{Rin}

"Hm... I guess we're probably going to be hearing the official story in a little bit," Cara stated after Elisa explained what happened to her. "I appreciate you coming here and letting us know."

"Of course," Elisa said, glancing briefly at Rin. "I couldn't just ignore this."

"Hm... It's clear what the purpose of this attack was," Cara said as she began pacing around her office, "they want to separate Cradle and Libera. With the train out of commission, the only way to reach Cradle or Libera now is by car or on foot, with both methods being substantially slower than just taking the train. If we try to think of some reasons why they might want to do this, I can think of a few. One," she continued, "they have some sort of large-scale plans they're going to be carrying out in one, or both, of the cities. Or, two, it's bait."

"Bait?" Elisa asked.

"Well, obviously, both cities' immediate first reaction to this is going to be to send people to go repair the damn thing. It could be the case that the Scorned want someone specific to go do that, who they can then, I dunno, kidnap or whatever."

Rin's reaction was quick, spurred by the memory of what happened at Alera.

"We have to stop them."

All eyes turned toward her when she made that statement.

"I-I mean, with help, of course," Rin added. "But, if they have some sort of plan up their sleeves, we can't just sit around and watch them carry it out."

"I agree, but... In the case that it's the second option and they're trying to bait someone, you know it's probably you, right?" Maria asked, taking a step toward Rin. She was, understandably, quite concerned.

"I know, but, I mean... I don't want to just sit around and not do anything while they're out there. Besides," Rin continued, "Brine's dead. They shouldn't have anyone that strong on their side, right?"

"Maybe," Cara shrugged, "but it's clear they've got some connection to both the Mages Guild and the Adventurers Guild at this point. Even if they don't have anyone who's quite at Rank S level, I would imagine they still have a fairly wide selection of powerful fighters to choose from to help them in their affairs. We shouldn't assume that losing Brine was that big a blow to them."

"I'm afraid to even contact the Guild and have them send someone to help with this," Maria stated. "We simply don't have enough information on who may or may not be on their side. And, they've made it fairly clear that this group is far larger than we assumed."

"Um, excuse me," Elisa spoke up, drawing everyone's attention, "but, we could just take this issue to the police, right? Why do you feel we have to go after them ourselves?"

"Try as we might to stress how powerful these people are, it's very unlikely that the officials in both cities will approach this issue with the care that's needed, when it comes to the Scorned. As far as they're concerned, all the Scorned are is just a group that may or may not be responsible for a few kidnappings. The police haven't had any actual run-ins with them. We've checked," Cara explained.

"... Or, they have, but there are people inside leading officials off the Scorned's trail," Rin speculated. "If they have people inside the guilds, why wouldn't they have people in office?"

"... Yeah," Cara replied. "Could be the case too," she turned back toward Elisa. "Anyway, I think Rin is right in that someone should head over there, at least. If anything is going to happen with the Scorned, we need to have at least a handful of people there who are completely trustworthy to monitor things. And, right now, unfortunately, that list is just comprised of people in this academy. Anyone else could be compromised."

"I can see where you're coming from with this," Maria agreed, nodding slowly. "The train being out of commission due to sabotage like this is a fairly big deal. I don't think it's a stretch to say that how everyone responds to this is going to tell us a lot about just how compromised different groups are."

Elisa considered those words for a moment before adding:

"... At worst, gets sent to the train could end up being surrounded by these psychopaths."

There it was, the glaring problem with this situation.

As it had been made clear at this point, the Scorned clearly had more connections than they'd previously been given credit for. They needed to have *someone* there who was completely clean, but whoever went could end up being surrounded by enemies.

Still, they had to send someone. This situation with the train couldn't be overlooked. The train was just too important.

As the main form of travel for both the average person and those in power, in the entire continent of Ilyrum, if the train wasn't repaired soon, chaos was bound to manifest.

"I want to go," Rin stated, looking down at her lap and balling her hands up into fists. "The thought alone that these sick creeps are out there worries me too much. I want to watch them get taken down," she stated.

"If that's your decision, then... fine," Cara stated. "But," she quickly added as Maria snuck a dissatisfied look her way, "I would advise you to find some way to hide your identity. What happened in Alera already put a big target on your back," Cara told her. "You don't need to draw too much attention to yourself."

"And, of course, I'll go with you, just to make sure nothing bad happens," Maria said.

The instant that Rin heard "hide your identity", she already had a plan in mind. Judging by the way Elisa looked at her as well, she understood what Rin was thinking too.

Cara, then, looked at Maria and said:

"... You probably shouldn't."

"What?" Maria asked her, baffled. "My student is thinking of heading into a dangerous situation on her own, of course, I'm going to watch over her. What do you mean, I shouldn't?"

Cara sighed, having expected this reaction. She did not falter, though.

"With what happened at Alera, Rin isn't the only one with a target on her back, now. Tell me," she said, making eye contact with Maria. "What happens if the Scorned come to pay the academy a visit in retaliation for the damage we did to them in Alera and you, our strongest fighter, aren't here to protect anyone?"

Maria's eyes widened.

"But..." She replied glancing over at Rin and then looking away.

[Crap, she's right,] Rin thought. [They might just send someone over here to kill every single student in this place just to get to me. Someone has to stay to protect them.]

"They might not have anyone on Brine's level anymore, but they could still have people who are at least at Rank A level. People I might not be able to take down alone. So," Cara said and the words clung to her lips so tightly it was obvious she didn't want to say this, but she did. "You and I should just stay here."

A sad expression came over Maria then, but she quickly nodded.

"Someone has to go with Rin, though. Not too many," Maria added, "just in case things go wrong, we don't want a large group being caught in a trap. But, a few people. People who can at least watch Rin's back."

Immediately, Elisa raised a hand.

"I'll go."

"But-" Rin was about to argue against it, but Elisa cut her off.

"I'll have to go anyway, as the young representative of the D'Ana family. I may as well accompany you and help make your... disguise," she said, emphasizing that word with a knowing smirk, "that much more believable."

Rin couldn't argue too much against that.

"... I guess it's fine, then."

That brought her back to the question, however, of who else exactly she could take with her on this.

[People who are trustworthy... And people who are strong,] Rin added. [These guys are dangerous. I would ask Eve, but... could she really keep herself from getting hurt out there?]

Admittedly, she'd done a poor job of monitoring her friend's performance at the academy. Had Eve gotten stronger? Rin could hardly say, due to all of the time she'd been spending outside the academy.

Someone did come to mind, then. Rin's eyes widened. No, a couple of people came to mind.

[Trustworthy and strong... I think they both count.]