"... and then her whole conversation and feelings changed. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure her memory was erased after she passed out of the fog," Shavie announced to their small Party from within the safe room. With magic circles being almost nonexistent, a safe room like this was probably the most secure place in Alcudia. Even Bishner was present now that he was done with his investigations, though he couldn't stay long since the house was still being watched around the clock. 

"Are you sure they specifically said the name. Paige? Shavie, that is important. They might know what happened to Markus." Bishner responded gravely. Markus's situation weighed heavily on his mind as he was Markus's advisor, as he was the one who initially developed the plan to secure the demon blade. Shavie knew that the loss of both probably did not sit well on his conscience at all.

"I'm sure, Bishner. I say we follow them. That's the best lead we have on Markus so far. And we even know where they are."

Even Stella was happy with them finding a clue on Markus. "If we find Markus, we can head back to Trent with him and Isabella in tow."

“No. We're going to stay put here." A single cold voice broke the mood of the room.

Shavie frowned as she looked over to Luna, her dark black eyes tinged with concern. What was her friend doing, disagreeing at a time like this?

Luna held up two fingers. "First off, we have to remember our circumstances. We’re Humans right now, and it's a major crime to investigate the whereabouts of Imperial Servants, which we can assume they are. The moment we start moving, we will be facing everyone here alone.

"Two, Shavie, Stella and I still can’t leave the city. And finally, we still need to bring Isabella with us as well."

Luna looked to each of their eyes. "Right now, this is the best time to figure out what is happening in Trent. Whatever this fog is, it looks like it is meant to protect us somehow. Even our race is Human for god's sake. Not being able to use demon spells or skills is hardly a punishment for us. This is practically a godsend for a spy," Luna said quietly.

“Bu-“

“No buts Bishner. I am the temporary party leader, and what I say goes. Unless someone wants to fight me for this position.”

Bishner paused, and Shavie could tell he was gauging his chances of winning a fight. She shook her head discreetly as he glanced her way, ignoring his hidden gestures. No way she was going to get into a fight with Luna, especially when Stella was here as well. Alone, Shavie was sure Bishner and her could overpower Luna since a Nightwalker was technically a more magically aligned Assassin. But with Stella there to provide magical support, the chances of beating Luna was slim. Plus, the moment they start using skills the fog was liable to come and incapacitate them all, rendering their battle useless as Stella would recover far faster than they would.

And that's not even mentioning the fact that Stella was an Alchemist now too. She had far more worries that Stella would poison them outright by this point. Or already had. But Stella's cooking was the best in their party and continued cooking all the food.

'Note to self, test all known poisons again for immune response.'

Bishner closed his eyes and calmed down. “No, Luna. We all agreed. Reluctantly in my case, but I will still follow your lead.”

“We will go and find him; just as soon as we can all leave this city. Shavie, we’ll have to start testing the surroundings again.”

Shavie shivered. That wouldn’t be a fun experiment. Not one bit.

“Bishner, you’re lucky you weren’t here when the Healer Hall and the Royal Family were initially investigating us. That gives us some leeway, though we will have to work on your disguise. The Queen has been checking all the backgrounds of everyone we have contact with. Are you sure your identity is solid?"

"Yes. Same with my merchant company. Everything is legitimate and aboveboard."

"Okay. You've been gone for almost three years now. What were you able to find out so far."

Bishner nodded, taking off a bag he had over his shoulder. Shavie frowned as she saw him take out bottles of wine. He scoffed at her confused face. “I’m an appraiser, Shavie. How do you think I’ve been funding our party? Fine wine is one of the simplest ways to make money. And no one asks questions how I store the rarer variety either, which helps when dealing with the… harder inventory.”

“Not judging you Bishner, though I am. You should've just created a gang and become a boss. How'd you think I was keeping track of everyone here?”

“Duly noted. I'll put that in my logs that you were killed by a Human Guardsman for starting a low level, useless gang.” Bishner sneered as he uncorked a bottle and started unscrewing the bottom, the glass screeching in protest as the sealed end slowly opened. A few of his bottles were there to hide his more covert journal logs.

