Lord Hiro considered her words and their implications for a long moment, the muscle on his lower jaw working overtime as he slowly weighed out an answer,

“Mochizuki. I cannot give you an answer that I do not yet know. Much has changed in the past week and while we have not lost all hope, I am going to trial today. They will force me into a Truth Domain. We have planned for something like this, but everything depends on our ability to stay mobile. I promise you, I will get our people out or die trying. This is my pledge to you. But you must wait for my signal.”

At those words, the intensity drained from her face and she bowed deeply, “My apologies Lord, I never doubted. It can be… difficult here, watching our people suffer and knowing that salvation is such a close possibility.” She came up from her bow and shifted to look at Tilly. Looking him up and down, she wiped her hands on her apron in a business-like manner.

“I see that we now have a human and that you even named him friend... Your choices are your own, but is it really wise to have him with you before trial? They could try and surprise you calling him up for questioning instead.”

Hiro nodded thoughtfully, “For now, answer my questions as directly as possible, as long as you do not stray, he will remain mostly ignorant. This will both protect him and keep him from unknowingly becoming a source of information for our enemies.”

“You can say that again…” Tilly mumbled, unable to keep the surliness out of his voice as they talked about him like he wasn't even there. He didn't relish the idea of spending even more time in forced ignorance. But Shuji winced in sympathy at him from behind Lord Hiro and Tilly bit back any more complaints. Whatever Truth Domain was, he had to admit that continuing to be oblivious to the intrigue unraveling before him was as good a defense as he could hope for. In fact...

“Wait, I know we don't have a lot of time, but if I might be questioned, shouldn’t I leave? Or cover my ears? Or something?”

Shuji’s ever-present smile broke into a small guffaw,

“Ha! Yes, that is very kind of you, but we have already taken this possibility into account and our enemies do not know enough to ask you the right kind of questions. If questioned about anything you don't understand, respond truthfully that you do not know what the questioner means. This will be sufficient for anything they have to ask you. They did not know of your existence until this morning, so their advocates have had no time to plan for your inclusion.”

Mochizuki nodded along with Shuji’s words before continuing with the report Hiro had requested on the disposition of the senate,

"Now that we have settled that, Here is what we know about the Senate as it stands today. Obviously, the Purist Party is responsible for this injunction. We have recent intel to suggest that the elder Marcellus is very busy with some sort of treason himself. He has been spotted leaving the walls several times in the last months by discreet means. It looks like he has left the majority of this particular grudge in the hands of his youngest... and cruelest son."

“Yes, the boy came himself to insult our people and lay his eyes on our operation so far. Let us hope he is only half so cunning as the father. We are fairly sure he only saw what we wanted him to see.” Hiro replied shortly, waving for her to continue.

“The Honu and Asterion minorities will generally oppose anything the Purists put forward. That leaves the dwindling Economic Party and the Loyalist Party. The Economics are currently leaning with the Purists on grounds of how tight the imperial coffers are. In their eyes any misuse of funds in this time of geopolitical pressure is treasonous. The Loyalists are a complete mystery… No one has seen the emperor since you got approval for the venture into the unclaimed lands. In light of this, his party has remained largely silent, choosing to abstain from the most recent senate votes.”

Tilly followed the conversation with fascination, despite having little or no context for the information. Hiro grunted in interest and thanked her for the report before following up,

“Invaluable as always Mochizuki, you are a treasure to our people. What changes on the frontlines?”

“The Empire’s last satellite city has been lost, and the Asterion tribes are all but scattered. Almost none remain loyal to the empire, most choosing to sell abroad as mercenary clans or return to the caravans. This has led to a significant change in the Asterion party's voting block. They have now shifted focus to primarily representing the empire's Mercenary forces. Their position is now either weaker or stronger, depending on the vote in question. The seat numbers have not changed since my last report.”

“Gods above… I thought we had concentrated the majority of our last expeditionary Phalanxes in defense of Lograth?” Shuji broke in, his customary smile flattening.

“We had,” Mochizuki whispered with finality, the shadows in the small storeroom dancing across her features ominously.

“The Cult of the Serpent has become ravenous, and they bear some strange new berserking power that broke the empire's defenses outside the gates of Filaresh.” She continued in a defeated tone.

Unlike Shuji, Hiro did not bat an eye at this news. His face remained drawn in grim resolve as he slowly brought forward some steadying words.

“We are citizens of a dying empire. None of this is new, we will just have to adjust our timetable and make do with what we have. Now come. We will have to run part of the way as it is, and I will not be seen sprinting up to the Cura’s halls.” He said before offering a bow of respect to the informant. Then before he turned to the door he added,

“Hold on a little bit longer Mochizuki. Keep our people together, and if the Gods are kind, we will see you tomorrow.” He finished with a small smirk. Then he turned and nodded to both Tilly and Shuji before stealthily opening the door and moving out into the shadow of the alley.

Shuji performed a small bow himself before following, leaving Tilly with Mochizuki.

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“My name is Tilly by the way… uh thanks for everything.” He said, awkwardly trying for a bow himself.

She smiled in response to his attempt, no doubt due to his title more than any sort of innate friendliness.

“Yes I can see your name Jonathan Tillman, but you can not see mine, and if you do see me in public here, we do not know each other, and you must not speak to me. Now hurry, time is short!” She said, making a shooing motion with both her hands.

Out of reflex, Tilly tried to pull up her identifier and all that came up was:

Level 13 Household Servant

He nodded to her again and moved through the still-open door, her voice following after him.

“Oh, and most people will feel when you try to Identify them if their Wisdom is higher than yours. It can be considered quite rude in certain situations.”

