Given the frequent mishaps in the family, Baroque had recently begun taking a large entourage whenever he went out and sending people ahead to scout the route.
However, such arrangements caused too much of a stir. Once or twice was fine, but if he did it every time, the others in the family would start gossiping.
—He hadn't even officially become the head of the family yet, and he was already putting on airs?
So Baroque would occasionally travel with only a small retinue, or alter his appearance and impersonate someone else when going out.
The point was to remain unpredictable and deny his hidden enemies any chance to discern a pattern.
This time, he had adopted another appearance to handle a cooperative venture.
The other party had worked with the Versailles family for over a century and had never involved itself in miscellaneous affairs. It was a typical neutral force.
This was the kind of group Baroque needed to keep stable, so it was only proper for him to appear in person.
The matter was handled smoothly, but on the way back, two Versailles family vehicles were stopped for inspection.
The entire Empire had been on high alert lately, so being randomly stopped for an inspection was nothing unusual.
Even vehicles from the Versailles family were no exception—sometimes even Nutrient Solution shipments were stopped, let alone theirs. As long as their identities were verified, they could leave.
Yet during the inspection, someone in the passing crowd suddenly struck, attacking the vehicles.
Attacking in the street, and during a city guard inspection at that—the nature of the incident was extremely serious.
The Versailles family and the city guards immediately retaliated, killing one attacker and seriously wounding three.
However, the Versailles side also suffered heavy casualties: three dead and six injured.