This chapter is brought to you by Icarus by Bastille.

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The extraction point was a day's journey away from the Paudu compound.

The five of them rode the carriage without stopping.

There was a bump on the road that roughly jostled them.

Nine grimaced and pressed his hand against the wound on his side. When he brought it away, it was slick with blood.

Belwyn glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

He paused, and then, slowly, he said, "You're injured."

Nine shook his head. "I was careless."

"What happened?"

"Five agents from Mantle and a dozen more personal guards."

"You fought them off?"

Nine looked away. "I'll explain at the debrief."

Belwyn pursed his lips and turned back to the road.

"Put more pressure on it. We're almost to the extraction."

Nine did as he was told.

---

A couple of hours later, they reached the extraction point.

"You're injured?!"

Jovette worriedly examined him, as if searching for a gaping somewhere.

Tobus removed his coat and winced.

While the injury couldn't be seen on his black shirt, blood had soaked a large portion of it was wet.

Bel supported him toward a case and made him sit down.

There was blood on his hands the moment he let go.

A pained expression grew on his face.

"Mercury, go get the medical kit. It should be behind one of the trees."

They had no healers in their unit and no one knew a single thing about healing magic. The only thing they could do at the moment was pour disinfectant liquor on the wound and stitch it up.

"Okay?" Belwyn asked.

His blue eyes were softened by worry.

Tobus wordlessly nodded and closed his eyes.

Mercury came back with the medical kit and turned to Rowan. "Still got any more of that knock-out potion?"

The young man froze.

"Yes... Is Toby going to be okay?"

Tobus was sitting on a case and leaning his head against a tree with his eyes closed.

Bel was talking to him in a low voice, keeping him distracted, and every once in a while his lips would move to form single-syllable responses.

It was... intimate. Like they were in their own world.

And now Mercury was implying they should knock him out?

Did his sleeping potion even work on Tobus?

His eyes met Jovette's, and he noticed her brows knitted with concern.

Rowan silently conveyed his thoughts about using the sleeping potion on Tobus.

She bit her lips.

"He won't like it, but it's better."

Bel helped Tobus take off his shirt.

Jovette sucked in a breath.

Rowan's mouth fell open.

Mercury paused in his movement.

Tobus' torso was... a web of white scars against copper skin. There were scars from cuts, stabs, burns, and even arrows. On his chest, there was a distinctive fractal pattern near his heart that hinted at a close call with lightning magic.

What the hell.

It wasn't a question, but rather a reactionary response to the sheer bullshit that was the mangled state of Tobus' body.

A mission success rate did not reflect the injuries sustained by agents who held those records.

That sentence had never been truer.

It wasn't just the scars that sent Rowan's mind reeling.

There was now the addition of two ghastly wounds on Tobus' torso that would soon be added to his collection.

A deep and long sword cut was on his back and oozing blood. On his side, there was a gash that definitely needed to be stitched.

"Toby..." Jovette breathed.

She quickly went over to her cousin and knelt in front of him. Her eyes were glued on the wounds.

"It's fine," Tobus assured her and then hissed when he tried to move.

"You need to stay down," Bel commanded, his voice laced with a bit of edge.

Tobus unhappily remained where he was. He sighed and closed his eyes once more.

"We're losing time."

"Don't start!"

"I've had worse."

Bel frowned. "Doesn't matter. Mercury, get the needles ready. Rowan, the sleeping potion if you have any."

"No," Tobus immediately said.

Bel was displeased by his response. "It will be painful--and I don't care if you've had worse, we have the resources and I care about you!"

Woah.

There was silence.

Bel was panting after his outburst. His eyes were blown wide with anger and something else Rowan couldn't describe. It was like a mix between unwillingness and stubbornness and... dare he say... a hint of longing.

Rowan had never seen Bel act like this.

Sure, there were the occasional complaints about Tobus trying to "keep the peace" in his own violent way, but... nothing like this.

Everybody was staring between Tobus, who still had his eyes closed, and Bel, who kept staring at him with a near-pleading expression on his face.

Finally, however, Tobus made a noise of assent.

"... Okay."

Lo and behold, Bel was making progress.

Rowan didn't know what kind of progress, but there was progress.

They all suddenly went into action.

Jovette assisted Mercury.

She poured the disinfectant liquor onto Tobus' wounds. It made Rowan cringe, imagining the unbearable sting on cuts like those.

Tobus didn't even flinch, though his brows did knit together ever so slightly.

"Rowan, sleeping potion," Bel ordered.

Rowan took out a bottle and handed it to him.

Tobus cracked open one eye and stared at it suspiciously.

"You said okay," Bel reminded him.

The other man clicked his tongue.

Bel brought the bottle to his lips and Tobus quickly drank it down.

The effects were instantaneous.

Unlike when he drugged the drinks at the ball, an undiluted sleeping potion could knock out a mountain beast in seconds.

Tobus held on for thirty seconds, but he was soon unconscious and pliant.

Bel reached forward and brushed his hair out of his face. The horsetail Tobus wore had loosened after the mission and a few stray locks had stuck to his cheek.

Mercury came over with the needle and thread.

"He needs to lay down for this."

---

Rowan continuously dosed Tobus with sleeping potions as they raced to get back to Vesna.

At some point, they needed to trade the carriage for horses. Bel had notified Pluto to have someone meet them on the road with Vesna's horses.

Agent Poppy Field and Hydrangea, Bel and Tobus' former teammates, were waiting for them when they got to the desert border.

"Is he alright?" Poppy Field asked.

