Day 25 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

Capital City of Naveland, Nave Province

THE MAN that Brad got her was someone she recognized from her socializing days as the princess. She raised an eyebrow when she saw him walking through the door. Never had she realized that this person was involved with Blades. “Jason Calver,” she said, observing him.

The young man grinned. “Your Highness! What a surprise to see you here.”

As the son to the Marquis of Higg, he was titled with the subsidiary title as the Viscount of Higgston. He stayed in Goldburg most of his life, and was known as a close friend of Axel Marvin, the heir of the Duke of Goldburg. But every Winterfell season, as was common, all nobles went to the Capital to hold the annual assembly, so Victoria was introduced to him in parties.

All in all, he wasn’t a bad fellow. He was just famous as a good-for-nothing young noble who could only play with women all day. One story even said that he could stay for months in a brothel. It was surprising to find out that he actually worked for Blades. In that case, perhaps him staying in brothels was for other purposes.

Brad was right. This guy was very good at staying hidden.

“You sure you just want one, Highness?” Brad asked, glancing at Jason.

“Well, he is your best one, right?” She said, looking at the Viscount up and down.

“He does look unconvincing,” Brad nodded, ignoring the protestation from Jason. “But that’s what makes him a good spy.”

“Well, okay then. We’ll go now.”

They left Brad’s office and walked outside, to the common room. The other members, as usual, only glanced for a few seconds then paid them no attention. Blades seemed uncaring, but they were trained to do so. As far as she knew, each of them only knew their own mission, unless they had certain clearances.

Jason actively talked, though. “Your Highness, did you meet my friend?”

“Ah, the Marquis of Ferrough?” Victoria nodded. “Yeah, I did. He’s in the south now, defending Dustor City.” She frowned. “Is he also…?”

She didn’t finish her sentence, but it seemed like Jason understood. He laughed. “That’s not my secret to tell.” But he was pretty much confirming that Axel Marvin was also a member of Blades.

Victoria was a bit surprised. How many of the nobilities were involved in Blades? Although now that she thought about it, because Blades first surfaced in Goldburg, it made some sense that the Goldburg nobilities would be involved.

Well, if she kept thinking about it, it would never end. She should just let things be and not get involved anymore with Blades other than necessary. After all, Blades didn’t even trust her much—it also wasn’t possible to get involved any further.

“So where are we going?” Jason asked.

“Do you have any information where Arachnids’ latest base is located at?” She asked as she glanced at him.

Jason raised his eyebrow. “Are you not the one with the information? We just did a raid on them a few days ago, on their base north to the capital.”

Victoria glanced at Dev.

Dev nodded.

“Well, just follow me,” Victoria said to Jason, and afterward, she leaned towards Dev. “In North District?”

“A permanent base. The other ones are just distractions,” Dev whispered back.

Victoria raised an eyebrow and nodded again. It needed to be said that it was such a smart move. It would seem that they were moving around after being hit, but there’s actually one primary base that would always be there.

Which made her wonder, how did they hide from Blades’ eyes?

When Dev stopped them on the corner of the street before a few market stalls, she understood how. The market in Northern District was big, but the street was very narrow with buildings crowding next to one another. The stalls were also small and crammed in front of the buildings, making the street even narrower.

Dev frowned. “Weird. It should be here…”

Victoria glanced at him and observed the place. “You’re sure? This just seems like a normal marketplace.”

“I’m sure. It’s always right behind that fruit merchant.” Dev narrowed his eyes. “There should be a small alley there…”

“You sure you really know it?” Jason asked jokingly. “Maybe you remember it wrong. There’s lots of alleys in the Northern Market.”

“I’m sure,” Dev said, still frowning. “They used me for over two years. This place still gives me nightmares.”

Victoria raised an eyebrow. Touching her pendant, Victoria blinked a few times.

“I heard they were ruthless to deserters. How did you get away from them?” She heard Jason asking Dev. She didn’t hear Dev’s answer because she was too focused on the scene across the street.

The pendant has another effect that could only be used once, until it was recharged again. It could dispel any magic that was applied on or around the wearer—which she used to escape the weird village a few weeks ago. Thankfully, Victoria had gone to a witch that she knew the other day to recharge the magic.

The scene in front of her shimmer a bit, showing the alley Dev had been mentioning. Ah. That was why no one noticed the extremely narrow alley between buildings, and it was even hidden by a market stall.

Victoria snorted out a laugh. That was extremely smart. “It’s there.”

The other two looked towards her, and she lifted her chin towards the alley that was now visible.

Jason let out a low gasp, making Dev turned his head towards the fruit stall carefully. “How…”

Victoria smiled towards Dev. “Magic, my dear friend.”

Dev frowned and muttered something like ‘does it really exist?’, while Victoria just laughed.

The stall in front of the alley was a fruit-selling stand, with a man guarding it. On first glance, it looked like an honest merchant selling things to support his family, but as she walked closer, she could see that this man was well-trained in martial arts. She raised an eyebrow. They needed to find a way to get him away from the stall. It’s not going to be easy.

