This chapter is brought to you by Be Mine by ONEUS. 

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NIne heard the sounds of the feast die down. The master of ceremony was yelling for the servants to clear away the tables to make room for dancing. 

Soon, music started to echo through the walls. 

He crept through the ceiling beams and caught the lords and ladies dancing from an opening. He also spotted several people surrounding a lady dressed in a golden gown. 

It was Rowan.

Several people were looking to dance with Rowan. 

The young man had somehow become the belle of the ball. 

Thankfully, Jovette fended those people off by swooping in and taking Rowan by the hand to dance with him instead. 

Nine noticed they were talking to each other in whispers as the music started to play. 

It was completely different from the original story. 

Jovette was not originally a master of disguise, nor did she know how to play a man. 

If not for the influence of Tess and Duri, who ran espionage operations within the Saintly Sisters, perhaps she would have been satisfied learning the Calypto Twin Daggers and going on a few assassination missions to prove her qualification as the heir.

Nine wasn't sure whether or not he was proud or worried by this change in the storyline. 

His baby cousin was growing into a strong and clever soldier, and that meant she was bold and unafraid. 

From what he remembered, the original mission did not include Toby in the mix. It was only a four-man unit, with Belwyn and Mercury leading and overseeing Jovette and Rowan. 

Jovette was described as a great beauty. When she entered the feast, all eyes were on her. She hid her expression behind a folding fan and acted as a distraction while Rowan went to poison their targets. 

Bel was the one who killed Paudu, and Mercury went to help the victims of the traffickers underneath the compound. 

Without Mercury watching over Jovette and Rowan, the two of them were nearly caught several times and eventually had their covers blown. 

Now, however... 

Nine eyed the way Rowan and Jovette stopped dancing and separated. Their brief moment of communication could only last as long as one dance. 

Jovette left the dance floor and disappeared somewhere. 

Left by himself, Rowan became the center of attention. 

The amount of people wanting to reserve a dance with him was numerous. There was a large crowd, and then there was chaos. 

Rowan stood there, hiding the lower half of his face behind a fan. The upper half was already covered by a mask, but the mystique of that gesture had sent the lords' and ladies' hearts on fire. 

It was obvious they had a plan in place, and Mercury seemed to approve, judging by the way he continued to stand there and talk with his group of admirers instead of approaching the two of them. 

Nine continued moving, leaving his cousin and Rowan to deal with their targets. 

"The target is still getting dressed. According to Intel, he likes to be fashionably late." 

Pluto said from over the communication implant. 

"Guards?"

"Three Mantle agents and ten of his personal guards."

Nine had never actually never encountered Mantle agents before. He heard of them, but it was rare that missions coincided with their rival city.

Their mission was to protect the target. His was to kill him. 

---

Bel promised himself he wouldn't pull a Tobus and adopt these kids, but look at them!

They were scrawny, filthy, and quiet.  

They reminded him of Tobus when they were young. 

He pursed his lips. A complicated feeling emerged within him. 

They were just kids. 

But if he freed them, they would lose the lead, and then there would be more victims. 

Oh, how Bel despised weighing the options he had before him. He felt like a hypocrite trying to reason with himself about the "greater good." 

"You're losing time."

Pluto reminded him, voice cracking slightly. 

Bel didn't know where the surveillance spell was, but it was evident he could see the dirty state of these cells.

It was no place for a child, though he doubted Paudu cared for the health and safety of these kids. 

"Guard rotation is changing. You have three more minutes." 

"Permission to knock them out?" 

"You can't kill them." 

It wasn't a no. 

Being in a team with Tobus taught Bel all sorts of tricks when it came to stealth. 

Sneak attack, as Bel liked to call it when Tobus emerged from the shadows out of nowhere before proceeding to ambush his opponents with a strike of his blade, was a signature move. 

Bel couldn't quite do the same with his claymore, nor was he very good at wielding smaller blades, but wrapping his arms around someone's neck and strangling them until they passed out was easy enough.

He did just that the moment the guard rotation happened. 

Taking advantage of civilian guards' slow-to-react instincts was always a boom. 

He jumped off the ceiling beams and knocked out the first guard before hitting the second guard with the back of his blade. 

He dragged the bodies into a cell and locked them up with the key he found on one of them. 

Pluto had deducted that the target was likely keeping the Mantle agents in the dark about his illegal dealings. As a government-sanctioned organization, the city lord of Mantle would have reported the target by now for trafficking, and yet, they sent their agents to protect Paudu. 

It was either Mantle City had broken their oath to the Imperial Family, or they were truly that incompetent as to not screen their client's background. 

