamity was coming, and he informed us where we could find the Divine Beasts and the Guardians." Her gaze darkened. "What we did not know was that as he 'inspected' the ancient weapons, he was secretly infecting them with Malice, thus enabling Calamity Ganon to take control of them. By the time we learned of his treachery, it was too late."

"Why would someone do something like that?" Annette asked.

"Am I to explain the thoughts of a madman?" Impa asked.

"It doesn't matter why," Dimitri said. "Astor must die for his crimes."

"I will not argue," Impa said. "But for now, we must retrieve the Vault key, before the Yiga destroy it."

"We have to assume there's a Yiga spy in Kakariko Village," Monica said. "Maybe our thief got in without being noticed by anyone in town, but I doubt it."

"You think one of the villagers is working for the Yiga?" Paya asked.

"One of the villagers, or a member of the Bolson Construction Company," Monica said.

"To be honest, I doubt it was one of Bolson's crew," Hubert said. "But I suppose it would be prudent to investigate them first."

"When was the Bolson Construction Company's most recent hire?" Hubert asked Hudson.

"Well, that would be Harrison," Hudson answered. "He joined the company last year."

"I see. Thank you for your time," Hubert said. Turning to Paya, he said, "It wasn't one of Bolson's men."

"How do you know?" Paya asked.

"The Bolson Construction Company wasn't initially expecting to pass through Kakariko Village at any point," Hubert explained. "They mostly work locally in Hateno Village. The only reason they are here is because they have a contract taking them to the Akkala region, and even then they only went through Kakariko because of us. This would have been impossible to plan. And why else would a Yiga spy infiltrate a construction company in a town with as little of interest as Hateno?"

"Good point," Paya admitted. "But if it wasn't one of the construction workers, that means it must have been one of the villagers."

"The question is, which one?" Hubert mused.

"Perhaps the guards saw something," Flayn suggested.

Hubert considered Flayn. He still didn't trust her. He knew she was one of the beings who had maintained the status quo that Fódlan suffered under, and there would be no future for Fódlan as long as she and her kind remained in power.

("Do you really believe that?" a treacherous part of his mind questioned. "Do you really think that is the face of evil?" As always, he silenced his doubts.)

"That might be the case," Hubert agreed. "Why don't you and Dedue ask what Koko's father saw? I will talk to the other guard."

"And you are sure you did not see anything?" Dedue asked Dorian.

"I wish I could help you," Dorian said. "But I was putting Cottla and Koko to bed around the time you said the artifact was stolen."

"I see," Dedue said.

"Thank you once again for helping my daughter with her cooking," Dorian said.

"It was no trouble," Flayn assured him.

"Still, I would like to give you something for your troubles," Dorian offered, handing them a few rupees.

"Oh, we can't possibly take that," Flayn said.

"No, please, I insist," Dorian said. "My daughters are my world. Since their mother died, they're all I have. I worry what would happen to them if something were to happen to me."

Dedue frowned. Perhaps that was a concern for all widowed fathers, but why would Dorian mention it in this conversation specifically?

Was he expecting something to happen to him?

Flayn assured Dorian that she was sure nothing bad would happen to him or his daughters. Dorian didn't seem comforted.

When they met back up with Hubert, the gaunt mage reported on Cado. "He said he was in the privy when Paya called the alarm, and had been for several minutes before that. According to him, he might have eaten something that had gone bad, but I think his food might have been laced with something."

"But if that's the case, then to put his daughters to bed, Dorian would have had to leave the door to Impa's house unguarded," Flayn said.

"I am not sure he was telling the truth," Dedue theorized, drawing a surprised look from Flayn and a curious one from Hubert. "He mentioned the possibility of something happening to him. Why?"

"He could just be paranoid," Flayn suggested.

"Or it could be that the Yiga threatened to harm his daughters, and forced him to steal the artifact," Hubert mused. "Naturally, he would have to be silenced once the job was done."

"Maybe," Dedue agreed.

"If you're right, Dorian likely still has the artifact," Hubert theorized.

Dorian's shift ended an hour later. However, instead of going back to his house, he went up the trail to the vicinity of the Fairy Fountain.

