In the dead of night—
A figure landed on the rooftop of the Goth Grand Hotel.
He was carrying someone in his arms.
A sheet had slipped out of place as he carried her.
"A luxury rooftop suite. Facing Windrise Square."
"This should be The Lady's room… no way she'd lower herself to stay in some regular room downstairs."
Kaito stepped onto the wooden terrace outside the window, shifted The Lady into a one-arm hold, then produced a set of tools and popped the lock.
He slid inside in one smooth motion.
Mondstadt's signature room style was taken to the extreme here.
A pristine white double bed.
Polished premium hardwood floors that gleamed under the lamplight.
A dark brown bookshelf pressed to the wall—its grain thick with that "old history" feel—lined with brand-new volumes about Mondstadt's culture and history.
Carved white tables and chairs were set neatly in one corner, sitting atop an expensive woven rug.
Painted panoramas of Cider Lake and Mondstadt's skyline hung on the walls.
Kaito laid The Lady on the bed.
He didn't immediately start searching the bedroom.
Instead, he moved quietly to the door and cracked it open, checking the living room first—carefully, patiently.
This was the largest suite in the Goth Grand Hotel, with the rooftop bedroom attached.
"Just as I thought… nobody."
Kaito nodded in satisfaction.
The Lady had brought envoys and guards to Good Hunter to "reserve the place."
At the same time, the Fatui still had to maintain their intelligence network across the city—people planted as normal "eyes," and others positioned as smokescreens to distract the Knights of Favonius.
And on top of that, they also needed manpower for the Holy Lyre theft.
Add it all up, and one conclusion became obvious—
Tonight, the Goth Grand Hotel—Fatui's semi-public base—was basically an empty nest.
So Kaito had simply carried The Lady out through Good Hunter's skylight, spread his Wind Glider, raised a wind barrier, and rode the darkness straight here under cover of the night.
Now that he'd confirmed the suite was empty—
He started turning the place inside out.
Anyone assigned a room in this suite had status.
At minimum, they weren't a nobody in the current Fatui delegation.
"Mist Flower Pollen."
"Debt slips."
"Personal effects."
"A few sealed documents and books."
"A list…"
Kaito scanned everything—
and somehow, in a room that screamed a woman lives here, the only truly useful thing he found was a Mondstadt garrison map.
It marked Fatui intelligence placements across the city.
"…At least this is worth something. I'll give it to Jean."
If he delivered it before the Fatui realized and adjusted their layout, the Knights could sweep up a lot of them and crush their arrogance in one hit.
"Hm—there's another one."
When he lifted the garrison map, he noticed a second sheet pinned beneath it.
He examined it.
It was a layout sketch of Mondstadt Cathedral and the surrounding area.
"The Holy Lyre theft plan?"
This would become useless fast.
Once tonight's operation happened, this paper would be worthless.
Still—useful or not—Kaito pocketed it.
"…Nothing about Snezhnaya at all."
In the end, he returned to the rooftop bedroom and began searching The Lady's belongings.
"Hmm? What's this…"
In an opened drawer, he found several badges—mostly blue, with only two red ones.
"Fatui insignia."
"Blue means NCO. Red means officer."
"Probably something she uses to motivate her subordinates… but maybe this could be useful."
A vague plan took shape in his mind.
He pocketed the two officer badges.
Beyond that—
Nothing else mattered.
Kaito glanced at The Lady sleeping on the bed.
The drug was from Lisa.
It had originally been meant for Jean.
A smaller dose would help her sleep peacefully.
But Kaito had his own medicinal cooking methods and never used it—he'd just left it by the stove.
He hadn't expected it to come in handy like this.
If anything…
The Lady was simply unlucky.
He'd slipped in enough to put her out cold, and she'd likely assumed it was just some kind of seasoning.
After all, it had been sitting right there by the stove.
"Should I leave some kind of mark…?"
Kaito stared at her, thinking.
"…No."
"Right now she's only taking a loss."
"If I go too far and she wakes up trying to kill me, it won't be worth it."
Kaito shook his head, closed the window, then slipped into another room and took a Fatui mask and a hooded coat.
He put them on.
The officer badge hung openly on his chest.
Then he walked straight out through the Goth Grand Hotel's front doors—bold as daylight.
The Fatui would never imagine someone would be insane enough to invade their semi-public base—
and then leave through the front door wearing their face.
"Move."
Kaito barked at the Fatui guard stationed at the entrance.
"Yes—yes, sir!"
The guard—Luke—caught sight of the officer badge and immediately stepped aside, dropping to one knee.
"…Since when did we have an officer like that in our group?"
Luke watched him disappear into the night, still confused.
But with The Lady herself here, another unfamiliar officer didn't seem impossible.
Kaito reached a shadowed corner of Windrise Square.
A Fatui operative was already hidden there.
Kaito knocked him out with one strike and tossed him into the bushes.
Then he waited.
Patiently.
About half an hour later—
A Cicin Mage blinked into view.
In her hands was an ivory-colored lyre—
its shape like a sky dragon's wings folding upward.
"Hurry. Take it out of the city," the Cicin Mage said urgently. "The Church will notice soon!"
"Got it."
Kaito's figure vanished into the darkness.
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