Fayette slowly backed away from the [Doctor] and held up her broom between them.

“You—You’re not using that ability on me! I won’t get mixed up with any of that!”

Olivia didn’t look at her, instead continuing to search through the guard’s belongings for anything else of interest. “Relax, it will be a good while before I can use that one again.” She said.

Wait, does she mean she would use it if she could?

Only relaxing slightly, Fayette lowered her broom a bit. She would have to discreetly inquire just how long that good while would be, but for now she should be safe. Though, this really did not seem like [Doctor] behaviour to Fayette.

“Are you really a [Doctor]?”

This time the woman turned to look at her, thunder gathering on her face.

“Really a [Doctor]? Of course I am, I’ve got my license. I've done my apprenticeship.”

But you also had that [Falsify Documents] skill... Fayette held her tongue. She did not need to argue with Olivia more during this mission.

“Alright, does he have anything more? Should we move on?”

Olivia rose up, still cradling her head. “Yeah, he only really had the keys. Damn, how much did he drink yesterday? I can usually handle quite a bit.”

Fayette refrained from commenting and started silently leading them back towards the door. The padlock greeted them once again, but after a bit of fiddling about with keys, it was open and the factory was theirs to explore.

Elise had made an effort at hammering the layout into Fayette’s head, but the inside of the place still disoriented her. It was just all so big. She had seen big houses before—the manor had not spared expenses in that regard, but the enormous hall that spread out in front of her was something else entirely. It was by far the biggest room she had ever been in.

The general principle for finding their target, the boiler room, was to follow the pipes that led there. The only issue was that the room was absolutely covered in pipes—they were everywhere. Fayette had trouble tracing them through the room as they went through. It all just sort of melded into one big pipe in her mind.

She decided to leave navigating to Olivia, and focus on cleaning.

There should [Guards] inside the place too, so Fayette started sweeping the floors while under the effect of [Unseen Attendant]. Olivia slinked forward ahead of her, flitting from shadow to shadow while under her stealth skill.

Fayette moved too, but, well, her progress was a lot slower.

There was a lot to clean with all the machinery in the place after all, and if she started cleaning, she couldn’t leave things half-done. How much dust do the tops of these pipes gather? Has nobody wiped these?

She saw the glow of a lantern near, a [Guard] circling the premises on his nightshift, but the man took no notice of her. [Unseen Attendant] was doing its job well—she was just a part of the scenery.

She started getting really into it—there was just so much to do in this big hall! A bit of dust on the pipes here, wiping off some grease stains there, clearing the dirt off the floor, it was a veritable trove of cleaning work for her. Just as she was hitting her stride, the [Maid] felt a tap on her back.

“Will you come along already?” Olivia said, voice twinged with annoyance. “You’re not even going forward; you’ve circled back to clean the same place again twice. I found the boiler room already, that way.” She finished and pointed the way.

Fayette blinked her eyes, noticing she had indeed been very thorough. Oh, yeah, the whole point was to discreetly move in that direction. This skill is more difficult to use than I thought. How am I supposed to only clean a bit?

“I’ll try and start cleaning my way in that direction. Should we do something about the [Guard]? There’s only one circling around here.” She whispered back.

The [Doctor] was silent for a moment, mulling over the facts. Eventually she came to a decision. “We’ll have to take him out. He’s too close—our distraction wouldn’t work. No way they would confuse the smoke source.”

Fayette nodded, and started cleaning her way to the more open pathways, away from the forest of machinery and pipes. It rankled her a bit, leaving the big room only one third finished, but she could take others into account too. Sometimes. Especially if that someone was Mireille.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Hopefully she’s doing fine over on her part. I really shouldn’t keep her waiting, this whole thing hinges on us as much as her. Can’t have one group lounging about.

She was starting to get close to the [Guard] by now and could make out a tired-looking man carrying a spear in one hand and a lantern in the other. He didn’t seem to be paying much attention to his surroundings and didn’t even look in her direction. I wonder if I could take him out on my own?

Though, what exactly did “taking out” mean here? The [Guard] didn’t feel to Fayette like her other targets had—he wasn’t really an obstruction to things working, just a man doing his normal job. The issue here was what he was guarding, not the man himself. What did that mean?

So, someone has received orders to do something bad, but they themselves do not know it. What exactly should I do about them? Hmm, wish he was a kobold or rat or something. Why can’t I just whack that [Lord]? Would be so much simpler.

A sudden moral quandary was really not what Fayette needed right now, so she decided to just ignore it and think things through later. For now, she would get rid of him—whatever that entailed. There were no guarantees in combat after all. I’ll just do my best. Whatever will be, will be.

