After capturing Lily, Tina locked both women in Lily's room until they sobered up.

"Was that really necessary, Tina?" Tibaut asked.

"If you prefer the alternative of me killing Lily, then I can let them out whenever you'd like," Tina responded, still looking irritated.

"But why'd I put Vanessa in there as well?"

"To keep her occupied until she sobered up. Who knows what stupid idea she'd get in her head if I left her alone."

As Tibaut followed he noticed she was heading towards the outside.

"What are you going out there for?" Tibaut asked.

"What else, we're gonna train." She said. She quickly grabbed his hand and began leading him outside.

"Oh fuck off, can't I get some more time to rest?" Tibaut asked as she dragged him.

"(Elizabeth's the one who told me to get you back in fighting shape.) Shut up, you've already had over a week of rest. Look at yourself." She said. "You look so bony, you had Vanessa wondering what happened to you. Oh, I get it, you like her sympathy, don't you? Want her to carry you a meal while lying in bed pretending to be weak?"

Tibaut let out a groan of exasperation and removed his hand from her grip while continuing to walk behind her.

"Of course not. It actually kinda stung seeing her look at me like that."

"Then come on." She opened the door. "Let's get you back into fighting shape."

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The branch building of the adventurers guild was substantially busier than the months before. There were various people gathered around talking to each other, the receptionist did her best to look studious as she sat up with her back straight and looked to be logging some information into a notebook. The sight was a mild shock for Elizabeth but she didn't let it slow her down. Various people walked up to greet her and the place erupted into cheers when everyone else noticed her. She smiled and waved before making her way to the receptionist.

"Oh, that's what all the noise was about." The receptionist said. "You're free to head to Mr. Bentley, there's no one up there at the moment."

"Thank you very much," Elizabeth responded before she turned around and headed for the stairs.

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"By the way, are you finished?" The receptionist asked.

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I heard you were investigating a lot of people. I'm surprised you guys came back so quickly."

"Oh, well, things went better than planned and we returned early," Elizabeth said.

She waved and headed off towards the stairs. She quickly walked down the upstairs hallway and knocked on Mr. Bentley's door.

"Ohohoho, come in."

She entered and took a seat near his table. She spent the first few minutes informing him of information she may not have felt the need to send or couldn't fully explain over a letter.

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"By the way, Mr. Bentley," she asked the old man in front of her.

"What is it Elizabeth, I'm sorry to say but I'm not too much of an expert on that ki."

"No that's not it." She responded. "I would have sent Tibaut and Jake home regardless but are you sure it wasn't necessary to have me and Elizabeth investigate the other people of interest you found suspicious."

"Ohoho, no dear. Even before Ezekiel, we both strongly suspected only one of them to have connections to the cult. It is quite lucky the one you visited first was our man. It is a shame though, but it seemed like they were betrayed."

Elizabeth nodded her head. "Indeed. I can't think of any other reason that man would lead Tibaut towards somewhere only a few people on the compound knew the going ons of. But how did they benefit from it?"

"Maybe they had hopes of incorporating him into their group?" Mr. Bentley suggested. "After all, they may have seen your force and decided the nobles' group was superior in power. You do say the noble was overpowering Tibaut and they did know nothing of ki, right? They would presumably return the next day when the group were licking their wounds and trying to reach some compromise, and possibly use force if needed."

"Hmmm, I'm just not sure I buy that story. Even if that plan failed, surely they would have tried to finish us off during the next day." Elizabeth said, not convinced by Mr. Bentley's theory.

"You did alert the police of the parish immediately, did you not? Perhaps they saw their presence and got cold feet."

"(I'd believe that but I could tell just by the looks of the officers, that even in my current state I could handily defeat them without issue. The officers from the capital were a different story but they only arrived on the second day after we defeated them.) I'm not fully convinced, but I suppose there'd be no point in trying to fruitlessly decipher the unknown."

"Then is that all Elizabeth?" He asked.

"Well, I do have a more pressing question about our current situation," she asked. "Based on what I saw below, all I saw were familiar faces. Has the Guild Headquarters not sent anyone down here yet?" she asked.

Mr. Bentley sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair.

"I suppose it makes sense you would ask about that," he stated. "Thankfully, after all of you left we've had no more attacks in the parish. However, it pains me to say it, but it might be a double-edged sword."

"In what way?" she asked.

"Since they only attacked two times, that we can confirm, the guild doesn't see that matter as urgent. I asked a friend of mine to help the process along but he said the bureaucracy involved means we'd have to wait a month at least before we get a response, much less whether we're going to get help."

"Tsk, so they want more people to die before they do anything." She said annoyed.