According to normal logic, cultivators weren’t supposed to be so inebriated they could barely sit up straight. However, that was only in a general case. If their body tempering was particularly weak and they never learned to filter alcohol out of their system, it was possible. Of course, for an Augmentation cultivator there was only one possibility that actually made sense. Specifically, choosing to be drunk.

Which wasn’t that odd to see because that was one of several reasons people would come to a bar. Some liked the social aspects, some enjoyed the process of drinking, but sometimes people wanted to be drunk.

That was what Velvet observed as Lelka tried to keep herself on a stool, a jug of whatever she was drinking sloshing around in her hand. “D’ya know how hard it is to do m’ job?” the woman slurred, waving her jug at the bartender.

The man looked highly uncomfortable. “I do not, honored elder. This lowly one would never presume-”

“If I wash honored, people would listen to me!” Her jug cracked slightly as it collided with the bar. “Instead they jus’ smile n’ nod!”

Velvet took a seat at the bar, leaving one space between herself and Lelka. Her information hadn’t indicated the woman was… like this. Then again, they didn’t have a reliable spy network here yet. They were working on it, but they could only trust so much. General information such as names and positions were assumed to be correct but incomplete.

“What’s your best wine?” Velvet asked, displaying the aura of an Integration cultivator. The bartender appeared to be only in Spirit Building, but would be able to sense that much. Which meant he should serve her something within her projected budget, just in case they actually had something better. This was part of a large sect, after all, though not in the very core.

The bartender looked relieved to have an excuse to do something else, and hurried off. Though it appeared he would return quickly enough.

“Whadya think, huh?” Lelka turned to directly address Velvet.

“About what, if I might ask?”

“About me! Or about what other people think about me,” the woman said, attempting to take a swing from her jug but probably getting equal parts alcohol and glass shards.

“Well,” Velvet shrugged. “Everyone respects your position, of course.”

“Do they?” Lelka said, leaning forward until she was precariously balancing an elbow on the stool between the two of them. “B’cause the Exalted ‘un chose me as a sunny- a sena- a fancy assistant to replace her and didn’t even ask if I wanted ta.”

Velvet had to carefully regulate her reactions as she responded. “I would not claim to know the thoughts of the Exalted One.”

“Then it’s not everyone! But I bet nobody else respeksht me either. You musht be one a th’ new kids, nobody else talks to me.”

Velvet forewent mentioning that Lelka spoke to her first, especially since that might call attention to her manipulations to make that happen. “I haven’t been around the main sect much,” she explained. That was… technically true.

“Yeah?” Lelka’s jug crashed to the ground as she tumbled off her stool. A moment later she was kneeling in the spilled booze and glass shards, propping her head up on the middle stool. “Wanna see it?”

“See… what?” Velvet asked.

“The main sect. Since nobody appre- cares about th’ stuff I do, I gotta show someone. Newbies are good. You can bring two- no!” Lelka slapped her hand on the bar. “Three friends! Plus yourself! That’s… a lot!”

“I’m not quite sure what you mean,” Velvet admitted.

“It’s simple! Grand halls! Gardens! The throne room! Outside the vaults!” Lelka grimaced. “Because they won’t let me see inside. Ya can’t visit the bedrooms though. Or the baths.”

“Okay…?” Velvet said. This was kind of what she wanted, but she’d really just been looking for a weakness in security or something. It was… weird.

Just about that time the bartender returned with a bottle. Lelka snatched it. “Put it on my tab.” Then she shoved it into Velvet’s hands. “C’mon, take it!” Lelka staggered to her feet. “I’ll meet ya at the wes- or was it south…?- the near gate! Bring people!”

The woman pulled herself up off the ground and began to stomp out of the building.

-----

Velvet had concerns. Nothing was this easy. Thus, she had to arrange the possibilities in order. From least likely to most likely… fate was entirely on her side and had decided to make things easy. The next most likely was much less favorable, but still manageable. Lelka might be using her in some sort of scheme related to internal politics. The most likely, or at least the one that she had to plan around, was that their infiltration was already compromised.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

However, any of the scenarios should bring them into the main sect grounds. This might be their only chance, and if they could bring their possibility of success up by any margin they had to take it. If they were compromised, not showing up would be dangerous. Being part of a scheme could go either way, but it might provide them the necessary opportunity.

Striding along the street with an unopened bottle of wine still clutched in her hand, Velvet considered the options. They had to go. Was the invitation for two or three others part of the trap, intended to separate them into smaller groups? It might be. But if it was a legitimate invitation for some sort of scheme, Velvet needed to pick a particular group.

She was automatically included, of course. Then two more, Alva and Koralo. The reason for that was because… they were the ones who would actually be able to see things. If this was a final assault, they’d need Chikere and Durff, but they wouldn’t be far. Hopefully Koralo would be able to disable formations from inside. Or have an opportunity to study things.

