Chapter 570: Watching the Operation

Three of them in a row, all nervous, all cultivating, all waiting. Kai took a deep breath and tried to focus.

There was nothing else they could do while they waited for the operation to begin. Early on Omilaena had suggested that their triple cultivation become "triple cultivation" but Kai was too anxious to be aroused, Zae Zin Nim had locked in mentally, and Omilaena had given up.

They hadn't been involved in the early stages, but at least those had been relatively secure and simple. Kai and the others had prepared the gift of treasures, allegedly from Cloudspire, and set it to be delivered via ship at Yulthens harbor. The Crystallier Cooperative was going to go accept it, for the good of all Krysal, but the nativist and reactionary factions had been leaked information about what was about to happen - or at least part of it.

That was where Kai's anxiety started. He wasn't an expert in spycraft, so he'd left the details to native Krysali, but that left him nervous. What if they were too clumsy and the factions suspected it was a trap? What if they managed to turn it on them and the entire business was an embarrassment for Krainuun and the Cooperative?

If he was honest with himself, it was too late for such worries to make any difference. He'd done the best he could to set everything up and at this stage he was just waiting for the results, so he should calm his mind and focus on cultivation. But he wasn't being honest with himself and thus felt like he should be out there himself, taking action.

"So..." Omilaena drawled out the word. "What are you two doing? Is it cultivating? How exciting."

"I am surprised it took you this long." Zae Zin Nim responded calmly, without so much as a twitched eyebrow. "Usually you stop cultivating and start complaining much sooner."

"Yeah, well, usually I like my thoughts and so blanking my mind is just boring. But given what we're waiting on, it's good to take my mind off things."

"Cultivation does not require a purely blank mind," Zae Zin Nim advised. "You could also try thinking about a single absorbing subject."

"Alright, now I'm imagining you naked."

"That is not what I meant."

"I don't know, I'm very absorbed. Mmm, how naughty of you! And oh my, who's this?"

"You are not assisting me in my path to Sky Soul." Even with her eyes closed, Zae Zin Nim managed to scowl precisely in Omilaena's direction. "A wife should assist her spouse in their cultivation."

"See how the old traditionalism rears its ugly head!" Without breaking her cultivation, Omilaena clutched at her heart. "You struggled against such wifely bonds, but as soon as it benefits you, you consign your own wife to a fate of being an eternal helpmeet!"

"I will report this to our husband and then you'll be sorry."

For his part, Kai just struggled to keep his smile under control and actually cultivate. The banter had thoroughly distracted him from his anxious thoughts, which he was sure was the purpose. Omilaena was good at choosing her moment, though he guessed that she really was bored too. Zae Zin Nim could wait forever, he had a moderate amount of patience, and Omilaena went about five minutes before poisoning someone for fun.

Honestly, though, he should probably view this waiting as practice for the incursion. He would be able to act then, but only in one place at once in a war that had a thousand fronts. Ultimately, he was going to need to trust others to keep themselves alive while he fought his own battles.

"It's begun."

The quiet voice cut through Omilaena and Zae Zin Nim's continued squabbling. All cultivation was forgotten as they turned to see Krainuun standing at the door to their room. He hid stress well, but Kai could see how tense he was as he stepped inside. This sort of scheme that involved multiple factions was a major risk for him, and if things went wrong, he wouldn't be able to simply leave Krysal like they could.

"What happened?" Omilaena asked, all business.

"I don't know, as there are no reports for a clandestine operation. I can only tell you that the recording crystal placed within the shipment has started broadcasting." Krainuun stepped forward and placed a communications crystal on a nearby table, his hand only shaking a little. Kai leapt to his feet and found a chair, placing it behind the old man so that he had a place to sit by the time the crystal showed an image.

At first it was just a square and it looked like nothing to Kai, then he realized that he was actually seeing the edges of a box and part of a ceiling. He couldn't sense any power through the crystal, but he could hear shouts and fighting. A body fell across the open box, completely obscuring their view.

"They took the bait." Zae Zin Nim had closed in behind Krainuun, watching closely.

"And they did not do so nonviolently," Krainuun said heavily. "The deaths that occur during this step are on our hands."

Kai had hoped that this wouldn't happen, but not really expected the theft would occur without blood. They had chosen an unaligned mercantile group with decent guards, hoping that they would fight off the attackers enough that they only took the treasures and ran. Apparently that had been too much to hope for.

The body was pulled away and, from the sound, tossed aside. Their view of the ceiling was replaced by a man and a woman, wearing clandestine clothing, but without any scars that would mark them as ex-slaves. They smiled and reached in, grasping the recording crystal along with many others, and for a time the view was a chaotic jumble of movement.

"Those are former crystalliers," Omilaena said. "I recognize them from the list of reactionaries. The bait is good and taken."

"Where are they headed?" Kai asked. "I thought I recognized a street, but then they leapt into some sort of alley..."

"That is a maintenance causeway in Yulthens." Krainuun's voice was calm even though he increasingly leaned forward in his chair. "Presumably they hope to avoid pursuit and guards, cutting into the less organized quarters of the city. That is a mistake."

"Why a mistake?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"They likely assume that the Crystallier Cooperative or other merchants will be their opponents. But ex-slave factions will be more familiar with this portion of the city and have more allies there."

For several tense minutes, this prediction didn't come true, and Kai began to worry the thieves would make their way out of Yulthens. During the rush, he caught a glimpse of a half a dozen former crystalliers who were looking over their loot with great pleasure while still running. They reached a vehicle and leapt inside, and the communications crystal fell at a bad angle. Kai could only imagine that the ship was rising, soon to join the others and slip out of Yulthens, but he was completely blind...

