“I have a feeling,” she murmured, slowly lifting her face to glance around. She sniffed the air, and an excited expression formed on her features. “Hee hee hee... I am unsure why, exactly, but I can tell something fun is about to happen.”

***

The next day, in a corner of the cold underground waterway, Liz sat on a black leather sofa, one long leg crossed over the other.

“Well, Gaion?” she asked her lackey. “Have you found the leader’s hideout?”

“I, uh, maybe?” Gaion replied with a worried nod.

“‘Maybe’? Oh, I hate wishy-washy men.”

“P-Please don’t hate me!”

“You did do what I asked, yes?”

“Y-Yes, yes,” Gaion replied, nodding repeatedly. “I waited for the unconscious orc’s friends to find him, then followed them, like you said.”

“Right. With their friend unconscious, they would surely bring him back to their hideout in a hurry. Did the orc remember me?”

“N-No, it seemed his memory was vague.”

“Memories do tend to be vague where I’m involved, yes. And then?”

“And then I followed them to the orcs’ headquarters.” He went on to talk about the area where the orcs lived, full of rocky mountains.

“Orcs do mine manastones for a living,” Liz mused. “That makes sense.”

“I didn’t follow them in, of course, and just stayed hidden outside.”

“And I presume the information about one of theirs fainting had reached the leader of the orcs in the meantime.”

“Y-Yes. So I stayed outside and waited and waited and waited, and since I had nothing better to do I tried to count these ants I saw, but I can only count to ten, so I—”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“S-Sorry!”

Liz narrowed her eyes and heaved a disappointed sigh. “Around the same time, presumably the lizardmen and werewolves were also informed about their own unconscious comrades.”

“Y-Yes.”

“And since those three races are cooperating rather than fighting, presumably they shared that information with one another.”

“Th-That’s right.”

“And, presumably, they all thought this was very odd.”

“Th-They must’ve.”

“And that would be where their leader comes in,” Liz said, crossing her legs. “He too was, presumably, informed about the three races being targeted.”

“You’re so smart, Lady Liz!”

“However, since he controls them through fear, presumably only the leaders of the three races would be able to meet with him.”

“S-So I just had to wait for the leader of the orcs, Loewe, to come out! And then I followed her to the guy’s hideout!” Gaion exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Look at you, actually using your only brain cell. You remembered what Loewe looks like, didn’t you?”

“Y-Yes. I think she was there during the attack on the festival. She’s this giant woman.”

“That was why I ordered the attack, yes. I’m relieved to hear your brain is at least functional enough to remember her.”

“Th-Thank you!”

“That wasn’t a compliment,” Liz said, slowly standing up. “Now then, did you succeed in tailing her?”

“Y-Yeah. She was sharp, so we had to be careful, but I got a bunch of guys to help, and we managed to—”

“Which means you presumably identified the mastermind’s hideout.”

“I-I think so, but...” Gaion hesitated, scratching his head nervously as he met Liz’s narrowed gaze.

“I told you, I hate wishy-washy men.”

“S-Sorry! I mean, we did find it, it’s just...” His brows furrowed in confusion. “The place, I mean, it didn’t really feel like a big shot’s hideout...”

***

That night, Gaion led Liz to the supposed hideout.

“This is the hideout?” she muttered in astonished confusion. The place was in a ruined area of the city that had been wiped out by a plague, situated between the city district and the slums. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Right? It’s weird, isn’t it?” Gaion said as the two exchanged glances.

Before them was a skewed building, with thin glass window panes rattling in the wind and faded outer walls. It blended in so well with the rest of the ruins that one would walk past it without batting an eyelash.

Gazing at the seemingly crumbling house, Gaion said anxiously, “I-I’m sure that this is the building Loewe went into. M-Maybe I’m wrong, though.”

“This could be bad.”

“B-Bad?”

“Gaion. When you think about the hideout of a mastermind, what do you picture?”

“U-Uhm, big, spooky, with lots of guards...”

“Exactly,” Liz replied, casting a wary glance at the mansion. “But look at this place. It’s a deliberately inconspicuous place in an already ruined area. Take a guess as to why that is.”