“She’s at the lab,” Reina concluded with a sigh as she sat back on the torn leather armchair that she occupied, picking idly at a scar in the brown hide that was stretched over the armrest. “It’s the only scenario that makes any sense.”

After being unceremoniously kicked out from the Royal District, the remaining members of The Cloud Orchestra had dispersed amongst the mess of stone and timber that together was known as the Farmer’s District. In truth, the district wasn’t any worse off than the Merchant District as a whole, although it was evident that the distribution of wealth wasn’t as balanced. You can’t have the rich if there were no poor after all, and the poorer parts of the district in question were currently providing Reina’s group with some much needed cover.

The group had eventually reconvened in the sitting room of a small house which was close to the outer wall. Having decided to avoid public spaces such as inns and taverns, Reina had selected an unassuming family home before borrowing their living space for the evening in exchange for a few coins, much to their delight. Small and comprised of bare stone walls and an uncovered stone floor, wooden slats ran above them while a small fire crackled in the corner. Apart from the old leather chair which Reina sat in, the rest of the group was forced to sit on either the few crude stools available or the floor.

“What about the prince?” Aline asked. “Why was he there if Rucille was the one that was interested in Nina?”

After Trim and Svanda had returned, they had quickly spilled the results of their discussion with Ormain. Since then, the group had been running through theories and discussing appropriate responses until Reina had eventually come to her current conclusion that Nina was at the Inin Estate lab. It was a conclusion that unsettled the entire group, however, as infiltrating the Royal District was something that not even the suits had considered to attempt. To be honest, they even thought that rescuing Nina from the Inin Estate may be even more difficult than rescuing her from Ormain’s clutches.

“He was there because they’re in on whatever is happening at the lab,” Reina frowned. “The Royal Family would have been the people that organized the guards to facilitate the process, and only their people would be able to keep the entire thing under wraps.”

“Why not take her to the palace then?” Svanda asked. Hunched over a small wooden stool that looked like it was about to break under her weight in the corner of the room, she stared into the fire. “Surely they have their own facilities.”

“I’m actually not so sure if that would be the case,” Reina frowned. “There’s no need for the Royal Family to keep anything that could go wrong close by as they can simply leave it to others around them. It’s like how SuTSU just dumps criminals into the badlands. The problem is moved out of sight and the responsibility is moved to the wardens.”

“I’m still lost,” Jade sighed. “How does that all add up to Nina ending up at the lab?”

“Rucille works at the lab and she was the person who was clearly interested in Nina,” Reina replied matter-of-factly, although it seemed as though she was trying to convince herself just as much as anyone else present. “Also, why would they risk suspicion to kick us out of the district if she was in the castle?”

The rest of the group sat in silence as they thought over Reina’s logic. It had been obvious to all of them that Rucille had an interest in Nina, but they had chalked it off as a friendly interest as Nina could tell her stories about Caecus. Abducting her was the last thing on their minds when they pictured the bubbly and carefree girl running up the path in the direction of the lab, but Rucille had ended up proving to them that looks could be deceiving. Unfortunately, her deceiving looks were what had let her isolate Nina from the rest of the group without them ever questioning her intentions. It wasn’t like The Cloud Orchestra had a policy on traveling alone as they all did it all the time, but if they had been a little more suspicious of Rucille’s overzealous interest in the first place, maybe they wouldn’t have landed in this situation at all.

For once, Reina had been careless.

“So she was right under our noses while we were being marched out,” Svanda sighed as she glanced at the small black bag which sat on the floor in the corner of the room with Nina’s rose-coloured pistol placed on top. “I guess it makes sense why they were so eager to send us packing then.”

“Right,” Reina nodded. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Remember that there’s also an uncomfortably large problem sitting on this side of the wall too.”

A collective sigh sounded out across the room as the group thought about how Ormain and his team were also searching for them. Their current situation was truly a nightmare, as any form of altercation with the Royal Guard would cause his team to come running. What was worse was that the Royal Guard would probably be more than happy to sit back while he took the issue out of their hands too. She hadn’t mentioned it to the rest of the team yet, but Reina also had to consider that there was the frightening possibility that if alarm was raised while rescuing Nina, Ormain’s team would be waiting for them with open arms as the fatigued group made their escape.

