by Ennki Hakari
The faintly glowing blob wavered about slightly, and suddenly I could hear the sounds of people talking.
“The soldiers in the western fort have been pretty busy lately, huh?”
“Apparently there’s been a huge increase in monsters near the border, so they’re supplementing the soldiers in Kaysehk.”
“That’s all well and good, but I hear they’re turning away anyone who gets too close to the fort. Pretty aggressively too.”
“I heard that if you get close, you can hear strange, animal-like cries coming from inside.”
“Probably best to mind our own business, if we know what’s good for us.”
The men’s voices faded as the glow in Ariane’s hand vanished.
Considering military installations were generally off-limits to civilians anyway, I didn’t find this information to be particularly noteworthy.
“At least we found a way to pick up on what people are gossiping about around town.”
Ariane grumbled. “It’s a pretty big hassle with hardly any reward.”
After grumbling a bit more, Ariane used her spirit magic a few more times, listening in on other groups of people gathered along the side of the road. Most of what we heard was just normal town gossip. Since Ariane’s spirit magic only lasted for a short amount of time, it was difficult to learn anything useful.
With nothing but vague information for our efforts, we decided to call it off and leave the area.
We walked until we found a large open space full of several markets, split up by a number of roads. We could see a towering castle wall off to the west and a road leading toward it.
“I bet that’s where the local lord lives. Shall we take a look?”
We made our way toward the castle. On the right-hand side of the road, facing north, we encountered another large church marked with the Hilk symbol. This one had four bell towers, one at each corner, and was far larger than the one we’d seen in Kaysehk. It was more impressive than even the castle.
We walked through the crowd of people going in and out of the church. Among them, I saw several men in priestly robes. Their garb looked familiar, like I’d seen it somewhere before.
Ariane and I quickly left the church and its crowd behind, following along the castle walls toward the southern part of town.
The buildings here were much larger than those we’d just left behind, the roads nearly empty of people. I could hear the soothing burble of water coming from a stone-lined waterway built into the ground.
A man suddenly appeared in front of us and shouted, shattering the quiet serenity.
He was massive and looked nothing like any of the other people we’d run into around town. It was almost like…he was from another world.
He wore his black hair in braids. Under his loose-fitting clothes, I could see that he was covered in all sorts of strange tattoos. His unshaven face cracked into a grin at the sight of Ariane. He appeared quite drunk, given his bright red complexion and the way he stumbled through the streets.
“Well, hey there, girlie! You’re quite a looker there, ain’cha. Why don’t ya come with me?”
By the way he was acting, I might have assumed he was a mere street punk. But the quality of his clothing gave me pause.
He was likely a noble or some other high official.
The man leered at Ariane’s chest. He drew closer, as if enchanted, and reached out.
“Keep your dirty mitts away from me.”
Ariane swatted him away, wrinkling her nose at the stench of his alcohol-laced breath. He hardly seemed to notice, however, and called out to her in an even louder voice.
“Oooh, I like a strong woman! Wanna get drunk with me? I’ve got the good stuff.”
He reached for Ariane again. Before she even had a chance to pull away, I took the man’s arm and twisted it behind his back.
“Owww, ow, ow! What the hell’re you doin’?! Don’t you know who I am?”
“Don’t you know that ‘no’ means ‘no’?”
The man flailed about in a desperate attempt to free himself, spittle flying from his mouth as he yelled. I wished he would stay still, fearing that if I put too much strength into my grip, I might break his arm or even snap his spine. However, the man continued writhing about in a drunken rage.
If he continued like this, it was only a matter of time until someone called the guards. We couldn’t afford to let that happen.
“Whoa, calm down!”
“Nnngrah?!”
I gave him a light punch to the gut to bring him back to his senses. He tensed for a moment, then vomited everywhere and passed out on the ground.
I didn’t see any blood or organs, so I figured he was probably okay.
I let out a sigh of relief.
“Well, at least it’s quiet again.”
Ariane looked down at the man sprawled on the stone walkway.
“Well, thank you, Arc. Now, what should we do about this…thing?”
“Kyii? Kyiii!”
The man stared vacantly up at the sky, a bit of vomit still drooling out of his mouth. Ponta batted and pulled at the man’s hair with its front paws, entertained by his braids. Ariane picked the fox up, pulling it into a tight embrace.
“Cut that out, Ponta. Don’t touch that dirty thing.”
“Kyiiiiiii…”
The man’s clothes suggested that he was someone important, so I wasn’t keen on risking his wrath by sticking around until he woke up.
“We should get out of here.”
“Agreed.”
We left the man where he lay and made our way back to the old part of town.
Once the sun began setting, all the townsfolk began hurrying home. Ariane and I made our way through the crowds and back to the room we’d reserved at the inn.
I didn’t have much else to do, so I simply sat in one corner of the room with my knees to my chest while Ariane played on the bed with Ponta.
