Tobunoa Island's entourage all entered the private room prepared by the host. Every lord had their own private room for discussion with their own team. Takehiro brought along his party as he wore an irritated expression. The room had a wide round table, and he plopped down on a seat, while everyone else remained standing, despite the other chairs present. They were all tense, sensing their master's foul mood.

When the door was closed, Takehiro let out a sigh. "What the fuck…"

To make sure there was no one spying around, he gestured to his men to check the room. Meanwhile, Takehiro leaned his elbow on the armrest and placed a hand on his forehead. The smile he had earlier had disappeared. His men stood there frozen, waiting for him to speak.

The men who were checking the room for any spies nodded their heads at their lord. The room was clear. They couldn't be more careful in this place.

"Was my order unclear to you all?" he said in a low, grim voice. His men did not respond. "Who organized this attack, hm? Bakin, who did you order to make sure the plan was a success?" He looked at his adviser.

Bakin, as he stood beside the lord, lifted his hand and pointed at a specific man. "Him."

It was a middle-aged man, one that Takehiro knew well. He had been a servant of Tobunoa, and a high-ranking person in the army. The man grew anxious as Takehiro glared at him. He then gestured to the man to move closer.

The man slowly approached.

"Tell me the task assigned to you."

"... The mission is to kill the envoy of Nishinoa."

Takehiro slowly nodded. "Such a simple job, isn't it? To kill a girl." In a swift motion, he grabbed the man's head and violently slammed it on the table. The man did not resist, but only winced quietly. "So why the fuck is she here?!"

"M-My lord, I-I sent an elite group of soldiers amongst our ranks!"

"Uh-huh? Then those soldiers are fucking useless, aren't they?!" He clenched the head tighter. "Did you want me to fail, huh?!"

"O-Of course not, my lord! B-But I was sure the men I sent were the best for the job!"

"Then how come she survived?!" Takehiro was utterly furious. This was a sensitive mission, where they only had a limited opportunity to take for accomplishment. And it failed — an utter failure. It was supposed to be such a simple mission, just to kill the daughter of the lord of Nishinoa while she was on this island. He could not comprehend how his men could fail. Were they just that incompetent?

"I-I don't know! M-Maybe the girl is stronger than we thought!"

"Don't tell me you believe her crap. That girl isn't that strong. If you sent our elites, there's no fucking way she could beat them all. Did you just send some pieces of shit to deal with this very important job?"

"I swear, my lord! I took the j-job seriously!"

Takehiro raised the man's head by the hair and slowly raised his fist. He punched his subordinate in the face, sending him tumbling to the ground. The strength of his strike was so strong that it tore the man's face, and he started bleeding on the floor. Takehiro drew back his foot and kicked the man in the stomach, the latter groaning in pain.

"You're either lying, or just outright incompetent and stupid." He kicked him again. "I could've killed you right now for this failure. You're fortunate we're in this place." He slowly sat back down on his chair, his adviser handed him a cloth, and he rubbed the blood off his hand. Once his hand was clean, he threw it at the man on the floor. "Stay down there, worm."

Takehiro let out a tired sigh. "Do we have news about the team we sent? Are they really dead?"

"We received word from the team that burned the girl's ship. But the assassination team, nothing," Bakin said.

Takehiro chuckled at how ridiculous it was. "Can you believe the nerve of that girl? So young, yet so feisty. How adorable. It's almost a shame that she was supposed to die. I never thought she would be that cute."

"Is it really not possible for her to kill our elite team?" a person on their team asked.

Takehiro raised a sharp look at him. "Only two of them left, that tells something. If she had been strong enough, she could have saved her own men. She and her own personal bodyguard — that seems like a sign of desperation."

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"My guess is that her men sacrificed their lives for their master's sake. Perhaps for their escape. And after that escape, our men died somehow," Bakin said.

Takehiro laid his arm on the table and clasped his hand on his chin. "If this fool really did send the best, and that team eradicated her escorts, there's no way that those two could defeat them."

"I can vouch for the team sent to assassinate her," Bakin said. "They were indeed among our best. No monsters except the striders could hope to defeat them."

"And yet they're dead, if her words are to be trusted. I should have done the job myself."

"We can't allow that, my lord." Bakin shook his head. "Your hands must be clean on this."

"Then it was all pointless. What should we do now, Bakin? It was all your plan."

