The five moons hovered in the night sky, as the light of the stars dimmed because of the light pollution caused by torchlights and streetlamps. In the large gardens of a mansion in the suburbs of Tyr, two guardsmen lazily walked through the well-trodden footpaths on their patrol of the property.

The tall guard covered his mouth as he yawned.

“Don’t let the captain catch you sleeping on your feet like that. If you want her to dump a bucket of ice on you, you’re welcome to half-ass your job when you’re not paired up with me. I have absolutely no idea how you can deal with that kind of chill in the middle of the night.”

The tall guard grinned at the short one.

“But that’s the best part! The 37th time hits differently.”

The short guard rolled his eyes.

“You’re a goddamned creep, you know that? If I get punished with you one more time, I am ratting you out to her in a heartbeat.”

“Don’t be like that, man. Nobody likes a snitch, least of all the captain. I’ve seen the way you looked at her when she wasn’t paying attention, so you should put your best foot forward. Also, don’t kink shame me!”

“Oh, I absolutely will kink shame you, you fat fu-”

The guards turned around the corner, and the five of us rushed out of the bushes to the walls of the mansion.

“Fly up to the balcony; Kiara, help me carry Nisos.” Nico said through the telepathic connection.

Jezibel, who merged with her owl beforehand, flew up with Ati to make sure the balcony on the second floor was clear.

Nico and I each grabbed one of Nisos’s arms and lifted him up to where Ati and Jezibel had landed.

“Any guards inside?” Nisos asked.

“None. This room’s empty.” Ati responded.

Ati slowly and quietly opened the balcony’s door, after which we all went in and closed the door behind us. Jezibel summoned her monkey, which then quietly left the room to look for our target.

“Any idea where the bedrooms are?” Jezibel asked.

“Look through the second floor; it’s probably near the windows, so stay close to the walls.”

The mansion was rather large, and what it lacked in floor count it more than made up for in the sheer size of its two floors.

***

Ten minutes later, we still didn’t locate Arshut’s bedroom. Dodging patrols slowed down Jezibel’s monkey, but it was mostly the size of the building that got in the way.

“How many rooms can a single manor have?! Can this woman even afford this kind of place with her salary…?” Jezibel complained.

“Now’s not the time for questions like that, Jezibel. Keep searching; we’ll find her eventually. We’ll ask her later.”

Minutes later, the monkey found a room at the end of a hall whose door was covered by a pair of guards.

“I think I found the room. There are guards restricting access to a door, unlike all the rest.” Jezibel said.

“Good work; lead us there.” Nisos said, to which she nodded, and we began to follow her.

Either we were doing a stellar job, or these guards were horrendous, because we managed to avoid attracting any attention until we reached the hallway in question. I peeked at guards from behind the wall to appraise them, and the results were rather interesting.

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Appraisal Denied.

Appraisal Denied.

“I can’t appraise the guards. They’re probably better than the rabble we saw on the way here. What now?” I asked.

“Leave this one to me. Stay back and cover your noses.” Ati said.

We did as he said, while he went down on a knee and softly laid down a small bag of a powder. He silently moved tiny amounts of the powder to the ceiling and down the hall, dropping them on the guards’ heads. Moments later, we heard the guards fall to the ground.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Sleep powder. Alchemists normally create this to help with sedating monsters or curing insomnia, but it has uses in more nefarious activities as well, as you can see.”

“Enough chatter, let’s go.” Nico said, and we walked down the hall and past the guards through the door.

We ended up finding a woman with a dagger in her chest, a gag in her mouth, and tears in her eyes.

“What the hell? Why’s she dea-”

My words were interrupted by a loud alarm that began ringing throughout the manor, alerting the army of guards to the presence of intruders.

Nico wasted no time rattling off a series of instructions.

“New plan. Cover me while I use Testimony of the Silent. Nisos, take the door. Jezibel, watch the windows. Kiara, cause a distraction. Ati, go help her. Don’t let anyone see through your disguises, don’t use any abilities that could be traced back to you, and don’t kill anyone. Get out of there in five minutes and meet back at the agreed location. Go!”

I dashed out of the room and into the hallway, and Ati rushed to follow behind me.

“Do you have any ideas in mind?” Ati spoke out loud now that we were out of Nisos’s telepathic range.

“The simplest one!” I laughed, as I turned around a corner into a pair of unsuspecting guards.

I crashed straight into one of them shoulder-first, sending him flying down the hall, while the other was launched off his feet by a heavy gale to join his partner.

“Follow me!” I said as I jumped straight through a nearby window into the manor’s gardens.

I stood up and found myself surrounded by surprised guards.

“Come at me, you bastards!”

***

With my bare fists, I beat up dozens of the rank F, level 10 to 20 guards. Beyond broken bones and bruises, none of them sustained life-threatening injuries. I’d thought their numbers advantage and my handicap would give me a challenge, but it was as one-sided a beatdown as it could be. Ati even stayed hidden, likely because he didn’t think I needed the help.

Just as I was about to leave, an enraged yell caught my attention.

“HALT! Where do you think you’re going after you attacked my men?!”

A woman in plate armor pointed her spear at me as she glared at me intensely through the slit in her helmet.

[Foxwoman Lv. 8 – Guard Captain Lv. 47]

I didn’t have time to mess around with her, so I summoned my wings and prepared to take off.

[Anchor Howl]!

My attention was immediately grabbed by the woman in question. I felt an ominous compulsion to face her. Should I turn my back on her, she will likely be able to launch a devastating attack at me.

I grinded my teeth in anger as I recalled that this was the same skill used by the adventurers who tried to enslave me in the Abyss. I rushed directly at her to end this fight and escape as quickly as possible.

The guard captain thrust her spear at my face, which I responded to with a fist straight at the spearhead.

The spear’s shaft shattered to the shock of the captain, though she managed to bend away from my punch at the last moment.

She didn’t manage to move away from my leg, though, and she was thrown of her feet and into the ground a few meters away from me.

I summoned my wings and rose to the sky, only to be tied down by a whip attached to my leg.

“You’re not… getting away!” she yelled at me through gritted teeth.

I scoffed.

I flapped my wings harder, pulling the entire woman up with me, only to suddenly stop and give her a taste of my boot.

This time, she let go of the whip attached to my foot and fell to the ground, groaning in pain. I untangled the whip and dropped it, then flew off into the distance with Ati following behind discreetly. Soon enough, we flew into the mountains, where our pursuers could no longer chase us.

***

“That was a complete disaster. I am not sure what I expected behind that door, but our target’s corpse was not one of them.” I said to Ati as we began approaching the rendezvous point.

“It gets worse. The guild likely killed Arshut to silence her and frame us at the same time. They couldn’t have done that without knowing who we are or what we planned on doing. I have a feeling that our attempts at hiding our identities will prove to be a failure.” He responded.

I sighed.

“Well, I hope Nico managed to learn something useful from the dead woman. Otherwise, we’re in deep trouble and our last lead on the guild goes up in smoke.”

The rendezvous point was a hidden cave in the mountains, where the other three sat down with frowns on their faces.

Jezibel looked exhausted, likely from helping Nico carry Nisos, while the Tameryian noble was just fine.

Nisos gave us a weak smile.

“Welcome back, you two. Good job distracting the guards.”

Ati shook his head and leaned with his back against the cave’s wall.

“Kiara did the heavy lifting; I just knocked out guards from the shadows while Kiara grabbed their attention. In any case, what did you guys learn?”

Nico sighed.

“Take a seat and get comfortable; it’s going to take some time to go over this mess.”