Chapter 10
Infiltration
July 5, 2023
"Thank you so much Miss Lisbeth! I'll be sure to come again!" A female player declared as she held up her brand new katana. "And I'll also tell my friends about this place!"
"It's my pleasure." Lisbeth said, a friendly smile displayed on her face. "I hope to see you again."
"Don't you worry, Lisbeth's Smith Shop is at the top of my list for reliable blacksmiths in Aincrad! You can bet I'll be coming here more often!"
The girl sheathed her katana and opened up a trade window with Lisbeth. After paying for her new weapon, she began for the front door with her body turned half way around, and waving at Liz. The blacksmith waved back as she exited the shop.
She was really nice and enthusiastic. Wish more people were like her. Then again, most of my customers are boys looking to try and hit it off with me.
Ugh…
Suddenly, a small yawn escaped her lips. Lisbeth shook her head absentmindedly while leaning over and resting her elbows on the counter. She rested her cheek in the palm of her left hand.
Her eyelids slowly fell as they became heavier and heavier. Just a moment won't hurt. It'll… be fine…
. . .
Ding Ding
The sound of the bells ringing startled Liz out of her sleepy daze. She nearly jumped up and straightened her posture.
"WelcometoLisbeth'sSmithShop! HowcanIhelpyou?!" She blurted out, nearly speaking a million miles an hour.
As soon as she saw the person who walked in, her face went beet red and she internally berated herself for that. "O-Oh! Hey! G-Glad you stopped by!"
As The Ghost waved to her, she couldn't help but smile at his presence. It'd only been six days since they beat the secret dungeon, but a lot of her time was spent thinking about the next time they'd meet.
This is great and all Liz, but cool down. You're a business woman, so put on the business face.
Ahem…
Her mouth didn't listen however. A big warm smile refused to leave her face. "So, d-did you come for repairs?"
Dammit Liz! Pull yourself together!
"Yeah. Most of my gear's on its last legs right now." He said as he approached the counter and pulled out his sword.
"Wait a minute… isn't that the same sword you got in the dungeon?"
"Mhm. Why?"
"Ummmm… I find it hard to believe that it's durability could be low at all. You just got it six days ago and I'm sure it's a high level sword - being the fact that it was a reward in a secret dungeon."
"... Yeah, it is. It's just…" he paused and looked away for a brief second. "I've been at it a lot recently… and the floor thirty four monsters are a pain in the ass."
"Well, even so, you'd have to be fighting non-stop to even put a decent sized dent in it - in six days nonetheless."
He once again turned his head to side and scratched where his face mask covered his cheek. "Ummmm… yeah… I know."
"I-you-well…" she let out a sigh and shook her head. "Jeez, are you trying to be the first person to reach max level?"
"Not… really. There's more to it than that." He said while flipping the sword and catching it by the flat of the blade.
"Forgive me if I sound intrusive, but may I know why?"
"It's… something personal."
He held the sword out over the counter and Liz held her hands a few inches under the sword as he dropped it. It was a bit heavier than she thought, pushing her hands down slightly due to the weight.
"O-oh… Sorry for asking."
"No, it's okay." a short moment of silence followed. "A-Anyway, I'd hate to waste anymore of your time than I already have. I'll let you go on now."
"You're not wasting my time at all. If anything… I-I'm wasting your time. Sorry for that by the way." She said, looking to the side and slowly shuffling her way to the forge room door.
"I-you don't have to apologize for something you didn't do. It was really my fault. Sorry…" he said, also looking to the side.
She glanced back in his direction. "No, really… I-I could've started repairing your sword by now if I hadn't talked so much."
"Well, I helped egg on the talking so… I'll take the blame."
"N-No way!" She exclaimed, turning to fully face the boy. "It was seriously mostly my fault. I should take the blame."
"I…" he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "How about we split the blame?"
"I g-guess so…"
". . ."
". . ."
"Hehehe…" liz began giggling. "I think that was the strangest argument I've ever had…" she said in a small voice.
"Heh… yeah, it's definitely up there on my list."
