There were a lot of advantages to being in two places at once—or more, of course. One was that if somebody saw you in one place, they naturally assumed you would not be in another—even if they knew you could be, it would often slip their mind. This was exactly the kind of advantage that Rika enjoyed as she carried on a discussion with Hayakawa about some boring diplomatic thing or another. The discussion wasn’t really as important as the fact that they were seen having it, thus leading their minders to the assumption that she was preoccupied.

She wasn’t. Rika wasn’t paying attention to her conversation with Hayakawa, and Hayakawa knew it. Rika would be able to remember what Hayakawa said later with a bit of effort, so Hayakawa was probably taking advantage of the opportunity to explain something important, but the point of it was to keep up appearances while Rika concentrated her efforts elsewhere. Specifically, whatever the hell it was that was going on with Yoshika.

They’d left with their own minder some time in the afternoon on a date—those two were absolutely adorable together—then returned in the evening with guests who they’d taken straight to the baths, and then to their room without introduction. Rika knew all of this, because she’d been listening to the military escort making reports about it all day. Yoshika was clearly up to something, and the fact that she hadn’t mentioned it to Rika probably meant that it was something that was going to get them into trouble. That was hardly surprising—they had a unique talent for finding trouble.

Things started to get very interesting indeed when Yoshika left with Ja Yun in the middle of the night, leaving their guests in the room—locked and warded. Lots of interesting chatter among the escort at that—safely outside of what they thought was Rika’s earshot, of course. There was some debate over whether they should break into the room to interrogate the guests, or send another tail to follow Yoshika in case Ja Yun had been compromised. Rika would have stopped them if they’d tried to break into Yoshika’s room, but there was no need—they spent too long debating about it before news of Yoshika’s nighttime antics finally came back.

“They did WHAT?!”

The captain’s incredulous shout was almost loud enough for Rika’s real body to pick up on it. Captain Sagong So’s easygoing demeanor when dealing with the diplomats was a front. With his soldiers, he was brutally direct—even harsh at times. His lieutenant, Han Shin, was unperturbed by the outburst as he repeated his report.

“Magus Ambassador Lee Jia and Consul An Eui, aided by Lieutenant Ja Yun and a pair of unknown mages have conducted a raid on a gambling house with suspected gang affiliations. According to my information, the same gang is also affiliated with the brothel they brought that prostitute back from.”

Sagong pinched the bridge of his nose and looked up at the ceiling as if it would have better news for him. When it failed to deliver, he leveled an irritated glare at Han Shin.

“What in the names of all the ancestors is Ja Yun doing? Contact her immediately and order to halt the attack. I can’t allow foreign diplomats to participate in an unauthorized—”

“Sir—”

Han Shin hesitated after interrupting, his expression uneasy.

“Sir, the attack has already happened. By the time I heard it was happening, it had concluded.”

Rika snorted audibly, earning her a curious look from Hayakawa. Of course they acted faster than the information could move. Now Rika was curious, though. They’d brought home a prostitute? How scandalous. But even stranger was the fact that they had then proceeded to knock over what sounded like a gang hideout. Why? For the sake of the prostitute? There was definitely more to it than a bleeding heart—not that Rika would put it past Jia. Lee Jia had always been a bit cagey about her past, but Rika had picked up enough to guess that there must have been some history there. Still, as curious as she was, she had an actual job to do. So with a heavy sigh, she redirected her attention back to her conversation with Hayakawa while her stealthy copy—looking nothing like her actual body—listened to the rest of the report on auto-pilot.

“Uh, Hayakawa, we might have a bit of a problem.”

Hayakawa Kaede grimaced and shook her head with resignation.

“What have they done?”

Rika grinned—it wasn’t even a question that Yoshika was to blame. Rika started from the beginning, explaining everything she had overheard from the military escort. When she was finished, Hayakawa was holding her head in her hands.

“They did WHAT?!”

“Fourteen dead, dozens more injured, enough structural damage that the building is almost certainly going to end up condemned, three cases of kidnapping, and several noise complaints from the apartments next door.”

Ja Yun stood at stoic attention as her captain angrily rattled the damages off to her, refusing to budge her expression even a little bit—despite the inherent humor of the addition of ‘noise complaints’ to the list of violations. Jia thought it was quite commendable that she held up under the pressure of her superior shouting in her face like that—where was that confidence hiding the rest of the time?

“Lieutenant Ja Yun, please explain to me which part of keeping your charges out of trouble involves aiding them in extrajudicial assaults on suspected criminal organizations!”

Ja Yun remained silent, staring straight ahead as if her straight-backed posture was the result of some paralysis that had turned her into a living statue. Jia and Eui stood behind her, and though their escort had not seen fit to address them as yet, Hayakawa Kaede stood off to the side with a withering glare that promised a similar tongue lashing in their immediate future. Before Sagong So could continue his chastisement of poor Ja Yun, he was interrupted by someone clearing their throat next to him. Dae cringed a bit as the entire room’s attention fell on him at once, but spoke up anyway.

“Erm, perhaps I might clarify matters somewhat, Captain?”

Jia watched Captain Sagong’s expression waver, as if he couldn’t decide what attitude would be appropriate for the intruder. He settled on cautiously annoyed.

“And who might you be, Sir Magus?”

Dae took a breath and straightened himself to meet the captain’s eyes with a determined expression.

“Magus Hyeong Daesung, acting under the authority of Princess Seong Eunae. We were in the city investigating the local criminal organizations, tracking evidence of corruption and possible connections to grand conspiracies to commit treason. The raid was carried out on my orders, and I will take full responsibility.”

