Chapter 79 – Yuki Goes in Alone

*** Yuki, Morning after she left Alzi's room ***

FUCK! How did I fuck up that bad? Now Alzi wants me to give up. I didn't poison all those women for nothing. I'll skip the last two guards. Worst case, they are on duty, and I just have to assassinate them. Maybe I can get away with killing one and sneaking around the other. Leaving a few alive would be good to keep my slave alive anyway.

Just need to get through this stupid dance then be on my way.

I just need to find two files and leave. There is no reason for the guards to care that much about me.

...

After I finish up my dance I leave the brothel heading to the headquarters in the middle of the city. With some luck, I'll catch a guard change, and let me know if I'm going to have a dead guard or one that I didn't poison.

I won't wait too long for them to show up. In an hour, the handler shift will change. I want to sneak in then and try to blend in. Maybe I can ride the coattail of someone who is allowed into the basement. Most likely, I'll have to sit around by the door for an hour, breaking the wards. Then, I'll have to do it all over again when I get to where the records are stored.

Reaching my destination, I headed to the same spot where I waited yesterday and decided to give it an hour. If I don't see any guards swap by then, I'll just enter.

Nearing the end of the hour, I spot my slave coming down the road, weaving through the people deciding where to eat for dinner. Her dress is purposefully made to cover the collar I put on her. I stay put as she nears the building, ready to move once I see who she replaces. I'll have at least one guard I don't have to worry about, and with some luck, she'll replace one of the ones I didn't get to poison.

A few minutes after she enters the last woman I poisoned the previous night, the family with the damn trap in the corner comes out looking a little pale. Good, the guard Nakuma poisoned should be dying soon as well. The others I poisoned seem to be close to succumbing as well.

I head towards the employee entrance, getting out the identification stone. It'll mark me as a janitor. Without special magic, most things can only be cleaned so much before the normal magic stops working. Certain fabrics can't be cleaned without damaging them. Living things are the one exception to the cleaning so much. It was found our cells get replaced often enough that the spell counts us as a new person every time we use it.

The stone is really a necklace, but only the stone on the necklace is needed to pass the ward without triggering the alarm. With it around my neck, I head down to the basement of the building and find the right door. I walk through without incident and go down a set of stairs.

Passing a few random members, none stopped the lowly janitor. The rank the handler gave us was only good at spot cleaning, something our illusion magic could cover up until we left.

I searched around with my mana, trying to find the other guards, but so far, they evaded my detection, or the poison got to them. I can't do the best search. If I spread my mana too far and thick, the guards would likely be the first to pick it up, or even the other assassins looking to pick up some missions.

I pass the back door, doing a quick scan to see if there may be an easy way through. I find nothing, but I keep my search for the guards going. I'll do another circle, then try to get out of sight and go invisible to begin cracking the door.

The walls are just as boring the second time through them. Boring grey on all sides. The occasional sign to point to the front in case you get lost, not that the building is much of a maze. Most hallways are ninety degrees from each other. One way leads to the front, the other to the back stairs. Closed doors line the hallway. Private offices for the high assassins, maybe hiding the guards, storage, and perhaps a few labs to make poisons and healing potions. The rooms aren't labeled; whatever stone unlocks the door must also direct you to the right room as well.

There aren't many people back here, but they seem to cover the entire space. I'm not given more than a second before someone new comes into view. I don't need long to go invisible, but if I do it slightly late, I'll be spotted disappearing.

Making an extra pass, after trying again to find a simple flaw in the door, I decided to find a bathroom to disappear in. I only have two halls I haven't been down, so I pick the one closer to the front. The handlers need somewhere to go, and I doubt they would be happy walking far just to use the restroom.

"Hey! Janitor, I need something cleaned. Spilled a bit of ink on the floor here," gets called as I turn the corner.

"Yes, miss. Coming," I call back. Well, maybe I can change once I leave whatever room she's brought me to.

The caller is a human woman with short brown hair and a loose dress that hides her figure. I meet her in the middle of the hall, and she turns and moves a few doors down.

She lets us inside a normal office, a wooden desk in the corner with paper and a quill and a simple chair. Shelves cover another wall filled with books, the covers hidden, not letting me see what they are about.

"The stain is here by the table leg. Not much fell, but I don't want to get charged for damaging the carpet. They get picky about the damage when the lease is up," she instructs.

"No worries, I'll get it out and let you continue your work," I say with a smile.

The spill is really small—a single dot on the black rug. The slight change in color from the black ink is almost impossible to see.

The carpet has likely been cleaned a lot with the normal cleaning spell, but I give it a shot and find the ink stays. So, I just cover it up with a short-term illusion. In a few hours it'll fade, but I doubt this girl will even notice the change in color even if the guild's check finds it.

"All cleaned up. I'll let you be now."

"Yes, thank you."

With that I leave the room, carefully closing the door behind me. I take a quick peek in the hallway and find I'm alone.

Without a second thought, I make myself invisible. I do a quick check to see if anyone saw the switch and find the hallway still empty. With that, I make my way back to the door.

I do need to make sure I go through the right door; they may have placed a fake door with a bunch of mana to capture anyone trying to sneak down.

I carefully inspect it for any illusion magic, then do what I can to check the stairwell behind it.

After half an hour, I come up empty, letting me know this is the real door.

I need to be close, so I find a spot next to the door so that anyone entering or leaving wouldn't run into my invisible form.

Right as I sit down, one of the guards comes down—one I didn't poison. As long as she stands a bit away from the door, I can keep working. My goal is to continue undetected now; there is no need to get into a useless fight. But with my slave around, I could do it if needed.

When I face the door, the guard stays at one end, to my left. She does look towards me but doesn't react to any of my movements. So I sit back down and start investigating the wards placed on the door.

Whoever they got to make the wards went for quality over quantity, and they didn't try to cover them. I guess they didn't think anyone would get a lot of time sitting in front of the door, being stared at by a guard.

Despite how complicated the wards are, given enough time with them, I can figure them out.

Minutes passed us by as I studied how they worked and how to bypass or remove them. Half of the wards were to ring an alarm, either making a loud noise or alerting specific people. Likely the guards and a few higher-ups. One was even to make the door easier to open. Bit of a waste when it seems they were limited on the number of wards they could have on the door. The weight was probably the old security system. Make it heavy and hard enough to open. Only those with mana could open it.

The rest were the standard locking mechanisms and identity checks. The identity checks were the easiest to fool, just make the janitor stone I had an authorized user.

The problem is locking wards. They obviously spent the most time creating those. Nothing is stopping me from breaking the door down and walking in except the alarms, not that the stupid guard would let me do that. I could kill her and then break it down.

Not ready to take the nuclear option, I kept working at the locking wards, slowly unraveling them. I had to be careful with my mana usage. I've been invisible for a while now, and I still need to get through another door after this one and then get out. I'm still a little over half, but it's never good to go below that and not be on your way out. But I won't have a choice here.

I get the first locking ward disabled and start up the second of the three. The guard still looking over my shoulder.

"Hey, Hazel, is there a janitor hiding around here? I spilled some tea on my desk. The stone is saying one should be in this hallway," a newcomer asks the guard.

"No, I've been here for an hour or so, and you're the first person I've seen in the hallway. Find another janitor. I'll go searching for the stone; one's probably hiding in the bathroom or something, hoping nobody would come here looking for her."

"Alright, the other one seems to be busy, so I'll check the bathroom. Thanks," the bitch says. Well fuck, guess I'm going to kill the guard after all.