"Hehe…"
What followed was an awkward silence. Both teens looked to the side and Lisbeth shifted on her feet. After a short time, the boy finally broke the silence.
"S-So, uhh…"
"Oh r-right! Uh-ummm…" Liz shuffled over to the forge room door and grabbed the handle. "If you want, y-you can come inside the forge room while you wait." She muttered out while opening the door.
"Oh-uh, s-sure." He stammered out.
As they entered the room, Liz took a moment to reflect on the past minute.
God… what the hells wrong with me?! Ughhhhh… I probably looked so stupid. C'mon Liz, what happened to "pulling it together"?! If he didn't see me as weird before, then he definitely does now…
Behind Lisbeth, Taka was to, taking the time to berate himself.
Dammit… I just made things awkward. Though, maybe it's a good thing? Maybe it'll prevent us from getting closer…
…
Why does that thought hurt a little? Ughh, just get your act together.
While Lisbeth walked over to do her thing, Taka leaned against the wall next to the door.
"Hey, uh-you can sit down i-if you want." She said while pointing to a bench a few feet away from him.
"Sure… thanks." He nodded and walked over to the bench and sat down.
Lisbeth got straight to work, leaving Taka's eyes to wander the room. It was a small room with an anvil, work station, and other mechanisms he couldn't name.
To his right, where the wall angled was a bulletin board that caught his attention. The board was dotted with notes, pieces of paper, and photos. One photo in particular showed what looked like a brown haired Lisbeth.
Huh… brown hair, eh? I thought she was beautiful enough with pink hair- Brain, I swear! Cut. It. out. Now.
The next photo also showed a brown haired Lisbeth standing next to a smiling Asuna in what looked like a field. From the looks of it, it seemed like a lower floor. Taka guessed that they've been friends for a while.
The last photo that caught his eye was of her standing outside a building that he surmised to be a shop. Maybe her first shop? The architecture of the building was definitely something from one of the first floors.
"Yep, I used to have brown hair."
"Gh-" Taka nearly jumped up after Lisbeth seemingly snuck up on him while observing the photos.
"Sorry if I scared you." She said with a bit of guilt in her tone.
"No, it's fine…" he paused and looked back at the photos. "But um… what made you go pink?"
"Well, one reason was because when I started blacksmithing, business wasn't doing too well. After some time, a friend convinced me that if I stood out more, then I'd have more customers. And well… it definitely worked out better than I thought it would've. And I also like the color pink."
"Hm." He hummed. "I take it you've been doing this for a while-blacksmithing I mean?"
"Mhm." She said with a nod. "Although, like I said, my early days weren't the best when it came to business, but I can't complain since it's been growing at a nice rate."
A brief silence ensued as Lisbeth sat down to the left of him on the bench. He began to turn his head as she started to speak.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Umm… yeah, go ahead."
"Well, Asuna's briefly mentioned you a few times whenever we've hung out. She's never said much, but I have heard you're a clearer… and that you've been one since the first floor boss raid."
"Yeah"
"Well, I've never fought in one myself, but I assume it's terrifying… That being said, are you ever scared during a raid?"
Taka was taken aback, not expecting the question at all.
"I… umm-I…" he paused for a moment and looked into her eyes. After a few seconds, he sighed. "I… yes. Yes I get scared." He said almost shamefully.
"Hey, I'm positive it's only normal to be scared." She spoke in a soft voice. "I wasn't asking with a negative intention."
"I-I know, it's just…" he stopped as he looked back into her eyes. "It's nothing." He turned his head forward and kept his gaze on the ground.
"O-Oh… Umm, well… any raid stand out to you?"
Taka internally let out a sigh of relief. "Every raid's been unique in its own way in my eyes. But I guess if we're to remember one raid over the others… it'd probably be floor twenty five."
Lisbeth visibly shuddered. "Oh god… that one I've heard all about. Wasn't it a disaster?"
Taka nodded somberly. "Mhm. The damn army led by a prick I'm not too fond of nearly had his entire guild wiped out. To top it off, the boss was extremely hard to beat compared to the floors before it. A lot of people died that day."
