"Thank you all for coming. I-...due to my sis-...I mean, the Commander's-...untimely demise, I shall assume charge of the Knight Order, for the interim. We have a lot to discuss, and a lot of decisions to make," Remarked Siele with a grimace, dark circles under his eyes.
It was the 29th of March, 1919, around the middle of the day, and Siele had called for a meeting with the Captains, Vice-Captains and a couple of the other Irregulars, namely Tacitus and Lexia, to discuss the dire situation they were in and what their next move should be.
"We underestimated those bastards...their first attack was so sloppy, and now I feel that may have been intentional, to get us to take them lightly," Responded Rione with a grimace, a mix of anger and sorrow in his eyes.
"Yeah...I didn't think we'd have a traitor in our midst, especially one so close. I...I should've been more careful," Replied Siele bitterly.
"No, you're not to blame for that. Tilda had never given us any reason to suspect her, none of us could have seen this coming," Chimed in Fyre.
"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't be letting my emotions get the better of me," Said Siele, clenching his fists slightly.
"I think that's only natural, all things considered," Spoke up Aster sympathetically.
"Maybe so, but I'm in charge right now, so I don't have that luxury. I apologize for the disruption...let's get on topic. To begin with, we need to locate the Queen, we have no idea where she is. The Commander was the only one who knew since she's the one who hid her, and I'm sure she picked a location that she was certain would be safe. So, the Queen should be okay in the short-term...but it'll only be a matter of time before she runs out of supplies, wherever she is.
Once that happens, she'll be at risk of dehydration and starvation, we must find her before that," Stated Siele, a look of determination in his eyes before his expression darkened slightly as he added, "But that's not the only thing we need to do, far from it. We need to find and eliminate Exalt, before they can do even more damage than they already have."
"Unfortunately, we still have idea where they could be. Based on the reports we've received from the Inquisitors, they've searched through every forest and mountain in the nation, and there's no sign of them," Remarked Rione in frustration.
"Could it be possible that they're hiding in one of the cities, towns or villages?" Suggested Raven uncertainly.
"No, that's unlikely. The Inquisitors have already thoroughly searched through every mansion and property owned by the Nobles we suspect of being affiliated with Exalt, and they didn't turn up any leads," Siele shook his head in response.
"This is probably a long shot, but isn't it possible that they've gone to a different nation? They've been using Teleport Spells, so it's possible," Chimed in Lexia.
"I suppose we can't rule it out entirely, but it's highly unlikely. The nations of Anima and Sylph wouldn't risk an international incident by harboring rebels from another nation, and it's close to impossible to sneak into either of those two nations unnoticed. A small handful of people might manage to do so, but not a large group, especially when most of them aren't even combatants," Reasoned Rione objectively.
"Right, and the nation of Vilia is even more unlikely...Demons look down on all other races, any intruders would be killed on sight. Plus, it's impossible to reach Vilia without traveling through the Death Zone...even with the Undead King and all his forces wiped out, that region is still blanketed in Miasma. It has begun to fade a bit, but it'll likely take several years, maybe even decades, before it's safe to traverse," Added Siele with a sigh.
"Then, if we proceed under the assumption that they're still within Persona, where could they possibly be? I tried analyzing the Teleport Spells we took off the ones we killed, but whoever made those Spells really knows what they're doing, I couldn't trace the target location of the Spells at all," Remarked Tacitus as he slumped back in his seat.
"Yeah, it's clear that they're a lot more competent than we'd initially anticipated, we-...," Began Siele, before trailing off as the doors to the room suddenly swung open, a Knight rushing in.
"Pardon the interruption! We have a bit of a situation," Remarked the Knight with a grimace.
"What's going on? Is it another attack?" Frowned Siele warily.
"No, sir...someone just showed up outside, wearing a cloak and a mask. And, well...they claim to know where Exalt's hideout is located."
Meanwhile, in Exalt's unknown hideout...
"Ah, this is going better than I expected...I didn't think we'd manage to eliminate Jules so quickly. An unexpected, but most welcome surprise, that. With her out of the picture, we'll have a much easier time of things going forward, it shouldn't be long before we make our next move," Smirked Reiss, as he took a sip of wine and let out a content sigh, before adding with a grimace, "It is a shame that Tilda blew her cover, though...it would have been a lot more convenient if she could still spy on the Knights from within, it'll be much more difficult to gather information now. Still, I suppose that's a fair trade for Jules's demise."
He'd assumed that it'd be a lot more difficult to kill Jules, that's why he commanded the rest of his followers who were involved in the attack to keep the Knights in the other locations busy, to make sure that those who were attacking Jules wouldn't be interrupted.
Despite that, he still figured that it was an optimistic thing to hope for, and at minimum, he'd hoped that this attack would at least cause confusion among the Knights and maybe eliminate one or two key players.
He instructed his followers to make it appear as though they were acting as decoys and then all retreat at the same time...that way, even if they did fail to kill Jules, the Knights would still be concerned about what they were really after, and if they got hung up on that, all the better.
While the attack had turned out to be a lot more effective than he'd expected, things were far from smooth sailing for him...several of his followers had begun voicing complaints about their current living conditions.
"Tch, those coddled idiots...thankfully, I was able to somewhat appease them by giving a big speech about our noble cause and whatnot, as well as saying that it won't be long before we return to our lives of luxury, but that's only a temporary solution, it's only a matter of time before they get restless again. I can't let them get too disgruntled, that could jeopardize my command over them. I'll just have to hope that Tilda pulls through for me...the more information she manages to gather, the sooner we'll be able to make our next move," He muttered to himself as he swirled his wine around in the glass.
A few hours ago, he commanded Tilda to go back to the Capital, keep a low profile and try to gather as much information as she could.
Of course, now that the Knights knew that she was a traitor, that would be a lot easier said than done.
"Hm, if all goes well, then...ideally, we can make our next move in, say, about two weeks from now? We shouldn't be too impatient...right now, the Knights are certain to be on extremely high alert, particularly those who were especially loyal to Jules, they'll be out for blood. If we give it some time for those emotions to settle down a bit, they should be mentally worn-out as well. Yes, that'll be the perfect time to make our move, it'll be tricky to get the timing right, but I should be able to pull it off," He smirked to himself, a sense of anticipation welling up inside him as he let out a malicious chuckle...