Another night passed in peace. Him and Celis took turns sleeping, and keeping watch. A habit that had yet been broken since their return to civilization. For once, Alisson's schedule was clear from meetings, and so later in the day, him and Celis, as well as their apprentices, found themselves perusing the docks district, laden with boardwalks and piers. Celis had wanted to call it a date, but with their apprentices tagging along out of necessity, it certainly hadn't felt like one.
The docks district was awash with foreign business and goods. Being on the coast of the Aleeze Sea made Ahvaratsu connected with the rest of the world. Most ships were from the Caliphate, here to trade with the Queendom, and to further move goods inland to the Principality. The odd ship from a northern kingdom would also be among the trade vessels that visited here. This was all to say, that one could buy almost anything they desired.
"Master! That's a cute dress! Let's go!"
"No."
"But master!"
This had been Alisson's background noise for the better part of the day. It seems Ashlynde did not share Celis's impassivity for feminine things.
"If you want something so badly, why don't you buy it yourself?"
Celis asked blankly, knowing the answer.
"Because an apprentice like me wasn't given any human money! It's not like I want to buy everything! Can't we just go look around! This is boring!"
"You should indulge her, at least a little." Alisson put in.
"Begging isn't something my apprentice should get into the habit of doing…I'll think about it."
Celis responded, her face still bored and uninterested.
It was among this drone that they had entered a particularly crowded part of the district. There was chatter and movement all around in Alisson's vision.
Which was why when the man shoved a box into Marenix's chest, Alisson hadn't reacted fast enough to stop it. The cloaked figure ran into the crowd thereafter, with Marenix stumbling, grabbing onto the box with surprise.
Alisson's eyes widened. He grabbed the box out of Marenix's hands and threw it as hard as he could out over the ocean. With a wave of his hand, he threw up a defense spell:
"Obice!" With his words a bright translucent film appeared before the four of them.
Just as the barrier materialized, the box exploded with a blinding flash midair, engulfing them in the blast.
It seemed that Alisson's instincts had proved right. It had all happened within a couple heart beats. He had turned his back toward the explosion, guarding Marenix with his body, Celis doing the same with Ashlynde; Though thanks to Alisson's throw and the barrier he laid down, the four of them and the civilians behind them were unharmed. Alisson quickly canceled the spell as the dust settled.
He could hear the wailing of those injured, all around. People lay everywhere at their feet, coughing and in distress.
Alisson looked out quickly across the crowd, squinting, trying to see if he could spot the cloaked man responsible. He looked to Celis, and pointed in the direction that the man had run off to.
Go. Find him and kill him.
Right.
Celis sped off into the carnage and across the boardwalk, quickly climbing a building and disappearing from sight thereafter. Alisson decided against sending Celis to apprehend the attacker; he'd rather not take the risk.
"This is…m-my fault?" Marenix was staring at the people around him. He looked to his shaking hands, shock on his face.
Alisson laid a hand on his shoulder, "No. Just be glad that it was a bomb was shoved into your chest and not a knife." Alisson muttered angrily.
In the moments thereafter, the three of them did what they could to rend aid to the civilians, and called for the garrison. The Queendom, unlike Sidonia, did not have readily available mages trained in healing on station and in great numbers for such an event. That was to say, that outside of theft, they didn't exactly have an organization in place to respond to emergencies like this. The wounded around Alisson would mostly turn into fatalities over the course of the day, but there wasn't anything they could do. He had just sent the only Sidonian in the area that had healing capabilities away, so first aid was all the rest of them could spare.
The garrison soon arrived in force and started to clean up help where they could. Celis reported to him:
Target is down.
She must've been close enough for the for the telepathy; as the spell had a short range, you could probably only converse clearly in the range of a couple blocks, anything more than that and static started to cloud the messages.
Did he fight back?
He wasn't able to.
Good. Make sure no one gets too close to the body. I'll tell the garrison to send defusal experts.
Yes, master. I mean…You know what I mean.