“How do you get past that guy, usually?” She asked Dev.

“There’s a code,” Dev replied.

“Then we should go now. Can you usually bring people in?”

Dev looked at her and then sighed. “No. That fruit merchant will check everyone who comes in. But I don’t recognize him, so I think they changed the gatekeeper. I’m afraid it’s going to be hard getting past him, especially because he recognized none of us.”

“That is going to be a problem,” Jason nodded. “What about this? We wait until night. There shouldn’t be any merchants, right?”

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“But there will be someone who is guarding,” Dev replied.

Jason hummed. “We can stifle him easily at night without all these people around. I heard these people were extremely heinous. I’m afraid fighting the guy in broad daylight wouldn’t go over well.”

“Yeah, fighting would destroy these stalls,” Victoria frowned. “That’s not going to be good for the people. But we cannot wait. I’m afraid they would find the people already if we wait for night.”

“Then what should we do?” Jason asked her.

“Don’t you have anything poisonous to give him?” Victoria asked back. “We can knock him unconscious.”

“I’m afraid he’s not the only gatekeeper,” Dev said suddenly. “The two other merchants beside him would be the other ones.”

“That is a problem,” Victoria mused. “Well, there’s three of them and three of us.”

The other two looked back at her.

“Well, we just need to take care of them one each, right.” Victoria observed. “We can’t knock them out without the other merchants noticing, though.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to be easy,” Jason replied.

All three of them fell silent.

“So, what do we do?” Dev asked.

Victoria glanced towards Jason. “I hired you for a reason. You have anything that can help or not?”

Jason sighed. “Well, there’s an idea… But these merchants in this street won’t be able to sell their wares today.”

Victoria frowned. “I will reimburse them. What is your idea?”

They stood under the eaves of a bakery, talking about strategy. Jason, with a low voice, suggesting starting a fire—a suggestion that she really couldn’t accept. She was, after all, her mother’s daughter—how could she approve something like burning her own Capital’s market?

“Or we can knock everyone on the street unconscious,” Jason suggested.

“Really, how can Brad accept such an unscrupulous person like you?” Victoria sighed. There really was no good idea. They chose a good place—it was too public.

“Would there be a backdoor?” Victoria suddenly asked. “There’s the other market street on the other side, behind the buildings. It was equally crowded usually, but now is lunch time and people usually crowd down south.”

“I don’t know the entrance, though,” Dev replied.

“I should be able to calculate it,” Jason said. “It wouldn’t have been too far, anyhow.”

“It isn’t very big,” Dev said as they walked. “The ground floor of the base is probably just as big as a storage room. I supposed it would be nearer the other street, but I never thought about it.”

‘The other street’, as they called it, was a market street full of stores of antique goods, books, and the likes. It wasn’t as crowded as the main street where all the daily necessities were sold, or the southern street where the restaurants were located. At this very scorching noon, it was rather quiet, with only a few people walking by.

Based on Jason’s so-called calculation, they stopped before an antique store.

“Well, what malicious means do you have so we don’t have to fight?” Victoria asked.

Jason held his hand to his chest. “I’m wounded,” he said, faking a sob. “By no means I am malicious. Here, this is some knockout drugs. Just throw it and it will produce smoke that knock people out.”

Victoria and Dev shared a look, then took the round, dusty white things from Jason’s palm. “Interesting. Brad let these things made?”

“It’s just me and my team, obviously,” Jason rolled his eyes. “Old man wouldn’t want to know my means.”

Victoria grinned. “It does sound like him. So, the plan is to go in and knock as many people up if necessary.”

Jason and Dev looked at her, then looked at each other. “You’re guarding this kind of master?” Jason asked him.

Dev only shrugged. “Got no other choice.”

“Sounds about right.”

Victoria elbowed both of them. “Let’s go.”

No one noticed as they crossed the empty street towards that small store.

“Good afternoon, Honored Guests,” the proprietor greeted enthusiastically. Seemed like he didn’t get many customer. “What are you looking for? We have ancient coins, old paintings, and vintage vases! This, for one, is the beautiful painting of Lady Cordelia, from the era of King Viryia…”

The last one kind of catching her attention, but they didn’t have the leisure to shop. Jason threw the knockout drug on the proprietor and it just knocked him right out. “It won’t kill them, right?” Victoria asked.

Jason shook his head. “It’s a knock-out drug. They would just feel dizzy afterwards.”

As they went in even further to the store, they found a small storage room with empty racks. Victoria frowned and glanced at Dev. “Then, what should we do now?”

Dev didn’t reply—instead, he pushed the wall. Weirdly enough, it turned in its place, kind of like a bookshelf’s secret door—but instead of bookshelves, it’s just a blank wall on both sides.

They walked in and found themselves in a small rough cavernous hallway that was only slightly bigger than the width of the wall. “Ah, so we come here,” Dev said, frowning. He pulled the other two to a branching hallway to the right. They were met with another room, this time with three people guarding tightly and a stairway downstairs.

