We drove through the bayside. It was the scenic route as well as the fastest one to our destination.
The drive ended in what I could only describe as a summer rest house or a beach resort in the middle of nowhere. We drove through the entire compound, overlooking the beachside view. There were also small huts and cottages situated in a linear fashion. I could also see some few food stalls and what not.
Honestly if we weren't being chased by an assassin and in the middle of a political takeover, I would imagine myself to be in a beach episode sort of event right now. But as it is I only looked dead ahead.
"Where are we exactly?" Julia was the first one to ask.
"This is the beach resort owned by the Satsuki family, lady Carrie's brother is the one who manages the entire place." Yavin replied as he glanced at Julia through the rear view mirror.
"We're only passing through." General Satsuki informed us.
Yavin slowed down, all of us looked out the window. We saw a tall gate with what I could assume is the Satsuki family crest. Yavin made a stop. A guard came up to him, he rolled down the window. Without even saying a word the guard signalled the gate to be opened.
We continued to drive inside. And from afar we could see it, the Satsuki manor. It was a gigantic house, with a bit of Victorian era feel to the structure. There was a considerable distance between the manor and the gate which is filled by the giant lawn. And I could swear I just saw an unmanned horse roam free.
Yavin stopped the car by the door. There were about five bodyguards standing by the door. Yavin stepped out of the car, like it was the cue, one of the bodyguards got the door for us. All of us got out of the car.
"This is the Satsuki manor. Please enjoy your stay." Yavin told us as he bowed.
Before we could marvel at the manor, we all saw a small step to the door and each of the steps stood one maid, they stood respectfully in line. They then greeted us and the general. General Satsuki shot a kind smile.
"Is my lovely sister finally home?" A loud doting voice burst behind the door.
"I've only been gone for a short while brother." General Satsuki replied aloud.
The doting voice came closer to the door, we had a small peek at the soft interior of this planet's Secretary of Defense as General Satsuki furled her lips into a hesitant yet cute smile. Out of the door comes General Satsuki's older brother, the one who leads the family business.
He's a well built man in a slightly tight suit, sleek black hair. He raced down the stairs and gave his sister a tight hug. After he was done he turned to us and gave us a warm welcoming smile you can find in a hotel staff, well he kinda is so I think that's a given.
"I am Geoff Satsuki, owner of Satsuki 5-star Resort and Carrie's loving older brother."
We then introduced ourselves one by one. As our introductions were over we all heard a loud slam of a car door. We looked back and saw that Nico was already out of her box with Yavin behind him.
"Long time no see big brother Geoff." Nico said as she rushed towards Geoff.
Geoff went in to hug Nico much to General Satsuki's dismay.
"I know that you both haven't seen each other in a long while, but please brother we have more important issues to discuss."
"Uh… my apologies, perhaps it is better if we take this inside?" Geoff stood up, composed himself, and then led the way inside.
All of us got inside, including the maids and bodyguards. We stepped into the pure marble tiles and silk curtains, along with designer sofas. Almost everywhere you look there's something expensive that caught my eyes.
"Please don't think about it." Julia told me jokingly.
Celestine and Strife can't help but smile a little.
Geoff and General Satsuki led us to a dedicated conference room. It looked like a meeting room for rich people. There's also a snack bar with unlimited drink dispensers that made me question how rich is this family.
We took our seats in and started the debriefing. Celestine and Julia were the ones that brought Geoff up to speed with the situation while Geoff himself just solidified all of General Satsuki's information. Almost everyone in the room traded and verified each other's statement and information. When everyone had almost a clear linear understanding then the discussion of our plan began.
"Since we all agreed that Duke Rainek is the one who plotted the assassination and is hunting princess Nico via the Ice Queen. Our option is to arrest the duke for treason." Geoff said.
"Yes, but that won't be easy since the planet recognizes him as the current ruler. If we fail, we're the ones to be arrested for treason." General Satsuki relied.
"Treason for you, death to us." I added in.
"Well isn't it in Kyatto's tradition that in order to be recognized as the official leader, one must be appointed the power transfer from the congress and be approved by the people?" Julia in her wide knowledge asked.
"That is true. And it usually takes a month before the congress do that." Nico answered the question.
Geoff and General Satsuki nodded in agreement.
"But we don't have that time since the congress is split. There's a big chance that the duke won't wait that long." Celestine said.
All of them began to talk amongst themselves which gave me time to think about something. Our plan is to arrest the duke for treason, but on what basis? We don't have any solid evidence against him, the Satsuki household's account could be summed as circumstantial at best. And Nico's story could be written off as trauma. Nobody had paused and thought about that, we were so caught up in the spontaneous events that we didn't consider all that. And that made me question my methods.
As the conversation began to devolve into an argument I suddenly spoke out.
"This plan may not be so well thought out as we assumed."
Everyone looked at me funny as if they wanted some explanation. And so I did, I told them what I thought about. Which they all took in quite a shock.
"What are you suggesting we should do now then?" Julia looked at me with genuine concern.
"I've been thinking about the Ice Queen. If she's being ordered by the duke, that means we need her confession…"
"Don't tell me you're thinking about that? We just established that she's the best among the best. Hell she even handed both yours and Strife's asses." Celestine barrates at me.
"Well if we lie and wait we won't get anything. So yeah, I suggest we hunt down our hunter. Then we get her to talk about pretty much everything." I said in confidence.
General Satsuki paused. She knew the impossibility of the task, but with our lack of evidence even she's considering that option.
"That could work. I'll pull out some strings in the military to cough up her current location." General Satsuki told us.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"And by the time we get her location she's under our nose. No." I shot down her suggestion.
"Rover, no. I know what you're thinking so it's no." Celestine shot down my unspoken proposal.
"Well there's no other way. How do you expect to catch her if we can't even lure her?"
"You're putting a child's safety in the line. And that I can't allow."
As my discussion with Celestine started to turn into a heated argument, Geoff cleared up his throat.
"Perhaps it is better if we adjourn the meeting for now and discuss this at a later time?"
We all sighed as we stood up and left the conference room being essentially back to square one.