Chiyome, dressed like a traveler, entered a short time later and locked the door from the inside. She took off her hat, allowed her black cat ears to spring up, and glanced around the room.
“So, what did you learn?”
Ariane and I exchanged a glance. I shrugged my shoulders.
“We didn’t find out anything particularly useful. We did run into a drunk man though.”
Chiyome’s cat ears twitched at this. She seemed to be excited about something. If her tail had been visible, I would have been sure. Back home, I could always gauge my cat’s emotions by its tail. Maybe she was excited because Ariane’s and my lack of results made whatever she’d learned even more valuable. She’d joined us, after all, to speed up Ariane’s mission, so she was probably eager to prove that she could contribute.
It wasn’t normally like Ariane to have any sort of negative feelings toward Chiyome; at least, not that I’d seen. But I couldn’t help but notice that she pulled Ponta just a little bit closer to her.
Chiyome puffed out her chest. “I actually did have some success.”
“Oh? That’s great.”
This was definitely deserving of praise. I gave a bit of an exaggerated clap, which sent Chiyome’s ears twitching anew.
Part of me wanted to give her an affectionate scratch under the chin, but she was a cat person, not an actual cat. Besides, not only would it be rude to Chiyome, I could only imagine the grief Ariane would give me if I tried.
“I couldn’t get a clear number, but some elves were seen being brought into the castle about four months ago. Then, about three months ago, at least one was taken away. I wasn’t able to sneak inside, so I couldn’t confirm if there are still any elves locked up there.”
According to the purchase contract, five elves had been brought here. But it now sounded like that was some time ago, and they may have been taken away.
Ariane spoke up, the determination clear in her voice. “As long as there’s a possibility that someone may still be in there, we need to go inside and check.”
This was
pretty much what I’d expected her to say. I nodded in agreement.
“So, when do we want to sneak into the castle?”
“As soon as possible. Why not do it tonight?” Ariane clenched her hand into a fist, ready to take swift action.
However, Chiyome jumped in to try and calm her down. “Hold on a minute. I haven’t finished my investigation into how many elves may have been left behind, or even where they’re being held. If we sneak in now, we may ruin any chance of a thorough search!”
Ariane furrowed her brow. “So we’re just going to sit around until we can figure out how many people are trapped inside and where they’re being held?”
“Correct. I’ll need about five days.”
Collecting information alone was difficult work. I was impressed she knew exactly how long it would take. This girl really was a pro.
There was just one problem.
“Can we really hide out here in this Hilk-controlled region for five whole days and not be discovered?”
Chiyome frowned, her ears turning downward slightly.
If the impressive church we’d seen was anything to go by, the Hilk, and their pro-human beliefs, were quite influential in this town. Chiyome may have been an expert in sneaking around undetected, but Ariane and I drew attention. It would be difficult to keep ourselves out of sight.
It might not have been so bad if we had some sort of hideout, but we were just staying at an inn. If some devout follower of Hilk teachings were to report on Ariane’s presence, then there’d be no way we could rescue anyone held in the castle.
Chiyome thought this over for a moment before letting out a sigh.
“All right then, we’ll sneak into the castle tomorrow night. I’ve heard that the third platoon will be dispatched from the fort to Kaysehk tomorrow, making it our best bet if we want to limit the number of reinforcements they can send after us… I mean, if we’re found out.”
This was all the convincing Ariane needed. She nodded.
We began laying out our plan for sneaking in, based on the information Chiyome had acquired.
As usual, Ariane and I would infiltrate the castle while Chiyome hung back to keep any response forces at bay in case we were discovered.
***
The next day, Chiyome made her way to the fort for final preparations while Ariane and I stayed at the inn to avoid any encounters like the one we’d had with the intoxicated official the night before. It was unlikely he remembered us considering how drunk he’d been, but we figured we’d be better safe than sorry.
The weather got worse starting around noon. By nightfall, the sky was a blanket of thick, dark clouds.
Usually, a dark, moonless night would be perfect for an infiltration mission, but it only served to reduce my line of sight and limit my options for using Dimensional Step. However, this was only a problem for Ariane and me. For Chiyome, who was keeping a close watch on the western fort, the darkness provided even more places for her to hide.
We left the inn and found Chiyome under a dark and foreboding sky for a final meeting.
“Meeting” was probably a bit of an exaggeration. We discussed where we would reconvene after we escaped and confirmed a few last-minute details, like how to let her know if we needed her to create a disturbance back at the fort. We finished the discussion quickly.
Shortly after midnight, we parted ways with Chiyome.
We wanted to avoid the church in the northwest and keep our distance from the fort to the west, so we followed a dimly lit road off to the southwest until we found ourselves on another road that gave us a good vantage of the castle wall.
Though there was no moat, a fairly wide path ran around the perimeter of the wall, which was occasionally patrolled by guards.
A light, silent rain began falling from the thick clouds above, making everything around us even darker. I looked around for a place to teleport, but the best I could find was a spot I could barely make out atop the wall.
