“All right, time to withdraw!”
“It’s about time I dropped the disguise...”
We’d walked slowly on the way home, mindful of the muscle aches that would be coming tomorrow. We were nearly home, so I had to undo my disguise. I doubted anyone was out this late, but I couldn’t risk neighbors seeing me in Angel mode.
“Angel mode” was Saint Edith disguised by a mask. Eventually, I’d let a select few elites know Edith was the Angel, but for now, that connection was secret. Otherwise, I’d get swarmed by all sorts of unwanted visitors, and the house we’d rented in the capital wouldn’t be safe anymore. At home, we hung out as Kaoru, Reiko, and Kyoko without any disguises. We could switch into our personas the moment a guest appeared, and we met with the Eyes of the Goddess undisguised. There was no point in hiding our identities from them at this point.
Anyway, it was time to remove my mask...
Whoosh!
“Huh...?”
My hand touched nothing but empty air.
Silence.
“I...wasn’t wearing a mask... And I’m still Kaoru...” I muttered.
“Oh...”
“And Reiko and Falsetto... You’re both barefaced too...”
“Oh...”
We’d screwed up.
“Kaoru...”
“Lady Kaoru...”
“Hey, none of you noticed either! It’s not just my fault!”
Yup... In our panic, I’d completely forgotten to become Edith or mask up. I mean, the group was just KKR, Falsetto, and the leader of the Eyes of the Goddess. Everyone already knew what was up, so there was no need for disguises. Plus, it’d be weird spending our daily lives with different faces when we were living together. If a guest showed up, our optical disguise bracelets worked instantly, and potions for changing our hair, eyes, and skin could be pulled out of the Item Box in seconds. I’d given Reiko and Kyoko tons of transformation and reversal potions too, of course. But this time, barefaced Reiko and Falsetto, who was supposed to be Edith’s guard, had joined me, Kaoru. Falsetto didn’t wear a disguise, but Reiko was “Reiko,” not “Can the hunter!”
This was bad. Really bad. Falsetto, who was contracted to guard Edith, was accompanying others. The Angel was supposed to be distinct from Edith, with different hair.
Hmm...
Well, Falsetto had been with two others, not Edith or Can, so Edith and Can would likely be seen as uninvolved with this incident. Maybe it wasn’t a big issue after all?
To the guild higher-ups, who likely knew Falsetto was an Einherjar, it’d look like she was earning money for living expenses taking bodyguard jobs, then rushing to the Angel’s side whenever she was needed. No one in this magicless world would guess we could alter our appearance beyond our hair or eyes...
Yup, this is no problem!
We hadn’t met anyone on the night streets, and photography didn’t exist in this world. The earl’s family didn’t know Edith’s face, and we weren’t gonna reveal her identity as the Angel until later. Plus, rooms weren’t brightly lit like in modern Japan; candles or dimmed oil lamps cast shadows, which obscured faces.
There’s no need to panic yet. Be cool, be cool...
This was just a little one-off accident. Hopefully, this info would just stay within the earl’s household. The Angel Theater was meant to stay on the down-low anyway. My plan would’ve been pointless if everyone actually kept silent, so I’d made exceptions for trusted allies if asked. But this time, the parties involved were scammers who’d tricked and tailed the Angel and the earl who’d offered a generous reward for the Tears of the Goddess, knowing it wasn’t something that should be bought or sold. Neither were gonna be eager to tell the world about what had happened.
Yeah, I had a feeling this was gonna work out...
“Anyway, let’s head home, reflect, and figure out what to do next. Leader, you come too.”
We normally parted with the Eyes leader here, but it was better to discuss oversights and risks with his intel expertise. He must’ve been pretty thrilled about joining the goddess trio’s inner circle. I could practically see a wagging tail...
“So, I don’t think there’s all that much risk from this screwup... What do you all think?” I asked after sharing my risk assessment.
Everyone else stayed silent. Were they deep in thought, or speechless at my blunder...?
There were five of us present: The KKR trio, Falsetto, and the Eyes of the Goddess team leader. We could speak openly with these people, so I expected them to be blunt, but...
They all spoke at once.
“You’re downplaying this way too much...”
“Interpreting the situation in a way that suits you is the biggest mistake you can make...”
“You’re being far too naive...”
“This is a total mess...”
You guys are too blunt!
“Well, what’s done is done,” Reiko said. “We’ll have to monitor whatever info gets leaked and squash anything that’s bad for us or overwrite it with rumors of our own...”
The Eyes leader beamed happily. That was his specialty, after all. This was an opportunity to use the skills he’d honed to aid his goddess; it was probably pure bliss for him. I could almost see that tail wagging again. If he was a dog, he’d probably be piddling with joy...
“Can we count on the Eyes, Ears, and Mouth?” I asked.
“Please don’t ask if we can... Command us!” the leader said.
I figured he’d say that...
“Okay then, Kaoru commands you: Track the flow of information and reshape it to our advantage!”
“Yes, Lady Kaoru! We accept your divine mandate, pledging our very lives!”
“No pledging lives. If it doesn’t pan out, we just move on. We could move to the north or south end of the continent, or a different continent altogether.”
Kyoko had already found similar civilizations while exploring other continents before joining us. Come to think of it, Celes had mentioned something similar too. We didn’t have to worry about language barriers, so we could go anywhere we wanted. As for the kids, we could give them the human-language version of the potion I’d given Mariel. Plus, Kyoko’s mothership likely had devices for learning while you slept.
Suddenly, I noticed the Eyes leader giving me a look as if to say he’d never allowed that. Moving to another continent would cut the Eyes of the Goddess off from us, so they’d fight tooth and nail to stop it. The empire would probably chase us with their cutting-edge galleons...