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~~((National Senior Citizens Day -- page 8 of 24))~~
The plan, therefore, was to have only one person infiltrate the town of Miro before attempting to send everyone. In the event that it turned out to be some sort of trap, they didn't want to risk them all getting captured at once.

It probably wasn't a trap, though, in all honesty. If it was, then that would mean those Vantalayans had been in on it, and Raul Blackburn really didn't think that they were.

Nonetheless, the reapers wanted to be extra careful. And if it wasn't a trap, then this plan would work out just fine, too.

That was part of the reason why Raul had volunteered for it. The other part was because he still felt responsible for this whole mess in the first place. If he had been more vigilant, then his two brothers wouldn't have been captured. He very much wanted to be the one to go in and free them. Perhaps that would make up for his previous failure, if only slightly.

The others had required some convincing before eventually agreeing to it. The Lady Stroud in particular had seemed quite against letting him shoulder this responsibility, and Raul hadn't been able to tell if it was because she was worried about him or if she just didn't think he was capable of pulling it off. Maybe both.

The reapers ended up overruling her, though. They reasoned that it would be better not to risk one of their strongest warriors on this task.

A bit insulting, perhaps, but not inaccurate, he supposed.

So here he now was, all on his own, sneaking into town behind an invisible shroud. In broad daylight, no less. There was no point in waiting until nightfall again. The cover of darkness didn't really matter if the enemy wouldn't be able to see him, anyway. In fact, it would just make it more difficult for him to find his way around.