669, Indigo and 789 stepped out of the modest cedar litter, which was pulled by a Harse in a strong harness. The creature was a horse like beast with the mane, furs and head of a black panther with bright, round, amber eyes. He had been rescued by 669 years back when the human had been a faceless henchman for the Shiya House Order.

“You've arrived, milords.” The harse grunted and huffed with a deep voice as he shook his head to shake off a fly from his short snout.

“Thanks, Spartacus.” 669 cordially thanked the beast with a pat to his nose.

“Pfft, why do you always need to dress like some rich ponce?” 789 chuckled at the clothes 669 was wearing: elegant dark paisley overcoat lined with silver, matching jacket, waistcoat and white shirt and snug fitted slacks tucked in black boots. His hair was slicked back so his pretty-boy face was more obvious.

“Mansions are made from money. Money demands an impression of wealth to receive respect. Not everything can be won with armor, daggers and ugly faces.” 669 looked smug by his conclusion.

“Talking about yourself again, ugly.” Indigo huffed and folded her arms.

“I'm talking about you, ugly, unrefined, pixie!”

“You look like a try-hard ponce.”

“You look like a purple bug !”

The pair entered a cursing match with each other, which had 789 and Spartacus groaning.

The harse snipped Indigo's butt to turn her attention to him.

“You always take his side!” She cursed at the beast.

“You're here to work.”

“Right, right.” 669 patted the wise beast.

“Idiots.” 789 shook her head. She adjusted a satchel bag carrying tools to one shoulder and slotted a few small canisters in her hip holsters and sheaths of her dark navy leather armor stamped with a silver scorpion insignia. She fitted a some belts around her shoulders and back to form a harness.

When they were ready, they strolled toward the white, letter-box mansion's front courtyard of potted firs, centerpiece waterfall and stone benches, to the main entrance porch and enormous redwood doors.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

An elderly butler, in a black suit with long tail coat, stepped through the open doors to greet them. 669 noted his meticulous strides and upright posture: the man's strides were well honed to a single rhythm and lightness to his steps.

“Greetings dear guests. Please follow.” The old butler's words held neither greeting nor disrespect: the tones were formal and rigid.

669 could tell when someone was military trained being an ex-faceless henchman himself. But if that was so, it was an odd trait to see in a butler considering that the role was a Majestic Will and only skills for this will could be honed. If he had been required to learn military skills as part of his will then the Poirot's business was far deadlier than simple antiquities. A thought that stirred many questions within his mind.

“Did you serve in the military?” 669 soberly asked to test the man's response.

“No.”

They continued to follow the butler away from the main entrance and along a side path toward the back-end where the way split into two paths: one leading toward a hedge-maze garden. Their walk was down the other path that followed the mansion wall. The butler stopped before a spot, where there were splotches of discolored stone, and looked up.

789 frowned and knelt down to examine the stone, thinking that the discoloring was too dark to be water stains. Her instincts triggered a twitch to her fingers, making them recoil. Answers formed in her mind of what caused the splotches.

“The broken window is directly above us on the fifth floor. I'll take you there once you have examined this area.”

669 nodded and began to count his breaths in a steady rhythm to activate his innate magic ability. His inner vision opened and expanded to see an inversion of their surroundings so what was light was dark and vice versa. He glanced up the stone wall, seeing many cracks made in the past and recent. From the haphazardly and scraggly line patterns and scorch mark impressions, it seems the mansion had faced assaults both magical and mundane. This wasn't a surprising fact, since more money means more enemies.

The hazy orange color of the walls showed an unstable protection formation, and the thin energy suggested a strong magic force had disrupted the wall's virya. Virya energy was what the world provided: from the soil deep within the ground to the air in the sky. Everything, both living and non-organic, was made and connected by virya. This source was charged when something had manipulated the natural and static flow of elements. He doubted a broken window would've caused it, and there was no other evidence of the mansion experiencing a recent seige.

He scoped the window's break with his vision, which made his frown deeper. There was an outline that would indicate something was pushed out the window: heavy and hard.

“I'll take you to the floor now.” The butler interrupted his thoughts.

669 closed his inner vision.

“Of course, please lead the way.”

They followed the butler.

“Hey, 669, something doesn't feel right here. There's no glass,” 789 whispered with a shiver from the weird virya vibes she was getting.

He nodded. “Best we just do what we need to do and leave.”

“At least we can agree there.” Indigo added.