Before our imaginations get away from us, I bring my treasure-hungry elf and conspiracy-loving succubus back on track. Namely, figuring out what happened here and if it relates to us or the March. Unearthing any secret treasures or storehouses hidden by the guilds for centuries can wait.

For once, we can’t brute force this problem. Possible guildmasters are guarding the site of the explosion closely. Incredibly so. That means no details of their investigation are going to be overhead by targets that would be easier to interrogate. We could wait for them to finish and leave, but I’m concerned that they’ll be cautious enough to destroy any evidence once they’re done with their investigations. They were cautious enough to prepare for my succubi after all, with no knowledge that I’d appear.

No, if we want to know what happened here, we’re going to have to get past them.

“It’s not as simple as walking past them,” Geneva explains as we bow our heads to scheme together. “If they are prepared for my mental abilities, I assume they are prepared for shapeshifters as well.”

I nod absently. She’s good but it’s a lot harder to attack a prepared enemy.

“I’m confident in avoiding their gazes and moving quietly. But if they have ways of detecting me besides their mundane senses…”

“If we prepare for what they could possibly have done, we will get nowhere,” Kierra says with a huff. “It is possible they are the greatest casters in the world disguised as lowly hunters. It is possible they have an artifact that can track you to the edges of this kingdom. It is possible they have contracted an elemental with your same abilities. We throw our best at them. If they are prepared, we shatter their preparations.”

An aggressive approach as usual, but, also as usual, she has a point. We could question what they are and aren’t prepared for all day but it doesn’t change what we can do. Perhaps if we had more time, I’d take a more cautious approach but the guildmasters can finish at any moment. “Alright. Then, the plan is for Geneva to slip past them, investigate the wreck, and slip away, hopefully without being noticed.”

“You need to be small and fast,” Kierra suggests.

“Just like you, my summoner, there is a limit to how much I can compress myself. However, I have a suitable form for the task.”

I’m forced to avert my eyes as Geneva begins transforming, the wet sounds of twisting flesh and the crunch of shattering bones making my stomach turn. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for her to finish. After a few minutes, my cute thrall is replaced with a cat-like creature tall enough that its nose is level with my thigh. Its pointed ears are abnormally large for its head and its tawny fur is spotted with splotches of gray and brown. Its paws are abnormally large and as Geneva paces, three tails as thin as a flower’s stem moving erratically, her footfalls barely make even the slightest sound, even to my incredibly sensitive ears.

As I stare at it, the cat fades from view. I can still make out its shape and track its twitching tails, though they appear as faint distortions of air rather than limbs. Everything but its bright green eyes disappears. Then Geneva closes her eyes and those disappear as well.

“You must share this form with me later,” Kierra says as she admires the creature we cannot see.

“What, don’t you already have a form that can disappear at the drop of a hat?”

“I do, but it is not so small and the camouflage takes much longer to spread.”

…I was kidding.

“This is good, but a trained warrior will notice her.” Kierra runs a hand over Geneva’s invisible back. “If they are allowed to remain watchful.”

“We need a distraction.” I was already thinking the same. I’m concerned they may have ways of detecting trespassers but I’m confident that the tricky succubus knows how to avoid being caught. If the underground floors of the building are expansive enough to be used as a secret storehouse, Geneva will have no trouble disappearing but first she has to get past their initial vigilance. “And I have an idea.”

“Oh?”

“Mm.” This whole city is teetering on an edge. Everyone is tense and looking for a reason to lash out. And I’m the villain they want to go after most of all. I think it should be easy to cause a little chaos if I lean into that reputation. “Rolly?”

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A yellowish-orange ball of light appears above my head as the lueorale makes herself known. She drops to my nose, the swirling mess of color that makes up her face making me dizzy until I look away. “Hi, hi, hi! You called?”

“We’re going to play a little trick. This is what I need you to do.” Once she has her instructions, she races off, giggling like a mischievous child as she disappears over a building. As she flies off, I gesture to Kierra.

“Follow my lead.”

“How fun.”

She follows me back into the thick of the crowd while Geneva slinks off, preparing to take advantage of whatever we do. Once we’re deeply embedded in the crowd, I raise my voice. “Can you believe this? They’re doing our work for us.”

Several gazes immediately turn to me. I put on my best sneer for their benefit but pretend I don’t notice them as I turn to Kierra. “Forget Victory’s army. These people are already destroying themselves.”