Lisbeth spoke, matching his somber tone. "I hope whoever was in charge of the army that day paid for what he did."
"As far as I know, the only repercussions the guy faced was hate from a lot of players and loss of power. It's mind boggling to think about how he wasn't thrown into the Black Iron Palace."
"Yeah, I guess it just goes to show that the justice system - in some circumstances - here can relate to the real world. Oh, and before I forget, here…" she said, handing his newly repaired sword back to him.
"Thank you. And uh… how much?"
"A-Actually, I was thinking… since this is your first time and you allowed me to be your exclusive blacksmith… it's free of charge." She said sheepishly.
"Really…? You sure?"
"Yeah." She paused and looked away for a second before looking back at him. "But uh… could you help me with a quest? I-If you don't mind, that is!"
"Ummm…"
Well, I guess I have nothing else to do right now, however, I don't think going on a quest was what Argo meant by 'taking a break'. Then again, she didn't necessarily say I couldn't… Actually, why the hell am I letting her have so much influence on me?!
"Sure. What's the quest?"
"Really?!" She asked, eyes sparkling. After a split second, her face turned red and she shrunk down. "It's t-the mansion infiltration quest." She said, trying her best to keep eye contact.
"Oh, that one. I've heard a little about it. Other than the EXP, I've never seen the reward as very useful. But I guess for a blacksmith, it's a pretty big deal?"
"Mhm." She began, nodding her head. "The Red Iluminiom Shard is a highly sought after upgrading ore. It's one of many different Illuminiom shards."
"Yeah, each different color has two respective weapon types that if were to be paired in the upgrade process, would see a considerable difference compared to using one on another weapon it's not meant to be paired with. Is that right?"
"Yep, and just in case you don't know, the red variant - as I said - is highly sought after. it's meant to be paired with katanas and swords. They're sorta hard to come by. The quest is… well, the easiest and safest method of obtaining it."
"Alright, alright… So how exactly do we complete the quest?" Taka asked, standing up from the bench.
"Since it's a bit of a walk using the teleport gate, I was thinking I could explain it on the way there?" She said, standing up as well.
"Okay. Then we should probably get going. Only so many hours left of sunlight."
"Alright, give me one second."
XXXXXX
Within twenty minutes, the two teens made their way to floor twelve, the floor which contains the mansion they need to infiltrate.
Floor twelve consisted of mainly large seventeenth and eighteenth century mansions, with green fields, forests and small lakes. The mansions were huge. Some might mistake them for palaces.
The NPC's also fit the theme, wearing classical and often very expensive looking attire.
As Lisbeth and Taka walked along a cobblestone road, the former explained how to complete the quest.
Essentially, you were supposed to enter the mansion during an ongoing party and complete a series of tasks that will be given to you upon entering. Once the tasks were completed, a key was supposed to manifest somehow.
After that, you go into the basement and look for a door to unlock with the key and scour the place for a quest item. You steal the quest item and make it out. Seems easy enough, was Taka's thoughts.
"So what exactly can we expect these tasks to be like?" Taka asked
"They're randomly generated and there's a whole heap ton of em. So we won't know until we enter. But I've heard it can be anything from pickpocketing someone for an item, to betting and winning in the horse race."
"Hmm…" he hummed. "Sounds… unique."
"Yeah, definitely far from a normal everyday quest- oh! I think that's the mansion." She blurted out, pointing towards a large, two story, white and green colored mansion.
The entirety of the mansion seemed to be enclosed by a wall that was a few feet taller than Taka. A stone pathway connected to the cobblestone one and led straight to the front door of the mansion.
Alongside the pathway was an assortment of shrubbery and flowers. Multiple fountains within small gardens dotted the yard.
"Ya know…" Lisbeth started. "I don't know if it's just me, but doesn't this feel like one of those final missions in games where you're on a heist, stealing something valuable from some rich person?"
"Yeah. It does." Taka said slowly, gazing at the large structure as they walked on the stone pathway.
As they got closer to the entrance, classical music could be heard from inside. Next to the front door, a gray haired man in an old timey suit, sporting a monocle on his left eye stood with his hands clasped together below his midsection.