Given how dark it was, I knew it would likely be difficult to teleport into the castle from atop the wall. Due to its height, and the shadow it cast, the interior would be nearly pitch black, which would really limit our options. But if I took my time, I figured something would eventually present itself, no matter how dark it was.
Ariane already had her hand on my shoulder as I looked back at her.
“Are you ready?”
She nodded.
“Dimensional Step.”
In an instant, Ariane and Ponta, who was currently wrapped tightly around my neck like a furry green scarf, teleported with me from the side of the road to the top of the wall surrounding Barysimon’s residence.
Due to dark elves’ keen night vision, Ariane was normally responsible for checking our surroundings after we teleported. But since most of the guards moving about the top of the wall held torches, this wasn’t necessary.
I fell back into the shadow of the wall and squinted my eyes, looking for a place that would be both easy to teleport to and offer us enough cover.
In front of us, a large building faced away from the western wall, and in front of that, I spotted several buildings in the shape of a “U,” with a courtyard at the center. The courtyard was completely dark, save for some flickering lights—likely the torches of more patrolling guards.
We’d probably need to make our way toward the large building if we wanted to free any elves held captive inside. Unfortunately, there were practically no gaps in the lines of guards patrolling the main building, at least, not that I could see in the gloom.
Worse, the building was quite a distance away from the top of the wall, meaning that a great deal of trees and other shrubbery blocked my line of sight, making it even more difficult to get a feel for how many guards there were and their movements.
Rather than making our way straight to the main building from here, I figured it would be best to teleport from the wall to a closer building off to the south and look for a way to sneak into the main building.
While I was busy planning out our next move, I felt a light tap on my shoulder.
I turned to face Ariane. She held up two fingers and shook them to the left twice. Apparently, two guards were approaching us. We didn’t have much time.
I nodded and quickly teleported us again.
Our surroundings changed in the blink of an eye, and we found ourselves behind a compact, two-story building a short distance from the other buildings off to the south. Compact, of course, was relative. The place was far larger than most commoners’ houses.
The building was made of various colored stones, giving the walls a mosaic-like pattern that made itself apparent in the faint glow of the light from the windows.
I could see inside through a lattice-like structure that hung over a large, rectangular window built into the wall of the first floor. There was an expensive-looking red rug, lit up by magical lanterns lining the hallway.
However, I didn’t see any signs of human life inside. Compared to the main building, there were relatively few guards in this area. We were enveloped in silence, save for the chirp of insects coming from the nearby shrubs.
I slid my body along the building’s wall, chancing a glance around the corner toward the inner courtyard and the estate’s entrance.
There were two men standing and several other groups patrolling the courtyard. Toward the main building, I saw several more guards illuminated by torchlight.
There weren’t many places to hide in the courtyard, and my teleportation options were limited due to the sheer darkness. This would be no easy feat.
Our only option was to use this building as cover and make our way straight toward our objective, following the perimeter of the wall toward the main building. We could look for a way to sneak in from there. I relayed my plan to Ariane.
“It seems unlikely that we’ll find anything of note if we stick to places where there aren’t guards.”
“Since we don’t even know how many elves are here, or where they’re bei
ng held, don’t you think it’d be a better idea to start our search in a place where there aren’t a lot of guards before we go barging in?”
She had a point. “All right, then why not start our search here?”
I glanced back inside the building and, after making sure the coast was clear, used Dimensional Step to teleport us into the hallway.
Ariane perked up her ears, as if listening for something. She whispered to me.
“The first floor seems empty…but I have a strange feeling about this place.”
“I have no complaints about no one being here. Let’s look around and make our way to the west side where we can see the main residence.”
I turned the knob on a nearby door and peeked inside.
The room was entirely unlit, so I could only see a short distance in; however, I immediately noticed that everything in the room was covered in a light layer of dust, as if no one had been here for some time. A building this size should have had at least a dozen servants, so it seemed unlikely that this was simply someone neglecting their duties.
Could it be that the financial situation here was bleak? That they just didn’t have the resources to manage all their buildings?
I opened another door and looked inside. Same thing. I glanced back at Ariane. We both shook our heads. Apparently, she’d come up short too.
I continued along, checking room by room, relying only on the lights in the hallway. At the corner, the hallway made a ninety-degree turn and continued toward the back of the building.
At the end of the hallway was a pair of large doors, with no other rooms in sight.
I waved Ariane over and used Dimensional Step to teleport us in front of the doors. Ariane pushed lightly on one of them, and it swung inward with a creak.
The room was filled with large boxes stacked one on top of another, nearly reaching the balcony that ran along the second floor. Giant chandeliers hung at regular intervals from the high ceiling, and the floor beneath us was made of stones that had long since lost their luster. Pillars with intricate designs etched into them lined the room, and massive glass windows covered the wall to our left. It looked like this had been some sort of sun room.