Kierra grins as she meets my gaze, also raising her voice to ensure the curious crowd hears every word she is saying. “It is shameful spite, my love. The guilds would rather throw their coin purses into a river than honor their debts.”

“Which is stupid. I mean, don’t they understand that they still lose? Except this way, they also piss off a bunch of crazy knights just itching for blood.”

“And they weaken themselves. Today, it is a store. What will it be tomorrow? A guild building? The walls surrounding the city?”

“Hey!” A man, laborer by the looks of him, finally takes the bait and steps forward. “What in the Abyss are you women talking about?”

I make him wait, noting his rising frustration, before turning to him, channeling my worst memories of Junior as I look down at him. “We are discussing the idiocy of the guilds. You do know this was a guild store, don’t you?” Before he can open his mouth to respond, another man grabs his shoulder and nods to him. Unexpected confirmation from an uninvolved party and a peer, how lucky. Makes this much easier. “Who else would have the audacity to torch a guild store besides another guild? Certainly not the guard.” I wave a dismissive hand in their direction and they don’t bother to hide their upset reactions.

“You, for one,” a hunter says as she steps out of the crowd, flanked by two others. She passes a glare over the onlookers before facing me. “Or saboteurs from the north. Attacking innocents like cowards to make us capitulate.”

“Or saboteurs from the north,” I mimic in my most annoying tone, channeling my inner child. From the offense on her face, I’d say I did a good job. “Do you hear yourself? People say a lot of things about the knights of Victory but they never use the words cowardly or subtle. And it wasn’t me. My wife keeps me far too occupied at night to be traipsing around the city throwing fire about.” Kierra nods sagely beside me.

“Why should we believe you?” the lady hunter snaps.

“Because I haven’t been arrested. There are, what? Two dozen guardsmen here? And I know there is at least one guildmaster, interim he may be, standing by the wreckage. If they thought I was involved, or if they had the slightest suspicion I could be, why am I not being detained?”

The woman purses her lips, struggling to answer. There’s an obvious one, of course. It isn’t worth the casualties until they have undeniable proof of my involvement. However, if she says that, it would mean acknowledging that the hunters are afraid of me. I can’t imagine anyone, even the Shields that are supposedly in favor of paying off the debt of the March, would be happy to do that. They’re a prideful bunch.

I smile as I realize my show has caught the attention of the men guarding the wreckage. Time to turn up the heat. “No, this wasn’t me. I’d be a lousy debt collector if I went around destroying valuable merchandise. I’m sure this was one of your precious guilds. Maybe taking advantage of the chaos to settle some old grudges?”

“I wonder what will be done in retaliation,” Kierra says, somehow infusing both dread and excitement into her tone.

“Exactly. If it’s a building today, will it be two tomorrow?”

“This city will be nothing but ash in a week.”

“A week? Are you kidding? I was thinking more three days.”

“Enough!” the woman hunter shouts as the crowd around us whispers anxiously. “There isn’t going to be any retaliation.”

“You can guarantee that, can you? I bet yesterday you would have guaranteed that no one was going to blow a building straight to the Abyss, but here we are. Maybe you haven’t realized it, but this city’s become a dangerous place. Assassins stalking the night, bombs going off in the middle of the day, the threat of war hanging over the city. No one and no place are safe. If I were you, all of you, I’d take whatever I could carry and run. Who knows when—"

With perfect timing, a bone-shaking boom interrupts me. It’s nothing but sound, a harmless distraction, but the crowd immediately panics. With the destruction right in front of them and the acrid smell of smoke still in the air, the people are driven to a panic. The air is filled with screams as the crowd turns into a herd of beasts stampeding away from the perceived danger.

The hunters, including the woman who stepped forward to speak against me, try to calm them, or at the very least impose order on the panicked retreat, but it’s a futile gesture. Powerful they may be, but they are the minority. They also aren’t using force, making them powerless against the mass of bodies pushing against them with the force of a rapidly flowing river. Those who don’t follow the current are swept aside.

I don’t fight, letting the anxious mob push me away from the wreckage. My job is done. I doubt I’ve done myself any favors in regards to my reputation with the hunters but, given I plan on assassinating the leadership of the hunters that oppose the March, I’m not concerned about it. Hopefully, my pet can do her job.

The last thing we need is another surprise.