Velvet checked herself one more time, and the bottle of wine. It didn’t appear to have any tracking techniques, and there were no strands of energy following either of them. Even so, she found a drunkard of some sort holed up in one of the alleys. She wasn’t quite certain how anyone could survive on the streets of a cultivator sect, but maybe he was a spy.

“Hey,” Velvet said. “Need a drink?”

He caught the tossed bottle, looking at it. He sniffed it, popped the cork out with a bit of energy, and took a swig. That seemed like the wrong order to do things in, but Velvet didn’t particularly care. “... This is good,” he said.

“Too bad for me,” Velvet said. “I’m going into a no-drinking zone.” She didn’t actually think that was the case, but she wasn’t going to keep the bottle with her. Just in case.

The vagrant looked at her with pity. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, well,” Velvet shrugged. “Sometimes you have to deal with circumstances.”

Not interested in prolonged conversation, she meandered off. She noticed his senses followed her for a block before dropping away. He didn’t seem strong, but she wasn’t going to assume anything. If every random person around her was stronger than herself, however, then things were already hopeless. So she had to assume only a few of them were capable of ruining their infiltration.

-----

Velvet grabbed Alva and Koralo because the other two were incapable of creating a believable image of an Exalted Light disciple. Projecting the energy signatures herself would be too risky. Besides, they should still be within attack range of the two if something did go down- though again, they’d have to contend with the local formations.

Optimally they’d learn what they needed to, get out, then form a proper strategy. Most likely, they’d have to take down things from the inside. Velvet ignored the scenarios where they all just died, because those weren’t productive.

“There you are,” Lelka said as they arrived at the gates. Imposing and glittering edifices, entirely pointless for stopping intruders except for their ability to carry formation markings. “Good, you brought friends.” Lelka waved them forward after her. Nobody moved to stop them, and Velvet tried to relax as she passed through the formations. “Forget about all that stuff I said,” Lelka said, her words much steadier. “As the seneschal here, it’s my job to show the best side of the Citadel of Exalted Light. Which is this one,” she gestured forward.

Velvet looked, and while the Citadel itself was indeed poking over the other buildings, it wasn’t a particularly impressive view. She couldn’t help but frowning slightly.

Lelka sighed. “Well I thought it was funny. But maybe we should have been closer.” She turned them down one of the streets. “Here’s the library. Maybe some other day I would be willing to bring you in for a tour and piss off the librarian, but you can check it out yourselves later. Once you have credentials as core disciples.”

Good, they were still doing that. “I’m hoping it’s soon,” Velvet commented. She didn’t like how fast Lelka had sobered up. She hoped it was some sort of pill that was now finished, or they might be in trouble with a completely sober guide. Of course, it could have been an act but she imagined there’d been at least a bit of real intoxication mixed into things to increase the believability. That’s how she would have done it. Once alcohol was in the system, it was a bit more difficult to purge. Velvet would have expected some active effort if Lelka was currently doing that, but maybe she couldn’t sense it.

“Training grounds,” Lelka said. “Including an archery range, though in my opinion an archery range is never that exciting because it’s just open space. Or occasionally a much larger amount of open space.”

Alva used the excuse of Lelka referencing the training grounds to extend her senses. “It looks… extravagant.”

“Oh yeah, the rubies really make the rings of the targets pop,” Lelka commented. “Same with the treasury. But I’m not allowed to change any of that.”

The bitterness seemed real. That was Velvet’s read. She still wasn’t sure why this was happening, but if Lelka asked her to assassinate a rival she’d have to strongly consider it. Though she would of course protest that she was not an assassin. That would be a decent scenario, if she wasn’t immediately double crossed. Preferably, Lelka would wait at least a few minutes, and their team could hopefully take advantage of some potential chaos to attack the Citadel.

Speaking of which, it loomed over them constantly. It seemed like the sort of structure that would reflect light into people’s eyes, but the light seemed to be more intentionally directed instead. She could appreciate that factor, at least.

Where was the best place for them to get ambushed? In the Citadel itself? The formations there could probably hide a small army. Well, an army of Augmentation cultivators didn’t exactly take much space to begin with.

“Here’s the gardens,” Lelka said. “If I had free time I’d probably spend a lot of it here. The obviously warded section that’s radiating an aura of death is the poison garden. Don’t go there without special authorization.”

The gardens were actually relatively modestly sized. Which is to say, just about a square kilometer. Nobody else was in them, but nobody jumped out from behind hedges- or chopped through them. Most likely, these were private gardens for the sect head and particular elders. Then again, Lelka’s words implied they could visit more of it. If they were actually disciples with access to the core sect.

With every step, they got closer to their actual target. Velvet tried not to make it too obvious. Alva was happy to look at everything, which was probably better than pretending like she wasn’t looking. Koralo remained somewhat meditative, perhaps passively reading surrounding formations. He wasn’t exactly trained for espionage, so he was doing about as good as could be expected. If they weren’t already discovered, he’d probably be fine.