Smoothing the rolled logs and maps, Bishner handed them to his left and right, passing them around for the others to see. Having detailed maps of the country helped immensely, though Shavie frowned at the numerous red cross marks that were on the map.

"It took time, but I was able to sneak back to the second military zone in Evidia and investigate discreetly. The rest of the time was spent making money legally. But I can tell you that all of our connections are gone. We have no real way of gaining up to date information of the happenings in Trent."

He paused and shuffled his logs to the very beginning, pointing to a few symbols Shavie recognized. Military divisions.

"Judging by the divisions guarding the border, over the course of a year Trent had to pull back the majority of the divisions to the interior. And since the last four years have passed without a major conflict on this side, my best guess is the Senate needed to reinforce the Trent's western frontlines.

"Assuming everything else is the same, securing the demonic weapon was vital for stopping at least two portals for the devils. Without it, I do not doubt that they will only be able to stop one of them at a time. For that, they'll need enough bait to draw out the devils from hiding, hence why they have pulled back the majority of the divisions."

Everyone stared at the maps as they analyzed the division's movements. Shavie knew that they didn't have enough information to analyze the western battlefront, but Bishner's estimate was most likely correct.

Luna spoke up, looking up from the maps to Bishner. "Best guess on when they will have enough manpower to attack the rear lines again? That will play a major role in how we approach the next few years."

Bishner frowned. "Can't say. It depends on how the frontlines are doing. It could be as little as one year, depending on how many portals they can shut down before the area is entrenched. We should see an uptick in Scouts when it is getting close though."

"Did you make any headways on the other issue?" Stella asked quietly.

Bishner nodded slightly. "A bit. I've gone ahead and looked into what happened at Terpeii, as well as the other parts of the country. The blood sacrifices did happen, but I did not see any altars in the towns. Even Evidia had a few villages that were massacred outright."

Shavie had to speak up. "So that did happen. Even in Evidia?"

She was shaken. Shavie knew that it was one thing to kill enemies, but it was an entirely different problem when it came to a full-on slaughter of non-combatants, especially with blood sacrifices. That almost sounded like what the Devils would do. So then why would Trent try the same thing?

Luna had the same thoughts on her mind. "What about the symbol the Senate had engraved onto Markus. So far we only have Isabella's second-hand account on what the symbol supposedly does."

Stolen novel; please report.

Grabbing a book from her bag, Luna laid it carefully on the table. Shavie recognized it, as it was one of the few items Luna had pre-ritual. The title simply stated 'A History of Demons and their War against Humanity'.

Luna continued talking. "It has a ton of information relating to our wartime patterns, but the main problem is that the blood sacrifices aren't covered in this. It just notes to destroy all altars as soon as possible, as well as alerting the Royalty if the symbol Markus had engraved was seen. I've searched numerous times, but I have not found anything remotely like this book here. The Imperial Family may have restricted access to this book for some reason now. Shavie, any luck on your end?"

"I've tapped into my underground contacts as well, and they don't have any books on Demons like the one you have."

"So we are still in the dark... Bishner, of the three goals for the invasion, how many of them were completed by the army?"

"... The main goals were to secure an easterly escape route, weaken the Human resistance and secure the blade. As far as I can tell, the first two were done well. Even better actually. Barring the sacrifices, the entirety of the Alcudia's western defensive lines were lost. No castle was left standing after the war."

"Hm? I thought all of the southern castles were left standing?" Shavie thought back. Markus had been furious that Demons were defending the castles, but by the sounds of it now there were hardly any Demons. Perhaps the discrimination against Demons was farther reaching than she had initially thought.

"There was heavy resistance, but there were two major problems. For one, no demons were defending the castles, thus the scouts were able to slip in easier; secondly, the magic formations were incomparable to what we are used to seeing. They barely had defensive magic placed on the walls, and from what I could tell, most castles only had three or four offensive magic circles.

