Agro sneezed loudly, as he had not yet grown accustomed to the slimy place. Between his days he tried to tidy the place up, and his cavern was at least habitable. Sometimes the children would take his space, so he rarely got to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Capt. Tsukuyomi slurped up his tea as he felt cold in his stead. He said, “Isn’t there anything you can do about this?”

“My hands are tied. Sorry. We were almost foolish though to have a hideout in the middle of the city, but this is too extreme.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“You probably didn’t come to have a warm drink with me? I have something to say to you too.”

“In my written report, I understated the peculiarity of a certain piece of information.”

“No,” Agro stopped him. “It was my fault for not noticing it before. I should have spent more time on the report.”

“So you know what I am talking about?”

From the stolen records the Black Knights have a profile on a Zero Squad, a special operations knights’ group in Lodestone’s capital. Not only did it indicate a higher level of partnership, or even a larger scope of Imperial espionage, but one of the members was special. Prince Nicholas, the second prince himself was a leader. Also, the squad contained a single veteran, an umbra and magician, and three new recruits.

“Do you believe that this prince may pose a danger to our plans?”

“Certainly. Allow me to operate in Lodestone as I please.”

Agro did not answer for a moment, “I was thinking, should ever something happen to me, who would be my successor. Between you and Douteux, I think you would make a greater leader. Because of that, I think you should feel free to act if her Excellency does not disapprove.”

“Where is he, anyway? He’s had plenty of time to prepare.”

“One reason I chose you was because he doesn’t stay find ways to contact me. He should be acting soon.”

He did not worry Agro with another trivial matter. He was a kind man, and one of the people he would not mind serving. It also had advantages to learn under him. Now he learned the proper technique for his weak, nearly invisible mercurial form from Ragnarok’s vast availability of knowledge.

That aside, the umbra on Zero Squad looked much like him and his sister, even having the same last name, age, and shape of mercurial form. He left her in the proper care in Lodestone, and she must’ve proven her power as a knight. He wondered whether his well-trained, but wimpy form could compete with hers, another tendril-type that seemed almost fully formed when she was little more than a toddler. Whether or not she really believed it was him, she must’ve had a bad time with the same family name.