Chương 60: Infiltrating The Estate

Early morning. Sera was standing beside Alexandra, watching the Merinus estate from their vantage position.

"I don't know what that potion is," the Keeper said, handing the vial back to her.

"I wouldn't drink it. Obviously." Alexandra nodded.

"I agree. Not putting strange things in my mouth unless my daily quest asks me to."

"Toothpaste isn't a strange thing."

"It's not supposed to be chewy and taste like ash." Sera raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe where you come from, but you better get used to it. Your breath was foul." Alexandra pursed her lips and didn't answer. Three weeks without brushing her teeth was a little bit too much, even for her. But she did brush them the day she was summoned. Wait, did I? I don't remember. Chew on toothpaste (1/1) -> Quest Completed: +10 exp, +1 CON Daily Quest Streak: 19 -> 20 Maybe she should check out that Basic Hygiene skill. She had yet to read the description.

"Focus," Sera said.

"You're going inside the estate today."

"Are… we sure that's a good idea?"

"No. That's a pretty terrible idea. You'd be better off coming with me to Kator directly." Alexandra looked at her.

"But, you want to save your friend," Sera continued.

"I'm not going to do it for you. So that's your only option."

"I get it. It's just a bit intimidating."

"No shit." Sera's gaze was fixated on the servants' entrance.

"There. A group is coming out. Let's go." They came down from their vantage point on the edge of the harbor and walked toward the entrance. They stopped a few streets away, in an empty narrow alley.

"Now we wait for them to come back," Sera said. Alexandra took a deep breath, and pulled a mana thread from her core to get her glamour up. A few seconds later, her face was covered in wrinkles. Clothes with patched holes, gloves to hide her missing finger. She'd hidden her sickle inside her shirt. Just in case.

"How do I look?"

"Make sure nobody looks at you too closely. Your glamour is acceptable, but that's only considering how little training you had."

"Great. That's reassuring." Sera shrugged.

"Wasn't trying to be. Also you should avoid talking. The wrinkles look off when your mouth is moving." Alexandra would be lying if she claimed the thought of giving up hadn't crossed her mind. Finding excuses was easy. She didn't know Louis that well. She was way out of her depth. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. I'm not letting another one go. Not like that.

"They're coming back." Sera interrupted.

"Get ready to follow." Attached to the alley was a larger street, and in this street a dozen servants were walking back to the estate. They were coming back loaded. Baskets of fish, still wet, stacked in pairs and slung over shoulders. Sacks of grain dragged by the younger ones. An old woman near the back carried a crate of cabbage against her chest. Sera popped a crate filled with onions from her spatial storage. Alexandra picked it up.

"I'm going," she whispered.

"Wish me luck."

"Just stick to the plan." She stepped inside the group, matching their pace. One Face Among Many was already working, making her appear inconspicuous.

"Why is the boss asking for so much grain today?" A boy pulling two sacks behind him groaned.

"We'll need at least two more trips to bring it all back."

"Nothing good comes from questioning the boss," an older man who was carrying fish baskets answered.

"Having more food stockpiled is never a bad thing. It doesn't matter if you carry those sacks today or tomorrow." It didn't take long for them to reach the gate. A thick metallic door, and the only gap in the wall surrounding the estate apart from the main entrance. The Wardens' eye was engraved on it. The man in the lead knocked. Seconds later the door swung open, revealing the guard. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. He was tall.

That was the first thing Alexandra noticed. The second was the sword buckled at his belt. She looked away. The servants entered the estate one by one. She joined the queue, her head down and eyes never straying from the back of the man before her. The smell of brine coming from his fish baskets was strong. She didn't flinch. Most of her attention was focused on her glamour. On that one mana thread. She couldn't let go of it. She schooled her facial expression, trying to reduce the strain on her mind.

She passed by the guard. Her steps were slow. She didn't know if he was looking. Then the man in front of her turned right, through the courtyard. She followed. The courtyard was wide and paved, the stones worn smooth. Ahead of her, the main building rose three floors. Pale stone, dark wood trim, a covered entrance with columns. Two smaller annexes flanked it on either side, connected by low archways. The servant quarters ran the length of the far wall.

