I sighed. “I am not surprised that our show attracted more spectators. But they could be friendly. Have you found anything about those assassins?”
“No, my lady. There is nothing identifying their allegiance.” Lilastheria answered.
“They were all human?” I asked.
“Yes, or at least they look the part. They carried poison and magical blades, although not very powerful ones.”
“Hm. I did not notice them before the ritual. They must have been well hidden, waiting to attack the moment our backs were turned. How would you evaluate them Shani?”
“Very sliceable, barely any resistance!”
“So no real armour or magical protection. They focused on offence. They must have been rather fast, right? Did they try to engage you or go around you?”
Shani scratched her head. “Not sure. I was faster! But I think one of them wanted to intercept me.”
“Maybe they mistook her for a normal elemental. Most people have never seen one. So a single enemy was going to distract her while the other four came after us.” Lucy pointed out.
“Possible. So they thought they could get past her and strike us quickly. I assume the magic on the weapons was just to make sure they could pierce our skin. You would not attack an archfey with a normal weapon. We should see if we can identify the poison. Is there an assassins guild?” I wondered.
“Not that I know.” Lucy answered. “Would that not be weird? Who would tolerate such an organisation? Usually powerful people train their own. They would not trust something sensitive to anyone outside of their control.”
Even if there was no guild, there were probably certain organisations in the underworld that offered similar services. Hm. “You know, we could look for local criminals and see what they know. They must have a lot of information about what is going on in the city.”
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“Do you want to investigate? I thought we would simply leave the Empire now and let them deal with everything.” Lucy said.
“True. A part of me is simply curious. There are so many unanswered questions.”
“Like, who is spying on us in the woods? Maybe we should answer that first.” Lucy suggested.
“My ladies, I will gladly apprehend them.” Lilastheria offered.
“I will help!” Shani added.
“We would like them alive, Shani.” I pointed out.
“I can do that!”
I watched the succubus and the elemental speed into the forest.
“Should we help?” Lucy asked.
“Only if they run into someone truly powerful. This is her first assignment as our maid. We should show some trust.”
“More like her first mission as a knight. Hunting people is not really that maid like…”
“Well, she is taking out the trash. Cleaning up the woods…”
Lucy groaned. “Ok, I get it.”
I smirked. “Since we have started this whole maid thing now, we should consider recruiting more. Might as well have an actual knight order. That also means we need an income to pay them. I do have a lot of money but even that will eventually run out. Should we start a business?”
“We do have a county in the Dominion. Was it not near a dangerous but lucrative area? We could hunt there, or send our knights to collect materials. Once we have seen the land we can plan.”
“True. Assuming, me being an archfey won’t ruin the deal. We will certainly have to meet the high queen. And probably the Lady of the Forest.”
Our conversation was briefly interrupted by screams. We both looked towards the trees.
“Do you think Shani is getting carried away?” Lucy asked.
“I only said alive, maybe I should have been more specific about their condition…” I admitted.
“Do you think they are friendly?”
“Hm. I don’t think Loriel is going to send spies. We are allies and she wants to stay on our good side. I don’t think she has enough people in the area to waste some on watching us. The other delegations might be a lot more curious, or concerned. The Empire is almost certainly watching. The question is, who attacked us?”
“I suspect the Emperor. He certainly is not happy with us. If it were the cult they would have involved demons, surely.”
“The demons might still be coming. Or maybe the assassins would have transformed if given enough time.”
We were once again interrupted, this time by people coming from the trees. Most of them looked wounded, some were limping, but all were capable of walking. They followed an uninjured Lilastheria who marched in the front. Shani was bringing up the rear, whistling and twirling her scythe. It looks like they managed to capture the spies.
“They all look human so far.” I noticed.
“Looks can be deceiving. It just makes sense to look like a human in the Empire.” Lucy pointed out.
They arrived in front of us and stood in a line.
“My ladies, we have captured the intruders.” Lilastheria said.