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~~Holiday Special (Day 2/7, Page 4/6)~~
Garovel laughed. ‘Not sure I’ve ever seen you this excited before.’

He looked for Gina’s number in his phone. “We just got done talking, and I gotta call her back already...”

It started ringing, and she answered as quickly as ever. Hector struggled through explaining the general idea.

<“That’s a nice thought, but there’s a major problem with it.”>

“W-what?”

<“When Karkash made the news a few days ago, Abolish really tightened their grip on the media. Nothing makes it to air without their approval now.”>

“Shit.”

<“I could put your threat up on the internet, but it wouldn’t get nearly enough exposure.”>

“Agh...”

‘Ask her if she knows which servant is controlling the media.’

Hector did so.

<“There are two, actually. Conall and Tessa seem to be the ones responsible for public affairs, but from the sound of it, the others sometimes pitch in as well.”>

‘And does she know if they’ll be among the five going to Harold?’

He asked her.

Gina paused. <“Actually, yeah, they will be. Are you thinking when they leave, we’ll be able to sneak it through as breaking news?”>

“Uh. Yeah, sure.”

<“Hmm. That could work. It’ll be a tight timeframe, though. The citizens of Harold won’t have much time to evacuate, but I guess the only alternative would be to give them no warning at all.”>

‘That’s unfortunate for Harold, but it works out better for us,’ said Garovel. ‘Waiting until they leave ensures that our window for kidnapping the King also remains open. You should probably mention that plan to her, as well.’

“Oh, and, uh... I’m gonna try to, uh... to kidnap the King, too.”

<“Wait, WHAT?”>

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The cloak was no longer the pristine white it had been when she procured it, but she’d wanted it more for protection against the elements than for style points.

She’d been walking for days, sleeping under the stars, hunting and gathering food but never straying too far from the road that cut through Lorent’s wide open grasslands.