Along the way, he took an orange, softly glowing orb out of the bushes. Hubert recognized it as the orb that had been next to Impa's seat in her house.

So Dedue had been right.

Stealthily he and Petra followed Dorian. Further behind them, Dedue and some of the others followed, in case they needed backup.

Eventually, Dorian stopped. "Show yourself!"

For a moment, Hubert thought that Dorian had seen or heard him and Petra. But then a very large man in a hood and a mask went to face Dorian.

"You have done well, Dorian," the man said.

"I don't want your praise," Dorian said. "You will hold up your end of the agreement?"

"Indeed," the man nodded. "Your daughters will live to see Ganon make this world anew."

Obviously the man was Yiga. He drew his enormous sword. "You will not have the same privilege, traitor."

Okay, that was enough. Hubert cast a blast of Miasma into the Yiga swordsman's face.

The swordsman coughed and stumbled back, then saw Hubert and Petra. He whistled, and six more Yiga assassins jumped out from the forest. None of them were as big as the swordsman, but they were still a threat.

Fortunately, Hubert had brought reinforcements too, and the members of the Rising Sun company ran to engage the Yiga.

The Yiga were skilled. However, even their skill was not enough to face three foes at once. Petra took the swordsman's life, and five of the others were quickly overwhelmed.

The sixth, who looked like he was about to die, was knocked out by a surprise punch from Raphael. "Leave him alive!" Hubert commanded.

As Hubert tied the Yiga assassin up, Dorian explained that he had once been a Yiga, but had left the Yiga Clan, and his wife had been killed by the Yiga in retaliation.

"Why would they not just kill you?" "Monica" asked.

"They wanted to send a message," Dorian answered.

Hubert's disdain for the Yiga grew. At they moment, the Yiga assassin began to wake. "Good. You're awake."

"Why haven't you killed me?" the assassin asked.

"I need you to send three messages to the Yiga Clan," Hubert said. He removed the assassin's mask and tossed it aside. "One: you are too late. By the time you return to your lair, the Vault will have been emptied. Two: Kakariko Village will not be so easily infiltrated again. Dorian's secret has been revealed, and the village is on high alert."

"And the third?"

Hubert's hand glowed with dark energy, and he pressed it against the right side of the assassin's face. The flesh melted beneath his hand.

"Koko and Cottla are off limits," Hubert told the assassin. "If the Yiga target them, I will find out. And I will wipe out the Clan."

"You think you can fight the whole Yiga Clan?" the assassin managed to say.

"No. I will poison their water supply," Hubert threatened. "I will torture its location out of any Yiga I encounter. Eventually one will break. And I will poison the Yiga Clan."

"Understood," the assassin said.

Using the assassin's own knife, Hubert cut him free. The assassin ran to deliver the messages.

Meanwhile, Linhardt placed the orb on a pedestal that looked as if it might fit the orb. The pedestal turned blue, and a Shrine rose from the ground. Unlike the other Shrines they had encountered, this one opened its door on its own.

"Children of the rising sun," came the shrine monk's voice. "I bid you enter."

Unlike the other Shrines, instead of a descending platform, this one had a stairway. It led into a chamber with racks of weapons. "The weapons are for the people of Kakariko Village," the monk said. "But you may each take one if you so desire."

Most of them didn't, but Edelgard selected a large, two-handed sword, and Ashe and Leonie both took bows.

At the end of the chamber was a chest. Inside it was what looked like a Sheikah Slate, only smaller.

Linhardt picked it up and turned it on. "Hmm."

"What's on it?" Annette asked.

"The map is present on this Mini-Slate, and it does have a teleportation rune. However, there are only two other runes, and I don't recognize either of them," Linhardt informed her.

"Better not use those until we can safely test what they do," Annette suggested. Linhardt nodded.

"Flayn of Garreg Mach," the monk said. Flayn walked to the monk's pedestal.

"This Spirit orb was intended for the Hero, but you are in need of it," the monk said, the Spirit Orb floating into her chest. "It will not restore your true power, but it will brighten your light."

"Is there anything that will restore my power?" Flayn asked.

"There may be," the monk said. "Seek out your kin. You may find what you seek with them."

With that, the monk vanished.