No matter what, once Bel found evidence of Mantle agents working with Paudu--even if their agents weren't aware of the human trafficking--, they would be in hot water. 

The children were separated by age. 

Some were as young as three. The eldest couldn't have been older than twelve. 

He tried to ignore the younger ones. 

Children shouldn't need to hold their tears. They weren't meant to be so quiet. 

Bel unlocked one of the cells to the older children. 

"Vuis en?" a boy bravely approached him, putting himself in between Bel and the others. "Wuid yis?" 

"..." 

"This might be a little late, but it seems the children are from the Frank Kingdom," said Pluto. 

"... I don't speak Frankish," Bel hissed under his breath. 

The boy stared at him like there was something wrong with him. 

He wouldn't blame him. 

From his perspective, Bel looked like he was talking to himself. 

"Hold on, Peacemaker. I'll get a translator ready." 

"..." 

Bel looked back at the children and cracked an awkward smile.

They were, as expected, unimpressed. 

---

Mercury was having a great time. 

This was, perhaps, the easiest mission he had ever been on. 

Good food, good drinks, and good music. 

Babysitting the baby cousins of his teammates and watching them work together to kill off some of the people on their lists was a bonus. 

While Mercury was initially reluctant about overseeing their mission, he was pleasantly surprised, yet expected nothing less from Tobus' cousin. 

She got Rowan out of his shell and was now hidden somewhere, waiting to ambush the targets Rowan was discreetly luring to her. 

By this point, many of the guests were too drunk to care if one or five people went missing on the dance floor. 

Points to Rowan for drugging the drinks without anyone noticing. Mercury was familiar with the taste of Sleepytime Flower. 

Thank you, Uncle. Putting me in Calypto Boot Camp was very helpful. Ten out of ten, but I will not be doing it again.

"First objective has been met," Mercury reported after seeing Rowan drag off the final person on their list. 

He felt the familiar sting of the communication implant and then Pluto's voice echoed in his head.

"Good job, Dreamer. Objective two and three are in progress--Peacemaker! It's 'Vu udiuva mi!'"

Pluto quickly cut off the communication, leaving Mercury deeply confused at what the hell Bel was doing right now. 

The musicians were playing another song again. 

"May I have this dance, Lord Marcello?" 

A hand was held in front of him. 

It was the Mantle agent that was checking their carriage earlier. 

Mercury raised a brow. 

"Did you finally give up on my charges? I'm a married man, you know?" 

The agent blushed and quickly glanced behind him. 

Mercury noticed three other agents holding their thumbs up in encouragement. 

Well, then. 

He took the offered hand. 

The agent looked at him in surprise. 

Mercury's lips curled in amusement. 

"One dance."

"Okay!" 

---

Nine did not like direct combat. 

They reminded him too much of those days when he was used as fodder by the leaders of his unit.

War did not care for the feelings of foot soldiers. He and his unit were bred for the purpose of manpower, but nothing else. 

Eventually, everyone else died in different parts of the frontline and then he became a permanent member of the Special Forces. 

His end was fitting in that he fulfilled his purpose as fodder. 

The Mantle agents he was currently fighting were skilled in teamwork. 

They chased him through the corridor and were unforgiving in their attacks. 

Nine moved quickly, running on the beams and slashing when he could. 

The agents were not like civilian guards or knights. They were trained killers just like him, and though Nine liked to portray himself as infallible, he was not. 

Eventually, the Mantle agents cornered. 

Nine looked around.

There was no escape.

He drew his daggers in front of him. 

He would need to fight his way out of this one. 

The first agent came charging at him, and Nine dodged him narrowly, his daggers missing his opponent as another ran up from behind him. 

He flipped around and roughly jabbed him with his elbow before the third agent broke away from his position to assist his teammates. 

Nine spotted the opening before anyone else.

He kicked one of the agents away and took a shallow slice to his back for his trouble. While that one was down, he swiped a dagger at another. 

The extra space allowed him to pull himself onto the wall and he was once again on the ceiling beams before his opponents could recover.

Nine dropped a smoke bomb filled with Calypto poison on the ground and ran quickly toward his target's bedroom. 

Hopefully, this would keep the agents down.

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The author has something to say:

Has it really been a month since this story was first uploaded? Thirty days ago, I never thought I would get this far, but look at me now. TSCFIST has more than 50k words and almost 50k reads. Thank you all so much for reading this story! We have certainly not reached the end, I assure you. We haven't even made it to the famous balcony scene yet. This story will be told to the very end.