"Good evening Sir, Ma'am." He began, bowing. "May I see that you have an invitation?"
"Invitation?" Taka said, confused.
"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot." Lisbeth spoke up, opening her menu and taking an envelope out of her storage. "Here you go sir."
He took the envelope and neatly ripped it open, pulling out a card. He inspected the card before nodding. "One more thing however." He said holding up his hand.
"What is it?" Lisbeth asked.
"Access to the party shall only be granted to those with the proper apparel. Formal fashion is highly recommended."
"What?" Lisbeth asked quizzically. "But I was never told that."
"Can we just get in the damn party as is?" Taka asked coldly.
"I'm terribly sorry sir, for the rules state that anyone without the correct clothing shall not enter. If you do not happen to own the right attire, a woman residing in that building…" he pointed towards a separate building closer to the walls on the left side of the property. "You are able to purchase formal attire from her."
"Is there any other way to get in without doing that?" Taka asked, fearing the possibility of having to show his face.
"I deeply apologize sir. Sadly, I cannot allow you access until your clothing matches party standards."
Taka sighed deeply and clenched his fists. If it came down to it, he'd have to call off helping Lisbeth if it meant showing his face. Part of him told himself to just do it if he had to. For Lisbeth. But the majority of himself couldn't even fathom revealing his broken face.
"Fine… we'll be back." Taka said in a low voice. "Cmon Lisbeth." He motioned for her to follow as he began towards the building.
Maybe they'll have a suit jacket with a hood. Or at least something I can conceal myself with hopefully.
As they made their way towards the building on a smaller stone path, Lisbeth tapped Taka's shoulder, gaining his attention.
"Hey… it's okay if you don't wanna help." She spoke reassuringly. "I know you don't like showing your face. So if worse comes to worse and they have nothing to cover it up, I'll totally understand if you don't feel comfortable enough to help."
Taka turned his head towards her, seeing a small smile on her face. He felt thankful for her understanding and nodded.
"Thank you Lisbeth. Thank you so much for understanding."
She smiled warmly at him. "It's no problem… and you can call me Liz if you want. It's what my friends call me."
Friends… Taka thought. He'd never considered himself to have any friends since that night. Not even the few people who he had on his friends list were considered as friends in his mind. Nevertheless, he accepted Liz's words.
"Liz… thank you Liz."
In return, she smiled and nodded.
Once they entered the building they noticed that only one person was present in the large room. A woman wearing a red sleeveless dress, with brown eyes and long, silky black hair sat on a huge circular shaped couch in the middle of the room.
Around the room, there were wooden mannequins with different clothes and accessories covering them.
"May I help you?" The woman asked with a friendly smile.
"Yep, we were told you could sell us formal clothes." Lisbeth said.
"Ah." She stood up and made her way to where they were standing. "You want to browse my stock, yes?"
"Yes please."
In a split second, a widow popped up in front of Taka and Liz. It showed a very long list of clothes and accessories.
"There's… a lot to choose from." Taka remarked.
"I agree."
The woman chuckled. "As a fashion designer and businesswoman, I'm inclined to always keep my stock fairly high. The more there is for a customer to choose from, the better."
"Yeah, in a way I guess that's true, but It definitely makes picking something out harder." Lisbeth said, eyes trained on the list of attire that seemed to go on forever.
Taka scrolled and scrolled and scrolled. It seemed like she had nothing to solve his problem. Wait… maybe this will suffice.
XXXXXX
As Taka looked at himself in the changing room mirror, he couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.
He wore a three piece cyan colored suit with a white formal undershirt. A black belt matched the black buttons on his top half held up matching cyan suit pants. Covering his hands were black leather gloves.
Fortunately for Taka, he was able to find a way to cover his face. He wore a white and black glass, full face mask. Black lines ran from the also black eyes, to the edges of the mask.
The eyes of the mask were strange, for if you were to look into them from the outside, you could only see the black color of the eye. From the inside, you would have perfect vision, almost as if there was nothing there. Almost like one way glass.
