Deep beneath the Albroles Palace, Prince Alex and Prince Nathan of Chip moved carefully through a dim corridor.
They had reached the deepest level of the dungeons, and soon they would be headed for the emergency exit tunnel that would lead out of the city in case of siege.
It was assumed that the Prince knew of the location and how to access it, but so far, neither mage had found any signs of recent usage, nor any sign of the Prince’s presence in the Palace at all.
It was possible that they were chasing a ghost, and that the duplicate that Viscount Boscom had destroyed was the only version of Prince Kaizon that had ever been in the Albroles Palace.
Which brought up one very serious question: Where was the real Prince Kaizon, and who had created the duplicate of him? Because that was well beyond the magical abilities of the Dagos Royal line.
The pair of Princes searched every corner of the Palace, even going room to room using a finding spell, in case Kaizon was trying to hide from them. But they didn’t find anything except a group of terrified servants and one confused advisor.
He had, understandably, skipped the dinner where his Prince was planning to assassinate everyone who would stand against his bid to become King. But even under intense questioning, he gave no signs that he knew that the Prince Kaizon here was a fake.
In the great hall, everyone was on edge, and they were all waiting for the two Princes to return or send word of their findings.
The level of trust was too low for them to approve sending out any more groups who might alert more traitors or pass messages to forces hiding in the city.
The feast was reluctantly continued once the tables were reset, but more out of the necessity of eating something than any desire to actually continue with the day’s planned schedule.
Prince Alex led the investigation group back into the hall hours later, long after dark. Half the nobles were already asleep in their chairs or leaning against walls, but everyone had remained where they were, save for the staff who disposed of the bodies.
And the kitchen staff, who still looked absolutely terrified.
They weren’t stupid. Half of the staff hired for the event had joined the attack launched by Prince Kaizon, and the other half would be lucky to leave with their lives. Even leaving with all their limbs mostly intact would be considered a win.
Princess Alexis slowly chewed a puff pastry with a contemplative look on her face.
"Do you think that the version of Prince Kaizon who was in Cygnia was the same duplicate? It would explain why he wasn’t afraid of death. He may have been taunting us, pushing his luck to see if anyone realized that it was a body double." She pondered.
Dominic and the Generals frowned.
"That’s not impossible. The spell links the fake to the real version, so it can react properly. But it knows that it is not the real person. Given his twisted personality, I can see a fake Kaizon doing something like that." General Wigin agreed.
"Then the question becomes whether the real Prince knows everything that the double has done. And if so, how did he plan to make that work in his favour?" Dominic wondered.
"Or if he’s the one making the plans at all." General Modbury added.
That was a disturbing possibility. The real Prince may be in captivity somewhere, with his double sent out to cause trouble and destabilize two nations at the same time.
But until they could find the real Prince, or the mage who created the double, they couldn’t prove any of their theories.
The Princes finished speaking to a few other Royals, then Prince Alex came to the table to collect his sister.
"Alexis, we should retire to our suite for the evening. Nothing else will get done tonight, but we will need to be sharp in the morning. The Regiment has just finished securing the Palace, and the Commander will be waiting at our suite for a briefing on his duties." He explained.
Dominic helped the Princess to her feet, and Alexis smiled at her brother. "Alright, let’s get this all over with. Now that the Natural Sons are in place, there is less to worry about.
They’re armed heavily enough for anything short of a full paratrooper invasion of the city."
Technically, they were armed to deal with that as well, Dominic knew. But hitting moving targets from that great of a distance was pushing the limits of the rifles.
He really did have to revise the plans to create a reliable sniper rifle of some sort. Preferably with a longer range than what any of the other nations could achieve with artillery.
That might not be practical, simply because of ballistics. But where ballistics failed them, magic might be able to step in.
Dominic just didn’t know exactly how to accomplish that.
"You’ve got a faraway look in your eyes, like you’re planning a war crime." Prince Alex joked.
Dominic shrugged. "I was working on mental plans for how to alter the Regiment’s Magitech Rifles into something with enough range and accuracy to snipe artillery before it can get in range to fire."
The Dagos Generals shared concerned looks at that revelation.
The world was a better place without that particular invention. What sort of demonic sorcery would allow a rifle to fire further than artillery? Surely, that wasn’t something that could be done?
It was. But mostly it was accomplished with a collection of magitech orbs and spell gems, not a single device.
Already, Commander Dax had a confirmed kill from over a kilometre away. Even though it had taken him multiple shots. With some improvement, it wasn’t unrealistic to at least hit a stationary vehicle from over a kilometre away every time.
From there, refinements could be made to narrow the target to the size of a human.
Not that either of those things would have helped them today.