As Tibaut was wondering what they were talking about, he looked behind Albus. That area of the fence had a person-sized hole in it.
"(They haven't fixed that yet?) So we're leaving through here?"
"Yup, sure makes you feel sneaky right?"
"Uh, sure. So how many of us are going?" Tibaut asked.
As he looked around he realized only Albus and Avis were in the area. He looked across the other side of the fence but didn't notice anyone.
"What are you talking about? We have all we need right here." Albus responded.
Tibaut scanned the area again but just like last time, saw nothing.
"You don't mean?"
"That's right, it's just the three of us." He said with a smile that made Tibaut want to punch him.
"Three? Just three people, to take on all those guys? Wait a minute, where's the third one?" Tibaut asked as he looked around.
"Are you blind? I'm right here!" He exclaimed as he pointed towards himself.
Tibaut started stumbling with his words and stared at him blankly trying to parse whether it was a joke or not. He turned to Avis for confirmation and she sighed and then nodded at her.
"Oi, what the hell? I at least thought we would get help from O'Reilly and his group! What the hell is this?"
"Yeah, about that…" Albus said before walking over and wrapping his arm around Tibaut's neck. Tibaut showed irritation but let him be for the time being. "I pitched a kinder-sounding alternative to him earlier today and he blew me off. He gave some spiel about this not being right, and it making them no more than common thugs. Honestly, I probably should have asked some of them from the village you went to earlier but oh well. This will have to do."
Tibaut slowly removed Albus's hand from him and stepped back a few feet.
"Alright, I can understand that but why did you feel the need to come along? Do you think that maid over there can babysit you while we're busy?"
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"What are you talking about, Maid Red?"
Tibaut's jaw clenched but he stopped himself from doing anything he'd regret.
"I'll have you know that I can defend myself thank you very much. Besides, don't you think I, of all people, deserve to see the mastermind behind all this?"
"(Tch, he does have a point. If it was Tina in front of me, and we were raiding the man in black, I'd definitely want to kick myself, if I ever thought of leaving her behind.) Sorry, this guy is something of a nemesis to you after all. Just make sure you don't slow us down."
"It's lovely how understanding you are. I knew you wouldn't be such a worry wart unlike that maid over there."
"I mean she is your bodyguard i think it's in her job description to worry about you."
"Right, she is."
Tibaut wasn't sure why he emphasized that, but he had bigger worries in his mind.
("Ugh, just the two of us? She seems pretty kill happy but I'm not sure how that translates to skill. This is too sketchy, maybe I should try and have him postpone until we get some decent firepower. Wait a minute maybe I'm overthinking it.") As his thoughts gathered and gathered he decided to ask for some important information before they continued.
"(Maybe it's someone like, 20 people. If they're all normal then it should be a cinch.) How many people are we expected to go up against?" Asked Tibaut.
"No idea! Avis?" He turned to her.
She sighed and pushed up her glasses.
"At least over two hundred, Lord Bradley."
Tibaut pursed his lips and glared at Albus.
"Two hundred?"
"Oh, that sounds more manageable than I thought."
Knowing he wouldn't like the answer he still asked anyway. "At most?"
"That would be a conservative estimate." Avis bluntly stated.
"Oh man." Tibaut's head slumped and he rubbed his temple with his fingers.
"You're acting like we have to fight them all," Albus commented. "In actuality, as long we can get the letter, we probably won't have to find more than 20 of them if we aren't slacking."
"Ugh," Tibaut wasn't particularly confident in this coming through. He now was realizing maybe he shouldn't have been so gung-ho about this.
("I should have realized this would have happened when the plan was so simple even I could understand it on the first go.")
"Alright, let's go then. (I need to leave before I change my mind.)"
They some began exiting the fence but Tibaut felt something grab and quickly turned around.
("Wha-What the hell am I doing?") It was Jake, timidly looking at Tibaut as he was at the gate.
"Jake!? What are you doing here?"
The other two turned as well and Avis's face soured.
"I knew I felt someone's gaze." She coldly commented.
("Come on, don't say it like that, I'm no pervert!")
"Jake, don't tell me you were the one outside?"
"Oh, now that you mention it, I did see him outside our room after our discussion." Said Albus.
"And you let that slide!?"
He turned back to the issue at hand and placed his hand on his shoulder as he looked down into his face.
"Hey Jake, could you keep this a secret from the other two? This is kinda important, but I don't want to get them involved."
He let him go.
"Than-"
"I'm coming with you guys."