For the first time in a while and much to his discomfort, he wore nothing over his head, leaving his ice blue hair on display. It'll just be in front of Lisbeth and NPC's. It's fine... unless someone else walks in. Please for the love of god don't let that happen.
Taka took a deep breath, opened the door and walked outside of the changing room. Almost immediately as he stepped out though, he was confronted with Lisbeth, who was the definition of beauty in the back of his mind.
She wore a silky white sleeveless dress which tightened around the waist and ran down just above her kneecaps and matching white dress slippers. Finally, a silver bracelet wrapped around her right wrist.
The two teens found themselves staring at the other, with Taka hypnotized by her beauty and Liz caught off guard with his hair revealed.
Damn, she looks stunning- mind! Get it together!
Wow… he looks… Wait, you're staring at him! Turn away, turn away!
Simultaneously, both teens jerked their heads to the side. Taka could make out Liz's rosy cheeks from his peripheral. A few seconds of awkward silence went by before Taka tried breaking the tension.
"You uh… l-look good." He stammered out, causing Liz's cheeks to heat up even more.
Damnit! Why the hell did I say that?!
"T-Thank you… Y-You to." She replied, fidgeting her fingers.
"Thanks, umm…" he trailed off, rubbing the back of his head. "S-Should we get going?"
They both began inching their gazes back towards the other. "Yeah, i-if you're ready."
"Yeah, I uh-let's go."
XXXXXX
As they walked on the small stone path towards the mansion, the tension from a few minutes ago still lingered. Though after speaking with the woman again, it died down a good amount.
Being outside gave Taka a sense of paranoia. He tried focusing on the quest to hopefully rid the feeling. In doing so, he seemed to space out.
"…ay? Are you okay?"
He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked to his left where Lisbeth walked alongside him.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm okay."
Liz held a concerned look. "You were spacing out pretty hard… it's because you're not able to cover your head, isn't it?"
Taka hesitantly nodded. "I'm also a bit tired. But I'll be fine."
"Alright…well um, if you need to talk about anything, my ears are open."
"Okay. Thank you… again Liz."
She smiled warmly in return. "Once again, it's no problem."
Just as they finished conversing, they approached the front entrance to the mansion. The gray haired man bowed and motioned for them to enter. "Enjoy the party."
Upon entering the mansion, the sounds of classical music and people talking, laughing and conversing among each other filled their ears. The feel of everything just screamed wealthy and classical. To them, it even smelled wealthy.
The front foyer was massive. Two staircases sat on either side of the room, curving and leading to the second floor. Two doorways on either side were closed off, leaving the doorway in between the stairs, which led to what looked like where most of the party population was.
"Ya know, this is technically my first party." Liz remarked.
"Yeah. Same."
Just then, Liz opened her menu and navigated to her item storage, where a sheet of paper now was. She brought it out and held it with both hands, reading the text. Taka scooted closer and peered at the sheet, which contained five tasks.
Task 1: Locate the black market salesman and assist him in his order.
Task 2: Access the safe in the master bedroom.
Task 3: Aid the alchemist in creating her poison.
Task 4: Find the missing documents and return them to the lawyer.
Task 5: Locate and enter the basement.
"These seem rather easy, don't you think?" Liz asked him.
"Can't say for sure until we complete them." He said, turning his gaze to the crowds of people in the other room. "Speaking of, how do you plan to go about this?"
"Hmm…" she hummed while in thought. "For now, I say we stick together. We can go down the list."
"Alright then. In that case, I guess we should be on the lookout for black market salesman."
"Yeah, although, I have no idea what one would look like here. Besides looking menacing or sketchy, there's not much to go off."
"Eh," Taka shrugged. "I'm sure we'll know once we see him."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
With one last look around the foyer, the two made their way into the area where most of the party was. The area was a large living room, dining room and kitchen mix. In the dining room section, a large sliding glass door led out to a huge porch.
Crowds of people covered the large room, drinking alcohol, conversing amongst each other, eating cake and other other desserts and listening to the classical music played by a small group of suited men with instruments.