One floor, long, with a door at each end and small square windows spaced evenly between them. They were heading there. She kept her eyes on the crate, on the onions shifting against each other with each step. Around her, the group had spread out, gaps opening between them. She was near the back. A pair of guards stood in the middle of the courtyard, not sparing them a glance. She adjusted her grip on the crate. They stopped in front of the servant quarters.

The old woman with the cabbages cut in front of her and rapped on the door with her foot.

"Open it," she said.

"My back is killing me." The boy who spoke earlier pushed the door open. Alexandra followed inside. It smelled of old straw and lamp oil. Long tables ran down the center, and shelves lined the walls, stacked with clay pots, folded linen, and a wide array of tools she couldn't name. The man in front of her set his fish baskets down by the door. Others were already moving deeper inside, calling out to each other about where things went. Alexandra put the crate of onions on the nearest table. Nobody looked at her.

She took three steps back toward the door. Then two more. Her hand found the doorframe. She stepped out. Her back turned to the courtyard and facing the stone wall around the estate, she readjusted her thread of mana. It had shifted a little. Then, she turned around and walked toward the main building. The courtyard was busier than she'd first noticed. A man was crossing from the main building to the left annex with a ledger under his arm.

Two guards stood near the main entrance on the other side of the door she'd used to enter the estate. Closer to the servant quarters, a boy was filling a bucket from a pump, working with both hands, the squeak of the mechanism rhythmic and loud. She had to cross diagonally. To the right annex, where Sera had told her she'd find her way to the basement. She walked. Head down, but not too far down. The key was to look like she had somewhere to be, like she belonged.

One Face Among Many was still running, but its effect had faded away from the group. The man with the ledger disappeared into the annex. Good. The distance was not long. She knew this. She counted the paving stones anyway, without meaning to, her gaze tracking the seams between them. She was halfway there when she heard voices coming from the main gate. She threw a glance that way. The guards were talking with someone outside. She looked away before her feet could slow down. Will. He'd seen her once.

At the city gates. Don't look back. Whatever he's doing here doesn't matter right now. Don't look back. She fixed her eyes on the annex door and felt for the mana thread. Still there. She pulled it tighter, felt the familiar ache behind her eyes as her skin folded, and continued. Will was still talking with the guards. She couldn't stop herself from thinking. Did he see her? Did the wrinkle hold when her expression slipped? Was her pace right? Was she hurrying too much?

The boy at the pump stopped working the mechanism. The squeak cut out. In the sudden quiet her footsteps were loud. The main gate creaked open. She adjusted her grip on nothing. Her hands were empty, there was nothing to adjust. She smoothed the front of her shirt instead, wiping her wet palms on the fabric. She put her hand on the latch and pressed down. It opened. She entered and closed the door behind her. Inside was dim. A short hallway, low ceiling, an empty coat rack on one wall.

The floor was the same courtyard stone, as if the annex had been built on top of it. She moved. The hallway opened into a long room that ran the width of the annex. Empty. Three doors. Right, straight ahead, left. Left, Sera had said. The door opened onto a staircase going down. Stone steps, narrow. The air was cold. She took great care to stay silent as she closed the door behind her and walked down the stairs. The light died quickly. By the tenth step, it was gone.

She kept a hand out, fingertips skimming the wall. The stone was damp. Then, at the bottom, light. Not much. Aeration holes cut high in the walls, each no wider than her forearm, letting in thin columns of morning light from the courtyard above. The basement resolved itself. The floor was pale stone, clean and new. Then came the shape of the space. A narrow corridor with heavy metallic doors lining each side. No guard. She stood at the bottom of the stairs and waited, but there was nothing.

No footsteps, no breath, no sound. Just the dust moving in the columns of light and the faint drip of water somewhere. Sera was right. The security here was sloppy. Then again, who would be stupid enough to break into the estate of the most powerful family in Esmera? Alexandra allowed a smile to slip through her glamour. I'm in. She moved into the corridor. The doors were identical. Heavy iron set into the stone, with no handle on the outside. Only the lock, centered at eye level.

Each one pulsed with a dim luminescence. She kept walking. Third door on the left. The door looked the same as the others. The lock pulsed the same faint light. She put her fingers close to it without touching. Louis was on the other side of this door. She let go of her glamour, and pulled a new mana thread from her core. She had to be quick.