Tilly grimaced as he ducked through the door. That was one more thing he had probably been messing up since he first got here. Tilly rushed out into the alley while trying not to kick over the piles of trash, catching up with Shuji and Hiro at the mouth of the narrow passage. They held back in the shadows of the tall windowless walls to either side and observed the passing traffic. Then Shuji whispered something into what looked like an origami bird in his hand and it flared briefly before flying off.

“Just a moment, we will know when to move.” He whispered.

The throng of people on the main street had grown much more crowded and it seemed like it would be slightly easier to move through unnoticed. As he silently watched the things that made up the crowd he began to notice a rough ratio of the citizens present. About three-quarters were some form of Satyr, although many of the common-looking folk had more in common with an upright goat than the humans that supposedly existed in their heritage.

The rest of the crowd was broken by occasionally towering minotaurs, stocky dwarves, gnomes, elves, and other humanoids that were supernatural in nature. Many of the bypassers seemed overburdened by numerous possessions, some pulling hand carts, others weighed down by huge packs. Then it hit Tilly, these people knew what was happening, and those that could were getting out.

Then a familiar voice rang out over the murmuring roar of the city.

“Welp looks like no one is gonna buy from a damaged barrel anyway! Alright, I'm draining this thing, one penny per pour. Get it while it's flowing! Genuine Gnomish Hard Seltzer!” The crowd immediately reacted, moving towards the stall about thirty feet ahead of the alley that had been the site of the accident earlier.

Without hesitation, Shuji and Hiro entered the throng of unwashed bodies suddenly heading for the stall, all shouting excitedly at the deal. “One at a time! One at a time!” The Gnome called out, trying in vain to bring order to the sudden rush.

Hiro led them deftly through the press until they were beyond it on the other side of the promenade and then he turned back towards them, “Now we must pick up the pace significantly until we are close to the Cura.” He said in a low voice, while his eyes roamed the crowd.

“Do not worry about being spotted, they will expect us to have spoken to someone, and need to come in a rush, we are just protecting our source.”

Then he turned and jogged forward, clearly expecting to be followed. With his newly increased Endurance Tilly wasn't bothered by the pace, but that was clearly not the case for Shuji who was panting and out of breath after just a minute or two. Tilly couldn't begin to guess what his Endurance was, but he bet it was probably pretty low. That said, Shuji did not falter or complain as they continued forward at a brisk pace cutting through the crowd with a focused urgency.

It probably took another twenty minutes before they arrived near the steps of the giant blocky building that stood above the surrounding structures on a foundation of columns. They slowed to a walk the last few hundred feet and Shuji pulled out a small vial of something, downing it in one go, before sighing in relief.

The marble steps were flanked on both sides by the Imperial Guards standing every third step at attention and watching the crowds below with practiced scowls. At the center of the wide stairway was an ornate table manned by several bored-looking officials and another ten guards. Hiro turned to give his companions a quick inspection. Tilly was more or less the same dirty-looking wild man he had been this morning, and Shuji had managed to catch his breath and even wipe the sweat from his lightly furred brow before Hiro turned back to look at him.

“Now we test ourselves against the slow grinding weight of bureaucracy.” He muttered darkly before, allowing himself a slight smirk at their appearance. He then schooled his expression and moved to approach the officials at the table.

Tilly tried to straighten his patched fur jacket, and Shuji put on his biggest smile, his large front teeth on full display. Tilly followed after the grizzled Samurai Lord, trying to look like he was supposed to be there.

“Names…” The official Satyr droned, not bothering to look up from his stack of papers.

Shuji stepped forward, “Lord Hiro Matsumoto. Last living lord to the Lapin people. Hero of the tragic western retreat and once honored chair of the minority party in the Senate. He is here on charges to stand trial, and we are his escort.”

When the official looked up, the practiced look of indifference may as well have been a work of art for all the care he took in confirming the lapin in question was in front of him.

“Very wel-” He started looking back down to mark something on his form when his head snapped back up in a double take. His eyes drilled into Tilly, practically oozing curiosity.

“My, my…” He said, his double chin wiggling under his oily goatee.

“How did your kind get its grubby mitts on a human?”

“I’m right here…" Tilly sighed. At this point, he was very tired of being treated like he couldn't speak for himself.

"And, just for the record, my name is Jonathan Tillman. I'm here as a friend of Lord Hiro. No one has ‘gotten their mitts’ on me.”

“Yes well, my apologies Mr. Tillman.” The official stated continuing to look at Tilly like he was some sort of exotic animal at the zoo. Then Tilly felt a slight tingling in the back of his mind, like the brush of an unexpected hand.

At that, the face of the official fell in disappointment, “Oh, another dud. Two humans in the last decade and both turn out to be utter bores.” At his words, the other officials at the table tittered annoyingly.

'Did this guy just identify me?' Tilly marveled in frustration at the satyr's manners. He looked the official dead in the eye and activated Identify right back.

Level 15 Bureaucrat

“Well, your ‘empire’ doesn't seem to be doing too hot either!” Tilly growled in frustration, literally going so far as to make air quotes around the word ‘empire.’

At this, several of the guards who had been successfully holding a statuesque attention looked over at Tilly sharply.

Then Lord Hiro spoke for the first time in the conversation, letting his killing intent pour out of his aura. Tilly immediately felt a cold sweat break out under his jacket, and he barely kept himself from unconsciously whimpering.

“We have been held up long enough, I will not be late due to the incompetence of a nobody.” He declared in a dangerous voice under a flat-eyed expression that spoke far more than an elevated tone ever could.

The Bureaucrat and his several silent associates simultaneously choked on the deadly aura. He waved them past the guards while covering a whimper of his own with a cough and reaching for a nearby goblet of water.