Taka used the searching skill to see if anyone in particular stood out. No one seemed any different from the rest however. Seeing this, he and Liz began walking through the large room, observing each and every person they passed.
At the end of the room, in the living room section, an opening led into a hallway which was also lively with party goers. More entrances to rooms lined the hallway.
The first seemed to be a study room, the second a small museum, and the third a massive ball room, which also held a large number of people.
Just as they were about to enter the ballroom, a quiet voice behind them called out to them.
"Hey, you two, can I speak to you for a moment?"
They turned around to see a man with his back leaned against the wall, in black suit with white stripes running down its entirety. He wore a matching black fedora and a dark gray scarf around his neck. He kept his head tilted forward, causing the fedora to obscure his face.
Taka and Liz glanced at each other, both coming to the assumption that he could be their guy. The man took the silence as a yes and motioned with his head for them to get closer. Once at arms length of the man, he began again.
"The name's Seven, pleasure to meet you." he paused for a moment to look to his right, then his left before continuing. "So here's the deal… The competition showed up before I was able to deliver a package to my client. And if they saw me…"
"Well, let's just say they wouldn't hesitate to ruin the party. My client is a man with black hair and should be wearing a white suit. He should be in the kitchen at the moment. Make sure the package is delivered successfully."
He pulled out a small square package from inside his suit and handed it to Liz. After putting the item in her storage, they began towards the kitchen.
"That guy kind of reminds me of one of those old American mobsters." She remarked.
"Same… and I guess as long as we're close to the NPC, they'll call us out. That makes this a whole lot easier."
"Yeah, I was kind of dreading having to search the entire place for the NPC's. That would've been a real pain in the ass. By the way, do you think the "Competition" he mentioned is really able to kill?"
Taka shrugged in response. "I'd rather not find out."
"Me neither."
After a short walk back to where they came, they were able to spot the client pretty easily, being the only one as far as the eye can see matching the description the black market salesman gave.
Currently, he was sitting on a stool at the farthest end of a small bar set up in the middle of the kitchen. The kitchen section itself was just ridiculously huge, even for a mansion kitchen.
Several lines of counters around the bar were littered with trays of delicious looking food and alcoholic beverages. In the far corner, a door led to what they assumed was where the food was prepared, since men and women resembling chefs often walked in and out.
They approached the man in the white suit and stood behind him as slowly turned his body to face them. He narrowed his eyes on the two and scoffed.
"You supposed to be Seven's delivery folks? Cause you sure don't look like it."
Liz only rolled her eyes while taking the package out of her item storage. "Here." She said while handing the man the package.
He took the package and inspected it for a short moment. Afterwards, he slid it into his suit jacket.
"Thanks." He then turned back around, picked up a small glass and started sipping on its contents. All the while seemingly acting like the two teens were never there in the first place.
Liz let out an exasperated sigh, walking away with Taka right beside her. She brought out the sheet of paper, which now had a line crossing out the first task.
"Well… on the bright side-" she gestured towards the paper. "But even though he's an NPC, that man was an asshole."
"Our next next task is the vault one, yeah?" Taka asked, getting her attention.
"Yeah. In the master bedroom. So I assume it's upstairs somewhere."
"Most likely."
The two then went towards the main foyer and began up the stairs. Once at the top, they noticed two hallways, both on either side of the top of stairs. The hallways looked identical to the one downstairs, except for the skylights which let the sun shine down into the hardwood floor.
There was also a lack of… well, anybody. The hallways were barren, aside from a few potted plants here and there. Furthermore, as they took a step closer to the right hallway, a 'Restricted Area' window popped up In front of them.
"Restricted area…?" Liz muttered inwardly.
"Well, if it's like any conventional video game restricted area, getting spotted or caught by someone or something is probably the main thing we want to avoid."
"Yeah, probably… although, I don't see or hear anyone. But we should move cautiously because of the rooms with the doors open."
"Sounds like a plan, but let's not waste anymore time up here than we have to. This restricted area could easily be different from what we've surmised." He motioned for her to start walking while he checked behind them, following in tow after a second.