Mercury cracked a smile. "He's breathing. We got the wounds stitched up. He's just drugged to his eyeballs and won't be up for some time."

Hydrangea sighed. "I don't I've ever seen him like that before."

By that, the agent meant Bel carrying Tobus bridal-style out of the carriage because Tobus was still out cold.

"We always joked about him being a bit of a doll, but really... that boy has never been so vulnerable until all of you came along. Not that it's a bad thing. He used to bleed all over and insist he would be alright. This is the first time I've seen him unconscious."

Mercury looked at the way Bel was carefully adjusting his cloak around Tobus' smaller form. He was gentle in his movement, careful not to jostle his wounds.

"Yeah," he agreed.

The emotions he had clamped down during the treatment welled up inside him. Mercury chuckled.

"But really, that's the prince of cats for you. He's got nine lives. Nothing can kill him."

"He's certainly survived worse," Poppy Field muttered.

---

They made it to Vesna within a day's ride, not stopping even when night fell.

By dawn, they saw the walls and quickly entered the city without bothering to check in with the gate guards.

Perhaps they noticed the rather precious cargo in Bel's arms and realized who they were that they let them pass without comment.

They rushed to the Tower of Truth and Bel kicked the door to the healing ward open.

The healers all stared at him in shock.

Bel panted, his breath uneven as he met the gazes of the healers.

"Alright, dear, we're going to need you to put him here."

A healer ushered him toward a bed.

When they unraveled the cloak around Tobus, the healer made a noise of shock.

"Nice work on the stitches, agent, but he's going to be out for some time as we get this fixed up. How about you wait outside for a little while? Do you have any injuries? No? Alright, here's a chocolate. You may leave."

Bel was booted out of the ward before he could say another word.

---

"The Imperial Family has sent word. The children have been taken back to the Capitol and the search for parents and guardians is in order. Since the children are from the Frank Kingdom, we have opened up communication with them for the investigation."

Lord Eartha explained once they all arrived at the conference room for the mission debrief. The only person missing was Tobus.

"Is the Imperial Family requesting Vesna's assistance during this time?" Bel asked.

"That is confidential for now. We will know when we know, so be on standby."

Jovette raised her hand. "Is the Frank Kingdom demanding compensation?"

"At this moment, no. The target is dead and you all brought back his head. The rest of the Paudu family have been arrested for collusion by the Imperial soldiers. Any associates and remaining shareholders will likely suffer the consequences since we have records of sales now. It will be left to the Emperor and his people, now. We have nothing else to do with it unless the Emperor orders otherwise."

They all nodded their heads and accepted this answer.

"Onto the next order of business," Lord Eartha swiftly changed the topic. "I see that Cat is currently out of commission. I will debrief with him once he's awake. Pluto, you may start."

Pluto stepped forward and greeted them with a tight smile.

He brought a stack of papers in front of him and flipped through the pages. He stopped on one.

"Objectives have all been met, so I would rate this mission a full success. For the new recruits, I have a transcript of Dreamer's report during the mission where he proctored Happy Dagger and Apothecary. He has deemed Happy Dagger and Apothecary suitable for Vesna's ranks."

Lord Eartha nodded, satisfied by the results. "As expected. Happy Dagger, Apothecary, are there any comments you would like to make?"

Rowan raised his hand. "Yes, my Lord. I would like to request to work in a unit with Happy Dagger."

"Oh?" Lord Eartha raised a brow. "Your reasons, Apothecary?"

Rowan looked at Jovette with a smile.

"I think we work well together."

All those in the room looked at each other in exasperation.

Lord Eartha marked a page on one of the papers and sighed. "This is not the first time a Calypto and Monttevi worked together. You have Cat and Peacemaker to thank for that. You will need to persuade Chambers to approve this if you wish to be in a unit... especially seeing that the two of you are the heirs of your Houses."

The one thing that no one wanted to say was spoken with equal parts casual and solemn.

"Peacemaker, you went through the notions of convincing Chambers once before. I will have you work with Apothecary and Happy Dagger on this."

"Yes, sir," Bel answered.

"You may begin your account of the mission."

Bel stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Pluto has been shown to be a capable handler. Not only was he able to multitask with five different agents, but he was also a reliable voice in our head and a useful set of eyes on the field. For this reason, I would welcome him into our ranks."

Pluto's eyes widened with surprise.

Lord Eartha smiled at him. "Is there anything else?" he asked.

"Cat's mission."

"We will speak of it once he's awake. You're all dismissed."

"Yes, my Lord," they all simultaneously responded.

---

Mantle City.

"Mission was a failure, my Lord."

"We'll try again next time. He won't escape us again."

"Tamer and Shrew had disappeared, my Lord."

"Tamer broke his oath and Shrew never took it. Find them and bring them back. We can't let them run wild."

"... What will House Domus think of this?"

"We can't let them find out..."

---

The author has something to say:

If you go back to chapter 14, it was hinted that Nine had the habit of sacrificing his body if it meant getting an opening on his opponent. Due to the numerous time skips and my prioritizing his relationships with all the characters while in Vesna--or just looking badass in front of other characters--we don't exactly see him get injured, but he does. A lot. And few people know just how far he's willing to go to complete his missions.

The Frank Kingdom is the land that will someday become the Francois Republic in TRVYMGTH.

Also another thing, I think you guys are starting to notice this, but chapter names are just random quotes from Rumeo and Joliet ^-^. Most quotes don't actually correlate to the events of a chapter, although when they do, it's just a happy coincidence.