I looked around for any additional threats but none were visible. “Is everyone alright?” I asked.

“I am fine.” Lucy answered.

“I am ok, thanks to your fast reaction.” Loriel said. She did not comment on our lightning immunity. Probably because it was not the right place to discuss such things. The enemy might think we used magic to protect ourselves.

“Anya, Alena, Selene are you alright as well?” I shouted. I did not see the maids, I suspected they fled inside while we were fighting.

Anya’s head poked out of the building. “Is it over my lady? We were so worried! Selene went to alert the guards!”

That was quick thinking. The whole battle did not take very long. “Do you think anyone else got attacked? What if this was just a distraction?” Lucy asked.

“I doubt it was a distraction.” I answered. “That was a high level lightning spell and electricity will often stun it’s targets. We were basically naked in the bath. That means no protective items. The idea was to wound us and make us vulnerable to the monster. I am not sure if they attacked anyone else though.”

“Unlikely.” Loriel said. “This attack was tailored for our situation. It’s disturbing. Think about it, if we had stayed in our quarters none of that would have worked. They needed us defenceless and in the water. As you said, the first attack was to disable us and give the monster an opportunity to devour us. We were in that bath for less than an hour. Someone was watching us and saw an opportunity.” Loriel pointed out.

“Unless they wanted to hit us anyway and just modified the plan to fit the circumstances.” I theorised.

“Possible, but unlikely.” Loriel responded. “If they had a detailed plan to strike us in our quarters prepared, they would have stuck to it and not improvised.”

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I suppose that made sense. A professional would not throw away a carefully crafted plan that easily.

“So, what happens now?” Lucy asked.

“Politically it’s a bad look for the Empire but if it was a demon or monster attack we can only blame them for bad security. We would have to find the mage and determine their allegiance to accuse anyone.” Loriel answered.

I heard the sound of armoured boots running towards us. While I expected it to be the guards, I still prepared for another fight. Soon after the Empire’s soldiers burst out of the building.

“Secure the area, protect our guests!” I heard someone shout. I relaxed.

“My ladies, our deepest apologies.” One of the soldiers said. He bowed deeply. “Please let me escort you back to your quarters. It might not be safe out here. We shall investigate this attack immediately.”

“What about the other delegations?” Lucy asked.

“Rest assured, we are on full alert now and will immediately dispatch more soldiers to keep everyone safe.”

“Lead the way.” Loriel said.

We did not know the plans of the other delegations for tonight. While it would be nice to check on our dwarven allies we did not actually know their current location. We also needed to ensure that our own people were safe. Actually, Elnora or Loriel might have a way to communicate with the other delegations. I never asked.

We arrived at our quarters safely. Our room had not been attacked. There were a lot of guards now to stand watch outside but we declined their offer to guard the inside as well. After a quick spell to ensure privacy we told Elnora what happened.

“This makes no sense.” She said, shaking her head. “Even if they blame demons it could lead to a war if the three of you get killed in the palace. They would need a bigger disaster to get away with that. Like half the palace getting destroyed and imperials dying as well.”

“Could that have been the goal? To start a war?” Lucy asked.

“I doubt that the Emperor wants a war right now. That is the whole reason for the invitation. But maybe a different faction…” Loriel pondered.

“Beravis?” I asked. “They would profit the most if we had a war with the Empire. It would keep them secure for a long time. They also did not sign the mutual defence agreement before we came here.”

“Sadly, that does make a lot of sense.” Loriel admitted.

“It could also be an imperial faction. If the inquisition attacked foreign diplomats it would have to be dismantled. Somebody might try to frame them.” Elnora said.

“What if this was not an assassination attempt?” Lucy suggested. “What if they wanted to capture us? We don’t know what creature that was. We never saw anything but a black orb in the water and tentacles. If we were briefly incapacitated by lightning they could have grabbed us. Those things were slimy. If they could have wrapped themselves around our bare skin maybe it would have paralysed us?”

I shuddered at the thought. The last thing I wanted was to be abducted by a tentacle monster.

“Did you loot a part of the monster so we can analyse it?” Elnora asked.

“Uh… no.” Damn. I really should have done that.