"Oh fuck!" I curse. I rush outside and lo and behold a bloody frigate appears, complete with its armaments. 

I look at Lita. Two Class IV mages should overpower the frigate effortlessly, but it would be complicated should a Lord be there. They must be seeking Lita by now.

Lita draws her curved blade. She glances at me. "Shall we strike first?"

"That kind of betrays the whole 'lay low' thing, doesn't it?"

"Not if we kill everyone in the ship," Lita says, pulling out a pair of binoculars.

Before we could make a decision, Lita spots more ships with her binoculars. "Not good. There are two more frigates ... wait, are those pirate flags I'm seeing?"

"Pirates?" I mutter. 

Suddenly, the two pirate frigates open fire, throwing fireballs and energy blasts at the demon frigate. The demon frigate raises its barrier, firing back projectiles of its own. "What on earth is happening there?" I mutter.

"Pirates are a faction of their own ... and there are multiple factions of pirates with different interests," Lita says. "But still, why would they target a heavily armed frigate rather than a merchant ship?"

I summon a bat from smoke, attaching a hearing device onto its legs. I send it away.

The smaller Empire frigate's guns are quickly disabled. The pirates board the ship. Pirate Pyroguards blow up the remnants of Empire resistance.

"Yeah, yeah, find that crab amulet thing, we aren't getting the bounty without it," a pirate tells others.

Crab amulet?

As if reading my mind, Lita says, "Every naval vessel's captain has a crab amulet with them. It's like a symbol of authority."

"So someone is putting out bounties on the Empire's navy," I mutter. "This has to be the Order's tinkering. Let's get the hell out of here before they notice us."

Our motorboat exits the scene, leaving the pirates to slaughter the sailors and plunder the frigate. It takes just a few hours more to reach the southern border of Irvine.

"We gotta ditch the boat," I say as a patrol boat moves from a distance.

Lita nods, grabbing breathing pills from her pocket. I prepare a fire to burn down the boat.

"Are you Violleta Vonville?"

Shockingly, the captain of the patrol boat asks me, his vessel a few metres from ours. I instinctively unsheathe my blade. Lita steps in front of me. 

"Yes, she is," she says.

He throws Lita a piece of parchment. "We saw nothing."

The captain takes flight with his vessel, leaving us dumbfounded. Lita opens the parchment; on it is a detailed schedule of patrols across the coast. "Heh," Lita murmurs, "the armed forces have turned on Queen Seira."

I nod slightly. We find an opening on the coast, burning down our boat after taking our valuable belongings. Patrol boats rush in, but by that time we have marched into the mainland. 

"Kay, now we've got to get to Mirakarta," I say. Lita is silent, her eyes turning left and right.

"Someone's here," Lita mutters, "someone powerful. Class IV at least."

My heartbeat doubles in speed as I, too, sense the person. Lita and I wrap our fingers around the handles of our swords, our backs stuck to each other. "They're fast!" Lita murmurs. Sweat falls from my forehead.

A cloaked man dashes forward. I unsheathe my blade, swinging it at the woman.

"Wait, Vio!" Lita cries.

The giant man, almost seven feet tall, draws a pair of daggers, fending off my swing. "As Madam Moonray said," he says, "you're powerful yet too emotional and lusty in battle. Is it because of your sister?"

"You!" I clench my teeth.

"I'm a personal agent of Madam Moonray. A carriage has been prepared for you."

She opens a dark portal and a carriage jumps out of it. 

Whew! What's that magic? And Madam Fron's personal agents? She has people this powerful as her personal agents?

"Good luck." The woman turns into a bat, flying to the sky.

Lita and I hop into the carriage. It's completely mechanized, running on mana. Lita and I ride to Mirakarta. 

"Well, the ruins should be nearby Mirakarta, but not in there. I think it's a few kilometres away from it," I recall as we almost reach the outskirts of the town.

"... there's another person here," Lita murmurs. I stop the carriage. 

Another one? Damn it.

I glance at Lita; two Class IV mages should destroy one. But they won't go down easy, and it will attract attention. I just hope it's that woman again.

"Psst ... hey, Vio, is that you?"

"Remi!" I mutter in shock. I hear Remi's voice from the side of the carriage.

"Remi? Remi Isabelle, captain of the Thirteenth Imperial Guard Division?" Lita whispers. I nod slightly.

Remi enters the carriage. "The Order's told me you two are going here," she says. "I'll lead you to the headquarters."

Remi turns the carriage back. "So, I assume it's your sister?" Remi asks.

"Yeah. I don't know you're here, Remi."

"I've been here for a few months," Remi says. "I heard Joe and Agatha have also been posted in Irvine, somewhere in the east."

The Order's really consolidating their forces, huh?

"You heard the news already, Vio? Francia's capitulated," Remi sighs.

I bite my lips. It's inevitable, I know it. But war? Real, full-blown war?

I don't know if I'm ready for it.

"We've arrived," Remi says.

We hop out from the carriage. The ruined mansion of the Moonrays lie in front of us.

Remi leads us into the mansion's rear. She opens a manhole with her palm, leading us to an underground lift–much similar to Ad Astra's headquarters. 

The lift must be at least a few tens of metres deep. We reach the underground headquarters at last. The headquarters resemble a city: arrays of tents line up neatly. A few colossal buildings are there, too. "Whew. It's massive," Lita says. 

"Enough for tens of thousands people," Remi comments. "Most of them either members of the Irvinian Army or local militias. We even have a couple hundred battle mages."

"Oh, Remi. They've arrived."

This voice! The woman from the Eighth Division!

"Blood-"

"Wait, Vio!" Remi cries, "she's on our side now!"