Serval walked toward the door.
Leon quietly signaled to the trio: "Over there."
Once they reached the corner with him, Leon set up a glass panel in front of them.
Serval was shocked to see the glass—and the people behind it—vanish.
She opened the door, feigning surprise.
"Pela? Why're you back at this hour? Isn't the restricted zone busy?"
Pela blew warm air into her palms, her expression grave as she entered.
"It's precisely because we're swamped that Gepard tasked me with returning to gather intel and meet Supreme Guardian Cocolia."
"Intel? What kind?"
Serval subtly glanced around the room, her heart easing slightly.
Pela didn't notice her small action, hesitating before spilling the truth.
"Last night, Supreme Guardian Cocolia ordered a large number of Guards from the restricted zone frontline to return."
"When I came back, I saw most of them patrolling the city, at least five times the usual intensity."
"The Guards left the frontline last night, and this morning, a major battle broke out—five dead."
"Combined with the past 30 days' casualties: 35 dead, 14 missing, 178 injured to varying degrees."
"Due to this, the northeast frontline has a gap that urgently needs filling."
"With our current forces stretched thin, it's been proposed to deploy battalions from the automaton combat group to plug the gap."
"Captain Gepard can't leave the frontline, so he sent me to request reinforcements to prepare for a larger unknown crisis."
Hearing the death toll, Serval's brow furrowed.
She knew Cocolia recalled the Guards to hunt them, but hadn't expected it to cost more lives.
"Then why come to me? Shouldn't you head straight to Qlipoth Fort to see Cocolia?"
Pela: "I already did."
"Oh?"
Serval glanced at her.
"What'd she say?"
"Supreme Guardian Cocolia ordered us to fight to the death, claiming that holding out for three more days will resolve the current crisis."
She said that, but Pela's face was full of worry.
Cocolia showed no intention of sending the Guards back to the restricted zone.
The forces were already thin, and with the Commander missing and Fragmentum monsters growing more active, things were dire.
"Commander Bronya's gone, leaving the frontline without a leader. Morale's taken a hit."
"Some Guards even speculate Commander Bronya might've met… ugh, I shouldn't say that."
Pela stopped herself.
Morale wasn't just "down"—it was plummeting.
Repeated battle failures and heavy losses had sparked widespread resentment, not at the military leadership, but at Cocolia.
Serval gave a self-deprecating smile. "I stopped trying to understand what Cocolia's up to long ago."
She'd already gleaned why Pela came to her.
"You want me to go to the restricted zone to help, right?"
Pela froze, not expecting her intent to be read so easily, then nodded quietly.
"…I've heard from many Guards that, over a decade ago, you were the sharpest mind in the military."
"Caprain Gepard hasn't slept in two days, and with Commander Bronya missing, you're our only hope…"
As for meeting Cocolia being a waste of time, Pela didn't dare voice that opinion openly.
Serval's mind quietly stirred.
Wasn't this like getting a pillow just as she was dozing off?
Not only Leon, but she too wanted to find the Stellaron.
To do that, they'd need to cross the restricted zone, but she'd been worried about lacking a valid reason. Now, here it was.
Still, some things needed saying.
"That was then. Now I'm just a regular citizen with no authority to command Guards."
"If Cocolia finds out, I'd be in trouble, and so would you."
Pela hesitated, looking uneasy.
Serval: "Speak your mind. If it's sensitive, I swear I won't leak it."
Of course, Leon and the others would hear, but that couldn't be helped.
Pela gritted her teeth.
"The recent heavy losses are all because of the Supreme Guardian's overreaching orders!"
"Do you know how absurd her commands were?"
"Four days ago, she ordered the Silvermane gunners to advance 20 meters past the alert line, practically fighting in close quarters…"
"That violated the Otchepolov combat dynamics equation and negated the Guards' years of experience."
"After that battle, Commander Bronya planned to confront the Supreme Guardian, requesting full command be returned to the Silvermane Guards."
"But the next day… she went missing. It's hard not to think…"
Pela still didn't finish.
In Belobog, only the Supreme Guardian had the power to make someone vanish without a trace.
"By the Architects' rules, the Guard Commander holds priority command."
"If the Supreme Guardian can bypass the system, why can't we in this crisis?"
"The Guards can't keep taking losses. If the frontline collapses, Belobog loses its walls."
Serval's expression grew serious, then stern.
"That's your stance, right? Gepard likely doesn't know, or his personality wouldn't allow us to break protocol."
Pela: "You take command, and I, as intelligence officer, relay the orders. That works, right?"
Serval nodded inwardly.
That's the line she was waiting for.
But this meant she couldn't leave her post to hunt the Stellaron.
At least, it gave her a chance to arrange for Leon's group to cross the restricted zone.
Serval: "Fine, when do we leave?"
Pela's face lit up.
"In half an hour—okay?"
"Sure, I'll prep. To avoid attention, head to the restricted zone entrance first."
"No problem, I'm off."
Pela left in a hurry.
Closing both the door and soundproof panel, Serval called out to the hidden group.
"You heard everything, right?"
Stelle: "What a coincidence. Could Pela be a bait sent by Cocolia to fish us out?"
Serval paused, quickly grasping Stelle's implication.
After thinking it over, she shook her head slightly.
"I admit it's possible. Cocolia knows you're after the Stellaron, so you'd have to pass the restricted zone."
"But Pela's like a little sister to me—I can tell if she's lying."
Leon: "Stelle's concern aligns with mine. You can tell if Pela's lying, but what if Cocolia's playing a deeper game?"
"With Guards scouring the city and everyone on edge, your place hasn't been searched, has it?"
"You're Gepard's sister. For various reasons, the Guards wouldn't dare barge in."
"If I were Cocolia, I'd suspect the fugitives were hiding here too."