Yani's tone was calm, but what she'd said had far exceeded Finn Berenkaster's expectations. He pressed his temples and sat in silence for a long while before asking, still doubtful, "The Shepherd with Thirteen Faces?"
Yani nodded solemnly.
"A shepherd, huh? If they called her a shepherdess, she'd probably be a hell of a fighter," Feno muttered.
Just like on Earth, during the Alliance's homeworld era, there had been a shepherdess who became a heroine and saved her country. Her story had been full of both legend and tragedy.
"Dad, maybe that's what the nickname really means. The historical figure wasn't a warrior who could take on three armies single-handedly, either. She was a brilliant strategist, as well as the greatest orator and inspiration of her time. Doesn't that fit Mrs. Amerta Parotin perfectly?"
Feno thought that did make a little sense.
"...Come to think of it, Mrs. Parotin's late husband, Mr. Hill, was a former chairman of the Bracer Guild. So the Guild really was in league with the Serpent?"
"That's why we're going to clean up the Guild in the name of the Interstellar Security Council. See? It all fits together. The Serpent has a thousand faces. That's perfectly in keeping with its usual ways."
Feno thought that made even more sense. Still, he couldn't believe it and added, "But the leader of the number one terrorist organization in the universe really died just like that, in a shooting?"
Back in the day, Master Feno had gone undercover in Ouroboros. Apart from Lady "Now," who'd dumped him without a second thought, he'd dealt with plenty of the other Thirteen Faces, too. He knew all too well that he'd never encountered anything that could be called their true face, and that they lacked any real combat habits. As far