"... Keep us in the loop if you start seeing Trent's Scout divisions in our area. Worst case scenario, we'll have to evacuate Isabella out with you Bishner. Shavie, we'll test the perimeter tonight. Anything else?"

Shavie frowned as Stella fidgeted to the side. Suspicious. But then again, she was raising Isabella, running her business and slowly working Isabella's new party members. 

"Bishner, we'll make a show of buying your wines. Stella, make sure that at least one spy sees the transactions."

"No, Luna. I'll head over to Bishner's shop and pick up a few goods. I need to get rid of a few things at the same time, so that might be a better option."

"From the gang you created? Guh, fine. Just make sure it's nothing terribly illegal. Meeting adjourned." 

---

"Welcome, Lady Shavie! Come in, come in! I have everything and more you are looking for."

"Thank you Sir Bishner. I have some curios I'd like to sell. That is if you are still in the market for them. One can never trust a merchant too much. Especially one of your stature. Anyways, I'd hate to take up your time for nothing. How about we go into your office for some..one on one time? Hmm?"

Shavie almost threw up then and there. What kind of Assassin had she turned into!? How she missed the days she could just go out and covertly kill a few enemies. 

'Peh, this is terrible. I can't imagine Luna or Shavie ever doing this willingly... Meh, they probably use their skills more often than not. Gods, I'd kill for that Skill!' 

"Ho ho, you certainly drive a hard bargain. Please, step this way." 

Bishner held his arms out low. Shavie's eyes narrowed. If Bishner actually had the gall to touch her...

'Touch me and die,' she covertly signed.

He waved his arms in mock appreciation. 'Play your part, Shavie.'

Bishner's lowered his arms and held the door open instead. "Please, welcome to my shop. I can certainly guarantee we can come to some sort of agreement."

"Fine, but I hope you will break out a nice vintage from your collection. I can guarantee that my items are worth quite a large sum of money."

Leading her to the back of the shop, they idly talked about inane topics until Bishner closed the door and isolated the room, the inlaid magic circle surrounding his office floor shone with a dull light as he activated them. Shavie could tell that he had taken Luna's idea seriously and modeled his office just like the library. Still, his office was relatively unadorned, with nothing but a desk and chair in the middle of the room.

Shavie frowned as she looked for a place to sit. "You can't even bother to make it look used? And hide the magic circle, for god's sake. Come on Bishner." Still, for all her vexing she kicked over the chair for Bishner to sit on while she sat on his desk. "What is so important that you couldn't tell us as a Party? I mean, the maps told us everything we needed to know."

Bishner sighed. "Not tell Shavie. Show. There were... complications in Evidia."

Gently grabbing his arms, Shavie frowned as Bishner started rolling up his sleeves and a leather arm guard appeared, apparently hidden underneath the long woolen sleeves. It had been getting noticeably colder outside, so she hadn't thought twice of Bishner's long-sleeved shirts. But why wa-

Blood. As Bishner unhooked the leather guard and threw it to the side, the stench of blood circled the room, the heavy iron scent almost unmistakable from any other smell. A glance at the leather guard was enchanted to mask the smell of blood, one of the more useful enchantments for fighting in the wilderness.

But as Bishner started to unwrap the bandages, she noticed something peculiar about it. Her breath stopped as she realized what was wrong with his wounds. The symbol.

"Shavie wait! I ca-" The sharpened edge of her blade rested on his throat, cutting off his words. They both knew how fast Shavie could draw her blade if she meant to kill him. Her Class may have changed, but her skills hadn't. "...Six words. Now." 

"Eastern front lines. My original Party."

Shavie knew that was a plausible answer. The three of them hadn't been there with Bishner and Markus on the frontlines. "...Why didn't you tell Luna?"

"With all three of you there? I'd be killed within a heartbeat."

"Talk."