He smiled to himself, hearing Celis still refer to him as master habitually. Alisson spoke with the garrison about the perpetrator being dealt with, but no one seemed to take him seriously. That was, until finally, Captain Versatsu arrived. For his earlier poor impressions, Versatsu wasted no time in organizing succor to the wounded, and dispatched word to form a team for the assailant's body. It seemed he was just as shocked and confused by the attack as anyone else had been.
As the sun set, Alisson recalled the apprentices, and they took their leave back to the embassy.
The two of them looked shaken, their faces were in a perpetual state of fright. They were unable to stop glancing at their surroundings, and at anyone that got too close. The attack had certainly been a wake-up for them. That, and having to deal with the all the gored bodies. It's not like people had been ripped in half or blown to dust or anything, but Marenix and Ashlynde hadn't ever experienced such raw and visceral sights before. He was glad that this served to ease them into it, to erode their innocence slowly, with supervision.
The guards at the embassy were on high alert, whereas they had lazily waved them through in the days prior, the Kitsune now thoroughly checked the three of them as they were supposed to, their weapons at the ready. Alisson told the apprentices to go to their room for rest, and he sat in the lobby, awaiting Celis's return.
He wouldn't have had to send her after the attacker if he'd thrown the bomb in the man's direction; But he had reconsidered in the moment, choosing not to inadvertently harm Kitsune in the crowd for the sake of vengeance.
Celis returned promptly to the embassy.
"So, what of the attacker? Who were they?"
Alisson asked as soon as him and Celis were in his room alone. Celis could only shake her head. "They weren't Kitsune, and they weren't human." Celis paused for a moment, her gaze drifting. "They cut him up at the guard station, and looked at his insides. He was a Nekomata."
Alisson's eyes widened. "Was it one of Ardinand's men?"
They had spent weeks on the Machavelli together – Celis would recognize if he was one of them. However, she shook her head again.
"No, definitely not. It was someone else. Nobody could identify him."
Alisson stared down into the floor of the lobby. "…Heretics. Then there must be some greater reason to do this; they wouldn't try such a stupid thing, they're smarter than this. If they wanted to kill our apprentices, then a knife to their backsides would've worked better. I should've been more watchful…"
Celis stared at him in silence as he spoke his mind.
"…They waited until we were in a crowded area. That was the first time any of us have been in a public place like that, wasn't it?"
Celis bobbed her head. "Me and Ashlynde were never in a crowd while on our own, no."
"To think that their heresy reaches to even the Queendom…No, rather maybe it's better to think of anywhere but Sidonia as being their home territory; most of them live in exile from the homeland after all…"
"Should I get a courier for Ardinand's team?" Celis floated the idea.
Alisson shook his head. "No. He's probably already heard of the attack by now. He'll probably assume it's a separatist attack, but I'll inform him the next time we're in contact. That is, assuming he doesn't send someone to check on us…"
A knock was heard at the door, and Alisson gave look at Celis. "Speaking of which…"
Alisson couldn't simply tell them to come in because the room was mildly soundproofed, so he went to the door to find an unexpected visitor.
It was Tsuhara. He let her in, and she briefly gawked at the odd interior of the fortified room.
"What business brings you here?" Alisson crossed his arms. "Is it about the attack on the boardwalk?"
Tsuhara averted her eyes at first. "Well…Yes and no." She looked up to Alisson. "We need to speak privately. It's on the Queen's orders. I want you to come to my house. You can bring Celis with you."
Alisson frowned. "Why can't we discuss here?"
Tsuhara's ears flattened over her head. "I can't really trust any Nekomata right now…You must understand, I don't want to talk about this here."
Alisson closed his eyes. "Very well. I'll meet you there later tonight. However, Celis will be staying here, I can't leave the embassy unguarded after what has happened."
Tsuhara bobbed her head, and took her leave. After Alisson confirmed she had left the building, he looked to Celis and said simply,
"I changed my mind. Fetch a courier; We have need of Ardinand." He looked at Tsuhara walking down the dimly lit street below, and muttered, "It's going to be a long night."
***