"Confess! You knew it!!"
"I swear not! Please..."
"Of course, and I'm stupid enough to believe it! You and Efren have always been together! And Atelas, you two got along from the first moments! They can't have kept you in the dark! And Rhaegal? I bet he was involved too!"
"I swear I don't know anything! I was as surprised by that letter as you were..."
When Keita arrived at the guild of adventurers, the first thing she heard was a big mess. Which intrigued her a little, since as far as she knew the situation there was usually pretty calm. It wasn't exactly her business, but she had to admit that she was a little curious about what was going on; fortunately she had come there using one of her avatars and therefore was now small enough to enter through the door, which otherwise would have been closed to her. So she entered, and she found a crowd of adventurers massed in a spot near the reception, and judging by their laughter they were having a great time. Keita couldn't see beyond the crowd due to her current avatar being quite short, and she considered jumping to figure out what was going on, but stopped when she noticed two people he knew well: two rather tall women who were cracking up with laughter at the moment, and who she knew were actually not two real women, but favorite avatars of her sisters Serengal and Corgorin.
"Hey, sister!" Corgorin called out to her as he saw her approach them. "I didn't know you were interested in the show!"
"Um... I actually came here for another reason..." Keita murmured in an unsure voice. "Exactly what is going on here…?"
"You know that Efren and Atelas also went underground with our brothers, right?" Serengal asked her. Keita nodded: of course she knew, since Haku had the communication device constantly on and connected with Darbi's, who reported everything that happened to their brothers, and consequently he also saw that some 'extra people' had joined the group at the last moment, including the current aspiring guildmasters of the newly founded guild of adventurers, and he reported that to all the family, including her. "Well, when they left they didn't say anything to anyone. They slipped off in the night without even saying goodbye. They only left a letter stating their intentions and entrusted all management of the guild to Sarah. Needless to say, she got pissed like never before... she spent two whole days doing nothing but moaning and cursing at the two 'degenerate assholes', but that was obviously only the beginning, because this morning she completely lost her mind, she threw out the window the guildmaster's desk and all the paperwork, and then he caught Carlos accusing him that he must know something and tied him to a chair for questioning. And all of that is hilarious"
Keita peeked at where his sister was pointing at them, and saw poor Carlos tied up in a chair like a salami, while Sarah was in front of him shouting abuse at him of all kinds and demanding that he tell her how things really were, and of course Carlos he couldn't grant his wish because… well, he knew basically nothing and had only had the misfortune of being a close friend of the guilty, which unfortunately was enough for Sarah to consider him an accomplice. The woman seemed to have fire in her eyes and Keita wouldn't have been surprised if at any moment smoke came out of her ears or she started to spit flames. "Shouldn't you intervene? I mean... stop her? Or do something like that?"
"Are you kidding? It's too funny!" Corgorin said trying to articulate complete sentences in the midst of her laughter. "I gave him that rope just because I hoped it would go like this!"
Keita raised an eyebrow. She couldn't saw what was funny in a madwoman yelling at a poor fellow... well, everyone had their own way of having fun after all, and judging by the crowd it seemed that many shared Corgorin's and Serengal's opinion, so she decided to let go. After all, she had come to the guild for another reason. "Where are Martha and Lisah?"
Serengal's smile faded a little. "Uh... you're searching them for 'that thing', aren't you? Well, they're over there and they have the information you're looking for. They were actually waiting for you"
Keita looked at the spot her sister pointed to; it was a nearby table above which the twins had positioned themselves to be able to see the scene, and they too were laughing like crazy. Her gaze became more determined; she started to join them, but Serengal stopped her by grabbing her arm. "Sister, just promise me one thing, don't go overboard. If she doesn't give you the impression of being dangerous..."
"I'm not going to kill her right away anyway, sister. Just like I did with Atelas, I'm not going to eliminate a possible source of information" Keita said. "I'm working as an infiltrator, not a butcher. And I know my job. So don't disturb me while I'm doing it"
Serengal was silent for a moment, then she released her and returned her focus to Sarah and Carlos, albeit with a rather grim expression. Corgorin did the same, but even she looked a little sorry for the situation. Keita ignored this; she knew that her sisters were emotionally involved in what she was doing, and for this very reason she had preferred to avoid asking for their help for once. Sh couldn't blame them and she understood their feelings, but she couldn't risk it getting in the way of her mission. After taking one last look at them, she turned and retraced her steps, walking quickly towards Martha and Lisah.
The twins noticed that she was approaching well in advance, and even on their faces their joyful expression faded; they said something to each other in a low voice that Keita unfortunately couldn't hear due to her avatar's limited hearing, and then they got down from the table they were on to meet her. Keita didn't even give them time to say goodbye, and she didn't say hello in turn; she just asked bluntly: "So, do you know who Dyana is working for?"