She was quite close to the man by now, and he still hadn’t taken any notice of her. Was this another invitation? She would take it. She slowly moved onward, careful to keep sweeping up the dust.

Just a few feet away from him, she suddenly stopped, and thrust her broom forward at the [Guard], aiming right at his head.

For a moment, Fayette thought she would get him, but suddenly the man perked up, falling into a proper stance. His face showed some surprise, but that didn’t slow his reaction, and his spear came to block the broom in a practiced, instinctual motion. Her broom was swatted away, and Fayette took a step back, frowning. Damn, guess this isn’t going to be quite that easy.

The [Guard] also took a step back, keeping his spear pointed at Fayette. His face no longer looked distracted, only focused. “What do you think you’re doing here, girl? A broom? Really?” He warily looked around, then started advancing, slowly walking forward, bringing his spear tip ever closer to the [Maid]. "Lay down that thing! Don't think of trying anything foolish."

Fayette started backing away too, though not because she feared the spear. The man’s words hadn’t pleased her. Want to make fun of my broom, huh? I’ll show you. She kept backing up, all the way to the point where she had stopped cleaning.

The point where her big pile of dust was lying in wait.

She took one more step back, then thrust her broom behind, activating [Sweep Dust] at the same time. Like a painter using their brush, she swept her broom back around and sent the cloud of dust at the man.

He pulled back. “[Iron Wall!]”. A grey barrier appeared at his front, and blocked the cloud of dust completely. It faded away after a second, revealing an unharmed [Guard], spear ready for a thrust. He advanced, thrusting forward.

Fayette silently cursed to herself. Fighting a proper [Fighter] one-on-one seemed to be bit harder than she had hoped.

Luckily, she was actually not fighting one-on-one

Olivia finally chose to make her appearance. The [Doctor] was suddenly there—right behind the [Guard]. Fayette was shocked too—she had also forgotten her backup. The gloomy [Doctor] had a surgical knife in hand and struck it at the man’s back.

Blood started pouring out in a steady stream, and the [Doctor] stepped back before the [Guard] could react. Fayette recognized the skill. [Bloodletting]. So it’s useful for something like this too?

The [Guard] didn’t yell out or panic, he simply turned and backed away to the wall, so that nobody could get at his back again. That, however lost him the initiative. He tried to reach around with his left, an attempt to tried to plug the leak, but it didn’t work. The bloodflow didn’t stop. Fayette heard him mutter a quiet curse.

“I give him a minute before he’s out.” Olivia said, joining Fayette’s side. She looked at ease, as if a spear wasn't pointed her way just a few paces away. Fayette was warier, still keeping her broom pointed at the man.

“You took your sweet time.” She said, a bit irritated at the woman.

“Needed to have him distracted, and having just used a skill, ideally.” Olivia responded.

The [Guard] seemed to realize that the bloodflow wasn’t stopping, and made a decision. He suddenly sprang forward, abandoned his defence. “You bastards, I’ll take you with me!” He shouted as he rushed forward, aiming to skewer Olivia.

The [Doctor] instantly backed away to the side, leaving Fayette in his path. The [Maid] didn’t have another pile of dust at the ready, but she had other ways. The [Guard] didn’t seem too poised anymore. Bleeding and panicked. Don’t think you can manage another block like that.

She used [Spicy Cooking], conjuring up some spice in her right hand. She kept the hand closed and on her broom, not revealing her ploy. The [Guard] got closer.

Once the man was almost at her, she sprang back, and threw the spice right at his face.

This time, he had no shield skill. The spices landed true, and the man lost his vision, yelling out in frustration.

A blinded, bleeding and frustrated opponent? This was something Fayette had more experience and confidence with. She sidestepped the charge, stayed in brooming range, and swung her broom at the man’s helmeted head. It rang like a bell, and he fell down, needing no more.

This time, Fayette stayed her hand. She didn’t think the man would be getting back up any time soon, especially judging by the bloody trail he had left behind. He wasn’t bleeding anymore tough—Olivia seemed to have stopped the skill.

The [Doctor] reappeared next to Fayette, stepping out of the shadows once more, and inspected the man. Fayette felt a bit frustrated that the woman had run off again, leaving her to deal with the man, but she stayed her tongue. Now was the time for work. She looked at the man, and noted he was still breathing.

“Is he going to be alright?” She asked the [Doctor].

Olivia shrugged. “Maybe? Probably? I don’t know. No time to check.”

Fayette wasn’t sure whether that was really an attitude befitting a [Doctor], but she didn’t really care that much. Well, whatever. Onwards it is. I wonder how Mireille is handling her end.