With the knockout drugs, they quickly took care of the three people without making much noise. Then the three of them went down the stairs—it was made as roughly as the wall, she noticed. This was a very rough place, and obviously not very legal. Underneath should be the sewers—how in the world did they build this underground place? Between the sewers system? And how did Blades not know about this?

The underground place consisted of hallway after hallway, and Dev led them carefully. Victoria felt complicated. This place obviously needed to be investigated. It wasn’t something that should exist in the Capital City, of all places.

“These hallways are like a maze,” Dev said with a very low, careful voice. “Don’t be discovered.”

“You know the way?” Victoria whispered back.

Dev nodded. “Follow me.”

They walked lightly without sound. Dev seemed to navigate the maze with ease, which made Victoria started to wonder what his role in Arachnids before. He knew so much. He wouldn’t have if he was only an errand boy, right?

Victoria was startled when she heard some footsteps sounded from somewhere nearby, but Jason reacted faster. He pulled Dev and Victoria to a small nook a few heights from the ground—the rough cave system of hallways allowed it—and whispered, “I’m going to scout ahead.”

“Be careful,” Dev warned.

Jason nodded, and he walked lightly forward while Dev and Victoria hid. She supposed he was used to scout work, so she felt reassured that he wouldn’t be found. Her attention was distracted when she felt the Major moved. “You…”

Victoria’s eyes met his, and she averted it a bit awkwardly. The crook they hid in was small, so they were smashed side by side. “You… What did you do here before?” She finally asked with the lowest voice possible while keeping a lookout on the hallway.

“What do you mean?” She didn’t see his face, but he sounded genuinely confused.

“You just seem so familiar of this place…”

Dev fell silent. It took so long that she thought he wouldn’t reply, but a second before she was about to open her mouth, he said, “I did a lot of things I am not proud of.”

Victoria glanced at him for a few seconds before averting her eyes again. They were too close together and she didn’t know how to reply.

Thankfully, Dev continued his sentence. “I was their informer. I collect all the useful information and take them to the leader.”

“Then…” Victoria fell silent, knowing it wasn’t time to talk.

Coincidentally, Jason came back at that moment. “Not good,” he said silently, and crowded in with the other two. “The Thunderslash is here!” he hissed.

“Who is that?” Victoria whispered.

“He’s famous in the underworld circle,” Jason said softly. “That weapon of his… can kill anyone like slicing butter.”

“Butter?” Victoria glanced at him weirdly.

“It’s true!”

They heard some people walking closer. “What kind of work is that?! The person is already chained, how hard is it to extract some information?”

The other person sounded a bit nervous. “This… My lord, he was extremely resilient. We already broke all his limb and reconnect it again many times, but he still didn’t budge…”

“You’re stupid! Must I do everything myself?” The first one scolded. And then he stopped as if considering something. “You already replaced him with a corpse, right?”

“Yes,” the subordinate said respectfully. “Someone said people from the Capital Guards found out and is investigating the case.”

Capital Guards? Victoria had a conjecture in her heart. Alize, it should be her. So, this meant… her uncle was still alive.

She let out a sigh of relief. As ruthless as it was, she was relieved that the recruits’ barrack location was safe. There is a bit of worry for the wellbeing of her maternal uncle, but the safety of the Kingdom was also in her hand, after all...

“Did the Capital Guards suspect anything?” The ‘Lord’ asked. She assumed this was the Thunderslash.

“No… They took care of the corpse. After that they sent two people to the house, probably to investigate.”

Two people? She glanced at Dev, and the young man returned her gaze. It was the two of them. So they were suspected to be part of the Capital Guards. It was a good decision to speak with Alize first, then. Next time she really needed to be more careful. She didn’t even consider they would put Nile’s house under watch.

“Then they have no suspicion. Good. Let’s go, I’ll take care of that old man myself.” He strode off, and Victoria held her breath as they passed under the nook that they were hiding in.

When Thunderslash did, he seemed to pause for a second. Before he could do anything, though, one of the subordinates finally caught up to him and bowed, “My lord, not good! You can’t disobey the Leader. He said you’re not to bother the prisoner…”

“You dare obstruct me?!”

She saw it, that Thunderslash sliced someone off.

It was really like butter, slicing cleanly as fast as lightning. The poor victim’s torso fell in his place and blood started spraying everywhere. Even Victoria, who had seen the battlefield, was surprised. It was so efficient and… terrifying. She didn’t even saw it coming. This person could kill anyone he wanted in less than a second.

There was someone with such ability in this world, in this kingdom, lurking in the shadows and helping the enemy.

Victoria shivered.

“Please! Lord, the Leader is looking for you!” The other subordinate who came running with the now dead one said, trembling.

The ‘Lord’ stopped and grumbled, but followed the subordinate away. Victoria put down her hanging heart. “You know where their prison is?” She whispered towards Dev.

Dev nodded. “Follow me.”

So, they started sneaking around again and found that there was a stair down in the corner of the room. This is the second level of the underground… How in the world… Exterminating this would be… impossible.

A nightmare, worse than the dungeons she had ever seen, located under her family’s land, under their jurisdiction.

She felt pained, but she had to keep moving forward. []