After fleeing the Bertram Mines in the dead of night, they took shelter at a house belonging to one of their Knights of Valor comrades, then hid in a truck bed two days later to return to the student dorms.
Jean and the other officers were quick to come greet them, and by the time the girls were done telling them about what they’d witnessed at the mine, about their photos of the blast site, and that they’d found someone to testify on their behalf, the Knights of Valor members were red with excitement.
“I don’t know how you two do it!!”
The whole floor echoed with praise and acclaim.
“If everything you said checks out, then this is a massive scoop! We could topple the whole government! This is the biggest story the Knights of Valor have ever broken!”
“We just got lucky,” Erna said modestly, but in truth, she was filled with pride.
They weren’t exactly full-fledged members yet, but it felt good to have contributed to the group.
“The one thing we weren’t able to do,” she said, “was figure out where Dice might have gone.”
“That’s a shame… Then does that mean he—?”
“The Royal Guard might have locked him up. He knew too much, so—no, wait…”
Erna thought about the timeline.
It was just before the explosion that Dice sent the relief.
“Actually,” she said, realizing. “He might have been part of the strike in the old seventh mine.”
“That’s definitely possible. He’s passionate about the cause, and he’s trying to build a better life for his mom and little brother. If there was some sort of uprising in the mines, he would have wanted to be there.”
“Oh…”
If that was true, then the Royal Guard had probably killed him.
Erna thought back to how that underground chamber had been full of blast marks and bullet holes. It was a testament to how brutal the battle there had been. When the workers fought back against the armed soldiers, they’d been doing so with their lives on the line.
She bit down on her lip as she imagined how frustrated they must have felt.
She was curious how the government was going to explain their fates on paper, but that was a question for another day. Right now, she needed some rest.
“You can ask Chloe for the details.” That was the pale woman Erna had brought with her from the mines. “But she’s exhausted right now, so you’ll need to wait.”
The woman, who’d revealed that her name was Chloe Perche, was tired from their sudden escape and lying sprawled out on the bunk underground.
“Will do,” Jean said with a nod, then smiled. “By the way, me and the other officers thought we’d throw a little party to celebrate what you’ve achieved. We’re all dying to hear more.”
Erna wanted to get some rest, but everyone was so excited that she couldn’t bring herself to turn their goodwill down.
Annette, marching to the beat of her own drum as always, chirped, “I wanna fiddle with the device we found in the mine, yo!” and devoted her full attention to tinkering with the machine, but she didn’t walk away, either.
Jean and the others broke out the wine and nuts and made a quick spread on the table.
“Feels like all you do here is throw parties,” Erna noted with a concerned smirk. “What kind of secret society even is this?”
“We party a lot less than you might think. We only started once you showed up.”
Jean hummed a little tune as he filled the wineglasses.
One of the officers from the dorm leaned in and whispered, “He’s not kidding. Ever since you two arrived, he’s been on cloud nine,” which earned a round of chuckles from the rest of the group.
Surrounded by the dozen or so college students, Erna took a glass of grape juice.
“One swallow does not a spring make,” Jean said cheerily after toasting. “And a single piece of information won’t lead us straight to our destination. I’m not so naive as to think the work you’ve done will be enough to cause a revolution overnight.”
“Right…”
“But even so, every success we build up brings that spring one step closer.”
Spring—that was to say, the revolution coming to fruition.
As a pleasant sort of exhaustion overtook her, Erna continued fending off their attempts to offer her alcohol.
After half an hour of partying, Erna and Annette relocated to a storeroom.
It was hard to sleep underground, so the girls had borrowed one of the Knights of Valor’s rooms. After making sure it had escape routes they could use if the Genesis Army or Royal Guard somehow showed up, the two of them collapsed in unison onto the simple bed made of a mattress laid atop wooden crates.
“I’m sick and tired of mine work, yo!”
“Yeep. I don’t want to do any more undercover ops, either…”
For once, the two of them were in agreement.
Annette buried her face in her pillow and kicked her legs back and forth as she let out a muffled scream. She’d been on the verge of bursting from stress. It was all too easy to imagine her flying into a rage and picking a fight with someone, so Erna was relieved they’d gotten out when they had.
Erna stared at the back of Annette’s dainty head and nuzzled in closer.
“But you know, Annette—”
She couldn’t stop herself from grinning.
“—the two of us are doing surprisingly well.”
She meant every word of it.
Erna had initially been worried about what would become of their duo, but they’d been completing tasks one after another. They’d infiltrated a secret society, been welcomed with open arms, and learned about a scandal that would fan the flames of revolution.
As Lamplight’s Sedition squad, they’d done exactly what had been asked of them, and they’d done it alone, without having to rely on any of the team’s older members.
On top of that, Erna had even assembled a list of people who had a bone to pick with the government during her time working at a law office. If she played her cards right, that list could massively expand the Knights of Valor’s power and reach.
Annette’s head snapped back up. “Are you kidding?! What do you mean, doing well?!”
“Yeep?”
“Pretty sure I’d count letting your guard down around that punk Nike as a blunder, yo!”
“O-okay, that one was my bad…”
“I don’t think you sound sorry enough!”
“YEEEEP! Don’t just jump at me like that!”
Annette grabbed Erna’s cheeks, and they began jostling and wrestling so hard, they tumbled straight off the bed.
The two of them lay sprawled on the floor and stared up at the storeroom ceiling.
“Hee-hee.”
“Heh-heh.”
All the tension drained from them, and they broke into smiles. They were filled with the satisfaction of a job well done.
After getting back onto the bed, they exchanged an excited conversation.
“I kind of wonder what the rest of the team is up to right now,” Erna mused.
“I doubt any of them are kicking as much butt as we are,” Annette replied.
“Well, that goes without saying.”
“Odds are, Lily’s already gotten herself arrested!”
“…It’s sad how easy that is to picture.”
“Maybe Sara’s gotten taller.”
“Big Sis Thea probably wears even fewer clothes.”
“Odds are, Monika is still just as freakishly skilled.”
“I bet Sybilla is totally jacked.”
“Grete’s probably super bummed about not being able to see Klaus.”
“…Now I really miss them.”
“Yeah. I get that, yo.”