Theresis found the proposal sound, so he assigned the task to the Blood Court and the Damazti Cluster to investigate the breach together.
The primary reason for pairing them up was that Londinium was far too vast, and the military council currently possessed no concrete data other than knowing the intruders traveled in a group of four and were suspected to be entirely female. With such a bare framework of information, forcing Duq'arael to search the capital completely on his own would be akin to hunting for a needle in a boundless haystack.
Furthermore, the Damazti possessed countless splinter forms distributed across every major block of the city, making their network uniquely suited for sifting through the dense civilian population to locate the targets.
Once the two unique entities received their deployment orders and departed the war room, Theresis turned back toward the deeper shadows of the chamber, his gaze resting on the quiet woman standing in the darkness.
"Did the old leadership of Babel ever employ anyone with this specific brand of perception-warping ability?"
He felt a trace of amusement even as the question left his lips. After all, compared to the woman standing before him, his own understanding of Babel's historical roster was by no means lacking. He was intimately familiar with the tactical habits, personal preferences, underlying quirks, and exact limits of every single commander who had ever served under their banner.
"Not within my memory," the woman replied, her voice remarkably gentle, layered with a faint, mournful echo.
"As I thought."
A look of confirmation flickered across Theresis's eyes. Could it be a fresh operative recruited after the formal establishment of Rhodes Island?
Years ago, he had strictly honored his final agreement with the Doctor. Following Theresa's tragic demise, he chose not to hunt down the fractured remnants of Babel, permitting the surviving core members to pack their belongings and depart the capital provoked. He had since received reports that after the fall, Kal'tsit had quietly arranged for the Doctor to be placed into a secretive stasis before taking sole command of the organization, pulling the crumbling foundation of Rhodes Island back from total collapse through sheer force of will.
Under her guidance, they had refashioned themselves into an international pharmaceutical company.
He raised the question primarily because he felt the mysterious women wandering the Highbury District didn't fit the profile of agents serving the Grand Dukes of Victoria. Since they weren't affiliated with the domestic aristocracy and had actively chosen to evade his military checkpoints, the most logical conclusion was that they belonged to the lingering embers of Theresa's loyalist faction.
Yet, just as his question implied, he knew with absolute certainty that the historical archives of Babel contained zero records of any caster possessing a similar style of illusion magic.
As for that troublesome young Banshee...
Theresis doubted he would possess the reckless audacity to risk approaching his personal stronghold. Even if he might choose to spare his life out of respect for his mother's historical legacy, he would have zero qualms about beating him half to death and shipping his fractured body back to the Banshee Queen to be kept in isolation, safely removed from the conflict between their factions.
But if it wasn't the Banshee, who exactly was the master weaver behind the spell?
Theresis followed the woman's quiet gaze out the high window, a rare spark of curiosity coloring his features.
On the other side of the city, Flandre's group spent the remainder of their day happily wandering through the commercial sectors of the Highbury District.
The neighborhood did not merely house the massive foundry; it was also heavily decorated with magnificent stone structures that epitomized the classic industrial style. In Flandre's own words, she had never expected to witness such an architectural aesthetic manifested outside of a video game in her entire lifetime. Paired with the weathered, elegant brickwork of old Victorian designs, the entire streetscape felt incredibly charming to explore.
At the very beginning of the stroll, Clever had been an absolute bundle of nerves.
After all, they had literally stumbled right into Manfred the moment they set foot in the district. Heaven only knew if they were going to cross paths with other legendary commanders serving under the military council, or even the Regent himself, while browsing the shop windows.
Fortunately, as the morning progressed, they shifted their focus toward the heavily populated tourist sectors. While Sarkaz patrols occasionally marched down the main thoroughfares, their presence was nowhere near as dense as it was around the munitions factories. Naturally, she was spared the terrifying confrontations she had been dreading all morning.
As the sun began its slow descent toward the horizon, the group finally turned their footsteps back toward their rented estate.
Discovering that Patchouli and Sakuya had not yet returned from their research trip, the trio decided to walk over to the National Grand Library to greet them. They arrived just in time to catch the duo stepping out through the massive stone pillars of the main entrance.