Bakin was the one who suggested killing the envoy of Nishinoa before the Assembly of Lords on Hokunoa. The tension was already rising between the two islands, and all it needed was a decisive event that would snap the threads. And when the two islands were focused on facing each other, when they were weakened, Tobunoa would take the chance and swoop in.

"We have lost our window to start a fight between the islands. Killing the princess after the meeting would be a lost cause. Hokunoa and Nishinoa would be certain there is foul play, and I suspect it won't be possible to attempt killing her again. They'll be more guarded. We already run the risk of being discovered."

"I can't wait another fucking year, Bakin. After the stunt we just pulled, we won't get another chance."

Bakin placed a hand on his chin. "It will be hard to kill her. As long as we're here, we'll be suspected or implicated. We might push to blame it on Minainoa, but… I doubt it would work flawlessly."

"Just find a way."

"... We will see what opportunities we can grab. But I cannot promise anything, my lord."

"I have waited long enough, we have prepared long enough." He could not wait ‌another year. Life was short, and limited, it was not something they could take their time with. "Do something before we return home."

Bakin had a worried expression on his face. "... Very well, my lord… Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'll find a way. In that case, may I be free to go by myself on occasions?"

"Yeah, whatever, sure. Just don't overdo it. Let's not invite anyone's suspicion."

"Understood."

***

Miyako entered a fancy dining room. A couple of servants were already waiting. But despite being a sizable room, it was only them in here.

"Is this only for us?" Miyako asked the servant that guided them.

"Yes. Each representative has their own dining rooms."

Miyako slowly nodded in understanding. "I see." It was a bit lonely, though. Such a big room, and there were only Miyako and Satomi. "Let's sit, Satomi."

The two of them sat down at a table in the center of the room. The servants on standby immediately set off somewhere.

"Please wait a moment as we bring your breakfast," the servant said as she put porcelain plates and spoons and forks in front of them.

A moment later, the servants returned carrying food trays. They placed them on the table and opened them. The steam and delicious aroma rose into the air. Miyako took a deep breath, the dish smelled good and looked good. The servants put ‌different types of food on their plates, separating them.

"Would you like us to taste test, my lady?" The servant asked.

Miyako leaned back in her chair. It was nice of them to offer such a thing. It would seem they were quite confident that no one would attempt to poison her whatsoever. But she should take the offer, it was only proper. Never hurt to be extra careful.

"Sure, go ahead."

The servants grabbed themselves some plates. And each of them got a sample from the same trays.

They ate them.

And Miyako waited, while Satomi had been observing them closely from the very beginning. If Miyako still had her own men, perhaps one of them would have been more trustworthy with this test. But that was not the case, so they had to wait for a moment to see any result.

After that, seeing that the servants were still alive, Miyako and Satomi started eating. They were quite delicious. In fact, it was more delicious than she had eaten before. Miyako was, truth be told, flabbergasted to eat something so different.

Did they use any special spices for this?

Given that Hokunoa had been trying to trade with merchants overseas, it wouldn't be surprising if they did. Since such spices would still be rare, only the wealthy would be able to have something like this. Miyako was a bit envious, to be honest. They had things good, especially on the food. She wouldn't care much about objects, but for food, now that was a different case.

Overall, Miyako was incredibly satisfied with the food. She drank some water and glanced at Satomi, she too seemed pleased with it.

At least we're still alive. Thank goodness there's no poison.

Both of them enjoyed the food until they had filled their stomachs. Miyako let out a sigh, her plate was now empty.

After resting a little bit, as there was nothing else to do, Miyako decided to walk around. It wouldn't be bad to take a look at this place. It would be a shame if she didn't take the chance to walk around and see something new. The lord of the house offered the same thing, so it shouldn't be an issue.

She just had to consider that there would be many eyes around that would be watching her.

She came across a small courtyard, with stones grouped in circles. And dark trees, and dark plants were growing. Miyako was a bit surprised they would even bother creating some sort of "garden" with basically plants on the brink of death. These would be hard to maintain.

As she observed the small garden, she noticed a man looking and sneaking around. As if he were trying to hide from someone. Surely he was not someone suspicious, because he was basically walking in the open. But that was not what was surprising here, it was that she knew him.

As the man came close, he paused the moment he saw Miyako. His eyes widened. "It's you!"

"It's you!"

She was confused about what he was doing here. This man was the one they had met on the way here yesterday. The one who retrieved the old woman's purse.

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