That was why she'd hired the twins: to find out who Dyana, the latest addition to their adventuring party, was actually working for. Just like Atelas, Keita was sure that Dyana too was a pawn in someone's hands; which meant that there was another individual who was keeping an eye on the dragons trying to introduce a spy among their friends, and this person could give her a lead to find out who wanted to get rid of the dragons and who didn't. Therefore, tracking down Dyana's mastermind had become imperative on her priority list. She would have gladly sent Corgorin and Serengal to follow her, but she had preferred to avoid it: Dyana in fact paid close attention to the two dragonesses and above all they were emotionally involved in the affair, since they considered her a friend, therefore it was probable that they would make a mistake and let themselves be discovered. So Keita had decided to send someone else; her original plan envisaged someone else of her sisters, but then Corgorin and Serengal had asked her to trust their adventurer friends: Dyana in fact wasn't as attentive to them as to the two dragonesses and even if they were still emotionally involved they would prove to be able to do the job. Keita didn't agree at all, since she didn't trust their friendships since already two of their friends had already turned out to be double agents, but the two of them had insisted a lot. For Keita, it was clear that not even Corgorin and Serengal believed that any of their friends could do the job better than the dragon, they simply wanted to have an excuse to reveal to their friends about their new companions' duplicity; since Keita was in charge of that operation she was in fact the one who dictated the rules, and she had imposed silence on them even with their friends, and Corgorin and Serengal didn't like this at all. Eventually, Keita had succumbed to their whining and agreed to involve the adventurers in the mission as well.
They had revealed it to them practically the same day that Haku, Rhaegal, Tikka, Teramon and all their companions had left for the underground. At first Sarah, Carlos, Martha and Lisah had been somewhat disheartened: in those months they had become very fond of Dyana and Atelas and could not believe that they had actually worked behind their backs, even if they had to admit that they had suspected since their sudden interest in them seemed a little too forced. However, Corgorin and Serengal had explained to them that Atelas wasn't really a fraud, since he had limited himself to reporting some information and indeed he had kept the most important ones to himself, so it was possible that Dyana was the same too. The four adventurers had been somewhat heartened by this news, though not too much: it was probable that Sarah's growing irritation, culminating in her attack of frantic madness that morning, was partly due to the mental stress caused by this news. In any case, they had agreed to work together to help them; obviously Keita hadn't told them everything and had kept from them that she was impersonating Tzegorn, and indeed she had revealed that the tigerman was actually the person who had planned to kill Haku with the sandstorm and that at the moment she was working undercover to find out all his accomplices before making any moves. It wasn't exactly a lie, more like a half-truth. When they had learned that someone in Iluvatan City actually wanted to slay the dragons, the adventurers had never held back: Sarah had promised to use her position as guildmaster to look for some information, Carlos had sworn that he would spend his days listening to conversations in various parts of the city trying to find out something, and Martha and Lisah had decided to follow Dyana instead. Now, after a couple of days, Keita had come to find out if they had any results.
The twins looked at each other for a moment, as if they were communicating something with their eyes, then Martha spoke up: "We know who is the boss of Dyana. It's Leuce"
Keita was a little surprised. "Leuce?" she repeated to make sure she heard correctly. She had assumed that Dyana was working for a lionman, after all they were her race, but she had assumed it was Yuko or someone else who was known to be hostile to dragons, certainly not for Leuce, who instead was known to be rather moderate.
The twins nodded. "We have followed Dyana several times and we have often seen her sneaking into Leuce's house. We have also heard some words in a conversation. We are sure it is him" Lisah said.
Keita nodded. "Okay, I get it. Thanks for the help. I'll take care of it from now on" she said as she started to leave.
But before she could go Lisah's voice called out to her: "Please... don't hurt Dyana. I'm sure she's just following orders..."
"Which isn't an excuse to collaborate with assassins" Keita replied. "And by the way, I don't intend to kill her or Leuce, not yet. I intend to find out first what they know, how involved they are and what they plan to do, and only then will I possibly take drastic measures. So rest assured, your friend will not die today, tomorrow, this week and probably not even this month"
The twins seemed a little heartened by those words, though not too much. This didn't matter to Keita: not waiting for their reply, she left the guild of adventurers and walked through the streets of the city. She walked away quite a bit and after making sure no one was following her she entered an alley and changed her appearance using the invisibility rune. By the time she came out, she had become the infamous tigerman named Tzegorn. She continued on to what she knew was the home of the lionman named Leuce, ignoring the constant greetings of the people in the streets; once she arrived, a quick glance from the windows was enough to notice a shadow that testified that the homeowner was present. With determination she knocked on the door, and she waited for Leuce to come and open it for her.