"I was beginning to think you were planning to set up a permanent camp and spend the night in the archives, Patchy!" Remilia teased, a playful grin dancing on her lips.
Patchouli adjusted the bridge of her glasses, her expression perfectly serious as she replied, "To be entirely honest, I did propose that exact arrangement. After all, I am thoroughly accustomed to sleeping among the bookshelves at home. Unfortunately, the head archivist here stubbornly refused to accommodate my lifestyle."
A few seconds of stunned silence hung in the crisp evening air before the sisters burst into shared laughter.
"I certainly didn't expect you to start cracking jokes, Patchy! That is a rare treat," Remilia said, wiping away a tiny tear of mirth from the corner of her eye.
"While the premise is indeed amusing, I am speaking the literal truth," Patchouli countered calmly, tilting her chin toward her companion. "If you harbor any doubts regarding my sincerity, you are welcome to ask Sakuya."
"Uh... is she being serious?" Remilia turned her gaze toward her chief maid.
Sakuya offered a crisp, formal nod. "Lady Patchouli did indeed engage in a lengthy, detailed negotiation with the senior librarian regarding the possibility of overnight residency, but the administration firmly declined the proposal."
The rest of the group couldn't suppress their giggles upon hearing the confirmation.
Standing at the rear of the gathering, Clever stared at the lavender-haired scholar, finally understanding the true nature of the quiet, detached aura that surrounded her—the woman was simply a pure, unadulterated bookworm.
Once they returned to the comfort of their villa, Sakuya immediately vanished into the kitchen to prepare a lavish dinner, while Flandre happily pulled Patchouli onto the parlor sofa, eagerly recounting every detail of their afternoon adventures.
Patchouli listened with a quiet, sentimental expression. Their long journey had carried them all the way from the snowy battlefields of the Reunion Movement through several distinct nations and cultural territories, and every single region they crossed possessed a visual identity completely unique to its borders.
Places like Kjerag, Kazimierz, and Victoria were geographical neighbors, sharing closely linked borders across the map, yet the developmental gaps separating the three societies were staggeringly immense.
The most primitive of the trio was undoubtedly Kjerag. That hidden realm utilized its massive, snow-capped mountain ranges to shield itself from external geopolitical threats, but those very same icy barriers had permanently imprisoned the collective mindset of its population. The entire territory remained completely trapped within a backward, semi-feudal framework.
Then there was the grand empire of Victoria.
Before her arrival, Patchouli had assumed the local literature simply romanticized the historical elegance of the nation. But as their carriage traversed the provinces, she discovered the reality was far more eccentric. While the local industrial capitalists weren't quite as ruthlessly predatory as the text archives had suggested, the entire population seemed to have developed an unyielding obsession with steam-driven technology.
When Patchouli uncovered historical records revealing that Victoria's ultimate military units were colossal mechanical constructs known as Steam Knights, her expression had turned deeply skeptical. After all, their neighbors in Columbia had already mastered the production of sleek power armor, advanced drone swarms, and combat mechs. Yet, Victoria still relied on heavy, steam-choked armored knights as its absolute trump card on the modern battlefield.
Patchouli found it difficult to comprehend how the empire managed to safeguard its borders against foreign superpowers with such a massive technological deficit.
As for Kazimierz...
While the suffocating commercial atmosphere of that country had left a distinctly sour taste in her mouth, Patchouli had to admit that the glittering capital city was flawlessly executed in terms of its technological integration. It was, by far, the closest thing to a modern, functional society that she had witnessed on this world.
"Who cares about the technological gaps anyway? Isn't it much better that every country looks completely different?" Flandre countered happily, her legs swinging over the edge of the cushions. "In my book, the entire point of traveling is to visit unfamiliar places and look at things you've never seen before. Having all these different styles, cultures, and backdrops keeps everything feeling fresh and exciting. It's perfect for a holiday!"
"When you phrase it that way, Flandre, you aren't wrong," Remilia agreed, nodding smoothly as she leaned back against the upholstery. "As tourists, we have no reason to burden ourselves with their national development curves. A shifting environment simply ensures that every single day of our journey feels like a brand-new experience."