"It happened almost three hundred years ago. The islands of Los Mons. Six full divisions were sent to investigate the island's strange phenomenon, as well as to restore the communications from the islands. Five of them were killed within the first month."

"... the first portal. Go on, I know my history." Shavie removed the knife from his throat, but not before backing up quickly out of striking range. "Stay sitting. I know you can't draw a shield in that position." 

"We were the last division standing. The Scouts were able to gather enough intelligence about what was happening on the islands to replicate their rituals. The blood sacrifices. It was during that time that the Senate proposed trying the same thing, using sacrifices to bolster our forces."

"Trent would never push their citizens to do that. That would make us like the Devils themselves."

"You're right, so the Senate proposed something else. To go east. It was a small skirmish, but by using the war against the humans as a cover, the Senate was able to replicate the symbols and engrave them onto the members of our division. We were able to shut down the portal with only an eighty percent casualty rate, but we weren't able to remove the symbols afterward. The most we can do is hide the fact we have them," He pointed slowly to the desk to her right. "The bandage rolls are in the top drawer of my desk, pass me some?"

Shavie stared and reached behind her back, grabbing a pair of extra bandages from her hidden pocket. She tossed them over, the roll slowly unfurling itself as it stopped by his feet. Bishner slowly grabbed the roll and started dressing his wound.

"The Senate wanted to apply the symbol to all the Demon Lords directly, but without knowing the consequences... we were quarantined for over twenty years to make sure there were no long term problems. None of the division experienced any known side effects, so the Senate eventually decided to start applying the symbol to the newer Demon Lords. If there was a problem, the older Lords would be able to correct the problem before it got out of hand. The first generation Lords had the symbols applied to their arms like us, and then slowly the symbols got larger, eventually ending up like Markus's where it took up the majority of his back. You can't deny the benefits the symbols provide." 

"No, but you never had a problem with the symbol before, and neither did Markus."

"He did, if you remember. The Holy Water burned Markus. But there is a bigger issue, Shavie. I didn't have the symbol when we were changed. It appeared once I passed into Evidia, and became more pronounced the closer I got to Trent. Soon after that, every time I got close to a ritual zone the wound would start to bleed. I think it was absorbing energy from the sacrifices, Shavie, though I'm hazy if that is the reason why." 

Shavie stared at Bishner. He wasn't lying, that much Shavie could tell. But could she still trust him?

"We can't go back to Trent, Shavie. Once we find Markus, we need to stay away as far as possible. I agree with Luna on that. We shouldn't go back until we know for sure what Trent is up to."

"And how will we do that? You spent three years trying to infiltrate Trent with no luck."

"No, but there is another way. You don't think I spent all that time making money?" Bishner chuckled as he finished wrapping his wounds.

"I don't care what you've been doing. Just get to the results. How have you been investigating this issue?"

"This," Bishner pointed toward his desk. "Below the desk is a hidd-"

A slice of light flashed, cutting the desk in two. Sheathing her blade, Shavie frowned as a small, wooden crate was left partially embedded into the floor, with a fairly large mana stone embedded in the top. 

"Go ahead and open it. It better be good."

"It is." Standing up, BIshner slowly moved over to the side and opened the lid. "And this is the other part I need you for."

Shavie smiled as she realized what he had meant. It had been a long while since she was able to practice this set of skills.

"I wasn't able to find any books that, Luna, had wanted. But I found the next best thing." They both peered into the open crate. An unconscious demon was lying there, the symbols etched into the box specifically designed to transport prisoners. "It's a Trent Scout. But look at his arms." 

Shavie glanced down. Both arms were covered in symbols. Much like... "Anything else that's relevant?"

"I was able to follow a few Evidian Scouts, but it took some time to capture a Trent Scout alive. All of them killed themselves as soon as I left Evidia. It took forever to successfully drug him. You can claim the credit, Shavie, since you are the one extracting the information from him. But I want to be there when you reveal the information. If the Devils have infiltrated the Senate..."

"Deal."

Shavie smiled. It was time to get some answers.