Chapter 14 Festive Mood (7)

When Eris left with her elder relative, I inquired about my friend's progress with synchronizing with his shingu. Shaking his head, Natal admitted that he hadn't made any headway and that, without my encouragement, he would have given up, convinced that there was no way to go beyond being a simple user. In fact, he probably wouldn't have attempted it at all, not even realizing such a possibility existed.

In principle, there was nothing surprising about this. Without my cheat-like sensory abilities, the average user of teigu or shingu would have to spend years bonding with their artifact, without any guarantee of success. It seemed that Natal had hit a roadblock, and he would have already given up if it weren't for my assurance that there was more to being a shingu user than he initially thought. After all, without any information, it was difficult to explore the full potential.

Intentionally or not, even in the Base's library there was very little information about teigu and their modern counterparts. For the most part, it all came down to descriptions of the approximate abilities of artifacts and their users.

"Alright, let's figure out what the problem is."

While my friend tried to attune himself to his glaive, I entered a state of meditation. With a fair amount of training in exploring my own energy and our connection to Yatsufusa, I knew exactly what to look for to gather as much useful data as possible without causing harm.

I managed to pinpoint Natal's mistake rather quickly. In essence, instead of transferring his own energy to the artifact and receiving it back, he was pushing it out too forcefully, releasing a significant portion of the energy into the environment.

However, explaining this to him and how to correct it was much harder than identifying the issue. It was akin to trying to teach a blind person the sequence of actions to create a painting. It could be done, but it was tedious. Moreover, the final artwork, painted according to memorized commands, would likely be far from ideal.

As I explained and observed Natal's attempts to synchronize properly, I realized that I had significantly underestimated the complexity of the process for a user without heightened sensitivity. It was now evident why only those with a high innate compatibility were able to demonstrate something extraordinary.

By the way, the power of Natal's shingu felt considerably "softer" and less dense compared to Yatsufusa's energy, and it seemed that it housed a less malevolent and powerful entity.

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By the time Natal managed to take his first correct step, my throat had gone dry from constant talking. Of course, there was no direct work with the artifact-user connection, and I didn't intend to have any such conversation, but there was significant progress from a standstill. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I sent my friend to fetch tea and a cake. A little sustenance was necessary before discussing some thoughts.

While we were enjoying the cake, I shared my thoughts about the upcoming mission. The assignment was causing some concerns, so it was best not to resort to the Squad's usual tactics. We no longer had air transport for a quick evacuation from the hornet's nest, and without it, even if we managed to eliminate the targets immediately, leaving the city wouldn't be easy. Escaping through unfamiliar terrain from skilled local hunters was far from enjoyable. Also, we shouldn't forget about the risk of information leaks and their unpleasant consequences.

".. thus, how would we not run into a warm welcome from the rebels," I finished my monologue.

"But the documents say that the targets are not directly linked to the revolutionaries and are not on good terms with each other," Natal frowned.

"Right, and they're trying to break the province away from the Empire out of love for the arts. Even if you're correct, where else can they seek support other than from the rebels? I believe we were sent there to remove the local general and city governor before they come to an agreement with the insurgents."

"If they haven't already," I thought grimly. After all, the headquarters of the RA was located in the southern part of the Empire, and that's where they wielded the most influence. If rebel spies already knew about our mission, locating the targets and striking a deal with them would be straightforward. Judging by Natal's tense expression, he was thinking along similar lines.

"If we're expected, that's very bad!" he nervously drummed his fingers on his knee. "The insurgents could have descriptions of both your and my appearance. Damn!"

"Well, it's unlikely that everything is that dire. They might be expecting someone from the Imperial assassins, but not specifically from the Squad. However, you're right, it's better to take precautions," I added after sipping some tea from my cup. "Before the group enters the city, Yatsufusa and I will politely inquire with the local guard. I also think it's best not to inform the local intelligence division of our visit."

"We need to talk to Kei Li. His group has often worked with our spies and the police," Natal added, to which I nodded in agreement.

As we discussed, we concluded that changing our cover would indeed be a good idea, but its execution might prove challenging. Firstly, well-to-do noble travelers were expected to spend a considerable amount of money, much more than we were given for the mission. This problem was expected to be resolved tonight.

The next question was proper etiquette. In principle, the imperial etiquette was not overly complicated and varied slightly depending on the region, so that it was possible to impersonate the children of families who had recently joined the nobility from the northeast of the country. For centuries, internecine conflicts and battles with numerous monsters continued in this region, so the rudeness and frostbite of its nobility were widely known... and somewhat exaggerated.

However, the most troublesome issue was documents. The only straightforward way to obtain them was to go to the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, thereby alerting a whole crowd of unnecessary people to our presence. We could attempt to use forgeries, but to acquire them, we needed to know who to approach, as getting fake documents without this knowledge would be highly risky and potentially lead to more problems if the operation failed.

If Kay Lee, who has been the most active among us in this environment, can tell us something, that's good. If not, we can attempt to solve the problem by questioning the dead and conducting a deal through them. If that doesn't work, well, we'll try something else.