“Talk about being between a rock and a hard place,” Jade frowned as she sat on the floor with her back to the fire, idly picking at her nails. “We haven’t worked out how we’re going to leave the plate either.”

“I’ll arrange the exit, so don’t worry about that” Reina said in an attempt to instill some confidence in the group. “Right now we need to focus on getting Nina out of the lab, and then out of the district.”

“Which raises the question of how we’re going to get into the Royal District in the first place,” Trim said as she methodically checked over the different parts of the submachine gun that were sitting in her lap. “Or have you worked that out already?”

“I’m open to suggestions,” Reina admitted with a wry expression. She had her own idea, but she didn’t want to put it forward yet as she didn’t particularly like it. She didn’t mind putting ideas forward, but she often found that if she put her own idea forward first then the group would become reluctant to suggest something else. Reina appreciated the borderline blind faith that they had in her ideas, but it was at times like these where she needed to draw on everyone.

“Steal a carriage?” Jade mused.

“They’ll check the occupants at the gate.”

“Hide on the underside then?”

“How exactly would you get on there?” Reina raised an eyebrow while rejecting the idea. “There isn’t really anywhere you can hide under most of them either.”

Jade turned quiet after she heard the logic behind the rejection. It was true that some of the carriages may have let one or two people hide underneath, but knowing when and where such carriages would be was something that they couldn’t afford to gamble on. There was also the fact that they would be performing their attempt late at night, and during that time the number of carriages entering the district would be few.

“Blast through the gate?” Svanda suggested as she pat her rifle before frowning. “Wait, forget I said that.”

Loud isn’t an option, Reina thought. Not only would they be instantly surrounded by royal guards, Nina would probably be whisked away to another location before they could reach the estate. Even if they did somehow blast their way through, secure Nina, and then blast their way back, they would still have to deal with Ormain and his waiting group that had been attracted by the noise.

“How about bribing some of the guards?” Trim offered.

“Also not possible,” Reina sighed. “They’re nobles with their prestige to protect. Capturing us would be a much better option for them.”

Not only that, there was also the fact that the wall would be lined with guards and they certainly couldn’t afford to bribe the entire gate. Reina wouldn’t even be surprised if they had subtly increased the number of guards on the wall after what had happened today, but she was hoping that they wouldn’t need to find out.

“If we can’t go through it, are we digging under it?” Aline asked. “Oh! Maybe there is an underwater passage from the moat.”

“Nobody is getting wet,” Reina frowned. “We don’t have time to dig a tunnel under the wall or search for a passage either. There’s probably some kind of underwater passage, but it’s too dangerous. I’m not risking the chance that someone might end up stuck in a grille or something underwater.”

“Okay,” Aline shrugged. “So if we’re not going under the wall and we’re not going through the wall, I guess you have an idea on how we are somehow supposed to go over the wall?”

“It’s just an idea,” Reina sighed before pushing herself out of the chair. After she had listened to the ideas from the rest of the group, it seemed like that she would have to pitch her idea after all. Looking at the ever quiet Saela who sat in a corner of the room, she smiled. “Saela, how much do you weigh?”

“You are not catapulting me over the wall somehow,” she scowled when she saw Reina’s smile. Her expression darkened even further as Jade and Trim both stifled a giggle. Was picturing her being slung over the wall really that amusing?

“Don’t worry, it isn’t that extreme,” Reina consoled her before she withdrew a notepad and a pen from her pocket, quickly scribbling down a few things. Tearing the sheet off, she wrote a second page before also tearing it off, handing the first sheet to Trim while handing the second to Aline. “We need everything on these two lists. Jade, go with Aline. Saela, you’re with Trim. Watch out for the suits and be back here in thirty minutes. Pay whatever it costs to get what I’ve listed.”

Aline took a quick look at the list before nodding and ducking out from the room with Jade close behind her. Trim on the other hand looked at the second list before glancing at Reina with a confused expression.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Reina nodded. “Hurry, we don’t have much time.”