The captain grimaced more with every word that came out of Dae’s mouth, and he ran a hand through the feathers in his hair, groaning with frustration as Dae finished.

“How can I trust a word that you’ve just said? Besides that, why were my lieutenant and her charges involved? Why was I not informed? You’re invoking the authority of the royal family, but I only have your word that—”

Dae produced an ornate jade seal, glowing faintly with power, and Sagong So went silent immediately.

“I believe this should be adequate proof of my sincerity.”

The captain cringed, and Jia saw his face fall the moment his aura reached out to investigate the seal.

“Fine—you are who you say you are. I’m still dismissing Ja Yun from my command for the dereliction of her duties and confining the ambassadors to their quarters for the remainder of our journey. You have your duties, Magus Hyeong, and I have mine. My first priority is to keep these envoys safe, and Magus Ambassador Lee Jia has demonstrated on more than one occasion that she can’t be trusted to stay out of trouble. Furthermore, their captives are to be released immediately.”

‘Captives.’ Sagong So was referring to Lee Jung and Narae, still sleeping peacefully in Jia and Eui’s room. Apparently, they were being accused of kidnapping. The third charge of kidnapping was for Seung, but Jia would sooner see him dead than let him free for even a second. Dae shook his head, and produced a few neatly folded papers from his sleeve.

“I have here a warrant for the arrest of one Lee Seung, whom we have already taken into custody, and a family registry which indicates Lee Jia as the head of her household, granting her legal custody over her adopted sisters Lee Jung and Lee Narae. Furthermore, as you’ve now verbally confirmed your dismissal of Ja Yun, by the authority of the Seong clan, I have paperwork here inducting her into my organization—her first assignment being to continue her duties as Lee Jia’s escort.”

The captain’s teeth were grinding together as he mechanically accepted each document, and skimmed through them with the kind of speed only possible for a mage.

“These are blatant forgeries, Magus Hyeong. It’s impossible for you to have gotten approval for any of this in the span of a few hours. This registry claims that the Lee clan’s family estate is in Songdo—when exactly did our homeless Ambassador have time to procure that, dare I ask?”

Dae chuckled, and though it sounded the same as his nervous tic, it carried a very different weight when he was smiling confidently at the captain in front of him.

“I think you’ll find that these are all quite legitimate, and that copies of each document will have been filed with the registrar in Songdo months in advance—except the requisition form for Lieutenant Ja Yun. I’ll admit, I signed that one myself an hour ago.”

Sagong stared at the documents in silence. Behind him, Han Shin scoffed openly.

“What a crock of shit! This is the group investigating corruption? Look in a fucking mirror you—”

“Shut up! Not another word, soldier, or I’ll dismiss you too.”

After snapping at his subordinate, Sagong So carefully schooled his expression, until nothing on his face betrayed the roiling fury that Jia could sense within him. He turned and bowed politely to Dae.

“Very well, Magus. I’ll have these documents verified just to be certain. In the meantime, if you’ve any other business with the consulate, you can leave a message with your liaison.”

Sagong So shot a withering glare at Ja Yun, who had not budged—still standing at rigid attention and staring straight ahead at nothing—before collecting his soldiers and departing. Jia barely had time to let out a shuddering breath before Hayakawa stormed over to replace him.

“We will talk later. I hope you have a good explanation for all this.”

Hayakawa didn’t wait for a response before turning on her heels and marching off back towards her own quarters, sparing Dae a nod of acknowledgement before leaving them alone in the lobby of the consulate.

“Well, that was exciting!”

A passing secretary’s form shifted to take the appearance of Takeda Rika, six feet tall and grinning playfully down at them. She waved to Dae.

“Hey Dae! Long time no see! How’s Harada doing?”

Dae blushed, putting his hands up and shaking his head as he sputtered out a response.

“M-Miss Takeda! W-why would I know about Harada?”

Rika snorted derisively as Dae looked around urgently for anyone who might be listening in.

“Don’t worry about Hayakawa, she’s busy in her room complaining to me about how reckless Yoshika is. We’re all friends here, right? I won’t tell anybody that you're harboring our deserters—has he asked you out yet?”

Dae flushed an even brighter red.

“P-perhaps we can catch up later...in private? It um, it’s good to see you again, Miss Takeda.”

Dae bowed quickly before hurrying out of the consulate to return to his team—presumably questioning Seung at that very moment, but Jia didn’t want to think about him right now. Rika sighed as Dae made his escape.

“Aw, I scared him off. Well! You three have had quite a night, huh? I forgive you for not bringing me along, but in exchange you have to tell me everything!”

Eui snickered, casting a sidelong glance at Rika.

“Has it really been that boring here with Hayakawa?”

“You have no idea—she’s all business. I can barely even get her to spar half the time. So come on! What’s this about Jia’s sisters? Does it have something to do with the prostitute you brought home?”

Jia choked and glared at Rika, who’s shit-eating grin told her that she knew exactly what she was saying.

“Do you have to phrase it like that?”

Rika just laughed as Jia sighed and shook her head.

“Alright, fine. We’ll tell you about it, let’s get back to the room first. Come on Ja Yun, let’s—Ja Yun?”

Their chaperone was still standing stock still, staring straight ahead in perfect military posture with no expression on her face. Eui raised an eyebrow curiously and waved a hand in front of her face and then poked her gently in the cheek before turning back to Rika and Jia with a shocked expression.

“She’s out cold.”