Until he saw the explosion.

It tore through the ship and Kai instinctively used a speed phase, watching the crystal tumble about. Something had exploded through the ship, scattering the crystalliers and their treasure. As the crystal spun, Kai caught glimpses of Omilaena's pills shining like pearls in the air, as well as the armor that Zae Zin Nim had received from the elites.

Now they were raining over Yulthens... and being seized. Dark forms clashed with the crystalliers and battle was joined. Without being able to see the souls involved, Kai could still tell that they were using Physique and acid cultivation, and though their ambush had been fierce, the attackers had the worse end of the fighting.

And it didn't matter, because they used their superior numbers to snatch the treasures instead of winning the battle. Soon the communications crystal was racing through the streets again, taken by the ex-slaves to their own hiding place. As it tumbled about among the treasures, they finally caught a glimpse of a few faces.

"Those are reactionaries, right?" Kai asked.

"Suspected ones," Krainuun said. "I had honestly hoped that the intelligence was false, but if they are taking part in this operation..."

The image was complete chaos through the streets of Yulthens. Even though Kai had lost track of the battle, his heart was in his throat. They had judged that using a fake shipment would be too risky, so they really had put all the treasures under guard. If either faction made off with them, they'd just given their enemies a significant gift.

"Stop right there!"

Most of the voices through the crystal had been low and professional, but the interruption was loud and brash. It was hard to see, but the thieves holding the treasures slowed uncertainly. They were being stopped by... a random citizen? The man was an ex-slave with moderate Physique from the mines, but likely no training. He'd be cut to pieces by either faction's warriors, but he didn't quail as they advanced on him.

"Stop in the name of Yulthens!"

When Kai heard the loud cry, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. A large crystal flashed across their view, decapitating the main thief. Most others wouldn't have seen anything, but Kai recognized the crystal armor of one of Krainuun's enforcers.

The battle didn't last long once they arrived - these new enforcers had been decent to start with and then received the best Omilaena could do, so they were more than a match for the thieves. They took down both factions, even keeping most of them alive after the initial surprise attack. It seemed they also saved the life of the random do-gooder citizen, who gawked at their crystalline bodies.

As the guards closed in, the communications crystal was placed inside a case and stopped transmitting. Krainuun finally slumped back in his chair, less with relief and more like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The stress drained out of him, but it seemed to leave exhaustion.

"You see?" Omilaena said. "Nothing to worry about. The enforcers aren't Cragrila, but they're pretty good."

"I couldn't track all of the treasures," Zae Zin Nim said disapprovingly. "The armor was definitely there at the end, but I can't be sure about the pills. Some pieces of the shipment may still have made their way to the extremist factions. We should have used more crystals."

Kai understood her feeling, and wished they could have tracked the operation better, but that option had already been dismissed during the planning. Their ability to watch was incidental to the true purpose: broadcasting the location of the treasure. Fortunately, the crystal enforcers had been able to pinpoint the thieves and stop them before they escaped the city.

As they accepted that their operation had worked, at least mostly, the stress fell away. Omilaena manifested a glass of wine for Krainuun, which seemed to fortify him. By the time he needed to leave, he was looking much better.

Ostensibly Krainuun knew nothing about this operation and would soon learn of it from the various forces of the city. Since he had worked underneath the merchants' noses for years, Kai trusted in the man's acting ability. It might take him a while, but Krainuun would accept all the reports and make sure that this turned out exactly as they needed.

In the end, he didn't need to do much: within hours, Kai was hearing the news from all corners of the city. The ex-crystalliers had very nearly gotten away with their clandestine theft, but the attack from the nativists had led to a violent confrontation over the city. After multiple attacks from cultivators, the people of Yulthens were both fearful of and used to such fights, so there had been multiple witnesses.

They had seen ex-crystalliers and ex-slaves fighting each other... and they had seen Krainuun's enforcers arrive. That alone might have been open to interpretation, but soon enough everyone began to hear about the Crystallier Cooperative and the treasures that had almost been stolen. Maggle and others were out there, without all the information, knowing just enough to make sure that everyone knew the truth... or at least the important parts of the truth.

Kai had expected not to hear from Krainuun until that evening at the earliest, since the administrator would have official duties to perform. Honestly, he was looking forward to just spending the time with his wives, since he was finally past the operation. But to his surprise, Krainuun called for them directly, stating that it was urgent.

When they arrived in the office, Krainuun was alone at his small desk. "The operation was successful," he said. "Two extremist factions have played their hand and been very publicly accused."

"How much did we lose?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"One of the crystalline pills is unaccounted for, potentially taken or destroyed in the battle. The gemstone, armor, and all the rest were recovered unharmed. They have been placed with the Crystallier Cooperative, under better security this time, and it has been made public knowledge that they will be distributed evenly."

"Nothing to it." Omilaena pretended to dust off her hands. "I told you."

"This may have undercut our opponents, but I fear the situation is not so simple." Krainuun folded his hands together and leaned against them wearily. "One of the merchants incriminated in the reactionary faction was a major player in trade between Krysal and Irun. He intends to fight the charge in court."

"And he'll lose, right? Please tell me you aren't making us wait around for that."

"No. But he has ceased all trade, killing a small but critical trade partnership." Krainuun's eyes flickered up to them. "Irunian merchants are displeased, and they demanded to treat with you personally. I don't know the exact reason, but I fear I must request that you go. I can handle the majority of the political fallout, just not this."

Kai nodded as he accepted the strange result. Always from one fire to another.