Chapter 565: Nothing Is Ever Perfect

Here, the older woman froze, a thought suddenly occurring to her.

For some time now, it was obvious that their opponent was one, two, or possibly more steps ahead of them, anticipating their moves, predicting their reactions, and using that to their advantage.

What their goals were, specifically, remained a mystery, but there was definitely some kind of grand conspiracy at work here.

Now though, they had seemingly launched a pointless attack, one that was easily thwarted and contained by the Balfour Family’s forces who had acted both swiftly and decisively.

However, if the purpose of these attacks wasn’t to do damage, but to trigger that highly predictable response from the city’s defenders...

Were they trying to lure our forces out of place? Teagan wondered, but quickly dismissed the idea, No, all the most sensitive areas in the city were still heavily guarded. The only place where security dropped significantly was...

"Damn it!" Teagan cursed before turning on her heels and dashing off.

Eris was thoroughly lost, not understanding what was going on or why her grandmother had suddenly become agitated, but the young girl figured if she followed after her, she would soon find out.

Racing down the halls of the guild, Eris turned a few corners before arriving at a certain stairwell.

To the public, this stairwell simply led to the main hall’s basement where a bunch of storage rooms kept things like chairs, desks, blackboards, paper, and other mundane items used on a day-to-day basis.

This was true, by the way; the basement here really was used as a storage space.

However, to the higher-ups of the Rising Phoenix Guild and the Balfour Family, this basement had another purpose as well; it was the meeting place and command centre for all operations against the mysterious enemy organization which had infiltrated the Balfour March.

Jumping down the stairs, Eris weaved through the storage spaces to reach the hidden back-room, only to find the door blown open and her grandmother standing inside with an extremely frustrated look on her face.

The last time Eris had been in this room, it had been neatly organized, with several lockers and cabinets filled with files and evidence which had been collected over the past few months.

Now, however, all those cabinets had been broken open and there were papers strewn everywhere.

"How could..." Eris uttered in disbelief and anger.

Teagan was feeling a similar sense of frustration.

This had to have been the enemy’s plan all along. Somehow, they knew that this was where all the operations against them were being coordinated from, but they also must have known that trying to break in here was impossible given the level of security.

The only way they could possibly succeed was to draw out as many of the masters guarding the Guild then create enough chaos to divert everyone else’s attention.

In other words, today was probably their best chance to perform this raid.

"Should we lock down the perimeter?" Commander Basil, who had also arrived at some point, asked.

"There’s no point," Teagan grunted, "It’s too late now. Whoever broke in here must be long gone by now."

"What about asking Aunty Frey to track them?" Eris suggested.

"I’m afraid I can’t help you there," Frey’s voice sounded in their ears at that exact moment, "I’ve been monitoring the building this whole time, but I didn’t notice anyone sneak into the basement. They must have been aware of my presence and took steps to conceal themselves from my senses."

"Does... does that mean there’s nothing we can do?" Eris slumped her shoulders, feeling quite distressed.

None of this was her fault, but she still couldn’t help feeling responsible, which was fairly typical of Eris given her personality.

"Well, this situation isn’t all bad," Teagan comforted her granddaughter, her gaze slowly turning cold, "At least now we can stop playing dumb and take decisive action."

Turning to Commander Basil, she ordered, "Assemble all the forces we can muster. We attack in one hour."

Saluting solemnly, the middle-aged bodyguard dashed off to carry out the command.

For months now, the higher-ups of the Balfour Family had been holding back, trying to grasp the full scope of the enemy organization and then find a way to excise it all at once, but it now seemed they had taken the wrong approach.

Aiming for perfection was never a bad thing, and it was a valid strategy when time was on your side, but when doing so paralyzed you and allowed your enemy to gain the advantage, change was needed to shake things up.

"But, won’t they know we’re coming?" Eris wondered aloud, worried that it was either too late, or that the enemy would be prepared for their assault.

"Don’t worry about that," Teagan snickered, "They may have gotten their hands on some of our documents, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to read them."

Fortunately, given the clandestine nature of the work they were doing here, the most important documents were kept solely with her husband, Elliot, on an Encrypted Memory Jade.

As for the rest of the data, anything that was considered particularly sensitive was written in code.

Naturally, this was Lucas’ idea and he was the one who had designed the cypher. Only a handful of people knew how to decrypt those documents, so unless there was a traitor amongst the most inner circle of the Balfour Family, most of the information which the enemy had seized was pretty much useless to them.

That didn’t mean this breach wasn’t a problem, mind you. There was still plenty of records kept in un-encrypted format that could cause problems, but Teagan was determined to act before the enemy could.

The lack of personnel in Misty City right now would certainly be a problem, but as the events of today had proven, nothing is ever perfect.

.....

"Should we try to get these out of the city?"

"I doubt they’ll let us."

"Then, what should we do? A lot of this is just gibberish, but it’s obviously valuable information"

"I know, which is why we have to make sure our comrades get it. We may not be able to make sense of it, but surely, they can."

"What about us?"

"It’s probably too late for us, the Balfours aren’t going to just take this lying down."

"En... then?"

"We follow plan 3."

"Plan 3? But that’s..."

"I know, but it’s the only way we have left."

"... Fine. Plan 3 it is."

"Good luck."

"You too."