The first few rooms were closed off and silence was the only thing they heard from the other side. The first room which was opened was also seemingly empty of people.
In one room however, what sounded like a young girl humming could be heard. They slowly approached the frame of the doorway and peered into the room, which looked like a library. They saw no one, even though the bookshelves sat parallel to them.
Liz felt shivers run down her spine as she remembered the many horror movies with a young girl's voice in a haunted building. She blew a sigh of relief once they passed the doorway.
After countless rooms and no more voices or noises to be heard, they made it to the end of the hall. A door with a more exquisite look to it stood before them.
"Hopefully this is it." Taka said, placing his hand on the knob and turning it.
"Woahhhh…" was all Liz could get out once the room was revealed.
The master bedroom - just like the rest of the rooms - was huge. A massive king sized bed sat in the middle against the wall. Different statues, animals' heads on the walls, and potted plants dotted the room.
Paintings with golden frames reflected sunlight shining in through the large windows on either side of the bed.
Three doors around the room each led to either a balcony, master bathroom or walk-in closet. The closet contained suits, dresses and other attire that looked like you'd have to have all the yen in the world to afford.
And finally, a beautifully designed fireplace was installed to the left of the bed, in between the bathroom and closet. A tiger skin rug rested in front of it. Built into the wall above the fireplace was a safe. The safe they needed.
Question is…
"How are we gonna open it?" Liz asked.
Taka first tried to just open it up, which ultimately failed. He then tried a few random combinations, which also failed. Then he attempted to pull it out of the wall, which again ended in failure.
"Hey, I don't think you're gonna be able to open it like that. We're probably gonna need the code."
"I know. Doesn't hurt to try though." he paused, stepping into the middle of the bedroom. "Hmm…"
Taka took a moment to look around the room. If I were to keep a code for a safe hidden, where would that be…?
While Taka thought, Liz began to lift up and look on the backsides of the paintings. After finding no code, she started to scrounge around the many shelves, desks and potted plants, only to have no luck in finding anything.
While she did that, Taka went into the walk-in closet to search. Every shoe was thoroughly checked and every piece of clothing was examined.
Still nothing.
He walked out of the closet, scratching the top of his while deep in thought. He thought of the possibility of some sort of hidden lever or maybe a floor board that could be lifted up. Though, if that was the case, there's no telling how long they'd be there. Even more so, there's no telling if they'd actually find it.
Maybe it's not even in this room… Maybe it's not even a code we need to unlock it. Damnit, I'm getting sick and tired of all these puzzles.
"Ughhhh…" Liz groaned after examining every nook and cranny of a shelf built into the wall. "I really miss being able to look up a tutorial on the internet. Having to find something with barely any clues is hooooorrrrible…"
"Yeah, can't say I don't agr-"
"Check the master bedroom!" A voice barked from down the hall, cutting off Taka and alarming the two.
"Shit." Taka said in a harsh whisper.
"We have to hide!" Liz looked around for a moment before her eyes landed on the bed. "Under there!"
In a swift motion, she slid onto her stomach and crawled underneath the bed. Taka was right behind her, quickly maneuvering his way under.
Taka made it just in time, as five men dressed in navy blue suits and wielding daggers stormed into the room.
"We know you're in here! Come out!" One of the men ordered.
Taka and Liz kept as quiet and still as possible. The men walked all around the room, even checking out on the balcony, the bathroom and the closet. The same man who barked out commands kept up the shouting.
"C'mon! I'm starting to get impatient! Show yourselves!"
The man growled in frustration.
"Hey wait…" another voice next to the bed began. "Hey boss…"
A pair of feet made their way to the side of the bed, right next to Taka. A chuckle left his lips.
"Look what we have here…"
A/N
Ughhh… not to keep piling up excuses for being late, but finals had me bogged down the past week. And a new semester started on top of that.
Anywho, some parts of this chapter were inspired by The Bitter Reaper fanfic. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend giving it a read, even though at the time of posting this chapter, it's been discontinued. Other than that, very good story.
With that, have a great day/night and stay safe!