Kim felt like she should be annoyed or something that help only arrived now. After they'd dealt with most of the situation, such as the doppelgangers. Yet, as she saw the 'reinforcements' arrive, she felt more relief than anything.
Aside from knowing they could take it easy from here, she was sure that Elin was going to be fine now. Or at least once they wrapped this up and everything. First they needed to find the chamberlain and get him to talk…
Kim's thoughts trailed off when she remembered Owen's ability with his system. How he could read thoughts. A smirk formed on her face as she realized that they wouldn't need to do much in the way of interrogating the chamberlain once they had him. They would just need Owen to relay what he was thinking to them so they could say if he was pretty much the head of this attempt or not.
"Didn't expect to see you here," Owen remarked as Kim, Jonas, and Elmo approached the newcomers.
"Well, we didn't expect to see any help here," Jonas answered. "What made you come here anyway?"
"Well, we heard the announcement and just happened to be in the city. So I went with Leon, Elwin, and Bart to where the king lived and asked the guards where the king was. Naturally they didn't say anything, but I did pick up this location in their thoughts. Then on the way over here, we found Patrick and Patricia who were also searching for the king's location."
"Why were you looking for his location?" Elmo asked.
Kim felt a strong urge to just smack Elmo upside the head for that question. Of course they'd be looking for the king! You can't make an attempt on his life if he's not around, and that's what the challenge was. To stop such an attempt.
"Because we can't stop an assassination attempt on the king if we don't know where the king is," Bart echoed Kim's thoughts.
"Oh," Elmo said, looking rather sheepish.
Still, Kim felt the urge to smack him anyway. Though, she pushed down the urge because she had a feeling it probably wouldn't help them out any.
"So, where's the king?" Patricia asked.
"We sent him through the rear exit," Jonas answered.
"Then what're you doing here?" Leon asked. "Shouldn't you be trying to keep him safe still?"
"Just because we keep him safe doesn't mean we'll necessarily complete the challenge," Kim replied, not caring if her impatience was shwoing in her voice.
"What do you mean?" Elmo asked.
"Simple," Kim replied in a patronizing tone, making sure to use small words so they'd understand for sure. "If we don't take whoever is behind the attempt in the first place, they might still plan on subsequent attempts later on. Which means that even if we save the king tonight, that it'll be considered completing the challenge."
"She does make a good point," Patrick said.
"So what? Let's just keep the king safe and be done with this," Leon said.
"What if they're right about eliminating whoever instigated it?" Elwin asked, sounding a little unsure.
"Then we deal with that then," Leon retorted.
"And what if whoever was behind it went to ground and you don't know what they look like?" Patricia asked.
"Fine, let's get this done with then," Leon said, sounding like he was being forced to do this by having his arm twisted behind his back until he gave in.
"So, now that we have that settled, who are we looking for?" Owen asked.
"Not sure what they look like, but we need to find the chamberlain. He's the closest to the one in charge of this whole thing that we know of," Jonas answered. "He might be the head of it, he might not. However, we're sure that he'll be the key to finding out if there's anyone else either above him or who planned this with him."
"Where have you looked for him?" Owen asked.
"We actually just started," Kim answered. "We first go the guests to safety, then we took out four doppelgangers, and then we set out to find the chamberlain."
"What guests?" Bart asked. "Didn't you get here because you found out the king was here?"
Kim couldn't help but chuckle. "Actually, we were already here when the king arrived. We didn't have any clue that he'd be here. We were actually told that his son would make an appearance with the previous crown prince."
"You know, that would be a good candidate to search for," Elwin remarked. "If the previous crown prince wanted to, he could have wanted to eliminate whoever was in his way to the throne. We've seen that several times before, right Leon?"
Leon nodded his agreement, which Kim found rather unhelpful. Just because they have a suspect with motive, didn't mean that they'd be able to tie it to him. In order to possibly do that, they'd first need to find the chamberlain ao they could get that information from him rather than just speculating on it.
"So, you're going to arrest him, right?" Kim retorted. "Just because you suspect he had something to do with this, just because he's convenient?"
"Uh, not exactly?" Elwin said, looking a little stunned.
"Thought so," Kim replied. Then, turning to Owen, she continued, "What we need is to find is the chamberlain. If the old crown prince is behind this, he'll have the evidence. If he's not, then he would be a perfect scapegoat."
Owen nodded. "She's right. If we don't get the chamberlain, and the previous crown prince will probably get the blame, whether or not he's responsible. Which means, we need to find the chamberlain. Before he can escape."
"Okay, so what do we do now?" Elwin asked, sounding rather annoyed.
"What if Elwin and Leon stay here while Patricia and Patrick take the back gate?" Jonas suggested. "That way the main exits will be covered while the rest of us search the compound to see if there's any other place for the chamberlain to hide."
"Uh, where's the back gate?" Patricia asked.
"I'll show you," Elmo offered. "I'll also stay with them, so the others won't think they're not friends."
Jonas nodded. "Alright. That'll leave Owen, Barth, me, and Kim to search for him. We'll check in with everyone when we get the opportunity, but it might not be on a regular basis. It's hard to gauge how long any step might take."
"How many people should still be inside that manor?" Bart asked.
"Well, aside from Elin, there shouldn't be anyone. Inside that building right now," Kim remarked. "They were trying to burn it down for some reason."
"Well, why not check it out anyway?" Owen suggested. "If that attempt failed, and it clearly has, then it might make for an excellent hiding place. At least until things die down, of course."
"How should we confirm if he's there or not?" Kim asked dryly. "As far as we know, he might have another hole to hide in that we don't know about."
"Then why not look there," Elwin asked.
"Because I'm waiting for you to tell me where it is," Kim retorted.
Elwin opened his mouth ro reply when Own interrupted. "Well, the sooner we start searching, the sooner we can find him."
"Sounds good to me," Jonas said, "I'll take Kim. We'll patrol outside the manor in case he tries to escape through some other manner."
"Then I'll take Bart and start searching inside," Owne said.
Kim nodded with Jonas, feeling like they really should have more people with them, and couldn't help but wonder if they were spreading themselves too thin. Not that they really had a choice in the matter. It wasn't like they had other reinforcements that they could call on right then.
"Let's get going then," Owen said, motioning for Bart to follow him.
Then as those two walked towards the front entrance of the manner, Kim couldn't help but recall the ordeal she'd gone through trying to fight a way through the soldiers blocking the way. She could even see where she'd had to try another way, as the ground seemed to recall where the soldiers had stood in their shield wall when the archers pelted Kim and her allies for having been too successful on their push.
Yet, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she followed Jonas, walking around the side of the manor they hadn't been to before. It hadn't seemed important before, but Kim couldn't help but wonder what they might find. Especially since they'd already determined that the chamberlain wasn't where they'd already been.
"If we get somewhere we can't see anything, or if the clouds cover the moon again, just trust me and I'll get you through this," Jonas said as they walked. "You'll be able to see Elin again when this is over."
"Don't try to comfort me," Kim snapped, but unable to suppress the warm sensation Jonas' words gave her. "I don't need it."
Jonas merely nodded, but since he was mostly looking away from her and the shadows of the night obscured his features so she couldn't really tell what he might be thinking. Which merely was just one more annoyance for the night.