"The Southern Continent?" This was the first Xio had heard of it. She looked at Vera in confusion.
"I received an assignment a few days ago to escort a valuable item to a colony on the Southern Continent... The journey may be dangerous, so I hadn't planned to take you. But there's more to the Capim case than it seems... If I'm not in Backlund, I can't be sure no one will come after you..." Vera paused, then changed the subject. "Stay in the headquarters dormitory tonight. Tomorrow morning, you can say goodbye to your friends and pack your things. We'll take the one o'clock train to Pritz Harbor in the afternoon."
Xio could feel Princess Vera's concern for her, and she was touched. But after pursing her lips, she asked, "Were people from MI9 involved with Capim too? Or... people high up in the kingdom?"
All the planning took place in Mr. Fool's Divine Kingdom, and it was Mr. Fool's Blessed One who acted directly. There shouldn't be anything to implicate me... Yet Princess Vera still thinks "they" might come after me. Could it be because of my father?
Is this powerful faction entrenched in MI9, perhaps even in the kingdom's upper ranks, the one that framed my father? Xio couldn't help making the connection.
"You... aren't qualified to know that much yet." Vera shook her head and did not answer Xio's question.
That's much the same as what Abner's been telling me all along... What did Father discover back then? And why was Capim abducting girls? Could they have been intended as sacrifices to an evil god?
Xio fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded. "I understand."
"After this escort assignment, you should have earned enough contribution points for the other main ingredient of the Judge potion."