I stood beside Rissa once again as I watched her fight some random thugs. The first thing I did was make sure they were a tough opponent for her to beat. That meant getting a bunch of skilled fighters together; that way, if we lost, everyone could just blame it on her lack of strength. They also needed to have their weapons in good condition, so they didn't break during battle.

We decided on five men, all of whom had been in the group that I'd met the other day. Rissa hadn't actually fought with them in person, but she'd already managed to memorize their faces. She didn't need to know their names, but she did need to know roughly where they'd come from and who they were, since she couldn't just throw a random name at me when she talked to the guards afterwards.

As soon as I got the go-ahead from Rissa, I activated my Skill again and flew off. I was pretty confident that the people inside this building would know what I was, but it never hurt to check.

When I landed back down in the same area that I'd seen her fight before, I checked to make sure that none of the thugs had noticed my presence yet. They were all staring into the distance, completely focused on something. I followed their gaze to see what had caught their attention.

One of the thugs was looking at a building that looked exactly like some of the ones in my village. He was pointing at a sign that said:

─ WARDEN'S OFFICE - CITY GUARDS

"He's pointing at the city guard office," I whispered to myself. "I wonder if it's the same place as my office."

Then, I flew over the fence, landed on top of the roof, and walked in. As soon as the guards noticed me, I used my Skill to become invisible. Since they couldn't see me, none of them tried to stop me. This gave me the perfect opportunity to observe them silently.

After observing everything that went on inside for a while, I finally decided to approach them.

"Uhh... hello?" I said nervously. "Who are you guys? Don't tell me... you guys work here?"

A gruff man who was standing near the entrance immediately spun around. He had a large moustache and a thick beard, but he still managed to look intimidating despite his small size. With the power of intimidation alone, he easily managed to keep the other guards standing behind him in line. The way he stood made him appear like an extremely well trained soldier, and it took everything in me not to start trembling.

"Ah, you must be one of those new recruits! You should watch your tone with us, young man," the man growled at me. "This is the City Guard's workplace. Not yours."

I gulped. "O-Of course," I stammered nervously. "I'm sorry. Did I get in trouble or something?"

"Hm? Oh, no, not at all," the man grunted. He motioned at the door next to him. "Go ahead and leave if you wish, boy. I'll take care of things. We don't need your kind around here."

"Wha...?! N-No, wait!" I exclaimed. "Uh... w-what kind of recruit am I supposed to be? I'm not even a warrior, and my Skill wasn't that strong either..."

"A mage!" the man barked angrily. "Do you not know what your role is supposed to be?"

"Oh... right," I muttered. "Sorry about that. You're right, of course. I mean, I did just join the army, so I wasn't expecting to be a mage in my first battle."

"Mages are useless!" the man spat. "They can't fight! All they do is cast spells at people!"

His words struck me like a hammer to the head. It felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice cold water on me, only to splash the water back in my face after taking several steps back. Now I knew why the guards were treating me like I was some sort of freak. My jaw dropped.

I had been raised by mages. My mother was a mage, my father was a mage, and my older brother also became a mage. I grew up watching all of them cast spells at people, and I even learned how to do it myself. But...

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"That's not true!" I screamed. "Not all mages are powerless!"

The man glared at me. "You think so? Then prove it."

His demand shocked me. Had I really just heard what I thought I did? Was this the city guard? A bunch of men meant to protect their city from criminals? Had they just said that they wanted me to attack them?

If that was truly their opinion, then I could understand why no one liked magic users. If I attacked and killed someone who worked for the city, then there wouldn't be any problem. After all, if I did it in self-defense, no one would question my actions. That way, I'd be a hero to the people. I was pretty sure I could pull that off.

"W-Wait!" I quickly objected. "What's gotten into you guys?"

"Why should we listen to you, boy?" the guard scoffed. "You don't even have a weapon. How could you fight us anyway?"

"N-No, that's—" I began. Before I could finish, another guard stepped forward. This one seemed a little calmer than the last one.

"We know a mage when we see one," he said. "Even if he doesn't have a weapon, that doesn't change the fact that he's a mage. What I want to know is how he managed to sneak past our defenses without us noticing him."

"Th-That's impossible!" I said, panicked. "I've already gone through the checkpoint, and I was just as careful as everyone else."

"You didn't go through the checkpoints?" The two guards looked at me with disdain. "Didn't you check out the guards in front of each and every checkpoint? I'd bet good money that's what happened."

As I listened, my heart suddenly started beating faster. They were right, and yet, I couldn't believe it. I had passed through several checkpoints, and nobody had given me a second glance. But I hadn't been able to pass a single checkpoint without anyone looking my way. How could that happen?

I was a mage. Why hadn't they seen me?

"I-It's impossible," I said. "You've got to be mistaken. I had to pass through every checkpoint. There was nobody there besides the guards, so you must have overlooked me."

"Hmm..." The first guard scratched his chin. "There might be something to that. Still, that still doesn't explain how you managed to sneak through."

The next guard spoke up. "Well, whatever. We can talk about that later. Right now, there's another matter to discuss. I want you to tell me how you managed to get inside the castle."

"Uhh..." I mumbled. "I mean... I'm really sorry."

"Hmph. As far as I'm concerned, you've already confessed. What more could you possibly say?"

The first guard nodded. "Right. So... what did you do exactly?"

"Ahh..." I tried to remember. I had just joined the army, but I had also had enough time to make sure I wouldn't be spotted. In addition, I had memorized the layout of the castle, meaning that it shouldn't have been too hard for me to move around freely. So why had I been caught? What had I done wrong?

I tried to recall everything. I had entered the castle through an air vent near the courtyard. Once inside, I had wandered around aimlessly until I found an open window. I took down the guards stationed outside, then went inside and locked the door behind me. There were only three guards, and I had overpowered them quickly and easily.

Everything had gone according to plan. I had then explored the interior of the castle, and even walked through a couple of rooms. Afterward, I went deeper into the castle and eventually came to the inner courtyard. From there, I had snuck through an air vent and infiltrated the castle. The problem was...

"Wait, hold on. How did you find this air vent?"

My mind was racing. I was sure it had been a small tunnel, but I had completely forgotten about it. It had been pretty obvious.

But I didn't think they could have known about it. After all, there had been hardly anyone inside the castle when I had come here. And yet, these guards knew exactly where the tunnel was. It was almost like they'd had a premonition.

This was bad. I had never been interrogated by the guards before. If I didn't manage to stall long enough, the interrogation room would probably swallow me. At least, that's what I expected to happen.

I tried to speak. Unfortunately, even my throat hurt after being silent for such a long time. I coughed twice, clearing my throat.

The guards looked at me in confusion.

"Is something the matter, boy?" The first guard asked. "Why are you coughing? Are you sick?"

"N-No! Nothing like that!" I quickly responded. "I just haven't spoken in a while, that's all!"

"Hmph..." The guard nodded. "Whatever you say." He turned back towards his partner. "What do you think? Should we take him to the interrogation room?"

"Yeah. I think so. This guy looks pretty suspicious. It'd be better to bring him in and question him properly."

They were talking like it was just a normal interrogation. What they had said made sense, especially since I had managed to get past their defenses. However, I was still confused. Could they possibly have known about the tunnel? No. That seemed impossible. Nobody except me had known about it, and that knowledge had only been available to me for a short period of time. Even then, I had spent a significant amount of time searching for the tunnel.

Could someone have reported me? I couldn't see how that could be true. My plan hadn't even been worth reporting, and I had just gone along with things until I succeeded.

I wasn't about to admit defeat yet. This was too big a risk to let slip by; I needed to stall.

And I had an idea on how to do it.